2026-06-06 Planets in the Ocean at Conor Byrne

Last night was way too fun. I wish I had a reality TV crew following me around to capture all the people that were there, the music made and the good vibes overall. I made a strong effort to pump the socials and text and reach out to folks. It worked out well, let's see who came for me (or at least confirmed they were coming with me): Michael P, Taylor H, Elizabeth D (+2), Jose C (+3), Evan C (+1), Marci!, Christian S (+3), Dusty H, Eric J, Brian H (+1). Maybe there were more? But overall, there were so many people for us. Hell, with Stag and the Rallies in the building, we couldn't help but have a good draw.

Marci came out and I was stoked for that, but it was gonna be a long night. I-5 north was closed from I-90 all the way to 45th, so we left about 4pm for a 5pm expected arrival time. It was lame. She shopped for a printer the whole time. Cheaper to replace the stupid thing rather than buy new ink, I hate that.

Stuck in traffic with my favorite person!

Anyway, an hour later we arrived at my new favorite club, Conor Byrne. As mentioned in last month's recap, the room sounded so good. Would it be the same for this show? Unsure. Last time, I played through Charlie's Ampeg 610 and it was thunderous. This time, I provided backline with my new Orange 112 powered by the old Ashdown, for its first show. Despite Mark the repair guy saying to not trust it at a gig, over the past 10+ hours of rehearsals and home practice, it's been fine, so I figured why not? I did tell Pete Nordstrom to bring his Orange Bass Terror just in case...

I pulled up and Ben London was unloading his car. Lee Brown pulled up after us. Ben Heege was already inside. Cass showed up a few minutes later, as did Tim. It was like reunion day at the old folks home. All the homies were there. Not only that, we had all the Embers heads show up: Charles and Cyndy, Lisa G and her husband, Lisette, Stephanie P, maybe some others. Tim had Kim and Chris show up, Rebecca Young, Kay, probably more than that. I got to talk to Cathy Pants (I don't know her real last name!), Jonathan Plum, Bob and Tina Lang, Steve Reeves, Alan W and Dan, Jan Fox from Model Shop (who was just walking by), Elizabeth, Jose and his family. It was all so great.

I got the little baby rig on stage and of course I forgot to take any pictures. It powered up and Ben got his bass plugged in, a hollow body Washburn and it sounded round and full. Pretend this picture is from sound check instead of the show:

Check out the cool Ashdown VU meter!

After I set up, Marci and I went to grab a quick bite. We went to a place called Situ Tacos. I had a taco salad bowl of some sort and it was tasty. And not a comment on the food, but I noticed afterward that a tooth that had been intermittently painful for months had broken. Don't know where the rest of it went, but luckily it doesn't hurt and a call has been made to the dentist. I'm guessing a crown is in my near future.

Dinner before my tooth broke.

We walked back to Conor Byrne, but not before stopping in a doorway to have Marci look into my mouth. Surely we didn't look any weirder than the other people walking around in Ballard, right?

Back at the club, it was just a nice party. I socialized with as many people as I could, like I mentioned. I helped set up our merch table. I spent some time this week creating a QR code and price sheet for stuff. I guess it helped, we generated about $200 in Venmo purchases, so that was quite cool.

Gotta take some lessons from the Rallies on how to do merch

A sweet woman named Dineen (don't know the spelling), who is a friend of Stag's, ran merch for us all and she was fantastic. It was nice to not have to worry about running merch. My only regret is not getting a Rallies record and some more Stag stuff. And after seeing all their stuff, we should look into more swag. Or maybe after recording again.

Enough small talk. Rallies took the stage and show us all how a real tight, professional, harmonic band plays. They are just fine gentlemen and musicians and they played to a very appreciative audience. Check out the crowd!

The Rallies!

I regret to say I didn't see much of their set due to getting my social on. But what I heard did sound excellent. Bradford, the sound tech at Conor Byrne, is so good and the room just sounds great.

Stag took the stage next and of course, they just destroyed. And they are fine folks, each one of them. I've said things about them before and it's still true. Nice dudes and wonderful performers!

STAG. And the club was packed, just not from this picture.

Once Stag got off the stage, we got the ball rolling. We decided to play all the songs from the record, including Darla's Song, which meant Robb had to get his keys setup. Which was fine, but there were problems. He had no sound, so that meant I got to get on the mic and be stupid. Did a bunch of talking because he couldn't figure out what was going on. I thanked people, the bands, a bunch of nonsense. Sad thing is, I sort of love the attention. Doh! We finally played and then he had to switch to his guitar rig. And of course, something went weird. His guitar didn't sound right, so I jumped back on the mic. A few minutes of that and he finally got things up and running.

Cass did up the setlist and had us starting with The Loud Silence, which is a nice, chill way to get into things. I tried warming up a little, mainly by stretching my hands and arms, and not starting with something like Nomenclature helped.

Audio on stage sounded great! The Ashdown/Orange baby amp was fantastic. I could hear my bass and it was lovely. Robb's amp was to his left and leaned back 45°, pointed right at his ear, which also meant it pointed right at me. It was ok, loud, but not too terrible.

We worked our way through the set, there was a full house, and it was fucking awesome. I wish I took some pics from the stage, but I didn't. We had Derrick Miller and Devin Creisler in the house and they always shoot full vids, so those should be upcoming. But Mike Mitchell was there taking pics, as were a bunch of others, so here's some of those. All the PITO pix are a bit too red so imma fix those before posting.

Full house!

Mike Mitchell with me and Tim

The set was fine. I could've been tighter on stuff I did. I felt sloppy. Monitors were better last month but still good; I could hear myself pretty good. I think we all had some awkward moments, but overall went well. People loved it, they really did and it felt so good.

They especially went nuts when Timmy jumped up there. We started with All Amounts to Something and it hit when he started the riff. Really fun to play that with him and get the Embers train back on the track. The cheers were loud and a pretty good preview of what to expect when we play at the Sunset in September. Should be great and well attended.

Next up is Planets with our pals Square Peg, Royal Blunder, The Rallies and Full Life Crisis at Hidden Hall on a Saturday afternoon. Will be a great time!

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.

New Year's Resolution: failed

In my defense, Feb was a short month, only 28 days... and maybe I broke my foot in late Jan... but those are excuses and I didn't make it to a show.

Thought about it... but didn't.

Oh well.

I'll make up for it by playing in 3 shows this month. As mentioned in a previous post, playing with Greg Hoy this week. We are rehearsing tomorrow, and then doing it for real on Friday and Saturday, with local horn legends, Max and Ric on trumpet and sax. Thursday we're having Planets practice with a special guest. It's gonna be a fun couple music days.

Next week, we'll do one more practice with special guest, then our long-awaited vinyl release at Sleight of Hand. I've been going nutz making IG posts and the like. I am no pro, but they're cool, mainly because of Mike Mitchell's pictures.

Got a couple more shows in May and June, but that's it. Everything quiet on the SG front for now. Dennis is leaving the country this year, we haven't talked about replacing him, but supposedly we have a gig lined up in August? We'll see what happens...

2026-01-31 Planets in the Ocean at Slim's Last Chance

First show of the year, gonna be hard to top this one! It sort of fell in our lap. We got our new records and sent some to friends and as soon as Ben in Stag got one, he asked us to be part of this show. Pretty awesome as we've played with Stag many times before and they are not only swell dudes, they have excellent songs and bring a great crowd.

It helped that Slim's had recently announced its closure and as a result, shows were being well attended anyway. When I saw a show there a few weeks ago, it was quite packed and great to be a part of. I expected this one would be the same and was not disappointed.

Prior to the show, last Sunday, I woke up and felt a weird pain in my left foot. Long story short, after a trip to urgent care, I was told that I had a "well-corticated lucency through the base of the third metatarsal on the oblique view." In layman's terms, I guess there's a tiny fracture on my middle toe. Fast forward to the end of the week and I have felt no pain since last Sunday. I wore an orthopedic boot during the workday all week, but had no pain other than the pain in the ass of wearing that boot.

Anyway, I had asked Pete Nordstrom to borrow his bass gear since I thought my foot might be dumb, but in hindsight, it was not necessary. That said, he has an Orange Bass Terror (as do I), so I knew how to dial it up for maximum good tones. Plus, he had a sweet Bergantino 212 (so light) and it was a nice paring.

Pete's Orange, Bergantino and my BASS.

Showing up at the club, there were a lot of familiar faces: Mike and Amy, Lisa and Neil, Ted L., Ben and Brian from the Rallies, Jeff Barlow, Steve and Salena, Alan, Bob W., Steve N., Andi W., Dave and Paul from Pop Cycle, Chris E., Jimmy C., among others. Always good to see these folks and added bonus, more bodies in the door!

Even though it was a rock show, there were only us and Stag on the bill as bands. The opener was a DJ, which was actually quite cool as he played tunes we all knew, and it wasn't super loud, so people could talk and mingle beforehand. Right at 9, we took the stage and as always, I wish I had warmed up a bit. Robb wrote a setlist that started off with a couple bangers, and off we went.

I was a tiny bit concerned about my foot, but after those two songs, I realized it was fine. I didn't do any gymnastics but did my fair share of bouncing around. It ended up being fine, no pain, no nothing, all good.

The new G&L BASS (LB-100 body/L-2000 neck marked "BASS") performed excellently. Pete's rig was great as well, though I think I was pretty loud. Robb brought his two new amps, running in stereo and luckily those weren't blasted too much at me. My biggest gripe was the vocals; I couldn't hear myself really well and I think Robb couldn't hear himself at all. Either that or my own lack of hearing had me hearing things that weren't there. People said we sounded fine, so I guess there's that.

Pic by Mike Mitchell

It's 2026, people need better cameras. :D

We debuted a new song called the Mean Machine, that old SE bassist Ben Brunn wrote the lyrics to. It's our first new song since I think the Unraveled/Sit and Spin/Nomenclature trio from a few years ago. I hope there are more coming, as MM came up pretty quickly. It still needs some fleshing out, like adding more to the second verse, and figuring out transitions, but it has some legs and sounds like PITO.

Lots of fun on stage, lots of people enjoying our stuff. We had a couple flubs here and there, but nothing terrible. Robb did come in early on the 2nd verse of the Loud Silence, and Cass and I had to catch up to him, but we covered fine. I think Robb may have had one pop too many prior to us taking the stage, but it's all good.

We got off the stage and lots of kudos. Michael Markley, as he's said before, really loves my playing in a trio setting. Andrew K, the photographer, said he thought playing in Sunset Grooves elevated my playing. He said that in SE, my playing was much more subdued. I told him I played that way so I didn't intrude on Tim's stuff, but in PITO, that's more how I usually play. I don't know if he was goofing or not; he took pictures of us in the studio, so he has seen how I play, but he seemed genuinely surprised. Maybe he forgot?

Stag took the stage next and showed everyone how a really good band performs. All guys, Ben, John, Pete, Rob and Steve, are all so good at what they do individually. Put them together in a group? Really good vibes, that's for sure. They played a fun, loud and heroic set and we all left satisfied and better for it.

The Mighty Stag!

Overall, we sold a bunch of records, gave away a handful, sold some shirts, and had a bunch of talk about doing more shows down the line. Always positive, but we'll see how it shakes out. It's usually a bunch of talk, but who knows? Let's let things happen how they happen. In the meantime, next up is our actual vinyl release at Sleight of Hand, but before that, in early March, I have 2 sub gigs with my old pal Greg Hoy, coming out from CO to play a few shows.

Stay tuned.

2025-11-01 Planets in the Ocean at Turntables & Trails

This gig fell into our lap a few weeks ago. Robb said a guy who runs a store in Lake City that sells audio equipment and outdoor equipment wanted us to play a show. The place is called Turntables & Trails and a lot of cool bands have played there recently. We were joining our pals, the Rallies, as a 2-band bill. Lucky for us, Dusty's band, the Purrs couldn't do it, so we got the add instead.

$20? Yup.

It's been a busy couple weeks for the PITO boys as we've been busy with life stuff and haven't gotten together for a minute. Except for the last two weeks, so I guess we're OK? Last Thursday we met up to rehearse as our buddy Brian in the Rallies and Full Life Crisis does videos and wanted to record us. He booked us a few months ago, so we met up last Sunday for that. Two to three hours later, he had recorded us doing 4 songs and it was great.

But I digress. Last night, after a busy week of travel for Cass, a test pressing for us from the record company, the video from Brian, it was time for our next and possibly last gig for 2025. I showed up a little later after I dropped off my non-working Ashdown amp at a repair guy's house in Magnolia. Sheesh, traffic was a joke last night.

Front half of the store as they were setting up.

The back half of the store.

As I showed up, the Rallies were getting set up. Ben was nice enough to offer his little Bag End 15" with Ampeg SVT III or something. I'm just glad to not have to bring gear. Ben showed up with his sweet P and they sounded great during soundcheck.

I was sort of concerned being in basically a room with a PA, but the owner, Spencer (I think?), ran sound and it was just fine. The Rallies sounded great, from instruments to vocals. Then again, not much volume was needed for the small space and the moderate turnout. We were competing with the incredible World Series game 7 and other gigs around town. There were a handful of folks for either band and it seemed to be OK after all.

The Rallies took the stage first despite getting top billing on the poster. I guess Steve the singer wanted to be done earlier because he's older (I was told). Even though the gig started at the old-friendly hour of 7:30 or so (pushed back from 7), we let them go first. No big deal. They put on a professional, gentlemanly set of polished pop. Brian, who recorded our video, and is living the early retirement life of chasing music, is the new guy and he's a great fit for their band. Very solid and pro on guitar. Ben sang like an angel on backing vox and Lee on drums is simply solid and a great foundation. Steve sings great and anchors the band with his acoustic guitar. They just work.

The Rallies

Marci came out with Blake for the show. Haley couldn't make it, she was working a long shift. And Blake had to leave early because he was meeting Hay for a bar crawl in Pioneer Square, which was a bummer, since we were going second. He ended up staying for a few songs and took Marci's car home.

We took the stage and it was a lot of fun. Ben's amp sounded great for his bass and I feel like it sounded pretty good for me, playing the gold bass last night. And even though the Rallies are a rock band, we are a LOUD rock band and I was a little concerned at first. But then I thought, f it, we're loud, let's do our thing.

Robb comically didn't print set lists, which was fine. The whole feel of the gig was like playing in someone's house. It was pretty casual and friendly. I was cracking dumb jokes and having fun. I'd turn around to talk to Cass and everyone could hear what I was saying. It was a good time.

Playing in and around a bunch of vintage audio equipment was cool. I enjoyed looking stuff as I was playing. It might be cool to go back there sometime and load up on records and or record player gear. I'll have to save my record player update for another post, but within the last month, I've bought about 20 LPs. Who am I anymore?

Afterward, lots of kind words from Dave, one of the guys that helps to run the place. He posted a video of us to Facebook and was excited that a Seattle musician from way back (Gerald Collier, Best Kissers in the World) who also said some nice things about the "rhythm section." People in the room liked it and we are excited to make the connection with the crew at T&T. Hoping we can get up there again in the summer and pack the place out.

Next up, Sunset Grooves playing after the Seahawks game on Sunday, at the Central.

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.

8/29/2025, Planets in the Ocean at the Central

Exciting poster at the door

At this point in my musical career, I think the place I've played the most is the Central. Good, bad, indifferent, a gig's a gig and the Central's always been fine.

This show was set up months ago by a guy named Will. He does some local booking of bands and is in tight with a band we've played with before called Purusa, out of Portland. The guys in the band are stellar dudes and the band is pretty awesome.

As always, early doors at the Central. I showed up around 6:30 and the headliner, My Next Planet, was setting up their gear. They are a 3-piece pop/punk band that also works with Will and they traveled heavy. I think they're local and they've been playing a ton of shows. On stage was what looked like an 8x12 cabinet, a couple Marshall cabinets, a huge-ass drum set and a bunch of MNP signage, lights and a banner. A little overkill, IMO, but they had a 4th member that seemed to be handling a lot of admin type duties (merch table setup, promo, sound check ears in the crowd, etc).

Isku ran sound for the night. He checked for Sunset Grooves a few months ago, then did our private party in July, and he'll do another for us in Sept. For Planets, it was comforting and we sounded good enough, I suppose.

First up was Purusa. Kris, Zach, Dave and Andy, and they are all excellent musicians. Tight band, Kris with golden pipes, and they just tore it up. A pleasure to watch and hear, I only wish there were more people there to appreciate it.

Purusa tearing it up

Pretty much the extent of the Purusa crowd

Purusa finished promptly at 8:45 and we got setup to go. No sound check for us, just line check and play. We had no set list, but luckily I had an old one in my bag, so we used that. I only brought one bass (butter) and my pedals. I used the house GK 410 and it was fine. I did bring my IEMs but didn't use them. Maybe I should have after listening back. It's just so hard to hear some parts if the monitor mix isn't dialed in properly. The wedges were loud enough, but man, there are some moments that are challenging for me.

We had a bit of a trainwreck on "Sit and Spin" with Robb doing some improv and then getting lost at the instrumental bridge. It sort of worked, but it was sloppy and his note choices weren't great. If you didn't know the song, it was OK. There were other moments as well, but that was the big showstopper. As mentioned, my backing vocals were meh. Some good parts, some not so great parts ("Panic Attack" ugh). Even off the bat, with "Unraveled," it was pretty rough. Isku had me dialed in hot and though it's nice to hear in the recording, there's no denying it when they're off.

We slogged our way through it and we all felt pretty gross afterward. It was weird. I mean, I wasn't in my feels, but both Cass and Robb were pretty down about it (via text at least).

Rounding out the night was My Next Planet. They had a nice crowd, maybe 25-30 people? Don't know how they did it because the tunes were pretty bland. It was more pop emo than anything punk related. They were really good at it, but not my thing. Weirdly, they had some backing tracks that seemed to double some bass, even when the bassist was playing. I don't know, I don't think they were mixed all that well out front. No pix of them.

Good to hang out with Cass afterward. Robb jetted pretty quickly, but he didn't miss much. Saw an old Embers fan, Stephanie, and chatted with her for a few. Aside from that, it was a pretty uneventful night. We made $85 and that's that.

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...

5/31/2025, PITO at Slim's Last Chance

Upon writing this, I realize it's been literally a month since my last gig. Seems so long ago, but also like it just happened. For Planets, though, it's been since early March, which is a pretty long hiatus for now.

Not a bad thing to have some time off, though; we were planning on rehearsing earlier in May to get dialed in for this show. Unfortunately, Robb's mother-in-law, Rose, had some health issues to where they brought in hospice for help. She seemed to bounce back after a few days, which had them thinking it was simply a flu, but a week or so later, she regressed and unfortunately passed.

Needless to say, Cass and I stood down for a few weeks. We've played together so long that even if we just showed up at the gig unrehearsed, we'd be fine. That said, we finally got back to a quick rehearsal on Thursday and it was just fine.

Last night, we headlined at Slim's in Georgetown. Last time we played there was in 2023, outdoors on the flatbed, with about 10 people in the crowd. Hoping for a better turnout this time. I was backlining my gear and brought the Avatar 212 and my new-to-me Peavey MiniMax 600.

I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but I have an Ashdown ABM300 amp that was given to me for free as it wasn't working. In September of 2023, I took it to a local tech guy who had fixed my Trace when it was acting up. Fast forward until now, and that guy has ghosted me. As a result of posting about that drama on TalkBass, a kind fellow offered up his Peavey to me as he didn't like it (fan was too loud). I took him up on his offer and let it be the backline amp for the night.

I showed up around 6:30. Cass was already there and Robb pulled up with his friend Chris as I loaded in. Surprisingly enough, for a downbeat of 8pm, I think all the other bands' members were already there. Talk about punctual!

Due to cooler weather (despite the two previous days being around 80°F), we had to play indoors, where there's a small stage in the corner. The sound guy was setting up his cabling, so we let him have a few minutes before getting the backline on stage.

After getting set up, there was no sound check so we just shot the breeze. I didn't have dinner, and I'd heard the cheeseburgers were good, but I got sticker shock: $23.50 or so for a cheeseburger, so I passed and got the wings instead. A little overdone and over sauced, but at least I got some food down in a timely fashion.

At 8pm, the Jon Hyde band took the stage. A tight little five-piece, playing some good ol' singer-songwriter type rock and roll. Jon with a black Rick, a guy named Bruce on keys, a guy named Kaben (who goes by Buzz as well) on a short-scale Danelectro (!), and another guy named James singing backs, playing acoustic and harmonica. And, my boy Perry from way back on drums. They played a nice set of songs that were quite enjoyable and nice. I do wish the sound guy had dialed the vocals up a bit; as Jon would talk between songs, I couldn't really hear him. Singing was only a little better.

My bass amp did great. The Danelectro sounded tight and articulate and definitely held its own in the mix. I was pleased with what I heard.

The bassist is back in the corner.

After Jon's band came the Rallies. Planets has played with them a few times now. Great band, great tunes, great dudes. I've gotten friendly with their bassist, Ben, who plays an olympic white/tortiseshell P and it sounded great in the amp. He's a really tasty player as well, pulling off some great lines with this band. Their drummer, Lee, is fantastic: he's powerful and dynamic, with a solid foundation for the band. Brian on lead guitar is new to the band, but he played great. I was really struck by how good he was. Not super flash, but everything he played was just right and I loved it. Steve played acoustic and sang and he's got the frontman looks. All around awesome band.

The Rallies

We got on the stage soon. I was able to see my friends show up, including my old pal, Aaron (it was his birthday), my gen Z co-worker Ruthie and her two friends, another old music friend Andi and her partner Alan (who is one of Cass' college pals). A bunch of the people that were there for the other two bands filed out before we played, which we sort of expected, so it was nice to have some other people take their place.

We were also super loud. I think Robb may have some high-end hearing difficulties. He's played music forever and I don't know how good his ear protection routine has been over the years. His tone is usually pretty bright and up front and even with my earplugs in, it seemed loud to me. The first two bands definitely were loud, but not overly so. All I know is when we started, my bass seemed low, but I didn't want to touch it too much; I don't know if it was due to Robb's guitar being too loud or if I was too close to my rig or if it was my overdrive effects. It wasn't too bad, but I would have liked more to it.

Phil B showed up and took this pic.

Yours truly being overly dramatic

Anyway, I think we played pretty well. The monitor system at the club has the speakers mounted at ear-level. With the speaker firing directly into my right ear, I could definitely hear me and Robb's vocals, but man, it was loud. He was singing crazy loud too, which didn't help. I saw the other bands' singers backing off their mics so I tried to do that as well. Robb said his monitor wasn't too loud, so I think that was why he was right on his mic.

Overall, no colossal screw ups or flubs. Felt good about my playing and singing, and the band's performance. Broke my pick sometime during the set so flipped it around and did my best. Had some great feedback after the gig. People were quite generous with their kind words. I got a chance to talk to Cathy Pants (from Coool Babies and other bands) as well as the other band members. Mike and Amy were gracious and friendly, as always. Just a fun night and a great reminder why I love doing this, even if the band's entire take was $66. With my cut at $22, I lost money as I paid $23 for my wings and Coke. Oh well, it's not the money for me, it's the music and the hang.

Side note: at the end of the night, Cathy saw a drummer's gear under the pool table. Cymbal bag, snare, sticks, all of it. It wasn't Cass' stuff, his was in his car. We put out the texts and it turns out it was Perry's stuff. He had helped Cass load out and forgot to grab his own gear. Haha, good times.

03/07/2025, PITO at Darrell's Tavern

Only the second gig of the year, and wish there were more, but it is what it is. For this show, though, I also got to play with Sherri and Michael from Del Vox, who I sat in with last year. Aimee was gonna be on drums, but she had to bail last minute, so my old friend, Perry Morgan, sat in on drums. He and I played together briefly in Shake Some Action! like 15 years ago or so? I can't remember specifically.

Perry was also in one of Robb's previous bands, Glass Notes or something. And then he had a shot with Stereo Embers, I think, before Cass got the gig. I don't think Perry had played with Del Vox before, so we all met last Monday for a quick rehearsal at Sherri's house. It was great; Perry had done his homework and my week or so of running the tunes really helped as well.

Robb had put this gig together a bit ago, with Planets, Del Vox, and a band called Guardian Alien. I didn't know anything about them, other than hearing that the band had a banjo player and a bit of a cult following.

Better than an AI poster, I suppose

For this show, I was finally able to get PITO to play one of our first songs, one we recorded in the summer of 2020 via file sharing. It was COVID days and Robb sent over some tracks to Cass and I, and we built a song called "Take a Knee," that Cass wrote the lyrics to. We put it on Bandcamp and that was it. That song and another one, "Hold On," are really cool and I would love to dust that one off as well. But for this gig, we rehearsed "Take a Knee."

Come showtime, I provided backline, with the Orange Terror Bass and my Avatar 212. I brought the Hog with the Butter bass as backup. After getting set up, I took the stage with Del Vox. The set went pretty well, way better than last year's go-round. Sherri's songs are pretty straightforward, but with subtle twists, like throwing in a 3rd verse before a chorus, or maybe a single bar turnaround instead of a double (as was done earlier in the song). Having rehearsed it a bunch on my own certainly helped, imagine that!

my toys

I stayed pretty chill on the performance side of things; I was the hired gun so I didn't want to step on any toes. With last year's gig, I was more energetic and it seemed weird; DV isn't that type of band. I felt like what I did fit the vibe better.

We finished and I got some flowers from some folks in the crowd (small, but appreciative). Got multiple comments about my tone and my playing. I always like the tone comments; on stage, it sounded a bit nasally for whatever reason. I tried bringing down the mids and boosting the bass a little, but it didn't really help.

With PITO, I stretched my legs a bit. It was cool to play with DV, but PITO is my band and it was time to do what we do. Cass wrote up the set list and we started with Dust Cloud, which I have wanted to open with as well. As we played and I sang, I realized the sound guy didn't have my mic turned on, which was a bit of a bummer.

After that song, it turns out he had the wrong XLR cable plugged in. Once he fixed that, my vox were in the mix, but stage volume was rough. Robb's guitar cab was on the other side of the stage, but elevated and aimed right at him and I. In fact, I think it was so loud, that there were times he couldn't hear himself sing. Either that, or he forgot his lyrics, I'm not sure. I recorded audio, so I'll have to listen back.

Tom M. with the pic

We ripped through the set and afterward, more positive comments. A couple dudes admired the Hog, one couple commented that I was less energetic during band 1, at which time I told them I was a hired gun. Kim came and gushed at how we should be playing bigger stages. That's high praise coming from her. She will tell us when we stink, so when we don't stink, it's great feedback from her.

Guardian Alien rushed the stage when we were still tearing down. It sort of annoyed me; there is some unspoken band etiquette, but I guess they thought it was running late. One guy grabbed my cab and rolled it to the other side of the stage. I was about to tell him to not touch my stuff, but it was OK, I guess, I didn't want to be that guy.

They got set up eventually and started with some boring drone stuff, I don't know if it was for soundcheck or just a vibe set. Well, they undersold themselves. They started playing, a four-piece with drums, bass, sax and banjo/vox, and they were solid, tight, imaginative, and thought-provoking. My vantage point wasn't best for all audio, but I could see fine and what I saw and heard was actually really cool. As annoyed as I wanted to be with them for bum-rushing the stage, I was actually really impressed and entertained by them.

Guardian Alien

Overall, a nice night. I got $65 from Sherri, which was down from last year, but we didn't discuss payment and I'll take the cash. $130 for Planets, but that's gonna go in the mixing fund. For now, no more Planets gigs until late-May, so I hope we get something in the meantime.

Next up, Sunset Grooves in April.