Da Bluze

So I finally got to plug Red in last night for the first time in a while. Things have just been crazy and, well, I keep the Gibson packed away when I'm not using it, which adds that extra level of effort required if I get a spare moment.

I spent about an hour running through riffs and chords for 'the new band', but found myself in a bit of a funk (no, not that kind of funk). I didn't want to learn, I just wanted to play.

After a few minutes of googling, I dug up some decent blues backing tracks and let rip, channeling BB and Albert, but not Freddy. I'm not really a Freddy officionado. A gap in my knowledge of the blues.

Suddenly, everything was feeling the music. It flowed from me. Everything was good with the world (if potentially not the neighbours!)

Stress

Stress sucks.

Stress bites.

Stress... GRRRRRR!!!!!

My current mantra is:

In three weeks I'll be in Greece
In three weeks I'll be in Greece
In three weeks I'll be in Greece

I can picture it now. Crystal blue waters. Sun, sea, sand. I can't wait. I need this so much.

Last night I had another jam session. Right from the start I sucked. I tried to relax but I couldn't. Stress has me tied up in knots. I can't relax my hands enough to fret anything without grinding the strings into the fretboard. My strumming is Mr Roboto, not Sly Funk.

No Loosey Goosey here.

Even the trusty ol' pentatonic eluded me. It seemed awkward, alien.

Beach.

I need a beach.

Three weeks
Three weeks
Three weeks

Fade Away

This is not fun. This may herald the end. IT are clamping down on non-work-related sites. Blogger is still up, but more and more pages are disappearing day-by-day. It may not be long.

Placebo @ The Bush Tomorrow!

Hey all, long time no post. Been doin' band stuff lately, which means that I've had to invest more time drinking beer and pontificating in public houses than blogging.

Real life, man.

Got a brand new stretch target. It's unachievable, but hell, I'm going to have a shot.

Hooked up with another guitarist with some very cool ideas. Need to get some songs together and find a rhythm section. The plan is to put 5 songs together, consisting of 2 revamped and rocked-out covers and three originals. A small local pub is looking for bands to play short sets throughout August and September. If we can get all the elements together then maybe we can scrape in under the wire for one of the late, late summer shows. May be no hope, but I'm fired up about music right now and plan on giving it a shot.

And TOMORROW NIGHT we get to see Placebo play a warm up gig at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. We all know that I hate 'The Bush' but hell, it's an excuse to get all gothed up and part-ay!

If anyone knows who the support are going to be and when the band are likely to be onstage, please, please, leave a comment with that info here. I've been bashing my head against the wall trying to find out. We're likely to be a bit late, but don't want to miss a thing!

Derek Trucks, Beyond The Bush

Briefly:

Derek Trucks band:

New Orleans: Fantastic
Shepherd's Bush Empire: Awful sound, couldn't hear a thing
Manchester Academy 3: Bloody brilliant

I actually feel truly honoured to have been witness to Derek and the band's evolution since 2002. Back in the day, Derek's slide work was phenomenal. It's now even better plus his work without the slide, in alternate tuning (!) is more than it's equal. Amazing.

The Manchester gig was fan-bloody-tastic. There were a couple of technical issues which, if you didn't look closely, you might have missed. Mike's earpiece didn't seem to work right for the first couple of songs, so they broke from the setlist, went into an instrumental, off went Mike for a conflab then back onstage and bingo, everything was fab again.

It was interesting to see the band showcase each player. Most noticeably was on "Soul Serenade" where the band really reeled it in and Mike's vocals took centre stage. And he 'owned' the song, as they say these days (don't they?)

After the major disappointment of the Bush, Man 3 made up for it.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.