get a setlist, practice and play ... thats a good one.
so yeah ... i got the job. these guys knew who i was and i think they decided before i even got there. they were just waiting to see if i was the guy who shows up on time and was into it.
mike makes it sound that it being someone else's gig makes it easy. well shure ... it does have some of that. other ways it doesn't .........
this music is stripped down from what they, or i have done previously. all of ghram's old processors, preamps and effects were there on the floor set up (real nice stuff all boutique; moog, ehx and handmade stuff) but he wasnt using it. he's using a telecaster and a les paul into a handwired, tube starved marsha amp into 12's and 15's of the orange and greed celestion variety. he said that he wants to keep it more stripped down and just use amp drive mostly.
we talked what he wants for bass. he likes the boss processor but he said that most of the time he would just want distortion (good thing eric and i were talking about the 2 rig / 2 channel set up and i built that 2X15). we fiddeled with the boss processor distortions with tastes of chorus and flange, then we started trying different preamps, different pedals and he even breadboxed different tones and effects (really kewl!). this was all thru a ampeg on a 4X10 with the typical bottom end drop out results. i told him about my rig and ... well ... we got a big science project to figure out now.
i may switch over from using the processor to a much simpler, individual pedal set up. 2 or 3 distortion / overdrive with bypass, chorus, flange, maybe some modulation or envelope filter and wah. the challenge will be figuring out how to set it up to work the way i need it to with a two rig set up.
and i still need to bounce the concept of a bass trem off them. i didnt want to over do it last night so i brought the washburn tarus.
then we jammed!
then, ghram, kevin and i started talking about plans, direction, schedule and itinerary type stuff. ghram wants to write 3 more songs (with my help) in the next two weeks. i threw some stuff at him last night that didnt work with 40WS and he was right on it ... half way there. then they gave me two more songs and they said they want me to be able to play these 4 songs, at practice, 100% in 10 days ... so i got a lot of work to do. they want to hit the studio the second week of november and want to be on stage by halloween ... i have a lot of work to do.
i asked them about design and merch type stuff. they didnt know i was a graphic artist ... so we jumped online and i showed them some portfolio and business work. they sed i can so go ahead with working up band logo and graphics for their approval ... i got work to do.
so ... yes and no with what i want. i wanted 40WS to work. i try to look at it like it did and we accomplished what we set out to do. that band gave me the freedom to experiment with whatever i could get my hands on as much as i wanted. so no ... the stolen car isnt that. i am gonna need to practice some discipline and reel it back a little bit.
and yes ... i really dig the music ghram is writing. he is an awesome guitar player and it is definitely gonna be a learning type situation for me ... yes ... these guys are better musicians than me ... and thats refreshing. this is a different style than anything i've done before ... same kinda rock ... but its not all blues based. i really like how we sounded when we were playing last night.
as soon as we get something concrete, i'll post links so you guys can keep up to date.
