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October 7, 2008

New Band, Meetup No. 1



So, we met up and the initial line-up was decided as follows:

Jo: Vocals
Ken (yes, ME!): Guitar
Bo: Guitar
Rich: Bass
Jonathan: Drums

There were no arguments or major discussions about who should play what. The line-up was pretty much representative of what each person wanted to do! That never happens, right? We're also all pretty much in synch about where we want to come from, initially: classic rock, AC/DC feel, loud but not too complex.

Let's run down a brief bio (as I remember it) of each member...

Jo. Rock chick. Really good look. Great personality. Seemingly fearless. Jo's been playing guitar in a punk band for the past 6 years but they've never stretched past three chords per song and they often didn't make it through a set without forgetting what they were doing. Good experience gigging. Good contacts for getting gigs. She's not leaving her other band, but their drummer has run off somewhere for a year so she's looking for a side project. She also wants to hang up her axe and stretch her lungs a bit behind the mic. Influences: Guns and that whole LA scene, hair metal and a bit of glam. Oh, and I just have to mention that Jo's main axe is a Squier "Hello Kitty" Strat. Lookie, lookie...



...pretty kitty!

Me... well, you know about me. I'm actually more than happy to go down the route of doing 3 minute songs that sound good 'n' rockin'. I got the impression that I was being pitched slightly towards lead rather then rhythm, but if the opposite turns out to be the case then so be it. As long as I'm playing guitar, I'm happy.

Bo. Bo's the youngest of the group. He's in his early twenties where the rest of us span the 30's age bracket. Very enthusiastic. Very keen to get going and get up onstage. His musical first love seems to be Jimi. Ain't nothing wrong with a bit o' Jimi. Bo's never been in a band before, but has performed in front of about 300 people, supporting a mate of his. It must have gone okay, I guess! He has a very 'can do' attitude, which is great.

Rich. The organiser and primarily a guitarist but the first to put his hand up and volunteer to play bass. He's played in 'bands' made up of friends but none of them have got to the gigging stage. Rich seemed very pragmatic and focused on what we needed to do... that's a good thing! He made sure we put together a preliminary covers list which we plan to whittle down so that we have something positive to work on when we get together 'for real'. Tentative first practice is set for 2 weeks' time with an interim meetup for a few beers. Once Jo's typed up the list and circulated, I'll post it here. Ultimately, we'll aim for originals, but to feel each other out we'll shoot for common ground initially.

Last, but not least, Jonathan. When Jonathan first told his story I was slightly hesitant about whether he was going to be the weak link. He only started playing drums at the start of 2008 because of a bet. A mate of his bet him £100 (roughly $180) that he wouldn't be able to get in a band and play at a festival. I forget the timescale for the wager, but I think it was 2 years. I may be wrong... maybe it's by the end of this year! Sound familiar? Anyway, I did the maths and realised that it meant he'd only been banging skins for 9 months. Throughout the evening, though, I became convinced that he knew what he was doing and remembered that the drummer from the metal band I'd jammed with only had a year's experience and she was great. Besides, anyone with the balls to join a band after less than a year playing is okay in my books.

So, that's the line-up. Song list to follow. Will anything come of this? Too early to tell, but it's a foot on the ladder.

Update: Provisional song list...

Wild Thing - the Troggs
Rock 'n' Roll Star - Oasis
Stay With Me - The Faces
Down Down, Deeper & Down - The Quo
Lola - The Kinks
Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
I Wanna Be Your Dog - The Stooges
Every Breath You Take - The Police

Sounding better to me already than Metallica stuff. The list is to be perused and whittled down to a handful for us to attempt to murder in a couple of weeks!

11 comments:

Axe Victim said...

Keep an open mind. Just go for it and have fun. If it's not fun. Get another band! This is the start now. You're on a roll. Go with the flow. I feel like a proud parent. How wonderful! Buy a stage tuner.

Ken Skinner said...

My thoughts exacly :-) Including the stage tuner thing. Need to check my short leads, though, to make sure I have one that I haven't shredded.

Dave Jacob said...

I don't know the Quo song. But evidently, they're big in England but never broke over here. And I know some Oasis, but not specifically that song. Otherwise, I know those, and they're good. To really do Duran Duran, don't you need a keys guy?

Anyway, good luck.

Ken Skinner said...

Quo isn't my bag, but yes, it's a quintessentially British thing. They arguably built a whole career by re-writing the same song over and over and over.

Oasis... first album. Big. Second album, not so good. Downhill from there, in my opinion. I think the song's from their second...

I actually proposed Hungry on the basis that I'd heard a guy do it at an open mic just strumming and singing. And it was good. Really good. Couldn't help but think it could be punked up a bit with crunchy guitars... I guess we'll find out!

Heff said...

Isn't time running short for this little endeavor ?

Ken Skinner said...

@Heff...

Yes, yes it is... What Me Worry?

I actually think I hit full steam about 3 months too late to make the NYE deadline, but if we can scrape 30 minutes of material together (even if it's total crap) and the vocalist makes good on her promise of being able to find gigs then maybe, just maybe we'll get under the spotlights by then...

Yep, it's a frikkin' long shot, though. Right now we'll probably be lucky to all get in tune by the drop dead date.

But watch this space. Maybe there'll be a cliffhanger at the end of Season One and a new series in 2009...

Ken Skinner said...

...but it's too early to make plans for 2009 when there's still the dark months of 2008 left!

Dave Jacob said...

Quo: So, it's like AC/DC that way, eh?

Duran*2: I could see that song working. At the time, I was too hooked up with the thought of real rock to really appreciate how good they were, but after I had matured a slight bit, I heard "The Chauffeur" and came to believe it really rocked.

Col: I've heard good things about this. Put it at the front of the chain. My pedalboard has one, but I can't access it via stomping, which suxxors wildly.

Aunt Jackie said...

Wow that's cool... Although I don't find much quality in the Squier, but if it's fixed up right I guess it's cool, plus y gotta love the pink guitar. Cute.

Maybe this will work out well for you!!!!!

Aunt Jackie said...

And I Love the Stooges!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on this little success. Hopefully this will work out.

I look forward to the record you'll cut with them. ;-) (No pressure!)

Regards,
Frank