Splunge - 9/4

Missed writing about a session involving Nick, Sal, and myself without Jason from a couple of weeks ago. Nothing special about that one, really, apart from that we did a great job collectively holding ourselves together, even without a drummer.

So on to today's session... Jason is back on entirely acoustic drums, having decided to trade his electronic drums for someone else's acoustic kit, as their respective needs have changed. Volume, surprisingly, wasn't really a problem. Each of us (except for Jason) took a stroll out in front, and things sounded quite good there, if not as good back where our amplifiers were. I should stop mentioning that the group as a whole has tightened up, as that change seems to have permanently stuck, for the better.

Nick's confidence in his vocals continues to improve, though he's still the slowest of us at learning songs, which is hardly surprising in light of his relative inexperience. He is now singing lead on just a shade over a third of the material. Harmonies are still a problem unless someone else is singing lead and I'm singing harmony.

No special standout songs this time, except for "Help Me Rhonda" being spectacularly bad again because Nick has trouble sticking to the harmony part. "Losing My Religion" has stabilized now that I'm singing lead on it, though that's cost us the harmony part I was singing. I'll teach it to Nick once he is more certain of his guitar part on it. "Surrender" was new for this session, and okay for a first try, though I really miss the harmonies on it. Nick will be taking over lead on it so I can sing a harmony part to make it sound more like it should. And lest any readers think I'm unnecessarily busting on Nick, he's doing a consistently good job on the new group favorite "Celluloid Heroes", and it was Jason's idea to have Nick sing lead on "Surrender" because he thinks Nick's voice suits it better.

We're at 29 songs after having added "Surrender" and "Space Oddity" and dropping "Once Bitten Twice Shy". No particular group goal in sight, and honestly, I'm getting bored of playing the same songs. I'm not getting instrumentally challenged, and can't be very much as long as I'm singing so much lead. I've been writing original songs, some of which has some interest from the group, so that's a possible avenue to keep me involved. It's ironic that even as the group has hit a new level of collective skill, my interest has waned for the moment.