Thank you, Evansville, Indiana!
This past Saturday, 1/10, Titans of Siren had the privilege of playing in Evansville, Indiana at Damsel’s Brew Pub. Our drummer, Julian, is an Indiana native and lived in Evansville for 5 years, so this was a special night for him.
The lineup was absolutely loaded with our buddies in Trash Devils opening the night. Local legends, The Chugs, were closing out the bill. The Chugs have a reputation of throwing wild shows with lots of crowd interaction, so we were stoked about joining them.
The night started with us showing up to the venue at 5:30ish. We were greeted by a worker outside who was operating a forklift. Damsel Brew Pub is a microbrewery (a damn good one), so we figured that this gentleman was lifting pallets full of kegs.
Much to our amusement, we were informed that the stage at Damsel is on the second floor and the only way up there is using 1 of 2 staircases in the building. The good news is that the forklift was used for transporting our gear to the 2nd story of the building! Loading in for a show had never been that easy!
We loaded in and got the rundown of the venue. After our gear was organized and our merch was set up, everyone ordered their respective drinks of choice from the bar.
I’m a huge Chicago Bears fan, so my mind was focused on the televisions at the bar that were airing the NFL playoffs. Playing at a new venue always gets me excited, but when you mix in a great crowd and some high stakes sporting events, I get wired.
Vincent, our bass player, came over to me about half an hour before the set. He said that he had been talking to the owner or manager and he pointed out there was a weight-bearing support beam running horizontally through the venue. “I can hang off of that! What’s another 180 pounds going to do.”
“Just don’t get hurt!” I said.
The crowd started really filling in about 15 minutes before the beginning of the show. I expected a solid turnout, but I had no idea what the scope of “solid” was in a town we had never played. Well, “Solid” was incredible. I’d argue that there were probably 100 people packed in the small venue when the show was happening.
Trash Devis kicked things off with a high-energy, tight sounding set. All the credit goes to them for setting the tone. Admittedly, I was in the crowd for half the set and off to the side for half the set. When I was off to the side of the stage, I was simultaneously watching the Bears game on my phone (curse you, Amazon Prime!)
When Trash Devils announced that they had 2 songs left, the band went into the keg room with all of our gear and started discussing the show. We made a last-second audible of the set list. Originally, we were going to play our unreleased, prog song “Come Into My Room,” but we replaced it with our song, “Martyr” due to the bill being filled with heavier bands.
Our finalized set was:
Dopamine
Pretty Girls (Make Me Nervous)
Nothing Wrong With It
Satisfaction
Martyr
Slick *unreleased*
Dunk Island
Leech *unreleased*
Wayne, Get A Job
…
Once the Trash Devils’ set ended, we loaded our gear on. All of our gear worked - thank God - and we were ready to start.
Admittedly, for me, the show was a blur. It was a rush of pure adrenaline and excitement. The best way to describe it is with videos. I’ll throw some videos in here, and comment on our perspective.
^ We kicked the night off with our song “Dopamine.” It’s a melodic, yet very dyanmic song that always helps us get warmed up on stage. This video was taken during the first half of the bridge going into the guitar solo. Our bass player, Vincent, tends to wander around a lot - including going outside. I always love seeing the candid reactions from audience members when he starts walking off stage. You never know where he will end up. “Dopamine” by no means is a super difficult song to play on guitar, but there’s enough going on to where the 3 remaining members have to focus on our parts or else the song can fall apart. There’s a short drum solo that goes into the final chorus of the song. It was cool hearing “woooo!!!” from the crowd as Julian played his monster drum part.
^ This is a clip from our song, “Nothing Wrong With it.” Riley and I (Kirk) are both from Springfield, IL. We are both football fans. I’m a die-hard Chicago Bears fan, and Riey is a Packers fan. As I noted before, I was personally super fired up by having an awesome show align with a high-stakes football game. Yes, I did in fact have to throw the “F*ck the Packers” into the song. Riley’s response “you what?” is his normal response in the song. My lines are supposed to be:
Kirk: “I grant your wishes”
Riley: “You what??”
Together “You bury mine!!”
Riley’s “you what?” made the scene really funny as the reference to the Packers obviously wasn’t part of the son- nor was it scripted.
This is always one of my favorite parts of our show - the SCREAAAMMMM. I love the end of “Nothing Wrong With It” because I can always test my abilities to see how long I can scream for. I think 22ish seconds is my best.
During our set, Vincent announced that he’d be willing to drink any Malort shot that was purchased for him. They were being sold for 1$, and you could purchase the entire bottle for $27. Anyone who has had Malort knows that it’s extremely gross, so I don’t know how Vincent stomachs it. If you’re wondering what he’s shooting in this video - there’s your answer.
Every member of Titans of Siren has a least one sibling. We are from Nashville, TN.
Nashville is a paradox.
It claims to be Music City, yet 95% of the venues are inaccessible to anyone under the age of 21. To us, spreading the joy of music to younger folks is one of the most important things a band can do. A big reason we play music is to freely express our emotions in a room full of folks who are willing to listen. One of the biggest compliments we have received is a fan telling us last year that we got them back into playing music. I’m not going to beat a dead horse and rant about the lack of investment in the arts and healthy outlets for the youth nowadays. However, if we see kids at our show, we promise that we will do everything in our power to make them feel involved, appreciated, and encourage them to realize that music is fun.
This was a great shot that was captured during the bridge of our song, “Dunk Island.” I had wondered into the crowd to take a sip of my beer and Vincent saw these two in the audience and let them play his bass. We made sure to give these kids drum sticks and guitar picks, and whatever else we had readily available.
^ Julian’s drum solo. This took place during the outro of “Dunk Island.” The solo was incredible as always. Chugging beer while playing drums is next to impossible, so I’m glad he didn’t choke.
Watching Vincent swing from the support beam upside down at the venue wasn’t on the bingo card, but here’s proff that it happened. This video took place during our cover of Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction.” It’s always a crowd-pleaser, and it’s always really cool to hear the crowd screaming “SATISFACTION!” back at us. This performance in particluar was electric due to the crowd getting into it during the heavy breakdown/outro. I could feel the floor shaking, which is always a good sign that the audience is active and having a great time.
…
Following our set, we sold merch, watched the Chugs’ incredible set, watched the end of the crazy Bears-Packers game (BEAR DOWN!), and we headed out. We always get the post-show munchies, so everyone ended up going to Sportsman’s for a late-night burger.
Thanks to everyone who made it to the end of this blog. We really appreciate all of the support, and we cannot wait to return to Evansville!
