Deb Googe: Join Me For A Drink?

So you’re sitting at Six Arms on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.  Fresh from a Sunday afternoon nap, ready for an IPA and some pub grub.  Some girl who looks exactly like Deb Googe from My Bloody Valentine walks by.  What do you do?  Well I would run down the street after her – and I did.

I walked quickly out of the restaurant and loudly said, “excuse me!”.  She turns around and I ask “Is your name Debbie?”.  The answer is “yes” and I proceed to become more of a shaking, bumbling geek than ever.  I told her that I’m a huge fan and slightly recollected the time I hung out with her 17 years ago.  Nonplussed, she politely says “that’s lovely”.  I’m a moron.  But not enough to ask if she’d like to join me for a drink.  “Sure” she says – my heart drops and we walk back to Six Arms.

We take a seat at the corner of the counter where I left my IPA and hoodie.  I’m beaming.  So what does Deb order?  A Bloody Mary.  Too perfect.  We talked for about half an hour.  With the music and conversation in the room, Deb was barely audible – I consciously had to pay close attention to this moment!
 

As we sat down I told her how I had helped to transcribe Kevin‘s (Shields, guitar/vocals) interview with Mike McGonigal for his 33 1/3 book about Loveless.  She mentioned that it sounded like a challenge and that I was lucky I didn’t have to transcribe an interview from Colm (Ó Cíosóig, drummer).  I told her how funny it was to hear Kevin say “you know what I mean?” after just about everything he said during the interview and got kind of a laugh from her. 

Deb seems really taken with Colm.  She told me how great it was to play right next to him again on the tours.  She rarely gets too see Colm as he lives here in the U.S. (San Francisco).  Deb confirmed that he and Hope Sandoval are working on a new Warm Inventions record slated for release in September.  She joked that it’s impossible to get him to send her any new music he’s working on.  Last year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties event at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, New York last September was an exceptionally special time for her – the entire band thought of it as a holiday and invited tons of family and friends to share in the event.  She made it sound like a family reunion.  Check out BP Fallon‘s candid and relaxed photos of the event HERE.

Deb was just out walking around Seattle, enjoying a day off.  It sounds like the whole band has been under a lot of pressure during this whole reunion thing.  My Bloody Valentine are gearing up for more international dates and new material in the coming summer months.  She told me how hard it is for Bilinda (Butcher, guitar/vocals/general gorgeousness) to leave her six and nine year old children at home during these outings.  That’s why they happen in less than two week stints at a time.  By the way, I was reminded that Bilinda has a 25 year old kid as well – I heard stories of how he was just learning to skateboard back in the day. 

You can stop reading now if you like, but I’m going to keep going.  I’m just as excited writing this as I was sitting with Deb at that bar.  She grabbed my huge gray bearded cheek and told me to “stop doing that!”.  Apparently I was really into the moment and smiling too much.  So cute.

I was wondering what Coachella was like – I’ve still never been.  I can’t do it. Port-a-potties and sun are just not my thing.  I’d need the comfort of the VIP tent – and I’m not a VIP.  I asked what the difference is between playing outdoor venues – which they rarely did in the earlier days – to indoor shows.  Deb told me that she really enjoys the outdoor venues because the sound starts at one point and just goes out. Indoor venues tend to bounce back sound onto the stage and makes it difficult to keep up.  She motioned accidentally playing a wrong note during such confusion.  It was adorable.

I whipped out the Blackberry to show her my recent posts on this blog about my MBV memories and our afterparty.  In her very London accent she asked, “you’re all set up for tickets to the show, right?”.  I think I may have eye dropped her with a look that simply said, “duh!”.  Of course I had tickets – an early birthday present from my dear friend, Xin.  What I didn’t have was access.  Erik and I really wanted to check out the set up process.  I told Deb that I’d e-mailed their manager.  She suggested that they didn’t even know what was going on the following day, but would pass it along to their manager.  Colm (pronounced “column”, by the way – never knew that) was not even in town with everyone else.  He was driving up from their Denver show to experience the Rockies and some nude hot springs action on the way up, apparently.

She was wearing the cutest T-shirt.  It read “Rock Is Dead”, with a little toilet paper banner underneath that says “because paper beat it”.  She also doesn’t look like she’s aged a day in the last 17 years.  I asked if she’d like another drink, and she politely declined.  She tried to pay the server when he came back by and I insisted – “it’s the least I can do” I said. 

Needless to say, the show the next day was amazing.  Everything you’ve heard is true – It’s really loud, they pushed the boundaries, “You Made Me Realise” was really long, and all the fans were satisfied.  I wanted to write a review here seperately, but I’d like you to check out Erik‘s recap instead.  The Stranger‘s review is kind of amazing too.  I’m not being lazy, I was just so into the music that a lot of other elements kind of got by me.  You’ve made it this far?  I’m impressed.  Thanks for being The Color Awesome’s friend!