Everybody on board this time, with Bill actually being roughly an hour early. So Bill has now made it for three of the last six, with one more practice before the next show.
I wasn't really in the mood to play, having spent most of the previous day at a memorial service for a good friend (more on that another time), but I don't think it hurt my performance much. I was feeling quiet, but I don't speak much at most practices anyway, so I doubt anyone noticed.
We went through three of the four planned sets, with few repeats. "I'm a Man" has been bumped to the last set because we want to play it in front of an audience, but we're not 100% sure it'll work. Overall, we had the sort of mental lapse mistakes you'd expect from not playing some of these songs for a while, but we still have one more practice to work out any remaining kinks, and don't have any major changes planned.
There was some discussion of getting work at other venues, which we really do need to do. I suspect we'll focus more on that after we get this particular show behind us.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Saturday, November 17, 2012
JW - 11/17/2012
No Bill again, which was the subject of some frustration on the part of all concerned. It's hard to feel prepared when the lead singer has missed three of the five practices since the last show, and we've got another coming up soon. I'm sure we'll be fine for the show itself, in that even the new songs are pretty solid, but it slows progress, and he'll have to catch up on any changes we've made on the back end. We now have two practices left before the next show, so I don't see us getting anything done during those practices except refamiliarizing ourselves with what we plan to play.
We went through the planned first two sets of four, skipping songs that we all felt were still solid, or that we really needed the lead singer to do. I'm concerned about harmonies, since Keith and I aren't practicing them when we're pinch hitting on lead vocals, and for some of those songs, it'll be six weeks since we've played them and been able to sing those harmonies.
On the plus side, the band has been very tight instrumentally, which builds confidence. I know we're all feeling that because Andy had commented on it. So in spite of our frustration with our lead singer, the band itself is still on solid ground.
We went through the planned first two sets of four, skipping songs that we all felt were still solid, or that we really needed the lead singer to do. I'm concerned about harmonies, since Keith and I aren't practicing them when we're pinch hitting on lead vocals, and for some of those songs, it'll be six weeks since we've played them and been able to sing those harmonies.
On the plus side, the band has been very tight instrumentally, which builds confidence. I know we're all feeling that because Andy had commented on it. So in spite of our frustration with our lead singer, the band itself is still on solid ground.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
JW - 11/11/2012
Everybody but Bill again. Not thrilled with that, but we got done what we could.
Most of the focus was on the new songs again, "Boys are Back in Town", "I'm a Man", "Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", "Lights", and a slightly revised grouping of old school rock songs that should work pretty well. We also touched up some things in some of the existing list like the group riff in "Call Me the Breeze" that we hadn't had down.
Keith and I split lead vocals again depending on what was needed and what we could do. We didn't worry too much about finer points, focusing more on helping to keep the structure intact than on truly singing well.
Andy had a new pedal board and was changing up his sounds. Should be an upgrade, once he's worked out what he wants to do with it.
Dale had a new tentative set list for the 12/8 show, with the new songs in and a couple of the old songs out. Not many of the sidelined songs are back, but a lot has been moved around, so we will be shaking things up a bit, anyway. He also incorporated the list I'd given him of 5 string versus Rick songs, which should make my bass changes easier.
We should be able to fit three practices in before the show, and we have the new songs down pretty well, so we should be okay in spite of many partial band practices or entirely missed practices since the last show. I think we could've been a lot further along, though. On the whole, we've been surprisingly tight in general lately, but I'll feel more confident after we revisit the old material.
Most of the focus was on the new songs again, "Boys are Back in Town", "I'm a Man", "Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", "Lights", and a slightly revised grouping of old school rock songs that should work pretty well. We also touched up some things in some of the existing list like the group riff in "Call Me the Breeze" that we hadn't had down.
Keith and I split lead vocals again depending on what was needed and what we could do. We didn't worry too much about finer points, focusing more on helping to keep the structure intact than on truly singing well.
Andy had a new pedal board and was changing up his sounds. Should be an upgrade, once he's worked out what he wants to do with it.
Dale had a new tentative set list for the 12/8 show, with the new songs in and a couple of the old songs out. Not many of the sidelined songs are back, but a lot has been moved around, so we will be shaking things up a bit, anyway. He also incorporated the list I'd given him of 5 string versus Rick songs, which should make my bass changes easier.
We should be able to fit three practices in before the show, and we have the new songs down pretty well, so we should be okay in spite of many partial band practices or entirely missed practices since the last show. I think we could've been a lot further along, though. On the whole, we've been surprisingly tight in general lately, but I'll feel more confident after we revisit the old material.
Sunday, November 04, 2012
JW - 11/4/2012
Hooray! We had everybody for this practice!
Still focused on the new songs, though we touched on a couple of old ones. "Lights", "Wicked Game", "Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", "No Particular Place to Go/Johnny B. Good/The Twist", "I'm a Man", and "Boys are Back in Town" were practiced.
"867-5309" and "Jessie's Girl" are still on the agenda, but probably not for the December show. That's fine; it gives us new material for the next one.
Overall sound was surprisingly good in light of the fact that we haven't been able to get everybody together before now. I attribute that to relatively low group volume and the fact that nobody is bored of the new songs yet. We're still having scheduling problems for next week; we're either going to have to practice on a weekday or missing a member again.
We had some discussion of which sidelined songs to bring back, without much of a conclusion. The main concern seems to be potential drop-off in quality if we bring back too many. I think it's worth a slight drop in quality to show substantial variety, as long as it's a slight drop. Looking forward to the next set list to see which songs made the cut and where the new songs will be.
Still focused on the new songs, though we touched on a couple of old ones. "Lights", "Wicked Game", "Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", "No Particular Place to Go/Johnny B. Good/The Twist", "I'm a Man", and "Boys are Back in Town" were practiced.
"867-5309" and "Jessie's Girl" are still on the agenda, but probably not for the December show. That's fine; it gives us new material for the next one.
Overall sound was surprisingly good in light of the fact that we haven't been able to get everybody together before now. I attribute that to relatively low group volume and the fact that nobody is bored of the new songs yet. We're still having scheduling problems for next week; we're either going to have to practice on a weekday or missing a member again.
We had some discussion of which sidelined songs to bring back, without much of a conclusion. The main concern seems to be potential drop-off in quality if we bring back too many. I think it's worth a slight drop in quality to show substantial variety, as long as it's a slight drop. Looking forward to the next set list to see which songs made the cut and where the new songs will be.
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