The Smiling Moose, 8/29/09

8/29 @ The Smiling Moose w/ Iron City Hooligans, The Traditionals, and the Dollar Shots

The Smiling Moose is always a good time. Last year, I think we played there about 4 or 5 times. This time around, though, we played the new stage they've recently constructed upstairs (it used to be on the lower level, with a DJ room upstairs; they've now switched it around to allow the bands a much larger stage and floor area). I thought we had a really good set, though everyone else in the band seemed to think we weren't very "energetic" or something. I know I did my share... I had no complaints with anyone else's performance, either. So whatever. It was fun.

ICH played second. They were great. Tom (bass) seems like a good guy, and Ryan (drums) is friendly enough, but I'm not sure about the other guys, since I haven't really talked to any of them. But they're definitely a good skinhead band. Been tryin' to play with those guys for a while.

The Traditionals played next and were better than ever. I was curious to see what they'd be like, since Rob left the band and Dave took over on vocals (while still playing guitar). Of course, Dave also plays and sings in Sons of Oi! (his Oi! cover band), and I've seen them enough times and thought they were great, but these are much faster and more demanding songs than anything the Sons play. I was very fucking far from disappointed. I think this might've been the first time they played with the new lineup change, but I could be mistaken. They all seemed a little out-of-sorts before and after the set. Not to worry, fellas, you sounded damn good. All those guys are good people, and I'm glad we get to play with them as often as we do.

Next up was Dollar Shots. Apparently they've been around for something like a decade, but I never heard of 'em til now. They sounded horrible, but to their credit they said that themselves quite a few times during the set. they also got piss-drunk for hours before they played and I guess that doesn't really work out as well for most bands as it does for us. They also told us that we shoulda played last and they played first, however that was meant to be taken. I'm so fucking glad that wasn't the case. After the Trads played everyone cleared out. These guys were playing to, literally, 10 people or maybe even fewer. What's funny is, the bass player is Thom, from the now defunct Tommy Gutless (no, Thom is not the namesake for Tommy Gutless. To my knowledge they were called that before he even joined the band). Let me tell you a little story.

Last year, we played a gig at Howler's Coyote Cafe (PGH), with Guns on the Run from Philly, and probably someone else, though I can't fully remember. Anyway, we play, then Guns play, then we go up to Thom and inquire about getting paid, and he tells us we're not getting paid anything because we're "local", and that's how he runs shows. I'm sorry, but New Castle is far from "local" if you're playing in Pittsburgh. We're two counties away. It takes almost an hour by freeway to get there. We were all broke as fuck. We needed some gas and maybe some food money. All we wanted was maybe 20-30 dollars. He said they only made 80, and that was going to the out-of-town band (Guns on the Run). We said, "Well, we're an out-of-town band," and he said "No, you're not." Then he said something smart to both me and my girlfriend about how we haven't been in this "business" long enough to know what we're talking about, and this is how shows are run, blah blah blah, so I tell him, "Look, I can't be hald responsible for what happens next if we don't get some kind of compensation for our time here." The rest of the band was clearly even more pissed off than I was; so much so that the owners came up to see what the problem was. In the end, I think we wound up getting something like 60 bucks from the bar, but this guy is a total fucking douchebag and most likely will be until the day he dies.

But the point of this wasn't simply to bash the guy over something that happened almost a friggin' year ago. The point is, the first thing he did at this recent Smiling Moose show, was walk up to me, shake my hand, introduce himself as "Thom from the Dollar Shots", as if I wouldn't fucking remember him, and ask if he could borrow our bass player's rig. I blinked a couple times, shook my head, and told him I'd send Chris over to talk to him as soon as he got there.

When Chris finally arrived, I wasn't sure what to do, so I explained the situation to him, and we tried to decide whether we wanted to have a confrontation, and risk our time slot, or take the "classy" way out and act like nothing ever happened. After a minute of pondering, we decided to go with option #2. It had been a while since we played at the Moose, or with the Traditionals, and there was a good "vibe" in the place, so it seemed smarter to just go with the flow. I pointed him out to Chris, and I guess bygones were bygones for the time being. I just thought I'd take the opportunity to point out that we're not complete morons and we do remember shit like that. But we can also be nice when the situation suits us.

Apparently, another thing happened that night that could've ended badly. Someone, who shall remain nameless for the time being, said something really fucked up to a female member of our crew, and luckily he left before anyone could get at him. Maybe he doesn't even remember saying what he said, but it went something like this...

Asshole: "Hey, you coming to the bachelor party?"
STS member: "No..."
Asshole: "Why not?"
STS member: "Because I'm a chick."
Asshole: "Oh, well then you can BLOW all of us then."

Yeah. Needless to say, everyone who was there (Pittsburgh people included) gave her boyfriend the full "go ahead" to bash his face in once word got around. Just so you know, you were literally stalked on foot through the south side for about an hour. I hope you have the smarts to apologize to both this girl and her man next time you see them, or there could be business coming your way. Just a little piece of advice.

Afterwards there was apparently a big brawl I completely missed out on as well. Just some Carson Street pussies who ran their mouths and tried to get physical with our crew for no good reason. From what I've heard they got their asses beat pretty good. Serves 'em right.

Anyway, that's it for this post. Overall it was a fun night and good show. 'Til next time!

--Sam

See pictures from this show