General Music Chat

Hello everyone and JW123,
From reading an earlier mail where you said your gigs are more physical than most people on here, it had left me fascinated to hear what sort of songs this must involve.
When I first read the mail it gave me images of you demonstrating log splitting or something between or even during your songs!
Anyway, I went to your profile and enjoyed running though your songs; 'Good Lovin Gone Bad' particularly caught my ear: I love the way it rolls along, then sometimes pauses or halves its tempo... great pace and energy; I don't know the original and assume it to be a cover... though I find I take much more interest in a song if I think it might be written by the guys playing it, so I was listening closely to that song... very nice.

Pinball Wizard caught my eye, as Roger the guy who sings it lives on a farm just down the road from me; a guy I taught to fly has the farm beside him and is good friends with him.
Another guy who I also taught to fly a while back, has a farm quite near Roger too, but has always avoided him because he is a perfect Roger Daltry lookalike, and he used to clean up on girls in the county who once drunk were easily convinced he was Roger himself and he had numerous shags that by rights should have been Roger's!
So he keeps his head down whenever Roger is about.

And thanks for an entertaining mail about practice and performance JW123; clearly a musician with a total passion for what he plays and everything connected with it.
Cheers from across the wet bit in Sussex England,
Mark D Phillips.......................

Hey Mark,

Good Lovin Gone Bad is an old Bad Company song.

Of those songs we are proudest of Pinball Wizard, I normally never play an acoustic. I threw it in the truck the day we did that recording. And by the way we recorded the basic rythyms for 20 songs or so in a couple of hours one evening just practicing. I did do a lot of little guitar tricks on those songs to fill them out, but our singer was sick and never got back in to brush the vocals up. I ran into this crazy deal on some CD duplications and just took those mixes which are pretty rough and took them and made a bunch of copies. We got so many so cheap that we just give them to everyone that will take one. In the meantime a certain computor crashed and we lost all those basic tracks, so it was all just a moment in time.

Thanks for the props, we didnt put but one original on there. Its called All Comes Down To Money, which is an old recording from 10-15 yrs ago.

On the physical nature of shows, I go and watch a lot of bands and most of them in my area just kind of play and go thru the motions. In our shows by the 3rd song Im sweating my brains out. Our singer, bassist and myself all use wireless's and we cover the room all night. We cut up with people at tables, I personally like to get on the dance fllor with women and dance while Im playing. I might go to the bar and sit down by someone play a solo and have a conversation at the same time. Sat night it was real hot and stuffy and the club had a side door and a front door, I would walk out in the parking lot and then run to the next door, there was a spot where my wireless would drop out. One time I got caught up in a bunch of people hanging by the door and lost my guitar signal for a few bars.

As far as music we are classic rock to alternative rock. Thats the nice term, realisticaly we are a Hard Rock Band. I dont like telling club owners that term cause it scares them. So I just say we are a Rock Band. But we are what you would have called Metal in the 70s. In our area and the places we play we are the odd man out. No other band Ive seen does what we do in our area. Oh yeah they may play a few songs we do, but none of them push an audience quite like we do. We play in country western honky tonks and bring big enough crowds that the venues dont care. A couple of the clubs actually move other bands around the schedule so they can work with us.

No matter what level you are on in music, you have to come across professional and make the venues money or you want work. We arent pulling as many people to shows as I would like, but when I talk to other bands and they are honest with me, we are pulling our own these days.

Good Luck Mark and tell Roger, Kevin Byrd said hi. Kevin is our singer and he loves the Who, I think he does a good job with their songs that we do.

Thanks once again for listening, I kind of forget I have songs on here sometimes.

My weakest point, performance -

JW has inspired us all to work harder and turn our performances up to 11.

I'm a work in progress, still a bit statue-esque at times, but progress is progress

Kramer the reality for me is that my basic song base are songs Ive played for 35 yrs, If I havent figured them out by now, I should quit anyway.

You might be interested that I may have to go to work. My bassist is a huge Rush fan and he and the drummer want to work up YYZ again. I dont know when or where we would play it, but Ive got to get my chops back up for that one. The other night we add libbed it best we could just to see where we are on it and Ive got to woodshed some for it, but we basically played thru 80% of it without much trouble, I used to do a little chord thing coming out of the solo and I just went blank on that section.

Aint Yo Mama did its first gig back together, its been 2 yrs ago now. I hadnt played with them in years and was to say the least rusty. We play an hour and a half set. The guys said I did great, but I knew I was way off. So Iwent to work, we then did a show 2 New Years ago and played 3 hours. After the first 5-6 songs I got back into my old groove. But I was practicing 4-5 hours a day. Ive had some live changing things happen in my life that has allowed me a lot of extra time and instead of drinking myself to death I decided to get better at music. Lately Ive slacked some, but we are constantly adding new or old songs to our list. Every gig has a few new ones and maybe some I havent done in years, so its a real adventure for me.

Im trying to enjoy it cause you just never know what life will bring. One of my guys or me could be gone tomorrow. A local club owner who is younger than I has 2 sons. I dont know how old they are, but somehow this past weekend they were playing with a 22 rifle and the 5 yr old is paraylyzed and hanging on for dear life. The father doesnt have insurance and was running a club but actually sold it the night of one of our gigs. We are trying to get a couple of other bands together and have a big benefit to raise money. So this is just an example of how quickly things can change, so embrace whatever you can get get your hands on and give back anything you can cause next week it could be you in need.

Kramer you are actively involved in Autism, if I remember right. So you know about giving back.

Im rambling now. I played pool all night, came straight to work and drank a jug of coffee, can you tell.............................................

wow. Yikes. Yeah, I've tried to give back on the autism thing. Haven't done any charity since the summer, but would never turn down a charity gig for the cause. And you are right, you never know when *poof*, you lose.

I was generally speaking about my physical performance in my last post, as opposed to my actual chops. I've been actively (trying) working on getting more physical on stage and becoming part of the performance, rather than just expecting my standing there and playing to be acceptable.

Kramer..

I used to wear a dark pair of glasses, but what no one knew was that I blacked out the eyes completely so I couldn't see through them. Then I would just kind of pretend it was a practice...and I'd get loose. VERY LOOSE..

When you start feeling loose, you even start acting the part and that's where the physical stuff comes in.

You just have to watch your mouth. (mine is worse than usual, so asking the drummer to get me a f*cking beer over the pa is not a good idea in a crowded bar) (I blamed the glasses) (I am still saying sorry,sorry, sorry)

Just have a good time and concentrate on the band members/music, not on the venue.

I always consider it a privilege to acknowledge an audience (that's a secret). When they behave and love you, that's when you let them in.

If they seem apathetic, the glasses stay on and they stay out. In my mind, it's just another rehearsal and when it's over if they liked it, I show surprise on my face. (As in I am surprised that those dumbasses figured out it was as good as we knew it could be) lol

Otherwise physically speaking, do what you feel. If you feel like dancing that night, DO IT. DO WHAT YOU FEEL and the audience will sense what's going on and get in right behind you. (as if they had a choice)

When you have control of this, that's the real definition of being a showman.

I bet some of you know what it's like to see a crappy band, but the frontman kept it going because he seemed semi-entertaining..

well what I'm feeling is usually 5 ounces of fear, 10 ounces of nervous, and 2 ounces of rock. I had a battle with stage fright when I was younger that I've had to force myself to overcome, so even getting up there and playing now seems almost like a dream come true.

I took some video and realized that I didn't smile much, hardly moved at all, and started at my fingers the whole time.

That was last summer lol. I've been trying to step it up on every level, make more eye contact, move around more with the music, smile, laugh, "be the party", etc... and like I said, getting there slowly. I know what I need to do, just was mentioning that saying and doing are different worlds, and that it's always going to be something I have to be mindful of, rather than it coming to me naturally like it seems to for others.

Thanks for the pointers

JW123,
I saw Bad Company play in London quite a long time ago, but I forget if they played that song... the drummer looked around eighty years old but still dead good.
I will ask my friend Richard to pass Kevin's good wishes to Roger next time he sees him.
A month or two back I saw Roger and Pete Townsend doing an acoustic song on TV; at first glance I thought Roger was my friend Trevor the body-double!
Trev came round this morning and I told him I had revealled to the ciber world his theft of Roger's shaggin rights... we played sweet Home Alabama and a few other songs then went for a lunchtime pint or two of good Sussex ale... a perfect life!
And I will go back to look for 'All comes down to money', thanks,
Mark.......................

Hi JW123,
I looked for your track It all comes down to money, but didn't see it there.
So I listened again to Lovin gone Bad, and this time I remembered how the bass line in one part had struck me earlier as being quite similar to the one with 'Can't get enough of your love' by Bad Company, which does figure!
Good stuff.
Mark......................

Mark I may not have All Comes Down To Money on here. My player here has covers of my band Aint Yo Mama all the way down to The Funk. Then I have some original stuff I did all by myself. I write a lot and just throw stuff down in such a hurry that I dont take the time to hone all the parts as well as they should. But my originals are just thoughts on moments in time for me. Im not trying to do anything with them.

Kramer, As far as your show. Try to do what comes natural to you. I dont know what that is, but just try to be yourself. My singer and I are both bigger than life type people and that does come thru in what we do. Hes more over the top than I am. But after a few songs and a couple of beers the mad rocker comes out of me. Im not quite Angus Young wild, but I cover the room.

A side note on gigs. In between sets instead of getting high in the parking lot. I go around the room and try to say hi and thanks for coming to everyone in the venue. I try to carry on with them a little and make sure they are having fun. We bring Mardis Gras beads and give them to everyone, we have some free huggies and free CDs. Weve given away close to 2000 cds so far. These have our myspace link so people can check our schedule and keep up with what we are doing. We put up around 100 pics per show so people can go find themselves. I think youve got to show people a good time and you need to look like you are having a blast. In my case I am. 5 yrs ago I honestly wouldnt have thought I would be doing this again.

Kramer I think a smile here and there would help. Hey I watch Spinal Tap a least a couple of times a month for stage moves. Ha Ha

I hear you there..

BE THE PARTY.. yup.

As for getting high in the parking lot between sets, ecchhh it makes me nervous to do that.. No tension relief there, just makes it worse. Same with the booze, no shots or beers till it's over for the night.

I also cling to the band. LOL If i see someone I know I'll say hi, else I am ready to do the next tune if only to keep it moving...

Capt, after the show sat night we played Stump The Chump and I was the Chump. We were in this beer bar and half the people bring their own bottles, I mean the bar charges 2.50 for a setup and 2.00 for a beer, they make a killing on those setups. Anyway after most people leave theres always a group that hangs out while we pack up. Im ussually the first there and do most of the setup and I let the others handle tearing everything down while I cut up with folks.

Our latest after gig game is to put all the brown bags on a table and let the Chump take a shot and try to figure out what it is. Sat was my turn as the Chump. Oh yeah if you dont guess right you take a second shot and move to the next bottle. During shows I drink a few beers but very rarely get drunk, just a little buzz enough to kill the nerves. So afterwards Im ussually ready to party. I couldnt guess anything sat night and I wound up taking a couple of shots out of everything in the place. Needless to say I was feeling pretty good. Its all part of the PR gig.

I hear you there..

BE THE PARTY.. yup.

As for getting high in the parking lot between sets, ecchhh it makes me nervous to do that.. No tension relief there, just makes it worse. Same with the booze, no shots or beers till it's over for the night.

I also cling to the band. LOL If i see someone I know I'll say hi, else I am ready to do the next tune if only to keep it moving...

Yep, I drink water all night. Weed would make me paranoid, and drinking just makes a musician sloppy.

I do try to mingle between sets, but lately we've played some cricket shows cause of the weather up here, got warm finally, but my god, January was brutal, everyone stayed home with the temps in the teens most of the month... anyways lol...

Regarding the CD giveaways - We sell both of Val's CD's at the shows, but I never thought to ask about giving them away... I'm thinking maybe a nightly raffle, maybe 3 cd's a night or something? I will have to discuss with her - I really like the idea of mardi gras beads, sounds fun as hell. Maybe I get to see some boobs too (this is where Crip magically appears and responds to thread) ahaha.

Hey Jw, I listened to your songs you guy's sound great. Your lead singer kind of has the same tonal quality as Paul Stanley do you guy's play any Kiss?

When we had our keyboard player we use to play a lot of Santana I use to put on what I called my Santana bandana and sunglasses then turn back to face the audience, the rest of the guy's would make fun of me (I encouraged them to) we would have a Smothers Brothers moment and always get a laugh out of the audience.

One of the reasons I don't drink much at gigs is because I am the guy pulling the trailer with 20 grand worth of P.A. and I would hate to get pulled over after drinking a lot, down here in Texas they tow your vehicle for D.W.I. and the wrecker driver ends up with your gear.

Mark,
Fist the chap who stepped on Ralph Vaughn Williams foot,
and now Roger Daltrey Lives in your neighborhood!
You are a pisser!
Howlin'