I’ve been badgering all you Tampa Bay musicians and proprietors about trying new things to get a broader fan base. Here’s something mucho convenient and accessible, in Pinellas for a change and at a good time.
First off, a hearty hooray for the bay area’s rockin’-melodic kickers of much ass, the Ditchflowers.
The band goes on on at 8 p.m. Dec. 20 (tomorrow) at the new, ostensibly improved, Gasoline Alley, now relocated to Pinellas Park.
I would love to go to the show, but I’ll have to see how badly my latest bout of persistent coughing and wheezing is annoying me by tomorrow. If I do manage a recovery and ride, I’ll fill you in on the venue and stuff.
Let me say, 8 p.m. is an excellent time to begin a show. I know this all sounds stodgy, but hear me out: It’s late enough to grab a nice dinner beforehand, early enough to do something else or turn in early.
Well, enough about all that — here are the details from Ditchflower Ed Woltil:
The Ditchflowers play an early set (8 p.m.), followed by Paul Sisemore’s (formerly of Sugarspoon) groovy new band (appropriately dubbed Sisemore), with the incomparable Wes Dearth closing out the night. This is a special night of music and marks our last local appearance of 2008, so we hope to see you there.
‘Tis the season and we’re all busy, but lately we’ve been turning our
attention back to recording in an effort to complete our follow-up
(release date some time in 2009) to the acclaimed Carried Away CD
(release date some time back through the mists of time). In the meantime, you can get your hands on one new track, Love the Conqueror, chosen for the next BAAMO compilation CD (projected street date of March 31, 2009).
For all you “Ditchdiggers,” here’s a snippet of the transcript from our Meet the Band interview:
Brian: We started rekindling our friendship. It was at the Beatles tribute show (at Skipper’s Smokehouse). I was playing with Barely Pink.
I wanted Ed to join the band, but I think he was being coy at the time.
I’m not sure
JG: Like when you’re dating and you’re waiting for the other person to make the first move?
E: Should I call them? No, they should call me? … It’s kind of a moot point. They broke up a month later anyway.
Brian: We broke up because you didn’t join the band. There was no point in going on anymore.
Ed: You know what? It’s not very calculated. We’re just doing what we want to do.
Brian: All the stuff we listened to all of our lives, it’s just an amalgamation of all those things.
Brian: I started out imitating what was happening at the moment in the 80s, and then I started to learn songcraft from there. There was a certain point after Parade and Factory, it’s been all about trying to write better songs. It’s been that way for the past 15 years. And I think I’ve always just had a love for pop music, power pop and good rock stuff, and I love good songwriting. When Ed and I got together, that’s what it was all about – writing good songs.
Ed: It’s true. I have a daughter in college and a daughter in high school and a lot of them, like my daughter’s boyfriend is into Bob Marley, Bob Dylan – all the Bobs.
JG: A lot of the younger bands on MySpace list their influences. They say the Beatles and Bob Dylan.
Ed: I have a love-hate relationship with Todd Rundgren.
Ed: When we were writing these songs, we were exploring our feelings. Not to sound cliché, but it was heartfelt. I just write about things that are on my mind.
Brian: Maybe it’s getting all the bad music out of us first!
Ed. It’s been purged!
Brian: I have to say we’ve learned a lot over the years. Ed’s always been brilliant to me. I’ve known Ed since the late 80s. He was great back then, and he’s even better now. I have to say we’ve gotten better over the years, which, I guess is the way it’s supposed to be. You learn and grow and have new experiences – more you can pull from and write about.
Ed: It’s all hypothetical to me. We haven’t gotten rich and famous.
Brian: Yet!
Ed: Sting is a billionaire. Maybe somehow that waters it down.
Tampastica 
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