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2004-07-29 - 1:37 a.m.
non-metal dude wearing metal tee
 You missed a hell of a show, heads. In fact, it was so much better than our first show at the Sidebar back in May that I wish that everyone who had been at that show had been at this show instead. In spite of all the worrying and stress and feelings of impending doom, we pulled it off. The Monday before the show, practice runs through the set were still frustratingly haggard. We had one more practice night planned for Wednesday and the time was nigh. As the drummer, I feel a lot of pressure rests on my shoulders to keep it together when we’re playing live. More than any one member of the band, if I fuck up, it messes everyone else up and is painfully obvious to the audience. And while I’ve been practicing by myself on and off for the last couple months, my chops still weren’t in top condition. So I went down the practice space by myself on Tuesday, and ran through the set. And then again. And then again. Our set was pretty short, about 20-25 minutes, so running through it 3 times barely takes an hour anyway. And then, Wednesday, Nick announced that he had a cold and couldn’t practice. And Sean ‘remembered’ that it was his birthday, and didn’t want to practice until late. And Mike announced that he had to work late and couldn’t practice at all. And being as I had to work Thursday and Friday night, that meant we’d have no more opportunities to practice until the day of the show. So be it. I went to the practice space and ran through the set another 3 times on Wednesday night. I figured, even if noone else was prepared, I would be. So even when I talked to Sean and he was all stressed out and worried and doomsaying, I reassured him and didn’t let him shake my confidence. Not that I really was sure it would all go fine, but I knew I’d done all I could at that point to prepare, and that there was no real use worrying too much at that point. So on Saturday at 6, a couple hours before we were due to load in at the Sidebar, we met at the practice space for one last run through the set before packing up our instruments. Well, me and Mike met at 6. Sean and Nick didn’t show up until 7. Amazing. But the run through went alright, and we got on our way. As far as most of the bands I’ve played with in the past, I come from a pretty boring punk/indie background, where showmanship was never really a concern as such. But the guys in Zuul are pretty metal and a little zanier when it comes to fucking shit up, and back in the day when they first got together with a different drummer, I think they were a little gung ho about things like dressing up for shows. So they were adamant that we needed some kind of ‘stage show’ for this gig. One of Sean’s ideas was for each of us to be a classic monster: I’d be Frankenstein, he’d be a vampire, Mike would be a mummy, and so on. I was skeptical. But before meeting that day, Sean and Nick bought a bunch of rubber masks and a gorilla suit and stuff like that, and we decided to run with it. They also told everyone to bring dress shirts and neck ties. I don’t really know why. The headliner of the show was supposed to be Gotham Road, a band that featured Michael Graves, whose claim to fame is having been in the Misfits post-Danzig, and also having been featured as a “punk Republican” in a Daily Show segment. One of the reasons we got this particular gig was that at our last show we covered the Misfits’ “Skulls”. But alas, when we showed up at the Sidebar, we got word that Gotham Road had cancelled. Which meant we were now playing last, which was some added pressure we weren’t particularly thrilled out. It turned out later that another of the bands hadn’t shown up, so only 3 of the 5 bands originally billed would be playing. The first band, Stillborn, was some fun punky stuff, and halfway through their set, they revealed that they’re actually quite the Misfits cover band, and played at least half a dozen Misfits songs. The 2nd band, Cheerleaders Of The Apocolypse (who announced that they’d changed their name, but I didn’t catch it), was a spazzy female-fronted punk band, and they announced that they also have a Misfits cover, which was one of the songs Stillborn already played, but that they were going to play it anyway. So though we hadn’t planned to play our Misfits cover that night, we ended up bursting into “Skulls” right quick as our soundcheck. Then we went offstage and downstairs to prepare for the proper set. We put on our shirts and ties (which were pretty uncomfortable in a smoky club in the middle of summer) and our masks. I was mercifully given the black rubber wig (an Elvis-style pompadour with giant sideburns), since as the drummer I kind of need to breathe a little more freely than the other guys, who all wore full face masks. Sean was a wolfman, Mike was a weird blue-faced beast, and Nick had some absolutely bizarre tribal-looking thing on. We looked ridiculous. I think J.G. in particular was feeling kind of embarrassed for us when I told her about the masks, especially after we took the stage and she finally saw them. But, as hesitant as I was about the outfits, they worked. They made the audience laugh, and they loosened us up and help us rock out. It just gave the whole affair a ridiculous feeling that it really needed for our music to sound right. And I think we held it together pretty well. Last time, I think the adrenaline and nervousness of playing out together for the first time made the whole thing a little chaotic, but this time it was a more controlled energy. setlist:
Skulls (soundcheck)
The Shining
He Shot Me
Cockclaw
Fire
Fray
Slashing
Get Out
Brains I couldn’t really tell from behind the drums, but I’m told we got the best response from the audience of any band that night. Granted, it was close to last call, but still, I think we had a good rapport. It was a small audience, at most a couple dozen people, most of which were the other bands and their friends and our friends, but an audience is an audience. And apparently Stillborn liked us and we’re going to play a show with them again at the Sidebar the night before Halloween. And hopefully between now and then, we can step our game up and show as much as an improvement from this show as this one was from the last show. -al
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