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North West By Mid West : Ricc Terranova pt2

Hi all, sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. believe it or not, lots has happened in the intermission......first, the band Death Valley Murmurs It is no more, folded, funnily enough after I decided I wanted no more to do with it. There were a few occurrences that brought me to this conclusion.

1), our last gig. We promoted the living holy shit out of it, T-shirts, flyers, posters, tried to get out local media interested. About 15 people showed up. This was probably a good thing as I was as paggered as I can be by the time I hit the stage (literally). Half a bottle of Black velvet is not conducive to a good show. The singer was royally trousered also.
Now, how irresponsible and unprofessional, you may say - normally I would agree. However, you have to figure in the unprofessionalism of the Des Moines scene assholes also. First, the club owner. it was supposed to be a night just for us. We had 1 hour 30 of originals, we wanted to get up there, do our thing - we had tried to get a support act but I think there were Beverly Hills 90210 reruns on that night or something so we had no luck with that.

However......Jeremy and I turn up at the club at about 9:15 or so and another band are setting up. What's this? The Albino Spiders, kind of like Marilyn Manson, only more like a stars in their eyes version. So I asked, in my dulcet Fleetwood tones "who the fuck are you? are you opening or something?" they replied that they had no idea. So anyway, turns out, that the club owner had, that night, decided to get an opener that fit with us about as well as a pork pie fits with Osama bin Laden. Great. Then, the - I'm sorry, this is the only way to describe this person - fucking nonce of a sound-man turns up at 11!!!!! to set his gear up.

So, Albino Spiders go on at 11:30, play an hour of screeching car-crash horrific cock-sauce and then we go on, mashed as Lemmy at 12:45. Yes, 12:45. It was completely shit yet vaguely rawk and roll.

2) the singer. yes, he has been likened to a gay pirate. yes, he wears see through skirts. yes, his lyrics are utter mumbo jumbo and his melodies are - well, there aren't any......i can overlook all that. what I can't stand is ATTITUDE. dealing with Brad is like dealing with Axl Rose without the talent. A number of times he has just chewed me out and bitched at me over stuff i have no control over, like gig times, how we sell tix etc. he did NOTHING in the band esp if it cost money.

So, it comes to the point of - why was i bothering? and really, this was the main reason DVM folded - I couldn't be bothered dealing with his shit any more. I wrote some great rock songs that maybe will see the light of day, but it just isn't worth it. It's like endless fighting for nothing.

So I retired. For December anyway..........

January sees me get a Fender Strat. A change of pace and style. My aim is to write the best roots rock alt/country I can and blow some minds in Des Moines with it. I'm also helping an incredibly hot chick out with some Depeche Mode-ish stuff also. She's coming over Sunday 11th to let me hear what she's about.


What I am listening too?

Free - Live
Lynard Skynrd - One More From the Road
Ryan Adams- Gold
Johnny Cash - American IV
Zakk Wylde - Book of Shadows
Jimi Hendrix - Live at Berkley CD2
Led Zeppelin - How The West Was Won

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