The Loud Family Tour 1998:

From: Jonathan Ostrowsky
Subject: [loud-fans] Boston show

Executive Summary I: Fabulous. Better, even.

Executive Summary II: I want to be Gil Ray when I grow up.

Impressions:

The club was hot, but the band was even hotter. The crowd (much bigger than the one at the Middle East on the pre-TTOOL tour; I didn't see the IBC show) was totally into it. Once again, it was clear that these guys deserve to be playing much bigger venues; for such a cerebral songwriter :-), Scott & his band totally rawk .... In particular, I was blown away by Gil.

My sweetheart Kathleen and I had hooked up with fellow fan Lisa Farley earlier, and were joined by our good bud Paul just before the Louds went on. It was the Night of a Thousand Stars, as all the local loudfan glitterati were there -- we said hi to Charity, Dan S., and Phil, and met the charming John Sharples (I recognized him from his photo at the Post Office, and accosted him in the men's room :-). And we chatted a bit with the folks in the band.

Pleasantest surprise of the night for me: I saw a guy at the club early in the evening who looked familiar. I finally placed him behind the counter at the Blue Ribbon BBQ in Newton. So I went up to him and asked if he was from Blue Ribbon, which he was, and it turned out that he's a *huge* fan of the band, and plays their CDs at the restaurant! It's so weird to meet someone who actually knows the band!

Pleasant surprise of the day after for me: We picked up (at the almost-out-of-control merch table; the crowd was a mindless mob in hot pursuit of ancillary merchandise) AFL's new CD, THE FOG SHOW. It's *terrific*!! Very un-Loud-like, but very beautiful. Alison has a wonderful voice, and her songs are great.

--Jonathan

From: Dan Schmidt
Subject: [loud-fans] Boston

Lots of people at dinner - I think we had a table of 16 at one point. I am always struck at how cool loud-fans are in real life, having had mixed experiences with people I know from on line. John Sharples, unfortunately, neglected to bring a sockmonkey.

The band had already been fed at the club, but Scott came over just to hang out, and later Gil stopped by for a while too. The other surprise dinner guests were Dan Vallor and his girlf, whose name I forget - Dan V's not on the list right now because of mail problems.

I was pleased to find out that Gil is the sweetest guy in the world, since my sole impression of him up to that point was the "Don't fuck with me" picture on the back of LOLITA NATION. It was great fun finally getting to see him drum.

We missed the first band. The second band was Neilson Hubbard, whom I liked a lot. Everything was instantly catchy, no need for second listens. Then came the Pills, who I actually liked, although everyone else seemed to be putting them down. Noisy sloppy pop-rock, lots of screamed harmony vocals, the songs were less simple than you'd think, and they were obviously having tons of fun.

Other people have described the Loud Family set. I'll just say that I'm a pretty Sensitive Guy, and it completely didn't occur to me that the onstage banter was anything but. Both things Scott said seemed totally within the intraband banter context, and I certainly would have been comfortable saying either of them on stage to my bandmates (all of whom are male, if that matters). One man's impression, anyway.

The mix was pretty bad from where I was standing (front and center); in particular, too much drums and not enough bass. I already knew all the songs, of course, so I could just have fun watching, but I don't know what kind of impression I would have got if I were hearing the band for the first time.

Scott used to go out with Tracy Bonham this time, by the way, if no one mentioned that yet.

After the show, Phil, Aaron and I manned the merch table, and were deluged by the T-shirt-buying masses. One guy got one of each CD, so he must have been converted that night...

Dan Schmidt

From: John Sharples
Subject: [loud-fans] Cambridge show (avec set spoilers)

I thought after The Fam's powerfully joyous Brownies show there was little chance of their topping themselves the next night at TT the Bear's. Fortunately for all of us steambathers on Friday night, I was wrong.

I think I'm the only loud-fan that attended both the New York and Boston shows (am I wrong?) and from where I stand the TT's show was better: longer (the MBV cover was played, two sets of encores), louder, meaner, and more passionate. Scott's guitar was much more prominent in the mix, and Gil Ray was an absolute monster on the kit (not that I wasn't astonished by his playing on Thursday).

At this show I was standing over near Alison, and I was able to observe just how much her keyboards contribute to the sounds that characterize this edition of The Fam. And her dancing, swaying, smiling, arm gestures, and yes, sweat add so much to their visual appeal.

Oh, and remember when I said after meeting Gil for the first time I found him "soft-spoken and reserved"? Well, for those of you who knowingly chuckled at my naive post, be assured that the *real* Unca Gil revealed himself at dinner Friday night as, egged on by Dan Vallor, he kept us in hysterics with war stories from Game Theory days!

The highlight for me (out of many) was the first encore: "Where They Walk Over St. Therese" into "Non-Believers." As Amy Lewis put it beautifully: "I was expecting great things from the current lineup, but not expecting the music to take me so far down into myself." Amen. Due to some recent personal experiences, when the band tore it wide open and Scott wailed "I think we missed our chance to be free" it was a pretty resonant moment for moi.

As always, it was a pleasurable sensation to meet all the loud-fans: Jonathan & Kathleen, Lisa, Julianne Underalls, Dan S., Phil, Dan V. and Shannon, Aaron, Charity, Amy and great to see Brett Milano again. I know I'm probably forgetting dozens of really nice people, but I forgot to write things down before I went to sleep that night. I apologize. Hey, where was Mike Breen? Damn, I wanted to meet him.

The next evening I saw Brett and Amy again next door at the Middle East to catch The Negro Problem/Wheat/Scrawl with my friend Jules Verdone (although we had to run next door to TT's at one point so Jules herself could play a set!). Despite many list recommendations I had never before heard TNP. Well shame on me, cuz they are brilliant. I instantly bought a copy of POST-MINSTREL SYNDROME (the greatest album title ever) and a T-shirt before realizing I had just bought a shirt that could never be worn in public! In fact, a lot of Stew's (highly amusing) stage banter was about how most labels and clubs won't deal with them because of their name, something that hadn't occurred to me before.

Wheat (the only band ever from Taunton, Mass.?) was great in classic shoe-gazer fashion, and I was very impressed with Columbus, Ohio's own Scrawl (hey Jannie--can't remember you ever mentioning Scrawl to us...?).

Man, what a weekend. In between it all, I had time to listen to Lucinda Williams' new one about a hundred times. Life is good.

JS

From: Scott McGrath - Sun Electronic Commerce
Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Boston Show/Bottom of the Hill

By the way, one last very minor point about the LF Boston sweatathon (with potential spoilers, I guess):

I don't think anybody mentioned yet the joke that Scott M. put out whilst mounting a capo on the telecaster. But he said something like, "I got this when I was a kid and had to wear it when I had my braces off ... then I found out you can use it on a guitar..." Dunno if this is known banter or not, but hey.

This was my first LF show, and I was pretty much completely blown away. I always think of Scott Miller music as walking a very fine line between the overly artful and genuine greatness. But the live presence of the band is the perfect cut. They were so raw and rugged and energetic while staying keenly focused on what they do well. There's something joyful and surprising hearing the numbered cuts played live. And migod, Gil is a damned good drummer. And Scott is a fabulous guitar player. Spot the Setup stuck out as a favorite, but the whole set was just incredible.

(Somebody complained about Neilson Hubbard using Gibsons with Fender amps, but hey: the man plays a tele through Marshall stacks and is mind blowing. Sign me up for belated tele appreciation too, as my main guitar, which I play horribly alas, is a 52 reissue tele...and it is the most inspiring guitar I've ever played.)

Anyway, I was impressed at how well the band's overall mission translates into a rockin live set. Wow.

Scott

Back to the diary index.