New Music Old Music

I finally got a new group together. It's not a band I expect to do world tours or even much regionally. I specifically culled together folks with day gigs or steady working bands but who wanted to just play some straight ahead rock-n-roll. No pretention, no arty meanderings, just straight ahead stuff done right.

The first rehearsal we worked through songs I had written for previous bands and a brand new one I had written in the last week or so. It was so good to be working with high caliber musicians for the first time in a LONG time. We were working on arrangments, dynamics, and nuance in the FIRST REHEARSAL. Compared to some of the working class strummers I've been playing with for a while where our music rehearsals were relegated to "start at the same time, end at the same time, good". Such a nice difference.

The really nice part is that at the end of it all, it actually sounds kind of fresh. There are things we're doing that make it completely accessible, but we're doing stuff in the midst where there's a different vibe added. For instance, there's a song that has a kind of "red dirt Texas music" thing going on, but it's without any twang and the bridge has a Beatle-esque pop vibe going on. Another song has no chorus lyrically, but it's the one that sticks in your head the longest. So it's just pure fun.

If you want some prep, I'm going to start posting YouTube videos I find that have elements of what I'm talking about.

To start, here's Jellyfish live on the BBC show "Later with Jools Holland". They had good dynamic capabilities, great arrangements, and solid harmonies.



A couple of the guys went on to form Imperial Drag. I saw both bands at different times, but Imperial Drag was the only band I ever saw who stopped everyone in their tracks during sound check. They did an acapella version of the end of "Stare Into The Sun" to check their vocal monitors and levels and it was just this HUGE sound.

I wish the soundman had been better for this clip (you should mix all vocals at the same level...it's just fuller and necessary for this band) and that Eric Dover hadn't been a RAGING alcoholic (you can see him balance challenged a little in this clip and he's f**king up the words here and there)...but what do you expect when you just finished playing with Slash's Snake Pit?

Here's Imperial Drag



Roger Manning, of the last two bands, has also played with Air, Beck, and many others. He did an online "Jamming" session that's pretty funny.



Finally, to round out the Jellyfish shoot offs (there are MANY), Jason Faulkner, the original guitarist, shot out solo and with a supergroup of sorts called The Grays. Sony, in their infinite wisdom...like they're losing revenue, won't allow embedding, so you're going to have to visit the Grays video on your own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtkgE4h_EKw&feature=related

There's my bubblegum pop influences on a small level. Enjoy.

The rest I'll do later.

Word!