Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Friday November 10, 2017 - Louisville, KY

Road Blog
November 10, 2017 Louisville, Kentucky

We left Dearborn, Michigan around 11am. It was damn cold. At least it seemed that way because the weather just turned this week. And with that dry, Southeastern Michigan wind ripping through my coat, making seem even colder than it actually was. Pretty soon we were on I75 South eating pretzel chips with everything and spicy hummus, listening to Chicago live at Carnegie, The Del Fuegos, and Michael Monroe. We had to make a quick stop at Guitar Center in Dayton to replace a drum throne that was inadvertently left behind, stopped at a Speedway for some shitty road food, hit the usual Cincinnati traffic, and crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky.

A couple hours later we hit Louisville and drove into the German Schnitzeltown neighborhood and our venue – Monnik Beer Co. We checked out the band room upstairs and got a table downstairs for dinner. The food was pretty great – we shared a beer-bread appetizer with smoked trout spread and I had fried meatballs and fries with a mayo-peanut sauce dip. It was heavier than I wanted, but worth it for the quality of the food.

After dinner we loaded in up the (brutal brutal brutal) back stairs and walkway and right onto the stage. It's a beautiful room – square and open, with the stage built in to one wall, and long beer-hall tables next to a small bar off to the side. It's not a big place but great for listening, and we were looking forward to breaking it in.

We don't have a great history in this city. We've played here several times and are probably batting about .200. We have good friends here, and the places we've played are owned and run by good people, but we've always struggled to get faces in front of us. We were hoping last night would be different.

Openers No Sugar went on sometime after 9:30 to a decent crowd. They're two girls sharing vocals and harmonies, with a three-piece band behind them. It was their first show all together, but they were solid. The songs were fun and just a little dark but the harmonies and vocals really set them apart – beautiful. I asked them if they'd heard First Aid Kit, a band from Sweden that they reminded me of, and encouraged them to check them out. Somewhere around then our pal Andy (aka Andy the Untaggable) who plays drums for our friends Vibrolas showed up and it was great to see him and get caught up.

We went on next to a decent room and played what we felt was a solid set. The sound on stage was fantastic, with the beautiful hardwood floors soaking it up and a great monitor mix. We played our tune "Hey Kentucky," which we always do in this state, and tore down. After us, Ocifer went on to a good crowd, playing some artsy indie rock with poetic lyrics, and a performance-based front-man leading the charge. Killer tones from an SG too. After their set we said goodbye to Andy, sold some merch, loaded out down those horrible stairs, and closed our tab. It was a good show, and we were ready to write Louisville off, so we're thankful to everyone who played and came.

After the show we went over to the The Cure Lounge, which was a couple blocks away, for a nightcap. The dude who was working our show works there too and met us over there. We watched some Slayer videos, checked out the band room, talked about our friends When Particles Collide who are playing there soon ("Loudest damn snare drum I've heard!" he said), climbed back into the van, and headed towards our hotel, some 30 miles out, with Patty at the wheel and Bad Religion blaring.

Big thanks again to Monnik Beer Company, Elliott, Ocifer, No Sugar, and everyone else for last night. It's nice to have a good show in this city and we'll be back! Tonight we're off to Lafayette, Indiana for a return to Knickerbocker Saloon with Trivial Nonsense. It's the oldest bar in Indiana, and will be our second time there. See ya in a minute Indiana!