Daniel Amos Message Board | Print: safety net, etc.

Posted by tchandler on 10-28-2005 at10:06:

safety net, etc.

howdy! happy friday!

because of joey's recent post which brought back the 'What the heck does "darn floor big bite" mean?' thread, i read a couple more of the posts there and someone mentioned the song "safety net" which led me to remembering a few things.

DA last "toured" in 1987 (man i'm old) and when we were touring, like any band, the songs and the general tightness of the band got better each night, obviously, because we were playing every night.

but we've played quite a few times in a live setting since that last tour and, typically, there's not as much rehearsal for a one-off gig as there is for a tour.

it just got me to thinking about all the times (when we were under-rehearsed) that we screwed up "safety net" when we played it live because it has that odball 7/4 meter in the verse and then goes to 4/4 on the chorus. first, i was trying to remember why we even did that song in 7/4 and i think it's because we're all such a bunch of garageband knuckleheads at heart that we wanted to see if we could even do it. (ooooooo, look! why, they're actually playing in 7/4! how do they do it?!!)

we'd always screw up safety net and we'd always screw up the end of "endless summer" because the riff goes something like 3 and 1/2 times and none of us, apparently, can count. also "ghost of the heart". if it's a certain kind of repeating riff and we have to count and we're not rehearsed, we'll screw it up.

anyway, does anyone have any stories of seeing us really botch something at a live gig? i'd love to hear about it!

of course, in later years, the last couple of songs at the end of the set would nearly always end in a glorious Replacements-like collapse because something would trigger a brawl on stage.

if you have stories of our ineptitude, please tell!

(i'll be here off and on all day if anyone cares to chat.)

Posted by DaLe on 10-28-2005 at10:21:

the only "odd-ball" tour story I have is

I went to a JerusaLem show at which DA opened.

it was at the State theatre in Minneapolis maybe 84?
anyway, they had you guys on the "floor" in the corner
I just remember the place going wild during dance-stop Cool

I think the house lights were mostly on during the DA set... ?
Very Fun Cool

do you remember anything from that tour or even that concert?

p.s. JerusaLem was great that night too. Smile

) they played on a Stage Wink

Posted by tchandler on 10-28-2005 at10:28:

hi DaLe -- yeah i remember a lot about that tour. i remember playing soccer (futball for all you euroweenies) with their whole band, DA against Jerusalem, in hotel parking lots. we would set up two chairs on one end, and two on the other for the "goals". obviously you had to get the ball between the chairs. (soccer, being their main national sport, meant that they were waaaaaaaay better than us.)

they would always kick our @$$ so badly that eventually when they were about to score, greg and i would grab the chairs on our goal end and run away with them, effectively removing the "goal" and making it impossible to score.

they didn't get the joke.

Posted by Audiori J on 10-28-2005 at10:34:

Somewhere we have a film of "the Eddies" at Lifest....it was interesting...happen to remember that show? It was Mike Stand, Mike Roe, Terry Taylor, Tim Chandler, Steve Hindalong... Wink

Posted by tchandler on 10-28-2005 at10:36:

of course i remember Lifest. berger was passed out on top of the mound of dirt in his back yard, so I had to play all his parts.

Posted by Berger Roy Al on 10-28-2005 at10:38:

I was not passed out, you dirtbag! I was merely resting my eyes.

Posted by Audiori J on 10-28-2005 at10:42:

We enjoyed the show, and enjoyed Steve talking our ear off in the little bar/resteraunt after the show. Big Grin

That show seemed strange in that it seemed like you guys were just doing weird jams and Terry was just fitting the vocal to various songs over that. Is that a fairly close assessment?

Posted by tchandler on 10-28-2005 at10:44:

yes, that's a perfect assessment. that's one of the strangest shows we've ever played. neither of the mikes knew the songs very well, so we had to jam.

Posted by Aqua Green Toupee on 10-28-2005 at10:45:

On the live versions of Safety Net I've heard it always seems like Terry's having a hard time with the meter.

Posted by tchandler on 10-28-2005 at10:49:

hey Aqua Green -- yeah we'd always get thrown off from each other as to exactly where the phrase started so it would kind of loop around for about 8 bars or so sometimes until terry would jump in. it had to have been really funny to watch. seeing band members lost on stage is always entertaining.

Posted by sprinklerhead on 10-28-2005 at10:53:

I remember a show in the early 80's in Illinois. I think it was at NorthWestern University. It was in some small cafeteria and the stage was about 4 inches high. During the show, it kept sliding apart until there was a wide gap in the floor. I don't think anyone got hurt but Terry kept yelling something like, "What's the deal here man?"

A favorite memory is when you guys left Terry on stage to do the conga line at C-Stone.

Posted by Aqua Green Toupee on 10-28-2005 at10:54:

All this having been said,

DANIEL AMOS ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by tchandler on 10-28-2005 at10:57:

hey sprinklerhead -- i remember that show. we'd driven about 14 hours to get there in time to play.

the conga-line thing got to the absurd point that when we played in a theater or something, we'd start the conga-line, take it completely outside the building, go clear around the block and then back into the building. when we got back after 5 minutes, terry would be the only one in the building still up on stage and still singing.

Posted by jiminy on 10-28-2005 at11:00:

hullo Mr Chandler-
nice to see you

Posted by tchandler on 10-28-2005 at11:01:

hi jiminy!

Posted by jiminy on 10-28-2005 at11:10:

I have no show wherewith to speak.

I will say that I saw Billy Smiley (from Whiteheart) loose his smiley as he did the rock hop from one level of the stage down, and the plywood gave way (must have hit a knot)-he was suddenly a one legged guitarist (he sunk to the thigh)- being pulled out of a hole by two "on the ball" roadies

he kept right on playin..

Posted by sprinklerhead on 10-28-2005 at11:10:

Hey Tim,

Speaking of DFBB. I had the chance to hook up with my old band this past summer. It was a ton of fun playing with them again. One of our songs started out as a blatant rip off of your bass line from DFBB. The song evolved a little so that the two songs didn't really sound alike. However, I have to admit, i totally "borrowed" my part from you.

Posted by tchandler on 10-28-2005 at11:12:

quote:

Speaking of DFBB. I had the chance to hook up with my old band this past summer. It was a ton of fun playing with them again. One of our songs started out as a blatant rip off of your bass line from DFBB. The song evolved a little so that the two songs didn't really sound alike. However, I have to admit, i totally "borrowed" my part from you.

that's cool! i don't mind that at all.

Posted by Aqua Green Toupee on 10-28-2005 at11:17:

quote:

Originally posted by tchandler

quote:

that's cool! i don't mind that at all.

Yeah sprinklerhead. Feel free to steal anything you want off me too.

Posted by tchandler on 10-28-2005 at11:17:

quote:

I will say that I saw Billy Smiley (from Whiteheart) loose his smiley as he did the rock hop from one level of the stage down, and the plywood gave way (must have hit a knot)-he was suddenly a one legged guitarist (he sunk to the thigh)- being pulled out of a hole by two "on the ball" roadies

i wish i'd seen that! Big Grin

when i was a younger man, like a complete moron, i used to sometimes jump up in the air and land on my back during a song, especially if we were playing a place like cornerstone with a big stage that had some give to it. but i was just sure that one of those times i'd go clear through the plywood. that would've been hilarious.