6/14/2025, Planets in the Ocean at Darrell's

Cool and delicious poster

Chris from Strong Suit offered up this gig a few weeks ago, with us and a band I'd never heard of called Miraco. It was on the same day as Haley's graduation, but since that happened during the day and we were headlining at Darrell's that night, I figured it would be OK. I ran it by Marci and booked it with Chris.

Over the next few weeks, I had forgotten about it but then realized that it was a thing and falling on graduation day. Trouble was that graduation was happening in Bellingham, and the show was in Shoreline. So there was a little drama, but ultimately we worked it out.

Headed to Bham around noon on Saturday, with an additional 40 minute delay thanks to 405N being closed, so everyone and their sister routed through our neighborhood. A quick stop at Trader Joe's for lunch and flowers, and then we were up in Bham an hour and a half later.

The grad ceremony was nice and quick and I was quite proud and happy to see Hay graduate with her fellow students. We met up for pix and some downtime at her house later, before heading to dinner at a local brewery.

After dinner, I booked it down to Shoreline, about an hour south. Traffic was light and I arrived a little before 9pm, just in time for Strong Suit to start their set.

I had asked the other bassists to share gear but Strong Suit's bassist was borrowing Miraco's bassist's gear. And Miraco's bassist said he had to get home to tend to his dog, so I was left hanging. I ended up bringing my Peavey MiniMax and my Avatar 210 as it was small enough to travel with.

Strong Suit took the stage and I guess it had been a minute since they played out. They had Andy Stoller subbing for Keith Ash on bass and I guess they had a sub on guitar as well. They played a shorter set and then played a cover of "Everyday People" with some guest stars (Kim V; a guy named Wanz who was on Mackelmore's "Thrift Shop" song) for backing vox.

Strong Suit and friends

After SS came Miraco. Two guys had big cowboy hats on and they definitely exuded some modern country vibes, but really, it was more alt-rock with some twangy overtones. Very solid crew of musicians. I do wish they had some harmony vocals as I think the songs would have greatly benefitted from it, but only the lead singer sang; they didn't even have a second mic set up for anyone.

Miraco

Miraco finished a nice set and vacated the stage. For both of the bands that played, there was a nice turnout. Since Darrell's still does old school start times (music at 9/10/11), that meant no one was sticking around for us unless they were there to see us. We at least had Barry and his guitarist from Miraco, Chris and Kim, and then I had Dennis and Marta, Christian (old coworker), Jim (new coworker), as well as our friends from Square Peg (the Steves, Dan and Bob). Our "superfans" Derrick and Monica were there, as well as Ted L and whatever other stragglers stuck around.

I set up my gear in the bathroom corner so I wouldn't be in direct fire of Robb's amp, but of course I didn't get a picture of the stuff. I rolled with just Goldie this time and was a little nervous as Miraco's guitarist broke a string on his first strum, but, like a pro, had his second guitar right next to him and on within 16 bars. Due to space constraints, I traveled with one bass, but it ended up being just fine.

We started our set a little before 11 and we've been tearing the roof off joints because, weirdly, we've been the heaviest band the past two shows. I almost feel sorry for the listeners because we are REALLY LOUD. But I guess that's the sound guy's fault (or Robb's ears??)?

Due to some drama after graduation earlier, and maybe residual emotion/feelings from that, I decided I had no Fs to give. I played with some energy and excitement, more so than usual. I went for it when singing because of that, but also because I couldn't really hear myself. I think I hit most of my notes, and there definitely were some clams up in there, but I had fun and I didn't care too much.

2/3rds of Planets, sorry Cass

As always with playing, it felt long and quick at the same time. I'd look down at my setlist and see we had 3 songs or so left, even though I felt like we'd been up there for awhile. And then I'd look again and we were done.

People were quite complimentary. I always love the vocal comments as for me, it's always a work-in-progress. Steve asked (not for the first time) what we do to get our vocals so dialed in. I sort of shrugged; we just do it. It helps that when Robb sends out a demo, he usually has layered vox, so I just pick one that stands out to me and work on that. Bass Steve was complimentary and constructive about his comments; I always trust what he says and appreciate his support for coming out and really listening.

Derrick shot video and I'm sure he'll be posting in the next day or so. His wife fell on stage coming over to grab set lists; I only heard it, didn't see it, but she was OK, thankfully.

Next up is the Central in about 3 weeks with Sunset Grooves. We are working on some 80's songs as it's 80's night, I guess. Stay tuned...