New PITO tracks

These are two of our newest songs, recorded at practice a few weeks ago. Robb set up drum mics as well as a microphone for my bass rig. I brought my new Terror Bass and really fuzzed out the sound with my L1K.

Overall, for a live take, it wasn't bad, but after Robb went and redid his guitar and vocals (he did scratch tracks when we recorded), my bass was just too wooly sounding. I re-recorded this weekend using the T-bird, the Terror Bass and direct with no effects.

Gwon Chang · Panic Attack (demo)

Gwon Chang · Fought A Bear (demo)

Bass covers

Since the pandemic, I started doing bass covers on YouTube, just like everyone else. I would take a song I liked and could play, video myself playing and recording the audio, edit it together, post for validation.

It is fun and I've learned a lot, but barely scratching the surface when it comes to audio recording. Thankfully, there's a free University of YouTube that I search for all my questions and anything I've been able to do is due to UYT.

I don't feel like doing a deep dive of all the vids I've done, but here's the latest one, recorded yesterday, posted today.

Running and weight

I realized that I've been running for 4.5 years and never wrote about it, since I wasn't blogging in 2018.

Long story short, I had my first physical in years sometime in early 2018. Results were my blood pressure was high and needed to be on medication to reduce. I said I'd try walking/exercising. At the time, I was not exercising, always thinking I was in decent shape, being on my feet all day at the MS store and walking fast, etc. Also, at the physical, they weighed me and I was around 165 lbs or so? Maybe 170, as I seem to remember having my jacket, belt, phone, etc, all on me when I weighed in.

Anyway, to try to reduce the BP, I tried walking and such. At the time, we only had Bella, so she got a bunch of extra walks. Over time, I started wanting to run, so I'd walk, then run from where I was to the next corner, take a break, walk, and then run to the next corner, etc.

Eventually, I started to run only, and bring Bella on those with me. She loved it. We'd run to the dog park down at Ringdall and I'd let her run around there, but she'd be tired too. There and back was about 2.5 miles.

I can't remember if I bought a Garmin watch then or what, but starting in March of 2018 is when I started tracking my activities. Looks like I was doing about 20 minute miles. I was running in some Asics shoes Alison gave me back in the day. After a few weeks of that, I do remember my knee starting to hurt, at which time I started wearing a knee brace. But then I had Ali get me some real running shoes (it helps that she's a shoe rep), and the knee problems went away.

Once I started getting into a running routine, I tried to go every 2-3 days, so 2-4 times a week. I started tracking everything through Strava and after a few months, I was starting to enjoy it. Looks like for 2018, I averaged 4.7hrs of activity every month from March to December. I continued running through the winter and though I felt pretty good about it, I think my weight was still in the 160s, which I wasn't crazy about. Actually, looking back to when I started weighing myself on the daily, it was mid-April 2019 and I was around 166.

Because of that, I started tracking calories with the MyFitnessPal app, which allowed me to do just that. I was pretty strict about it and before long, I started dropping weight. It was pretty cool to see. In two weeks, I'd dropped about 4 pounds and by August, about 4 months later, I was down to 147, so nearly 20 pounds!

I was pretty proud of myself, having stuck with it. I was fitting into clothes different, my face looked leaner, everything felt pretty good. My BP was still high, though, so I did finally start taking the meds, but because the meds always made me pee (diuretic), I ended up being inconsistent about them.

Anyway, after stopping the MFP app, I found my weight would fluctuate a pound here and there on the daily. I continued running year-round, but once COVID hit in March of 2020, that's when I started to try running every other day.

Weight-wise, when COVID started, I was around 152-153lbs. That was pretty consistent, especially as I tried running more. I also cut out eating too much after dinner, if at all, as well as trying not to snack all the time.

But, as time has gone on, though I continue to run, I have found myself snacking more and more and most recently, my weight is back around 159-161 on any given day now, so I've started tracking my food on MFP again. I'm using it more as a guide than a strict rule, but it's tricky. Working from home, having constant access to food makes snacking easy.

I'm running anywhere from 3.65 miles (my usual) to 5 miles or more on weekends. As of this week, I'm nearly at 500 miles ran/walked for the year. For comparison, I did 578 miles in total last year. I should exceed that this year at the current pace.

Through it all, I've listened to every episode of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, as well as Smartless. Sometimes I through in a Scott's Bass Lessons podcast. I also burned through all of the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul Insider Podcasts, which I loved. Every once in a while, I'll throw on This American Life, or the Noel Castler Podcast. Love listening to all of those on the runs.

Do I want to go every other day? Admittedly, it is harder some days than others, but I figure 30-35 minutes of running beats not doing it, and it is something cool to hang my hat on, for sure.

I know it's just a number...

The past two days, I've weighed in at 160~ lbs. It must be the pre-winter trend, but I've also been eating like garbage and only running 3+ miles every other day. Here's how it's looked over the past 12 months:

Every time I've been able to bring the weight down, it's been because of the MyFitnessPal app. Track calories and food for a few weeks, the weight comes down. Stop tracking and get lazy, it goes back up. Working from home doesn't help and sitting despite a standing desk doesn't help either.

I logged back into MFP today and will try to see what happens. I just want to get to 155 or so and I know it's just a number, and I know I'm not overweight, but it's just a goal I have. When I started running in 2018, it was because my blood pressure was high. I also wanted to lose a few pounds because at my physical, I was up around 170 or so.

When the running didn't help me lose weight, I tried MFP and it actually helped me get to, believe it or not, 147lbs. I think that was a little too light, so about 150-152 seemed good, and I maintained it pretty well.

But for me, it seems cyclical. Up and down, and I think most people that watch what they eat will go through this as well.

In the meantime, I'll try wearing my Garmin to track steps, will try to watch what I eat and whatever I do eat, I'll put into MFP to track it. Let's see how it goes.

Starting over

Enjoying my coffee on a Saturday morning, thinking about music and bass. My last show was a few weeks ago now, with PITO at Slim's. Still thinking about how these last two shows with that band have gone well, but with lower turnout than I'm used to.

Having the luxury (for me, at least) playing in a semi-successful band was a welcome change after having only ever played a handful of shows with more than a handful of people at them. When I joined Stereo Embers in 2018, my first show with them was in June, at the Sunset. I'd be lying if I said I remembered a full house, but if it wasn't a full house, it was at least 75% full.

This band introduced me to many new friends, most of whom I'd never met before. Having Tim in the band really helped put us on the map, especially with the Pearl Jam crew. Those fans are rabid for anything PJ related and having Mike McCready wear our shirts and put out our records (all before my time, sadly) got us on the fans' radar.

As SE built their following, the PJ fans started coming out. They pretty much all became SE fans, and especially Tim and Robb fans, and I was able to join that club when I started in the band.

Over the next few years, we played more shows, but did get hit with the COVID shutdown, where we just stopped for 18 months. In all those shows pre- and post-shutdowns, they were well attended. Actually, we had one show at El Corazón on a weeknight, opening for an old hard rock guy (Graham Bennett?), where we didn't have many people there, but overall, they were well attended.

And now, with PITO, we are starting over. Our first show was at the Sunset and we had a good turnout, but it felt light to me. Part of it can probably be attributed to first show jitters, new music, etc. Everything has been revamped, all the way down to number of people on stage. Not having Tim by me meant having to bring the energy and vibe when Robb was tethered to the mic.

Our next show at Slim's a few weeks ago was pretty sparsely attended. Maybe 20-30 people there? We were outside so it definitely looked light. But, there were tons of bands playing that night and Slim's is a bit out of the way. Also, that weekend, I90 westbound was shut down so it's possible people stayed away from traveling because of that.

Anyway, people know about PITO and we have connections. We have to go out and prove it now and with Cass doing Love Battery, it being summer winding down, and other issues, gigs seem to be hard to come by these days. Our next gig isn't until Jan 6, but hoping to get something lined up between then and now.

We did some demo tracks at last rehearsal and hope to be able to put those out for consumption soon, get the word spread that we are progressing. Here's the rough tracks, straight to my phone. I played my L1K for the first time at PITO practice, along with my new Orange Terror Bass amp. Sound was overdriven and gnarly. Robb recorded with a mic right at my cab (no DI), and it sounds pretty great.

New Amp Day: Orange Terror Bass 500 v2, first impressions

*originally written and posted at TalkBass

Nothing special, nothing new, but still exciting! Thanks to band funds from some gigs and the want for new gear, I started going down the rabbit hole. You may have seen my posts about Ashdown and asking questions about Mesa, but ultimately, I fell in love with what Orange had to offer, specifically with the Terror Bass 500.

Sound samples on YT and some basic familiarity with it, as well as the awesome Official Orange Club II thread here, really got me more and more interested in it, so I pulled the trigger last week.

Fast forward to today and it arrived a whole day early. I didn't have a speakon cable, so I hit up GC yesterday and found a 5 footer for $40. I have a 3 footer coming from Amazon tomorrow, so I may be taking the 5' one back and looking for a 1/4" to speakon adapter instead.

Anyway, I heeded everyone's advice. Plugged in the cab (212 Avatar, 4ohm, 500w), plugged in the power, hit standby. Freaked out for about 1.5 seconds since the power light didn't come on immediately, but did, so all good.

I had my trusty L1000 reissue plugged directly into the amp. I had the pad switch on because the output of the L1k is so hot, but when I A/B compared the pad on/off, though there was a difference, it wasn't huge.

First impressions of the amp: round and full sound. I tried it clean and then not and messed around with the gain and master volume. Dialed in the low/mid/high to taste and just messed around. I could get super fuzz with gain anywhere past 12 o'clock. I could smooth it out by bringing it back.

I tried with my pedals in front of the amp and it all sounded pretty good. I do have a Spark Booster as well as a Tone Hammer DI and with AGS engaged, it was great. With the SB soloed, also sounded great. BUT, I'm feeling like with the gain turned up and the sound fuzzed, it's like the SB or the AGS circuit are redundant. I will have to do some testing to decide.

I tried the pedals in the effects loop and it seemed louder than in front of the amp. Anytime I'd hit my tuner, there'd be a loud pop, so likely I won't use the effects loop.

Busted out my P bass with flats as well and tried it in the amp and it also sounded very nice.

Compared to my Trace Elliot AH200 GP12 Series 6, it's a way less modern sound. It will be interesting to use the TB500; I've been using that TE for the last 20 years or more. I'm super excited to try it out with the band this week and gigs moving forward.


What a cutie!

Gig report: 9/20/2022 Love Battery at Easy Street Records

First off, not my gig!

Cass was drafted by Ron from Love Battery a few months ago. Apparently, they were both at a GBV show and a convo came up and Ron said he might need a drummer sometime. Cass' dad was a lighting guy or something for bands back in the day and knew Ron, so there's been a long relationship of sorts in place already.

Fast forward a few months and Ron reached out to Cass to sit in on some shows with Love Battery, a band that nearly "made it" in the 90s during the grunge explosion. Their most popular record, Dayglo, was being rereleased and they needed a drummer as their original drummer, Jason Finn (most popularly of the Presidents of the USA), is no longer performing or playing music.

During practices with PITO, Robb and I would ask Cass about the status of the LB situation and he'd always crack a joke, saying that we knew as much as he did. As time went on, he was rehearsing with them about 2-3 times a week, and that all culminated in last night's free performance at Easy Street Records in West Seattle.

Even though the Mariners were playing in a game that would clinch them a playoff berth after 21 years of futility, I decided to go see the early Love Battery show, as I could make it home in time to watch the rest of the game on TV. I'm glad I went, though.

I've had the great joy of playing with Cass since March of 2018. Yes, we took about 18 months off for COVID, but what I've learned since playing with him is he is a solid, reliable and as authoritative drummer as I've ever played with.

With Embers and PITO, we did arena rock/rock and indie rock, respectively. With Love Battery, seeing Cass play grunge/pop rock without actually *playing* with him was quite cool. I really got a chance to watch him and process his playing. That boy beats the S out of his drums; I mean, I knew that, but when I'm playing bass, I'm always focusing on my stuff first and his stuff second.

But watching him from an audience standpoint was so cool. I wasn't familiar with LB's music, but Cass had mentioned that Finn (who played on the Dayglo record) was an incredible drummer with really creative ideas and beats. I took a listen on Spotify and sent Cass messages wishing him luck, hoping God was with him, etc, as those beats Finn threw down were wicked. Some weird time signature turnarounds as well. Tricky stuff.

I headed out to W Seattle for the first time in several years and found good parking, met up with Cass and some common friends from the music scene. Not many people there at first but it was early. I chatted with Cass for a few and then went up the street for some sushi (it was OK, sorta disappointed, not gonna lie).

I came back to hear a quick soundcheck. The lead guitarist was late, so they did it power trio style.

Jim's P bass, "baby shit" brown, he called it. Look at that rig!

After soundcheck, I got to chat with Cass some more. Most times, it just boils down to us busting each other's balls. We got a nice before-gig selfie, complete with a guy who tried to photobomb us as he walked by, only to run into a security pylon by the door. Had a good laugh after this picture.

And then it was showtime. Kim and the kids were there and I hung out with them during the show. Lots of really vocal fans behind me, showing appreciation and screaming "good job drummer," which was classic. A young woman near me playing air drums, which was awesome too.

Cass really did beat the S out of his drums. He nailed pretty much every part, but I did catch one weird time sig part that either he tripped up on or got a stick caught on. Regardless, it was really great and such a joy for me to see him playing at a high level like that.

Great to see Love Battery and the love the crowd showed them. Lots of dancing, smiles, appreciative fans. Cass said they printed 60 shirts and sold 45 of them. Most of the fans were our age, and 20 years ago, when this band was peaking, it really meant a lot to them. These days, with more stable incomes and different lives, these folks were happy to spend their money supporting something they loved 20 years ago.

A little sweaty after the show

Great, quick night out supporting my bro. He's doing it again tomorrow (Sunday) in Portland, and then again on 10/15 at the Sunset. Planning on seeing them again then.