My Tour with The Weirdos in 1990
1.3 هزار بار بازدید -
4 سال پیش
-
I was 23 when The
I was 23 when The Shrinky Dinx broke up. I was living on Dave Collins' couch in Malibu, working at the family pizza place, trying to keep the ROCK'n ROLL dream alive. That summer I answered an ad in Music Connection Magazine (remember those things) that was offering a job for a bassist for a "Fall 1990 Campaign."
I had no idea what or who it was. No information. Just a gig.
It turned out to be a touring position in The Weirdos who were going to open for the Circle Jerks during their 10th Anniversary Tour. Their regular bassist, Zander Schloss was also the bassist in the Jerks, so he wasn't going to do both sets, thus the open position on bass.
I spoke to Cliff Roman on the phone, and agreed to meet down at a rehearsal place in LA where they were holding the auditions. When I got there.. I walked into the room and John Denney, Dix Denney and Nickey Alexander were all staring at me.. UNIMPRESSED. They were staring at me like.. who is this kid from Orange County with long hair?
I might have been the opposite of what they were looking for.
I plugged in my bass, and we blasted some really, really loud music for a while. It sounded pretty great to me. Big, fat, solid and simple. (I learned the songs after the phone call with Cliff telling me what to learn)
Nickey blew my mind with his drumming. I'd NEVER heard anybody play that loud before.. and Stan Frazier hits hard. But Nickey was a beast. And he felt like the musical leader of the band to me. He was like a hawk, with his eyes, watching me, judging me, watching everyone, and stopping the jam and scolding anyone who wasn't playing up to snuff. John was great and Dix had an amazing guitar sound, and when we were done, I thanked them and said goodbye.
I got a call back the next day. They said they wanted to do it again. I did that two more times, and they finally said, "Well, it looks like you'll have a place to live for the next 6 weeks because you got the gig.."
It was a crazy tour and one I'll never forget. I learned so much.
Later during rehearsals before the tour, we were playing the song "Cyclops Helicopter" and Flea walks in. He goes right up to me and stares at my fingers which are playing HIS BASSLINE. He is just standing in front of me, staring at me. He had recorded the bass for that song and I'm standing there playing it.. and he's watching me.
After a minute, he nodded his head slightly, as if he approved, and then walked away. WHEW. I pulled it off (I think?)
There are so many stories that I have from that tour. Like the first day we pull into Santa Barbara for the very first soundcheck and Keith Morris FLINGS open the double doors of our Ford Econoline van and takes a huge whiff of the van and says, "HMMMM... SMELLS BRAND NEW IN HERE (it was).. WAIT until you get a SPAGHETTI PLATE under the seat for 3 WEEKS!"
Then he let out a huge laugh and walked away....and I was just like a deer in headlights. Did I just have a tour moment with Keith Morris? What the hell? How did I get so lucky?
Anyway, this video link I'm posting is because it's from a show from that tour from an old VHS tape that I recently found and digitized. The club is City Gardens in New Jersey, and it's closed now.
It was a huge moment for me because after The Shrinky Dinx broke up for a year (nobody really remembers that) I didn't want to stop playing music. And although it's not the single catalyst that pushed us to get back together after it, it certainly made a difference. At the last night of the tour, at UCLA's Ackerman Ballroom, everyone was there. It was The Weirdos, Fishbone & The Circle Jerks. All my family was there, my friends, and Stan, Mark and Rod. Not long after that gig, we started talking about the band again. We got a record deal with Atlantic 4 years later.
I am grateful to all the people on that tour who called me "Rookie" and treated me with respect and kindness and taught me so much. Some of the people include Nickey Alexander, Keith Clark, Greg Hetson, Keith Morris John Denney, Dix Denney, Cliff Roman, Louie & Carlo.
One of the coolest things that I always tell people was the music in our van for the entire 6 weeks.. Can you guess what it was?
Not punk rock.
It was 3 albums the entire time.
Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited"
Jimi Hendrix "Are You Experienced"
The Rolling Stones "Let It Bleed"
On a punk rock tour. That was it.
Amazing.
Thanks for reading, and if you watch, thanks for watching.
-Murphy
Set List:
0:00 W.W.Y.D? (1981)
3:28 We Got The Neutron Bomb
6:15 Hideout
8:46 Night After Day
11:00 Shining Silver Light
13:15 Her
16:30 Pagan/Idle Life
20:35 Something's Moving
25:50 Life of Crime
27:07 Destroy All Music
27:58 Pagan/Tropical Depression
30:30 Helium Bar
35:03 The End - Funny Sound Guy
#TheWeirdos
#CircleJerks
#Live
I had no idea what or who it was. No information. Just a gig.
It turned out to be a touring position in The Weirdos who were going to open for the Circle Jerks during their 10th Anniversary Tour. Their regular bassist, Zander Schloss was also the bassist in the Jerks, so he wasn't going to do both sets, thus the open position on bass.
I spoke to Cliff Roman on the phone, and agreed to meet down at a rehearsal place in LA where they were holding the auditions. When I got there.. I walked into the room and John Denney, Dix Denney and Nickey Alexander were all staring at me.. UNIMPRESSED. They were staring at me like.. who is this kid from Orange County with long hair?
I might have been the opposite of what they were looking for.
I plugged in my bass, and we blasted some really, really loud music for a while. It sounded pretty great to me. Big, fat, solid and simple. (I learned the songs after the phone call with Cliff telling me what to learn)
Nickey blew my mind with his drumming. I'd NEVER heard anybody play that loud before.. and Stan Frazier hits hard. But Nickey was a beast. And he felt like the musical leader of the band to me. He was like a hawk, with his eyes, watching me, judging me, watching everyone, and stopping the jam and scolding anyone who wasn't playing up to snuff. John was great and Dix had an amazing guitar sound, and when we were done, I thanked them and said goodbye.
I got a call back the next day. They said they wanted to do it again. I did that two more times, and they finally said, "Well, it looks like you'll have a place to live for the next 6 weeks because you got the gig.."
It was a crazy tour and one I'll never forget. I learned so much.
Later during rehearsals before the tour, we were playing the song "Cyclops Helicopter" and Flea walks in. He goes right up to me and stares at my fingers which are playing HIS BASSLINE. He is just standing in front of me, staring at me. He had recorded the bass for that song and I'm standing there playing it.. and he's watching me.
After a minute, he nodded his head slightly, as if he approved, and then walked away. WHEW. I pulled it off (I think?)
There are so many stories that I have from that tour. Like the first day we pull into Santa Barbara for the very first soundcheck and Keith Morris FLINGS open the double doors of our Ford Econoline van and takes a huge whiff of the van and says, "HMMMM... SMELLS BRAND NEW IN HERE (it was).. WAIT until you get a SPAGHETTI PLATE under the seat for 3 WEEKS!"
Then he let out a huge laugh and walked away....and I was just like a deer in headlights. Did I just have a tour moment with Keith Morris? What the hell? How did I get so lucky?
Anyway, this video link I'm posting is because it's from a show from that tour from an old VHS tape that I recently found and digitized. The club is City Gardens in New Jersey, and it's closed now.
It was a huge moment for me because after The Shrinky Dinx broke up for a year (nobody really remembers that) I didn't want to stop playing music. And although it's not the single catalyst that pushed us to get back together after it, it certainly made a difference. At the last night of the tour, at UCLA's Ackerman Ballroom, everyone was there. It was The Weirdos, Fishbone & The Circle Jerks. All my family was there, my friends, and Stan, Mark and Rod. Not long after that gig, we started talking about the band again. We got a record deal with Atlantic 4 years later.
I am grateful to all the people on that tour who called me "Rookie" and treated me with respect and kindness and taught me so much. Some of the people include Nickey Alexander, Keith Clark, Greg Hetson, Keith Morris John Denney, Dix Denney, Cliff Roman, Louie & Carlo.
One of the coolest things that I always tell people was the music in our van for the entire 6 weeks.. Can you guess what it was?
Not punk rock.
It was 3 albums the entire time.
Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited"
Jimi Hendrix "Are You Experienced"
The Rolling Stones "Let It Bleed"
On a punk rock tour. That was it.
Amazing.
Thanks for reading, and if you watch, thanks for watching.
-Murphy
Set List:
0:00 W.W.Y.D? (1981)
3:28 We Got The Neutron Bomb
6:15 Hideout
8:46 Night After Day
11:00 Shining Silver Light
13:15 Her
16:30 Pagan/Idle Life
20:35 Something's Moving
25:50 Life of Crime
27:07 Destroy All Music
27:58 Pagan/Tropical Depression
30:30 Helium Bar
35:03 The End - Funny Sound Guy
#TheWeirdos
#CircleJerks
#Live
4 سال پیش
در تاریخ 1399/10/24 منتشر شده
است.
1,313
بـار بازدید شده