2026-07-18 Planets in the Ocean at Hidden Hall

There's an old something or other out there that says that you never mention your mistakes or poor performance on stage. In yesterday's case, there was no need to mention it because it was so obvious, it couldn't have been missed.

We were asked to play a power pop fest, at the Hidden Hall, for an afternoon show. A five-band bill with our bros from Square Peg, Full Life Crisis, Royal Blunder and the Rallies. Seemed a little weird since it was a daytime gig and we aren't really a power pop band, but it was with friends and at a new place we'd never played.

On the way there I realized that parking would likely be weird since the show started at 3:30 and went until about 9. Long story short, both Cass and I paid $14/each to park for 10 hours or so. This is not relevant, but it's all part of the experience, I suppose. It's interesting to keep a tally of time spent, money spent, money made (or not made) and see how it all shakes out. Since we're keeping track, I left the house at 2:04, the venue is about 15 miles away, and by my arrival, I was already down $14.

Cass and I showed up at the same time and loaded our gear in. The headliner, Royal Blunder, was providing backline and had already set up at the early, early time of 1pm or so. Crazy timing for a daytime gig, but we had a 9pm curfew as the venue had a DJ coming in for the late shift.

For this show, I brought the LB-100 and my IEMs. I recently also bought a wireless guitar kit as I had extra gig bucks and it was on sale. I've been using it, the NUX B-8, at rehearsals recently and though it works, it would drop signal a couple times over a couple hours for 1-2 seconds at a time. Not a huge deal, but last week, it dropped twice in a song and that got annoying. Turns out, it may be related to a hot input signal from the bass. I think both times I was playing one of my L1Ks and as always, had the volume dimed. I was all set to return it but read that if you lower the input volume of the bass, that should mitigate the signal drops. I did so and after practicing and playing at home, maybe that is the case?

Anyway, Square Peg kicked things off with a nice set. They had Rick Friel do "Hello There" by Cheap Trick to kick things off, then did their own songs for the rest of the set. During one of their songs, someone came up to me and said the song reminded her of "C'mon Feel the Noize" and it was Julie from Guest Directors. I didn't recognize her in the moment but caught up with her throughout the rest of the bands. Was nice to see her and chat a bit.

No picture of Square Peg without me in it

After a quick changeover, Full Life Crisis took the stage. Another band of bros, they are great. I really love how Brian plays guitar. He has mastered his tones and his playing is outstanding. Really nice band with cool tunes and great harmonies.

Full Life Crisis

We were on next so we took the stage and were already at a deficit as Robb forgot to print setlists. No big deal, as he usually just calls out the songs anyway. I went with my IEMs and the sound guy, Rainen, who ran sound for us at the Blue Moon a few years ago (he was wearing our shirt), got me dialed and it was fine. I had the wireless set up and we were good to go.

Robb started with "Unraveled," which is a fine opener. However, at the hold of the note going into the intro, I whipped my guitar down and the transmitter came off my strap. It was dangling next to my leg, but luckily, the signal was still there... that is until about 3/4ths of the way through the song. All of a sudden, no bass.

I checked the plug and everything was plugged in. I noticed the receiver on my pedal board still was showing a signal, so evidently the bass was still getting into the board. I decided to ditch the wireless just in case that was it (it wasn't) so Steve brought me an instrument cable. After a few more moments between songs, I noticed the amp had no power to it. It seems something had knocked the power out to the amp; once we reset that, we were off and running. Until we got to "Nomenclature," the third song in the set.

It started normally and we got through the first chorus just fine. Cass and I continue with a basic drum beat and my droning bass line. Robb does the riff four times and then starts singing... but he didn't. Cass thought Robb had forgotten the second verse and was jumping to the second chorus, but he wasn't. Robb was lost and I got lost and I just stopped playing, so we all stopped. Then I shouted in the mic, "second verse, same as the first," and we got rolling again. It was all so stupid, but I think the song ended up OK despite that.

Robb also had an equipment glitch, one of his pedals seemed to be low on battery or signal. He started "Sit & Spin" and it sounded so quiet and down. He futzed around with the pedals for a sec and it came back. Not sure what the issue was, but he had it at rehearsal the other night as well.

The rest of the songs were likely fine, but I was feeling a little off. It was fun, sure, but all I could do was laugh at what a trainwreck it all felt like. It didn't help that the sound of my bass in my IEMs seemed clicky, as well as what I heard from Bruce's GK rig behind me. It was just all a little uncomfortable. But we plowed through it and eventually finished a little grumpy at ourselves.

pic by Mike Mitchell

Interesting guitar necks

At this point in our playing careers, nevermind time in Planets, we should be nailing every gig. But instead, we are nearly guaranteed some sort of error that goes beyond missing a note here and there. Missed sections, disjointed notes, simply madness. We are better than what we showed last night and it stinks that that happened. Luckily there were not many people who saw it, but those that did did seem entertained.

The Rallies followed us and played a competent and professional set, as always. If any of these bands will make it to the bigger stages, it's them. Solid, ear-friendly songs, hooky choruses, good looks. Don't know if there are many bands as consistent as these guys.

The Rallies

Rounding out the afternoon was Royal Blunder. We played with them early in 2025 and they were a four-piece, heavily Beatles-influenced. I saw them late last year and I thought they had gotten a touch more heavy, as well as being a trio. Fast forward to Saturday and they were the same trio, and quite good. Admittedly, I did spend a lot of time in the green room choppin it up with Lee and Steve from the Rallies, but what I did see out front was good. Still a lot of Beatles sounds, even playing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as well as "I Am the Walrus," but still good.

Royal Blunder

The aforementioned green room

After the bands were done, Cass and I chatted for a bit about the performance. Of course, we are our worst critics, but man, we should be past this type of stuff. Equipment is gonna fail, sure, but we should not be missing entire sections of songs. Saturday's stoppage in "Nomenclature" was pretty egregious and was my doing, but I thought it beat having an entire breakdown mid-song. Let's stop and cut our losses. The problem is, nearly every show we play, there's a part of any song where it's a really obvious error. Watching other local bands, or actual pro bands, that simply doesn't happen. I don't think that will hold us back from anything, but my ego and pride gets bummed out when it happens.

Overall, a pretty forgettable afternoon for me. I loved seeing friends and chatting and hearing the other bands. But playing was challenging even without the extraneous issues. I did get to see a couple vids and we sounded good from up front and for "Panic Attack" and "Sit & Spin," they were decent performances. I saw another clip of "Loud Silence" and that sounded pretty good, so I think we may have been fine, but man, so many weird moments for the actual full gig.

After the show, talked with Bruce via text and he indicated that all 5 bands, after the club and soundguy took their cuts, split $10.36. Pretty incredible, if you ask me. I was out $14 for parking and 7 hours for my time, plus mileage (30m round trip). Good thing we aren't in it for the $$.

Onto the next! A big-time gig at the Tractor playing with early teens powerhouse, The Divorce, with our buds Chimestone opening. Looking forward to that one.

2026-05-02, Planets in the Ocean at Conor Byrne

 

Last year we had a show booked with Guest Directors at the Sunset. One of the GDs got sick and had to cancel, so we played with two bands, it was fine. Julie reached out a few months ago and asked us to play this show. I'm really glad we did!

Took about 45 minutes to get to Ballard last night, GPS took me some stupid way that got me stuck at the Fremont bridge, then every light after. No big deal, found some parking, got there and had a quick soundcheck. I got to play through Charlie from GD's Ampeg, no big deal.

I mean, look at that thing!

Weather was beautiful on Saturday. Sunny, warm, between 70-80°. Perfect, really. It brought out some people. At the club it was the bands at first, but then our pal Ted Laabs showed up. I got to talk to him about life and that was entertaining. Steve, Salena and Bob showed up, so I talked to them. Paul from Pop Cycle and his wife Serena showed up. Michael Markley brought a bud. Ben Heege showed up all the way from Kenmore! Chris Elko and his camera and his girl. Ron from Love Battery and his friend were there. Mike and Amy of course! Besides my friends, there were a good number of people in the club, I feel it was pretty well attended.

After all the chit chat, we jumped on stage and got to work. No warmup or anything, so I was a little nervous, but it was all good. We started with "Nomenclature," which is always a bit of a workout. I was quite pleased during soundcheck and actually playing that the monitors were delightfully audible. I could hear what I was singing and I didn't even have to ask!

When we soundchecked, I did play bass on the floor and the rig sounded sweet by itself. On stage, it was very boomy, but it was so visceral, I didn't care. As long as I could hear what I needed, it was just fine.

Throughout the set, I jumped on the mic a bunch, simply because I love the attention and also to keep the awkward silences less awkward. Luckily, people seemed to like it (that's what I keep telling myself). I enjoy having a captive audience to do my bits for and they seemed to enjoy it as well. That's what happens when the sound guy dials in the background mic loud and clear.

Speaking of Mike earlier, he shot pix as usual and caught a great one of me. I've had the jumps captured before, but he got this one in focus and high-pointed, check this out:

Like a bunny.

We had a decent set. No major crash outs, I didn't record, sort of wish I did based on how the room sounded, but gah, maybe next time. After the I got to catch up with people and got a bunch of great comments. People were extra complimentary and super nice about my backing vocals. Steve said it was the best he'd ever seen us. Cass' friend Matt said our first few songs reminded him of XTC, where I was playing the chords without playing the roots, or something like that. Later in the night, Julie from the GDs said I was her favorite lead bassist.

Anyway, enough about me. Model Shop took the stage next and I was quite surprised. I was expecting the singer to be Jen, the bassist. Turns out all three sing leads and the drummer, Kevin, stands and plays up front. Sort of weird, but they were poppy and great and had great 3-part harmonies.

Jen plays a Ric!

They finished up and Guest Directors jumped up. As they started, we heard birds. I guess they play a background track of nature sounds so there's something between songs. Sort of neat!

A professional band

When we played with GDs at Tim's a few summers ago, they were good. But I forgot how good they actually were. With Julie and Gary on guitars and vocals, there's nothing they can't do. Julie has that sort of voice that I just love: clear, honest, pure and beautiful. She sounded so good on stage. AND she's a wicked guitarist as well. With Gary playing lead (and Julie could too, she's that good), her creative rhythm layers are so complimentary to what Gary's doing and it just works.

Rian on drums is a monster. He plays with so much authority, but he is also so tasteful and deft. And Charlie is solid. He doesn't get to do too much, but what he does is very appropriate and just works with his band.

We all finished up and I had a few bucks from getting a referral bonus for Daniel at work. I bought records from both Model Shop and Guest Directors, and also a Model Shop t-shirt, only because it wasn't black (baby blue).

Support local music!

This was probably the most fun gig we've played in a long time. At least for me it was. I was really impressed with how the club sounded and was also quite happy with the number of people that came out for us. We definitely had the biggest draw and I can't wait to do it again in a month from now. Tim will be on the bill and it's pretty much an open secret at this point. We may as well put it on blast and get as many people out as we can.

In the meantime, I just made this, so whatever, here it is.

9/11/2025 Planets in the Ocean at the Sunset

Not much of a poster but it's what I got

Another Thursday gig, another complaint about Seattle traffic. It took me 45 minutes to get home from work, a quick make of dinner, and then out the door to get to the Sunset by 6:30 or so. That ride took me another 45 minutes or so, but I found a decent parking spot, so I guess it paid off.

My old pal, Corey, from the Navins, plays in a couple bands and asked us to be a part of this bill. He's plays keys and guitar in Trances and it's always cool seeing him. I reached out a little too late to see if bands wanted to share gear, and by the time I heard back, no one replied, so I packed up the Orange Terror Bass, the Avatar 212 and Goldie the Bass just in case.

Showing up, the headliner, Sam Cobra, was soundchecking and after they were done, the nice, huge-handed bassist, Jensen, offered me the use of his Bergantino 212 and ThunderFunk amp. He played a Serek bass and after looking it up, it is a custom model and let's just say his gear is all boutique and very nice. I ended up using his amp after hearing how nice his bass sounded through it all. Here's how it looked after sound check with the G&L L-1000.

Sweet little setup!

Last show we played at the Central didn't go exactly like we wanted. There were errors and mistakes all over. The stage audio wasn't great and we were all annoyed with ourselves afterward. Last night, we played like we know how we can play. Maybe it's having good sound on stage, who knows? But it certainly doesn't hurt!

There were just a few people when we started at 8. Kim was there, Robb's friend Chris, and then, of all people Tim! Robb and Tim bumped into each other before the show (Tim was seeing Spinal Tap nearby) and he ended up coming in for the show. No one came for me, but it's Ballard and it's a Thursday, so I wasn't too worried about it.

It also helped that I ran through the songs the night before. I don't think Cass did; he was traveling since the week before, seeing Oasis in Pasadena over the weekend, then in Chicago since Monday for work. He flew in Thursday morning and was on fumes by the time we started. He was a trouper, though and played solid as always.

Robb really came through clutch. He didn't feel great about the Central show, but he showed out for the Sunset. Singing was on point, guitaring was definitely improved. I gave him a vocal suggestion to simplify a few lines on a few songs. He was really oversinging on a tune and throwing off the harmony part for me. He reigned it in and it made a difference.

I felt like I played pretty well. With the great bass tone and stage sound, it just felt comfortable. I'd like to feel that good at any gig. I think my backing vox were decent and for the most part, they worked. Maybe a touch more in the wedge for next time we're there.

After we finished, Jensen and his cousin, Carl, came up to say hi. Carl did most of the talking, a large, long-bearded dude. Nice guy, made interesting comments about the veins on my arms poppin' on stage. Tim also was very complimentary, saying Cass and I were locked in and that it was the best he'd ever seen me play. Really great to see him and chat, even if just for a moment.

Next up was Trances. When I played with Corey in the Navins, he played drums and sang backing vocals. In Trances, he was one of 4 dudes across the front of the stage. He had nice stage presence and was great on keys and guitar. I do wish his vocals and keys were mixed a little hotter, but it was a nice show. They were heavier than I expected; I thought they'd be more keys oriented, but it was definitely all guitars.

Trances

Last up was Sam Cobra. They were interesting at sound check. When I talked to Carl, he said Jensen picked up bass because of him. That implied he was a relatively new bassist? It seemed to be when I heard him play as there were parts he was missing, but then I learned he'd only been with Sam Cobra for two rehearsals or something like that.

He played uniquely as well; he was solid enough but his fretting hand was really energetic and all over the place. Maybe it was because of his huge hands; they looked like big white spiders on the bass.

Jensen with the big hands

Musically, SC was OK. The singer had a really pure and pretty voice, but it was just too much of a contrast with the guitars, bass and drums. Even though the music wasn't overly heavy, it was just loud enough that her voice couldn't really shine. They were also pretty bland on stage, not a lot of energy or presence, which didn't help.

Sam Cobra

Cass and I powered through the entire night, despite him stretching his day by 2 hours by heading home from Chicago. We loaded out and that was that. 6 hours later, it was back home and back at it another day.

Next up, Sunset Grooves on 9/27 for a private party. Stay tuned.

7/18/25, Sunset Grooves at Sand Point Country Club

Night 1 of a double header of private parties. We played the Sand Point Country Club a couple summers ago and it was a great time. Beautiful views, awesome weather, energetic crowd, delicious food and a good payday. Last night, it was much of the same, except a little cooler and breezier than expected.

There are better views, but here's what I got.

Traffic took a bit, but once I got there, I loaded in and started helping get set up. That's the worst part of these private parties, setting up the PA, lighting, mics, etc. My actual bass setup takes just a minute or two. At least I don't play drums and own the gear, so I'll gladly do what I can to help.

Partly setup.

Buddha was running sound again, dressed all in black and full of name-dropping stories. It's endearing and long-winded all at the same time. At least he makes us sound good! We got setup and grabbed some grub from the buffet line. We were originally told they'd make to-go boxes for us and deliver to us... right at downbeat. That wasn't gonna work, so we bum rushed the line (there wasn't one) and got to dining. As with last time, the food was very good and I shoulda grabbed more.

I think it's tenderloin, coconut shrimp. tuna poke and rice, pulled pork, pineapple and strawberries and some dessert bits. Very very good!

We got dressed after dinner and got to work. We were going to do an 11-song first set and then a quick break, but decided to play it by ear: if the crowd was jumpin' we were gonna keep going. Starting off, we had one dancer at the opener, which was encouraging. It continued with a few ladies up front for the first few songs, and then more people started coming up. At the set break, we decided to keep going for a few more songs, before taking a break after song 17.

The thing about playing these long sets is that after what feels like a normal set (10-12 songs), I look down and see that, nope, there are 20 songs left! It's pretty crazy. We took a quick break and then jumped back in with "The Tide is High." Dusty does a cool drum intro that reminds me of the drum break in "Everybody Wants Some" by Van Halen. It's pretty fun.

Me and Dusty

The sun started going down during this set, more and more people danced, and the wind started picking up. I got a little chilly, even my fingers getting cold. Earlier in the week, we were in the mid-90s, with the weather cooling a bit on Thursday, and then into yesterday. I at least had pants and a shirt on; some of the ladies were wearing strapless dresses or sundresses. Jen wore short shorts, so she might have been cool as well. But we are pros, are we not?

The rest of the set was pretty uneventful. I had both L1Ks in attendance, playing Goldie the whole time. There's slapping in "Somebody's Baby" and "Peg" and the Hog's thumbrest just gets in the way. Plus I have the de-tuner on Goldie and I like to do the drop-D in "Africa" and also "What a Fool Believes." We play both those songs down a step, so if it was standard tuning, I'd be OK since those Ds would be Es instead. But it works out.

the Wonder Twins

Buddha had us sounding good in our monitors and out front. Bring our own IEMs helps so much, getting them dialed was no different than playing at Jen's house. I put a camera out front and recorded. Lots of people stood in front of it, but we sounded pretty good. I played well, no major trainwrecks, but I need to dust off "My Life" a little. I think I'm too familiar with it or something; I keep getting screwing up some part of the verse, nothing a quick revisit won't fix.

At the end of the set I chatted with an old high school acquaintance of mine, Alan, who has been to a few shows for Planets and Embers. We've gotten friendly in the past few years. He was rockin the Rolex Submariner and he's a member of the SPCC so I think he's doing just fine. A woman came up and asked if I remembered her. It took me by surprise, but after Alan mentioned her name, I recognized her and we all chatted for a bit. After a while, I realized they were both definitely a bit buzzed so the convo was a little repetitive, but all in all, it was a nice chat.

We finally packed up and after about 8 hours, I got home and went to bed. Lots o fun, and we get to do it all again tonight. It might be a little cooler and we're playing an even longer set. Looking forward to it!

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...

2025-01-20 Planets in the Ocean at London Bridge Studios

We had booked time last July to go back up to London Bridge to polish off 3 more songs. With the other 9 that we've recorded, we figured 12 would be a great number to put out on vinyl. We've been talking about it over two bands for years, but now we are finally getting close.

But then life got in the way and Robb lost both his dad and father-in-law within a few weeks of each other and the recording understandably got put on a hiatus. We decided to finish the summer and fall with some gigs, then go into hibernation for the end of the year, with a new date booked for January 2025, which happened to be today.

(Un)fortunate for us, it was MLK day, which meant days off for all of us (except Jonathan, but he's doing what he loves, so he gets a pass). The unfortunate part was that it was also frickin' inauguration day, with a new madman taking the place of the American presidency. However, this blog is not about that, so on with the studio recap.

Nice touch by JP!

For the day, I brought Goldie with rounds, and the Butter bass with flats. I grabbed my Orange Terror Bass, along with my pedal board. I also brought my Avatar 212 just in case. I packed a lunch (studio days are notorious for no eating) and made my way north.

Avatar used as a table and nothing more.

After complaining about politics and how cold it was (like 40°F outside, and barely 65°F in the studio), we got setup and then got to work. We went in with the plan to record songs we'd recorded already, albeit in Robb's basement: The Loud Silence (titled as such for now, it may change), Holiday Daydream and Panic Attack.

We got our tones dialed in and we started with TLS. I played the Butter bass via the Orange and got a nice tone. I had my tone dial about 50% with volume dimed. I did use the Tone Hammer for some EQ, but other than compression, it was all bass and the Orange. We had some trouble with a weird overtone sounding like an octave pedal on the 7th fret (E) on the A string. After some troubleshooting, I lowered the gain on my Spark Boost and increased its level and that seemed to smooth it out.

We ran TLS a few times and, as usual, Cass had his parts dialed. He was able to get a great take after one or two tries. Me and Robb had some different challenges, but we were able to make pretty good time. I had a few punches I had to do, but otherwise pleased with the performance. Tone-wise, the flats were cool sounding, the Orange added appropriate dirt and grit, and in the mix (and especially on the studio monitors), the bass sounded fat and full and gnarly. The only thing I would change (but didn't really know how) was how clicky my pick attack sounded. When soloed, it's pretty obnoxious, but on the rough mixes JP provided, with the full band, it sounds fine.

And did I mention the drums? As always, LBS makes drums sound so good. I'm sure JP has something to do with it as well, but man, Cass' drums sound epic. All good stuff.

Cass on the drumzzzz

Pic by Mike Mitchell

On my way up, I reached out to Mike Mitchell and he and Amy agreed to come by for a bit to hang and listen and take some pix. So that was cool! I say this because I didn't take many pix, but did take some vids for IG stories. Mike, however, came in clutch and got shots, including a few of Robb with his new Les Paul, which was cool. Both the pictures and the guitar.

Robb and his new Les Paul (Mike Mitchell picture)

Speaking of that guitar, man, it sounded great! Robb usually plays Teles and they are a little twangy for my tastes. However, this LP had some girth and thickness to it and on TLS, it really worked well.

We finished up that song and then moved onto Holiday Daydream. I thought this one might be challenging because it's pretty sparse and there's not a lot of fireworks, except for at the end. I try to keep my part really simple and lock in with what Cass is doing. I do build with some melodic lines in the second verse and then we all open it up at the end. I played the Butter bass again and played fingerstyle as well, to mellow the sound a little. I kept the tone overdriven, though, and still loved how it all sounded.

Listening back while Robb was doing some guitar overdubs, I mentioned to JP how I'd love to hear a second guitar doing some chord stabs on beat 4 of the 6/8 measures. He brought it up to Robb and Robb was able to pull it off. I also told him to emphasize a double snare/bass hit that Cass and I do and he did it as well, which all sounded great.

As usual, Robb tore through his vocals and this tune turned out really nice as well. When that was done, we started up with Panic Attack. As recent as our last rehearsal, Robb decided he wanted to cut out a little guitar run in the middle of this song. He sometimes stumbles on it and it had gotten in his head a little. So we decided to skip it and pass the responsibility to Cass to throw in a great drum fill, which he did.

For this song, I switched over to Goldie with the rounds for an even more aggressive sound. We did a few takes before JP realized I forgot to mention something and due to the hotter output of the G&L, the bass levels were all out of wack. He got me dialed in and we did a few more takes. Of course, Cass got his takes done and so Robb and I were doing vocals and bass respectively. He had guitar done enough, but this way, we multitask and JP is good enough to handle it all.

As Robb finished up his guitars, I mentioned we should have hand claps and/or tambourine during the solo section, so of course, JP dialed it up and we all jumped in to do the claps. JP did tambo though, as Cass isn't great at it (his words, not mine).

With our instrumental parts all done, Robb finished up some vocals and then JP gave us some quick and dirty mixes. To my untrained ear, especially on his huge studio monitors, we sounded great! I told him in all my years of recording, I think the bass tones I got today were the best I've ever had. Last time we did it, they were OK, but we went a bit overboard with the distortion. I just did a quick listen to some of those songs and yeah, they're a bit distorted, but not bad and maybe with some mastering, it'll tame it a bit.

Anyway, overall, a great day and one that was able to take our minds off of real-world events, despite us seeking that info in-between takes and during down periods. Next up is for me to do my backing vocals, get Jonathan to mix the songs (and two others) and then find someone to put it on wax for us.

pic by Mike Mitchell

Pic by Mike Mitchell

Pic by Mike Mitchell

11/22/24, Planets in the Ocean at the Central

Big show at the Central as part of something called the Cloudbreak Festival. Evidently a group is putting on shows all over Seattle during November. I guess the hook is any tourist staying in a participating hotel gets free admission to the club or something. Good for bands,we all get paid, but with so many great shows, it sort of cannibalizes itself.

Last night while we were playing, across town was Smokey Brights playing one of two nights at the Tractor, and then Riffbrokers and Braly/Sangster playing at Tim's. Other bands in other venues as well, so we were a little iffy on how many people might show.

The Central has turned it around the past few years. It's actually a cool place to play again, but the Pioneer Square location is a little sketchy at times, though I've never had problems there. I love it also because it's the closest club to home, about 20 minutes to get there. I found great parking and in I went about 6:30.

I brought the Hog and Goldie, variations on a theme. I spent some time earlier getting tones dialed in and ultimately liked what I heard. I set my Spark Booster to be a clean signal and matched the output on my Tone Hammer so that when AGS was switched off, I had the same output. However, if I had SB on with AGS, it would push a little harder.

At the Central, they had a GK amp and 410 that I used. Once we got it on stage, I got dialed in and was pleasantly surprised at how it sounded. Last time we played there, almost 2 years ago, I used the same rig, but with the old T-bird and I did not like how it sounded and couldn't get comfortable. I also used my IEMs with Planets for the first time. The sound guy gave me the monitor signal and it actually worked out really well. I think I've been getting used to hearing more definition on my bass from using IEMs at SG practice. I may need to try doing it at Robb's house too, as having the IEMs and some ambient stage sounds bleed through via the wedges and amp at the Central was a nice combo.

Terrible red lighting

As we got dialed in, the other bands showed up. We thought the club would backline, but both bands brought drums. Dragontail Peak (love that name) brought a bass rig of doom, a 410 and 115, powered by an Ampeg something or other. Jim from The "NO" 3 brought an Orange head, but used the house cab.

Speaking of TN3, it is always cool to play with local legends. Kurt B. on guitar and vocals, Jim on bass, with his Ric, and then Dan Peters from Mudhoney on drums. I've played with Kurt and Jim before, but never Dan, so that was cool.

Anyway, before long we got started. 10 songs and 42 minutes later, we were done. I think we played quite well, with a couple of goofs at times. Robb went into his guitar solo a little early in the first song, but Cass and I were able to latch on and follow along. He did something early again in Panic Attack, so Cass and I had to watch each other and count through the bars.

Tone-wise, I really liked what I heard in my IEMs. Vocals for me were nice and bright, but as the gig continued, I had a harder time hearing myself, not sure what that was about. I did set my phone up to record on the side and after the show, I took a look and we sounded pretty good. Really good performance.

Off stage, I had an old friend/co-worker show up, so her and I chatted for nearly all of the Dragontail Peak gig. I didn't even get a picture of them, but tried to listen during our convo and what I heard was blusey, articulate, precise and a little proggy. They have a video online from Darrell's that didn't well represent what I heard last night. I don't even know if it was the same dudes. But they were tight and sounded good.

Side note: was great to chat with Whitney. She is one of the OG's from the MS Store and we've kept sort of in touch over the years. Her husband, Taylor, has been to a few shows, and now it was her turn. I know how tough it can be to get out with 2 little ones, so for her to show up by herself in her badass leather jacket and lookin' tough, was appreciated. Loved seeing her.

We were also graced by Tim, fresh off his tour with Duff McKagan in Europe and the US. He just played a triumphant show on Wednesday at the Showbox and I'd asked him to come, but wasn't sure if he would. Turns out, he and Kay came, as well as Muzz. I'd seen Tim a few times and talked with him on the phone a bit, but this was his first time seeing Planets and he said we were great. We all had a great time catching up outside and hearing his tour stories, as well as a really cool life update that we couldn't be happier about. Just great stuff. Talking about dusting off some Embers stuff in 2025, so we'll see how that goes.

After chatting, we went in and caught the last couple songs of TN3. I could hear a bit outside and it sounded great, but inside it was loud and muddy. I would have liked to have heard more songs, but catching up with Tim was worth it.

The "NO" 3

All in all, another great night. Playing live music, seeing old friends, hearing wonderful tunes, can't wait to do it again.

Next up: Sunset Grooves at the Aurora Borealis. Stay tuned.

9/21/2024, Planets in the Ocean at the Sunset

Yeah, I played a show last night but the best part was not the gig, but pre-show.

Me and Cookie

Cookie looking like Bella

After slogging through an hour's worth of traffic due to freeway improvements, I dropped my stuff off and headed to the bar at the front of the Sunset to say hi to some friends. There were two dogs next to me and one of them was basically Bella in disguise. Her name was Cookie and she was quite sweet.

This is Bella in 2020

I got my fill of visiting with Bella's ghost and jumped on stage for sound check. I didn't bring a rig, only a couple basses (The Gold and the butter bass) and my pedals. One of the other bands (turns out it was Tango Alpha Tango from PDX) was sharing their SVT and 410 cab, so that was cool.

Our stage setup

During sound check, everything sounded pretty good. A few months ago, I got some new earplugs for onstage, the horribly named Eargasm plugs. And though they work, I just haven't gelled with them. Even with the smaller size, they are a little weird fitting to my ears and they just don't seem right to me.

Despite that, the Ampeg sounded nice, the monitors for my BGVs were decent, but I asked for more. Trouble was, I got feedback, so I told Colin, our engineer, to leave the levels where they were at. And with that, we were off. Without a set list, of course. Luckily, we had an old one in my pedal case so we edited that and kicked it off.

Crowd was a little light, as it seems to be in Seattle when the show starts at 8:30, but lucky for us, they push fog in the club and it makes it hard to see anyone. We started with our song, Nomenclature, which is fast and kicks us off with some energy. It's a bit of a challenge to hit the ground running without warming up, but it went pretty well. At that point in the set, I could hear my vocals OK. As we continued, though, I had a harder time. Not sure why or what changed.

Anyway, on we went, it was pretty high energy and fun. I haven't been doing any big jumps lately as I always land off time and it throws me off. Plus there was a big support beam above my head and I didn't want to hit that. But, I did some medium jumps, only one or two, and it worked out ok.

No pictures yet, but there should be come coming soon and I'll put them up when they are posted.

Next up was Low Hums. I saw them last year before I went on the road with Forest Ray. I can't say I remembered much about them, but I thought there were more dudes. For this gig, it was a three-piece. Bassist played a P and what sounded like flats. He was super solid, not flashy, but definitely in the pocket and doing his thing. The guitarist had shades on (I just can't do it; hard enough to see without em in the dark) and was really cool with his effects and playing. And the drummer was on a righty kit playing lefty. He was also solid and loomed over his kit. They had some cool moments and I enjoyed the set.

Low Hums

Either the Low Hums played a short set or Tango Alpha Tango took a minute to get set up. Maybe both? Anyway, TAT took the stage as a quartet. When Stereo Embers played with them in 2018, they were a three piece. For this show, they had another guitarist/keyboardist with them, and he was great.

Overall, this band is a showcase for Nathan, the guitarist. He is a great singer, with cool stage presence, and is a shredder in the John Mayer sense of the word. Really good player and sort of knows it. His wife, Mirabai, on bass, was solid on her CS Jazz. I do wish she was up in the mix a bit as she was sort of drowned out by both guitars on either side of her. And the drummer was really epic. He was a joy to watch and really delivered a solid set.

Tango Alpha Tango

After our set, I used the restrooms (Sunset has the best bathrooms in the Seattle club scene) and came out to some ladies using the mirror and blocking the sink (shared sinks). They complimented the gig after realizing I was in the band. Unique and interesting to get a compliment in that situation.

And then someone else (full disclosure, drummer's wife, who tells it like it is) said after a hard week, seeing and hearing us was like church for her. She's seen a million club shows with Cass, but for whatever reason, this show really resonated with her, so that's cool.

All in all, a very enjoyable evening. I got to do what I love with people I love and get it back from the other bands. Can't wait to do it all again in November.