[mushmanski57@hotmail.com]

Originally Posted by Chris Lawrence

the 'specific guitars/effects' thing is more of a myth than anything else. other than the super-old shit that they probably just don't want to play anymore anyway (they tend to not 'look back' as much as many bands do), only 'eric's trip' was really affected by the gear theft, and they've managed to re-create that 'unique' guitar and the song is once again a staple in their set (they were trying to think of another 'lee' song to start playing this tour, but i guess have so far come up dry...someone objected to 'joni', sadly).

as for 'the sprawl', i mean...the tab site has pretty good tabs for a majority of songs, but i seriously doubt the band ever references it. their techs may check it for tunings (sometimes i'm consulted directly pre-tour when they're trying to decide on some 'new old' tunes to start learning). i don't think it would take a ridiculous amount of effort for them to relearn any of their old tunes, it just really comes down to whether all of them agree to re-introducing it to the set again. certain people object to playing certain songs, or have a hard time nailing their part (i know one member's difficulty w/ 'stereo sanctity' has narrowly kept that song from resurfacing in recent sets). they were working on (or at least talking about) a HEAP of other 'old' songs during soundchecks on the summer tour this year and only 'world looks red' seems to have made it to the sets so far, so i think it boils down to what they can re-learn not only 'properly', but also what they actually enjoy playing, etc. maybe thurston just doesn't want to sing 'the diamond sea' anymore, which pretty much nullifies any chance of it returning to the set (this isn't the case, or at least that i'm aware of, just an example).


did i have a point? if not, i'll make one now: BRING BACK THE SPRAWL. i mean, who the fuck expected them to resurrect 'total trash' for a handful of shows?

this year's mind-blowing renditions of 'shaking hell' have pretty much ruled out any song "not returning" for me -- never would have expected them to start playing that again, and yet...there it is.

I had been wondering if Joni was going to make a live comeback for December, due to it being so randomly on their myspace...

Question: Were they close to busting out any Washing Machine stuff?(besides Skip Tracer)