Tuesday February 17, 2009
10 High
Atlanta, GA
Review by Frank DeFreese
It's been a while since we swung by the Ten High. Most of our Atlanta appearances have been TV shows of late, so it was cool to actually play a full-on gig proper.
Normally I'd take a pass on the prospect of a last-minute out-of-town gig on a Tuesday night, but Curt called and offered us a gig with a band called The Sex Slaves, and without thinkin', I said "I'm in!".
It could have gone either way, really. Being from NYC, they were either going to heavily rely on irony as a deliberately empty statement or just rock-it balls-out. I was a bit worried they might chain themselves to the stage, wearing leather gimp masks, or something, a spectacle to be sure, but a bit trite in terms of actual entertainment value. And really, if you’re GOING to sell yourselves as The Sex Slaves, you better be ready to bring it.
So I checked out their Myspace page and yep, they’re the real deal. Good,
because my ulterior motive for playing this show is if and when I go home this
Thanksgiving and mum begins to passive/aggressively wonder aloud why I'm not a
tax attorney married to a turbo-fertile CPA and expecting a second or third
child, I'll interrupt her and tell her about this awesome gig my band played
with a group from NYC called The Sex Slaves.
Oh, and pass the mint jelly this way, if you don't mind....
I was full on prepared that these guys might be total dicks and maybe they would
be to you, but to us, they were pros every step of the way. They know their
business, and they do it with swagger, attitude, and some raucous tunes. Plus,
they custom built most of their gear (like me!), and it's always cool to meet
musicians that take their creativity to that level.
Curt, Hans, and The Ten High crew were great, as always. It's pretty rare to get to talk with a club manager that's successful and willing to share insight on the business and it's more complex inner-workings. Ten High is also the rare club that has a full-on drum kit and bass rig that you're welcome to use or not use, which should be enough to elate my chiropractor on Friday morning.
We had about
2 hours to kill after sound check, so we headed up to The Dark Horse to chillax
a bit. Adam and Jim from the Pinx, Rosie Rocket, Ken, Mary, and a lot of our
other Atlanta friends (and friends of friends) started filtering in. We ended up
getting so sidetracked that I didn't have time to change my clothes before the
show.
So instead of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy style but circa 1974, I just played
this one in my street clothes. I haven't seen any of the pics yet, but when I
was hanging out after the show, a couple of girls told me that I reminded them
of a 14-year old girl trying to smuggle a summer squash in her jeans. So maybe I
really didn't need to change after all.
As always,
it's the interesting comments like that which hint of a progressively more
interesting evening ahead. Sadly, tonight that 'twas not to be for Joe was my
ride and alas, he had to work the next morning.
As for the
show itself, I dunno. I immediately broke a string in the opening salvo of “The
Only Way”. I’ve been breaking a lot of strings lately. So I switched to my
backup, which was sort of still in tune, and I just kinda dug in for the rest of
the gig.
Special thanks to Adam for picking up my other bass as I really didn't mean to swing it like that. And thanks to everyone else that came out to see us on a Tuesday.
So, how was it for you? We'd love to hear your thoughts!
Head over to
Myspace
or our *brand new*
Facebook
page
and leave some feedback!
Set list for the evening:
1. The Only Way
2. Sometimes I’m Sam
3. Into My View
4. Sadder Day
5. Rage On
6. I Won’t Stand Still
7. Phony
8. Waiting For The Siren
9. Scared Of Myself
10. Towel Cape Song
11. Worms On The Pavement
12. Happy Here And Now
Wanna see more pics of Chris McKay and The Critical Darlings at 10 High? Click here!
All photographs by Amanda McKay. Copyright 2009.