The Setbacks Destroy Zaphods in Broad Daylight

May 17th, 2005

A post show report by Trevor Kealey

This past Friday the Setbacks played at Zaphod’s in Ottawa as part of the Creeps cd release murder party. What an event it was! There were 3 bands on the bill (Sexhead from Montreal were the middle band) and as the opener, the Setbacks would be on early. Initial reports had us going on around 8pm. It would still be light outside.

We arranged to meet to load up the gear. Needless to say, Chris arranged to meet us at the club. I will forego the usual belittling of him for weasling out of gear hauling, because it is getting tiresome.

We arrived at the club only slightly late. The Creeps and Sexhead had already finished their soundcheck, and were leaving for food. We used soundcheck to iron out some last minute bugs in our new song Bless My Soul, which we hoped to play later in the evening.

Chris’ future in-laws arrived during our sound check and must have been concerned about being the only people in the club while we played. Chris quickly comforted them by turning on the charm and buying them a round of drinks. They then discussed blogs and how awesome they are.

Steve and Chet hit up subway for some nosh, Chris schmoozed his future family, and I caught up on old times with the Creeps. It seems many years ago the Creeps shared the stage with two bands that later became the Setbacks. We reminisced about playing at Rooster’s at Carleton University and at the now defunct Zaphod’s 2. Oh the memories.

Soon the club started to fill, we got our beer tickets, and found out we could postpone our set until 8:30. It would still be light out, but at least there would be people in the club.

We hit the stage at precisely 8:36 and blasted through 8 songs: our whole EP plus two new tracks. The aforementioned Bless My Soul and Music is the Medicine, which we have played a few times already.

Chris added a new piece to his wardrobe for the show: a head band from the Running Room, which was designed to draw sweat away from the brow and convert it into pure energy. Works well in theory. But so does Communism. Half way through the first song it was down around his neck. Apparently it was not designed with Italian sweat glands in mind and got too heavy. I believe Chris is going to write a strongly worded letter to the manufacturer, demanding not only his money back, but also an apology.

We finished our set to thunderous applause, and settled in for a good night of music. Sexhead hit the stage next and burned it down with their tight language bending punk, complete with scorching solos. The Creeps closed the place down with their brand of old school punk, playing tales of espionage and El Caminos. A great combination. A great night. Suffice to say, the 3 bands teamed up to completely obliterate Zaphods.

We also sold a few of our new t-shirts and cds, we celebrated two birthdays (chad and kara), and I managed to offend Steve and Chris when their special ladies each made me look at their jigglers. I tried not to look, but they made me.