July is blazing by fast. We played the Lion’s Lair on the 1st and hit our first Friday night at So Many Roads ‘Brewery and Grateful Dead Museum’ on July 14th (see next blog). As per usual we played to our heart’s delight and debuted a Led Zeppelin tune, The Lemon Song. What a ripper! We found out that I can really rip that vocal range and the 18 yr old inside of me was living his zeppelin fantasy. It was such a blast to do.
There we were one evening practice. The band is getting set up. Usually about this time, with a few of us plugged in and ready we’ll fool around with this song or that. Almost playing the game of, “Can you recognize this?” Or “check this out!” On this fine evening, Jack was plugging into his skateboard pedalboard, not quite set up yet. I can’t remember how it happened exactly, but Joe Bob gets into the Lemon Song riff – E E G# G# A A B (rest) E7!! And I start wailing that opening “I should have quit you, a long time ago!” Taner hits the kit and dillow starts wailing in his own right. We go for a verse or two and stop short, laughing at how well it worked. Then, bright eyed and bushy tailed Jack looks in surprise and says, “What the hell was that?!” Holy crap, we gotta do that. Zeppelin, Jackie. That is Led Zeppelin.
I’ve said it before but one of the coolest things about this band is we really enjoy all styles of music and want to incorporate them into who we are. Lemon Song is such a rocker and most bands are afraid to pull that kind of stuff off, even though the probably could. I will venture a guess and say that by stepping past the normal stuff bands do well and learning to play into the intricate songs that many people love, but rarely see live, is what will set Lazy Summer Home apart from the rest of the riff raff.
Back to the show – The downside of the Lion’s Lair was that although slated at 9pm, for whatever reason we didn’t get started until 10:30/11. It seemed like our sound guy was late or maybe the bar was raking in the cash and wanted everyone to stay longer? After the first band, the crowd began to dwindle, but our crew, (Summerheads?) mounted up and stuck it out. My dad and brother came to town and even they stuck it out… mostly lol. We brought an upbeat jam of a set list. We even were asked for an encore! It went like this:
Gotta Jibbo – Phish
The Lemon Song – Zeppelin
Gam Gam – LSH
Acid squirrel – LSH
Wolfman’s Brother – Phish
Pinky Doodle – LSH
Troubadour – LSH
Baboon Caboose – LSH
Real Bummer – LSH
Loving Cup – Rolling Stones
Encore
Crosseyed & Painless – Talking Heads
Lion’s Lair is a true dive bar right down to the cheetah skinned booth in the corner, with the yellowed plastic protective cover. A friend of mine said it was once a Hugh Hefner Playboy club and the longest running music venue in Denver. Thanks to Eveyone But Jay for starting it up. Thanks to Patrick who ran sound and gave us a cheap price to multi-track the band.