Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Happenings...

Had a great (though too sunny) show at Lake Belton for the 3rd Cavalry and their families. It was cool. Big props to George and John at Veteran Sound (www.veteransound.com) for their great work. Also to the Army for having us. It was truly an honor.

Had a less great show two weeks prior at Hayashi. Well, the show was great, but a discussion about our fee after the show soured the night. We won't be back there, not because we don't like the place, but apparently we're too expensive, even with the discount we gave them.

We've been playing "Rebel Yell" at the shows, with me on Ned's guitar (and him on my bass). It's been pretty fun, but it's still weird because I'm just not really used to playing his guitars. They feel weird to me, especially after playing a bass for the rest of the show. It's harder to play and sing than I remembered, but only from a rhythmic standpoint - I can get through every part, it's just kind of pat-head-rub-belly at times.

On the songwriting front, I wrote a chord progression yesterday, and had some ideas for a melody, which is good. I also recorded some drums just for fun and they ended up sounding pretty decent despite my crappy playing. I definitely need to plan out times when I can cut real drum tracks for all my songs. That would be splendid.

I think I just need to start writing as much as possible again. The juices need to be kickstarted to flow, and they just haven't been.

And away we go! Roman Holiday's got some time off now, perhaps we'll schedule a rehearsal or two. Or not...

Monday, September 7, 2009

So what's the word this week...

Mother Nature is a cruel BITCH.

Our gig on Friday got rained out. In the driest summer in recent Austin history (AFAIK). First a light sprinkle that didn't seem like it was going to lead to anything that lasted for a while, then slightly more driving rain, followed by immediate deluge, Florida-style. We were set up outside on a deck next to a pool in a really dangerous thunderstorm. Needless to say, lightning hit really close, scaring the shit out of us more than once.

Seems like everything's okay - we went to a dry garage (thank you Greg) and toweled everything down. Fortunately it's supposed to be really hot all week, so the stuff should dry out well.

My biggest bummer was not getting to use my new bass. I got a great deal on a used Carvin B5 bass, and so far, at least at home, I'm loving the thing. It's a little "loved" (way more loved than I expected based on the pictures on Craigslist), but worth the money I spent on it, for sure. It's light, very flexible in tone, and an utter joy to play. Here are some pictures:




Public gig this Saturday night at Hayashi up in Cedar Park...it should be a gas!
TMS