In the days before this show, I was in a weird headspace. Setbacks tend to make my self-doubt grow. I tend to like to decompress for a while after shows so I can get back into the band with full energy, rather than go back into it with the previous show's deficiencies on my mind.

But the xmas break helped things, and things just felt right when the three of us got together to rehearse on Friday. Went in to Saturday with a bit of an energy boost.

Saturday day

My brother, Hiro, stayed up north for an extra couple days just to see us play (my parents had to drive back to babysit my niece). That was way cool.

We hung out in Berkeley for a bit, had some spicy Vietnamese for my sore throat, then packed up the truck and drove to Club Galia. Got there way early, found parking right out front. Thought we might have to hang out in the truck for a half hour, but the door was open, so we walked in.

Met Barbara, the manager/promoter, who said we could load in, but we had to leave our gear up front since the stage was still being built. [!] Apparently the club is changing hands in the new year, and the new owners wanted to put in a new stage. Didn't worry me at all though. I was in a whatever happens, happens type mood, and it was all good. Turned out to be a nice stage, too.

Cool venue. Cozy small until you see the upstairs, which pretty much doubles the size of the place.

Noticed that the earlier flyer said "The Winterdelic Underground Ball" and the later flyer said "Heavy Rock Show" (sorry, that pic didn't turn out =P ...) So Hiro and I dubbed it "The Heavy Winterdelic Underground Rock Ball".

Sound guy showed up, the first band (Kinetik) set up, and Finn went off on some spiel about how you can tell how metal guitars are are by how many points they have. Flying V, metal. BC Rich, mega metal. Dean Guitars, uber metal. The classic Martin dreadnought: not so much. Unless you're doing a mega uber metal BALLAD.

Anyway. On to...

The Show

Kinetik showed off their metal guitar chops early and often. They did a Sabbath medley which we all enjoyed, and a cover of Pat Benatar's Heartbreaker.

We were up next. No real soundcheck, but no worries. I decided to wear my trenchcoat and beanie on stage since it was cold; ended up sweating like a pig.

Our setlist:

Tension... Release
Shattered
Insidious Beauty
Dreamslime
Beautiful Dream
Be With Me
Drone
Heartfelt Braindead

There were some issues, as usual. On Be With Me I mis-tuned my dropped-D, so I just ignored/muted the low string. Think I might switch out guitars on that song next time. Jason fumbled with his headphones and tossed some sticks and we were a bit loose, but not to the point of getting me out of my no worries mindset. Chill.

Tons of compliments afterwards, which is really gratifying since we weren't playing in front of a whole lot of people. Barbara (manager/promoter) even signed our mailing list. That rocks.

Sorrow Town Choir. Oh. Man. Mark from Ringchildren plays bass in this band, and he's great; perfect intonation on his fretless. Greg, the guitarist, has this kick ass voice. He sounds like Tom Waits Junior. Seriously. Go see these guys.

Turn Me On Dead Man has a way tripped out stage set, and the guitarist/singer is craaaaazy mon. In an entertaining sorta way.

Hiro and I went for food at this point, and found this amazing burrito joint open after midnight. At 24th and Mission. They rock.

Ringchildren was pretty great. Mark sings and gets all funky, and the guitarist Mike is loud and good. Love what he does with his 12-string doubleneck Gibson.

Afterwards we loaded the truck and drove home. Had fun that night. Needed that.

-aki, december 28 2003