Happy Friday Everyone - Congrats on making it through another week!!
As usual, Thanks to all who participated and chimed in yesterday - I enjoyed your posts.
No one took a stab at the Trivia Question but there was a lot in yesterday's report - so much so that i forgot to mention what lunch - Ham & Cheese Sandwich along w/ some Watties Baked Beans and accompanied by a few splashes of Charlies Limeade.
Lunch today was a Mince & Potato Pie & a flat white coffee w/ soy milk.
Jackie & I are certified reflexologists and we co-teach reflexology at a local holistic college a few times a year as a part of their massage programme. Today was spent all day in the classroom but ate lunch outside as the weather warm, bright & sunny.
Spring is on its way and will be a welcomed change...
The answer to yesterday's question was C - Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner
They were ace session guitarists in the 70's and played on several artist's albums and were a part of Alice Cooper's touring band as well.
if you haven't heard of them, check them out on youtube.
Kudos to Robbie for lending a helping hand - Thanks to him today's LR will go ahead as planned... the main topic today - Bands & creating and/or performing music in a live situation.
As many of you know its a bit of a tradition here on Fridays to ask - who's gigging? So i will do just that. It's Friday - who's gigging?
I'm aware that not everyone here plays out or is in a band but if you do or plan to let us know about it.
I'm currently not in a band but have been in some over years in various incarnations... most of them were short-lived for a number of reasons. Since moving here, I've gotten out and had a few jams and even had a go with forming a covers band late last year. It was fun for a bit but my passion for learning a bunch of cover tunes fizzled pretty quickly + there were some strong personality clashes which didn't help matters.
The last time I played out was a couple months back at a something called The Melt. Sort of an extended drum circle gathering but with all types of instruments and a strictly improv format. It wasn't for beginners meaning that a certain amount of proficiency on your instrument was required. That was to ensure it remained fairly musical and not become a crazy cacophony of sorts... that was the only restriction, the format was purely free-form.
It was a lot fun and a bit scary as I hadn't done anything like it before. i found it to be a really good exercise is listening and thinking before playing something... however after awhile that naturally led itself to more spontaneous choices which seems a bit pardoxical. It ended up being a very positive experience because everyone was respectful of each other and into creating for the whole - no one was trying to dominate and show off.
Also, the musicians were playing to create musical backdrop for the other folks present to dance to and express themselves through movement - again free-form. Yeah, I know it sounds a bit hippy trippy but I really dug it and I plan to do more.
So, has anyone been involved in anything similar or have you been in a band where the focus was/is strictly on creating in the moment?
I've seen an exercise in a book called 30 songs in 30 minutes where you get together with some friends and instruments, some kind of recording device,paper, pen and a watch & have at it - the aim is to work quicky and just write down whatever comes to mind then put it into song form - start with song titles first, then have each person grab an instrument and start playing off each other. The whole point is to have fun, not edit yourself and hopefully create something or some bits that can actually be developed further later into a proper song or songs.
Again, anyone done anything like this?
Moving on.... Here's a strange bit that I know some of you have seen before -
Who can tell me what it is and better yet - who has a G&L with one on it? Remember the rule, it only truly exists if there's pics posted!
Next up....
New Music -
I stumbled across this song yesterday on youtube while I was looking for the Medicine vid clip...
They're a English band called Tindersticks that formed in the 90's and who have recently reformed.
I dig the tune & vid - lots of cool gear...
[youtube]5v1eFVOj4is[/youtube]
Older Music -
I couldn't offer anything this week for the low-enders but I did find this early clip of the band Berlin that features a MM Stingray Bass -
[youtube]APPhaCUZj-0[/youtube]
They ended up being an endorser for G&L a few years later and some of their other vids feature Cavallers and Interceptors...
Old (Great) Music -
Had to throw some Beatles in - dig that fuzzy lead tone!
[youtube]KjqZ7bTzeGE[/youtube]
Next up - Today Hometown Heroes -
Jansen was/is a NZ company that made electric guitars and amplifiers based on Fender's designs. They started out in the early 60's and soon adopted similar cosmetics - the early ones were 'blackface' and as you can see this is their 'silverface' styiing.
They were very well made and are pretty sought after as they sound great. I picked this one really cheap as it has a bit of damage and a shorted output tube... I haven't fixed it yet tho b/c I can't suss how to take the thing apart - the ONE thing that differs from Fenders... no chrome strips w/ screws across the top...
So as stated earlier, Thanks to Robbie I was able to upload some audio files to a site called CloudShare - check it out if you haven't already - its pretty cool.
http://soundcloud.com/2headedgoat/creep
Creep is from the aforementioned short-live cover band from last year.
It was our first practise session together and we recorded it so as to hear how we sounded... this was the first time we played this song and we had a fair go - I had some issues with my ProCo Rat - the switch was acting up and wouldn't switch on consistently what you're hearing mainly is my BBE green screamer max'd out. I used Char with a SS Jansen combo and a Boss Chorus.
At the very end you can hear the Rat click on for a mmo - made for a funny ending
Mama Kin and Tush are from an initial practise session 15 years ago - we hadn't found a singer at that seemed to end that incarnation. I'm playing the main rhythm and lead on Mama Kin and rhythm only on Tush.... No G&L's present - using my '66 tele thru a Chandler Tube driver pedal into a silverface deluxe reverb. The other guitarist handles slide on Tush and was playing an early 90's Reissue SG through an alll valve Peavey Classic. Talk bout train wreck endings... that will serve as today's comedy clip....
http://soundcloud.com/2headedgoat/tush
So if you have any recorded band practises or perfomances you'd like to share - humorous or not - feel free to do so...
I'll leave it at that - I've had a lot of fun this week - hope ya'll did too!
Will catch up with responses this weekend -
Thanks & Goodnight !!
Cheers,
KF
