M.I.T.E!mashMAAAAADNESS...the recap
it began with a lot of blood. and ended with a little bit more. the M.I.T.E!mash tour was a whirlwind of energy, injuries, broken equipment, weddings, fights, and sweet, sweet music.
Cold Duck Complex/Freshwater, Doomstar, U.AM, and the newly named BellHammer (previously named The Beautiful Frightening previously named The Doctor and The Dentist previously named BellHammer...full circle and now it's final. there's a myspace and everything--bellhammermusic) played together at Matchless in Brooklyn, PAs Lounge in Somerville, and The Elevens in Northampton.
thursday began a little behind schedule at matchless. doomstar appeared from the road with amps and drum hardware just in time to get BellHammer onto the stage...and here began the first surprise of the weekend. BellHammer, who had only played 3 shows before (all under different names) KILLED all three nights. people apparently really like it. alex chakour on guitar and vocals, cory mathews on drums, and yours truly on the bass and vox. every show brought a new level of confidence out of alex and his incredible voice, and every show brought a new level of cohesiveness within the band, propelled by cory's frantic drumming. it was great to see people who had never heard the band before be completely enthralled. at PAs lounge on friday, during 'called', one of our quieter tunes, you could have heard a pin drop in the room, dead silent though it was packed.
U.AM followed up with their particular brand of post-punk-dance-thrash madness. slamming their way through all the hits, including a request from the audience--"it's raining men". although, to be fair, we chose to do our own version, "it's raining rain, hallelujah!".
Doomstar always brings it. so intense, so eerie, so spastic, so beautiful. thursday was no exception.
for the CDC/Freshwater crew, the weekend that could have been tragic turned out to be an incredible musical experiment. Rob C (also of U.AM) was to be the drummer for these shows, along with joey, PC, mike c on guitar and three different keyboard players in three days (one of whom had never played a note with the band before they hit the stage). on thursday, it was the crew with emile blondel on keys, but while setting up, Rob, while taking a leap off the stage to run for some water, hit his head on a speaker hanging above the stage. it was bad. REAL bad...blood was everywhere, an ambulance was called, a room full of people waited in nervous anticipation. luckily there was a doctor and an emt in the house who assured that it was likely a minor incident, albeit a very bloody one, and when the ambulance arrived rob stood and left to cheers from everyone. he got five staples in his head and is doing great now (in fact, tonight he'll be playing and singing with his band Kinoko Orchestra!).
at the moment though, the room was tense and gloomy...what to do now? it was a few minutes until curfew, Freshwater didn't have a drummer, and nobody was particularly in the mood to get on stage and jump around like nothing had happened. after noah bond volunteered to fill in, we decided the night should not end on a bad note, and robby would be happier to know that the show went on. we jumped up, rocked three songs and one improvisation. it was beautiful. we ended the night with a call to rob in the hospital, cheers, screams, and well wishes from everyone in room. it was ALLL right.
friday we woke up, things had turned out ok, rob was well. but what NOW?! still two more shows, rob wanted to come along for the ride, but there would be no drumming or screaming from him. we decided the best move was to haul ass to boston, get into doomstar's practice room with noah, and work out a set. and that's just what we did.
we arrived at PAs to find the staff visibly upset. we were late, no one had let them know about all the stuff that had happened, no one let them know U.AM wouldn't be playing. they were not pleased. the night was ominous. again.
but we got it set up, got ready to go. spenser and noah graciously did an opening set as Brownies (playing tonight at Zuzu). and then BellHammer brought it again. except for one thing...spenser's guitar amp was crackling and fading. it was almost unbearable during our third song, a rather gentle number. once again fate was in our way! or was it?? everything was fine, jeff d pulled an amp out of his car, and we finished up to a full room, one of the best, most engaged audiences i've ever experienced. what a joy. too bad cory busted noah's bass drum head during the last song.
spenser saved the night running home to grab another bass drum, but that slowed us up for a good half hour...
Freshwater went up next, tonight with noah on drums, jeff d on the keys, mike on the guit and me and case. OH MY. i speak from my heart when i say this was one of my favorite sets i've EVER played. it was amazing. noah was INCREDIBLE. so fierce, such energy, and he knew our songs as if he wrote them. the audience was full of die hard fans and faces from the past. it was like old times, so beautiful.
PAs turned out to be a great show, probably the best of the weekend. packed house, amazing energy, and it sounded great in there too, really cool acoustics, no mics on the drums. i had been warned about the place, since it's out of the way and whatnot, but it sure worked out for us. feels like boston's where it's at right now...
after a slumber party with old pals, robby and i joined the crew over at the otherside for breakfast with spenser as our waiter and jeff cooking. hilarious, M.I.T.E!mash Mealtime. i was nauseous from lack of sleep and nerves from the various hubbubs, but we jumped in the car and headed off...to high falls, ny (near poughkeepsie) so we could attend sam's wedding before heading back up to northampton for the show! it's not my business to talk about their private life, but i will say i couldn't be happier for them, the ceremony was beautiful, and the only thing that should have gone wrong for the M.I.T.E!mash Tour, me and rob driving an extra 5 hours out of the way between shows, went perfectly on schedule, and were back in the car headed to the Elevens just on time.
the Elevens is a great venue. The show was a bit of a surprise, i think everyone was a little exhausted from how bizarre the weekend had been, plus with jeff and spenser still working during the day saturday (to feed us no less!), the energy in the room was different. but every band SLAYED. i couldn't have been happier. how lucky am i to get to play with all my friends like this, three nights in a row!
of course, this night, the MVP was kush mody, playing keys for cdc/freshwater, having never played a note with us before (noah was on the drums AGAIN too...my hero). he must really like cold duck, because the set played out like we had been doing it for years. not only did he nail all the parts, but he played with a personality totally his own. slammin.
we left the venue, exhausted. rob was woozy, he needed some sleep. it was time to say good night to the Inaugural M.I.T.E!mash Tour...but not without a little more blood. just as jmpizz was pulling away in his car a group of guys spilled onto the street right in front of him, beating on each other. i ran out to try to break it up, but it seemed to settle pretty quick. we thought it was over, one party had left, and the other was grouped at the corner. about to head home when a car full of dudes pulled up, jumped out, and initiated a full on brawl. goodness. anyways, the cops came and we took off, we were of no assistance there. but somehow it seemed a fitting ending. doomstar was off to boston, mike, case, alex and cory settling in their homes, and me and rob off to nyc with kelvin (after a brief nap of course).
thanks to everyone who came out. thanks to noah for stepping up in a crisis. thanks to rob for being OK!! thanks to all of you for reading. be well, see you soon? I'm gonna disappear for two weeks, but then we're back with U.AM at lit lounge on the 30th, and the Show of Cards' SHOW OF CURRY CD release home-cooked dinner extravaganza on Oct 3 at the Black Moon in belchertown!
love,
Joe
