Hot Molasses

Doug is in a band again and it's called Hot Molasses. It's weird with Doug in a band again, but in a band with people that I don't really know. With Prime Rib and Swim Team, I was much more knowledgeable about the bands. The people, the songs, the style of music, all of it. With this one, for me, it's been more of just a place for Doug to go one night a week. I don't know any of their songs, I don't know the other band members very well (though I have met them all, except for the tambourine player, and they are all very nice), and I'm not really sure how to describe their style.

Doug had a show on Friday night, and I'm just not used to going to shows anymore. It was at the Cantab in Cambridge, which is an alright venue, but the downstairs room was hot and smelly. I've forgotten how smelly rock can be. I got there at about nine, just in time for the first band to go on. They were pretty good - a bluegrass band of sorts, I guess. Called Slim Pickins. They had really bad stage banter, though. Really bad. Hot Molasses then went on around 10pm. Great, I think - we can leave at about 11, or whenever they're done, and hopefully be home by midnight (Doug has been fighting one of his annual respiratory infections this past week, and I am now hit with a less severe form of his disease. Friday night I was just developing it, so I really wanted to be in my bed...), but what I forgot about the rockin' lifestyle is that it's poor form to leave a show and not stock around to see the other bands. That's right! I'll get the hang of this again soon...

Doug sets up his pedals, the rest of the band gets situated on stage (there are six of them on stage for most of the songs - Ben, Andrew, Pete, Julia, Doug, and Sonia, the tambourine player), and they start to play. Here is a shot of them playing their first song (and by the way, I don't know the names of any of their tunes, so don't ask which song this is): But not too far into the first song, Doug goes down for the count. His pedal board experiences technical difficulties (as in a giant cowboy boot stepped on one of his cables and disconnected something. Perhaps a band discussion is needed on everyone keeping their feet in their own designated spaces?) and he doesn't play for the rest of the song. Here's Doug troubleshooting his pedals: Doug, though, is an experienced rock veteran, so he gets things working again and begins to rock out. Another photo of the band, and this time you can see that Doug is relaxing, because he's beginning to groove a little - note his head in the upper left corner. Why don't guitar players get whiplash?

The songs are good from Hot Molasses. Here's a video of one of them; this one, according to Doug, is called The Chief. The video is about a minute long, just as a warning.
Ben has a good voice, though he shares the singing with Julia.

For the last song, everyone changed instruments to play a cover of Pablo Picasso by Jonathan Richman. Doug moved to the mini-xylophone (Andrew took his guitar).Doug enjoyed banging on that, and I liked the cover. Here's a little sample:

Pablo Picasso was their encore, so with that they were done. And now it was time for Doug and I to argue over when to leave. In the end I won out - we left around 11:40 or so, but I felt guilty. But not too guilty - Pete bailed earlier than us. And besides, we're both ill, evidenced by the giant furball Doug just coughed up in the other room and the Kleenex stuffed into my nose (not to mention my pounding head). So while we should have stayed longer, it was best for us to leave. And it was a great show. Their next show is October something. Late in the month. Perhaps I'll go to that one, too. If I do, more photos and video will be posted (but feel free in the meantime to check out all of the videos I took at the show on YouTube). Time for me to get some tea and hit the couch.