The same night I played with Stereo Embers a few weeks ago, Sunset Grooves were also offered a show at the Fircrest Golf Club in Tacoma. I didn't want the rest of the mates to not get paid so I reached out to Dave S., who played bass in Point of Sail. Outside of a few messages on FB, I didn't know him but hooked him up with Dusty and crew. Anyway, at that gig, at which Dave was fine, they were offered this gig for a local insurance agency's yearly awards party.
Pay was good and I only had to rehearse once. I brought out the new P bass after I had fixed the input jack last week. It worked fine at rehearsal so I figured we'd be OK. I took off from work a few hours early, came home, took the dog out, then headed down with a 1:15 commute to Tacoma.
Got there, loaded in, and it was like playing in an MPR at work. We had a little stage and that was just fine. They gave us a ready room where we could dress, so that was cool. Before hand, we got to hit the restaurant and I got me a ribeye steak. The guy who hired us told us to order anything we wanted; I took him at his word. It was huge and delicious!
very tasty
After pounding that steak (I did share some with the mates), we got dressed and took the stage around 8pm. I didn't take many pictures but before we started, I did pretend I was the keyboard player.
So many notes
Here's my pedalboard, big deal.
Same old, same old, but I put my tuner back on because I don't love the tuner on the wireless
And then here's outside the windows to our stage right. Once it got dark, it was just black, so this was the best view.
There were better angles, but this is what I got
The gig was weird. Plenty of people, many of whom said how excited they were to see us. We played a few tunes and had a few dancers, but no one was ready to dance the whole time. During one song, Jen stepped on my DI cable and I tried to move it out of the way. When I did that, my bass went out. I still got signal to the wireless, but it wasn't transmitting from the pedalboard. I replugged at the snake and that seemed to help.
A few songs later, bass was dead. Still had the signal, but Dennis came up and swapped XLR cables for me, which seemed to fix the issue. The first set continued and it was... fine. The room was muggy and people were not super interested in us it seemed, so we finished the set and took a quick break.
At the second set, there were some dancers and people started getting into it. I felt weird on stage because it was sort of small and it was just weird energy; it wasn't the type of night to get too animated, it seemed.
Towards the last half of the set, the dancers stayed and some more people joined, so it started to hit its stride. We finished and Larry, the owner, wanted us to play our "favorite" song, but we were tapped out so we played Escape, which we skipped on the first set. It was fine.
Despite the lukewarm crowd, Larry and his leadership team seemed to really like us. They said they're doing it again in Dallas next year and who knows, maybe we'll get an invite. I won't hold my breath, but would be interesting if it happened.
That's it for gigs now. Cass and Robb have DJL in the next month or so, and Cass has Love Battery in December. Maybe I see if anyone needs a sub. In the meantime, I need to work on the Planets' website and see if I can keep that viable.
Maybe a few months ago, Tim reached out and asked if Embers wanted to get back together for a late summer gig. We got together in May to dust off some songs for our release party in June, and then was all done until earlier this month. We started getting together to rehearse for our reunion show, taking place last night.
Earlier this week, they said tickets were low and within the last day or so, the club was sold out! Two sell outs this year for me, that must be a first.
New dragon strap for the new bass
Saturday was spent playing with the new bass, testing out my new bass with my bass amps, heading to Guitar Center to buy a new strap for the bass, then waiting until it was time to head to Ballard for soundcheck as I was backlining my rig. So that meant leaving the house around 4:45 for a 5:30 arrival time.
Marci was coming, and I got her a guest spot, which was great as all sorts of people were hitting folks up for tickets. I had committed to getting Mike and Amy a couple passes because we love them and other issues, so my people were good. Had to do some gymnastics to get Ian in the room for photos as Will forgot to get him one. Luckily my new buds in Seola Station (Ruth) was able to make some magic happen as she purchased extras just in case she had people that wanted to go. Pro move!
Marci and I pulled up to the Sunset right behind Tim and Kay. I gave him a hug and quickly gave him an old Matchbox VW GTI I had. Since I no longer have a GTI, I figured he should have it as he bought one last year when he came into some $$. He and I both loaded in and then reparked our cars and we were good to go.
Imagine my surprise when I got there and Robb's little buddy, Chris, was there (sarcasm). I don't remember him in the previous Embers days, so this may have been his first show. He's just so squirmy, I don't. I am not trying to be mean; I just have no patience for him. As I was trying to get my amp on stage, he was just oddly in the way. Ugh.
Anyway, we set up for soundcheck. I brought my Avatar 212 and Orange Terror Bass. I was supplying bass backline stage right, by the bar and backstage entrance. I strapped up the new P bass and tried it out and immediately, low signal. It may have been the same input jack thing I had happen the other day. After jiggling it around, no change, so I busted out old Goldie and we got to work.
Soundcheck pic featuring the Professor
After soundcheck, Marci grabbed me to go to KAVU down the street, she wanted an opinion on a backpack she liked. She got it and then we went to dinner next door. Ran into Ben London there with his wife and son. He wasn't coming to the show as his son was leaving town the next day so we just said hi. After dinner, we grabbed a molten chocolate cake down the block and snapped a pic.
I was a bit antsy to get back to the club so I left Marci there to finish her treat and ran into Patrick, Kathy and Reb from Golden West. Having played with Kathy and Patrick before, it was nice to be on the same bill with them and their band. I had met Reb a few months ago at the Conor Byrne show and really liked her vibe and energy. Kathy snapped a pic!
After so many years of playing out, I'm finally feeling like I'm part of the scene. I know people, they know me and generally speaking, we like each other. It's really cool!
Finally I made it inside and got to catch a few songs by Seola Station. At soundcheck, when I thought I'd be offering my rig, I spoke with their bassist, Brian, who said he was gonna use his own rig as he likes being stage left and didn't want to move my stuff. Then he busts out the killer Mesa 12/15 mini stack and I figure that I'd want to use that if I had it too.
Epic rig!
Seola Station was cool. There's a description of their music as smoky and sultry, and that's pretty accurate. Ruth, the singer, was a knockout in heels, a slinky dress and really unique vocals. Low register, singing but almost spoken, very neat. Her band was tight and energetic as well. Really enjoyed what I saw and heard.
Seola Station
Marci and I did head backstage and chill for a bit, trying to get people to enjoy some cupcakes for Cass and Tim's birthdays. Her and I chopped it up with Patrick a bit, talking about backyard wildlife, of all things. I shared my Dodo the cat trauma from earlier this summer. It was just nice to chat and hang out and see our friends.
Hooray for cupcakes!
Hooray for Marci and I!
Pro stage plot diagram for Seola Station!
Golden West took the stage next, with Kim V on lead vocals, Patrick on slide, Kathy on lead guitar, Emily on rhythm guitar, Reb on bass and the great Aimee Zoe on drums. Watching her play was a joy, reminded me of my obsession with Anika Nilles. Same joy on her face as Anika's. Really cool! Reb played some great lines and the band was just fantastic. Marci and Emily talked for a bit before their set as she's from Cincinnati, so they talked about Riley's adventures out there, it was pretty funny.
Golden West!
During their set, I got to see a bunch of folks: Steve and Salena, Andi, Howie, Scott Woods, Pete Nordstrom, Dave Place, Lisa Gordon, Will Wiles, Dan Lancaster, Rob Dent, Ben Heege, Charles and Cindy, both Robb's sisters, Renee and Ruthie, Steve Schneider and Michelle from way back, maybe some others I'm forgetting. Just a love in, it was great!
Once GW got off the stage, we got setup and then had a band meeting like Tim likes to do. He gives a quick pep talk and then we jump back onstage and do our thing. All my stuff was working, from IEMs to wireless guitar and it was time to go. Hit the stage running with Game Changer, into Tomorrow, which we never played back in the day.
From Teddy Laabs
Both songs went pretty well. I could hear myself fine, it was the playing that was tough at first. I didn't really warm up and as soon as we started playing, I was just pumped. All the moving around makes it hard to pick accurately, but I think I was likely the only one that noticed. More missed notes than wrong notes, so that's good, I suppose.
For Cass' and Tim's birthdays, Robb and Darla bought some party favors and he passed them out to all the people, so after our 3rd song, Sideline, everyone sang them happy birthday and then blew the blowers. It was pretty sweet.
Happy Birthday to Cass & Tim!
Initially at practices, I was playing all the songs with pick, after never having done so in the past. It was fine, but on some of the slower songs, Break This Down, Pull, Road Song, I decided to go fingers. Same with Boom, though last night I switched to pick mid-song as it was just too fast and I couldn't keep up. I ended up doing Chimp with fingers as well, I think it just flows better.
Overall, pretty pleased with how we played. I think there were some clams here and there by all of us, but for our first show back, not too shabby. A bunch of great pix were taken, let's take a look. First up, Mike Mitchell's pix.
Next up, Howie Cohen's pix.
This might be my favorite picture of the night.
As of now, there are tons of pics of us but not a lot of videos. Funny thing, our friend Bob Mattson came out to shoot GoPro vids as he's done before. He got set up early and then went to dinner. Before long, Cass reached out to me to ask where Bob was. Apparently both SS and GW hired camera crews as well and they wanted the spots where Bob hid his cameras. He was kind enough to come back and accommodate them, but it was sort of a pain.
Speaking of videos, our pals Ted Laabs and Will Wiles posted vids. I'm expecting Bob's as well as Derrick's in the near future, as well as any more that may pop up.
As far as future SE shows go, nothing's in the books. We have talked about it and we feel good about more. As far as new music? Who knows? I know Tim has stuff he wants to bring in but we'll have to feel it out as a band and see how it is. I think we've all grown and if we can settle whatever happened in the past, there may be some hope. Especially if we can sell out shows on the regular? Maybe we play once or twice a year, make it a can't miss prop, vs a "we can catch them next month" type thing.
And now, that's a wrap on gigs. Nothing officially booked for me as of right now. Grooves may have something in a few weeks, more details on that soon, supposedly.
We were offered this show a few months ago and were pretty excited about it. I know nothing about the Divorce but both Cass and Robb had played with them a bunch when they were in Dear John Letters. Evidently they had a great draw in the early 2010s and played a bunch of great local shows back then.
I showed up at the Tractor around 6pm and double-parked behind a car that was already there. The Tractor has a loading dock in the back that they lock once the show starts. It makes things really handy to not have to find parking elsewhere, but it can be a bit challenging to get all the cars in there.
Cass and Robb were already there, as was Robb's awkward friend, Chris. Some of the Chimestone dudes were there as well. Good to chop it up with Cass for a bit. We talked about our plan for our set, less talking (for me at least; he's not on mic), and how we were going to play our new song, "Tourniquet."
I didn't know what to expect as far as crowds go, but as the doors opened, it seemed like Chimestone was having a good draw. I think all 5 of those guys are NHS grads, and their crew travels well. It seems like every time we play with them, they have a good crew showing out.
Teddy shared his bass rig, I was happy to use it. One less thing for me to be bringing around on a long day to begin with. He also had a beautiful Stingray that he was going to play, which ended up sounding just as good as it looked.
Teddy's rig and bass
Chimestone took the stage and played a competent set of REM-ish rock and roll. Frontman Jake came out on fire, working the stage with and without guitar, singing expertly. Ted on bass was solid throughout, tasty notes and playing all set long. Jonathan Plum, of course, was so solid as well, also adding killer harmonies during the songs. Paul was stellar behind the kit, driving with power and energy. I don't know the other guitarist's name, but he was great as well, tasty leads and playing. Enjoyed watching and hearing them for sure.
Chimestone at work
During Chimestone's set, we hooked up with a local photographer named Ian who had been sent by our bud Will. I asked if he'd be willing to take some non-performance pix of us and he agreed. We went to the loading area and stood/posed by some dangerous looking stacks of pallets while he snapped away. He ended up taking a bunch there as well as during the show. Hope those turn out to be cool!
We took the stage after Chimestone loaded out. Had to switch drum sets, but other than that, no big deal. I gave Dave the sound guy my IEM transmitter and he got bass and vocals into my ears. Had the bass rig on stage turned up as well and with hardly a word, Robb started into "Unraveled." Everything sounded great to me in my ears. Robb's vocals and guitar were loud enough that I didn't need any of his signal to the IEMs.
Unlike last show, I put the wireless pack on my strap and it was not going anywhere. My IEM receiver was opposite on my left hip, which would reduce any interference. I have new silicone ear tips from some old Skullcandy earbuds that create an awesome seal and didn't leak like my foam ones would if I smiled or laughed, so all my gear was working as it should. Until my left earbud popped out during "Unraveled." No worries, after the tune, I put it back in and we were golden.
We continued the set with "The Loud Silence," and then our nemesis from last show, "Nomenclature," and those all went off without a hitch. Robb or I didn't say much until after that song, so it was sort of refreshing.
We worked our way down the list and we were doing great. We sounded good, mistakes were low, crowd liked it and our energy was high. All the songs were fine until we hit "Holiday Daydream," where Robb forgot to do the chorus and went straight into the second verse. He's done that before, so we'll have to mention it again. Aside from that, though, everything else went well.
The last song was our new song, "Tourniquet." Robb brought it in a few months ago and it pretty much wrote itself. Over the past two rehearsals at the Rock Rooms in Ballard, we've really worked on it. It's pretty much a 3-part song: riff, verse, chorus. I'd like to come up with a bridge at some point, but it came together quickly and plays well. We may do have Tim jump on it when we play the SE show next month, but we'll see.
Got off stage and the Divorce jumped on after us. A very tight and pro 4-piece. A bit emo, a bunch rock and they looked great doing it. All 4 dudes were great musicians and the songs were well-received. They drew a nice crowd and had people singing to all their songs. At some point during the set, Robb made his way right up front and was pumping his fist and jumping along to the tunes!
The Divorce
During either of the other bands' sets, I chopped it up with Steve and Salena a bit, as well as Cass. We all got a laugh out of Chris and his tendencies. He means well, but I don't really want him to be running merch for us; one of us can handle that. He can help Robb schlep gear back and forth, I don't need his help with anything.
Got some props after the gig. Kim and her cousin gave me the best compliment, digging the white denim jeans I picked up the day before at Goodwill! Jimmy, the bassist in the Divorce, complimented my playing as faster than he can do; he has a Geddy Lee Jazz with a skinny neck to be able to play faster. We felt great about our performance, likely one of our best ones in a minute.
Had to beg Steve and Salena for pix. I think plenty of people took pix and video, but gotta be patient. Chris Elko was there and should have a video for us soon. And Ian's pix will be sent out soon I'm assuming. Other than that, felt great about it all. Sold a couple of limited pink LPs as well, so that's a bonus. We got a check for $566 (surprise!) so overall, a great night.
Next up, Cupcake on 9/11 at the Blue Moon?? Stay tuned.
When I left for this gig, I forgot the freeway heading north was closed, so all northbound traffic was routing other ways, including down 119th. Added 20 minutes to my drive, so that was great. Luckily it was still early enough that I got there in plenty of time.
Tim was running sound at Aurora Borealis. He was a guitar player for Sunset Grooves before I joined years ago. I hadn't really talked to him, but he was super nice and accommodating to all of us. We got set up and did a quick soundcheck and it was fine.
We were offered another gig in September that I couldn't do, so I reached out to Dave, who played in another YR band in town. He came out last night to check out what he's gotten himself into. He was nice to chat with, so we chopped it up for a few.
Got some food and chowed down, free from the club, then got dressed for showtime. I rolled with the new wireless pack, the pedalboard, Goldielocks and the HOG. I figured I'd play Goldie for the first set, with a couple slapping tunes (Somebody's Baby and Peg) and the HOG for the second set.
Exciting pictures. I need to switch back to the square format, these tall 16:9 style pix are lame.
We started the set and the crowd was pretty chill, as usual. After a few songs, they started dancing. I thought the first set went pretty well. I could hear what I needed to hear for the most part. I kept an eye on the wireless input. With my 2 hottest basses, I didn't want to drop signal due to a fat input, so I dialed it back a little on the pedal. Happy to report there were no issues with signal drop.
First set went pretty much without a hitch. Felt good, get distracted with the screen in the back, projecting us on it like a live heat check. We took a break and then got back on for the second set.
We started with Caribbean Queen, which went pretty good. Then we started Maneater and though I was playing the right rhythm, for some reason I started in the wrong key. Once Eric came in, I figured it out and adjusted. We had a goof up in Don't Get Me Wrong; Jen forgot to come in on the quiet bridge part, we continued on and she came in doing the bridge, so we had to adjust on the fly. She also came in early on Tide is High. Most everything else was OK. I recorded on video and watched a little back. I think the vocals were a little tough, as usual, though hard to say who it is.
Nice comments from folks afterward. I didn't stay to chat much, was tired and wanted to get back home. Only took me 25 minutes to get back, so that was fantastic, I guess.
Next up, Snohomish Block Party on Saturday, with Planets at the Tractor that same night. Gonna be a fun and busy Saturday!
What's this? Sunset Grooves first show since November! Over the last few weeks, we have gotten together to rehearse for some summer shows, but also to get a new guitarist in the mix as Dennis is moving to Poland in the fall. We had no gigs, so there was no big rush, but with these gigs coming up, we started moving forward with a kid named Robby. Early 30s, came out with a blue Ibanez and a fun, youthful energy. Helps that he's a solid player and a cool dude.
Fast forward to yesterday, when we played our first gig this year, on Whidbey Island, of all places. We got drafted to play on a Tuesday night, outdoors at the South Whidbey Community Park. Logistically, it was sort of a pain. We had to be there around 3:30 to setup the PA and stuff. But we also had to catch a ferry. I could have worked half a day, and then left for Mukilteo, but instead, I took a few days off to hang out with Marci at home instead.
Headed out the door about 12:30 to catch the 2:05 ferry. Got to Mukilteo around 1:30 and got on the ferry about 1:50, which I guess was the 1:30 ferry, which was running late. Whatever. I ended up on Whidbey Island around 2:15 or so, it's a short ride.
A ferry from the ferry
Did I mention that this would be the hottest day of the year? I got to the park and there was 0 shade. Trees all around the place, but none where we would be setting up and playing. I parked under one tree in a corner and waited for the other guys to show up.
After 45 minutes or so, Dennis and Eric showed up, followed by Robby, his girl Terry, and then Jen and Dusty. We parked and proceeded to set up in the blazing sun. I brought my bucket hat just in case and boy am I glad I did that.
My view from the stage
Before the gig, during soundcheck
Had a tent during setup to take shelter and hide the guitars
Before setup, we were on top of that retaining wall
We finally got dialed in, then did a quick soundcheck. Jen's daughter Erika ran sound. Too bad Riley isn't in town, he might be able to do the same thing for us, make a few bucks. Helen, Jen's other daughter, was there as well and she sang a few songs with us. Her and her pal also ran around on the lawn getting the crowd hyped, it was pretty funny.
I went in with my new wireless rig again and this time, I put the pack on my strap at a thicker part. Happy to say it lasted the whole gig and had no drops. I was able to move around and it was really cool to not worry about the cord. In-ears sounded pretty good and I had a nice show. But for real, it was so dang hot. By about song three or four, I had so much sweat pooling up in my eyes. Luckily, I brought a bandana to wipe sweat, but instead, I tied it on my head during the intro to "Hooked on a Feeling." That thing saved my eyes, for sure.
So hot out
I also brought a fan and had that blowing behind me for the whole show. Poor Dusty had nothing. He got a blister on his hand as well, wrapping it up with gaff tape during one song, then getting it stuck on his hand during one of his acoustic numbers. It was pretty funny.
Robby did great; he and Dennis have great chemistry when they play and it is really cool having a second guitar to fill things out. But, Dennis' last show with us is in a few weeks, when we hit the Aurora Borealis for his goodbye party. He'll be missed, but Robby is a more than adequate replacement. Like I said earlier, he is energetic, eager, and loves to play. He kept saying how much fun he had yesterday simply setting up gear.
With him in the band, he may bring in a new network of fans and friends to check us out. As it was, he had a friend and his wife from work come to check us out. This guy may or may not be affiliated with the Seahawks and he really liked us, so we'll see if that pans out to be anything interesting.
As it stands now, if we can get some gigs and if Robby can inject some new life into the band, I will stick it out. I was thinking of bailing, but then these gigs showed up, so that's cool. I will have to miss a gig for the first time; I have an Embers reunion scheduled at the same time, but I found a sub for them, a guy who played in the other yacht rock band in town. Hope he works out (I don't think he sings, though).
We finished up and packed out in the sunset, which was way nicer than doing it in the dark. And then I bailed. The guy that booked us said to catch the 9:30 ferry, otherwise we'd have to wait an hour for the next one. I jumped and got there in time to get on. And then it was 45 minutes to home from there.
Anyway, it was fun to play the show, it was a hot long day, and I hope we get a decent payout soon.
