Misc. Gig Recap - Illuminaut at Blunt Bros.

I suppose it’s fitting that my memory of the exact date of my first gig at Blunt Bros is a bit hazy. I’m sure it was sometime in the summer or so of 2000.

We were Illuminaut; myself, Mule Hughes and Smash. Blunt Bros. was located down on Hastings St., across from Victory Square along a kind of 420 row; the Amsterdamn Cafe was next door, I think. Not being 420 friendly, I knew essentially nothing of the venue. (Not that I’m particularly 420 unfriendly, although it irks me that pot smokers seem to have convinced themselves that they don’t fall into the broad ‘smoker’ category, and therefore disdain basic rules of politeness regarding their habit. They’re making a political statement, dude, and thus the rest of us must sacrifice our clean air space for the greater good.)

 Ironically, the air quality in Blunt Bros. was impeccable. There was a little smoking room in the back, but the main seating area was very pleasant. In those days these types of venues would induce all sorts of angst in places like City Hall, and yet to me they seemed like model citizens compared to the kind of miscreant-catering nightspots you’d get out in the straightlaced suburbs.

 I don’t remember much about the setlist. Some instrumental stuff, and some heavier numbers later to appear on the first Stoke album. I think we did well. The sound was especially good, and there was an interested little audience (including a lithe California blonde). For me it was a nice little show. I felt great up on stage; I saw it (and still do) as a modest but genuinely satisfying moment of self-realization, but Mule confessed later in the evening that he’d hated the gig, and had been uncomfortable throughout.

 Afterward, having a chat with some folks, I looked back to the stage to find a small coterie of musical types inspecting the back of my Marshall JCM 800 2 X 12.

 It had just been modified by Mr. Ho of East Vancouver, and it was serving up a very nice shade of overdrive. I’ve never been a purist when it comes to modifying gear. To me, the history of rock is the history of gear mods, with amp makers like Jim Marshall, Paul Rivera, Randall Smith and, yes, Mr. Ho playing the role of invaluable Dr. Frankensteins.

Miscellaneous Gig Recap - Land of Debora on the Sreet

Land of Deborah at Car Free Day Main St. June 17 2012; Make Music Vancouver June 19, 2012.

 It’s neat to play outside. Main St. (at 30th) was like playing at the side of a river, with people passing by instead of water. Enthusiastic enough audience. What was interesting was seeing people you know (but don’t know to talk to) from a completely different context walk by and stop to watch you play. ie. ‘Hey, there’s that lady from the gym!’

 Same thing down at Gastown a few nights later. This time we were on a street corner with a more closely packed-in crowd gathered round. Again, enthusiastic. A bit more challenging due to rackety band down the street as part of the same festival. But a good show nonetheless.

 Got into a bit of an accident on the way home, though. Rear-ended a cab (just barely though; no damage or injury). One of those situations, as a comedian whose name I forget once said, where you know you can make the yellow light, but the guy in front of you chickens out.

A Guiro, Wrath of God

I love percussion in music. I think one band that used percussion very nicely was the Rolling Stones, particularly in their heyday during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

 Perhaps this is due to the influence of Jimmy Miller, himself a drummer, who produced most of the Stones' work from Jumpin' Jack Flash in 1968 through to the Goat's Heat Soup album in 1973. You can often hear various percussive elements on the band's recordings during this era, adding both atmosphere and groove.

 Examples include: Gimme Shelter - Listen to the guiro that comes in at the .09 mark and runs the entire length of the song. Also the maracas, which enter at 2:03. They kick the song into another gear.

 The same thing happens on Jumpin' Jack Flash. The maracas come it at 1:33, and serve the same purpose; emphasizing the pulse of the song while marking the instrumental break.

 Mick Jagger apparently plays the castanets you hear at the outset of Brown Sugar. They come in with the drums at :03, and are repeated twice more before the song launches into the main riff. I believe Brown Sugar was recorded at Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama during the 1969 tour, so this seems to be one piece of percussive work that was outside the influence of Jimmy Miller.

 One of my favourite Stones songs is (Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo) Heartbreaker. You can hear hand drumming mixed fairly low throughout the song. It's subtle, but I think it gives the song a necessary groove injection that serves it well.

I played a gig downtown with the Land of Deborah on Friday. Unfortunately, I forgot my guitar strap, leaving me no choice but to sit down and tap into my inner Robert Fripp.

Certain parties will no doubt be amused.

BELATED RE-CAP of 21 TANDEM REPEATS’ ‘Going Postal’ tour 2008.

Thursday November 20th

-Gig at Railway Club, Vancouver.

Solid performance. Moderately well-attended. K. Naso on trumpet. WB on right side of stage for some reason. Something about the bass amp needing to be on the left, according to never-seen-before soundwoman.

Friday November 21st

-Gig at Chemainus. Insanely wet day. Ferry ride from Tsawassen to Duke Point was like a voyage through a grey wet haze. A. Rojas and Shockk discuss music teaching woes. Once on the island, band ensconces itself in pleasant hotel. Pool and everything. WB gets his own room. Like a small suite. Very relaxing.

Superb meal at restaurant/venue. Pork dish. Utterly exquisite and tender, as if prepared by chef of Henry VIII. Venue is virtually empty for gig. Appx. 6 people, but they listened avidly through two sets and bought CDs afterward. WB on right side of stage again. Wait...there was no stage. Virtually every song in 21tr catalogue was trotted out. Band in good form.

Back to hotel. Band watches ‘The Great Escape’ while drinking beer. WB has Newcastle Brown Ale; should have brought a bit of whiskey.

Saturday November 22nd

Breakfast in the buffet room. Nice spread. Then up to Nanaimo via Saltair route at WB’s recommendation. Bad idea; road work backs up traffic for 1/2 hour en route. Scenic nonetheless, and sun has come out.

Band loads gear into venue. Cambie hostel and pub/club. W ‘Ritchie Blackmore’ B goes off on his own to check into Coast Bastion Hotel. Nice room with good view toward Newcastle Island and beyond to Georgia Straight. Rest of band bunks in hostel.

WB meets SR at Cambie. Hip adductor injury bothering WB. Canucks game is on TV, and as if by some disastrous synchronicity Luongo suffers groin strain. He is removed from the game, but Canucks still beat Penguins in Pittsburg. Band gathers and has lunch at fish and chip shop...restaurant has pirate name and attractive tattooed proprietess.

Band lounges around WB hotel room for a few hours. WB weary/testy with injury pain not abating.

Band performance good, but undermined by errant soundman. SR sets up large sign/banner with band name on stage. Afterward, WB is congratulated by patron on good set.

“What’s the name of your band?”

“Twenty-one Tandem Repeats.”

“Ahhh...like the sign.”

Yes.

Like the sign.

Band members linger around afterward as other acts perform. WB heads back to hotel; does not sleep as well as expected. Rest of band attends afterparty and then slumbers blissfully in hostel. Irony.

November 23rd

Down to Victoria. Stop along the way at Goldstream Park. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead salmon in the river from spawning run. Nice walk, then back on road.

Lunch at John’s. SR fumes over slow service. A Rojas and Shockk go shopping.

Off to venue; late afternoon show in pub. Packed with people for music and Grey Cup. In my view this was the best gig of the tour. A quick four song set. Band was on fire, ripping through songs like 'Mr. Greenie' and 'Famous Person.' The latter is a smartly-penned tune, made all the better by Rojas-constructed guitar/bass lines that complement each other. Audience was packed about five feet from the performers...again WB on right side.

Afterward band got a fistful of drink tickets, which were good for highballs as well as beer. At last, whiskey!

Mid evening ferry ride home. At the ticket window, the cashier can’t make out WB and Rojas in back.

“Just the two of you?” she asks SR.

He replies with a non-committal murmur that leans ever so slightly toward an affirmative response, but not enough to count as a lie or deception.

On the verge of giving him an unwitting two passenger discount, she hesitates and asks one more time, at which point SR grudgingly acknowledges the two in the back. Driving away from the window, the just-slipped-away twenty dollars worth of consolation after a weekend in the red sinks in to the band leader, and with a wounded animal howl he screams...

“FUCK ME IN THE FACE!!!”

Uneventful ferry ride, then home.

BELATED RE-CAP of 21TANDEM REPEATS ‘Open for Ross Vegas Two-gig Tour 2005.’

Beautiful weekend in early August. Band consists of WB and SR, with drumming duties to be supplied on-the-fly by RV drummer.

Trip starts with an On The Buses moment when SR, who has called in sick to avoid his mailman duties for the day, emerges with gear from Jam Spot to find his Canada Post supervisor standing outside discussing mail delivery with building owner.

What are the chances!?

He furtively ducks back inside, Stan Butler style. Eventually he makes it over to collect WB, then Jeff Younger, who will play guitar for Ross Vegas.

Off to Nelson BC via the Crowsnest Highway. I’m embarrased at my lack of experience with the BC interior. I had only been on this route once before, but it was a memorable trip that I associated with the end of one phase of my life and the beginning of another; in fact, it was the beginning of my favorite era.

And now I was back weaving down the same road. JY was quiet in the back, deftly deflecting SR’s attempt to recruit him on bass for the two gigs to come. SR’s driving style reminded me of my late father’s, who once advised me that following the preceding car at a close distance had the advantange of not allowing ‘some bugger’ to sneak in front of you. The same philosphy seemed to be at play now, except at higher speeds and on a weaving mountain road.

We reached Nelson by late afternoon. We loaded gear into the venue and checked into a hotel, declining Hey Rock’s offer to bunk in ‘the sound man’s basement.’

Nelson is a wonderful little town. It was some years since the film ‘Roxanne’ was released, and thankfully there were no advertisements for ‘Roxanne walking tours,’ but it is pretty.

We had dinner in a funky restaurant, then headed over to the venue.

It was a Friday night, and it was an adequate crowd. The drummer picked up on the tunes quite well, considering he’d never heard them before. WB was in pretty good form in his guitarist/pseudo bassist capacity. Regrettably, SR had the volume turned down on his accoustic. This made for some sound issues.

Still the set was decent, and the rest of the evening was fun. Ross Vegas played well with a set of covers and some originals; Smash, the bass player, nailing Bob Marley bass lines that we had been listening to in the car one the way up to Nelson. A good time.

Next morning good breakfast at the hotel. Kicked around Nelson a bit then spend a pleasant afternoon down the highway with some friends of SR.

Then off to Rossland. Very small town in mountains. The venue was ski pub/restaurant. Very nice.

21TR set lasted about 12 minutes. Perhaps I’m exagerrating, but not by much. It was Ross Vegas’ evening.

The staff were very friendly, but I confess the evening dragged on. Not musically; it’s simply that you’re done and have no further role. I wandered outside for a while under all the stars. At one point, SR and I devised a plan to cut out later in the evening and get part way back to Vancouver. We’d crash in a roadside motel, then be ahead of the game in the morning.

In the end we accompanied the rest of the band to Hey Rock’s parents house where everone fell about the place, to quote Thin Lizzy.

We were up early the next morning, a Sunday. More hot weather and blue skies. Our first stop was at a cafe in Rossland for coffee and to-go snacks, SR’s mind-of-its-own car alarm announcing our arrival.

After that, back to Vancouver, with Jeff Younger and Smash in the back. Or was Smash in the front?

Perhaps he was, because my chief memory of the trip was a series of conversations between him and SR. Something about SR having his own TV show. The name Fire-Man came up. SR also touched on his efforts to sell jingles to advertisors, and how he had written a candy-bar jingle.

“Did you send it to anyone specifically?” asked Smash. “Or did you just address it ‘Chocolate Bar People, New York, New York?’”

Smash bought everyone milkshakes in Cawston, the we followed the winding Similkimeen back toward the Lower Mainland.


Jeff Younger chills out in the background while Smash and Super Robertson discuss their next move just outside of Hope en route back from the Interior.

I escaped in a luxury mini-submarine, and sailed in a south-westerly direction across the Pacific Ocean. I had prepared a list of island nations that had no extradition treaty with Canada.

THE SHORT GOOD FRIDAY

One of my favorite memories of Good Friday was about five or six years ago. It was a March Easter, like this year. We got booked into a Railway club show with Roadbed (I wonder if the club was really aware, when they booked the show, that the Thursday in question was in fact the kickoff to a long weekend?).

It was a packed house; people lining up down the stairs to get in. The show was superb for both bands. It was a very late night...or rather early morning.

I remember waking on Good Friday around 3pm. Interior Design was doing something at a coffee shop downtown near Granville and Hastings. I groggily headed down; the streets were peaceful. I sat with a coffee at about 4pm, listening to IT's exhilarating, soothing melodies.

THIS IS THE KIND OF KILLER INSTINCT THE CANUCKS COULD USE...


"The greatest thing I've ever done with this band was smoke the Rolling Stones into the weeds in Toronto in front of 485 000 people. The Stones gave us an hour...that's a dangerous thing to do. You don't give us an hour before you go on, mate.

"The whole band just nailed it. We got into the van offstage and went, 'Yeah, fucking follow that!'"

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd in an interview with Don Zulaica in 'Drum' magazine, July 2005.

5 NOTABLE NON-ROCK BAND BITS OF ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYING

James Bond Theme

British guitarist Vic Flick is the guy who provided the tension-filled twang that became the prototypical spy riff. Devised for the first Bond film ‘Dr. No’ in 1962, it fits in well with the Dick Dale-style picking of that era.

There’s some controversy regarding who wrote it. The tune is credited to Monty Norman, who was hired to do the full soundtrack. Norman was replaced by John Barry, who went on to become one of the great film composers. Norman has successfully sued anyone who questioned his authorship of the number, but there has been speculation that Barry touched it up somewhere along the line. (A couple of Barry’s other Bond melodies - ‘You Only Live Twice’ and ‘Diamonds are Forever’ - have been sampled in hits by Robbie Williams and Kanye West).

Rockford Files Theme Guitar Solo

A terrific television theme with a badass hard rock guitar breakdown in the middle. The guitar part has a very 1970’s Southern California feel to it, a bit like an Eagles sound, except with some real muscle. Mike Post composed the theme, but I don’t know who the guitarist is.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

The guitar takes over from the main theme about 16 bars into this tour de force movie piece. It adds a fitting toughness to the sound, and brings the melody to a climax.

Performed in 1966, presumably by some session player in the employ of composer Ennio Morricone, it features the reverb-soaked picking that characterized the surf guitar sound.

Spiderman Theme

Listen carefully and you can hear some groovy 16th note guitar doubling up the bass line. It really gives a superb tune some added zest. It sounds like the guitarist is palm-muting the strings a bit to help it mesh with the bass. A blend of taste and panache.

Exciter Boy Theme

Excellent Eastern-influenced pseudo-psychedelic wah-wah guitar refrain composed for short-lived British animated kids show. (Note that the voice of Exciter Boy nemisis Ivory Stinger was performed by Pallenbergs guitarist/vocalist Una Kahani).

5 Underrated Bass Players of Yore (and not so Yore).

Cliff Williams - AC/DC

I have often thought that Cliff Williams has one of the best jobs in the world. Stand to the left of the drum riser and hammer on a few notes per song while observing the onstage antics of your frontman and guitar player and delighting in the erstwhile female top-removal. Occasionally you walk up to the mic to shout “Hell’s Bells!” or some such thing, then head back to your post.

While Phil Rudd, Williams’ rhythm section partner, has come in for some accolades over the years for his unadorned grooves, Williams remains unappreciated. I love the sound of the 8th note bassline. I can’t hear it enough.

Adam Clayton - U2

Another 8th note man, Clayton varies things a bit more than Williams but still keeps it simple. Apparently a young Clayton bluffed his way into U2, having told the others he was a musician when in fact he had never played a note. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise.

It’s notable that Clayton started as one of rock’s most unglamorous cliches--that of the kid shoved onto bass because he couldn’t play anything else--and has transformed himself into the coolest member of the band. An inspirational example for you kids out there.

Bill Wyman - Rolling Stones.

Wyman seems to have gotten into the Stones on the basis of being well-stocked in guitar amps, and thereafter was merely tolerated by his younger, hipper bandmates (the equally un-badass Charlie Watts has always seemed to command a level of respect that eluded Wyman).

In later Stones recordings he delivered a lot of prominent, high-on-the-fretboard basslines (‘Miss You,’ ‘Undercover’), but it’s the earlier stuff I like better. On songs like ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ or ‘Satisfaction,’ the bass often has a murky quality to it, adding something dark to the general feel of the song, but surging forward every now-and-then to provide some real dynamics. (Note that many of the more prominent Stones basslines of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, such as ‘Jumpin' Jack Flash,' Sympathy For the Devil’ and ‘Tumblin Dice,’ were supplied by Keith Richards or Mick Taylor).

Paul McCartney - The Beatles.

It’s hard to think of Paul McCartney as being under-rated, yet has he really ever gotten his due from an instrumental perspective? Right from the early Beatlemania days his playing provided a lot of pulse and backbone, and he was always capable of some ear-catching departures (‘Taxman’). Seen as the melodious pretty boy of the band, he plays with a lot more swagger than given credit for.

Alejandro de Malaspina - Huxley

Huxley is one of the more interesting ‘could’ve been’ bands to emerge with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Their first bassist, John Altamont, left shortly before recording commenced on the band’s debut album because of repeated clashes with some of the group’s more intractable personalities.

Initially the band’s driver, De Malaspina (credited on the album as ‘Aljoz’) was recruited hastily. An alleged illegal resident of Great Britain at the time, he had apparently never played an instrument before. This may account for why the bottom end is at times brought to almost inaudible levels in the mix.

And yet it’s presence is makes itself known in a solid, reliable way, asserting itself occasionally in what is something of a metal version of the Bill Wyman style I mentioned earlier.

Forty years ago today (or yesterday, in Britain), The Beatles released Sergeant Pepper.

"With Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band finished, the group left Abbey Road at dawn bearing an acetate and drove to Mama Cass Elliott's flat off the King's Road where, at six in the morning, they threw open the windows, put speakers on the ledge, and played the album full blast over the rooftops of Chelsea. According to Derek Taylor (The Beatle's publicity man) 'all the windows around us opened and people leaned out, wondering. It was obvious who it was on the record. Nobody complained. A lovely spring morning. People were smiling and giving the thumbs up.'"

Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head.

Lame.

"There was a brief moment when it looked like Brock might smash his guitar on the stage (but instead, he put it on the ground after tossing it around from its strap)."

Either smash the thing or don't take it off at all. You can't go halfway with these things. Can you imagine Townshend in 1966 making ready to smash the guitar, then carefully putting it on the floor? Or how about the front cover of 'London Calling,' Paul Simonon placing his guitar 'on the ground.' What an iconic image that would've been.

"I got to introduce Sally Struthers to Geddy Lee!"

"In front of packs of shrieking cougars, the band took to the stage..."

How come there are never any shrieking cougars at the Supper Show?

"Climbing up the ivory stairs
Never gonna get anywhere
Slipping on the first step, can't get a good grip
Climbing up the ivory stairs."

But I don't mind staying on the first step, because I can list the great Angel City among my myspace friends.

Maybe I do want to face the day after all...

"The beautiful guitar riffs are worth listening to."

"...cute, catchy guitar riffs..."

"...nice guitar work..."

From a review of 21TR’s Never Wanted to be Anyone in the University of Western Ontario Gazette. Electric guitar by, er, yours truly. Among the best commendations I've ever received from any academic institution. (And I'm not forgetting the nice accoustic work of Super Robertson, though he remains tormented by string buzz audible only to himself).

A belated slainte mhath in honour of Robert Burns. He was known as a poet but was an avid songwriter as well.

And I have to mention Mick Taylor's birthday as well, back on the 17th of January.

And finally, it had to happen some time.

I'm a fan of pulp novels.

Not that I read a lot of them; I just like the covers.

I embarked on a little project a few years ago, wherein I would write a trilogy of songs named after pulp novels.

"Love Addict" and "Hotrod Sinner" appear on the second stoke album, and I've just finished "Reefer Girl". I hope to debut it sometime soon.

I don't necessarily think the lyrical content of these songs is pulpish; like most of my stuff they generally have some personal angle. But the notion of dressing lyrics in the ambience of something so retro and rock 'n' roll appeals to me.

I'd like to write a pulpish novel someday. My only fear is that it would be too lurid.

Having crawled like a spider into a jar, the question is how to get out? On one hand it appears hopeless; the spider can't scale the glass. The spider is reliant on someone letting it out, or on the jar getting knocked over. So the next question becomes: where is the jar?

Is it where someone will see it? Who will see it? A pet, a child? Is it outside, where the wind can blow it over? The spider doesn't know the answer. It has no perspective. But this is where I have an advantage over the spider. In a sense, though trapped in the jar, I can move it where I like. I need to place it where it will be knocked over.

"The world turns within us,
While we transform it,
Fancy words, but true."

George Bowering.

And the thing is, whoever knocks it over will possibly be either very reckless or will possess questionable intentions. They won't necessarily be someone wanting merely to give you your freedom.

But they're your ally nonetheless, at least until you're out.