Pittsburgh - 3/14 - Howler's
After a night of nerding out with the boys, we were back on the road, en route to Pittsburgh.
Hi, Millie.
Similar to Cleveland, it was hard to find locals for the Pittsburgh gig. In many instances -- and it's understandable -- we were seen as a "hip-hop tour". Now, while it's true that there's rap on the bill, we see it as more than that. Meaning, the show doesn't have to be all rap to work. There was a hip-hop showcase at Howler's the weekend prior to us performing, which put a dent in what would be seen as our target audience. Pop Thief & The Grand Larceny would close the show out; Full Circle Time Machine would open.
Now.
Howler's doesn't usually have music on Monday's. They have trivia, but not music. We had that going against us (i'd thought maybe we had it going for us, but it turned out to be the former). FCTM hadn't played in a year, but our show coincided with them linking up for the first time in a while to perform. At the time they went on -- besides us, the soundman and doorman -- there were two people in attendance. And then they started playing.
I want to make it perfectly clear that they were very kind people, but this was one of the most ridiculous shows I've been a part of. The above video is 15 seconds, but their set was a solid 30 minutes of the above. For (at most) 6 people. I couldn't stop laughing. Not at them, but the situation. Y'do your best with what you're given, but man. I'm gonna post this video again just to make sure you heard it:
We had some familiar faces show up, which was nice. Shouts to Dan for the stellar tee:
The nice thing about the guys i toured with is that, regardless how many people are at a given show, they go the fuck in. Two moments in particular i really appreciated from this show:
1. Sab putting his foot up on the monitor during his guitar solo:
2. Chace going wild for his whole set:
Can't tell there's 8 people there, right?
Richard/Pop Thief captured some great footage from the show; our favorite clip being this one of James/Sab/Ricky performing a new song, and the only video he captured was James saying "Rose Emoji" over and over. Sarob approved.
Even when the shows aren't great, it's important to remember that you're playing your music on the road, for new people, and isn't that what it's about? 1 new fan or 100, give it everything.
James almost got in a fight for taking a Snap selfie too close to a Pittsburgh bro at the bar, but you have to ask him about that.