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On behalf of Satan's Pilgrims, all I have to say to all of SG101 is
thank you. We couldn't believe the reception and how f*ckin' fun that
weekend was. We were even more blown away to find out there were more
of you there than we knew about, after the fact. To tell you the
truth, the list was a great asset to us while we were preparing for
this. Knowing that people were traveling to see us put us in the
mindset that this was a big deal and that we needed to deliver the
goods as best we could. I hope that we still would have put on an ok
performance if I hadn't joined, been reading the posts, and conveying
to the rest of the guys that "man, there are people flying here to see
you play". I think it made them all kind of perk up and go "wow, ok,
let's get to work." I've been joking since I got back that we felt
like Sally Field -"you really DO like us", which is a dumb joke, but
does have a ring of truth to it.
It was excellent meeting Brian and Shari, Ran, TFJ, Dano, Eric,
(Nebulas), Eric H (Surf in Seattle?), and especially the lovely
Kristena and her man Rudy. Kristena has been a great combination of
cheerleader and den mother to us through myspace and got us hooked up
with our old pals the Ghastly Ones again, along with lots of other
newer surf/instrumental bands that we would have probably never heard
of otherwise. Thanks to all of you plus Dick Messick and Rick Selby,
who I don't think I got to meet
? Did the Germans ever show?
I also want to point out that we did not bring the Hammond organ,
because we just didn't have room, but we did have the Leslie Speaker.
The organ Dave used was a Farfisa and TFJ was on the money with his
assessment of the kit I borrowed for the weekend. OK, on to the Q & A.
1) Did you guys have as much fun as we did? How did you guys feel
about the shows?
We can't imagine anyone having more fun than we did; it was a real
gasser of a weekend. You know, you can only hope for things to go
well and that people will show up after 5 years, so we tried not to
get our hopes up too high. But we couldn't imagine it being any better
in every way, especially in Portland. Having fans that appreciate the
music travel long distances to see us combined with our old local fans
dancing and screaming was really overwhelmingly fantastic for us.
2) What was your practice sessions leading up to the gigs like? Was it
hard to get back in the groove or did you instantly click? Was this
the first time you guys had played together in 5 years?
Other than the day and a half of recording we did last year for
Plymouth Rock (four songs), this was the first time we had played
together in five years. It was definitely the first time we had played
the old songs and some of the songs we did, like Grave Up and Ragtop
we hadn't done in over 6 or 7 yrs, when Bobby stopped playing live.
We managed to practice four times before the shows. The other guys
got together 2 times before that, but their Showmans were in the shop
getting tuned up, so they used a mix of practice amps (a twin, an
Orange, and an Ampeg), which made a strange sound together. My first
practice was the first with return of the Showmans and they seemed
very happy to have them back. The first practice was LOUD!!!!! Dave's
reverb tank was making all kinds of noise until we realized it was the
sound pressure from his speakers. Once we moved the tank, it was
fine. It was pretty rough, we didn't "instantly click" but we weren't
too discouraged. By the third practice I thought it was beginning to
sound like us again and a lot more balanced.
3) Is your hand/whatever you cut okay?
"Just a flesh wound". My hands were soft after 5 years of not playing
at all and I mashed my knuckle on the rim of the snare-it looked a lot
worse than it was. Besides, what's a Satan's Pilgrims show without
any blood? We got new red belts for the Portland show because, as
Scott put it, "we needed a touch of red" to add to our stage wear that
night. After the show I couldn't help saying to him "I got your touch
of red right here."
4) How did you and the guys assess your own performances?
We always got better crowd response when we flubbed around a
bit-probably because we start laughing and then start playing around
with the tunes, giving it a looser, more informal feel. The shows
where we were totally practiced and tight often equaled a colder
audience that looked bored. I think these recent shows obviously fit
into the first category, which is fine with us. We felt, all in all,
that it wasn't too shabby for being five years older, slower, and not
having played together for so long.
5) Did you guys still have all your guitars, amps, gear, outfits,
capes? Or did anyone have to make some emergency purchases?
We still had some old capes, but they were worn and a little stinky
too, even after repeated washings, so we got new ones a couple of
weeks before hand. John's Showman head that he used to play through
got stolen about a year after we stopped playing, so he used the Dual
Showman head that Robert usually used and Robert used a Bassman head
that we had lying around and a reverb tank that we borrowed from our
buddy, Sean Fong (thanks Sean). That worked out for the best, because
the reverb stopped working in the Dual anyway.
6) Are you guys still planning on recording remotely and putting new
material out?
Yes, but I will have to go to Portland to record, or wherever we can
all be in the same room. We've kind of scrapped the long distance
idea, although we think the long distance rehearsing and writing we
did worked pretty well. I'm also obsessed with releasing or
re-recording an album that we did with a pianist named Thomas
Lauderdale. He is in a group called Pink Martini and we recorded 10
songs with him around '96 or so. It was never released because he
didn't like the sound of his piano and claims the original tapes have
been lost. I still have a cassette copy and would love to release it,
though it was never mixed and Thomas paid for the recording, so he has
control over it. It's all covers and the piano + surf band thing
worked out really well (think Dave Meyers' Moment of Truth with
Liberace on piano). It's truly over the top. I think the only way to
finish it is to re-record it, which would be a big undertaking, but
would be worth it.
If not, we fooled around with some new song ideas at our practices, so
a release of new original material is definitely possible as well.
7.) Did you do Surfin' Bird? And if so what is it like being one of
America's top vocalists?
No, we didn't do Surfin' Bird. I only sing in European TV, never in
the USA. No, really, we got so many requests for it in Europe (even
though we'd never played it before) that we started playing it as an
encore over there. We might have done it a couple of times here in the
US right before we stopped in 2000, but not too often. To be honest, I
think we forgot about that, we were in pure instrumental mindset
(except for Shit Sandwich and Que Honda, of course).
Thanks again and we hope to have something for you in 2006, either a
record, some shows, or maybe both! We'll see.
-Ted Pilgrim
--- In , "Brian Neal" <bgneal@g...> wrote:
> Ted,
>
> If you don't mind getting put on the spot, can I ask you:
>
> 1) Did you guys have as much fun as we did? How did you guys feel
> about the shows?
>
> 2) What was your practice sessions leading up to the gigs like? Was it
> hard to get back in the groove or did you instantly click? Was this
> the first time you guys had played together in 5 years?
>
> 3) Is your hand/whatever you cut okay?
>
> 4) How did you and the guys assess your own performances?
>
> 5) Did you guys still have all your guitars, amps, gear, outfits,
> capes? Or did anyone have to make some emergency purchases?
>
> 6) Are you guys still planning on recording remotely and putting new
> material out?
>
> Feel free to decline to answer any/all of the above. ;-)
>
> In any event, please accept our thanks once again for the great shows.
>
> BN
