Day 4: Seattle, WA
Welcome
Yesterday we arrived in Seattle for a live radio session and a show at Neumos.
I rolled out of bed while the bus was on the freeway heading towards central Seattle. Heavy metal was blasting under the door from the driver’s compartment; clearly Rob was having a good morning. The great Sky Needle was shrouded in fog but as I gazed out at it through the window it made me feel at home.
We pulled up outside KEXP studios half an hour early and Rob expertly slotted the bus and trailer into our parking space. While we waited to get let in there was time to grab a breakfast from the bakery across the road. I had a butter croissant and a scone with jam.
This was my first time at KEXP. Jon and Liz did a session there in 2018 when Chris Pearce and Katie Everingham were touring with the band, and we did a KEXP session in 2021 that we filmed ourselves in Auckland, mid-pandemic, but this one was the real deal. I was surprised at how magical the room felt. It looked just like it does on screen but there are no camera tricks to make it look that way, just a medium-sized room with a beautiful light-curtain.
There are very good green room facilities so we were able to get a couple of loads of washing on while we sound checked. At 12pm we went live on the air. Sheryl came into the room a couple of minutes beforehand and after a quick hello we played four songs followed by an interview. These radio sessions are usually tough. Voices and arms aren’t easily warmed up at this time of the day, but this one felt really good. Sheryl seemed very happy.
With that done and dusted Rob drove us back to Neumos and executed another very skillful park with bus and trailer. It was a Class 2 load-in so not too strenuous. Just a 5 metre (197 in.) push from the trailer to the door, then a 15 metre push to the stage and a 1 metre lift up onto the stage. Bird the fish really takes our stage setup to the next level. Alongside this we found some fancy red fabric in a back room and used them to cover our amp stands. What a professional show.
After soundcheck Tristan guided us to a great dinner spot and earned himself 600 boints for navigating us past a dog park.
From 10-11.20pm we performed in front of a sold-out room of Seattlites. Many things went wrong.
The fish didn’t inflate.
Jon’s string broke.
The drums got muted from a sticky button on the PA system.
Liz accidentally played You Are a Beam of Light with distortion on.
I tripped over my lead and unplugged my bass during a song.
But somehow this maelstrom of mishaps turned into one of the best shows we’ve ever played.
Sometimes if you sell out a show you get cookies with your name on them.
We are playing two nights at Neumos so we had the luxury of leaving our gear on stage and heading straight back to the bus at the end of the night. I wasn’t expecting to have to award boints after midnight but last night Jon and Liz earned themselves 70 each for drying their washing in the back lounge, and using an HDMI cable as a washing line.
