8/9/10 – Providence
We said a warm goodbye to Andy Plovnick in the morning and left in search of a jewish deli. This mission took us into Manhattan. Everything about driving in New York city is really serious, and even getting into Manhattan from Brooklyn was a militant experience. Signs warned that there were no videos or photographs allowed and when we pulled up to the toll way a tough New York police office grilled us on the contents of our van. We were cool as cucumbers and slid right into Manhattan…. well more like crawled into Manhattan surrounded by a sea of anxiety balls. I kind of like driving in such intense conditions, it reminds me of Crusin’ USA and at this point we were definitely on expert level. We weaved into the Upper East Side and avoided parking in the checkered boxes or honking, both of which will get you fined and points removed. The finish line to this adventure was parallel parking a full size cargo van in intense New York traffic. After a brief struggle we were rewarded with excellent Jewish deli.
It hit the spot, and although not the best Jewish deli I’ve ever had, it did not disappoint. 8.2/10
We exited New York en route to Providence, RI. Everyone was a bit giddy over the thought of playing with Black Pus, being that Brian Chippendale should be a personal hero to anyone experimenting in noise. After pulling up to the venue and cleaning out our rancid roast beef river cooler, we got a chance to meet Josh and check out the venue. We all laughed at Evan when he asked if it was a gay bar. The decor included leather couches and rainbow streamers over the chandeliers, it was going to be quite a night. As we were backing the van up and truck pulled up next to the venue. A polite voice asked if he had cut us off, and so started our new friendship with Brian Chippendale. It was great to see how kind and humble he was.
Evan and I left the venue briefly to go get wings and beers with Mike Nice (his name is totally appropriate) The bar/brewery that we went to was probably the nicest spot we had been all tour, and Im very surprised Austin doesn’t have something similar.
When we got back to the venue things were starting to fill up. I was quite amused that more than one person brought noise headphones, not ear plugs, but the kind of headphones that only runway guys and Brian Chippendale wear. This was in fact one of the noise capitals of the world and signs throughout the night really reinforced this.
Glorfier kicked things off with a two guitar, and Mike Nice (drums) approach. Their set consisted of a one song sort of twenty minute opus. This was their first show and apparently they are an amalgamation of a few other Providence bands. The crowd responded well and we started to set up our stuff.
We got to use the huge subwoffers in the club which is always a treat. As we started our set there was a sizable crowd that was attentive, but not necessarily convinced. It took five songs, but it was well received by the time we finished the final section of Crying During Circumcision…. What I find very appealing about Providence is that this crowd actually came to see noise music. I think our set was actually not loud or noisy enough, and our set choice probably could have been different. We were no longer the weirdo’s, we were in a city that played an integral part in creating the sub-culture of music that we participate in. I really like this, and its almost a treat to have a crowd only go for the obscure and noisy stuff. Up until this point we had been preparing our sets with the more palatable melodic material first, and catering to crowds that might not necessarily like or want half the set to be dark and noisy. This crowd was refreshing change from the rest of the tour and its good to see such a strong community of people that support experimental or noisy music.
Brian was up next and his setup for one is probably just as intense (per capita) as ours for two. As he started to sound check and the house music went down something went wrong with one of his pedals and he began to scramble a 9-volt battery and tools. We grabbed a light and some power chargers and it was really intensely awesome to see him break open a pedal pre-set, duck tape the inside and wrench the whole setup back together. As far as I could tell, his kick drum trigger stopped working which is an integral part of Black pus, being that he runs it through a bunch of pedals and that it generates most the low end. Once he started Sam and I grabbed a good angle and indulged. Brian Chippendale is just a beast at the drums, and noise worlds for that matter. He just eats em up. it was a real treat to get to play with him and see him perform in his hometown. The crowd was into it, but nothing ever really exploded with energy besides Brian himself. Mostly just attentive eyes and looks of awe.
As we packed our gear I sold one of my favorite T-shirts (Zorch/Tupac mashup) to an awesome guy named Michael.
We also sold the amazing bartender our watermelon apron and a few tank tops. It was such a treat to see him immediately put the apron on and use it for cleaning up the bar.
After the show we ate New York bagels with Senor Chippendale and discussed touring. I felt like we had picked up the hottest girl in the bar when he gave us his number, and we left shortly thereafter to drop Evan off at the airport. Once we said our goodbyes to Klienecke we headed back to Mike Nice’s and crashed.
In the morning we were treated to fantastic breakfast by head chef Mike Nice at Julian’s. Good things.
