Prologue: So back in December, I decided to pick up my bass again... I really had not touched it since college 20 years ago. After a couple weeks of noodling around, I decided if I was going to get back into playing, I didn't want to just practice solo in the basement like when I was younger. My goal was to find some guys and start a garage band.
About a month after starting up, I checked out an open jam near my house thinking maybe I'd meet some like-minded guys. A week after that, I got up the nerve to go back and play a song... which went OK. As soon as I finished, a guitar player and drummer approached me with an offer to get together with them. They said they've been trying to get a band together, but haven't found a steady bass player for one reason or another. I told them I'd love to get together to jam, but I have not played in years, I don't know many songs, and I suck at improvising. I made it pretty clear that I'd need some time to get my act together. The drummer gave me a list of songs and I hit the woodshed. A week later we got together at the drummer's house. I thought it went pretty well... we got through 4-5 songs alright, and messed around with a few others. Unfortunately, of the 10 songs the drummer gave me, the guitar player/singer had BS reasons for refusing to play most of them: "I don't play Tom Petty, I'll only do one cover per band, etc." I left thinking this might work out for me (despite the guitar being a bit of a tool), and we agreed to get together again sometime soon.
Soon turned out to be four nights later when they called me up and asked to do the open jam again. I was reluctant since I have really never been on stage before (accept for the one song a couple weeks prior). I said as long as we stick to the 4 songs we had down from rehearsal, I'd do it. We met up at the bar, and went up to play our 4 songs to a crowd of about 15 other jammers, assorted girlfriends/wives, and a handful of local drunks. Pretty low-key and felt more like a practice, We got through the songs just fine. I was shocked when I took my eyes off my left hand during "Takin Care of Business" long enough to realize the dance floor was hopping with a bunch of drunk chicks and the guys trying to score. In three trips to this jam, it's the first time I've seen anyone on the dance floor. Pretty cool. Afterward, there was discussion of other open jams around the area, but nothing concrete. I told them I really would rather get some practice time in with them, and then decide if we're going to play out at these open jams.
Of course, the next day, they called me to say they had open jams lined up for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. ***? In two weeks I've gone from never playing these songs, to never playing with a band in a band, to never playing in public... and they are ready to go on 'tour' with me. I had to use the "work night" excuse to get out of Thursday and the "company over for dinner" excuse for Friday. I knew I wasn't getting out of Saturday, which sounded like the one these guys really had their hearts set on. The plan was to get together Saturday afternoon to rehearse, then head out to the open jam. There was some talk of the drummer's 20 yr-old nephew joining us.
Saturday rolled around and I spent the entire day until 4PM rewiring my basement to turn it into a practice space. After trading phone calls with the drummer and guitar player, I knew there was some drama brewing. I loaded up my car and got to the drummer's house at 5:30. The guitar player wasn't there - the drummer was sick of his attitude, so he decided to play the jam with his two nephews instead. Oh, and he didn't bother to tell guitar player #1, who was still going to the jam and needed a band to back him. I digress... I had about 40 minutes to figure out which 4-5 songs I could play with this new kid -- I was $^@#*&! bricks. There was one I was comfortable in, one I'd have to play in an unfamiliar key, one I had never tried playing before (but thought I could pull off), and one I thought I knew but sounded like garbage the way I was playing it (I though Johnny Cash songs were cake?). I wasn't feeling terribly confident, but I was willing to give it a go. We packed up and headed to the gig.
I was expecting that we were headed to a bar in the Detroit suburbs, when in fact we were going to an antiques warehouse / community arts center. They had a nice stage in the corner and a good PA. This was a huge room with what had to be 150+ people at tables packed in amongst the antiques. It turned out we'd be waiting 4+ hours to go on, which turned out to be good for my confidence. There were a lot of other musicians on stage before me that were in the same boat, and the vibe was very supportive. I ran into guitar player #1, and we agreed to do the same 4 songs we played at the previous jam. My drummer agreed to go on with us, but I could tell that he was pretty much done with this guitar player after many months of the same drama. I spent the next 4 hours anxious to go on, but strangely not nervous.
We finally went up with guitar player #1 and another guy on keys/sax sometime after 11PM. We started with a pretty rockin' cover of I'm Not Your Steppin Stone, then Kenny Wayne Shepard's Blue on Black. Pretty nice reception from the audience -- I'm thinking 'this is going pretty well!' As I'm getting ready to launch into Hey Joe as we had previously agreed on, the guitar player turns to me and says "we're not doing that one... I'm not sure about the words." ***? Before I can protest, he launches into a plodding blues riff in G. Fantastic, I'm the world's worst blues bassist. Then to my astonishment, this jackhole goes up to the mic and ad-libs the lyrics. I'll spare the details, but suffice to say it was inappropriate for an audience which included kids and senior citizens (as if Hey Joe would have been appropriate). He did a short solo, and the sax player stumbled through his own solo trying to hold the song together. Mercifully, the guitard didn't drag it out much longer. I think I heard an apologetic golf clap from the back of the room. I looked at the drummer and he looked utterly disgusted. We finished with Takin Care of Business, which went over well and got a good round of applause. As I'm unplugging, the guitar says to me "well that couldn't of gone much worse." Not 'thanks for sticking it out, I know this was your first time and you did just fine' or something like that. What a tool. I felt great about the three songs we had planned to play. If he felt we crashed, it was his own damn fault. Then he packed up his gear and left without sticking around to see me go up with the other band.
A quick 15 minutes later, I was back up with the same drummer and his two 20-year old nephews. The one kid playing rhythm apparently has a recording contract with his band and is about to go on a mini-tour this summer. The other kid plays lead, harmonica and sings. Apparently, he played this jam the month before and did really well. A lot of people were excited to see him again. He seemed more nervous than the rest us, but had his game face on when we hit the stage. We started with Mary Jane's Last dance (impressive guitar and harp), then All Along the Watchtower -- crowd response was noticeably louder than my first set. No sooner were we though the first verse of Folsom Prison Blues that I saw a bunch of people up dancing and forming a conga line around the tables (1st time I noticed dancing all night). We closed with Johnny B Good -- one I'd never attempted to play before today but one I knew I could pull off. I stumbled momentarily when I looked over to see my singer doing the Chuck Berry across the stage -- to which the rhythm guitar countered with a moonwalk! We did a pretty good job of blowing the roof off. Lot's of kudos and attaboys when we left the stage.
Go Johnny Go!
I'm really looking forward to playing with the kid again. I can see this being fun for a while, until he finds a much more talented bass player (half my age). I'm totally cool with that... I'm just doing this for the fun of it. This kid will be a full time working musician in no time. As for the other guy, I may need to nip that in the bud. I don't mind playing blue collar rock (not my first love, but whatever), but I can't put up with a guy who insists on leading the band when he can't come prepared to play the four songs we agreed on before hand! He's apparently not too keen on rehearsal, and thinks it's OK just to play open jams every night of the week with no repertoire. All in all, I had a blast. I'm looking forward to knuckling down and learning more material, and rehearsing as a band. If it turns into more open jams or low-key gigs down the road, I'm cool with that.
Technical notes: I played my '86 Jazz Bass Special through my GK 700RBII & Avatar 2x12 cab. I've never had it that loud, and I felt self-conscious that I was being too obnoxious. Afterword, the sound guy said I sounded good and could even have been a little louder to compete with the guitars (which apparently were blistering). Sucks to go on without a sound check, but it turned out OK. I could feel the adrenaline pumping on stage, and time was speeding up. I had to dumb it down in a couple of spots to stay in my already-stretched comfort zone. Suffice it to say I have the bug.
