Diablos West Coast Tour Part I - Good Morning Portland!

This was my view of Portland, OR as I waited at 8am for someone to wake up and let me back into the hotel. My cell phone isn't working and everyone else is sleeping off the booze. I tried to do the right thing and go get everyone coffee, but stupidly forgot my room keys. At least it's not raining...
It feels like it's been ages since I hit the road with Los Diablos last January. I've hardly played the drums in between these stints and I felt a little uneasy about the physical rigor of 7 shows and 4 radio appearances in 10 days, not to mention the driving. Oh, and the drinking.
However, this time out was very different from past Diablos tours:
*we're only covering about 700 miles (from Portland, OR to Santa Cruz, CA) with most of the shows happening within an hour of San Francisco.
*another major difference was the amount of support the band was receiving from promoters and radio personel before we even landed. It's a lot easier to deal with a hellacious tour schedule when you've got people who are excited to work with you and hear your music. not quite the same as hoofing it 6 hours to Iowa to play for 10 people.
We flew to Portland from Massachusetts on Fri. Nov. 17th, the night of our first performance. We played in a restored saloon called The White Eagle. The White Eagle has a couple of distinctions that set it apart from your standard bar and hotel. First, it's been remodelled to be exactly how it was in the early 1900s when it served the Rose City's burgeoning population of drunk, horny sailors: European -style hallway bathrooms, tall tin ceilings, small, sparsely decorated rooms for rent, etc. Second, it's considered by many to be the most haunted building in Portland, a fact they proudly display by writing all about it on the paper placemats in the dining room. It's always nice to read about beaten prositutes being dragged into the basement while you're finishing up your nachos. This second fact is noteable in as much as we would never have taken the gig had anyone mentioned the hauntings to our fearless leader Josh. He's, uh, paranormally challenged.
The show was set up by Garett Brennan, a local musician who caught Los Diablos last summer at The Plough & Stars in Cambridge and thought we'd make a good double bill with his band The EB GBs. He was right. And he lived up to his end of the bargain by packing the place with their fans. They loved us - we loved them:
And then we got drunk:










DAY TWO

Hung over as we are, we gotta hightail it down the coast to Mt. Shasta, CA for an early show tonight.

Mt. Shasta - what can I say that hasn't been said? Just look at this beautiful creature:
The town's nice too, just a little boring compared to the scenery.

We have a gig at The Stage Door, a cozy little cafe and listening room on the main drag. The club has a lot to offer - nice hospitality, fun patrons - but the best part about this gig was how I procured it. I originally emailed Tom O'Hara in August to get the date. He emailed back quickly saying it was open and sure, he'd love to have us, and please send along a CD and press kit. Well I did, and then didn't hear from Tom for quite some time. turns out he got the CD and wasn't crazy about it and has rethought his decision to book us. This is rare, but once it happens it's virtually impossible to change someone's mind. Below are the highlights of our exchange as I try to convince him that we REALLY need to play the show:

>>>>>
booking@ninemilerecords.com wrote:
Tom
I hope you've gotten the CD and packet for Los Diablos by now. Let me know about Nov 18th and any details you can impart

Tom OHara wrote:
After listening to your cd I have to say I don't have a market for what you're doing. You would work well in a place with a younger audience than what I have here.
Thanks for the interest, though, and good luck. Great cover art.
Tom

booking@ninemilerecords.com wrote:
Tom
Thanks for writing back. I take no offense at all - there are plenty of people who have said no to us over the years. I was more concered about your initial enthusiam turning into reluctance after you got our stuff.
That's a little more rare. And, as I said, I always defer to the booking person/owner's best judgement about their room.

In the last 8 years, I've just never had the critique that our sound was too young for an audience - even back when we oursleves were young!
Around the East we get pigeonholed into a lot of folk rooms and have to claw our way into the younger, more rock rooms, knowing that we can play both.

You are sadly right that live music is in the decline; but we've done very well of late in smaller mountain communities in NC, WV, VT, however, which was my initial thinking about Mt. Shasta as opposed to some of the bigger cities we usually hit. We find people in these communities to be more open to the bluegrass underpinnings of our sound, and, to be frank, folks in these places are usually more laid back and ready to have a good time than the jaded scenesters we cross in urban areas.

Hopefully we'll land somewhere close by and begin to build a presence in the area. Then next time through we can pack the house for you.

Best,
Rick

Tom OHara wrote:
OK, I've been ducking and dodging and not really being frank with you. I did listen to your cd - all the way through, and my impression was that the content of the cd was consistantly monochromatic. I wanted a second opinion so got my colleague in the booking department to listen as well and he agreed. We were both surprised (and yes, dissappointed) at the cd, considering the excellent and dramatic packaging and your dynamic name. I don't know how close to your recorded performance your live performances are - maybe you're different live. I thought the vocals were very similar from one track to the next, and all through each track, and really missed instrumental improvisation in the mix overall. I know you're going to resent me telling you all this, but I know that when the people who come to shows here encounter understated, low key music, they tend to be dissappointed and seldom stay for the second show. My most active 'crowd' are older, retired people (and I'm sure you know how Gonzo they can be), and they tend to respond well to energetic high energy stuff - scottish fiddling, Flatt and Scruggs type bluegrass, Django jazz. They generally shun folkies (unless they're famous - the fuckers'll come out for Utah Phillips). When they do come to acoustic shows they end up coming to the sound booth and asking if I can get the band to "pick it up a bit", and generally leave. I had no idea what sort of audience I would get here - I thought that this is a fairly lefty community that people would be inclined to want NPR sort of entertainment. They may, in fact, but they don't come out. People with 'conciousness' seldom have much of it it seems.
To make a long story short, I felt that the picky geezers that do come to shows here would not appreciate you because you are, as you say, laid back. If I don't take these things into consideration I will piss off what little audience I do have and they won't come back. It is, I know, quite politically incorrect to think along these lines and make artistic decisions based on pecuniary interests, but if you were the one trying to stay afloat and pay the bills you'd likely do the same. I've been a bassplayer for over thirty years and it's very different having to consider the other side of the business.
If I could get the community aware of what you really do I could probably get to your audience and promote a decent house. But with a name like Los Diablos, people would be expecting more energy than your band puts out - at least on your cd. I think younger people, twenties, thirties wouldn't mind laid back - my market doesn't buy it.
There you have it. Torn between sending this or not. Don't want to spoil your day or piss you off - but as a fellow musician I think it might be good for you to know the impression one gets from your pr stuff.
I have a band which isn't all that far off from what you do, and we're not swimming in gigs around here I can tell you. If I didn't have a venue we wouldn't be playing much at all. If you'd like to check our band out it's www.kazangojazz.com.
Sincerely,
Tom O'Hara

booking@ninemilerecords.com wrote:
Tom
I'm sorry to hear that and I hope you reconsider. Our general audiences are 35-55 (and we're all in that age range ourselves), so I'm not sure what you mean by kids. Our music can get pretty revved up, but it's still folk music - the same way bluegrass is folk music even though it's often rowdier than hell. In fact, one of the main reasons for this trip is to play spots on KPFA and KPIG down in the Bay Area - two of the most esteemed acoustic/americana music stations on the West Coast.

We play pubs and folk rooms all over the country and I have to say we rarely dissapoint anyone who is interested in acoustic music.

I can understand if it's not your style perhaps, and I will defer to your best jugement, but I do hope you reconsider. Ariella had great things to say about The Stage Door, and it truly seems right up our alley.

If you do decide not to go with us, I'd definitely also appreciate your tip to any nearby venues (within a couple hours ideally).

Best,
Rick

Tom OHara wrote:
I am not making any qualitative judgements about your group or it's proficiency. Ariella wouldn't send me a turkey group. It's simply that this is a tiny community (7000) and I have been having way too many shows and it simply doesn't work. I get hit on by so many great acts wanting to play here that I've seriously overbooked the place. I hate it when a fine act is on my stage and half a dozen (or less) people show up, and it's happening far too often. I just have to say no to most of the groups who ask to play here. I understand this is a national phenomenon - it's not just me. Ariella and all the other venues I know are in the same boat. Right now I'm cutting back to things I know will work (and only a few of those) and passing on the rest. I sincerely hope you don't take offense to this, and that sometime I will be able to host your group. Sounds like you'll be around for a while.
Tom
ps: Sengthongs in Dunsmuir has much deeper pockets than me. You might also try the Straw House in Weaverville; Mobius in Ashland, Oregon.
Can't think of any others up here. Chico seems to be happening.


booking@ninemilerecords.com wrote:
Don't apologize - I get exactly what you are saying. Josh's voice monochromatic? why yes it is. (So is Johnny Cash's and Lou Reed's) But like I said in my first response email "often rowdier than hell." What I meant by laid back was meant to mean "open to acoustic instruments and balding somewhat frumpy players," not to mean "boring strummy affairs about sunshine and dogs."

Actually I'll let these fine folks do the talking about Los Diablos live:

"Anyone whose seen Los Diablos perform understands the meaning of a rock riot. The band's beer-fueled, Celtic rock flavored shows are tantemount to drunken pandemonium." - Winston-Salem Journal


"Sad songs say so much. Soak them in whiskey and set them to raucous Irish wedding music and they say even more. On paper the melodic hash of Celtic waltzes, Turkish rumbas, banjos and folk rock should be a sloppy disaster, but onstage, it's anything but." - Richmond Style
Weekly


"Josh Lederman y Los Diablos call themselves the "kings of Irish-Jewish folk-punk." The "punk" comes from the Boston band's live shows, which are beer- and whiskey-fueled debacles." - Lousiville Courier Journal


"...if you should have the good fortune to see one of their shows, be prepared to consume copious amounts of wobbly pop; it's part of the ambiance. This is real life music...I've yet to meet anyone who can't get off on this one." - Freight Train Boogie Magazine (KRCB Santa Rosa)


"It's Bob Dylan meets Johnny Cash mixed in with Celtic, bluegrass, English rock, klezmer, and a big punk beat." - Asheville Citizen-Times
live review


I can understand if folks need electric guitars and thumping bass to get off, but as far as energy, there aren't many who can outdo us. Sure there's an occassional waltz, but everyone has to pee sometime...and I said we had to claw our way into the rock clubs, I didn't say we dissapointed them once we got there. And your decisions about booking seem pretty sound to me - you can only do so much with a built in clientele and a small population base.

I really like Kazango, by the way, but I get what you're saying about dynamics. Thanks again for the honesty. I don't get to indulge in too many of these types of conversations; you're making me work.
-Rick

Tom OHara wrote:

Sounds like, from the reviews, I got the wrong impression from what I heard on the cd. Some groups are 'alive' on stage and not necessarily so much so in the studio. If you're willing to work for the door and dinner and beer, why don't we just go with the Nov 18th date and promote the shit out of it. You sound like just the sort of group I like to have here, and we could probably have a pretty good jam before or afterwards if you wanted.

Yep, we're both having to work at this - but I didn't expect this job was going to be easy. I thought you deserved to know what I was thinking, wordy as it was. I may be getting a bit hard edged as I'm bombarded with well intended folks wanting gigs and I feel I have to stifle my softy nature! Grrrrrr

If you're still interested, how much do you want to charge at the door? I try to keep my shows at ten and up. 7:30 or 8 is a good start time.

Glad you liked our group - we're just less than a year old and just getting a grip on our identity. We rehearse twice a week and we're starting to get tight. Only problem we're facing just now is our fiddle players intonation. Don't know if that's fixable or not - hope so.

Hope to see you sometime soon.
Tom

>>>>>

We got the gig - we rocked the house. Then I locked the keys in the trunk of the car preventing our escape. No shit. I was loading equipment one minute, then the next I noticed no keys in my pocket. Small glitch you say? Well, we were planning a night flight down to the Bay Area for a 10am radio show in Santa Cruz the next day. This is a huge pisser!

So we sit in The Stage Door and guzzle esspresso while we wait for AAA. Once we actually get on the road, we make some decent time. sometime around 2am, we're cruising off on I-80 headed for San Francisco. Then we hit a snag. Or several snags.

A tire pressure light comes on the dash. Fog so dense we can't read the street signs creeps in. Within 10 miles we are limping down the highway with a flat tire, no map, and no idea where the hell we are. Finally, we pull off at the first sight of a "MOTEL" sign. Actually, it read "TEL." The owner just happens to be up and clothed at 3am. He meets me screaming at the check in door. "NO! NO WAY! NO ROOMS." I scan the parking lot. No rooms?!? No cars! "It's an emergency!" I scream back. "We have a flat tire!" "NO! NO WAY! NO ROOMS!" is the only response. fucker.

John keeps his head and begins changing the tire in no time flat. Josh and Buckley jet out in the other car to scout a motel that IS open. They find one, but the cheap bastards charge us the full rate even though our official check in time is 3:50am. And we're still 85 miles from Santa Cruz. Josh, John & Pete have to get up at 7 to make the show in time, making this the most expensive nap in Diablos history. I hope things turn around tomorrow...er, later today.