First of all a big 'Congrat's' to my homeboy Ragin who's now a proud Daddy to little Rajan jr. - as yet unnamed I believe. Much love to you & the lovely Lexis. make us proud.. :)
Two shows coming up:
Wed 5 Dec Pisces at Blend.
Lover
Control
City Streets
Secret Garden
I'll wait for you
Hope
Oh my
Fall again
In the meantime
Masquerade
Only a fool
We have practice this Sunday, couple of things about the show: I'm going to get Mike to open the gig with a bit of a drum intro, perhaps keeping a regular time on his hi-hat while doing a few combo's before Graeme & I come in with the main riff. Should be good.
I'm also going to perform Oh my solo. Which may or may not go down well in the pub. Not really suitable for a solo acoustic track, but the set needs it so..
The other gig is also at Blend on Saturday the 15th. It's for our work Social club function. Myself and two workmates are playing rock'n'roll covers as 'The Merrymen'
Who do you love? - The Doors
Money - The Beatles
Maybelline - Chuck Berry
Tutti Frutti - Little Richard
A hard days night - The Beatles
That's alright Mama - Elvis
What you want me to do? - Elvis
School days - AC DC
Great balls of Fire - Jerry Lee
Hound Dog - Jerry Lee
Rocker - AC DC
Roll over Beethoven - The Beatles
Kick out the Jams - MC5
Out of all those songs I'm most excited about playing Kick out the jams, a legendary rock track by the Motor City 5. I think Pisces will start covering it too.
The bars open to anyone, some come on down if you want to hear some kick-ass Rock'n'roll!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Christmas gigs
Well, where to start? Unfortunately our Nov gig at Blend fell through due to clashing with bookings so I'm at him now to sort one early for us in Dec. It's such a freakin pride swallowing, soul destroying process trying to get a bar to take a chance on you. To them you're just another band that doesn't even play music people are gonna know, why the hell should he bother? You try to give them a sense of what you're trying to achieve & get them believing a little that it can actually be a successful venture but until they see it with their own eyes you're basically pushing shit uphill. That's why every show we play is so important, we proving ourselves everytime we play & for every listener we win over with a good show, 10 others will be put off by a bad one. But that's what it makes it so much fun right? These are the days that I'll look back on fondly, struggling for gigs, sweaty shaking hands before we play - this only happens once in a bands career so might as well enjoy it. The birth of the band.
Have also been offered a gig at the Wellington Musicians club Christmas function on Sat Dec 8. It's a six song set with five other bands, if it works out it'll be the first time our name has been on a flyer being distributed around town. That's pretty cool. It would also be pretty sweet playing to a bunch of musicians, like minded people that'll be listening to the band with a discerning ear.
Myself & two other Asteron staff are also forming a band to play at our social club Christmas function. I got to choose the setlist so I indulged a little & chose old rock'n'roll tracks by Elvis & the Beatles & Chuck Berry, that sort of thing. It's been a fantasy of mine to play this type of set for a while so I totally get to indulge myself.
Anyway, will post later when & if the gigs get the greenlight.
Have also been offered a gig at the Wellington Musicians club Christmas function on Sat Dec 8. It's a six song set with five other bands, if it works out it'll be the first time our name has been on a flyer being distributed around town. That's pretty cool. It would also be pretty sweet playing to a bunch of musicians, like minded people that'll be listening to the band with a discerning ear.
Myself & two other Asteron staff are also forming a band to play at our social club Christmas function. I got to choose the setlist so I indulged a little & chose old rock'n'roll tracks by Elvis & the Beatles & Chuck Berry, that sort of thing. It's been a fantasy of mine to play this type of set for a while so I totally get to indulge myself.
Anyway, will post later when & if the gigs get the greenlight.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The day after the day after.
Gig went well, better than I was hoping. We ended up using another bands PA so hired it off them for $125 which was a lot better than the $350 Vidcom was charging us. One of the guys in the band we hired it off 'Noodles' came & set it up for us so that was one headache averted. Almost forgot to cancel the already booked PA & only remembered on the bus home which resulted in a mad 018 call from the bus & missing my stop, thus walking home from the basin making me even more stressed than I already was.
Actually can't remember ever being that nervous. At the beginning of the show when we kicked off with Secret Garden I put my hand up in a rock star pose & realised it was shaking - definately not rock n roll - I put it back down pretty quickly.
Set list was
Secret Garden
Control
City Streets
Lover
Portrait
In the meantime
Fallen
Hope
Masquerade
Over all it was good, started strongly with the first three tracks, lost a bit of momentum, then finished strongly with the last three. Masquerade was the best we've played it, it was a strong way to finish the show. Overall I give it a 8/10. Not perfect but effective in showing what we are & do.
Spoke to Jono the bar manager afterwards, he was happy with the way things went & the crowd we pulled. He offered to get us back but he wants every sixth song to be a cover. That's a compromise I think I can live with, I've been thinking Helter Skelter & Kick out the jams, but we'll wait & see.
Actually can't remember ever being that nervous. At the beginning of the show when we kicked off with Secret Garden I put my hand up in a rock star pose & realised it was shaking - definately not rock n roll - I put it back down pretty quickly.
Set list was
Secret Garden
Control
City Streets
Lover
Portrait
In the meantime
Fallen
Hope
Masquerade
Over all it was good, started strongly with the first three tracks, lost a bit of momentum, then finished strongly with the last three. Masquerade was the best we've played it, it was a strong way to finish the show. Overall I give it a 8/10. Not perfect but effective in showing what we are & do.
Spoke to Jono the bar manager afterwards, he was happy with the way things went & the crowd we pulled. He offered to get us back but he wants every sixth song to be a cover. That's a compromise I think I can live with, I've been thinking Helter Skelter & Kick out the jams, but we'll wait & see.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Tomorrow night
Looks like we're all set for Blend. It's just me, Graeme & Mike for this gig as Carly's got commitments with a movie. Add's to the challenge of how it's going to sound already being that it's our first time with a vocal PA and through our amps. I haven't set my sights too high for the gig, if we can get through without turning people off the band I'll be happy. The experience is going to be great though & we're going to learn alot about where we're at & what needs to be done to move forward from here. Just hope it's not too painful..
Secret Garden
Control
City Streets
Lover
Fall again
In the meantime
Fallen
Hope
Masquerade
Broken Pieces
I'll wait for you
Only a fool
Secret Garden
Control
City Streets
Lover
Fall again
In the meantime
Fallen
Hope
Masquerade
Broken Pieces
I'll wait for you
Only a fool
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Sacre Bleu!
Oops, we did it again. Condolences to the AB's, I thought we played ok, recriminations are useless now. I've avoided the media so far as I don't want to get involved in the blame game which I have no doubt our infantile media commentator's have already started. It was just bad luck, nothinng else. A couple of bad calls, the ball not bouncing our way & then we're out. Bad luck, it's over, get on with it. At least the Aussie's lost as well..
In other news though, on Friday night I was offered a gig up at Blend bar on Wakefield street. The bar manager has offered to pay for whatever we need to hire and pay us well. It's a great step forward for us as we've never had to play this type of bar or crowd before. These types of bars are traditionally covers bars, with a drunken corporate crowd more interested in scoring than listening to music. If we do this well, I'm going to try to turn it into a regular monthly gig, maybe first Wed of each month. Looking forward I'd like to get the night so popular that they end up turning people away from the door because we're packing the place out. It holds about 100-150 people so it's definately acheivable if we play good shows. If we can win over this type of crowd then it'll be a great step for us.
I've been having a lot of discussions with people about marketing. Most people are of the opinion that we need a myspace page or website (which I'm sure we'll get in time) but I'd like to avoid it for the time being. I want this band to be grassroots from the beginning. I want people to feel they've found something that is their secret, something that isn't a mass produced consumer generated product for mass consumption. There has to be intimacy & subtlety & I don't think you get that appealing to us many people as possible without discretion. As the band grows so will our audience, let them follow something which isn't for sale for a change.
In other news though, on Friday night I was offered a gig up at Blend bar on Wakefield street. The bar manager has offered to pay for whatever we need to hire and pay us well. It's a great step forward for us as we've never had to play this type of bar or crowd before. These types of bars are traditionally covers bars, with a drunken corporate crowd more interested in scoring than listening to music. If we do this well, I'm going to try to turn it into a regular monthly gig, maybe first Wed of each month. Looking forward I'd like to get the night so popular that they end up turning people away from the door because we're packing the place out. It holds about 100-150 people so it's definately acheivable if we play good shows. If we can win over this type of crowd then it'll be a great step for us.
I've been having a lot of discussions with people about marketing. Most people are of the opinion that we need a myspace page or website (which I'm sure we'll get in time) but I'd like to avoid it for the time being. I want this band to be grassroots from the beginning. I want people to feel they've found something that is their secret, something that isn't a mass produced consumer generated product for mass consumption. There has to be intimacy & subtlety & I don't think you get that appealing to us many people as possible without discretion. As the band grows so will our audience, let them follow something which isn't for sale for a change.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
September 26 - San Fran - Acoustic Lounge
Secret Garden
City Streets
Jimmy Jones
I'm your lover
Fallen
Hope
Masquerade
Picking up the pieces
Show went well, most people we've played to so far. We were a bit rusty in places due to having not rehearsed for a couple of weeks but we got by. It was beautifully lit, the blue curtains behind us, burgundy walls and the dimmed lights make the whole thing look really intimate. I opened the night strumming the opening chords to 'Angie' by the Rolling Stones just as a surprise for my flatmate Ange (which she later confessed to being completely oblivious too..) which morphed into the opening chords to Secret Garden before the band kicked in. It was a pretty cool way to start the show. By the second song people had started to move to the front of the room and were sitting on the ground in front of us. At one stage there were about 4 camera's taking photo's of us, unfortunately it was noone I knew so I'm unable to post any, it was slightly surreal to have camera flashes going through city streets, but very cool.
Carly nailed Jimmy Jones, it's the best she's sung it & the best I've played it. She'd been really nervous earlier in the day due to workmates & family coming along so it was good to see her perform it well. Lover went ok, unfortunately at this point I had switched to a heavier pick & there was no flexibility to it. It meant I had to hold it so tightly my hand started to cramp so I found it difficult to strum properly. It got worse for the next song Fallen which was supposed to be the centrepeice of our performance, but due to my not being able to strum properly and lack of rehearsal it got slighthly hashed. Hope was ok, it's a fairly reliable song as it's structurally quite simple. Carly & I have some beautiful harmonies on this track which is my favourite thing about it. Masquerade was a bit of a carwreck again due to lack of rehearsal and my hand cramping. We finished with Picking up the pieces which was my favourite track of the night, after fighting with my pick and sore hand it's a really easy song to strum and has a great melody to sing so it finished on a high for me. Again the chorus harmonies with Carly on this track always blow me away.
So overall I give it 6/10, we can definately do better but it was another step forward.
On another note, after the show we were having a drink outside with another performer and he pulled his guitar out and sung a song for us. He handed it to me so I played 'that's the way the world goes round' which is an old country track. Dylan took lead vocal & I harmonised the chorus with him, it was a pretty special spontaneous performance, as satisfying as anything we'd done earlier in the night.
Peace.
City Streets
Jimmy Jones
I'm your lover
Fallen
Hope
Masquerade
Picking up the pieces
Show went well, most people we've played to so far. We were a bit rusty in places due to having not rehearsed for a couple of weeks but we got by. It was beautifully lit, the blue curtains behind us, burgundy walls and the dimmed lights make the whole thing look really intimate. I opened the night strumming the opening chords to 'Angie' by the Rolling Stones just as a surprise for my flatmate Ange (which she later confessed to being completely oblivious too..) which morphed into the opening chords to Secret Garden before the band kicked in. It was a pretty cool way to start the show. By the second song people had started to move to the front of the room and were sitting on the ground in front of us. At one stage there were about 4 camera's taking photo's of us, unfortunately it was noone I knew so I'm unable to post any, it was slightly surreal to have camera flashes going through city streets, but very cool.
Carly nailed Jimmy Jones, it's the best she's sung it & the best I've played it. She'd been really nervous earlier in the day due to workmates & family coming along so it was good to see her perform it well. Lover went ok, unfortunately at this point I had switched to a heavier pick & there was no flexibility to it. It meant I had to hold it so tightly my hand started to cramp so I found it difficult to strum properly. It got worse for the next song Fallen which was supposed to be the centrepeice of our performance, but due to my not being able to strum properly and lack of rehearsal it got slighthly hashed. Hope was ok, it's a fairly reliable song as it's structurally quite simple. Carly & I have some beautiful harmonies on this track which is my favourite thing about it. Masquerade was a bit of a carwreck again due to lack of rehearsal and my hand cramping. We finished with Picking up the pieces which was my favourite track of the night, after fighting with my pick and sore hand it's a really easy song to strum and has a great melody to sing so it finished on a high for me. Again the chorus harmonies with Carly on this track always blow me away.
So overall I give it 6/10, we can definately do better but it was another step forward.
On another note, after the show we were having a drink outside with another performer and he pulled his guitar out and sung a song for us. He handed it to me so I played 'that's the way the world goes round' which is an old country track. Dylan took lead vocal & I harmonised the chorus with him, it was a pretty special spontaneous performance, as satisfying as anything we'd done earlier in the night.
Peace.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The Future
Show went ok. Set list was:
I'll wait for you
Take me home
This old house
Secret Garden
Potrait
Old man
Jimmy Jones
Carly joined me from SG onwards. Again, I couldn't hear anything we played so couldn't get a grasp for how it was sounding. All I could hear was people talking. Had a lot of good feedback which surprised and pleased me as I thought a lot of it was going over peoples heads.
Band plays on the 26th, set list is currently:
Secret Garden
Broken peices
City streets
Jimmy Jones
Lover
Fallen
Hope
Masquerade
Hopefully we get a chance to play all eight. We've been kicked off early in the past.
Have decided to start the recording of the first Pisces album in March next year when my contract finishes at work. I'll continue to work part time but focus on getting the album done. Not sure how I'm going to pay for it, cause it's going to have to be done properly, but I'll think of something. Between now & then we'll have to put on our own show as well, maybe at Happy.
I'll wait for you
Take me home
This old house
Secret Garden
Potrait
Old man
Jimmy Jones
Carly joined me from SG onwards. Again, I couldn't hear anything we played so couldn't get a grasp for how it was sounding. All I could hear was people talking. Had a lot of good feedback which surprised and pleased me as I thought a lot of it was going over peoples heads.
Band plays on the 26th, set list is currently:
Secret Garden
Broken peices
City streets
Jimmy Jones
Lover
Fallen
Hope
Masquerade
Hopefully we get a chance to play all eight. We've been kicked off early in the past.
Have decided to start the recording of the first Pisces album in March next year when my contract finishes at work. I'll continue to work part time but focus on getting the album done. Not sure how I'm going to pay for it, cause it's going to have to be done properly, but I'll think of something. Between now & then we'll have to put on our own show as well, maybe at Happy.
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