26 Years Ago Hepcat Dilemma Plays Their First “Proper” Show

It was 26 years ago today….

On October 28, 1993 Hepcat Dilemma played their first “proper” show, opening for King Kong at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern. There had been two previous performances at private events but this was the first time the band played for a paying audience. At that time the band consisted of Bob on guitar and vocals, Chuck McPherson on bass and Byron Glatz on drums. E Hood was already a member of the Hepcat Dilemma family although it would be nearly three more years until he would actually join the band. Ironically, the first time that Chris arrived at Bob’s house for a rehearsal the first thing he said was, “Wow! Do you have a lot of King Kong CDs!” It was obvious that there was a musical simpatico from the start.

You can read Bob’s journal entry from that night…..

A big day in the young life of Hepcat. A lot going on and a lot to do, culminating in our first actual gig. Most of the last few months were spent preparing for this and despite a few hitches it all paid off.

One of the hardest parts of the whole day was just waiting to get things going. We had been waiting with such anticipation that we wanted it to happen so badly. I almost envied Byron for working today, knowing that it would pass the time for him quickly. Fortunately there were a few errands to run which were carried out successfully and by the time Byron and Eric showed up to get the drums we were ready to roll. It’s always important to be on time for any gig but tonight we took it to the extreme. Chuck was already at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern when I arrived about twenty after seven. I walked in and everyone asked me “Are you with Captain Morgan?” Huh?? Then I noticed there was some dude dressed up in a captain’s suit giving away shots of Captain Morgan rum! Way to get an audience prepared. Chuck and I hadn’t finished unloading when Byron, Joann and Eric arrived. We were done unpacking a good half hour before Manny showed up. The PA that we were using was very minimal – comparable to what we use at practice. Fortunately, we brought out the effects unit that we’ve been renting and the second band, Pop Gun, brought out a monitor speaker so the vocals had a good delay on them and we could (almost) hear what we were singing.

We were all set up and started the process of killing time by about eight-thirty but didn’t have to start playing until quarter to ten. By now we were really chomping on the bit. We were able to by mingling with a few friends that started showing up and doing busy things. I must have tuned my guitar four or five times during this interval – afraid that the new strings I put on last night were slipping and going out of tune. About ten after nine Byron, Chuck and I piled into E’s car and went for a ride to gather our thoughts and sage heavily. It was a decent cruise – we ended up driving underneath the Bloomfield Bridge and down to the warehouses of the Pittsburgh Brewing Company – pretty deserted, pretty weird. By the time we arrived back at the Tavern we were really ready to play. At nine-forty-five we commenced. The set was comprised of:

                Sand and Reason
                Drought
                Bank Robbery

Things started off very well. Even though the mix onstage was poor things felt so strong straight from the start. We were together and in sync and we knew it could be a good night. The response was very positive no doubt helped by the attendance of Byron’s very vocal hockey team.

               Watching Mice

I messed up my pedal right at the start of the song. This caused me to miss a vocal line as I went to correct my mistake. Chuck asked me later if I had forgotten the words and I told him that I was adjusting the pedal.

                 Loving Cycle
                The Death of Patty Hearst

Both of these tunes sounded strong. By now we were feeling confident and on a roll. Around now Chuck told me that he couldn’t hear the guitar so I turned up a bit. He told me later that this only helped a little.

                  Truce

Here my greatest fear came true. Early in the song I broke a D-string. What gives? I just put new strings on last night! Right after the last vocal I ran to Chuck and Byron and tried to holler at them what had happened. There was no way I could play the riff at the end without a D-string so I just pounded away at the last chord hoping that they’d pick up what had happened. Somehow we got through the song, ending it more or less at the same time. I then informed the audience what had happened and told them “…Chuck and Byron will entertain you while I change it.” I had the string changed quickly while they played a cool little mood piece that we’ll call…

                Bloomfield Bridge Fog

This couldn’t have been more than two minutes in duration. I tuned quickly and we resumed playing the set.

                The King and I
                Dreaming Through Life

These tunes rocked. We overcame potential disaster without a hitch and came back with a vengeance.

And it was over. When we were done playing we had to break down quickly to make room for Pop Gun. As we did this, I looked over at the big smiles on Chuck and Byron’s faces. They knew what I knew – we had pulled it off. We had everything off the stage fast and all but Chuck’s loaded up in our cars in just a few minutes. Most everyone I talked to had something nice to say about the performance. After the other band started we scrambled out for some air and Byron and company took off. We stood around for a couple of minutes and shared our good feelings.

Chuck and I returned inside to watch the evening play itself out. Pop Gun played an okay set. The vocals had been turned up too loud and it didn’t aid the singer any. I was told by several people that our mix was much better – to my relief. While I felt they played a “limited” set I enjoyed them. The drummer dropped sticks all night and they didn’t seem at their best but it was still fun to witness the live music experience. Also I would rather hear a bad band do their own material than see a good one do covers.

King Kong was really good. Their bass player was in a cool groove and the keyboards added a nice texture to their songs. They played a very upbeat, quirky (almost happy) style of blues. Not at all what I expected and very un-Slint-like. The audience liked them a lot. While they were much more polished and professional than we were, I believe we were the best band on the bill. A few other people shared the same opinion with me.

As King Kong’s set was coming to a conclusion Manny wandered over and handed me a clump, of bills. I unwrapped them and counted twenty-five bucks! This may not seem like much to most anyone but we thought it was great. We had no real expectations of getting paid – hell, we were excited about having the opportunity to play. It was great getting some cash at night’s end…it meant that Hepcat Dilemma had become a professional band. Playing for a live audience is a privilege and while without doubt our goal is to make some money at it that’s not our main objective yet. I told Manny that we’d play any time he could get us a gig and he left me with the impression that he intended to book us again.

Our first show was more successful than I had hoped. We played a strong set for a good-sized receptive audience and we even got paid for it. We hope to have a lot more nights like tonight. Most importantly, we showed that what we had worked so hard on, and believed so much in, was something worth doing.