JW - 1/15/12

I received a message from a band called Jefferson Wheelchair on the bandmix.com web site. They were looking for a bassist and wondering if I might be interested. I wasn't looking for another band at the time, but had decided that it would be a good idea to get some perspective by playing with musicians other than the guys in Splunge, and this seemed like an easier option than trying to organize a jam with random people on my own. Nothing said I had to take the job (even assuming they offered it to me), and it was about a forty minute drive away, which was a reason to say "no" all by itself as far as I was concerned.

I did a little research on the band and found some video footage of them. My initial reaction was a shrug, but I also know that the quality of sound on home video is really poor, and not a fair reflection of the actual sound of the band. On the plus side, they had a keyboard player and a lead singer (two things Splunge did not have), so I'd be able to focus on bass for a change, which was very appealing after singing so much lead the last couple of years. And so I agreed to go.

We had plenty of material to work with, as I knew 17 songs from their list from previous bands, and was confident that I could jam my way through another half dozen or so, so I didn't even have to practice anything in advance. Most of the list was basic classic rock from the '70's. Seemed a bit cheesy to me, to be honest, and not as much fun as Splunge's diverse list, but at least they knew who they wanted to be as a band.

Dale, the drummer and band leader, was a personable enough guy and helped me load my equipment in. The other band members showed up shortly thereafter, and all seemed friendly and intelligent. I was actually sort of hoping I wouldn't like some of them, which again would've given me an excuse not to join, but that wasn't an issue at all.We got down to playing, and it became immediately obvious to me that I'd been losing focus with Splunge because I had to work to keep up with these guys, something I hadn't had to do for a long time. Whether I joined this band or not, I made a decision at that moment that I had to do something to challenge myself more in the future. I stumbled here and there because I was not only unfamiliar with the players and the songs (I hadn't played some of them in over 25 years), but I was unfamiliar with my own bass because I'd bought it just the day before (an Ibanez SR 505, an early Valentine's Day gift from my wife). Maybe not the smartest move, but it sounded great, and I'd brought my Rickenbacker in case I truly needed a familiar instrument. Vocals were a bigger problem. I could hear the lead singer well enough, but the only other singer there (the lead guitar player) was almost completely inaudible to me, and I could barely hear myself, never mind hit a particular note with confidence. I still managed some harmony here and there ("Call Me the Breeze") and they had me sing lead on one song ("Takin' Care of Business").

Things went well overall, and they offered me the job a few days later over the phone. I consulted with my wife at length about the two band situations and what she could live with, because JW practiced far more often than Splunge. The choice was not at all clear, but in the end, I decided to take the job with Jefferson Wheelchair, primarily because I could step back into my comfortable traditional role of bassist with occasional vocals and leave the organizational/business end to the JW band leader. I knew I'd be able to play out relatively soon with JW, since it was just a matter of my learning their material (and I already knew most of that), while Splunge needed to find a lead singer (difficult at best) and learn at least another dozen songs (a long process with that group) before playing out was even a possibility.

I was going to have to explain to the guys from Splunge why I was leaving. Not easy, but it had to be done, and I wasn't looking forward to it.