surfpup Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 Jeez. It's been a little while since I checked in here, and I had to search for this thread. I had two last week. One on the weekend and one on Wed. but didn't post. My bad. Still wiped out from the Wed. Hard to get up early for work the next day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted December 25, 2017 Share Posted December 25, 2017 1.30 a.m. Xmas Day, just got back from my Xmas eve gig. It was ok. We are tight enough so that no-one really noticed the mistakes....except the drummers ones. He completely forgot he does the intro to "Call Me The Breeze" and started it much too fast. A mess. Put a couple of Xmas tunes in as well. 3 encores. Happy Xmas to all, best wishes....I'm going to bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 Got in from our last acoustic gig of the year at our favorite place, Crabtowne. Place was packed and the staff was hustling to keep up. Overall a great night, even though it's cold as balls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 (edited) Pics from Xmas eve..... They're all waiting for me to stop.... Short blurry video: Happy New Year to everyone! Edited December 29, 2017 by jdgm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Very Nice! Thank You for that, jdgm. rct 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyK Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Been in about an hour now. Loaded up. Drove 35 miles. Unloaded. Set up. Played for 2 hours to a small audience. Set down. Loaded up in the rain. Drove 35 miles in the dark and rain. Unloaded in the rain. It's a long way to the top... Set list: Bridge to Better Days Walkin' by Myself Open My Eyes Cocaine Don't Believe a Word Pride and Joy Tush Voodoo Child Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love Bad Penny Whipping Post Hard to Handle Rockin' in the Free World Crossroads Cheap Sunglasses Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo Superstition Blue and Evil Shaking Hands with the Holy Ghost Gimme Three Steps Rock Candy Foxey Lady Rosalie Sin City 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Short blurry video: Happy New Year to everyone! +1 mate. I reckon (sincerely- I'm not being a smartarse) that you HAVE to be pretty good to play that slow. I'd not be keen to try it - with hard and fast the screw ups are just a blur, at that speed even a minor glitch is going to risk starting an implosion. Kudos and happy new year to you too - have a great '18! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Been in about an hour now. Loaded up. Drove 35 miles. Unloaded. Set up. Played for 2 hours to a small audience. Set down. Loaded up in the rain. Drove 35 miles in the dark and rain. Unloaded in the rain. It's a long way to the top... What ever you got you earned it Andy! I often wonder nowadays how the pubs and clubs make enough over the bar to justify having bands (it's not like the poker machine players are going to spend any more than they already waste) - maybe we are an oblivious group of tax write-offs or money laundering agents for them? +1 for Bad Penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky Forrest Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Soundin good jdgm! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted January 12, 2018 Author Share Posted January 12, 2018 Another acoustic gig tonight. Crowd wasn't huge, but they were all cool and into the music. Got some Jagermeister shots sent our way. I was happy with how we played tonight, even if the crowd wasn't as big as I would have liked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Oh dear. Tonight's gig turned into a bit of a disaster. Lead singer (one of my oldest friends and he formed the band) decided to start 1st set differently, which unsettled everyone but mostly the drummer. Then his new guitar wouldn't stay in tune, and it got embarrassing with him tuning up in between the numbers; very amateurish to say the least. I'm used to, and expect, a more professional attitude. He could have - and damn well should have - put that guitar down, used the spare and sorted the problem in the interval. I told him so in the interval but he wasn't having it. He won't take advice or listen to anyone. Worse to come as he either hadn't understood or been told we were supposed to play until 11.30; he ended the 2nd set 15 minutes early - and (for reasons I don't understand) when the club steward said "you were contracted to play until 11.30" he blew up, told the guy to piss off and a few minutes after that, announced that he's had enough and is leaving the band. The bassplayer - incredibly - managed to 'mend fences' with the steward so we may still play our booking at the club in June, though I won't be surprised if they cancel. We got paid, although even then singer tried to give his money back....you know, "take your damn money I don't want it" which was just silly and overwrought. However we cannot go on with this sort of thing happening. Last October he cancelled a gig on the day because he was unwell, and of course there was trouble over that too. It was on that day I began to think "we need a replacement". And made some tentative inquiries. We have a couple of possible leads to follow up so it's not over yet, and in fact this may turn out to be the best thing to happen in some ways. Best wishes to all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 Jeez. Sorry to hear about that sh!t show. I hope you guys get a good replacement and carry on. Best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Jeez. Sorry to hear about that sh!t show. I hope you guys get a good replacement and carry on. Best of luck. Thanks. Things are moving quite fast; we have another (probably temporary) singer for next Saturday and it looks like we can borrow a p.a. Then there is nearly a month before our next gig to find a permanent replacement and sort everything else out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Good luck jdgm. Our other guitar player completely wigged out on us overnight. We still don't know what happened with him and he hasn't spoken to any of us about in a year and a half now. It was, however, best thing we ever had happen. We didn't know the problems he was causing until he wasn't causing them. rct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 jeeze.. who needs this? Perhaps he just had a bad night.. but if history starts repeating itself with this stuff, that is a bit troubling. How opened is your ability to talk about sensitive matters with everyone involved? if doable, time for a talk maybe? "Dude, what is going on???" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 jeeze.. who needs this? Perhaps he just had a bad night.. but if history starts repeating itself with this stuff, that is a bit troubling. How opened is your ability to talk about sensitive matters with everyone involved? if doable, time for a talk maybe? "Dude, what is going on???" Yes, one of the hardest parts of running a band. We had months of that with our last drummer and in the end, the answer to "Dude, what is going on with you?" forced us to gently fire him. It sucks, but being able to talk about it has to be part of it. rct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Well it all seems to have resolved amicably today. He is not in the best of health. We knew that but he has perhaps wisely decided it's time he stopped. Onward and upward etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Personnel changes can be tough, especially if you've been with someone a long time. You mentioned he started the band, was lead singer and owned the PA so sounds like a lot to replace, but usually you come out the other side better off. A couple of bands ago the bass player quit. No big problems, but he had a full time job and just wasn't into it anymore. We had a gig coming up soon and couldn't get a replacement so the rhythm guitar player moved over to bass. He had played a little bass over the years, but did not consider himself a bass player by any means. Because he was new at it - he kept it very basic. The band sounded much better with him on bass, because what we found out was he was really mucking up the sound with his rhythm guitar playing. So we got a very simple, in the groove bass line and eliminated a lot of mid-range clutter in the sound of the band. Sometimes you need a change or a fresh start to rejuvenate things. Hope it works out to your advantage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 Good luck jdgm. Our other guitar player completely wigged out on us overnight. We still don't know what happened with him and he hasn't spoken to any of us about in a year and a half now. It was, however, best thing we ever had happen. We didn't know the problems he was causing until he wasn't causing them. rct I think I recall his wife (?) then stalking your FB page! Loony tunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 I think I recall his wife (?) then stalking your FB page! Loony tunes. Yes. She was a loon when we were all in our late 30's, time had not lessened her lunacy. rct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Seven days after our last embarrassing debacle, and I just got home after our first gig with a new singer. Last week I was really looking forward to playing and it went horribly wrong (see above). This week we had a single hurried rehearsal with a new singer/guitarist - without the bassplayer, and in the WORST rehearsal space I have ever had the misfortune to use - and I was dreading the gig. Needlessly as it turns out; it was one of the best gigs we've ever done! The new singer is far better, more experienced and professional than our previous one; everyone in the band felt somehow liberated and despite the rough bits (plenty of those) we all feel that we are on a much higher level now with this guy. I got to play, really play - a LOT more. Out of necessity we played several tunes we'd never played or even rehearsed before...4th in the set was "Lay Down Sally" which really took off - the guitars started to mesh, a little later we slowed down a bit to play "Walkin' After Midnight" based on the jazzy Madeleine Peyroux version and that was great too. I even tuned my Squier to E, took it along and played slide on "Little Red Rooster" for the encore. The club offered us gigs next Xmas Eve and New Years Eve!! We'll consider NY eve if the money's big, but singer won't do Xmas eve. One bonus is that I now seem to be the senior member of the band...now it's "if John says so".....and so in this capacity I sat down in the interval with new singer, showed him our paltry gig list (7 bookings so far, going up to August) and asked him to help us out. He has accepted. Last weekend I thought the band was finished. I insisted that we must not cancel any bookings but try to carry on, and it looks like it's going to work better than it did before. I wouldn't ever usually have a beer at 1a.m. but......cheers! [thumbup] Very pleased tonight - my best wishes to all! JohnM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Awesome to hear man, and good on you for not giving up... Inspiring.. (well not enough for me to get off my arse, but great to hear (it would probably take Hendrix rising from the dead to motivate my playing these days ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Good to hear jdgm. I am glad for all of you it worked out and best of luck with the gigs to come. rct 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted January 28, 2018 Author Share Posted January 28, 2018 Got in about 1am from an acoustic gig. It was our first time playing in a local chain called Ram's Head. This is the smallest one, called Dockside. We brought out about 15 people, but the other crowd wasn't huge. Good show though and the manager liked us and booked us a few more time. My partner, Steve locked his keys in the car as we were packing up. Luckily he has AAA and only had to wait about an hour for someone to break in for him. Also played Friday night with another band. Great show with big crowd and lots of hot dancing girls. Now I'm off to rehears with yet another band with a new bass player, since you all heard what happened to our old bass player. First gig with new guy this coming Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 (edited) It's 2:30 here. Just got back from our first show playing with a the new bass player. It was at one of our favorite places to play. A local bar called Alibi's. Huge crowd. Not sure if they all came specifically to see us or if we just lucked out. My wife turned around and went home because she couldn't find parking. Luckily the place is less than 10 minutes from our house. Since our old bass player Mike was also our sound guy, and had most of PA, we had to hire a friend of the band to run sound and bring his stuff. Mike's widow actually showed up to the gig, which was nice. I think the band will end up purchasing most of the PA from her. Anyway, sound was great and we had an awesome night. Did a little tribute to Mike and introduced Scott as the new player. In all the commotion, I don't think I got any pictures. Edit. I tried to paste Set List but format was all funky, Edited February 4, 2018 by saturn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.