hey guys,
yesterday was totally amazing for me.
jonas hellborg brought down drummer gary husband and guitarist steve topping to a local club and they put up one of the most awesome performances i have ever witnessed. being part of my city's tiny music fraternity, i was able to go down with my buddy, who was providing his drum set for the gig and hang around there for several hours.
gary husband is so incredibly humble. i was truly amazed to see how friendly and down-to-earth he is. as a drummer, i've been in awe of his playing for several years and have also looked up to him as one of my many influences. it was so great to be able to speak to him.... he talked about his tour with matt garrison on bass, and also the mondesir bros. trio he has and he also mentioned that mclaughlin will soon be touring with him and the mondesir brothers.... imagine how cool that will be! only, he plays keyboards in that band. anyway, jonas hellborg walked in to soundcheck, and everyone immediately noticed him. there's just something about him, his attitude. he was using a super-cool looking status graphite bass.... however, it wasn't the same one they have on their website... this certainly wasn't a hollow body bass, and it had two pickups, one right at the bridge and another near the neck.... cool looking thing. steve topping was using a brian moore guitar that had a lot of knobs and i'm guessing its an active guitar. unlike gary husband, its not easy to go up and talk to hellborg. he'll usually give you a very confusing answer and most of the time he doesn't seem like he's too keen to make conversation. he was SMOKING yesterday though. he played some INSANE stuff that left my jaws on the floor. gary husband though was the center of attraction, playing with such intensity. he really plays with power, and thats the way i like to see a drummer play. steve topping was very restrained, i guess thats just his style, but i've never heard him before, so i must hear more of him soon.
actually, today they'll be playing at another club, and i'll be latching on to my buddy again and will try to talk to hellborg.
my friend also took a picture of the bass when he left it on a chair and went for a stroll. i'll try and post a pic of it soon.
will let you know about tonight's gig.
and incase you were wondering what kind of music they were playing, it was similar to what hellborg had done with shawn lane, very loose arrangements, most of it improvised. there were some structures though and i noticed jonas was following some sheets of paper for chords and things. gary told me that they had only rehearsed vaguely in their hotel room and that yesterday's gig was the first they'd ever done together. he looked like he had a blast playing with hellborg.
yesterday was totally amazing for me.
jonas hellborg brought down drummer gary husband and guitarist steve topping to a local club and they put up one of the most awesome performances i have ever witnessed. being part of my city's tiny music fraternity, i was able to go down with my buddy, who was providing his drum set for the gig and hang around there for several hours.
gary husband is so incredibly humble. i was truly amazed to see how friendly and down-to-earth he is. as a drummer, i've been in awe of his playing for several years and have also looked up to him as one of my many influences. it was so great to be able to speak to him.... he talked about his tour with matt garrison on bass, and also the mondesir bros. trio he has and he also mentioned that mclaughlin will soon be touring with him and the mondesir brothers.... imagine how cool that will be! only, he plays keyboards in that band. anyway, jonas hellborg walked in to soundcheck, and everyone immediately noticed him. there's just something about him, his attitude. he was using a super-cool looking status graphite bass.... however, it wasn't the same one they have on their website... this certainly wasn't a hollow body bass, and it had two pickups, one right at the bridge and another near the neck.... cool looking thing. steve topping was using a brian moore guitar that had a lot of knobs and i'm guessing its an active guitar. unlike gary husband, its not easy to go up and talk to hellborg. he'll usually give you a very confusing answer and most of the time he doesn't seem like he's too keen to make conversation. he was SMOKING yesterday though. he played some INSANE stuff that left my jaws on the floor. gary husband though was the center of attraction, playing with such intensity. he really plays with power, and thats the way i like to see a drummer play. steve topping was very restrained, i guess thats just his style, but i've never heard him before, so i must hear more of him soon.
actually, today they'll be playing at another club, and i'll be latching on to my buddy again and will try to talk to hellborg.
my friend also took a picture of the bass when he left it on a chair and went for a stroll. i'll try and post a pic of it soon.
will let you know about tonight's gig.
and incase you were wondering what kind of music they were playing, it was similar to what hellborg had done with shawn lane, very loose arrangements, most of it improvised. there were some structures though and i noticed jonas was following some sheets of paper for chords and things. gary told me that they had only rehearsed vaguely in their hotel room and that yesterday's gig was the first they'd ever done together. he looked like he had a blast playing with hellborg.
