Welcome! If you're new to the diary, I am a middle aged musician in the midst of a musical renaissance, including picking up the bass as a secondary (increasingly primary!) instrument. I have been learning primarily by gigging in 3-4 piece band configurations; documenting my gigs with brief writeups. See the links to past entries below!
So after the Christmas break, we were torn on when to get back up and running. *My* feeling was that the monthly booking (which is low pay at best) was becoming a bit too much like work, and that we should space bookings at that venue out a bit more, and get our chops up over the winter, to book some new (and better paying) venues in the Spring/Summer. I was somewhat overruled, and we ended up with a Jan 31st booking.
I should have known there was going to be trouble when Cory couldn't make our rehearsal. He had a good reason, as he had injured his hand somehow at work, and I did notice him nursing it a bit at the gig. We all know the *last* think you should be doing when you have any sort of wrist/arm pain is playing. To turn a negative into a positive, the three of us that could make it decided to take an entire afternoon and work *just* on starts and stops. This is something our "opening act" from the Xmas show (a professional musician) suggested, and it was a great idea.
We literally went through the whole setlist top to bottom, working out the intro until we all had it, and then and only then moving on to the ending. This was a wonderful exercise, and was definitely useful. Of course, it was only useful for the three of us who were there...
The gig came, and I think all four of us were just kindof checked out. We live as East as you can get in North American without getting wet feet, and this Winter has been a war. We more or less have had an entire Winter before Winter even started (we usually get stuck in by February)! That on top of the fact that two of the four members' families have babies on the way, plus just the normal workaday hassle of adult life.
We started off with a proper(ish)) soundcheck, which was nice. The only issue is, we all went ampless, with two of us using new to us tech for this show, and Cory using an ampless rig he hasn't used since the Spring. This led to a fair bit of monitoring/EQ issues which plagued both guitarists all night. I think Cory's EQ was overlapping with Jim's or mine, and he was buried. We had decided to debut "Jenny" as a new song, and while I think it will become a popular inclusion for us, the syncopation in the chorus bass/vocal rhythm made it a somewhat choppy rendition. I assumed this would be the case, so put the song early in the set, where I knew we could just "get it over with", and get a play through of it on stage logged.
We settled in to 8 more songs that we know quite well, then broke for a break. We had a small group come in with just 2 songs to go before the break, and sure enough, a couple of them left during the break.
We came back and mostly played decently, and then our version of a popular East coast song drew a couple of ladies in, who more or less comprised the majority of our crowd for the rest of the night, as well as our cheerleaders, and eventually ad hoc band members! They tore it up during our version of "Blitzkrieg Bop", which has become a lynchpin of our set, transitioning into "Breakup Song" and "Wagon Wheel", so lots of singing along and dancing.
We finished off with our normal Thrill is Gone/Comfortably Numb combo, but I knew the night wasn't over. I had prepped the crowd for a "bonus" song after these two, and called "Jolene", inviting two of the girls up to sing. We proceeded to do about a half set with them singing, ending the night with tons of hugs, back slaps, laughs, and a few beverages!
This all sounds fine and dandy, and we *did* make the best of it, but boy did things go off the rails a few times. Cory was the main issue, just not knowing the chord progressions to simple songs that we play *all* the time. It's to the point now that there will have to be a discussion, as it's the same problem, with the same songs. These are songs that he has expressed some disinterest in previously, but they are all crowd favorites that we have played *every* show since he joined. I talked to Jim about it, and we are planning on having a casual band meeting, and bringing up the importance of everyone learning the progressions and lyrics without singling him out. He has a baby on the way, his first, so I am handing these issues with kid gloves.
BUT, I am tired of going on stage and hearing dissonance because someone is playing a G chord instead of an A, so this will be addressed.
The venue owner seemed to love the show, and wanted to book us for Feb then and there, plus a possible St. Patrick's Day booking. The latter is a tough ask, as it will likely entail learning 8-10 new Irish/NFLD songs to supplement the suitable songs in our set.
Jim and I both felt the same after the show, that it wasn't our best, but that we got it across the finish line. I felt as a bandleader and lead vocalist that I rose to the challenge, and *personally* had a mostly good night. My bass playing was a little simpler but tighter. I also took a solo for the first time, so that was fun!
Anyway, it's Winter on the East coast, it is what it is, but we want to come out swingin' next time!
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
#6 #7 #8 #9 #10
#11 #12 #13 #14 #15
#16 #17 #18 #19 #20
#21 #22 #23 #24 #25
#26 #27 #28 #29 #30
#31 #32 #33 #34 #35
#36 #36.5 #37 #38 #39
So after the Christmas break, we were torn on when to get back up and running. *My* feeling was that the monthly booking (which is low pay at best) was becoming a bit too much like work, and that we should space bookings at that venue out a bit more, and get our chops up over the winter, to book some new (and better paying) venues in the Spring/Summer. I was somewhat overruled, and we ended up with a Jan 31st booking.
I should have known there was going to be trouble when Cory couldn't make our rehearsal. He had a good reason, as he had injured his hand somehow at work, and I did notice him nursing it a bit at the gig. We all know the *last* think you should be doing when you have any sort of wrist/arm pain is playing. To turn a negative into a positive, the three of us that could make it decided to take an entire afternoon and work *just* on starts and stops. This is something our "opening act" from the Xmas show (a professional musician) suggested, and it was a great idea.
We literally went through the whole setlist top to bottom, working out the intro until we all had it, and then and only then moving on to the ending. This was a wonderful exercise, and was definitely useful. Of course, it was only useful for the three of us who were there...
The gig came, and I think all four of us were just kindof checked out. We live as East as you can get in North American without getting wet feet, and this Winter has been a war. We more or less have had an entire Winter before Winter even started (we usually get stuck in by February)! That on top of the fact that two of the four members' families have babies on the way, plus just the normal workaday hassle of adult life.
We started off with a proper(ish)) soundcheck, which was nice. The only issue is, we all went ampless, with two of us using new to us tech for this show, and Cory using an ampless rig he hasn't used since the Spring. This led to a fair bit of monitoring/EQ issues which plagued both guitarists all night. I think Cory's EQ was overlapping with Jim's or mine, and he was buried. We had decided to debut "Jenny" as a new song, and while I think it will become a popular inclusion for us, the syncopation in the chorus bass/vocal rhythm made it a somewhat choppy rendition. I assumed this would be the case, so put the song early in the set, where I knew we could just "get it over with", and get a play through of it on stage logged.
We settled in to 8 more songs that we know quite well, then broke for a break. We had a small group come in with just 2 songs to go before the break, and sure enough, a couple of them left during the break.
We came back and mostly played decently, and then our version of a popular East coast song drew a couple of ladies in, who more or less comprised the majority of our crowd for the rest of the night, as well as our cheerleaders, and eventually ad hoc band members! They tore it up during our version of "Blitzkrieg Bop", which has become a lynchpin of our set, transitioning into "Breakup Song" and "Wagon Wheel", so lots of singing along and dancing.
We finished off with our normal Thrill is Gone/Comfortably Numb combo, but I knew the night wasn't over. I had prepped the crowd for a "bonus" song after these two, and called "Jolene", inviting two of the girls up to sing. We proceeded to do about a half set with them singing, ending the night with tons of hugs, back slaps, laughs, and a few beverages!
This all sounds fine and dandy, and we *did* make the best of it, but boy did things go off the rails a few times. Cory was the main issue, just not knowing the chord progressions to simple songs that we play *all* the time. It's to the point now that there will have to be a discussion, as it's the same problem, with the same songs. These are songs that he has expressed some disinterest in previously, but they are all crowd favorites that we have played *every* show since he joined. I talked to Jim about it, and we are planning on having a casual band meeting, and bringing up the importance of everyone learning the progressions and lyrics without singling him out. He has a baby on the way, his first, so I am handing these issues with kid gloves.
BUT, I am tired of going on stage and hearing dissonance because someone is playing a G chord instead of an A, so this will be addressed.
The venue owner seemed to love the show, and wanted to book us for Feb then and there, plus a possible St. Patrick's Day booking. The latter is a tough ask, as it will likely entail learning 8-10 new Irish/NFLD songs to supplement the suitable songs in our set.
Jim and I both felt the same after the show, that it wasn't our best, but that we got it across the finish line. I felt as a bandleader and lead vocalist that I rose to the challenge, and *personally* had a mostly good night. My bass playing was a little simpler but tighter. I also took a solo for the first time, so that was fun!
Anyway, it's Winter on the East coast, it is what it is, but we want to come out swingin' next time!
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
#6 #7 #8 #9 #10
#11 #12 #13 #14 #15
#16 #17 #18 #19 #20
#21 #22 #23 #24 #25
#26 #27 #28 #29 #30
#31 #32 #33 #34 #35
#36 #36.5 #37 #38 #39
