As I discussed here, last Wednesday, I was offered a gig with no drummer and never having played with this artist that was happening Saturday (yesterday). Luckily it came together, with a drummer I've played with many times, after one rehearsal on Friday and then it was off to the show on Saturday.
From my house to Jazzbones is about 25 miles or so south via I-5. I was able to draft a pal (another bassist) to come along for the ride. Back and forth chat made the ride go by quick and by 6:15, we were there.
The headliner, the Hector Tellez, Jr. band were setup and about to start soundcheck. As I rolled up, my drummer texted and said I didn't need to bring my amp and head. Because I'm super lazy, I left my gear in the trunk and headed in with my pedals and a couple basses (G&L L1K and MIM P).
The back door opens directly onto the stage and I got to speak briefly with Dune, the other bassist of the night. I'd seen and played with him before, when he fronted his band General Mojo's, several years ago. I recall him being a stellar player and singer, but never got a chance to meet him. I thanked him for letting me use his setup (Orange Terror amp into a GK 4x10) and got off the stage so they could soundcheck.
| Hector Tellez Jr and band at soundcheck. Left to right: Dune Butler, Hector Tellez, Jr., Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees/Mad Season), Peter Buck (R.E.M.). |
They were tight and sounded great. Dune's T-bird (Gibson) really sounded nice, but also seemed to get lost a little. Lead guitar could have come up a bit as well, but there literally was no one in the club but us, them and some club staff. Plus I'm not a sound engineer, so I trusted the guy to do his job.
We took the stage for some sound check and it was fine. My L1K seemed to sound wooly and I didn't know if it was the amp or the settings. I zeroed everything on the amp and used my preamp and it still sounded weird but I went with it. My band, the Kathy Moore Super Power Trio, was missing its bassist and drummer as they also play in a band called Acid Tongue, that was on the eastern side of the state at another gig. Me and my old drummer pal Gregg jumped in and were super stoked to work with Kathy.
She led us through a couple parts of a couple songs, and we worked on some of the transitions. Kathy uses all sorts of pedals and loops in her show and this was no exception. The only thing we did to keep it simpler for Gregg and I was to not touch any of her odd time signature tunes. We'll do that at a later date with some more rehearsals, for sure.
After sound check, it was dinner time. I didn't get a picture of my Big Mouth Burger, but it did take forever to arrive. I did get a photo of this fine gentleman and his suit, however:
Incredible. His shoes looked like they were chrome, they were so shiny. Apparently he has many suits like this; the bartender says he's a regular and never seems to wear the same suit twice.
After eating, we took the stage at 9pm. Kathy's songs for this project are fairly simple. First song is pretty much a groove vamp in E, and then a walk down during the choruses to C and then back to E again. Me and Gregg just tried to stay tight and back her, but she did give her blessing to allow us to "express" ourselves however we saw fit. In other words, there was some noodling and flourishes, but, in my humble opinion, everything fit the songs and her solos.
On stage, it was strange to play in a trio after 4 years of being in a 4 piece. Also, to be out from under the constraints of a former bandmate that passive aggressively pushed his agenda onto me without me knowing until it was too late. He'd always stuff like, "I think we're playing too much/too many notes/need to dial it down," and then tell us it needed to be more like the Black Crowes or Petty or Sloan or Elton John.
Eventually that stuff stuck in my head and I'd literally just play a root note to see what would happen and after the song, he'd still say "we" were playing too much. But, I digress.
I felt free to do what I wanted on stage and it was awesome. And playing with a super tasty, chops-filled drummer was great as well. Our set was short, about 35 minutes, and over too soon. I could tell Kathy was super pleased with how Gregg and I played. We were really tuned into her solos and reading her body and musical cues.
Sadly, no pictures of us on stage last night but my aforementioned buddy did shoot a video from in front of the soundboard of us playing Cortez the Killer. While that uploads, please enjoy a picture of my outfit for the night.
And here's the video:
https://youtu.be/WFztNnTkccM
Hector Tellez and his band was up next and they were super solid. Was cool to see a couple legendary musicians on stage. Barrett Martin was a great rock drummer. He really owned that drumset and was totally in charge. Peter Buck stayed on rhythm guitar and was pretty subdued, so much so that my buddy thought Peter was very under utilized for the set. Dune on bass was a lot less inspired than I remember. He was solid and competent, with a few cool riffs here and there, but it seemed he was really locked in to supporting the bandleader, and not getting himself off. It worked, but it seemed lacking to me. And Hector Tellez Jr is the real deal. Great guitarist, great singer, looks incredible on stage. Songs are a bit meh to me, though. I think, given time, his songs will grow and evolve to match his talent, but after two or three tunes, they sounded all the same.
That said, Kathy, Gregg and I were super excited about what we did and we are looking forward to the next show in July. Thanks for reading!
