Kicked to the Curb!
We were just too much for Tony's Trophy Room
Going into our show last Friday night we weren't sure what to expect; Collierville, TN is not a punk hotbed. When we booked the show we were clear with them what we were all about, and they said they wanted us, so we packed up our gear and trudged to the far southeast Memphis suburb for a four hour marathon set.
The club was packed while we were loading in and setting up, and no one paid any attention to us at all. It was a smooth set up.
We noticed a few familiar faces in the crowd, but most were clearly regulars--T's TR is clearly their spot.
We started the set by punching them in the mouth with a power chord frenzy of five songs, one bleeding into the next, and we were were feeling good about the sound pumping from the new PA. The crowd didn't seem to notice.
After a brief break between songs (with little to no applause) we started to see various quizzical looks, blank stares and the like. A few people left. The few fans we had in attendance were getting into it. We were in rare form, and most of the crowd could not care less.
For the rest of the first set we were asked to turn down four or five times! We also had a few song requests: White Wedding, Mr. Brightside and a third from a guy who said he would pay us to NOT play Tom Petty. Did this crowd think we were playing originals or a mix of various rock hits they didn't happen to know?
Clearly they did not get us. We finished the first set, took about a 15 minute break, and then when we were revving up for the second the owner came to the stage to reveal he didn't like the way it was going and he was losing customers. He suggested we could either play acoustic (!?!?!?), quiet instrumentals or, if we'd like, we could leave. He said he'd pay us the agreed amount, and that he had no problem with us in particular, but the clientele was pretty redneck and they weren't liking what we were dishing out.
He ultimately was cool about it, but obviously we chose to head out. As we were loading out we did have several people approach us apologetically and say they enjoyed what they did get to hear. We were able to pass out several cards and make some connections, so, who knows, we may actually get a gig or two out of it. One of the regulars told us he saw "Uptown Funk" as the featured band on the calendar for the evening NOT "Uptown Punk." That "P" makes all the difference.
It was actually pretty nice to be able to go home earlier than planned, but we were sounding GREAT! So, it really was the crowd's loss.
Oh well, onward to the next show: Saturday, July 30th at the Malco Summer Drive In for the Cars Under Stars event!
Here's a video of one of the tunes we did @ T's TR: