Gig report: 10/19/23 Planets in the Ocean at Conor Byrne

This gig was a fun one. I wanted to play Conor Byrne in Ballard as I never had before. I'd seen some shows there before, but always as a spectator. I reached out the booker a few months ago and put together the bill with my friend, Steve's band, Square Peg. They're new, having only a few gigs under their collective belts, but have all been around for a minute. And I also got the Zack Static Sect on the bill. I'd heard cool things about them and saw them do a vinyl release at Easy Street in August and thought they were great. Plus, old Seattle music vet, Scott Sutherland, is in the band, so that was cool too.

As we prepped for the show over the last few weeks, Steve N. from Square Peg was kind enough to pay for some posters. We used a guy that Zack had used before and the guy banged out some great images for us to print and post.

I left the house around 6, just in time for rush hour. These Thursday shows start around 8-ish, so soundcheck is a 7. I got to Ballard about 50 minutes later and loaded in, which consisted of my bass and pedalboard. Steve R. from Square Peg was kind enough to backline his sweet Aguilar Tone Hammer rig with 2 12" speakers. Small and tasty.

Prior to the gig, Cass offered his drums to backline and I thought Zack said his drummer would use them. Apparently he said he wanted to use his own drums, not Cass', so there was a little confusion, but we worked it out.

After sorting that out, I hoofed it a few blocks away to grab some ramen, which I brought back to Conor Byrne to eat. I got a chance to talk to my mates, as well as some friends who were there: Michael M., Jeff B., Mike M. and Amy D., Andi W., and others. All friends, but more fans of music than people that come specifically for me. These days, I don't care as much as I used to. I put out the info, if they come, they come, and if they don't, there's always next time.

Zack Static Sect took the stage first. A three piece, with Zack on vocals and guitar, Scott on Fender Bass VI and Duane on drums. Garage punk, 3-chords-and-a-cloud-of-dust and a lot of flair to go with it. Not snarling, tattooed punk, but almost surf/50's influenced punk. A lot of fun and I had a smile on my face the whole time.

Really enjoyed Zack's song about his wife, called "Mari Likes to Ride (the Subway Train)," about Mari taking subways in Tokyo, where she's from. Both Zack and Scott liked to jump and levitate during songs. Duane bashed the heck out of Cass' drums and they just put on a high-energy, boot-stompin' show.

Zack, Scott and Duane (who is invisible).

After ZSS played, we were up next. Since Steve had his rig there, I didn't play with my Tone Hammer pedal. Scott's bass sounded fine through it and I figured my L1K would as well. I brought the Hog as Goldie got the last show (man I hate having named my basses, but it's more about the color than a name).

We played the same set as last time and I thought it went pretty well. I get a little sloppy on the high energy songs, like Sit and Spin, specifically. There's a lot of weird picking on that one, and syncopation, and energy, and it just gets sloppy at the end. I hope it doesn't come off wrong when I play it. I'll have to get a recording sometime and see what it sounds like.

Mike Mitchell with the pics, yet again!

Square Peg followed our set with a nice little set of their own. I saw their first gig way back in March and they've really grown since then. Steve N. on guitar and vocals writes tidy little rockin' power pop tunes. Steve R. on bass locks down the bottom with tasty licks and solid foundational parts on his Fender Jazz, and Dan on drums really brings some frenetic energy and provides backing vocals.

Square Peg!

At the end of it all, we made some new friends and fans. We talked about future shows. Scott had some real kind, bass player type words to say to me. He and I played on bills in the mid-2000's, early 2010's, when I played with Lund Bros. and he was in all the bands (Llama, Paul Lynde Fan Club, others that I forget). He came up and asked, "When did you start playing with a plectrum?" I told him I taught myself over the pandemic and he was just blown away by that. He remembered me as a finger player (which I was) and thought he'd be the only bassist with a pick.

When it was time to settle up, the bar wrote all three bands separate checks for... $38.00. I left the house at 6pm, I got home around midnight, so 6 hours got me about $12 and change. About $2/hr and I also bought dinner for $21 after tip. Not to count gas money, too. Good thing I'm not doing it for the money. I'd do it all again right now if I could.

Next up, nothing! No gigs on the radar, but may have something just after the new year.

Gig report: 10/14/23 Sunset Grooves at Sleight of Hand Winery SODO

By way of Stereo Embers and Planets in the Ocean, I got friendly with Trey B., who owns Sleight of Hand Winery. He has two locations, one in Walla Walla and one in SODO. Those other bands had played there, but Sunset Grooves never had. My friend's Fleetwood Mac tribute band, Wild Rumours, had as well, and I figured if a night of FM songs could play well at SOH, so could a night of yacht rock songs. I reached out to Trey earlier in the year, like March or so, and he said, yeah, let's book something... in October!

So the good part was we had a gig with the winery on the books; the bad part was waiting 6+ months for it to happen.

Finally, yesterday was gig day. I spent the day watching the Huskies barely hang on against the Ducks, so that was great. Left the house at 5:30 for a 6pm load-in. Traffic was fine despite competing with a GnR show at the Climate Pledge Arena.

Cool thing about SOH (despite being closer to me than most of our other venues) is that they have secured, covered parking. As musicians, we get to park inside and have flat and close load-in for all our gear. As with many of our shows, we had to bring in the PA, mics and lighting. Poor Dusty and Jen do most of the schlepping around as the gear is kept at Jen's house. I was able to help load in, and then the setup began.

Eric and Dennis showed up a little later, as did our sound guy, Aeden, who also ran sound for us at our Lake Whatcom gig a few weeks ago. He's a nice kid; super helpful and friendly and remembered certain things about my individual setup that I had forgotten about.

After getting set up, Dennis, Eric and I hoofed around the corner to find something to eat. The pizza place only did slices during the day, so we were out of luck, so I headed to the San Juan Seltzery and got a burger and fries (side note, the guy also delivers to SOH. Cool!).

Our stage.

Daniel, the venue manager, attaching our recorder to the lighting rig.

Back at SOH, we did some sound checking and ran through part of a song to get dialed in. Crowd-wise, I was told they sold 130 tickets to their wine club members, and though we definitely did not have that type of turnout, the 40-50 or so people that did end up coming throughout the night were energetic and appreciative.

A little while later, burgers were delivered, devoured and set aside. It was time to get dressed for the show. I busted out my thrift store special, a suit covered with flamingos, and got ready to throw down.

Found this suit at Goodwill for $10!

I started the night on the 84 L-1000 with the thumb rest. As mentioned before, there are some songs I slap on and since I am no slapping whiz on the bass, I try to make it as advantageous to myself as I can. Using this bass and having "Somebody's Baby" on the set means minimal slapping. On the other slapping song we play, "Peg," which has a bunch of slapping, I switch to the Gold L-1000, which works out just fine.

The basses.

The setlist.

Eric proposed at the top of the show that we have a competition on who made the least amount of mistakes. I can definitely say I wasn't perfect, and neither was Eric, though I cannot say who won (or lost). Either way, we played pretty well for the most part.

Looking back at the set, I felt pretty good and, ironically, on likely one of our easier songs on bass, "Hot Child in the City," I made a couple mistakes with rhythm, which messed up my notes. "Love Will Keep Us Together" is super challenging as well, especially when throwing in backing vocals, but that turned out pretty well. Everything else felt pretty good.

For my in-ears, I did bring my iPad to tweak things, but overall, I heard what I needed to, for the most part. I had my bass and vocals up front, with keys, guitar, and backing vocals a little less. As I played on, I felt like I needed more of my vocals, as well as guitar. I was able to hear some of Jen's vocals via the PA speakers. I asked Aeden to tweak a bit, but it's so hard to judge it in the moment. I figured as long as I could hear OK, it wasn't worth killing the momentum to get it right.

We took a quick break after the first set and got back to work after some water and bathroom breaks. For whatever reason, my in-ears seemed to be quieter than I'd wanted, as I mentioned earlier. Busting out the iPad didn't help; there was a lot of lag in moving faders and I didn't want to make things worse.

Looking down set 2, I recall that everything went fine. I always get a little looser at the end of the set. We added in "Fox on the Run," which we usually do just before the last tune. It gives us an opportunity to rock out a bit, a rarity in the yacht rock world. I tell folks we are a classic rock cover band that happens to specialize in yacht rock tunes.

Jen was great, mingling with the crowd on her wireless mic, engaging the dancers, getting involved. In my opinion, it takes some guts to get in front of someone and sing directly to them, or dance with them. I would have a hard time doing it, but she does it with ease and seems to love it.

By the end of the gig, there were still a handful of people dancing and singing along. Even Daniel, who manages SOH for Trey, was surprised that not as many people came out. He thought it may have been weather related (rainy and dank). Maybe it was a Huskies' hangover, with so many fans that went to ESPN College GameDay and then the game. I don't know. But money was guaranteed, so that's cool. We made a great impression on Trey and Daniel and they both said we'd do it again.

We are very lucky in Seattle to have a venue like this. Different from the bars and clubs downtown, but still able to book bands like Sunset Grooves, as well as original rock acts. Just a different vibe and a really friendly and accommodating staff.

Gig report: 10/6/23 Sunset Grooves at the Central Saloon

This gig fell into our laps due to Dennis' other band (Prince tribute) not being able to make their schedules work. We normally wouldn't play the Central as it's more of an originals rock club, but there was a pay guarantee and it would be an easy short set.

I showed up around 7 and parked around the corner. Always a little sketchy in the Pioneer Square area these days. I don't love parking by the beggars and addicts, but it's a free spot and generally, if I leave them alone, they leave me alone. I packed light, with my bass and pedal bag and wore my stage get up as I didn't feel like dealing with the hassle of changing in the bathroom at the Central.

Grunge wall

Just in front of the stage

We were playing with a band called the John Hughes Experience, where the band played 80's songs with projected content behind them. They did a sound check and seemed to sound OK. While they were up there, Dennis mentioned he had had the sound guy at a previous show there and had some issues. He said the guy wasn't great and that he was sort of not easy to work with.

Sound check seemed to take longer than we expected, but eventually, they finished. We then got up there and started our setup. As usual, I brought my Zoom B2Four pedal, a few cords, my IEMs, a bass, and that's it. While setting up, Ben, the bassist for the JHE offered his Ampeg Portaflex and 15" cabinet, which I appreciated. I didn't think I'd need it as I was going to use my in-ears, but sadly, that wasn't to be the case.

As mentioned earlier, the sound guy was struggling. Don't know if he had an off day or what, but when I told him I also had in-ears (as do Jen, Dusty and Dennis), he responded, "You guys have 4 IEMs?" As if being a sound guy wasn't in his job description for the day. He plugged our transmitters into a console behind the bass rig and then scooted back to his sound booth to get us dialed in.

He went first with Dusty, then Dennis, Jen and me, and for each one of us, he had troubles. We could hear him on the wedges, but he couldn't hear us speaking back to him via our mics. Or he could hear us speaking, but we couldn't hear him on stage. Back and forth it went. When he got to me, I could hear him in the in-ears, but he couldn't hear me out front. It was stupid. Finally, I just decided to use the floor wedges and the Ampeg and try my luck. I did ask if I could use the DI he had plugged in to the Ampeg, and he acted like it was a huge deal. I plugged it into the Zoom and we were good to go.

Ampeg on the right.

Getting ready to play.

We had a quick 1-hour set, and we stuck to some heavier tunes due to it being a rock club after all. Soundwise, I could hear myself pretty well with earplugs in. Even though I don't usually like hearing bass in the floor monitors, it didn't sound too bad and I augmented it a bit with the Ampeg behind me. Vocally, I didn't have much in the monitors, but luckily I could hear my head voice via my earplugs.

Many, many years ago, 20 or more, I played the Central with a little power trio called Ethyl. Back then, I had just started singing background vocals. One night we sound checked and then we played. I recorded all our shows back then and upon watching back, I realized I did not have enough of my vocals in the monitor mix. Everything I sang was flat and really rough. These days, I sing a lot more and am a bit more confident in what I'm doing. Last night, without much vox in the mix, I made an effort to hear the note I was playing on bass and stack on top of that. I think it worked out ok.

Performance-wise, no glitches or trainwrecks. We dusted of Toto's "Hold the Line" for the first time in a long time. We just practiced on our own at home and trusted that we'd get it right, and it was pretty good. Everything else was pretty well received also. Nice Friday night crowd for us.

Following us was the 6-piece John Hughes Experience. They started their set with "Video Killed the Radio Star," which would've been great, if the sound guy had the keyboards dialed in. For whatever reason, there were no keys on this keyboard heavy song. The poor keys player (who looked a lot like a skinny Kevin from "The Office") just banged on his keys, but the sound guy didn't go fix it until AFTER the song.

Aside from that glitch, the set went pretty well. They played along to videos and had vintage 80's videos between songs. To me, it brought the mood down a bit because everyone had to quiet down to watch/hear those videos. It's a cool idea and the executed it pretty well, but it was a weird dynamic for everyone to have to pay attention between songs without banter.

John Hughes Experience.

Ben and his Ric sounded great out front. He played some really great lines and was true to the songs bass parts. I do wish he had done the galloping bass part in "Don't You (Forget About Me)" instead of playing it straight, but I'm picking nits. Otherwise, they were really good and, for a first show, impressive. There were some deep cuts that had me and some others looking on our phones to see what the songs were, but I'd play with them again, for sure.

Next up: Sunset Grooves at the Sleight of Hand SODO winery.

Gig report: 9/30/23 Sunset Grooves at the Bite of Broadview

I love the back-to-back gigs and I also hate them. I love 'em because I get to play music. Nothing I'd rather do. I hate them because of the waiting around and the commute and the getting home tired, etc. But I am not complaining. It's what players like me strive for.

This year, I had Planets on Friday, 9/29. Then I had Sunset Grooves on Saturday, 9/30. Looking back, same thing happened last year, with Planets on 9/23, and then SGs on 9/24. Good times.

This gig was my second time playing the Bite of Broadview, the third time overall for the Sunset Grooves (last year's write up is here: BOB 2022. For some reason, I thought it was quite chilly last year and in reading through the recap quickly, apparently it was 70° but ended up cooling off. This year, we are getting another bit of an Indian summer, and it was in the high 60's, with an expected cool off after the sun went down.

Earlier in the day, Dusty messaged the group chat with the suggestion that we go with a "70's denim vibe," which is cool, if you have "70's denim vibe" clothes, which I don't. I was planning on wearing my flamingo suit, since I'd be on a big stage and it might be cool out. But then I pivoted, going with the Canadian tuxedo look. I don't have cool vintage jeans, but just a pair of Levis and a jean jacket on top.

After spending all day troubleshooting, pulling out, shopping for, installing, and then troubleshooting a dishwasher, I didn't have much time to get ready. Luckily, it's getting to be second nature, so I packed up both L-1000s, packed up the pedalboard, grabbed the flamingo suit, shirt and white shoes, just in case, then headed out the door for the Shoreline area again.

Putting in the new dishwasher pre gig.

I got there and last year, next to the stage, there was a "green room," which consisted of a canopy and some tables. This year, nothing. Nowhere to put gear or hang out. Mainly concerned about putting a couple K worth of gear on the ground in the open, but I trusted in the goodness of others (it worked out).

Haley was meeting me there as she needed her SS card for a job she got in Bellingham. Though she's only been back at school for a week, anytime I get to see her, especially when it's at a gig, it's special. She showed up and we got to hang for a little bit. I got us some dinner at a food truck selling crepes (quite good) and got our grub on.

The kid and me.

Since this gig was up north and a lot of my crew lives up there, I asked people to come out. Cass drove out, Steve and Salena showed up, as did his mates Dan and Alan. We all got to catch up a bit and it was nice to have some support for a change.

Usually when we play out, we have to provide the PA and lights. For that reason, it's always super nice to play a gig where there's a stage, lights, PA and a sound guy. The band before us did classic rock and did it pretty well and they were sounding great out front. They did their thing and then we got setup and ready to go.

Stage with classic rock band.

One thing I love about the SG gig is that it encouraged me to try out stuff I otherwise would not have. I'm able to dress up, play a different pedal and also use IEMs. It does make the load in/load out a lot easier, but in a case like this gig, I did have to rely on the sound person to have my mix dialed in. My IEM receiver/transmitter also seems to be weird at times. I don't know if it's normal, or if my units have problems. I get some interference from time to time. Last night wasn't too bad, but I'd love a gig with no weird glitches.

Everything sounded pretty good otherwise, but I did have some issues with the bass being too loud, then the keyboards too quiet (and then too loud), and Jen's vocals being too loud. Easy enough for me to tell the sound guy to adjust, but still annoying when he wasn't getting it perfect. I ended up just dealing with what I had.

Getting announced by Mike the MC.

Set 1 with the Hog, set 2 with the Gold.

Another issue was that it was quite chilly on stage. My basses were all sharp due to the cold, my fingers kept sticking to the strings. Kept me from sweating, though, so there was a positive to it all. We powered through the first set and for me, I played pretty well. I got through my nemesis, "Brandy," without issues. Most songs ended up being fine. We took a quick break and then got back onstage but had to cut our set short due to a hard stop at 10pm. We ended up trimming out about 5 songs, but ended up having a great time anyway.

As mentioned, load out was easy and quick and I was home by 10:45.

Next up: Sunset Grooves at the Central.

Gig report: 9/29/23 Planets in the Ocean at Darrell's Tavern

We were trying to put shows together and this is one we struggled with. On paper, it was an odd match: our little indie rock trio with a Neil Young tribute band (Shakey) and an old jangle guitar pop band (Chimestone) in a dive bar that bills itself as the bar "where your dad used to drink." In reality, it seemed to work out ok, despite some techinicial issues at the jump.

It's Darrell's. A billiards room with one table.

Load in was at 7 so, like a good little soldier, I showed up at 7 and loaded in. I brought my gold L1K, my Orange Terror Bass and Avatar 212. The plan was to let everyone use my rig, which would make it easy enough for everyone. Cass also was sharing his drums but the drummer for Chimestone is a little particular about wanting to use his own kit but also not allowing anyone else to use it. So there's that. Needless to say, a little weird, but what are you going to do?

Despite us showing up when we were supposed to, there was no sign of the sound guy. Around 8 or so, when we were supposed to start, Robb asked the bartender where the sound guy was. She told him, "he'll show up when he shows up. No worries," or something to that effect. Again, what are you gonna do?

People started showing up for the night. Kathy Moore was part of Shakey, as was Gary Westlake. Andy Stoller (gulp) was on bass, simply showing up with his Fender Jazz an iPad and a music stand. Shakey was there to do Neil Young covers, which I didn't think would be my thing, but after watching them, I could get into it. More on that to come.

The Chimestone boys showed up as well. Jonathan Plum from London Bridge plays guitar in that band and it's made up of a bunch of NHS graduates. Brothers Ted and Eric on bass and guitar, respectively, Jake on vocals and Paul on drums. I don't know if Paul went to NHS or not, but they've been around for many years, since high school, I think.

Anyway, the sound guy finally showed up close to 9pm and started setting up. I'm thinking he'd hurry since he was so late, but he didn't seem to care. He started by putting mics on all the drums, including an overhead. This room didn't need it, as it was not that big and wouldn't need much more than a kick drum mic. But then, I am no sound guy, so there's that.

So he took his time and finally, around 9:30 (like the old days), Shakey took the stage and I was pleasantly surprised. I already know first-hand that Kathy is an incredible musician and guitarist. I was so happy to see her and be a fan this time around. Hearing her with Gary, Andy and Luka was really great. Andy is the pro's pro, just so smooth and relaxed on his bass. He just plugged in and played. He really played some tasty lines and leaned into the low D by using his Hipshot X-tender. Was cool to see and hear. His bass sounded great on my rig and he was just the best.

Andy, Gary, Kathy and Luca on the drums

We took the stage next and got to work. The stage is weird at Darrell's. It's long and narrow, so we had Cass in the corner, my bass cab to his right, me standing in front of him, with Robb and his gear to my left. Robb's amp was SUPER LOUD and I tried to compensate by also turning up. Trouble was, I am simply not used to hearing my 212 and Orange and I couldn't find a good sound for my ears on stage. I kept fiddling, but I just dealt with it.

Weird stage

Luckily, I could hear my vocals pretty well and had a good time singing and playing the tunes. We had a nice turnout, but truthfully, most everyone was there to see Chimestone, or they were regulars at Darrell's. We got some really nice reactions from people there and overall played a pretty good show. Devin shot a show video and I'll take a look and assess later.

Chimestone did their thing and they are really good at it: 90s-tinged jangly guitar pop. They brought a bunch of fans and everyone there really liked them. Jonathan was great and energetic. Jake has this Liam Gallagher (Oasis) thing going on; he closed his eyes most of the time and kept his hands in his pockets. Totally on brand for 90s-tinged jangly guitar pop!

Chimestone boys

Had a good time hanging with the band and some friends that showed up. We always enjoy playing out, and Darrell's is cool enough, but we're hoping to step it up with some different venues and different bands.

Artwork by @drawitinone on IG

Next up: Sunset Grooves at the Bite of Broadview.