Surplus 1980-Hemlock Tavern, SF CA; 4/3/16

Usually, a booked show for a Sunday evening is an invitation for disaster; what workin' folks are going to be at a club at 11PM on a Sunday night, waiting for a band to play? Thankfully, the organizers of this show were smart and scheduled it as an early starter. The first band, Otzi, played at 7PM sharp.
Surplus 1980 were last on the bill, but we were able to hit at about 9. Owing to the sensible start time, we actually had some enthusiastic audience members in attendance.  We seemed to play to these folks, too. The energy was high, Moe! was ON (the man has fans!) as he danced into the crowd and banged on any available surface, including guitars. Everyone seemed focused and ready to play. Melne fought off her recently acquired cold, Bill was his usual enthusiastic self, and Steve, having literally shown up right at our start time, was seriously on task. I felt pumped up, too, having been pretty inspired by Perfect Loss and Otzi.
 It's funny: I've now played Ornette Coleman's "Theme For A Symphony" twice at Hemlock Tavern! Along with last night's Surplus rendition, Barney Cauldron played it when we opened for Greg Ginn and the Taylor Texas Corrugators in 2009.
A few clams were made: I biffed a transition on "99 Is Not 100" and cut off a verse on "Failure of Commitment". Sorry, folks. That said, the new tunes are getting really solid, and the overall energy seemed fantastic and powerful.
A totally sweet gig, all the more so for its thoughtful planning. I know, how Rock 'n Roll, right?

Below: a Suplus 1980 pile of drums

Above: Moe! admonishes the crowd that our bass player is on his way!
Below: Surplus 1980 (minus Steve Lew, out of frame) live, photo by Matt Herman, thanks, Matt!

At the end of the night I received a compliment from ace drummer Jordan Glenn, which was very sweet icing on the cake, indeed. Thanks, Jordan. Also, big ups to Perfect Loss drummer Karl for sharing his kit with me. Thanks, Karl.