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Gig report: Hyperstar @ Petit Campus, 04/12/2018

Frank77

Frank77

May 2, 2011
2,557
5,500
Montréal, Canada
#1
Last Thursday was a night of firsts:

  • First time playing le Petit Campus, a very nice mid-sized venue in Montréal. Possibly the coolest place we've played so far.
  • First time having an actual dressing room / storage area for our crap, our own washroom and a ton of COLD water bottles provided by the venue.
  • First time for me gigging the Quilter Bass Block and my new, downsized pedalboard. I'm really *this close* to a one-trip schlep : Once I receive my new super cab, it'll be a done deal, but this time around I had to take the rent-a-cab route and used a 4x10 (oh, the irony).
Overall the gig went great : We had 92 people show up (not bad on a week night with miserable weather) and the crowd was fun and participative. The venue staff really liked us too, it seems...we might play there again (fingers crossed).

Alrighty, now some pictures:

The venue. Hard to tell from that pic, but the lighting was really nice. Just the right amount of darkness with nice mellow colours on the columns by the edge of the dance floor. Bonus: Disco Ball!

30630048_1599707533491902_6916379136046923776_o.jpg


Mandatory crappy cell phone setup / grub combo pic (that's the sandwich I ate during the horn section soundcheck sitting on top of the cab - still wrapped, of course). Quilter Bass Block + 4x10 = A ton of ooomph on tap. If I have to rent again (which I hope I won't), I might go for a 2x10 instead if I can find one.

20180412_184016.jpg


Some pictures of us playing. My favorite 6-stringer and I still sported our matching, very suspicious-looking cream/yellow-ish vintage jackets with brown ornaments:

30688390_1600588316737157_1859535979480612864_o.jpg


Our singer Alex was in great shape vocally and looked stunning as usual. She had saved her voice in the few rehearsals leading to the show, but she really belted out some of the high notes. So much so that the guitar player and I exchanged a few glances during the performance, mouth and eyes wide open kind of silently going "Whaaaaaaaaaaa?".

30688422_1600588433403812_6827820243298025472_o.jpg

30698563_1600588330070489_4328260624053174272_o.jpg

As usual, there was a lot of jaw-droppingly impressive dancing going on during our "Soul Train" segments!
30708486_1600588516737137_8272022594513797120_o.jpg



At one point, even the sound guy and the bouncer couldn't resist!



Hope you all had a good weekend!

Cheers,

Frank
 
Last edited:
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#5
McG said:
Nice room, great crowd, killer band. The trifecta for a fun gig.

Any longer video available? I want more. :thumbsup:

Another one trip guy here. So nice to live in the time of small, lightweight bass gear. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Maybe there will be some later. A friend of the band was shooting some videos for us the whole evening - they're probably being edited right now. I can post a link when they come out!
 
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#7
growlypants said:
Wow! Good lookin' band, you have there!! (And the sound ain't bad, either!!)
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot! I must say, much credit goes to our horn section. Working with them certainly has given me a new perspective on musicianship as a whole. I'm happy when I nail the few solos I have per gig, but these guys solo on just about every song and have to remain focused just to stay in tune. We haul more stuff, but I think we still have it pretty good!
 
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#8
Frank77 said:
Last Thursday was a night of firsts:

  • First time playing le Petit Campus, a very nice mid-sized venue in Montréal. Possibly the coolest place we've played so far.
  • First time having an actual dressing room / storage area for our crap, our own washroom and a ton of COLD water bottles provided by the venue.
  • First time for me gigging the Quilter Bass Block and my new, downsized pedalboard. I'm really *this close* to a one-trip schlep : Once I receive my new super cab, it'll be a done deal, but this time around I had to take the rent-a-cab route and used a 4x10 (oh, the irony).
Overall the gig went great : We had 92 people show up (not bad on a week night with miserable weather) and the crowd was fun and participative. The venue staff really liked us too, it seems...we might play there again (fingers crossed).

Alrighty, now some pictures:

The venue. Hard to tell from that pic, but the lighting was really nice. Just the right amount of darkness with nice mellow colours on the columns by the edge of the dance floor. Bonus: Disco Ball!

View attachment 2984735

Mandatory crappy cell phone setup / grub combo pic (that's the sandwich I ate during the horn section soundcheck sitting on top of the cab - still wrapped, of course). Quilter Bass Block + 4x10 = A ton of ooomph on tap. If I have to rent again (which I hope I won't), I might go for a 2x10 instead if I can find one.

View attachment 2984738

Some pictures of us playing. My favorite 6-stringer and I still sported our matching, very suspicious-looking cream/yellow-ish vintage jackets with brown ornaments:

View attachment 2984739

Our singer Alex was in great shape vocally and looked stunning as usual. She had saved her voice in the few rehearsals leading to the show, but she really belted out some of the high notes. So much so that the guitar player and I exchanged a few glances during the performance, mouth and eyes wide open kind of silently going "Whaaaaaaaaaaa?".

View attachment 2984740
View attachment 2984741
As usual, there was a lot of jaw-droppingly impressive dancing going on during our "Soul Train" segments!View attachment 2984742


At one point, even the sound guy and the bouncer couldn't resist!



Hope you all had a good weekend!

Cheers,

Frank
Click to expand...

Perfect gig.. nice band, nice crowd, nice rig .. bass player (hair optional) like me .. standing next to the drummer in the back holding down the groove... good job.
 
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#15
Road Hat said:
I noticed you had a few pedals in your setup. What’re you running?

Great band btw, I always always love a horn section.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I've downsized my pedalboard a bit. These days I'm running a compressor (FEA labs opti-FET), octaver (MXR BOD) and envelope filter (MXR BEF). I used to also have overdrive (pork loin) and chorus (tech21), but didn't use them enough to justify the extra bulk / weight.
 
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#18
friskinator said:
How's the gigging scene in Montreal, @Frank77? I'm going to be moving there later this year. Not sure if I plan on trying to play music, but I've been curious to find out what it's like.
Click to expand...

Cool! Winter might be an adjustment for you, but otherwise life's very good here. There are tons of musicians of all levels and of all genres here: Just put up an ad on kijiji.ca or bandmix.ca and you'll find people to jam with in no time. I've been playing bass for 22 years and I've lived here for almost 6. In the time I've been here, I've gigged many, many times more than in all the previous 16 years combined. I put an ad maybe a week after I moved here, about 3 weeks in I started playing with a singer/pianist, and within 2 months I started playing in small cafes and meeting more musicians. Maybe I was just lucky, but it was really easy for me to start gigging after I moved to Montreal.

There is a good number of venues for live music and it's fairly easy to find a place where to play, the downside is don't expect to make a lot of money out of it if you're a part-timer like me (probably the same can be said about many other places, though).

Also, Montreal is a good place to be for music fans and concertgoers : We have a symphonic orchestra, a world-renowned jazz festival, Osheaga, Heavy Montreal, and probably a bunch of other events that I don't know about. Most big pop/rock acts stop by the Bell Centre on their North American tours too, if that's your thing.

PM me if I can be of any help.
 
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#19
Frank77 said:
Cool! Winter might be an adjustment for you, but otherwise life's very good here. There are tons of musicians of all levels and of all genres here: Just put up an ad on kijiji.ca or bandmix.ca and you'll find people to jam with in no time. I've been playing bass for 22 years and I've lived here for almost 6. In the time I've been here, I've gigged many, many times more than in all the previous 16 years combined. I put an ad maybe a week after I moved here, about 3 weeks in I started playing with a singer/pianist, and within 2 months I started playing in small cafes and meeting more musicians. Maybe I was just lucky, but it was really easy for me to start gigging after I moved to Montreal.

There is a good number of venues for live music and it's fairly easy to find a place where to play, the downside is don't expect to make a lot of money out of it if you're a part-timer like me (probably the same can be said about many other places, though).

Also, Montreal is a good place to be for music fans and concertgoers : We have a symphonic orchestra, a world-renowned jazz festival, Osheaga, Heavy Montreal, and probably a bunch of other events that I don't know about. Most big pop/rock acts stop by the Bell Centre on their North American tours too, if that's your thing.

PM me if I can be of any help.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the info - very helpful! I will definitely PM you if I have any questions once we get closer to the move date.
 
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