Gig Report - Joebarnes with Whiskey Karma at the Roxy Vancouver February 25, 2018

Whiskey Karma’s schedule has been rapidly filling up to the point where our 1 gig per month goal is easily being met, to the point where we are gigging more frequently than once per month for the next while. We try to not gig too often, as it gets harder to ensure a good turnout when we play too many gigs close together. But, the promoters keep offering so we keep saying yes. We’ve been practicing saying no in rehearsal, but it’s a work in progress.

Regardless, we were back at the Roxy once again. I detailed some of the more interesting aspects of this venue on my last report at this venue. We love playing this venue and every Sunday is “Country Night” at the Roxy. This time, we were once again headlining for the night. Aaron, our keys player also plays in another band that was playing second between the opener and our band, and this turned out to be an important aspect of our evening.

Becca and Chelsea posing with out poster in the venue

I had received a text from our drummer earlier in the day that she was feeling more than a little under the weather. Jess typically will not miss a gig, so when she said she was feeling ill, I wasn’t too concerned. She asked if she could ride in with me and crash in the back until we went on stage and I thought that would work. Unfortunately, as the day progressed, her heath continued to falter, and just before we had to leave she advised me she was so sick, she could barely stand up and wouldn’t be able to make the gig.

Chelsea had already arrived at my house as I said I would drive her in to the gig as well. We climbed into my wife’s Ford Escape (no way I’m driving my full size truck into downtown Vancouver if I can avoid it) and we were on our way. During the drive in, we were getting a flurry of texts and messages between band members looking for a solution to our no drummer situation. I of course stated we had rehearsed several times without a drummer, and we would be able to pull it off. Not our ideal situation, but a serviceable solution none the less.

The always important Pre-Gig Selfie by Becca and Chelsea.

Chelsea and I arrived at the venue at approximately the same time as Becca and Peter. Becca mentioned she had a musician friend who was eating across the street, so she ran over to chat with him. He was unfortunately unable to assist us, but in the time between her departure and return, we were advised Trevor, the drummer in Aaron’s other band, would gladly step in at the last minute for Jess, so crisis averted.


Aaron doing that keys thing for soundcheck

Unfortunately, the house band’s keyboard stand blocks my view of the drum riser, so Peter, our acoustic guitarist/vocalist would have to pull triple duty and also direct traffic for Trevor so he would know the stops and starts. Peter didn’t have a whole lot of experience with doing that, so we were quickly coaching him on using his headstock as an indicator for stops, etc. This was also the first gig for our second electric guitarist, Scott. He joined just after Mike, which allows Mike to focus more on his lap steel playing as opposed to swapping constantly; bringing the band up to a full stage of 8 members. My dad recently asked how many were in the band, and when I told him, he looked at me and said “Eight people? Son, that’s not a band, that’s an orchestra”.


All the seats were full for our show

We put together our game plan, and after sound check, everyone ran off to grab dinner before doors opened. The two opening bands did a fine job, and we took the stage at 9:00. The gig went off without a major hitch, with Trevor doing an excellent job filling in. Having a sub drummer really showed us how many little things Jess does well when she drums for us, so we are hoping for a speedy recovery.

We even had a few dancers when we brought out some Shania. Chelsea is giving it her all here

We had to stop by another local bar to pick up tickets for our next gig, so Chelsea and I left fairly quickly after the end of our set. Now, we prep for our next gig in a couple of weeks.


The venue was not afraid to use the stage lights for us

Chelsea and Becca sing in harmony while Mike makes his lap steel cry. Aaron looks on from the back... you can sort of see that bass player guy too.


One more stage shot - this time in Blue.

 

The overhead monitors actually worked pretty well... other than the one closest to me wasn't on so I had to pay a little more attention than usual

I was on the other side of the lap steel, and yes, not as many pic's of me, but that's fine by me.... I will save the vanity shots for the front people lol.

We've talked about booking a few out of town gigs and possibly doing a few stops on Vancouver Island and the surrounding small islands near it, but that's still up in the air at this point. For now, we will keep close and work on continuing to build our fan base locally.

 

I stand corrected. He states its a lap steel, so that is what I have gone with. Either way; he makes it sound good.

Yes, his does have legs and he plays it standing. He's around 6'3" or so, so he almost needs leg extenders. It sure seems difficult to watch Mike play it - He has to angle the steel to get certain chords to be played in tune. I've heard that the pedal steel makes that a little easier - but I have no real frame of reference on that other than a self professed expert on the internet.

 

Nice! Good luck with your show! I have enjoyed playing the Roxy every time. Headlining is great at the Roxy because people don't start rolling in until later so you get the most walk ins at the Headline slot and hopefully pick up a few more fans

We're actually back there in about a month opening for a couple of really well established country bands in the area, so we are excited about that one - hoping to get a few of their fans to like us as well

 

Yeah, we are up to 8, we know there's no money to be made with originals, so may as well have all the fun instruments too . If a fiddle player ever crosses our path and fits personality wise, I could easily see us moving to 9 pieces. Chelsea has been learning fiddle, but she's stated she's on a 4 year timeline, so we may need a temporary sub lol.

I agree that we could have easily pulled it off - rehearsal last night was done without percussion, and we did just fine. Drums are (almost always) better than no drums - so we were very thankful for Trevor to step in; and he stepped in extremely well. He seemed to know when the fills were coming and did more than just "boots and cats" all night.

Thank you both for well wishes for Jess. I will pass them on