Meeting Pavement
Pavement. Terror Twilight Tour. Tokyo. 1999 or 2000.
I was scared of being caught but more scared of being left out. So, when my friends jumped onstage and walked backstage in search of Pavement’s dressing room, I followed. Less than a minute later we were there, beers in hand, chatting with Pavement. My favorite band ever.
I was terrified and felt really uncomfortable. Part of the reason for this was that I was an uninvited guest. Meeting the people who make the sounds that have been in your head almost every day for the last five years is strange enough. Meeting them when they have no idea who you are or why you are talking to them is even stranger. Maybe I’m too sensitive.
My memories are hazy but two are clear:
Memory One
I asked Steve Malkmus if he was bothered that Pavement CDs in Japan shipped with very odd translations of the lyrics. He said that the English versions weren’t much better. I realise that it was a fairly lame question to ask but I don’t think I’d do much better if I found myself in the same situation today.
Memory Two
An annoyed woman came in and demanded to know who the hell we were and how we had gotten backstage. Our sheepish looks made it pretty clear that we were not actually the opening band (as had been thought). It looked as if we were about to get thrown out when Malkmus came to our rescue and said that it was okay for us to stay until they all left. I thought that was pretty nice.