Rock & Roll Italy Part 4
Rock & Roll Italy is a four-part series where Seattle musician and occasional NadaMucho.com contributor Mike Spine shares stories of his most recent international DIY tour, this one through Italy with his band At the Spine.
On April 10 I caught the train to Lodi, Italy for the first of three more At the Spine shows. It was a rough trip since I spent most of the previous night in the bathroom thanks to a local raw food dish I shouldn’t have eaten.
I arrived around 6:20 and waited for one of my other Italian hosts, Seattle music fan and Alternative Grunge Crew member Pino, to kindly pick me up and take me to the show. Jack (drums) and Colin (guitar) also caught the train to Lodi from Milan and arrived around 7 and Pino did his best to locate and get us to the club, which was not so easy.
More of a compound than a standard music club, the Lodi venue was a sprawling, gated complex along the substantially wide Mokelumne River that included a half pipe, an Olympic sized swimming pool and outdoor ping-pong tables. Two local bands, Third Degree and Fractal Reverb, set up the equipment we would borrow on the outdoor terrace of the restaurant and we tried our best to dial everything in a room surrounded by large plastic curtains.
The Compound in Lodi
I was still on my food poisoning death bed, sleeping on a couch in the corner of the room with heavy metal blaring until the show started. Once I plugged in, I normalized and we put on one of our standard energetic performances for a decent sized and attentive crowd. Lodi area trio and female-fronted band Fractal Reverb closed out the night with their blend of driving rock mixed with noisy guitar.
- Check out Rock & Roll Italy Part 1
- Then read Rock & Roll Italy Part 2
- Also maybe check out Rock & Roll Italy Part 3