Tag: Music

Conflict

Being in a cover band is conflicting. On the one hand, I love playing guitar in a band. It’s a freakin’ blast. On the other hand, I generally don’t like most of the music the band plays. Still, it’s a ton of fun.

Here are a few songs from last night’s rehearsal. It was recorded with an iPhone and therefore sounds almost as good as cats choking on cow shit. There are examples of songs that I like to play that I don’t actually like. There are also songs I like to play that I do like. Can you guess which is which?

Los Pixies at T.T. the Bear’s Because it is 1987

TT the Bear’s is my favorite music venue in greater Boston and it’s closing. The bar was bought out by the competition, The Middle East which is also the next door neighbor, and despite an attempt to work out a deal to let TT’s stay open under the same management, they are being shut down this summer.

To help give the place a proper send off, The Pixies are going to play a one off, unannounced show tonight.  Here is the band’s statement:

June 18, 2015
BOSTON, MA – IMPORTANT

Hello

To help bid adieu to Cambridge’s T.T. the Bear’s Place, one of the most iconic nightclubs in the country, Pixies will perform at the venue one last time TONIGHT.

Tickets will be priced at $55.00 and go on sale today at 2:00PM ET at the Orpheum Theatre box office.

They will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis with a two-ticket limit.

All interested must be present when purchasing the ticket as all ticket holders will be wristbanded when they buy their ticket.  All attendees must be 18+, will need a valid ID, as well as their ticket and wristband in order to enter the club for the show.

Yes, the ticket price is absurd, and yes you have to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops to get a ticket, but TT’s is not what you’d call a big place.  I don’t know what the capacity is but it can’t be more than a couple of hundred.  Even at $55 and selling at only one location and the whole wristband thing, these are going to sell out in seconds.  Seconds, I tell you.
This is one of those weird gown up issues for me.  Something I never would have dreamed possible 20+ years ago.  When I was a kid I would have slaughtered scores of innocents to get in the door.  I would have done anything.  Now though, I have a conflict.  Given the choice between ditching work to get tickets and then staying in the city all day and then cramming* into a small room to see an awesome (though well past their prime and missing their bass player) band and going to an 8th grader’s middle school graduation ceremony… there is no question.  Graduation it is!
Still, this is a super cool move by the band.  It’s always great when bands who’ve moved on do something to show that they still remember where they came from.  Huge thanks to Los Pixies.  Now if they can just get Kim Deal to come back for the night.  Also, think they can get Throwing Muses to share the bill with them?  Like the old days?
*I went to a show at TT’s once where I thought I was going to die.  Not really, that’s too dramatic, but it was definitely weird.  It was a WMBR Pipeline sponsored show that was headlined by a Zulus reunion.  The Zulus didn’t do a whole hell of a lot for me when they were together, and I wouldn’t have gone to this particular show if Chelsea on Fire hadn’t been on the bill.  At that point in time Larry and I would have gone to the North Pole to see a Chelsea on Fire show.  Anyway, the place was packed to the rafters.  There wasn’t a single inch of free space in front of the stage.  It was alarming.  There were moments when the crush of people actually made it hard to breathe.  I couldn’t tell if it was because we were all crammed together, or if there just wasn’t enough oxygen in the room for all of us, but it was definitely an uncomfortable feeling.  There was also the simple thought that if someone over by the bar did something stupid like set a fire, all of us were dead.  I’m pretty sure this was before the Station burned down, but there was no way a crowd that big in a room that small would have been able to evacuate through the small exits.  It would have been a disaster.  Since the Station fire all of the rules have changed.  I haven’t been to TT’s in a long time, but I’m 100% positive the same claustrophobic fear would not have happened today.  Don’t let my hazy Zulus memories scare you off of tonight’s show.  If you can get there, go and check out the Mighty Pixies.  You won’t regret it.

Music Nerd Moment

Just posting this here to save it for later.

I made a playlist out of the entire Yes Progeny box set. Seven complete shows from the Fall of 1972 on the Close to the Edge Tour. If only it were Bill Bruford on drums instead of Alan White. (no disrespect to Mr. White intended at all)

What to Do

Our bathroom remodeling is scheduled to start on Tuesday.  We are trying to fudge our work schedules so that at least one of us will be home each daY the work proceeds.  I get one telecommute day per week, and I can probably sneak in another.  Jen, my beautiful bride, can probably sneak in a couple as well.  In an attempt to not over do the extra TCing, I decided to take my last available (for now) vacation day on Tuesday.

That means I’ll be home all day with nothing to do while the work is happening.  What should I do with the day?

Last night before bed an idea came to me.  A musical idea.  I’ve done all of the Internet album in a month challenges, but I’ve never done one of the album in a day deals.  When Jen, my beloved wife, goes to sleep on Monday I’ll bring up GarageBand.  I’ll goof for an hour or so and then go to bed.  When she gets up at around 5:00 am I will get up as well and start cranking.  I’ll go to bed on Tuesday at the same time I started playing on Monday night.  Hopefully at that time I’ll have about 30 minutes worth of new songs.

I’m such a nerd, and there’s no way I’ll manage this… But it’s fun to consider it.

I’m not a Good Guitar Player

The band had a rehearsal last night.  I recorded the whole thing again.  Know something?  I am not a good guitar player.  I listened back and it was just painful.  There were times when I sucked worse than I did on the first day I picked up the instrument.  I’m actually in the process of drafting formal letters of apology to the artists who wrote the songs that I demolished last night.  The first one goes to Greg Kihn.  There were two Aerosmith songs that were especially molested too, but I really hate that band so they don’t get letters.  Yeah, screw them.

That stupid Greg Kihn song is going to haunt me forever.  The Breakup Song.  Ridiculously simple.  It has a little arpeggiated phrase that opens up the song and then pops in and out over time.  When I first decided to join the band it was on the list of songs they wanted me to do.  I’d never played it before, but in one listen I knew it was Amin -> Fmaj ->Gmaj and the picking pattern and fingering was pretty straightforward.  I ran through it once or twice, then played it at my first band practice and all was well.  Fast forward a month or two and I decided I could maybe play it a little cleaner.  I went online to find some guitar tabs (music cheat sheets for guitarists who can’t read music.  I can read music, I’m just lazy so I cheat and use tabs).  I found a couple and set out to learn one of them.  It made the song 10000000000000 times harder.  I stuck with it for about a week and then canned it and went back to my old fingerings… and now I can’t f#$%^&g play my old fingerings either.  Argh!  I hate it when I suck up an easy song!  Damn it!

Song Idea

Last weekend I was sitting outside of the room Harry’s band was rehearsing in and noodling around with GarageBand on my phone. Next thing I know there is a rough idea for a song. Think Jimi Hendrix meets My Bloody Valentine except not even remotely as good as either. You get the idea.

I’m not working on a writing project right now, and the recording project I set for myself has stalled. What should I do with this idea? Should I maybe just start another writing project? Should I just let it sit like I usually do with orphaned song ideas?

No… something different this time. Today I recorded bass and rhythm guitar parts, replaced my cheesy iOS drums, and made a quick mix. I uploaded the still unfinished song to soundcloud and then did something I’ve never done with any song I’ve worked on since I started writing for myself at home back in 2007.

I let someone else listen to it.

I just Facebook messaged the soundcloud (I hate them so) link to the band and asked if they had any interest in playing it. I think I’m going to be afraid to check Facebook for the rest of the day. Maybe I’ll go outside and rake for a while.

Having no self confidence sucks sometimes. At least I worked up the courage to send the link. Call that a personal win.

Cover Song

Another awful, awful, god awful recording from last week’s band practice. This song isn’t there yet… but I swear by the old gods and the new that it will get there.

This is the weird part of playing in a cover band. I can honestly say that if this song came on the radio I would change the station as fast as humanly possible. However… it is pretty fun to play.