Live Blog; Wes on the Radio

Wes and the Skillets on WRYR tonight. You can listen through the WRYR website. Rebroadcast Monday from 2-4.

9:02 Overlong intro

9:13 Andy (host) makes good point about going to see local artists as a way to save money during recession. It's cheap! Small bands are better than the radio!

9:15 The Beastie Boys are from DC? Still no Wes

9:18 Here they come!

9:19 Sad and Proud!

You must read this blog for my insightful commentary.

Wes sounds different on the radio. His vocals are a little out front, but that's how I like my music. Well, this is a little too prominent, but they still sound pretty good.

9:24 Blind Mind. Totally forgot I was doing this for a minute. Vocals mixed much better here. Is Arch doing sound?

9:27 Andy is asking them to play more than 5 songs because they sound so great. He says they'll thank him later. He's right. It sounds phenomenal.

9:28 Oh, calling them on the country stuff. Skillets is kind of a country name. Andy calls them "funktry" which is a pretty good categorization. He's definitely a fan!

9:29 Costa Mesa up next.

9:31 My siblings admit via Facebook chat that they are NOT listening. I have no siblings.

9:32 Not an excuse, Michael: I am in my common room and they are watching a video, I can't

9:33 Someone just cleared his throat. My guess is Arch. Is Bryan singing??

9:35 CD release show Friday, April 17 at IOTA!!!!

9:36 Oh Wes, no one falls asleep during Costa Mesa. People love it. I'm taking notes. I will compare this version of It Won't Be Long to the one on Tradition.

Fun fact: Wes took my tambourine, which I've had since I was like 10, to the station tonight. I can't wait to hear it.

9:37 Ooh, now the vocals are a little low, but not bad. Everything is a little muted. Could be my computer speakers. I'm going to hook up to the stereo. I'm a huge dork.

9:40 Full band is there (but I knew that). They're rocking acoustic tonight.

9:41 My cell phone is dead and Wes unplugged our landline, so I won't be able to call in. Alas, my blog remains in obscurity. Andy wants them to play at Galaxy Hut.

I don't think Wes planned a sixth song. Here's another from Tradition. Old School. (It's called Spoken Word)

9:42 Now I get why you might publish live blogs in reverse chronological order.

9:46 Guitar trade! Now he's talking about Wes's sweet Martin guitar. His is not new. (some people on the show recently had brand new Martins)

9:53 That wraps up the live portion. They ended with Casting Stones.

Friday at IOTA! Drink!

9:54 Echo and the Bunneymen. I think Kate likes them. Bummer for her. (Her computer sucks)

9:58 My ire for Amazon is distracting me from the blog. Oh! They're talking about their shoes! Wes loves shoes. You read it here first. Let's see...my guess is that Arch is in the Merrils and Wes is in the boots. Bryan in Saucony? I don't remember the other shoes. Sorry, Dave.

9:59 Yeah, Wes is kinda gonna love this live set. He may not love this blog.

10:00 Andy regularly calls them the Wes Skillet and the Tuckers, which is a good name for a band.

10:02 Arch is kind of bad ass, you're right, Andy.

10:05 Recorded tracks start. Wow, good crescendo at the beginning of What You Stole. And hearing this now I'd say the live mix was almost as good as this. I think they really did capture some of their live magic in this record. But they're still better live. Come to IOTA! Drink!

10:09 The Skillets kind of cover the Allman Brothers in Casting Stones. I know nothing about the Allman Brothers, so I had to have someone point this out to me. But now Andy is talking about how the Rolling Stones and U2 "rip off" bits of other songs all the time. In a nice way.

10:12 Skillets will now all list their influences. Bryan is last, which means everyone else will take his. That's what always happens to me. Haha, that's the second time today that Wes has been asked about his southern accent. Do you think he should take a class?

Wes's influences: Allman Brothers, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Marley, Hendrix
Arch: He doesn't know. He can't remember, but says recently Ben Harper and stuff "with that sort of groove" soulfulness and diversity, good adjectives for the Skillets
Andy's about to compare them to someone questionable...Jason Mraz. Wes likes him, he'll probably take it. That wouldn't make no sense, Andy says. Unlike the Vivian Girls with M. Ward, I say.

Liz Phair opened for Jason Mraz? The music business is sexist!

Liz Phair is sexy? C'mon, Andy. The music business is sexist!

Wes saw Jason Mraz for his 30th birthay.

Dave: the Police

I have wasted my weekend. THat's a side note. No offense to the Skillets

Bryan: Tells Dave there's a new Doves CD. How did I hear of them? From those guys? Medeski Marti and Wood, Master Sounds, Jeffrey Foucault, Kaki King, Leo Kottke (I knew he would say Kaki King), Soulive

I hate jam bands. Sorry, it's my love of structure. Structure! Play a song! (If you write a jam-bandesque essay I'll call you on it too.) Does that even make any sense? This is even more self indulgent than a regular blog.

10:21 Friday at IOTA! Drink!

10:22 Song #2 Let It Ride. Just let the CD play. It's kind of awesome to hear this on the real radio. I have chills (yes, I'm pumping my computer's audio out of my stereo speakers)

10:25 DIY, not DYI. Oh Arch, you're not the only control freak.

10:26 The cover art work is gorgeous. Jackie Jouvenal is awesome.

10:28 Andy is saying really nice things about the band--how professional their stuff is, and how the owner of the Black Cat still likes to see that.

Oh, Umbro, yes of course Bryan is wearing that.

Oops, I fed Wes some bad info. He just said Obama is throwing out the first pitch, but apparently not anymore. Also screw Chicago, Obama. You don't live there anymore.

10:32 I'm not paying that much attention now. I googled my friend's boyfriend's articles. He works for a big deal newspaper.

10:34 The Scorpion and the Dove

So, I feel like you could use this blog if you started listening to the rebroadcast and/or a recording on the hour. Then you could just read along or fast forward to my witty repartee using the minutes. I guess that would also work with some sort of timer/clock. You know what I mean.

10:37 I really can't tell the difference between this version and a live version. By which I mean, I usually like the live version better. In other words this sounds great! And so did their live stuff earlier.

10:38 Andy wants to hear Costa Mesa with all its bells and whistles (aka harmonicas and fun guitar tricks)

10:43 Andy is trying to rank his favorite songs. Costa Mesa is up there, I told you.

Someone called in! Friday at IOTA! Drink!

Good advice: You should never make fun of zombies.

10:45 They managed to dig up a copy of Tradition (I have a few handy). Here's the recorded version of It Won't Be Long.

Replay tomorrow at 2! wryr.org

10:47 It won't be long...until the music starts. It Won't Be Long

Ok, my dad is right. Arch does make the band sound totally different. But I have fierce personal attachment to Tradition: Wes gave me a copy when we were courting.

I used courting in a sentence!

I just looked at this blog on my page. It's out of control. Must learn to insert jumps right now.

10:52 Plugging Jackie's art: jackieart.com! Check it out. Dave, Jackie is not whack.

I could totally do a radio show. You just bring everything back to yourself. Know who's good at that? Me!

westucker.com, not wesskillet! Wes, go buy that domain RIGHT NOW!

You can find local music listings in the City Paper, as I told the sound man for Flight of the Conchords today.

10:56 First concert they paid money to see? Bryan: either Allman Brothers or Better than Ezra
Dave: Lollapalooza with his college-aged brother and his hot lady friends Dave is cool!
Arch: Tom Petty
Wes: Charlotte radio station Weenie Roast, but he has seen WuTang with Rage Against the Machine (when he was 17 so he says it still counts)
Andy saw Johnny Cash and Iron Maiden
My first concert that I paid for with my own money was Sugar Ray and Orgy. Womp wahhhhh

10:59 Last song, the aptly named Good to Go
Scorpion and the Dove

11:01 Tomorrow I will learn how to put in a page jump. My brain isn't reading too well right now. Plus I have to be in Silver Spring at 8 tomorrow :(

11:06 Overlong outro coming up?

11:07 Thanks for having them!
Friday at IOTA! Drink!