June & September 2007

After our listening party a few months ago, we had a little time off. I did fuck all... just a lot of vegging and it was awesome. We hit the road to the UK again. Yes... the travel really sucked... but that's always a given and I wont bore you with the rhetorical details. I only took photos of a couple shows. Here's the "T on the Fringe" show.

Here's our crappy Euro bus.

The one good thing though was that It had a copy of Little Britain on it. That show never left the DVD player.

Here's some shots of the Manley Park show in Ireland. Nine Inch Nails was the opener. I've never really been a NIN fan but their manager is the old production manager for the Foo's... Eric Fermin.... one of my most favorite people on earth. It was really good to see him. Also good to see was John Lafferty... NIN production manager and old 311 production manager. Great guy. But holy shit... the stage was small... just big enough for the Foos... NIN has twice as much crap as we do. I've never seen a stage so crammed with stuff. I felt so sorry for all the NIN employees. After examining the guitars and guitar rigs for NIN, Sean said "I'll never complain about my gig ever again". Really people... they have so much shit... everything is so overcomplicated... hmmm... I wonder if someone is compensating for something?... hmmm....

After another short bit of time off at home... The next call for work was some rehearsals down in LA at Studio 606. Most of us crew guys were anxious to get back to work prepping for this next year of touring. The band needed the time to get tight with all the new songs for the VMA performance that we were booked for. Rehearsal time is awesome for crew because we get the time to really tweak. and make stuff perfect. It's the time when we do bigger projects like replacing parts on guitars or building looms or labeling (dummy proofing) all our connections. We resupply all our consumables like strings, batteries, and gaff tape. At rehearsals we get the time to try out new gear and figure out how to make stuff sound like the record that was just recorded. Using the same stuff that the songs were recorded with isn't always practical and wont necessarily sound the same live. Way too much stuff in the studio... there was no room to work.... very frustrated. Over the past couple of years... it has become a storage space for lots of folks... decreasing the amount of usable space a lot. Not to mention all the leftover building supplies and old retired gear and backdrops and set pieces lying around. I hear that problem was solved the other day... thank you very much. A couple days into rehearsal a big ass camera crew showed up to film some live Foo footage there is the studio for Walmart... not a commercial or anything... I think it's gonna be footage that plays IN the store. Big clusterfuck that day. Here's a few shots of the rehearsals at the studio.

Next thing on the agenda was the VMA's. Sean and I drove a big ass truck full of gear to Vegas. Crew stayed at the Westin off the strip and it would've been awesome except for 4 out of 6 elevators were out of service and getting up and down to and from our rooms took forever. The VMA's were at the Palms. The main show was in the big ass arena/theater that they have there... but our portion was in the high roller suites that they have upstairs. All the suites were ridiculously decadent. The one that we performed in had windows that looked from the living room into the shower and bathtub. The shower was huge with 8 or 10 shower heads and a stripper pole in the middle. The glass was that electric stuff that you could push a button and it would go opaque so you couldn't see through it. As awesome as the rooms were... it was a nightmare gig for us crew guys. Think about it... a loud ass rock band in the corner of a marble floored living room. We had to set for not just our band but all the special guests as well. The monitor console, all the guitars, dead cases, a lighting console, and the roadies were in a small bedroom just off the living room. In the doorway connecting the two was a big PA speaker. Not much access. When the show started, add to that a shitload of kids and a pile of cameras, operators, producers, security, and load of p.a.'s (production assistants). Once the show started guitar changes were virtually impossible. It was already a squeeze through the door but now the room was so packed you couldn't move. Thank god for Bailey, our security guy... keeping as much of a path clear as he could. So many things could've gone wrong.... but luckily the Foo Fighters are blessed with kick ass roadies that made it work. The special guests were pretty fun.... Queens of the Stone Age, Lemmy, Ceelo, Eagles of Death Metal, Serge from System of a Down, and the Mastodon dudes.

After the rehearsal day at the VMA's the the band took us all out to dinner at this kickass place in the Bellagio called Sensl. Super yummy. Lots of friends and family in attendance... here's some snaps

Sean and I drove the gear back to LA the next day for the 1st production rehearsal of the record cycle. A rehearsal that's more for the roadies than for the band. Production rehearsals need to be in a big room so we can hang the entire lighting rig and PA system that we'll be carrying. We need to make sure everything works and do time consuming tasks like looming cables and labeling shit. This particular rehearsal was in a place I've never been to before. The outside was western themed and looked like an old cowboy movie and the inside was just a huge empty movie soundstage. It worked out just fine.

This is the newest member of the Foo crew. His name is Ruff. He's one of my best friends. I met him when I worked for 311. A Glasgow, Scotland Native... we stole him from Incubus, and before that he was with such bands as Deftones, Goldfinger, Hoobastank, Wet Wet Wet, Texas, and 311 where he and I got into a lot of trouble. and many more. He helped build Studio 606 when that was going on and I hope that he finds a solid home with us. He'll be taking care of Rami and Pat. He's a brand new Daddy... as of September 10th. A beautiful little Korean baby named Mackenzie May Stewart. Simply awesome.

Next up was LA invasion... a KROQ festival at Dodger stadium that they should've called EGO invasion. The lineup was retarded. The Smashing Pumpkins were the headline act A.K.A. the last band of the night. They did the shitty thing and left all their guitars up all day in prime real estate position as well as their monitor desk ON STAGE RIGHT! Lame. Even at the largest of festivals... when the Foo's headline... we move our stuff out of the way to make room for all the other bands and techs on that day and then move back into position when it's our turn on stage. Kid Rock A.K.A. the biggest cover band on earth was mildly amusing with all the catchy hit songs that they rip off but the strippers... yikes.... haggard. I liked the Chris Cornell part of the show just cuz I'm a huge Soundgarden fan but the songs certainly were bland in comparison... no edge. The drummer most certainly was no Matt Cameron. I even like all the Cornell solo stuff. The rest of the bands that I saw simply blew. Harsh but true. A couple in particular I'd like to rip up but just in case someone actually reads this... I'd prefer not to get beat up so I'll move on.

I didn't take too many photos... too busy being annoyed... but I did take a few amusing backstage shots... here.

My 9 year old nephew Nicholas was in attendance for his first big rock show... Every time Dave would cuss... Nicholas would look back and giggle... pretty cute.

The walk to our cars after load out was long and we were tired.... so Yeti stole a golf cart and ran us way out to the lot where our cars were.... immediately abandoning our cart upon arrival... hehe...

We had a day off so I figured I'd run out to the studio to do some free laundry. I pulled on to the street the studio is on and thought... hmmm, someone must be filming a big movie... due to the many movie trucks and people milling about. Yes... I'm a little slow... It was for the Foo's. I've never seen so much stuff and people at the studio. It was an MTV shoot for all the little commercials they were going to run during the week prior to the record release. I parked around the corner and went in to see Gus dressed like an orthodox Jew... long beard and all. I should've stayed away cuz I was immediately put to work setting up some band gear for an impromptu jam they wanted to get on film. I didn't have my camera that day... sorry... would have been some good shots.

Next thing work wise was Yahoo sessions. A web cast thing I've never heard of. The studio was on the Fox lot. The audience was to be contest winners. If any of you reading this ever make it to the filming of a TV show, you'll encounter the most annoying thing ever. A dude that has a job specifically to "Warm the audience up". God they suck... they get you to do all the things they want the audience to do so they can splice it in to the performance later, should the audience not react in the appropriate manner. Scream, clap, laugh,... whatever. A series of bad jokes and over-exuberant behavior will make you want to walk out before the damn thing even starts. This particular set was set up really well... I guess yahoo has no shortage of money.

Off to NYC we went... to play a show at Irving plaza. A small club/theater downtown near Union square. So fricken small. Making everything and everyone fit here was a real challenge. Sean and his guitars were pretty much right on stage with the band... Ruff and pats guitars were above Sean in a loft.... Geof with Recording rack and basses, Me and Dave's guitars, and Ian and monitor console had to live in a small dressing room off stage left. Pretty good show though. Wiley showed up dressed as Grace... a character from his crank call CD. I guess he got to be on MTV with the band as their tour guide as they drove around the city.... hehe... he didn't break character even once the whole evening. He was great.

Back to LA for the weekend off... thank you. Guess what I did... yep... played WoW. I know... lame. I had fun so suck it.

The record release show was at a little theater on Hollywood Blvd. called the Henry Fonda. I had done one other show there.... I worked for Beck for a Elliot Smith benefit... nightmare gig but Beck was great. This Foo show was destined to be great.... Dave showed up to sound check in great spirits, joking around. He jumped on the drums and he and I jammed some metal... it was so fun. So I was kinda psyched... and man... to be a fan here tonight would be great. Tickets went for 20 bucks and you got the new CD.... However, I heard that tickets on eBay were as high as 800 bucks. Fucken scammers. The people that scored the 20 dollar tickets would be soooo stoked.

I'm sorry... but I've got to say it.... The crowd sucked ass. One of the worst Foo crowds ever. LA crowds are never good but this one.... oh this one.... just terrible. Quiet, Judging, and cool most of them stood watching the spectacle of the Foo Fighters, who started out with their normal furious momentum. I don't know if the band felt the same way but the vibe of the show changed drastically after the third song.... Dave started calling audibles.... completely abandoning the set list and just playing covers.... he even forced me to come up there and butcher Holiday in Cambodia by the Dead Kennedy's. I said no for like 2 whole minutes (an eternity on stage)... I didn't remember the words... but I knew he wouldn't give up taunting me (or the rest of the folks on my side of the stage), so I went up and did the best I could... making up the words as I went along, mostly just making sounds like words but just nonsense. Very embarrassing. After I left the stage I cringed with every "nice job" that people gave me probably red in the cheeks but mostly just pissed that I didn't know the damn words cuz I love that song. I hope I get a rebate sometime soon.... cuz I'll fucking bring it.... count on it. Over the next hour I remember pretty much all the words.... being put on the spot like that, my mind just went blank... oh well, it's over. The crow will be eaten. The best part of the night was when Lemmy came out to do Shake Your Blood. God, that song rocks...The rest of the set just flew by... it was time for the gig to be over. The best thing about that day was that the kickass record was finally out. It's amazing.... right now... Long Road to Ruin is my favorite track. I don't know why LA shows always pale in comparison to other places. Maybe it's the added pressure on bands of having all the extra friends a family there and all the industry people... press, label reps, management reps, whatever. Or maybe it's cuz audiences are jaded... it is the show business capital of the damn universe.... Half the audience or more is in the entertainment industry as it is... and the other half have seen so many damn shows that nothing excites them.... I don't know just thinking out loud. My philosophy of crowds is usually... if a crowd sucks, it's the entertainers fault for not entertaining. But I swear, it's different in LA... cuz the Foos always give it everything they've got... and LA rarely gives back.

Here's some photos of the LA record release show.

I'm at home in Portland today.... happy as a clam. It's taken me days though to put this post together.... sifting through hundreds of photos. But I did it listening to the New Foo record I bought... yes.... bought.... that's how much I love it. go buy it if you haven't already... it's great. Another thing you need to buy when it comes out is Dave's new signature model Gibson guitar. It's based on an old Trini Lopez and you can see the prototype in most of the pictures I've posted here is Dave's hands. I had some input in the design... and it still came out awesome... hehe. Not sure when it'll be out in the stores but when it does... I'd get one cuz they're only making 300.

Well bitches, until next post.

"Of those who say nothing, Few are silent."
Thomas Neill

6/8/07

London... again. But this trip was somehow different for me. Don't get me wrong... I'm still just as grumpy as ever. I still hate air travel just as much as ever and still hate leaving the US. But for some reason ... this time... wasn't all that filled with hate. I felt pretty zen the whole time... and if you follow my posts my next statement will not surprise you. This band I work for continues to impress me. I never tire of how amazing they are. I blown away that they are not the biggest band on the planet. I think Dave is magic sometimes... his ability to take a mistake... a clam on guitar... a forgotten lyric... or a piece of gear breaking... and turn it into something special. He'll make you feel like you like you witnessed a once in a lifetime event... something that you participated in... something you can relate with instead of criticize... something real instead of the normal show business rock act that you know most bands repeat night after night. The same banter in-between songs... the same face with a certain string bend... the same jump at a certain downbeat... the same contrived, formulaic, easy nonsense. Other bands I've worked for were champions at this. But the Foo's give out something rare at their performances... honesty. I actually look forward to mistake... because out of those mistakes come some of the most magic creativity and entertainment I have ever experienced. I'm sure that if the boss reads this i might get scolded for hoping for mistakes but whatever... at least I'm honest.

My journey over was quite easy... I managed to upgrade myself to business class using my United miles. Upon arrival, Sean and I had to go straight to the gear shipper's warehouse to sort out some guitars and equipment to go over to the legendary Abbey Road studios. The band was to record a cover there the next day. Band on the Run by Paul McCartney. I must admit I was a little skeptical at first. Hard song... very stylized... whatever... the Foos owned it. It sounds so great. Studios were gorgeous... just like the 606... but much larger... a few studios, all monstrous. Piles of vintage gear littered the hallways. Good meatballs in the cafeteria. At the end of the day Sir Paul himself stopped in to say hi. In a true politician style... shaking hands and kissing babies... he was quite charming and funny... and left as quick as he arrived. Pretty Cool. I was so bemused by his presence that I forgot to grab my camera and get some shots of him and the Foos together... crap.

The next day was all about the normal secret (not so secret) Foo small club show at Dingwalls in Camden. Good crew attitudes got us through a very challenging day with flying colors. Load in and out was a long push down a cobblestone alley... hehe.... nightmare. Small stage, almost no lighting and an old beater of a house sound system made this an authentic bar gig and the charm was not lost on bleeding eardrums. But oh my god... had to be in my top three favorite Foo performances... so powerful and as I stated earlier... honest. Dave honored a rare request... he did wind up instead of learn to fly as asked by a sign held by a sweet fan in the front of the crowd. they haven't played that song but one other time that I can remember in my 8 year career with them. Dave forgot some words in a few songs and fellow comrade Sean thought it would be cute to put up a sign saying NOW HIRING... TELEPROMPTER OPERATOR... inquire within. When Dave saw it... he said "who put that up?"... Sean may have well have had a guilty sign on his head. I don't think Dave was quite as amused as we were. During Stacked Actors Dave threw a guitar.. from the top of the speaker stack into the middle of the stage... I don't think it's too broken. Any other guitar tech might be bummed at this kinda shit... as it creates work for them... but not me. I say that fucking guitar was asking to be thrown... I heard it talking shit throughout that whole song. Sometimes shit just needs breaking... what else can I say? At one point Dave asked who was going to the Live earth show the next day and mentioned that everyone should go because it's for a good cause... to battle global warming. Three kids standing near me actually boo-ed global warming... hehe.

The 7/7/07 festival was pretty good... all things considered. When I originally got the lineup and set times mailed to me I laughed. So many huge bands with no set change times. Some event organizer thought that because there was a turntable stage... that bands would just be able to go back to back. Well, it sounds good in theory but after the logistics of moving around and setting up the immense amount of gear each band has(except the pussy cat dolls... their gear is attached to their chests and atop their legs) and a lot of big egos to move here and there.... and factor in a world wide television broadcast... and things are bound to run late. By the time I arrived on site at 6pm things were about a half an hour behind schedule. It doesn't sound like a lot but believe me... when you're dealing with a stadium full of people and TV broadcast times... it's huge. They were asking bands to cut songs... and some begrudgingly obliged. Just like an awards show, the most poorly planned aspect of it all was the transportation. Artists and extra unplanned entourages always trump crews and we get shorted and abandoned. The next day... three vehicles were supposed to pick us up at 5am to take crew to the airport and only one showed up... we didn't all fit and by the time I managed to scrounge up a cab we barely made it to the airport in time. How's live earth gonna fight global warming when they can't even organize a few vans. Bitch, bitch, bitch.

After the show... my fellow hot crew dudes made love to the camera... after a few drinks of course... c'mon people, admit it... The Foo crew is the hottest crew in Rock and roll huh?

As some of you may have guessed... the record is done and off getting mastered... I'm not privy to the release date although I'm sure some of you psycho fans already know when that is. A few weeks ago we had a listening party for all the important friends and industry people involved with the Foos. Including our 606 next door neighbor... dude is a party animal. Yikes.

So... that's it for now... Do me a favor people... if you wanna take my photos elsewhere... please just ask me. My email is bbandhisfob@yahoo.com ... Most likely I'll say yes. These are my photos and I reserve all rights to them...

Any more abuses and I will stop these posts about the Foos completely and just keep it about boring old me... and that would be awful.

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