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Steven: Hard at work with The Humms Mobile CD Burning Device
First off, let me just speak for everyone in the band by saying.."Thank You Alabama" for showing us the warmest welcome we've ever known since we made the choice to join the liege of infamous sinners known as "musicians". We arrived in Sheffield, AL some 6 hours after we left Hartwell (counting all back tracking...rest stops....Bleech forgetting his cloths and getting lost in the hood) to a building filled with a mixed assortment of people wearing everything from black trench coats to G-strings. Kurt, the lead singer of Satan's Youth Minsters greeted us as we pulled in and I think his appearance frightened Steven (the roadie) and Bleech just a little bit.
Bleech and Kurt
Once we got inside, we were informed that the show had sold out! Great news for a little horror rock band 6 hours from home...that usually never happens. We got to catch the majority of The Skeleton Family's set which consisted of cross dressing..floor pumping rhythms and twangy guitars. Soon after the Skeleton's had finished we loaded our gear on to the "stage" which was a spaced-out spot on the floor while the crowd of true rockers, skaters and black lip stick watched and waited. The show could not have went any better. They loved it and we loved them. When Tyler pulled out his 10" rubber Dildo to play slap bass, it felt right at home in the smokey tavern. One thing I noticed through out the entire set, was this middle-age gentleman in a wheel cheer down in front rockin' and noddin' to every song. He was by far one of the coolest peeps I've ever played in front of.
After our set, we tore down and chunked our gear to the side to make way for Satan's Youth Ministers. While Steven and Tyler gathered everything into a neat pile, I stepped outside to grab a smoke. On my way out I shook many a' hand of pleased Alabamians and a few from Kentucky....small world. After having an intelligent conversation with a man outside named "James" about squatting in national forests' I made my way back inside after hearing a loud "thump" and screams...that was the mating call for all SYM fans apparently. Making my way up to the front in-between the warm bodies of the crowd, I could make out 2 Pentagram strobe signs on both sides of the area, 4 guys decked out in fashion that would make Sgt. Pepper proud and then Kurt....screaming about Satan and Xanex Love...and The Silver Fox. It was amazing.
Satan's Youth Ministers
After the show was over, we all gathered around outside to discuss where to go from there. After loading up and a quick smoke..Kurt jumped in our SUV to give us directions to their place for the night. On the way there he mentioned something about a little after party. You know how I like after parties. As we pulled down this little neighborhood road, we began to see cars lined up on each side of the road and could hear the low beat of a stereo in the distance. We had arrived at "The Church of The Psychedelic Goat" as Kurt dubbed it. Just walking up to the house gave me the feeling of being in a grainy, low budget 70's horror flick...and I loved it. Opening the door, I saw black lights...Christmas bulbs...and random 45's and LPs scattered through out the rooms...I was home. As I mingled with the other band mates and gals from the show, I began to notice what could have been at least 50 pictures of Jesus hanging all around the house. Later on when Steven asked Kurt about that he just said "I went to a Christian School and I like to Torture myself" while he let out an evil laugh that brought smiles to our faces as we sat around his kitchen table and played with paper-plaster body parts we had found.
It seemed as quickly as we got there, we were waking up the next afternoon on a hardwood floor. I rolled over to see Bleech to the right of me sleeping with a Starship toy and Tyler to the left of me covered in many assortments of blankets. Justin, the guitar player for SYM came through the living room and offered to show us the best Mexican restaurant in town which we gladly agreed too. After stuffing ourselves we said our goodbyes and thank yous for the great time and was on our way.
Myself with Taco in pocket...to go.
We were now headed for Atlanta to play a house party at a Mormon House. Funny right? Only the Humms would play with Satan's Youth Ministers one night and then with the Mormons the next night. But these weren't the "finger-casting" type. They were really cool and love good rock music. We got to the house around 7:30pm and began unloading. The first band was a duo featuring acoustic guitar, banjo and a Hi-Hat. Reminded me a lot of the Avett Brothers. After them came "At The End of All Things"....some very close friends of mine that I had met back when I played with Fact Not Fiction. I also produced their only CD that was released right before they broke up due to different members moving away. It was around Christmas time so they were all back in town for family gatherings and obviously a show. They churned out about 6 or 7 songs that brought back a lot of good and bad memories for me but nonetheless, was great.
After their set, Nate (The bass player) took about 20 minutes to perform under his solo name "Science + Skeleton" which he asked me to play drums for earlier right as I had literally stepped out of the car. "It's just noise man..you don't need to know any of the songs..just make noise" he said. So that we did and I must say, it was a lot of fun..something very different. Once our "Noise Jam" was over with, we plugged in and did what we do. Obviously, playing inside a small house with a small sound system, we couldn't really move around that much or be as loud as usual, so in a way it wasn't really a fun show for me, musically..but just being there around cool people and seeing them dance to our music was one of the best things ever.
Right as we were going to play our last song "Gun", My Banjitar quit working which caused Bleech and Tyler to loose their place in the arrangement and having no monitors, that can easily happen. As Tyler scrambled to play the verse line, I was totally in another spot and after a few seconds, my quick temper got the best of me and with out even realizing where I was I screamed "FUCK" in the mic and ordered them to stop playing. There was silence within whole house. It was if someone had jerked the needle off a record player. I stared at Tyler with a look of anger while thinking about tackling him...but I soon discarded that idea due to the fact that there was several breakable objects behind him....plus these things happen all the time between us and they are over with as quickly as they happen. After the quick obscenity, we finished the song and said our thank yous and started to un-plug. Right as I was turning my amp off, this older man sitting on the steps in the back yelled "Play a Beatles Song!". I looked up at him and gave him a big smile as we began to play the opening to "I'll Cry Instead". That was the first time I had ever seen a man of that age move like that...with his hands up in the air..and needless to say, it got me "fired up" and was a great ending to the set. By the way, If you are the guy and you are reading this, I think I left my amp cable at that house...if you could Fed-Ex it back to me..that would be splendid...thanks.
After the house party we debated on getting a cheap hotel room for the night but after it had rolled past 3am and we had no "click" with us, I decided to make a mad dash back home. I would like to thank to Owen's for letting us shake the pictures on their walls and offering us unlimited amounts of Truffle...(The English Eggnog).
So there we were coming up through downtown Atlanta at around 4am headed back to my house in North-East GA. Somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30 Bleech said he woak up to me blowing to the car horn in timing with the radio...apparently that's a good remedy for staying awake at the wheel. As I parked the SUV, we left Steven asleep in the back...he looked comfortable. When I finally stepped into my bed room, I hit the mattress like it was the end of times.
You'd think that would be the end of this story....but there's one more thing I need to mention.
I woak up around 1pm to Tyler watching TV and Bleech "eye ballin" something...as he always does. Tyler mentioned the fact that he had his suspicions that a Cow had been running around in the back yard. With a very puzzled look on my face, I stepped out on the back deck and discovered several hoff prints in the grass and nice big pie the beast had left for me. We began to follow the tracks all the way around the house to the front yard and they lead right to the door on the SUV that Steven would have used to get out. Looking down on the ground below the door, we saw signs of a scuffle and it appeared as if Steven had been awaken by the Beast and had a quick battle with it before retreating to his Honda and making an escape. We continued to follow the hoff prints and discovered that our four legged friend had knocked over my mail-box. After setting it back up...(good as new)...I went back inside and slept for a few more ours. What a way to start off your day.
My Mail-Box after I fixed it
Zeke
