On the way from Houston to Dallas we stopped at a park that had a huge statue of Sam Houston. Pretty awesome looking. It was really the only freaking thing to look at on the way back north. To be honest, I didn’t even see that many Longhorns while we were in TX. Bummer.
We arrived in Dallas on time, and went to the venue. The information we had was that load in was at 5pm sharp. When we arrived, there were a few other bands and their vans in the parking lot. In a rapid pace, more and more bands and vans started clogging up the tiny lot. All I kept thinking to myself was how much of a clusterfuck this was going to be… So, we waited and waited and it probably wasn’t until close to 6pm that anyone from the venue opened the doors. Of course now picture 16 bands all trying to load their shit in at the same time… Sorta chaotic.
I’m painting this scenario in a bad light, but in the grand scheme of things, it really wasn’t that bad. Fairly chaotic, but organized in a dysfunctional way. There was at least one person at the door that could tell you what stage you were playing on and where you could drop your gear. After that, no one knew anything about lineup order, set up, etc. Finally our sound man arrived, and he was friendly and he knew the deal so that was cool.
There were 3 stages (2 in the same room) in this club. Now I think Mike posted earlier that every band was from out of town. We obviously knew there wasn’t going to be any real local draw, so the night was to be performed for other bands. That’s fine, it was a gig and an opportunity to play. I’m psyched that the owner/booker was realistic in expectations for the evening, and went out of his way to make us all feel welcome. Pretty awesome.
I ended up in the back room for a bit checking out a band from Washington called The Real You. I dug them. Very pop-rock and melodic, which is up my ally. I’m fairly sure the other guys in TMS would hate it (maybe Patrick wouldn’t). I also heard some not so great music, more so than I would have liked in one evening.
We eventually left the club to meet up with Erica and Jason. Erica is the sister of our friend in Boston, Ana. Jason is her husband. They are awesome. Not only did they hang out late with us and take us to get some KILLER food, they also shared their apartment with us. We hung out with Jason quite a bit the next morning, talking mostly about music and technology. Thank guys!
All in all, Dallas was okay. I’d like to play there again with some local acts and really see what the scene is all about down there. It was also a good gig for us to play before heading to Austin. We played well and the sound was pretty damn good. Dallas, lets hang out again sometime.