SXSW

Holy crap last time I was at SXSW was almost exactly 27 years ago. The following is not really a complete story, but I might as well write a little bit about the time there was a showcase of bands from the Vaccination Records label, and our journey there.

Logo from the long defunct vacrec.com web site circa 1998.

There were 13 people on the Idiot Flesh bus as it headed from Oakland to San Diego and then onward to Austin for the 1997 edition of South by Southwest: Idiot Flesh and crew (Nils, Dan, Wes, Gene, Lorrie, Paul, Heidi), Rube Waddell (Freddi, Kirk, Larry), and 2/5ths of Giant Ant Farm (Dren, Jenya). The rest of Giant Ant Farm (living in LA) would meet up with us on the road as needed. Since I was funemployed at the time I tagged along for kicks and ended up doing lights for IF just so I wouldn't be such a useless hanger on.

The light rig was DIY and completely self contained - a couple cages full of bulbs and gels, various floor lights and strobes, all of which were extension-corded to a series of on-off switches in a panel which I controlled off stage. It was also my job to hunt around the venues for extra breakers needed by the four vacuum cleaners on stage (the exhaust vents were employed for the classic inflating-costume sequence during "Twitch").

Hijinks galore: crazy shows, audiences had their faces melted, hikes in various deserts, sleeping outside in the middle of nowhere under the glow of Hale-Bopp and the milky way, cooking countless pork chops in the bus's oven. Lots and lots of makeup. So much makeup.

Given Dan's penchant for efficiency and improvement, the bus was reworked to sleep all 13 people. This included rebuilding the couch so that the back was removable and a perfect shape to fit onto the armrests of some opposing seats to become a bed of sorts. Jenya and I were assigned to this, which we soon referred to as the "stunt bunk" as bumps in the road may cause the entire platform to shift off the armrests and spill us onto the floor at any second. After this flaw was discovered the stunt bunk was only utilized whilst the bus was stationary.

Idiot Flesh in costume - I think Lorrie took this photo

Things got weird after El Paso. Right after the gig we hit the shitty, shitty long road to Dallas. We were largely still in costume and whatever face paint we failed to wash off in the sinks of the sketchy bathroom at the venue. I woke from the large pile of sleeping people in the back as we pulled into the Tiger Truck Stop for a quick late-night break.

On our way to the restrooms in the garage we found, much to our horror, they had an actual young tiger. WTF? How the hell did these Texan yahoos get a tiger? It was kept in a cage so small it couldn't walk around, and so had apparently become limp, almost comatose during the course of however long its been trapped there. Or was it sedated every evening? We touched its outstretched paw and it barely flinched. Some pointed, angry questions to the half-brain-dead proprietor yielded no answers or comfort, and we left shocked and totally pissed off.

The gig in Dallas was annoying - it was just Idiot Flesh on this bill (along with other bands en route to SXSW), treated like stepchildren until they performed and then everybody was nice to them. It's kind of of fun to watch people's bad attitudes change once they realize they aren't dealing with yet another rock band but instead some of the best musicians on the planet.

Anywho, sans running water on the bus, by this time in the tour we were smelling pretty frickin' ripe. Lorrie had an old friend that happened to also be in Dallas that night, staying at a fancy hotel on some business trip. After the gig we decided to park the bus near said hotel and take this opportunity to overtake Lorrie's friend's single room and maybe sneak in a shower or two. Or thirteen.

It was well after midnight so the main doors to this fine Dallas hotel were locked. Larry, Jenya, and I found one unlocked entrance around back, however. We leapt into the elevator and simultaneously noticed one button which read: "Pool/Hot Tub." I defy anybody in the same situation to resist pressing a button like that.

We jumped right on in. The hot tub wasn't terribly hot, but still refreshing after driving through the southwest without showering for days. But a minute or two into our dip we saw a large man through the foggy glass storming down the hallway in our direction. Uh oh.

He burst through the doors and shouted through his Texas drawl, "I thought I've seen everything." For a moment we were certain we were in some kind of trouble with security - or some archetypical crazy southern hippie-hating hothead - and were all set to apologize and get out, but he continued, "I figured *I'd* be the only one out here at two in the morning!" Then he showed us how to turn on the bubbles.

The man then split, leaving us younguns alone. Most of the others on the bus, who apparently found the same open back door and were also unable to resist the pool/hot tub button, eventually showed up and joined us.

Jenya and I still wanted real showers, and waited in line to take them in Lorrie's friend's room. When we finished it was like 4am, and the floor was already full of snoring people. No space for us, so we went back on the bus to sleep. Having just washed up it felt extra gross re-entering the olfactory world of pork, diesel, cigarettes, and sweaty costumes. Not restful.

(from the wikipedia page for pork chops)

We got to Austin and folded ourselves into our various little worlds. A bunch of the others took a side trip to San Antonio (to find the site where the actual Rube Waddell is buried). I hung out with my old NY pal Dave currently living in the area. Also caught up with Erik from Mumble & Peg - this was during the "middle period" of our band's history when he first temporarily lived in Houston before moving there for reals.

So came the night of the big Vaccination Records SXSW showcase. Giant Ant Farm, Rube Waddell, and Idiot Flesh all kicked ass. Erik & I did some guerilla interstitial performances on the floor as a Mumble & Peg duo - me on bass and him screaming while banging on a bucket. Good job, well done - and then the bands splintered off from there. Dren, Jenya, and I flew back to Oakland a couple days later, and I returned to my regular funemployment schedule.