West Indian Girl

San Francisco, CA

backstage with kirk cameron and teen wolf

Fran’s Flashback we played the middle slot as direct support for the long winters. this gig came out of nowhere but im extremely glad it did cos we kicked fucking ass. [the nice photos are courtesy of misha – thanx man].

dressing room and rider wrap up: the independent doesnt mess around. just walking into the place calls to mind a mini fillmore….a room dominated by a beautifully massive stage.

the facilities 15 points. the backstage area was pretty cool. each band had its own dressing room. there was one nice big clean bathroom for all the bands. the bands also had access to an outside grassy area behind the club as well as the back kitchen. security was posted at the backstage entrance so not just anyone could get back there. this was a pretty solid set up. parking was right out front and load in was an easy roll. the only neg i can think of is where they have their merch set up – on the same wall as the stage? huh…i dont understand that one ) i always like it near the exit away from the stage).

rider/amenities 11 points. beer, fruit, chips, hot water, ginger, tea. yeah it wasnt a full on spread but considering this wasnt our show it was fresh. for dinner there was a great restaurant right across the street.

stage,sound,lights 20 points. by far the independent’s strong suit. the stage was the perfect size for the room not to mention one of the better ones we have played on. john their front of house man was one of the best, if not the best, that i have come across. considering we arrived late he could have copped a real attitude but not only did he hook us up with a great sound check he rocked it live. he inherently understood what we were doing and was right there with us – totally engaged and jamming. this guy rules and i cant wait to play there again just so he can mix us. props to the monitor man too as the stage sound was also awesome and thus helped us all perform better. who ever ran lights also deserves a high five.

promoter 15 points. tough one to grade out on because it wasnt our show but they must have done a great job because the place was filled to just under capacity. they had us listed online and seemed to be on top of their game with the promotion.

staff 20 points. the entire staff was awesome. starting off with tony the production manager all the way down to the crew and security. everyone was easy to work with. i cant tell you how nice it is when you get to work with a cool in house crew. its just one more reason you want to come back to the club. great people.

intangibles 10 points. the fact they suggested i bring tony inside to run around in the backyard was all i needed. dog friendly and mellow.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 91. congrats independent you grade out with an A as you excelled in truly the most important areas. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). i feel like we have finally found our “room” in san fran. i’m already looking forward to headlining there when the record comes out. it seems like ever since i started letter grading out clubs we have played great ones…coincidence…i think not. regardless, i hope this trend continues.

Tony’s Take
this was definitely not tons of fun. stuck in a van for over 6 hours sucks. fran and andrew (from jambase) took me for a long walk before the show but then it was back in the van again. after the show i got to hang out on the street and got tons of attention….what else is new. the club’s photographer misha took some pics of me….of course. then we drove back…to la…that same night. these guys are idiots. good job driving though rob. way to keep it smooth. — F10