6/20/00 EMP Sky Church. Seattle, WA (45 min)
Attendance: 400
Set: The Witch, Have Love Will Travel, Shot Down, Like No Other Man, Boss Hoss, Maintaining My Cool, He's Waitin', You've Got Your Head on Backwards, Dirty Robber, I'm Going Home, The Hustler/Psycho, High Time, Strychnine, Cinderella, Louie Louie
Notes: For this show, the band goes under its original name, The New Strychnines. This performance was at a party for people who assisted the Experience Music Project before the opening of the museum. From left to right, it's Craig, Steve, Tom, Dan, Mark and Scott. Mark has a huge sketch pad with the lyrics to the songs sitting at the base of his microphone stand. During "Like No Other Man," he looks down at it for a cue and can't find the correct spot, messing up a verse as a result. Steve begins to really get into it during "Boss Hoss." After the song, Mark addresses the crowd with, "in case you haven't guessed, we're only playing Sonics songs." Tom introduces "He's Waitin" by calling it "the best song ever written." Tom breaks a string during "The Hustler," and goes back by his amplifier to fix the matter while the rest of the guys play. When they get to the end of the song, they start playing progressively slower and softer until Dan hits a rapid-fire drum fill that sends them into "Psycho." During that song, Tom finally gets set up and joins back in. During the break in "Louie Louie" when only one guitar is playing, Dan comes in a measure early. They extend the song longer than the Sonics' recorded version with extra choruses and another guitar break. Near the end of the song, Mark throws in a verse from Black Flag's version of "Louie Louie" ("Who needs love when you've got a gun? Who needs love to have any fun?").
setlist6/25/00 "EMP Grand Opening". Memorial Stadium. Seattle, WA (40 min)
Attendance: 6,000
Supporting: Scrap Metal, Queensryche, Screaming Trees, Built to Spill, Anne and Nancy Wilson, Subset
Supported By: The Fastbacks, The Young Fresh Fellows
Set: The Witch, Shot Down, Boss Hoss, Maintaining My Cool, He's Waitin', Dirty Robber, I'm Going Home, Psycho, High Time, Strychnine, Cinderella, Louie Louie
Notes: For this show, the band goes under its original name, The New Strychnines. While they were setting up, Scott McCaughey told the crowd how lucky they were to see The Young Fresh Fellows perform, a band in which he is also a member. Krist Novaselic then introduced the band, starting by calling them good friends, then going into a lenthy talk about JAMPAC, and finally presenting them as "The Strychnines." The guys used the same drum kit and amplifiers as The Fastbacks, The Young Fresh Fellows and Subset. When they begin, two women dressed in red shirts and silver pants come on either side of the stage and dance for the entire set, though their energy decreases as the set goes on. Mark has his lyric book with him again, and during "He's Waitin'," he looks to find his line ("little girl you're through"), but the wind has blown the book to a different page and he flubs the line. Some guys in the crowd keep yelling for "Cinderella," between songs, and after a while Mark finally says, "it's coming up!" During "Cinderella," Mark, who has been leaning on his mic stand for most of the set, puts the stand away and starts moving a little for the rest of the performance. "Louie Louie" again includes the Black Flag verse.
setlist7/14/00 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA (45 min)
Attendance: 341
Supporting: The Young Fresh Fellows, Girl Trouble
Set: The Witch, Have Love Will Travel, Shot Down, Like No Other Man, Boss Hoss, Maintaining My Cool, He's Waitin', You've Got Your Head on Backwards, Dirty Robber, I'm Going Home, The Hustler, Psycho, High Time, Strychnine, Cinderella, Louie Louie
Notes: This is the first show where they're billed as "The New Original Sonic Sound." The setlist is the same as it was on 6/20/00. The guys are subdued at first, but start to really get into it as the show progesses. The crowd is enthusiastic and, with the exception of four frat boys who attempt to start a mosh pit, respectful of each other's space. After "Psycho," Scott introduces Bill. Mark then introduces Scott and says, "You'll be seeing a lot more of those guys later with Girl Trouble. The rest of us are going to fuck off after a few more songs." "Louie Louie" again includes the Black Flag verse.9/3/00 EMP Sky Church. Seattle, WA
Supported By: Freddie and The Screamers10/14/00 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA
Supporting: The Minus 5
Set: The Witch, Have Love Will Travel, Shot Down, Like No Other Man, Boss Hoss, Maintaining My Cool, He's Waitin', You've Got Your Head on Backwards, I'm Going Home, Dirty Robber, The Hustler, Psycho, High Time, Strychnine, Cinderella, Louie Louie
Notes: Craig isn't at the show. Mark dedicates "Shot Down" to the Mariners who were demolished by the Yankees earlier in the day.12/29/00 The Crocodile Cafe. Seattle, WA (50 min)
Attendance: 300
Supported By: The Wellwater Conspiracy, The Pulses
Set: The Witch, Have Love Will Travel, Shot Down, Like No Other Man, Boss Hoss, Maintaining My Cool, He's Waitin', You've Got Your Head on Backwards, Dirty Robber, I'm Going Home, (Jam), The Hustler/Psycho, (Psycho), High Time, Strychnine, Cinderella, Don't Believe in Christmas, Louie Louie
Notes: Close to a half dozen songs are introduced as being written by someone from Tacoma. Before Shot Down, Scott says that Tom and Bill are going to do a Lynyrd Skynyrd dual-guitar thing on the next song. Tom mentions that it was pretty hard for the Sonics to do it, since they only had one guitarist. After all the advertising, they mess it up the first time through. The ending to I'm Going Home is botched, with no one finishing at the same time as anyone else, and then Tom and Dan go into a brief swinging Jazz jam. At the ending of Psycho, they get softer and softer, with Mark, Tom and Steve crouching proportionally to the volume. When they're barely audible, Dan hits a fill and they're into Psycho. After the song, Scott says that that was the Bette Midler version of the Psycho. Bill starts up a loungy version of Psycho, and Dan and Mark soon join in for a few bars of it. When they're done with that, Tom thanks "Barry Manilow on the keyboards," and then "Dave Stewart over there," which makes everyone but Scott laugh. Don't Believe in Christmas makes its debut, and Mark introduces the song by talking about how this Christmas, he had a single gift under the tree. It was beautifully packaged, and Mark slowly unwrapped it to find a staple gun inside. Everyone but Mark takes a solo. In order, it's Scott, Bill, Tom, Craig, Steve and Dan. As they leave, Mark tells the crowd, "next time we'll write some of our own songs."
photos6/22/01 Sit & Spin. Seattle, WA (45 min)
Attendance: 200
Supporting: Holly Golightly, The Woggles
Set: The Witch, Shot Down, Like No Other Man, Maintaining My Cool, The Hustler/Psycho, He's Waitin', You've Got Your Head on Backwards, I'm Going Home, Dirty Robber, Have Love Will Travel, High Time, Boss Hoss, Strychnine, Cinderella, Louie Louie
Notes: It's a different lineup and a different stage set-up tonight. From stage right to stage left it's Scott, Steve, Mark, Dan, Tom and Craig, who isn't present for the first part of the show. With fewer people on stage and Scott having trouble with his organ most of the night, it's a more stripped-down sound and Tom takes all of the solos. After Psycho, Tom addresses the abscence of Bill and Craig: "Bill's dad was at that last show we did, and after it he said to Bill, 'Well, that's not a very good Sonics tribute. Let's you and me take a roadtrip and talk about it.' So that's where he is. Hopefully, he'll be back in time for the next show. He's got six months to do it. Craig will be here later and I hope that the crowd will part around him so that he can effortlessly get to the stage." Craig is supposed to join the guys for Dirty Robber but is nowhere to be found so they do I'm Going Home. He shows up at the end of that song and after a long break he joins the guys in the rest of the show.12/2/12 The Tractor Tavern. Seattle, WA (11 min)
Attendance: 250
Supporting: The Young Fresh Fellows, The Fucking Eagles
Supported By: Girl Trouble, The Tripwires, (every band Kurt Bloch has ever been in)
Set: He's Waitin', Strychnine, Boss Hoss, Cinderella
Notes: The band reunites for its first gig in over a decade. The occasion is a benefit concert for Norton Records, which releases many garage rock records, and re-released the Sonics' records. Norton Records' warehouse on the East Coast was severely damaged by Hurrice Sandy. In addition to the New Original Sonic Sounds' performance, Dan plays his first gig with The Tripwires, Steve spins records between bands as "DJ Dollar Bin," and there's a record sale that includes rare, out-of-print Mudhoney and Monkeywrench vinyl. The band rehearsed once that afternoon, then got on stage for the gig. They don't even have a setlist, and just shout songs at each other to decide what to play next. They quickly blast through four songs, and are gone.
