Mothership

It’s May 8th and I’m in Cincinnati, OH for my third Death Angel/Mothership show in 16 days (2nd Overkill show). It was going to be my fourth show, as I had planned on attending the Saturday gig at The Rave in Milwaukee on May 4th, but those plans fell through. I had never been to Bogart’s before. What was evident from the get go, Vine Street had an unmistakable charm, as its eateries, pubs/breweries were all within walking distance of this historic venue. Though I really enjoyed The Mercury Ballroom (Louisville) and its intimate setting, Bogart’s was my favorite of the two. In some ways, you felt like you were entering the hallowed grounds, as black and white imagery adorned the walls, with a who’s who of rockers who have played here. Some places you go in and hunker down, by marking your territory, but this place was different. Though I would consider myself a novice as it pertains to venues, I still found it somewhat comical that the bathrooms were located under the stage. Even though I saw the neon arrowed lights pointing to where the bathrooms were, I felt like I was entering the lion’s den. I kept thinking that I was going to be escorted out, because I was encroaching on the bands territory. That didn’t happen and there were no urinal confessions with the likes of Rob Cavestany, Mark Osegueda or Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth.

After I got the bathroom thing figured out, I perused the merch counter. I’m like a kid at Christmas when it comes to this stuff, as music has been a passion of mine for the better part of thirty plus years. I’m single, so in some ways I have carte blanche as it pertains to how much I can walk away with. Knowing that I would wait to buy something by concerts end, I decided to go think about my eventual purchases, while taking in a beer. Due to my brother being a beer snob (this is a complement), I always do a quick consult with him before I delve into the local scene, as our tastes are fairly similar.  I ended up going with the Rhinegeist Truth IPA. After talking to the bartender about the history of Bogarts and the area, I just sort of got lost in my beer. The first two shows, I was joined by my childhood friend Chris Kinsey and one with my brother Ben and another friend named Chris Bodigon. My childhood friend Chris Kinsey couldn’t make it, because it was his birthday that night and oh yeah, it was mine as well. That’s when I got a tap on my shoulder…

It was Kelley Juett, guitarist for Mothership. With the tap came a happy birthday greeting.  I said to him, “You remembered my birthday?” I was flabbergasted, as I sort of chuckled out loud. It was around ten days prior where I had met both Kelley lead guitarist and his brother Kyle, bassist and lead vocalist (though Kelley shares vocal duties) at the merch counter in the Mercury Ballroom.  I walked up to the both of them, all the while feeling like the character William Miller (Almost Famous) as he approached the band Stillwater for the first time. I didn’t tell Kelley his playing was incendiary, but I did tell both Kelley and Kyle that their band reminded me of Corrosion of Conformity, The Sword (in their earliest stages), Wolfmother and a splash of ZZ Top all mixed together. They seemed to get a kick out of that statement, as they both in some way stated they hadn’t heard that one, then telling me that was cool. In those moments, you have a bunch of thoughts rolling through your head and all you want to do is come up with the question that they’ve never heard and couldn’t wait to answer.

For all intents and purposes, this was me in my fanboy moment, worshiping musicians, all the while just trying to stay within that 47-48 year old headspace and not sounding stupid. Whatever took place in that ten minutes in which I spoke to both of them, I guess I didn’t come off as a weirdo. I do remember mentioning to both that I would possibly see them at the Milwaukee show on May 4th, but I would definitely be attending the Cincinnati show on May 8th (my birthday). So, here we are on May 8th and Kelley says, “Of course I remembered.” I suddenly didn’t feel as alone, as I had 20 minutes prior after entering the building. In my estimation, musicians are the most interesting people. Musicians are all about the people and they seem to have that built in trait, which is humbleness, along with having a sense of where they’ve come from. I find musicians for the most part to be approachable and charitable with their time, as these two meetings make the aforementioned thoughts self-evident, well at least as it pertains to Mothership. I guess when you build a good rapport with anyone, you find out the conversation isn’t one sided. Kelley happened to mention the Milwaukee gig at The Rave (Eagles Ballroom) where he mixed it up in the pit. It was there, where he suffered bruised ribs and was still a bit sore. He said that Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth saw him get hurt and asked him, “What the hell are you doing?” Music and particularly that which is hard rock or heavy metal makes one forget about their limitations. It’s a strange phenomenon, which can only be ascertained by attending gigs. I don’t want to say you feel bulletproof, but I did feel like I was 18-25 years old all over again. Before Kelley and Mothership hit the stage, I finally remembered to hit him up for a selfie, all the while hoping that I might get in a few more words with him after the gig.

The set list had remained the same since Mothership kick started their tour at Black Circle Brewery in Indy. I’m one of those fans who likes to see the set list get tossed around a bit, but since I’m a novice fan as it pertains to Mothership, I loved that tight, flawless feel to the five songs that they’ve been hammering out on this tour. There are those bands which have great musicians, but have little to no stage presence and then there are bands that have both. Fortunately, this was true with all three bands on this great package. It’s funny, because at all three gigs people didn’t know what to expect when Mothership took the stage. By song two, “Hot Smoke and Heavy Blues”, Kelley, Kyle and Judge had people rocking their heads, swaying and creating that energy that you’re looking to have fed back to them while on stage. Kelley notices this and like clockwork asks the crowd to move up closer to the band. By sets end Like Overkill, with their proud Jersey heritage and Death Angel letting the crowd know that they hail from the San Francisco Bay area, Mothership will let you know that they’re a rock & roll band from Dallas, TX. The road can be a strange place for bands and its members. Your average fan probably sees the road as a glamorous refuge and one long party. Though there might be some truth to that, it’s quite obvious that everyone has someone they would like to go home to. So, a solid home base seems to be that quintessential ingredient for bands to deliver those tight shows on night __ (enter the number of gigs) while crisscrossing the country.

As luck would have it, Kelley sort of passed my way again. Since I didn’t want to be a nuisance, I had that built in alarm clock inside of me thinking about what I wanted to talk about as it related to the show and then let the conversation go wherever it would go, knowing full well that he would need to head to the merch table and do the meet and greet with anyone else who wanted to have a chat with himself and Kyle. We discussed his thoughts on Mothership being a rock and roll band and the genres the band has been lumped into, which I won’t really get into, since this is one of the questions I’ve posed to him for what I hope is a future interview. At the time of the Cincinnati show, I was still pondering whether to visit another good childhood friend in Arizona and then catch the Death Angel show in Mesa. Though Kelley and Mothership weren’t going to be a part of that show, Kelley had mentioned his lady (girlfriend) lived out there and he was anxious to see her. I bring that up, because it hearkens back to my previous thoughts of having those special people to come back to and having that home base to fall back upon. During my last moments with him, I told him that I wanted to do everything I could to promote his band. I asked him if I could possibly throw a few questions at him for an interview at his convenience once he got back, which he agreed to. Hopefully this will come to fruition. Until then, check them out and enjoy Kelley, Kyle and Judge, otherwise known as Mothership.