This was the first Splunge session that didn't include Jason, our drummer, so it was just Sal, Nick, and I. The upside of not having a drummer is that we took the time to go over things that would've bored Jason silly, such as working out vocal harmony ("Hotel Yorba" and "The Kids are Alright") and group guitar riffs (the Warren Zevon version of "Poor Poor Pitiful Me"). I also showed Nick how to play the bass part for "Once Bitten Twice Shy", which we'll be bringing back as of the next session with the two of us trading instruments because I seem to be the only one of the three of us who can handle the rhythm guitar part (both guitar players tire out their hands before the song is over).
We added two new songs for this session, which were "The Kids are Alright" by the Who and "Sherry Darling" by Bruce Springsteen. The harmonies on "Kids" started coming together on the second or third attempt, and I think this is going to be one of my favorites. "Sherry Darling" could be fun, but we have some timing problems with it, and I'm not sure having a drummer will cure them.
Almost all of the material continues to improve now that we have a set line-up. I don't need to continue bringing that up, but the change has continued to be dramatic. I would've expected to hit a plateau by now. We'd chosen "Once Bitten" and "Dani California" before and temporarily shelved each of them, but I expect to bring back both of them (and no other new material) for the next session.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
One Lost Battle in the Allergy Wars
I forgot a dose of my allergy meds before going to visit one of my sisters. She has a dog and multiple cats, including one who decided our coats would be a fine place to sleep, so I had the unfortunate experience of receiving a blast of allergens at the exact same time that I was extremely vulnerable to them. Not good.
I enjoyed the visit well enough until my head became too stuffed up for me to function, and my holiday season is now officially over.
I barely slept last night, and actually had to sleep sitting up in a chair to get any sleep at all. I haven't gotten a damn thing done today other than resting and taking as much medication as I can get away with. At least I didn't have to work today and hadn't any other set plans, so I could afford the downtime.
I enjoyed the visit well enough until my head became too stuffed up for me to function, and my holiday season is now officially over.
I barely slept last night, and actually had to sleep sitting up in a chair to get any sleep at all. I haven't gotten a damn thing done today other than resting and taking as much medication as I can get away with. At least I didn't have to work today and hadn't any other set plans, so I could afford the downtime.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Four Person Splunge - More Progress
Once again, it was Sal, Nick, Jason and myself. This was our best session since we had Steph. We didn't have new material this time for various reasons. What made it such a good session was that everybody could be readily heard, we had few "train wrecks", and the vocals as a whole were better than usual, at least partially because I had my nasal congestion back under control. There were mistakes, but it was more individual mistakes and fewer group coordination mistakes. Sal contributed his first backing vocals on "Margueritaville" and "Keep On Rockin' in the Free World".
Recording the sessions continues to have benefits, as players notice what they're doing wrong and correct those mistakes, and it didn't take nearly as long to get set up this time, after Jason got some technical advice.
Highlights included "She's Electric", "Lola", "Suspicious Minds" (with Nick adding some vocals), and a much improved "Runaround" due to Jason changing his part substantially and everybody being able to hold it together while I did a solo. We also did "Can't Go Back" again, with Jason playing congas this time, which worked well.
We had a long discussion afterward re: where we're going from here. We'll be adding "The Kids are Alright" in place of "Substitute" (due to technical ease), as well as Bruce Springsteen's "Sherry Darling". Jason would like to see us do more songs from the '90's, and we're going to try to accomodate him as best we can.
Recording the sessions continues to have benefits, as players notice what they're doing wrong and correct those mistakes, and it didn't take nearly as long to get set up this time, after Jason got some technical advice.
Highlights included "She's Electric", "Lola", "Suspicious Minds" (with Nick adding some vocals), and a much improved "Runaround" due to Jason changing his part substantially and everybody being able to hold it together while I did a solo. We also did "Can't Go Back" again, with Jason playing congas this time, which worked well.
We had a long discussion afterward re: where we're going from here. We'll be adding "The Kids are Alright" in place of "Substitute" (due to technical ease), as well as Bruce Springsteen's "Sherry Darling". Jason would like to see us do more songs from the '90's, and we're going to try to accomodate him as best we can.
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Yes, I've gotten lazy about keeping up the blog, and was especially busy around the holidays. Things were relatively uneventful this year, which I consider a Good Thing. In fact, I'm not technically done with the holidays yet, as I haven't gotten together with one of my sisters yet.
Work has been crazy since the first of the new year, which is not unusual. A lot of people will postpone dealing with their claims until the holidays are past if they can, then once they've gotten past the holidays, they want to get the claim squared away so they can have a clean slate for the new year. The result for me is that I have a lot of work all at once that isn't actually terribly urgent, but is perceived by the person I'm dealing with as such. It's not a big problem, really, just a little hectic for a week or so.
I've had less to do, work-wise, this holiday season than usual, and we're getting into what is traditionally the slowest part of the year. Beyond some training I'm scheduled to do, my job could be uncharacteristically boring for the next two months or so.
The year has gotten off to a rough start, to be honest, with a number of minor bad breaks and inconveniences. Nothing major, just annoyances. Still, I have plenty of reasons for optimism, and some things to be excited about. For starters, I think I've figured out my roleplaying identity crisis and what to do about it, and I've had a breakthrough in my bass playing that takes me to a new level. Things definitely won't be dull this year, that's for sure.
Work has been crazy since the first of the new year, which is not unusual. A lot of people will postpone dealing with their claims until the holidays are past if they can, then once they've gotten past the holidays, they want to get the claim squared away so they can have a clean slate for the new year. The result for me is that I have a lot of work all at once that isn't actually terribly urgent, but is perceived by the person I'm dealing with as such. It's not a big problem, really, just a little hectic for a week or so.
I've had less to do, work-wise, this holiday season than usual, and we're getting into what is traditionally the slowest part of the year. Beyond some training I'm scheduled to do, my job could be uncharacteristically boring for the next two months or so.
The year has gotten off to a rough start, to be honest, with a number of minor bad breaks and inconveniences. Nothing major, just annoyances. Still, I have plenty of reasons for optimism, and some things to be excited about. For starters, I think I've figured out my roleplaying identity crisis and what to do about it, and I've had a breakthrough in my bass playing that takes me to a new level. Things definitely won't be dull this year, that's for sure.
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