Four Person Splunge - New Balance

Jason, Sal, Nick, and myself in attendance (not to mention Sal's personal roadie Anthony). We stayed with the practice set up from last time, with the addition of drums, of course. So the view from the middle of the room toward the "stage", left to right, was Jason (drums), Scott (bass), Nick (guitar), Sal (guitar). Also, Jason was using an electronic drum kit plus real cymbals. Weird group set up, but it really paid off. We could hear each other far better than usual and were very tight for the first half of the session. However, as confidence increased, so did volume, and fatigue became a factor late in the session, even for me, so we slipped badly during the last half dozen songs or so.

Highlights: The tightness of the first half or so of the session, which covers a lot of songs. I'm not usually happy with my own voice, but I'd been really working on keeping my allergies at bay all week, so I was as clear as I ever am. I wish we'd recorded this session, but Jason didn't want to deal with the recorder and the electronic drums, and I can't say I blame him.

Lowlights: We still had some problems staying in sync in the latter part of the session, and harmonies remain an issue. Both Nick and Sal made attempts at the lead vocal on "Losing My Religion" and it didn't go well for either of them. But the new singers are trying, and will improve with time.

Very encouraging session. For about half a dozen songs, I wished we'd had an audience!