Behind the Kit: Bellows, Live at Purgatory
Technical failures, moral victories
Almost every drum teacher I’ve studied with told me to record myself playing and watch back with close attention. Now that I own a discreet and better-than-decent camera, I’ve started taking their advice. For the last year I’ve built a small library of footage from behind the kit at my shows. Now, I’d like to share some of these recorded sets (along with my commentary & memories of the gig), with you, my paying subscribers. If you aren’t a paying subscriber, sorry, you’ll have to catch me live and in person instead.
Bellows, Live at Purgatory in Brooklyn 7/21/2023
I don’t often make big plans for my birthday anymore. Typically I’ve been happy to just assemble whoever’s around at a bar and call it a party. This year though, I decided to go all out. I had my usual low-stakes hang with friends at Lowlands (great backyard) but then scheduled a second party at my apartment where those attending could give a presentation on a favorite record of theirs, which I billed as my 33 1/3 party. Two parties already seemed excessive but at the last minute the gods of rock and roll decided that I needed even more on my plate. With only three days warning Bellows got asked to play at a free show at Purgatory with Katy Kirby, money guaranteed upfront, on the day between my two parties. Challenge accepted, game on, let’s get this bread.
Frank “Friend of Music” Meadows, the usual keyboardist for Bellows, was busy finishing up a tour with alt-country upstarts Fust1 that ended the day before our show at Purgatory, so Oliver, Jack and I planned a quick rehearsal of tunes that we knew Frank could slot into cold. The year we spent logging practices weekly even with no shows on the books continues to pay dividends. Practice went smoothly, the first of two parties was a delight and then it was show time.
By the time we arrived at Purgatory the venue was already buzzing with activity. Staff swirled across the venues two floors. Members of h. pruz’s backing band, the evening’s opening act, mingled and got introduced to each other. Turns out that a number of them hadn’t met yet before the show. I guess we were all equally caught off guard by the gig. The surprises kept coming. Once we’d reunited with Frank and started our soundcheck we discovered that Frank’s sampler, a crucial element for a number of the songs that we’d selected for our easy mode setlist, had gone kaput. Instead of wasting the sound-person’s time by trying to fix the issue on stage, we quickly checked the rest of our gear and then went into damage control mode. Frank ran out to get batteries, one possible solution. Jack ran a number of technical diagnostics. Oliver and I brainstormed songs that we could play without the sampler. By the time that h. pruz were ready to get started we accepted our fate, the sampler was dead and we’d have to manage.
The room had by this point filled to the brim. People love free stuff! Moreover, as I mentioned in a previous BtK, Purgatory has a built in crowd that skews a good five to eight younger than the average member of Bellows. Clearly this is the place to be if you’re interested in the next generation of indie in New York. This made h. pruz a perfect opener for the show. Hana, the h in question, is one of the co-runners of GUNK, a zine that highlights upcoming shows in the indie scene in the city. Hana and her band play a delightful set of delicately arranged chamber pop. If I hadn’t known that the band hadn’t practiced together before the show I wouldn’t have guessed it.
In the brief interim between the first set and ours, we agreed on a setlist that contained most of the same songs as our original draft. We figured that our familiarity with the material would help overcome the lack of samples. I think we were mostly correct! There were a few moments where the empty space usually covered by a sample felt a bit awkward to us on stage, but went over smoothly with the audience. I’m not sure how well Oliver’s commentary on Kia car theft went over with the young non-car driving audience, but it cracked the rest of us up so I’ll take that as a victory. In all honestly, I relished the challenge of trying to replicate some of the samples IRL. I knew we were doing well when I earned a respectful head nod from Frank for my imitation of the bowed cymbal sample on “Biggest Deposit”. It means a lot to be able to impress the only legit free improv guy in the band.
I should probably mention the smoke machine. All night, even during soundcheck, the smoke machine would spit out a plume every five minutes or so. Either the venue staff couldn’t figure out how to turn it off, or enjoyed watching everyone jump in shock every time the smoke machine roared back to life. In my footage of the set below you get just about the best angle on the smoke machine as you’re likely to find at Purgatory. The angle on my chin, however, should be left unremarked upon.
Another thing that should remain unremarked upon is Katy Kirby’s set, but since its my newsletter and you’re literally paying me to remark on stuff, well, here goes. Just don’t narc on me, please. While I found Kirby’s music and performance to be enjoyable, her attitude about the show was uh, less than professional. First off, I didn’t see her around the venue once during the entire soundcheck and set up stage. Ok, fair enough, we all need our space sometimes. But what I can’t condone is constantly apologizing for the quality of your set once you do make it on stage, offering refunds (at a free show??), and then offering guest list spots as compensation for showing up. Like, bro. Everything about this reeks of not taking a free gig seriously, which means that you’re giving the absolute worst impression to potential new fans. Taking a stage for granted is a major faux pas for me. Yeah, you may be popping right now, but what will people remember when the hype fades? I’ve watched future-stars kill it to 15 people and I’ve watched future has-beens piss away headliner sets. Which do you want to be?
Check out Monday’s Listening Diary for more on Fust.