Friends, Louisville 9/22 was the first Melvins show for me. Actually, it was the first show I've seen since the boo-hoo-stinky-flu started. The lockdowns didn't change anything for me. I never go out, and don't like being around people much, particularly Louisville people. It's mostly my problem - I have what I call ASSHOLE DICKHEAD DISEASE (ADD) and it makes it difficult to get along with boring people. It complicates friendships because I sometimes blurt out dumb things or act the twat. I'm old enough that the teachers at my school used to throw things at me for it and make me feel like shit in front of the whole class. This was before ADD was even recognized, I think. I lit a boy's jumper on fire one day and called him the extra doublebad word. I liked him a lot. ASSHOLE DICKHEAD DISEASE!
Anyways, I was looking forward to this concert for a long time. Louisville doesn't get cool bands too often. I really appreciate that the tickets were affordable at $20. Other bands come to town sometimes, but we can't afford to see them. My wife of 20 years likes Death Cab For Cutie but their tickets are $45 each. It would be painful for me to watch them, but she tolerates my weird tastes so I would go anyways and try not to piss anybody off. These days I think I would get mobbed and beaten for saying certain words, so that builds up a lot of tension. I think ADD and Tourette's might be on the same highway...
Anyways, not being able to get along too well with people basically means that I have burned every last bridge in the world of work and all thats left is delivering groceries on apps. I do alright on there, $50 an hour on a good day, but it's sporadic. Most of the time you are helping out new mothers and old people, so that's a good feeling. What I'm trying to say is that going out is not something we take lightly. I spent my last $40 on a Melvins T-shirt and WATA cd.
So all of that gives me a different perspective than most people when it comes to live shows. I can't be cool about it, it means a lot. Part of ADD for me is having this uncomfortable level of empathy for people. Like, I'm constantly scanning people and can't help but totally feel their emotional state. It's like living with a very thin skin. It gets exhausting after a few hours in a crowd.
I liked the Melvins since I first heard Houdini in, I think it was 1996. I read about them in Terrorizer magazine and special-ordered the cd from the library. The woman looked at it like a dog turd on the counter. I honestly didn't really understand the record. I was used to listening to Blondie and Talking Heads at that time, although I also got into a lot of classic metal/thrash/death/whatever from my step-dad's record collection. He was a very young metal head when he met my mum. When the first WATA songs started, I had a feeling like when I went on a Waltzer (Tilt-A-Whirl) ride at age 7. The operator was a metalhead as well, and he gave the horns and spun the fuck out of it. I felt like I was in a spinning hell and it wasn't going to end. Then I got off, felt really dizzy and threw up in a rubbish bin. I don't drink often, but I had one of those really strong beers that taste like socks and felt a bit sick from it. Damn, WATA were good though. At one point the locked back-stage door opened, and I saw Dale looking a bit like a lost, kindly uncle. That was cool, to see him in real life.
I moved to the other side before the Melvins came on, I wanted to get a good look at that weird guitar for starters, and I'd seen the cool costumes that Buzz wears on different videos. It was interesting to see how putting on the costume made him into a cartoon character. Like, he came on for a minute to fiddle with the guitar stuff out of costume and seemed shy almost. Then the suit goes on and he's transformed. He was stomping around and huffing like he was working himself up and getting into character, that was really cool.
Woah I was stunned when they started playing. We were right up front and it was loud as hell. ALL BUSINESS! I just stood there and grinned like a gibbon. Damn it was awesome. I couldn't remember many of the lyrics. They looked like cartoon characters, it was unreal and massively entertaining. No jibber-jabber in between songs either, which I liked. Just straight ahead. I wandered off a bit in the middle, the thing about ADD is that you can actually really focus intensely on things you find interesting, but you can't always direct your attention. It just does what it wants. So for a good part of the show I was thinking about groceries. Oh well.
People started farting about in the middle of the crowd during Honey Bucket, I think it was? Bumping into each other. I'm too old to be messing about like that. It would be like Benny Hill rapping with Wu Tang or something. Anyways they seemed to play for a long time, like an hour, hour and a half? And then it was done and they left.
Had a cheeky little chat with the guitar player from WATA, but just a little small-talk about weather. I said they came on a good day because it was cool out, and that usually Louisville is too hot and humid. The guy said he's from Austin where it's hot all the time. The singer seemed a bit grumpy, maybe his throat was just sore from all that yelling? Everybody was leaving at that time. I thought about hanging around to maybe talk with the Melvins and get their autographs, but it was getting late and my feet hurt. It's probably for the best.
People were milling around outside so we hung out for a minute. I noticed that the bands didn't bring a tour bus. The last time we were at Headliners we were on the list to see Dinosaur Jr and they had a huge coach. Two young women were farting around on the hill next to a fake crashed plane. What a weird let-down, come-down feeling after the show when you're driving home, back in reality. It didn't leave me for days actually. Like I said, I get way too attached to people so I just stay home most of the time.
Thanks for reading my blog. I appreciate you!
