Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
House of Blues
October 26, 2022
Two-thirds of the way through Me First and the Gimme Gimmes’ blustery, wordy, devoted set last night at House of Blues, the group’s Jim Jones-charismatic vocalist and leader Spike Slawson said, “You may or may not know this by now, ladies and gentlemen but we are a cover band. No, no, no – you know what? Scratch that. We are the cover band.”
The Gimmes’ faithful in attendance agreed and cheered loudly, led to their applause and drunken shouts on the cue of their cult leader. Dressed in a white blazer and matching slacks and donning oversized sunglasses which recalled – well, Jim Jones — Slawson was part Vegas lounge singer, part evangelist. Having drunk the Kool-Aid as long ago as 1997 with the punk supergroup’s debut album, Have a Ball, the Houston crowd was on hand to praise the glory of the cover song.
Like Jim and Tammy Faye, Slawson was preaching and selling, pulling from the gospels of rock, pop, country, soul and even disco to deliver sweet salvation. He stood center stage in the middle of “a fallen city in a fallen world, ladies and gentlemen. And in case you’ve still got doubts and need proof that we live in a fallen world, C.J. Ramone is going to play the opening strains of a Paula Abdul song. What a time to be alive, ladies and gentlemen. Houston, we have a cover.”
That was the intro to most of the songs in the 90-minute set, nearly two dozen songs that, as they say, needed no introduction. The set began with Slawson onstage alone, strumming out Steely Dan’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” on ukulele. Then each Gimme took their place surrounding him, dressed in matching outfits (blue satin shirts, red ties, white slacks and white loafers – not everyone can pull off that look) as is their tradition.
Consider the cover band, the often underappreciated assemblage of fair-to-middling musicians united in presenting the known and loved tunes of primarily past times to audiences in restaurants, bars and breweries, gaggles of people who may or may not be listening. They’re out there doing the Lord’s work and it’s fun to think of them as churches. As such, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is the Vatican, with Pope Spike at the center of the world’s greatest cover band, one which has featured different but vaunted talent across the years.
Last night, Slawson was joined by C.J. Ramone on bass, Andrew “Pinch” Pinching of The Damned and the English Dogs on drums and guitarists Jake Kiley of Strung Out and “Swami” John Reis, the Rocket from the Crypt guru a.k.a. “Speedo” and “Slasher.” At that two-thirds mark of the set, Slawson introduced the band and asked each member who or what they were grateful for in some scripted patter and they responded with a variety of silly and entertaining answers we won’t share here, lest their revival stop in your town next to set up a tent.
Of the songs they were there to “ruthlessly plagiarize,” per Slawson, the best of the night were maybe Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” high in the set list and one of the first the crowd seemed to relish; Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” which might have saddened some of the crowd who may have had tickets to Sir Elton’s now-cancelled Houston show originally set for next week; and Loggins and Messina’s “Danny’s Song.” (More on that one in a bit).
There was a whole block of songs, not a one for Wednesday, two for Tuesday, three for Thursday, but, as Slawson said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce — and realistically you should feel honored to receive this four for Friday.” He then asked what night it was and decided, “You know what? I don’t give a fuck what night it is, up here it’s Friday night every night.” Then the band offered “country and/or western” songs, starting with Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” and followed by Johnny Cash’s “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” For that one, Slawson turned cowboy by turning his mic stand into a horsey, complete with a shiny, gold mane.
Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” followed and then, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” popularized by John Denver. It was the biggest sing-along of the night to that point, everyone joining in like a gospel choir. When the spirit moves you, you can’t help but sing, can you?
The Openers: I am very forlorn to say I missed what must have been an entertaining opening set from The Black Tones, the Seattle-based rock act comprised of twins Eva and Cedric Walker. Blame it on the slow service at an unnamed restaurant which didn’t seem to grasp the urgency of a 7:30 show start. I am happy to report a sample of the band’s considerable talents from hearing its latest live EP Jam in the Van and I got to see guitarist/vocalist Eva Walker team with Slawson for a killer version of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.”
Surfbort played a high-energy, 45-minute set showcasing its own charismatic front person, Dani Miller. The crowd was pulled into songs like “Les B in Love,” cautionary tales a la “Killed by Food” and story-of-my-lifers like “FML” and “High Anxiety.” Miller had a few notable dance moves, especially one we dubbed the “Hee-Haw,” that elbow-flailing, knee-lifting square dance thing you see at hoedowns. It was a cool juxtaposition to her Brooklyn punk vibe.
Personal Bias: Maybe your coffee is too weak this morning and you need something bold and marginally questionable to slap you into this new day, so let me just say the Gimmes cover of Loggins and Messina’s sleepy “Danny’s Song” is at least as good – if not better – than those Joe Cocker covers of The Beatles or Whitney Houston doing Dolly’s “I Will Always Love You.” Yeah, I said it (wipes the Kool-Aid from his lips).
Also, I rather enjoyed the band’s take on Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” Mrs. Sendejas and I took in the set with my son and daughter-in-law who are the Gimmes’ Fat Wreck labelmates and we all danced to that one, though my daughter-in-law still considers it the second-best cover of the disco hit, behind Cake’s version. She is a big Cake fan. Even the Pope acknowledges there are others out there pushing belief, maybe better and in their own heartfelt ways.
Random Notebook Dump: There were no Lizzo covers in the Gimmes’ set (she was down the street last night at Toyota Center), though the cover band downstairs in the House of Blues’ restaurant did perform “Good as Hell.”
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Set List (“This Next Song is a Cover”)
Rikki Don’t Lose That Number
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Sloop John B
Straight Up
Science Fiction/Double Feature
Have You Never Been Mellow
Jolene
On the Road Again
Ghost Riders in the Sky
Take Me Home, Country Roads
I Will Survive
Over the Rainbow
Sweet Caroline
Summertime
Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)
Mandy
Danny’s Song
Rocket Man
Encore:
Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing (with The Black Tones’ Eva Walker)
Different Drum
All My Loving
End of the Road
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
