Amy: I adored the Killdozer cover/parody of "Sweet Home Alabama" that we covered and thought it would add to the absurdity to import wholesale the signature piano bit from the original Skynyrd song and ram it down the listener's throat…just chugging along with this virtuosic display sticking out like a sore thumb. It was a fun way to mess with expectations and thumb our noses at the ridiculous elements of our "southern" locale.
SHOW #1: Scott's house.
Scott: Our first show was in my living room while my parents were out of town. A handful of songs were played to about 10 people in my living room. Volume-wise, we probably rivaled a television.
Deron: Scott's parents were out of town, so it was a good opportunity to play to friends. All I remember is playing Sweet Home Alabama with Amy rocking out the piano part.
Amy: Our first show at Scott's house during the summer of 1989, before senior year, was probably my favorite. We rehearsed there most of the time, so it felt comfortable and intimate. Plus, it was thrilling to be debuting the tunes to a handful of friends who were excited about the bits and pieces they'd been catching.
By this time, my keyboard had acquired a small puffy black-and-white ghost sticker. I don't remember how it got there, but Scott or Deron must have stuck it there. From that point on, it was the band keyboard. Deron's guitar emblem was a large black-and-white peace symbol sticker.
SHOW #2: Tim's house.
Scott: Our second show was at our friend Tim's house party. We thought it went very well. We were ready, we played as we would in our best rehearsal and sounded like we wanted to sound. Listening the recording from that night, I have to say we had it together. Not a lot of applause or anything, but hell, we were not a Sex Pistols cover band. I don't know what anyone might have expected to hear that night, but I'm sure we were not it. The audio from the show is available on the download page here. Hopefully we'll get the video online as well.
Deron: It was originally supposed to be at a different house, but when we showed up, the cops had come, so it got moved to Tim's. Iconoclast also played, but unfortunately I can't remember much of their set. One important aspect of the show is that I borrowed my brother's friend's Kustom amp to use as a PA. Later, when I went up to Denton to college, it was still around and became the bass amp/PA for 80% of the shows I ever played. One of the most important pieces of gear in my entire musical history.
Amy: The house party at Tim's upped the ante. This was our first public gig, and my first band gig period…I think it took place in the fall of our senior year. I remember feeling a bit nervous and wondering how we were going to be received; since Scott was overseeing the logistics, Deron and I mostly spoke to one another, and his humor and kindness put me at ease. This was my proper introduction to their circle of friends en masse. Iconoclast carried themselves more confidently, perhaps, but I thought we blew them away musically. Afterwards, I felt really bad about a wrong note that I kept hitting during our cover of "Sweet Home Alabama." Nevertheless, the experience was a rush, and I felt like we'd arrived as a band.
SHOW #3: Amnesty International Benefit, Flagpole Hill Park, Dallas.
Scott: I was involved in A.I. at our school, so that's how we signed up. I was very excited because we were playing in Dallas, and not at a house. However, the show was a bit of a disaster. We played first, and were basically the sound check for a day-long outdoor battle-of-the-bands. I recall that the vocals were over twice as loud as the rest of the entire band, which startled me to the point where I was afraid to actually shout into the microphone. It was my first-time-ever encounter with a "sound man" or anything related to the big live sound experience. I broke a string in the first song (another first, perhaps not yet having realized that this could even happen), and was thoroughly mortified. I borrowed someone else's bass, and we managed to finish an abbreviated set without me having a heart attack. All this was in front of everyone I knew, and both sets of parents. We survived, then I sat in my mom's car for an hour or so, wanting to disappear forever.
Deron: The main issue was that the organizers had told us that there would be speakers and amps there, so I didn't bring any cabs. Of course, they just meant that there would be a PA, but we were too naive to know. Consequently, the keys, guitar and drum machine all ran through some techno bands rack mixer to get to the PA. Also, the sunlight made it impossible for Amy to read the display on her keyboard. Definitely a case of just hoping you make it to the end of the set alive.
Scott's friend Judd's band (Scissorlock) played later in the day. I don't think they won, but they certainly had an easier time of it than us.
Amy: Like Scott, I was in Amnesty International at school and was happy that our next gig supported a worthwhile cause. While our previous gig at Tim's house started our senior year, this benefit show ended it…much time had passed. At this point, I was actually dating Tim (my first semi-long-term relationship and a mistake that experience and more self-esteem could have prevented). I remember that several mishaps occurred that affected our set, but Deron and Scott's commentaries brought the details flooding back. That day, I was preoccupied with Tim being difficult: he came to "support" me but clearly didn't want to be there, due to jealousies he was too narcissistic to admit to.
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