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"Check In" here before and after your gigs, Set #2, the sequel!
- Thread starter mimaz
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I'll take 'em in reverse order...
Saturday: The Buffalo Wings & Beer is one of those places with a tile floor, no stage, lots of big windows, exposed ducts and vents hanging from the high ceiling, and best of all, about 40 big-screen TVs which were showing various sporting events all night.
Not the greatest music venue. The crowd peaked while we were setting up, and drained away the whole time we were playing. The high point of the night came when the manager looked around at the 6 customers left, and said we could skip the last set and pack it up. Yeah, one of those "at least we got the money" nights... feh.Friday was a bit different...
Drummer hadn't worked with the Bandleader before, and he might not again, because he showed up about 5 minutes before start time. BL was pissed, and took it out on the room by blasting out his warmup guitar licks at high volume, while drummer and I carried in the drumset. He'd left his carpet at home, and there was none to be had at the club, so his kick drum was slip-slidin' away all night.
Rookie mistake, which figures because, although talented, he's quite young. Too young to be real familiar with the blues tunes, Hendrix, SRV and Clapton covers we play. This led to some weird feels and wrong drum parts on songs us older guys have known for years. Despite all that, we managed to make it through the first 2 sets, and start the 3rd. The crowd had slimmed down to about 1/3 of capacity, maybe 30 people. A few minutes in, BL turned to me and said "Play something funky. Just a vamp, and keep it on the one." So I started up a funky riff, drums joined in, BL joined in. We played it for a couple of minutes, and suddenly people started pouring in the door. In the space of 5 minutes, probably 60 or 70 new people arrived. It was like a bus had pulled up and disgorged an instant crowd. I used to think that was just a joke!
And not just anybody. A ton of young chicks in short skirts & dresses were on the dance floor rockin' out! Of course there was an attendant herd of dudes too. The BL took off across the dancefloor and disappeared among the dancers. A minute later, the crowd parted and I saw that he'd lost his shirt. A minute after that, he was standing on a chair, playing guitar behind his head. He was sitting on girls' laps, his wife right there taking pictures... crazy! We played that 1-chord vamp for at least 20 minutes.
Finally we ended that "song", did a couple more tunes, and it was time to end the night & pack up, although we hated to stop! That was unquestionably the most extreme example of a late-night rush that I've ever seen. It turned a mediocre night into a great party gig!
A ton of pics here: http://community.webshots.com/album/579864183FVuXdu?start=96
Next gig: Brandy Stills (country) at Tommy's in Manassas VA. I haven't played there since I was fired from a former band in late 2000.
Cool story. Proof positive that a great groove can save a gig.
And we all know who the great groove starts with, right?
Correct-amundo!
I even had a young lady cuddle up to my rear and boogie with me! Pretty exciting for this old boy!
Ah, argh, ugh, with great complaining, I am doing another battle of the bands tomorrow at Canal Club in Richmond VA.
We got burned at a previous battle of the bands, where the audience very clearly thought we were the best show, but somebody else won anyway. It's a weird experience to have 50+ leave the club and ask you, "What happened, why didn't you win?"
Well, we're trying to break into the Richmond area, and this contest is for a slot at DC101's chili cook off (for those not local, this is a BIG event with 10,000+ people). So the guys decided that the upside outweighs the BS of playing in a battle of the bands.
Anybody near Richmond's Canal Club on Thursday night - check it out. My band is on a mission to rock harder than anybody else.
Here's a video using our song "Long Shot Kid" that was produced by our sponsor, Jagermeister.
To hear me show off my bass skills, check out "Let This Die"
I hope the follow-up post contains a positive story!
We got burned at a previous battle of the bands, where the audience very clearly thought we were the best show, but somebody else won anyway. It's a weird experience to have 50+ leave the club and ask you, "What happened, why didn't you win?"
Well, we're trying to break into the Richmond area, and this contest is for a slot at DC101's chili cook off (for those not local, this is a BIG event with 10,000+ people). So the guys decided that the upside outweighs the BS of playing in a battle of the bands.
Anybody near Richmond's Canal Club on Thursday night - check it out. My band is on a mission to rock harder than anybody else.
Here's a video using our song "Long Shot Kid" that was produced by our sponsor, Jagermeister.
To hear me show off my bass skills, check out "Let This Die"
I hope the follow-up post contains a positive story!
I checked out your website pretty cool. I have one question why are you guys comparing your sound to other established bands? In you bio in your press? Be yourselves your sound should be you from the first chord you know it. A Beatles song a Rolling Stones song first chord bang you know who it is many others who have brought their own sound to the music world SRV you knew it was him on guitar soon as the music started. Do your own thing and stop comparing your sound to others. Think of it this way you say you sound like VH cool but if either one of you were playing somewhere who would you pay to see? Stop comparing yourselves to others you have good songs that can stand on their own lose the comparing stuff you don't need it! And I say that to you in a good way. Good Luck RTS
Tomorrow night (Saturday) playing a St. Patty's Day party at a downtown pub here in town. Nice-sized but not huge room (probably 200 capacity). The band is a throw-together project with three other very good players from two other bands. We did the same gig last year with the same band and went over so big we were basically booked back for this year that night. Should be a lot of fun and I expect a lot of other area musicians to be in the house if they're not gigging themselves.
Then Sunday morning, two worship services at my church. Gonna feel like an early call given the time change (losing an hour to DST), but at least my Saturday night gig is a 7 to 11 so if teardown goes well I'll be in bed not much later than midnight.
Then Sunday morning, two worship services at my church. Gonna feel like an early call given the time change (losing an hour to DST), but at least my Saturday night gig is a 7 to 11 so if teardown goes well I'll be in bed not much later than midnight.
Doing Carmen's Cafe in Troy tonight...and this time the weather won't cancel the gig. My vocal debut...I still think we're underrehearsed and my throat is a bit sore. Ugh.
The gig went fantastically. All three of us brought in a few people, and the place was crowded. My voice didn't fail me and, despite a few missed cues and blown notes, everything came off well. Even had the owners dancing when I closed out the second set with "The Letter" by the Box Tops.
Came home with such a high from playing...there's nothing like the feeling after putting on a great show.
Came home with such a high from playing...there's nothing like the feeling after putting on a great show.
Amen to that!
Many times I've tried to explain this to people, but it's really something that must be experienced to truely understand.
Glad to hear your vocal debut went well.
This show went as well as could be expected. I had technical problems with my wireless, the Lead Guitar had problems with his strap, the Rhythm Guitar had problems with his cables, and all in a 20 minute set!
We kept going without dropping a beat and gave as energetic a performance as we always do. Have not yet heard who the winners of this round are, but keeping fingers crossed.
And yesterday we played on the On Tap Magazine stage at DC101's Shamrock Fest at RFK stadium. That was probably the best show I've ever done. The audience there was crazy. No technical problems, lots of rocking faces off.
Thanks for the comments. The bio is on a list of things that needs to be scrapped and redone. To answer your question, though, an original band gets asked 492 times per day what bands they sound like. I'd love to give them an intellectual answer about how we stand on the shoulders of giants, combining our collective history of musical influences to produce a unique, delicate flower of original music, but nobody gives a crap. They want to know what bands we sound like.
So there's a few in our bio. I don't even agree with half of them, but at least it answers the question.
I hadn't played there since 2000, but the minute I walked in the door, the boss saw me, smiled and said "You! You came back!" He remembered me.
The club has acquired some big subs for their PA, which we used. My bass sounded excellent all night!
Too bad there weren't very many folks there to hear it. Between the time change and the fact that the club is now charging a $10 cover, attendance was light. I'd been hoping for more.
We should be able to build it up. Starting in May, we're there once a month through the end of the year.
Next gigs: Fri 3/25 with Brandy Stills at the Winchester Moose, and Sat 3/26 with the Marsh Brothers at the Potomac Grill in Rockville MD.
Okay I have two this weekend, one is in Saddle Brook, NJ on Friday place called Carucci's great place for us been in there rotation from 2005 the other is Sat. in Clifton,NJ place called Bogey' s Sports Pub. The house is packed when ever we play there another we have been in their rotation for many, many years. Looking forward to both since we took off last weekend.
Just finished a busy weekend in Detroit...
Friday 3 sets at Dick O' Dows, Saturday 3 Sets at the Claddagh Irish Pub, and Sunday 2 sets at PJ's Lager House. By Sunday we were so stinkin' tight it was awesome fun! Now I have a couple days to relax before 3 sets on St. Patricks back at the Claddagh in Livonia. We recently picked up a fiddle player who is fantastic and has a killer lineup of effects. I love this season!
Friday 3 sets at Dick O' Dows, Saturday 3 Sets at the Claddagh Irish Pub, and Sunday 2 sets at PJ's Lager House. By Sunday we were so stinkin' tight it was awesome fun! Now I have a couple days to relax before 3 sets on St. Patricks back at the Claddagh in Livonia. We recently picked up a fiddle player who is fantastic and has a killer lineup of effects. I love this season!
Follow-up... a really fun night and we played well to a large and appreciative crowd. Major bummer was the stage sound... lots of low-end rumble and howl all night even though I was only using a 150-watt "kickback" style amp pointed up at me and going DI to the board. My 78 P-Bass was basically unplayable for that reason so I wound up doing most of the gig with my Ibanez BTB with the bass pot rolled way off. Very frustrating on that account.
We rented P.A. and wound up overequipped for the room (2 subs per side with each sub loaded 2x18, and a high-pak on each side loaded 2x10s and a tweeter). The sound guy was a total pro though and even spent 10 minutes on our first break just with me getting the FOH bass sound dialed in.
The drummer is gonna talk to the bar owner this week and hopefully we get put back on for next year's event if not sooner.
Jaywa, what do you think would have cause the howl? 150 watt kick back doesn't seem like you would be pushing that much air to cause this situation are you under the impression it was you? or was it something else?
That's what was frustrating.
Basically the stage plot for my area was:
----------------- FRONT of STAGE -----------------------
Kickback amp My vox mic Monitor Wedge
With the amp at about 10 o'clock to me and angled upward toward my face and the monitor wedge at 1 o'clock to me and the vocal mic in between.
We had a full band mix in my wedge but nothing extreme volume wise. The other two front line people (gtr/vox and keys/vox) were both running IEMs.
The only thing I can think of is if my vocal mic was picking up my kickback amp and causing problems. But the vocal mic was an industry standard (Shure SM-58) and the kickback amp was positioned just like a regular wedge monitor -- and barely halfway up on master volume -- so I don't know how that could have been the problem.
By the next time we play that venue I probably will have gone IEM myself so maybe that will help.
Basically the stage plot for my area was:
----------------- FRONT of STAGE -----------------------
Kickback amp My vox mic Monitor Wedge
With the amp at about 10 o'clock to me and angled upward toward my face and the monitor wedge at 1 o'clock to me and the vocal mic in between.
We had a full band mix in my wedge but nothing extreme volume wise. The other two front line people (gtr/vox and keys/vox) were both running IEMs.
The only thing I can think of is if my vocal mic was picking up my kickback amp and causing problems. But the vocal mic was an industry standard (Shure SM-58) and the kickback amp was positioned just like a regular wedge monitor -- and barely halfway up on master volume -- so I don't know how that could have been the problem.
By the next time we play that venue I probably will have gone IEM myself so maybe that will help.
Without being there it's nearly impossible to diagnose your feedback problem. There are so many things it might have been.
- Your amp in the kickback position could have been resonating the upper atmosphere and bleeding into another mic. Were you using overhead mics on the drums?
- It could have been the low freqs from the subs bouncing back into any of the mics. Even acoustic coupling if the stage was resonant.
- It could have been a combination on stage and FOH exiciting a mode in the room. Did you run a RTA before sound check?
Now, even though it could have been many things, a good tech should have found the cause within a minute, two at the most. Completely correcting it might take a few minutes, but finding the culprit should be simple.
So why didn't your sound tech just mute each mic one at a time until it disappeared?
- Your amp in the kickback position could have been resonating the upper atmosphere and bleeding into another mic. Were you using overhead mics on the drums?
- It could have been the low freqs from the subs bouncing back into any of the mics. Even acoustic coupling if the stage was resonant.
- It could have been a combination on stage and FOH exiciting a mode in the room. Did you run a RTA before sound check?
Now, even though it could have been many things, a good tech should have found the cause within a minute, two at the most. Completely correcting it might take a few minutes, but finding the culprit should be simple.
So why didn't your sound tech just mute each mic one at a time until it disappeared?
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