Okay, last night was tremendous. To say I was nervous about the show is something of an understatement. Actually, I wasn’t nervous when we got there and were setting up, that was fine. The nerves kicked in when people started showing up. Lots of people. Lots and lots and lots of people. More than once, I asked no one in particular, “Who are all these people? Where are they coming from? What’s going on?” I estimate the crowd as easily two to three times larger than any other show we’d played, well over 100 people – daunting, to say the least.

The other acts on the bill were terrific. Immaculate Machine, all the way from Victoria, B.C. had great energy and vocals, I think they won over a lot of the crowd, judging from the response. The evening’s headliners, Les Mouches, impressed with their virtuosity and unconventional song structures. Their drummer was an absolute monster, it was pretty scary.

And then there was us, wedged in between the two. Certainly the most conventional pop band of the night, and probably one of the more conventional that Wavelength has seen in a while. Thank God that once onstage, the lights were bright enough that I couldn’t see past the first couple rows of people, and once Doc Pickles had done the introductions, there was nothing to do but play. And by jove if we didn’t acquit ourselves nicely, if I do say so myself. I can point to a half-dozen moments where I fucked up, mostly on account of not being able to hear myself and having to play strictly by remembering where my fingers were supposed to go when, but listening to a recording of the show afterwards, you can’t really tell. Everyone was on, especially Mr. Clay Jones on the kit, who was beating those drums within an inch of their lives, and Brad delivering maybe the strongest vocal performance I’ve heard yet. As for me, I stayed in key whenever I wandered into ad-lib territory, which is really all I could ask. The response from the crowd was very positive and coming from total strangers, that meant a lot.

Genuine thanks to everyone who came out and supported us, it really meant a lot. Thanks to Vic for taking a terrific batch of photos, thanks to Wavelength for giving us the opportunity to play and thanks to Lake Holiday for earning it.

So the show calendar is empty for the time being while we work on some more material so as to put the oldies to rest, but we’re hoping to get back out there around the end of September. Nothing definite yet, but there are some irons in the fire, so to speak.

np – Superchunk / Incidental Music 1991-95

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