The Loud Family Tour 1998:

All photos on this page by Berk Smith. Click for a larger version of any photograph.

From: Larry Tucker
Subject: [loud-fans] Chapel Hill show

A small, but certainly appreciative crowd showed up for the Chapel Hill (technically Carrboro) show. It was nearly like having the band play in your living room. This was my first time seeing LF live and I was amazed at how well they were able to transfer their wonderful studio albums to the stage. Everyone knows of studio bands that just can't cut it live, but this is certainly not the case with Scott & company. I told Scott after the show that I had not experienced a show that tight with so much musical tension since I saw the final Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band on their last tour circa 1979 or there abouts (dating myself here - was it really THAT long ago?). Scott said he took that as quite a compliment. Gil Ray's parents were on hand as well as his sister, who had driven up from Charlotte.

The set followed the setlist on the website with the exception of the encores being Alison's *Execution Day* followed by *Mauritania* (to my relief, I had been hoping for that one). Personal faves from the show were *Mozart Sonatas*, *Spring*(WOW!) and *Lions In The Streets*(to my surprise).

It was a great opportunity to see other loudfans from around the state and country who were previously email figments only. Nice meeting you Berke, Dede, and the others in your company whose names have evaporated (my brain just doesn't hold the info it used to). Rick, sorry you missed it. A special thanks to Jeff for the tape of *Lolita Nation* from his road collection. It filled that one HOLE in my collection. Jeff who also saw the DC show and then was on his way to the Atlanta show.

Happy trails to all,
-Tucker

From: orrery
Subject: [loud-fans] Warning: High LF content; Chapel Hill (Carrboro) show and personal gushings

I wanted to let Listers' know that there were, in fact, some devoted Loud fans at the Chapel Hill show on Wednesday. I post my recollections belatedly, after arriving home at 4:00 A.M. and driving a 300 mile round trip necessitated some zzz's yesterday. And then those two lectures on Tokugawa Japan and the Industrial Revolution given last night....what a change of mindset!

Wednesday's show was an event of MONUMENTAL significance for me, as I have been an avid fan of Scott's music since discovering Game Theory via WDAV radio at Davidson College in early 1985 yet I never had the chance to see him until last night. Those days WDAV did "college" music at night rather than the all classical format the station has today. "Friend of the Family" (appropriate song for mention) was the song I heard first. The next few years were a trying period during which I worked my way through graduate school and essentially found myself. The last three Game Theory albums were a sort of soundtrack and an alternating source of release, escape, and inspiration for that period. Then I lost touch with what was going musically with Scott when I was in the UK between 1991-93. I did not discover the Loud Family even existed until 1995. Thus I missed the early LF tours. (What can I say; western NC is musically challenged in some ways).

(The above can serve as my official "delurkment", since I signed on the List in the spring when instead of debating Scott's sexism some of you folks were engaged in calumniation of SUV's, just after my wife and I had gotten a new Explorer Sport!)

Sorry, on to the show. I attended with 3 friends, two of whom were newcomers to LF music, along with fellow lister Tim Victor from Greensboro. We had hoped to connect with Scott and the band for dinner around 7 but there was evidently some miscommunication with our contact person. Profound disappointment and lamentations. :(

Echoing Larry Tucker's earlier comments, whom we had the pleasure of meeting, the Cat's Cradle must have contained about 30-35 people when the Louds hit the stage about midnight. Things were delayed slightly for the two opening bands (Neilson Hubbard and the Mayflies) because of a trademark Carolinas evening thunderstorm which passed through around 9. The Club's temperature was cool however.

The LF's set mirrored that from the Portland show in early July and others since. Highlights/favorite moments were:

1. An absolutely blistering second number, "Not Because You Can". Great job on bass by Kenny all night but especially on this track.

2. "Spot the Setup" was done near the end and mentioned Natalie I. rather than the anonymous supermodel. Intense vocals here. Gil was extraordinary on drums in this song and throughout, putting 150% effort into every song and lots of extra flourishes which are more difficult to appreciate on record.

3. DFD tracks 9 (opener); 5, 17 and 11. I think I have the numbers right. They really came across well live.

4. "Sodium Laureth Sulfate". Yours truly was singing along a little too exuberantly and jumped the gun on the rather hushed part which goes "when she's a sharing, caring_". Scott looked down at me with a big smile. I felt like telling him "Sorry, I don't know why I did that".

5. "Way Too Helpful". Really moving rendition of what one lister recently suggested as among their fave songs of 1998. I think it says something for Scott's brilliance as a lyricist/musician that he can compose such emotive, angst-ridden reflections as well as faster numbers with equally relative ease and proficiency.

6. "Room For One More, Honey". As with the numerous DFD tracks played, this one really highlighted Alison's contributions to the band. I would modify earlier descriptions of her as "cheerleader", however, which certainly fits as to her enhancement of the music and her enthusiasm. Her performance at CH was, IMHO, more mystical and powerful. She did a lot of gyrating and whirling with her arms and hands which vaguely reminded me of Stevie Nicks stage presence in her heydays. Alison's vocals ranged from hauntingly beautiful and soothing in accompaniment to an occasional near casual, R&B style of singing. Interesting. And her "Execution Day", which was one of our encore numbers, was really kicking.

7. "Where They Go Back To School But Get Depressed". Moving beyond words, chills, etc. Reasons similar to those expressed in #5.

Other observations/comments. I summoned the courage to speak to Scott after the show and found him as warm and congenial as others have said, not that I expected otherwise. Was glad to hear his cold had subsided. I was also surprised to learn that his voice in conversation was really pretty low-pitched, rather than the "miserable whine", as he used to put it in GT days. Remarkable range.

I would also echo concerns others expressed about sound board control and the mix. In the first few songs it seemed as if Scott's voice was too subdued, but after a few numbers it came through more clearly. Later in the show myself and some friends noticed that his guitar was being overshadowed by other instruments on a few numbers.

Sorry for my long spoiler, but I needed a captive audience with whom to share a moving experience dear to our collective hearts. Now how can I dig up the cash for my wife and I to fly out to SF!

Berk (with one "e") Smith

From: Tim Victor
Subject: [loud-fans] Chapel Hill (er, Carrboro) show report

Berk Smith kindly offered a ride to the Cat's Cradle show to a Loud Fan he'd never met, namely me. We, along with his friends Josh and Tate, enjoyed a pleasant drive avec stimulating conversation to Carrboro, spent a few minutes locating the important landmarks for our evening, had a brief lookaround in a used music and book store, then got ourselves to the Carolina Brewery. Berk had invited other Loud Fans to join us and some of these folk had emailed descriptions of themselves to him, but we didn't see any matching persons. Too bad, maybe next time!

We swung back by the club and I ran inside to see if the band or anyone from the list was around. But no luck there either, so we returned to the brewery for dinner and got back to the (still very nearly empty) club just after 9PM. We managed to spot Dede Davis, who'd driven up from Charlotte, and enjoyed a short chat comparing notes on the history of North Carolina pop.

I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to talk with listers Larry Tucker or Chris Murtland. I need to be more sociable! I was also introduced to Joe in a J-shirt (I've forgotten his last name--sorry!) and his brother. (I've forgotten both his names--doubly sorry!!)

Neilson Hubbard started playing at around 9:30, with maybe seven people present to listen. A small crowd, but we tried to make up for it with our attentiveness. Neilson, the man and the band, lived up to his/their praise in previous show reports.

Next up were the Mayflies USA, a local band (I presume) who brought along some of their own fans to swell the still smallish crowd. They looked young and sounded a little shaky at first, but I warmed up to them as their set went on. They struck me as something like a grungier Teenage Fanclub, with well-crafted pop songs beneath a little bit of surface noise, ambitious attempts at vocal harmonies, and lyrics that seemed interesting from what I could make out.

Most of us were clinging to the walls or leaning against railings during the opening acts, but Our Scott stood right in the center of the room, maybe fifteen feet in front of the stage, for both bands. He listened carefully and even went to the trouble of setting his beer bottle on the floor after every song to applaud them properly. Whattaguy!

My only non-band celebrity sighting of the evening was Angie Carlson (of Let's Active and the former Mrs. Mitch Easter) who chatted with Scott for a while and stayed the rest of the evening. I mustered my courage to say hi and asked her about Grover, the band I'd seen her play with a couple of years back. Sadly, Grover is no more (I really liked what I heard) and she said she doesn't have anything going musically at the moment.

I don't have a whole lot to add to Larry and Berk's comments about the songs in the Loud Family's set, but one thing I noticed right off about the band was how talented and professional all four of them are. They played damn well and put on a great show. They were enthusiastic, they interacted with the 30-or-so fans who showed up, and they didn't pout about the ones who didn't, or not in public anyway. They set up and broke down their own gear just like any band I've ever played with, and they had time for everyone who wanted to chat after the show. That might go against the traditional values of the rock & roll world, but I was much impressed.

Gil's drums were big and crisp and powerful, and watching him play made me realize how important his fills and accents are to the current batch of Loud Family songs.

Kenny stood like the true bass player, tall and straight with a broad-based stance, his instrument strapped high on his chest. In a one-guitar band, the bass player has to carry a lot of the harmonic load, and Kenny's hands stayed very busy all night but he made it look effortless.

I think Alison's the ideal counterpart to Scott on stage. Her keyboards and vocals were always on the money, and she was every bit as animated and energetic as previous reporters have said.

Alison dedicated "Execution Day" to Ben Folds, who wasn't actually at the show but might have been somewhere in the vicinity. She's quite a fan apparently.

Gearhead note: her synthesizer seemed to be plugged into Fender's reissue of the late 50's tweed Fender Bassman amp. It was never a particularly good bass amp but it's been popular with guitar players for ages because of its crunchy distortion sound. James Marshall copied it when he started building guitar amps, and if you put the circuit diagrams for her amp and Scott's (late 70's?) Marshall side-by-side, you'd notice more similarities than differences. Maybe that gave Alison's synth an extra rockin' edge. Whatever she was doing, it sounded great.

Scott was simply Scott of course, and no less engaging or charismatic than I expected him to be. He took the stage in a gorgeous shiny black shirt worthy of Tom Jones, in honor of the excellent performances by the open bands, he said. (Ever the savvy shirt-vendor, Alison was ready to take $20 for it from a member of the audience until Scott nixed the deal.)

I'd only seen him live once before, with Game Theory on the fateful TWO STEPS FROM THE MIDDLE AGES tour. I learned some years later why Scott (and the rest of the band for that matter) seemed so moody and distracted that night. But he was just the opposite on Wednesday: witty, charming and full of energy, and his voice and guitar-playing were top-notch. Like Berk, I was surprised by his deeper-than-expected speaking voice too.

After the show, Scott chatted with fans while breaking down his stage rig. I asked him about Rene Girard's book and we talked about that with great enthusiasm for a few minutes. I was surprised at how recently he discovered Girard (late last year). I commented on how Girard's themes seem to fit with lyrics that he wrote four or five years ago, like the "turn into your fiercest rival" line from "Still It's Own Reward". And Scott replied this was what had struck him, discovering that Girard's ideas had so much in common with his own lyrical tendencies.

I also gave him two cassettes to add to the band's ever-mounting pile of road tapes. They were far outside of the Loud Family canon per Janet's recommendation: One had two bluegrass albums on it and the other was a collection of songs I'd gotten off Country Music Television--good for long drives through the South, I figured. Ever gracious, Scott managed to seem genuinely grateful for them.

Gosh, what great folks! If you haven't seen 'em yet, don't miss 'em,

Tim Victor
TimVictor@csi.com

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