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just got back from the Cologne show. I had a great time again and this time
I got to talk to most of the band and crew, which was an interesting
change. We (Denis and me) especially talked for a long time to Norwood. I
made the unfortunate mistake on congratulating him with his daughter, which
prompted him to talk about the phone conversation he had with his mother
last weekend in which he made it clear that he did NOT want to know the
gender of the child until it was born.
oops.
He didn't mind too much though, I got the impression, luckily.
Some of the more interesting information:
-Starting september in Canada, maybe going till the end of the year, a tour
with Mighty Mighty Bosstones (Southern states should be included).
-A second Trulio Disgracias album will be recorded to be released shortly
after the first (which should be a few months after Dirty Walts "almost
done, really!" album).
-John Steward is more and more comfortable in his drumming. Like he said
"at least I can talk now during playing my parts" to the secret agent Jay
while complaining about Jay adjusting the wrong volume (cymbal instead of
bass drum), this ofcourse might have to do with John's Tom Waits like voice...
-They're adding songs they haven't played for years. Norwood wanted 'Simon
says the Kingpin' next.
-The song with Primus (et al) will not be released right now, but they do
have it with them. Unfortunately, the playing of the track (which they
mentioned a couple of times) never materialized in the end. Maybe another
soldier is luckier.
-There is very little chance of Fishbone working with Bill Lasswel. Back in
the days of either Reality or GAMAB (Norwood wasn't sure) they asked Bernie
Worrel to produce the album, who agreed (!) on the condition he could bring
along Bill Lasswel. Needless to say Bernie never produced the album.
Aparently I am not the only one he does not like Lasswel's production values.
-Fishbone never played on a Blowfly album. They did add vocals though.
-Norwood is looking for the Joy album they played on. Who's going to give
him a copy?
-They've got loads of Nuttsactor 5 stuff. Everything should become
available eventually through an online shop (don't hold your breath)
-Part of the reason why they have so much stuff is that Norwood, Chris and
Kendall used to rehearse up to 9 hours a day! This was done in part to get
their parts down so well that they could be drinking, smoking, mushrooming
or tripping (or a combination of aforementioned) and still play their parts
right. Another reason was the complexity of some of Angelo's stuff. He'd
come over and try to explain his latest song and that would take 9 hours
easily.
-They like the Nuttwork Neighbourhood NuttSack. Right now Norwood, Angelo
and Walt have a copy. As soon as Robert has his copy we can start the US
tree, the European one can start, afaic.
On to the show.
Apparently, due to the soundlevel on stage, the PA needs to be LOUD too.
This did not help the sound, although it was way better then Amsterdam. The
stage was nice and deep (about 25 feet) but barely more then a foot high
and just 20 feet wide. The place was tiny and not even jampacked. Angelo
was writing (presumably Chronicles) until just before the show.
They opened with Every Day Sunshine! (which reminded me of the Reality
video. They did play it slow...) Shaky Ground had Funkadelic written all
over it, starting out with "I wanna know if it's good to you baby" in the
guitar line (they may add the chant later on) and changing towards the end
to the end of 'Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow' (thank god for
short songtitles)
Again, no one on stage during Pants, just as in Amsterdam.
The first encore was Ground Zero and Karma Tsunami. The second encore was
the shortest I've seen. A fast paced version of Deep Inside. On and off in
just over a minute, I guess.
A nice detail was a short rant about the clothing brand Fishbone before
Subliminal Fascism (which closed the first set).
Anyway, I'm glad to be back again from Germany. I only fell almost asleep
once on the way back, so it's been relatively save. ;)
Interesting side note, the traffic information came on in the middle of my
cd, and the music that started right after was 'the Suffering', I listened
to it and they did indeed butcher the "poor motherfucker" line. The DJ was
positive though, but mainly just read the promo material about the guest on
the Nuttwerx album.
That's all for now.
peace out,
Arno
Well, Arno pretty much summed it up. I can't think of anything right now
to add, except maybe for the gig description. The prime club is really
small. i'm tempted to say that it's no larger than my living room, stage
included, but it's bigger, really. The dance floor is only sth like 20ft
by 15. Attendance was around 150, luckily, they chose that venue instead
of the former one where they played in Cologne. The Live MusicHall would
have seemed empty (which it did last time). So it was really an intimate
show, laid back and groovy.
Here's the setlist (original spelling from the list):
Every day Sunsshine
skankin
ma&pa
just allow
give it up
behavior
shaky ground
date
pants
housewerk
cholly
suffering
problems
aids and arma
freddy
subliminal fas
party
karma
deep inside
apparently, it the same setlist as for the dortmund show the night before.
Highlights: Everyday sunshine, which they started really slow and groovy
overdubbing Louie Amstrong who was still playing on the PA. Shakey ground
gets better and better. this one could turn into a funkadelic monster.
Spacey is on the loose. Enventually, he'll manage to play every funkadelic
solo during the song. The song started with regular bass+drums while
spacey was playing 'I wanna know (if it's good)'. At the end, the song
turns into 'Free your mind and your ass will follow' When problems arise
is still one of my favorite, along with housework and wood chanting 'the
roach the roach the roach is on the wall'
I was a bit disappointed by the length of the gig. One Planet People and
servitude would have been good additions.
Norwood really seemed to be enjoying himself and Arno and I got to talk to
him for more than an hour, before and after the show, which is nice
because, with walt, he is one of the six whom a rarely see hang out. And
he was talkative too! What's really nice with the band, is like you can
have a real conversation w/ them, not just fan talk (and at the same time
they'll oblige if you want autographs and shit). Our conversations with
wood, angelo and walter had really more to do with bar conversation than
fan talk and this attitude is what is getting them the loyalty they
deserve. I'd never even want to talk w/ A. Kiedis, for example, even
though i used to be a big fan. i'd have nothing to tell him.
Norwood seemed very realistic about where the band was standing at.
Apparently no support or even communication w/ the label. they don't seem
to know what's happening - of course, they're abroad, but i think it's more
fundamental. Same think w/ their booking agency in Europe who did a shit
job on this tour. I think they were expecting more festivals and thay only
play one. Picture this, they were in Europe during the
Reading/Roskilde/Werchter weekend, and they don't land a spot on any of
these festivals. (my selfish self is glad about that, though, getting to
see them at the mythic paradiso and the intimate prime club are once in a
lifetime experiences)
I wouldn't repeat what he said about Dallas Austin, but it wasnt nice. For
one, Dear God has not yet been published because D.A. claims all the
credits, while, according to wood, he only came up w/ the drum loop and
john Bigham added the melody while walt figured out words to go with it.
On the nuttcase scenario front, wood says it was good songs and that if
they would be mixed correctly, he'd release them. They seem to own the
rights for six of the songs, but i cant remember if Dallas lost that tape
or if it was another one.
they do have plans on setting up a proper mail order in a coupla months.
APparently, the bad brains' manager is working on it w/ them, along with
getting a good deal for walt and trulio's records which will be issued by
triple X records. September and November?
Wood seemed to dislike Laswell work as a producer. He was really sour
about what happened to george clinton tapes - i didnt get the whole story,
maybe Arno could say a little more on it. There's really a negative
probability that they'll ever work together.
Talking about the RHCP tour, he said it was no surprise that STP were
playing between them, it's like a demilitarized zone for people to recover
from (or forget - you never know with today's attention span) fishbone's
perf.
As for why they start playing sunshine and servitude again, well, they just
relearned it, nothing more to it.
ok, that's it. Oh, yeah, i fell asleep on the way back, fortunately, i was
already in a parking area...
D.
Oh yeah, i recorded the gig (yes i know, i'm a maniac), it turned out fine.