Hooligan's and The Falls both now on our regular schedule! and a congrats to some our friends!

WOW! What an amazing weekend! Our first time back at Hooligan's at I-35 in almost a year was a great success and we are already booked there for October 1 and the new location at I-10 Oct. 15. Thanks to evryone who came out and supported ... you really made the difference.

We ended up using our own equipment at the gig, because we don't know of anyone available we could trust as a soundman. Too often, we've hired people to run sound who had no clue about what they were doing, or didn't listen to us when we gave them instructions, or got drunk by the second set. That was the main reason we went out and got our own sound and light system, so we could run it from the stage. What use was a soundman we usually paid more than we received who couldn't do shit?

ANYWAY .... Hooligan's was amazing!! The staff loved us, the audience loved us, and especially, the general manager loved us! So we're back there on Saturday Oct. 12, and got a call a day later that they want us at the other location on I-10, that used to be Duke's Roadhouse! Hoping we can keep these two great clubs on our rotation.

On Saturday, we played an entirely new club, The Falls, over off Bitters and 281. We had no idea what to expect as we had gotten hired there just a few days earlier when the manager called us up and asked if we wanted to play! What an incredible place! It has an actual waterfall behind the bar, so you could hear water running all night! A great stage and bar staff made it a night to remember. And the crowd was one of our best! They really liked what we were playing and we got nothing but positive feedback all night. We're back there on Oct. 29, and I am sure it'll be part of our regular rotation.

Just want to take a break here to send a HUGE congrats out to our good friends, Chris and Elizabeth, who just had a baby boy a few weeks ago! The're great freiends and fans, and we missed seeing them out lately! The baby's name is Austin ... hmmm, that have anything to do with where he was conceived, you think?.....good thing it wasn't in Alice! Anyway, we all look forward to seeing you guys out on the scene soon!

So far, we're playing pretty much as much as we want to play. We really don't want to do the weeknight thing because we all have families and jobs and stuff. It just wears you down playing all week, and we want to keep this fun for everyone. We had no intention on becoming a full-time cover band ... we really do do this for fun ... it's kinda like a hobby that pays! All the clubs we have played at have been so cool, and that is what makes the difference for a band.

We're back on the SOUTH SIIIIIDE on Friday Aug. 26 at the Trap, 4711 Pecan Valley, off E. Southcross. We always have a good time at this home away from home, and it's been since June since we've played there, so come on out!

And a thank you out to Rowan from SA Rocks blog and Staci for the joining us out at Hooligan's last week! They put a very nice comment about us on the blog, and were great to talk to, as always. Thank you ladies!

Back in Hooligan's, Guadalupe, Billy D's

Interesting list of gigs coming up, as we are making a few returns to places where we hadn't played in a lo-o-o-ong time.

Found out last night that we've been asked to play at Hooligan's, over off of I-35 and Loop 1604. We played there a few times last year, but the former management was never really sure what they wanted the place to be ... a nightclub? ... a sports bar with music ... a rstaurant? I think it was a great place for us to play and we seemed to go over pretty well, even though the former manager bitched when we played something by Stone Sour or Creed or something he didn't consider "dance-y" enough, even though the crowd loved it. Thankfully, that that guy is gone, and it seems that Hooligan's wants to get some ROCK bands back in there! I was told the assistant manager at the new I-10 Hooligan's has heard of us and she wanted to get us in at the I-35 location, since she is helping book the bands now. Works for us, as we're booked there for Friday, Aug. 19. We're looking forward to showing this place what a real rock band can do again!

Back in February, we had to cancel a gig at the Guadalupe River Club in Kerrville, with very short notice, because two of us were very sick and physically unable to play. After that, it seemed we were no longer welcome up there, so it was gratifying to see we're getting another chance on Saturday, Sept. 17.

And we're back at Billy D's again Friday Sept. 2, after a successful return there a month or so ago. We really like this place and we're glad to be back on the rotation there, hopefully!

On another note, we've decided to drop the Firehouse at Walzem and I-35 from our rotation. While this is a beautiful club, with a great staff and great food, we've never seemed to catch on there. We end up playing to very few people, we can never get our sound right there, and the stage is incredibly tiny. It all adds up to a less-than-pleasant expertience for us ... and we really are in this to have fun, so if it isn't, we'd rather try to get a gig somewhere else. Hopefully, if the Billy D's gigs stick, that will keep us in that general area.

We're looking to get some merchandise again ... I'm just torn on what to invest in ... t-shirts is the only thing that was really successful, but they are kinda expensive, so we'll see. Any ideas out here, anyone?

Also, if anyone knows any "graffitti" style artists who wouldn't mind decorating the ALTER EGO band van, I'd love to hear from them. Thanks for your attention folks and see you soon!

Great to be back!

Well, we got our first gig under our belt since our break and I could not have asked for a better night! It's ALWAYS great to get back to the ROXY to play and Friday, Aug 5 did not disappoint!

It was a great crowd from the start, and after we shook off the rust in the first set, it went pretty smoothly, I think most of us were a little nervous at first, trying to remember how the songs went! We played all our new songs and they were all very well received.

We saved "Aerials" by System of A Down for the second to last song of the night, and the response was incredible. Every single person we talked to raved about it, even though I thought there were a few fuckups along the way, which is to be expected the first time you play a new song in front of a live audience. It's way different than playing it during practice in the garage! Shimmer, Blitzkrieg Bop, Blister In The Sune and Be Yourself also went over very well, so the band was pretty pleased about it! Definitely inspires us to learn more new stuff.

The ROXY crowd, in my opinion, can't be beat! If you've never gone to this great club on the Northwest side across from Ingram Park Mall, then you need to get your ass over there! Tonight (Saturday, Aug. 6) we're over at the Firehouse Pub & Grill by Walzem and I-35 and I hope we can finally shake this place up a bit!

See ya soon!

New gigs for September

Hey y'all!
Had a great practice last night and worked out three new songs: "Aerials" by SOAD, "Blitzkrieg Bop" by the Ramones and "Blister In The Sun" by Violent Femmes. True the last two are about 4 minutes combined, but they're fun songs to play. That gives us five new songs to start with, and we're planning a quite a few more to come.
Starting to finalize gigs for September and got a new one at Main Street, 13477 Wetmore, just off Thousand Oaks. I had played this place with my last band years ago, and while it was an OK place, the former owner was a real jerk. Now that the place is under new management, we were happy to try and get back to Main Street. The deal there is that the band either gets a $250 guranteed price, or 25% of what the bar makes from 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. So the more people we get, the more we can make! We're there on Friday, Sept. 16, so please come on and help us break in this club, ALTER EGO-style!