Last night marked the physical beginning of Planets in the Ocean. Cass, Robb and I convened after a couple misfires (I was out of town; Cass was out of town; Robb was sick) and it was pretty awesome.
PITO started during the 2020 lockdown due to COVID. Stereo Embers had a show or two on the books for March and April 2020, but then we went on worldwide lockdown. This led to me buying a Scarlett Focusrite DAW (digital audio workstation) so I could record bass into my PC. Cass bought an electric drumset and Robb already had studio equipment at his house, so he was good. Tim bought one, but never set it up/figured it out and wasn't too keen on the music we were working on.
Robb started sending Cass and I tunes to play in our homes. Sometimes they were fleshed out with bass, drums, guitar and vox, but most times it was just guitar and vox. We put our own parts to them, and after a few back and forths, Robb would put them together in ProTools or something and after a month or two (?), this is what came out of it:
After some initial love from the socials (just friends, mainly) that was that and time marched on. Come July of 2021, Embers had our first show in about 15 months and we continued down that path. Shows were successful and fun, but Embers continued walking in place. We'd rehearse, but nothing evolved or came out of getting together.
Earlier in 2022, Robb said he was done with Embers, wanting to do his own thing. We discussed, had some back and forth, played our last show in April, and that was that.
Sometime after that, some friends' bands, Electric No-No and the Hoot Hoots, reached out to Robb as they remembered the PITO stuff, asked if PITO would be up to open a show in July. Since we'd never played together and hadn't discussed post-Embers plans, Robb contacted me and Cass and we agreed to give it a shot. The music was good, we know the hang is good, we'll see about any money, and the decision was made.
Over the next couple weeks, Robb continued doing what he does: write songs. He kept sending Cass and I tunes, but then I went out of town, and then Cass was out of the country, and then Darla was really sick, and, among other things, we just couldn't get together as a trio until last night.
I brought my rig and the Thunderbird, having never played it in a band setting before. New strap also, to help with neck dive. I also tried plugging my pedals into the Effects Return on my amp and it seemed to sound different? Maybe it was the bass, I just don't know.
But. Playing that Tbird, and playing the entire night (except for maybe one verse of a song) with pick was a bit of a revelation. Normally I give up, but playing with a pick on that bass just feels more natural than playing with fingers. Something with how my arm/hand naturally lands on the strings makes it way more comfortable with pick. So pick it was.
We played through something like 6 songs and it was pretty awesome. There's a unique familiarity with playing completely different music with the same dudes you've played with for 4 years. I knew what to expect from Robb's songs and structure and vocals. Hearing Cass in a non-rock only style was pretty awesome. He played passionately; heck, we ALL played passionately. For the first time with new songs, it's only going to get better as we evolve and the songs grow.
Robb has a new twin guitar amp stereo setup and some spankin new pedals. Really trying for a sonic landscape rather than chunky rhythm guitar, and it is working for him. It was a lot of fun watching and listening for changes, following, and then having those progressions set in.
(And, can I mention how good it was to have some volume in the room? After playing with the Grooves via headphones for weeks, I forgot how great it is to have an amp pushing air, feeling the drums and guitar! Can't wait to do that with the Grooves!)
Playing with Cass and his true style will be great. I tended to simply follow his drumming in SE as his parts were pretty ironed out. However, since all this PITO stuff is new to all of us, he and I can develop our parts together and really work on the drummer/bassist telepathy. I sensed some moments last night, but I will need to work on actively listening to him even more once I get the song structures down.
All in all, a wonderful night. Darla said she was crying listening to us from upstairs. We all felt liberated, energized, validated and excited about what happened. After years of being told that we were too busy, or we needed to sound like someone/something else, to simply play and all be excited as the last notes rang out was something joyful. I forgot what that was like sometimes with SE. I didn't even realize it was missing, to be honest. Our live shows were so much fun that it masked the lack of fun we had a rehearsals.
But, as they say, onward and upward! What was the past is the past and PITO is our current and future. Let's go!!
