Too Too and the Guilty Lineup
It was a good night for
most everyone that made the Too Tall and the Guilty Lineup show and considering
how packed the place was that accounted for a lot of people.
I had and especially good night for a lot of reasons. Photography wasn't
one of them but hell who cares? Oh wait maybe some of you people reading
this do, after all it's probably why you are on the site right now.
One thing I've noticed before about Too Tall shows is there are no ugly
girls there. I've seen a lot of bands who attracted lot's of very cute
chicks but never to this degree, I swear I didn't see one ugly girl tonight.
They have one of the best looking audiences I've ever seen bar none.
Though it was a interesting cross section of folk, lots of people were
coming from some kind of "formal" party. Austin the banjo player
for instance was looking sharp in his outfit (pics to follow). And a bunch
of others had come from this girls party, her middle name is Laird. Why
I know her middle name and not her first and last is still a mystery to
me. There was also a couple who went to school with Zack they said; who
had just gotten engaged.. I tried to warn them about he perils of marriage
and how every divorce started with one, but they wouldn't listen to my
advice.. No one ever does.
Big Al and his Big Ol Band
or it may be Big Al Band not sure, opened for Too Tall. Too Tall got up
and played a couple of songs with them.. Quintana being one of my favorites.
After that Too Tall and the Guilty Lineup came on and I realized just
how many people were in Dans. It was packed on a Wednesday night. And
they were all standing in front of me. It was so crowded I gave up on
the idea of trying to shoot anything seriously. I later fought my way
to the front and took a few cause I'm like an addict.. I go for more than
10 minutes without taking a picture and I need a fix.
And there were a lot of 10 minutes in the set this night. They played
for 2 hours and 45 minutes straight.. unless you count the 10 minutes
or so where they made Zack and Carlos do a drum solo while the rest of
the band went outside and hit oxygen tanks or something. Actually Zack
did a drum solo and Carlos did congos or bongos.. er so maybe it was a
percussion solo or duo..
Overall they sounded damn
good. The new songs are as strong as the standards which is a great sign
that they are really continuing to grow. Gravedigger is probably one of
my new favorites. One song which the title eludes me at the moment reminded
me of some old Roky Erickson. I mentioned this to some people there and
nobody knows who Roky is.. Damn kids.
It's going to suck that they aren't going to play again for a few months.
I was hoping for Spring Break but Travis says he'll be in Colorado so
it's not likely there'll be another show at Dans for 6 months. But when
that times comes around I'll sure as hell be there, and will be til someone
figures out just how good this band is and suddenly I can't afford tickets
to the show as they breeze through town once a year at the "big"
venues
On a side note I asked the band what the hell the story is about Austin not being an "official" band member. I got the response that it had something to do with him not going to Tennessee. Not sure why that really matters since they've mostly only played here in Texas. Either way I hope they keep him around. That damn banjo really grows on you after awhile. It does give them a unique sound as well. There are a lot of 3 piece bands out there who are pretty good, but in my opinion and as odd as it may seem for me to say about something like this traditionally very niche specific instrument (read Bluegrass), it really does set them apart from anyone else.
