I saw Chris Squire last night!

[Joe P]

His old band, The Syn is back together. Chris, Steve Nardelli, Jeromy Stacy, Gerard Johnson and Paul Stacy.

I saw them at Shank Hall, in Milwaukee. US$25 ticket price. It was definately worth it.

It was a good show; sometimes they reminded me of Genesis or Floyd, or of course - Yes.

I've heard so much about him playing with a pick, but he played nearly half the songs using a single index finger - always plucking upward, like for conventional two-fingered finger-style - then index and thumb for octaves or harmonies.

His tone was spactacular. All I could see on stage was two Ampeg 8X10s right next to each other, and behind him. No sign of an amp head.

He also played two different basses: What I assume is his famous Rick - it was cream-colored - and a strange-looking thing with a big, metal pickguard; the headstock looked like an Alembic.

He sang all the backup vocals - Nardelli all the lead.

Here are a couple links for The Syn:
http://www.umbrellorecords.com
http://www.synmusic.net/index2.html

Joe

[Kink Rimson]

Sounds great - wonder if they'll play over in the homeland? Although I must admit I'd be going purely for Squire, having never heard Syn, but then again I bet that's why most people are going.

The bass looks like his Westone, he used it on some of Drama and 90125 amongst other stuff. It has changeable effects units. It's responsilbe for the phased sound on Tempus Fugit.


Oh yes... Is that THE Shank Hall?

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by Kink Rimson

Sounds great - wonder if they'll play over in the homeland? Although I must admit I'd be going purely for Squire, having never heard Syn, but then again I bet that's why most people are going.

The bass looks like his Westone, he used it on some of Drama and 90125 amongst other stuff. It has changeable effects units. It's responsilbe for the phased sound on Tempus Fugit.


Oh yes... Is that THE Shank Hall?

A Westone, huh? I've never heard of that one. Yeah - it's the one pictured on the Syn site, and their Record company's site.

Shank Hall? Uhh.. I duno. It's this place:
http://www.shankhall.com/
It's in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA. They've had some pretty big names come through there, I'll tell ya'.

It's a small venue, but they have a killer house sound system!
http://www.shankhall.com/av.htm

Now I just found out from their site (I heard Mr. Squire say something about this, but I guess it didn't register) that since their regular drummer had to honor a contract with Cheryl Crow, they had a fill-in drummer - turns-out he's Yes' drummer, Allen White! He's a great drummer. Mr. White is the oldest-looking of the bunch; looks like a master symphony conductor back there.

Now y'know - Mr. Nardelli had been 'out of the business' for like thirty years; he looked a little unsure and nervous, and every once in a while, pitch transitions weren't nailed whith ablsolute authority - but I bought their latest record 'Syndestructible', and it is perfect, both performance- and production-wise; Man! It is really good; feels like hearing a yes or Gebriel's Genisis or Floyd or something for the first time.

Oh: about the homeland. I read an interview with Mr. Nardelli, inwhich he said "Don't worry, we are setting up the dates for a European tour as well. I think that it will happen around March 2006 and almost certainly Italy will be included. Don't forget that I have Italian roots and I still love the country, so it's just a matter of months."

Gotta run -

Joe

[Kink Rimson]

Ooh, I'll look forward to that. Cheers.

Oh yes, it's a Westone Electra.

[mcbrat]

Actually, it's not a Westone Electra, it's just a straight Electra (before the Brands merged)

It's an Electra Outlaw MPC Bass from SLM. Made '77-'80.
Had spots in rear for 2 effects modules. (12 modules available).

Neck Through Mahogany. Chris' has had the lower upper bout shortened, and it's been painted.

they are pretty hard to find these days, and have been going on eBay for 500-800 recently....

There were 2 models.
X-610 Charcoal Gray Burst
X-620 Tobacco Burst (this is what's in my avatar)

[Skel]

So, could you notice a big difference in his tone when he switched from the Ric to the other bass? Did he play the Ric with his fingers (finger, I guess) too? And there's that Ampeg 8X10 again. The old pros seem to like these.

Skel

[corinpills]

I only have a few Syn tunes in my collection, but they were a good proper 60's psych band. The real pre- yes band worth checking out is Steve Howe's Tomorrow. Their song "My White Bycicle" is killer.