Troika!! My views of our show on night #2!!

I arrived at The Pinhook at about 7:30 that evening and started unloading our stuff. I walked in and waved hello to Kym (Midtown Dickens/Pinhook fame) who was tending the bar. I stopped and talked with the Troika volunteer who was running the door. He gave me our passes and beer tickets (Yah!). He was a really nice guy but, I can't remember his name?.

I set up my drums and PA up on the stage and soon the other bands began to arrive. We had never played with any of these bands before so I figured it would be quiet between us at first. Soon Junko & Thomas arrived and we did a brief soundcheck. The sound guy was really happy that all we wanted was two microphones!. I bring my own PA to handle our backing tracks so I have total
control over this. You never know if a house PA is going to be able to handle what
we throw at it.

The place was about half full when we started around 8:45 but when I looked out about halfway through our set the place was already packed! We finished up with the first song from the new CD "Uncle Bud's Fabric & Foam. We scurried to quickly unload all our stuff off the stage because we knew that time was tight. Unfortunately without even noticing we completely walled in Grappling Hooks equipment from the stage (Doh!) They were really nice about it and we moved the stuff out of the way.

I had to take my wife home during Grappling Hooks set so I missed it ( I confessed this to them later :) ) Everyone said that it totally rocked and I'm sure I would have agreed judging by what I heard online from them. At this point I scanned over the crowd and saw people from all kinds of fellow Troika bands in attendance! Off the top of my head I spotted folks from All Your Science, Beloved Binge, Seqouya, Pink Flag, Pistil, Birds of Avalon, etc… I'm sure there were many more.

Soon Caltrop hit the stage and I quickly realized what everyone had said about them was true! They were so fucking loud that I felt like I could fall forward with my hands out and the sound would hold me up like a wind tunnel!. Junko offered me one of her earplugs but I didn't want her to sacrifice her ears for me. Mine were pretty shot already! After a few songs I did something that what would have really pissed off the 20 year old version of me!. I moved to the back by the bar to watch from a distance. Overall they were damn good though. Its been awhile since I've seen a heavy band that I genuinely liked!

Without getting much time to recover from Caltrop, Bellafea quickly started up their  set. You could tell during the first song that everyone was really hyped up to see them. Several folks attempted to get a pit going. There was also a beach ball being tossed around the place. These guys really brought it! I liked the way they had set up all facing each other in a circle as to bounce energy from each other and give body signals. It was a really great set! really high energy!

This was probably one of the best shows we've had as band so far. All the other bands were really nice and Troika was so well organized and thought out.
Every venue I went to or saw pictures off was completely packed!.

Overall I think it was a great success in every way! Thanks to those guys for picking us to play! Big Durham group hug!! We all rock!!