About a month ago, my guitar players girlfriend forwarded information about a paid acoustic gig in Santa Monica at a new venue called Bar Pico. I followed up on it and was soon talking to Geffory, one of two booking people who booked us to play on Friday Dec 2nd at 9pm.
I arrived the the venue early on the 2nd (after watching a beautiful sunset off the Santa Monica coast) to sort of get a feel for the room as The Brian Travis Band had never played there before. The room was filled with happy hour patrons drinking heavily and getting a bit sloppy and talking very LOUDLY. There was a silver-haired bluegrass singer/songwriter belting traditional country songs to the mostly unresponsive room. I felt for the guy, as I have played so many shows just like this myself…a lone acoustic guitar and voice against a sea of apathetic ears and loud voices chatting over you as if you were not there.
Another songwriter followed and it was obvious that he needed some help wrangling the PA system, so I dialed in his sound (there was no stage manager to be found and I just offered my assistance). He played a strange set of cover songs while speaking in an obviously fake and unconvincing British accent. A lot of the songs were started only to stop short after the first verse as the artist admitted that he did not know the rest of the song. As a professional singer/songwriter, watching his half-hearted attempt to entertain made me feel a bit anxious and uncomfortable. After about 30 minutes another songwriter named Koah took the stage.
Koah had some real talent and a good voice. (check him out here) He played a lot of covers, but they were stylize to fit his unique presentation. It was really pleasant and enjoyable. The best part of his set, was the fact that he drove out all the LOUD people (they stumbled off to their next adventure) and the BTB audience began to filter into the venue by this time. Our producer George Landress showed up as did about 50 other friends and supporters. The front lines: Anita, Lucie, Daniela, Karuna, Devon, Kristina, Lauren, Niousha and Annie (tardy, but she more than made up for it with her hoots and hollering during second set!). The reserves: Laurie, Mandy, Aeb, Colleen (all the way from NYC!), Tamra, JC, Shayna and the first timers: Torna, Bonnie, Stephanie, Kristopher, and anyone else who I have forgotten.
It was such a rush to see a full house and to be able to rock 2 sets worth of BTB music. For me, the show had a little bit of everything…country twang, folk, alternative, vocal harmonies, and a few choice cover songs including “If I Had A Gun” by Noel Gallagher in the second set. Another highlight for me was having Aeb join us once again on the flute for “Siren”. I love it when Aeb joins in…I’m doing my best to convince her to join us more often, but she is a busy artist in her own right. Check out her music.
Setting up at Bar Pico.
Another BTB show begins...
Good thing that railing was there to contain all the rocking...
We took a nice long break after the first set and got a chance to hang out with everyone who showed up. I was a bit overwhelmed with everyone I had to say hello to, but it was my favorite part of the night, snapping pics with friends and fans and feeling all the good, happy energy that our music helped cultivate in the room.
BT & Aeb after sharing some stage time at Bart Pico.
BT & George Landress
The BTB <3 Annie!
Kristopher's first BTB show!
Hugging it out with Torna!
For my money second set was the set to see. We played seminal versions of BTB numbers like “Gasoline”, “See In You” and “Stacy The Trailer Park Girl” Here is some footage of “Siren” with special appearance by Aeb:
All in all, it was a damn near perfect show. We made 15% of the bar (which only really came to $90, but it was still nice to get something…even gas $ is better than the great big ZERO bands usually get for playing in LA…) The barstaff and the owner had a lot of nice things to say about us and invited us back. I’d love to see this gig turn into a regular thing, pulling a big crowd every time and growing a scene with new fans showing up and bringing friends. Keep spreading the word true BTB believers and we will keep up our end of the deal and keep rocking great shows. See you next time!
Speaking of fake British accents, did you know that Steven the owner/manager of Boulder Creek Brewery faked that Brit accent for all those years?! Preposterous indeed!