It appears that the big D is becoming our home away from home? Back up to Darrell's Tavern in Shoreline for our second show of the new year.
I decided to offer my amp for backline. Last show we played, Jim from the Pop Cycle offered up his killer Verellen amp. I've used Ben's (the Rallies) Ampeg B15 before, so I figured it was my turn. It's been a minute since I used the TE, so I packed it up and hauled it out.
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| Before |
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| After, with Ben's P |
After dinner, it was 22 miles up to Shoreline. Cold and wet night and I decided to spice things up by bringing a jacket to wear on stage. One of my old bandmates who was my drummer is now fronting a band and he had a nice mod look last week, black pants and shoes, cool black t-shirt, topping it all off with a nice fitted black jacket. I don't have a black jacket, but I have A jacket, so I brought it along just in case.
Typically I'm not a huge fan of long sleeves on stage because a bassist gets sweaty, but in the interest of fashion, I decided to take one for the team.
I got to the club and set up, as seen above. It's a tight little stage, awkwardly shaped, but I'm a professional, so I made it work. I met up with the aforementioned Ben, who I've now gigged with 3 times (after last night). He plays in the Talking Heads tribute band I played with last month, as well as their offshoot, the John Hughes Experience, that I played with last summer. He's a tasty player and he nailed all his cover tune licks in those gigs.
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| The Rallies |
For last night, he had a P that he inherited from his late brother-in-law, who passed away in the past few years. He had flats on it and it just sounded super tasty through my rig. He played all the right notes and was super solid with his drummer, Lee.
Before I jumped on stage, a woman named Monica said hi. She was a NHS grad of 89 (I think). Her husband, Derrick, was an 87 grad, so that was cool. I guess they were big SE fans and wanted to check us out and see an NHS alum as well.
I busted out the gold L1K, put on my velvet-ish jacket, and got to work. Robb had printed out setlists made for people with 20/20 vision. It was pretty comical, but we made it work. I had the same problem as always, thinking my rig was too loud, but after a song, I realized I had to come up a bit. So I bumped up the volume and off we went.
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| Look close for the Mickey Mouse shirt |
My playing was a little rough; we've only rehearsed 2 times or so this year and like a bum, I didn't practice before the show. My picking arm was a little tight. No matter how much I say that I'm gonna take it easy and not get sweaty, I can't help myself. I get hot and sweaty. All for the show, I guess.
Mike Mitchell was there taking pictures and talk about a great dude. He and his partner, Amy, are fans of music and go to so many shows. He is always making us look great and feel great as well, with his compliments and write-ups. Here's one he took and I'm sure he'll have more for us soon.
Playing through the set, I thought we were nearly done, only to see we had two more songs left. For whatever reason, it felt long, but it was fine; I loved it and wish we had some more gigs, as always. I got off the stage and got some nice comments from the folks out there. It always seems like we are just about *there, but we need more eyes and ears on us to grow. People seem to dig it, but until we can get more people out, it's gonna be hard to get into weekend slots at the Tractor/ the Croc/ the Sunset, etc. Just keep swimming, I guess!
Next up were my old mates from the Pop Cycle. They debuted a few new songs and hit some covers and each time I see them, the just sound better and better. David and Brett are great together and Jim and Paul are tearing it up as the rhythm section. I love their songs and they pull them off so well.
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| The Pop Cycle |
Had a great time hanging with Cass and Robb after we finished. Cass kept going on and on about my jacket; evidently he liked it a lot. It was pretty funny. I got to meet some new friends and hear some great tunes. I talked to Ben for a bit and hope our bands can hook up again. All around great night, made a few bucks and I can't wait to do it again.
