Quiet Company Loves You

sarahjanecan asked: dude, i fucking love you guys! i heard y'all on kgsr (cause of course, i live in austin!)

LETS GET A PARTY STARTED. LETS GET A PARTY STARTEDDDD.

Hi there,
I’m a fan of your band and a friend of Thax Douglas.  I have your cd, Shine Honesty, and Elbo Room is one of my favorite places to go.  I’ve just started trying to write “band poems.”  I’ve written one for your band, and, if it is okay with you, I would like to read it tomorrow night to introduce your band at Elbo Room. I get off work at 9 pm and I think I should make it to Elbo Room in time to see your band go on at 10 pm. Looking forward to seeing you play.  Here is the poem. 

Quiet Company

I’m not the monster here

with my scarred hands, gnarled 

with the effort of  building a life

on neon flashing sand, trying

to interpret the signs underneath

my feet, always getting the message

too late. Drunken worries trying to

drink themselves away.  A body falls,

a room spins, turning into other rooms,

dizzy trick, pathetic wish.  Step up

to your own demise, a stranger’s lies,

just because he doesn’t understand

the violence of arguments, the longing

of defeat and inertia.  Spaz dance on

diamond shoes, psychedelic powerhouse. 

Mannequin benevolence gently places

my heart on your heart, fluttering the question,

How many times did you want to be in love?

Elizabeth Harper

Now, I don’t have a single clue what that poem is about but OF COURSE I told her she could intro the band with that poem. How often is that going to happen. Perhaps we should make a thing of it and start letting our fans write poems about QC and read them before the set.

Feel free to submit your poem to us at band@quietcompanymusic.com and we’ll let you read it. 

WHY THE HELL NOT.

Day two! We woke up early to try to work on Taylor’s amp. It seemed to be working after I touched up a couple of dodgy solder joints, so we packed it up and drove. Tommy couldn’t help but buy a whole stack of toys (mainly cap guns).

Eight hours of driving brought us to Springfield, and a mad dash to get to a couple of music stores before they closed to pick up cymbals and a bass amp. A ridiculous amount of money later, Jeff has most of what he needs to complete his kit, and I’m running a new Acoustic B600 head that sounds great, though a lot brighter than I’m used to. Thanks to Mitch at Springfield Music Store and Justin at Guitar Center for the help!

We got to the venue at 7pm, found someone to unlock the doors for us, loaded in and went to get some food (see the post about “Mexican” food for more details on that).

Back at The Outland, the crowd was starting to fill in, the opening band (Western Mystery Tradition) was good, particularly considering it was show number three. We brought our gear down to load onto the stage and found that despite the display board having us in the middle, we’d been pushed to the last spot, so we pulled our gear back to the storage area and waited for the next band to play their set, which was apparently their first show ever. Then we set up, found that Taylor’s amp didn’t work, borrowed an amp and played a slightly foreshortened version of our set to fit in the time before the bar closed.

On the plus side, we were paid, and after a rousing game of Wiffle ball the next morning, we went to guitar center again, got a replacement amp for Taylor, ate a big, great breakfast at George’s (biscuits and gravy FTW). The guys from the opening band happened to be at George’s too, so we said hi and hung out for a little while. Now it’s David Cross, Elton John and fire & brimstone preachers on the radio and sleeping Weathers brothers in the back for the next 8 hours.

Oh good, you’re all asleep. Hope you liked my dull bedtime story.

-Matt

Our meal tonight consisted of Fish taco = pei Wei wonton Salsa = marinara sauce Spicy salsa = marinara with Tabasco Rice = couscous Ranch dressing = mayonnaise

The beans, water, beer and chips were all as they should have been.