sorry we missed yer jam

our gibson sg takes a break at polson

its a comment u hear often in this digital age.  not only have we said a few times but we’ve also fallen victim to it many more.

“sorry we missed yer jam“

yer band needs a member so u post online & get a few emails.  u write back &  forth for a bit(vetting the emails along the way) & firm up a jam & then that person doesn’t show.  most times there is no reason given & u never hear from that person again.  if u are lucky the noshow writes u to either resked or say not interested.  its a painful & sometimes frustrating process.

one group of guys we love to jam with fell victim to this very thing this past week.  its not our first time having this happen to this particular group so we were prepared to jam either way & had a helluva great time regardless.  that speaks volumes to how many times this has happened to us that we are ready to rock out a good time even if the singer is a noshow.  its just that this incident in particular was soooo disappointing to us personally.  usually the cloak of the internet can give the noshow a bit of a cover & we have no recourse.  this time though, the noshow is best buddies of a longtime jam buddy of ours.  on this count alone we won’t be letting this one in particular “noshow with no contact” just slip away.  we will be letting this dood know(using various methods hehe) that his good life long buddy is a major doofus & then some.  getting the hopes up (even though we do not keep them not that high) of bandmates/fellow musicians is just plain wrong.  to do that to fellow musicians is just not fair to every1 out there trying to make good things happen.

that is why on the times we’ve had to miss meetup jams, we write back or get in contact the day of.  there are indeed so many great ideas & great bands out there but only so much time.  if only we didn’t have to work for a living & could concentrate on just music, life would a grand.  we get that & we are sure we are not the only ones out there with that same feeling.  just be respectful & get in touch the day of.  trust us, the feeling of not knowing a “noshow” is happening is better than wondering if noshow will show at any point during a jam & just leaves a bitter taste afterwards.

having said all that, we’ll put out there that our mates that love to casually jam are still looking for a singer/2nd guitarist.  here’s what we write to prospects.  if u read this & it speaks to you or someone u know in the gta, apply within.

BAND COULD USE A SINGER/GUITARIST

we get together with a few guys every so often for a jam.  we effort once a month. sometimes its less, sometimes its more depending on our skeds.  anywho, we just play and have fun while doing it.  we don’t have a singer/2nd guitarist nor do we have any great plans for world domination.  its just a fun thing that might lead to something one day.

here’s the setlist. if you wanna come out, you can suggest some songs as well. we are easy going that way too.

Weezer – Say it ain’t so, El Scorcho, Hash Pipe
Pixies: Wave of Mutilation, Monkey Gone to Heaven, Gauge Away, Subbacultcha, UMass, Where is my Mind, Here Comes Your Man, Cactus
David Bowie: Suffragate City
Joy Division: Transmission, Love will tear us apart, She’s Lost Control
Rolling Stones: Brown Sugar
The Cure: Boys Dont Cry, Just like Heaven
Neil Young: Like a Hurricane
Sublime: Badfish, Santeria, Smoke 2 Joints
Police: Message in a bottle
CCR: Fortunate Son
Kings of Leon: Red Morning Light

Clash: Brand New Cadillac

Various Nirvana songs

Various medleys of classic rock songs

Review: Pixies Hamilton

so many Pixies songs goin’ thru the ol noggin today.  its a good place to be.  2 pixies shows in 3 days was a fantastic experience.  we’ve included a video of Where is My Mind, our fave part of “I Bleed” and some pics from the show at the bottom of this post.  we loved mondays show in Toronto and Hamilton was equally great but for different reasons.

Mondays toronto show had great seats in a great legendary venue with a capacity crowd.  It was a sight to behold and the band blew us away that night.  Wednesday night was a different setting with similar results.  General admission floor standing in a big rectangular convention centre made for a more relaxed and intimate setting.  we guess it wasn’t at capacity as there was plenty of space to walk about but it didn’t matter to the band.  the crowd was into it and the show quickly turned into another sweet Pixies lovefest.

Monday night we really got the artistry of the visuals behind the band but at the hamilton show its was difficult to focus in on the backdrop.  Which was really the only big difference between the shows.  We stationed ourselves near the soundman for the best sonic experience and the view from there was as good as anywhere.  we did venutre up close for a few songs so we could get some different and perhaps better pics.  we also tried to get some gear shots at the end of the show. tear down was way quick so we didn’t have much time before being told to leave.

Joey’s guitar sounded so good all night and actually Frank’s voice was more sharp and clearer too.  both were noticeablely better than the previous show.  another thought we had during the performance was about how frank and kim’s voices compliment each other so well.  you wouldn’t think they would but they really do.  yet another of many reasons why the Pixies are a sonic delight.

last set on Monday was: Velouria, Planet of Sound, Gigantic, Where’s my Mind

last set on Wednesday was:  Bone Machine, Caribou, Where’s My Mind, Gigantic

there was no “winterlong” on wednesday which made us thankful we’d seen the monday show.  love that tune but it was a great treat to hear caribou as it was one of our early Pixies faves and still is.  we can live with that trade off.  the final bonus to the hamilton show was we actually found the merch table this time around and picked up some sweet merch!

thanks for the shows and memories!   an experience we will never forget.

now off to Stummerfest and hopefully some blogs about that early next week.  stay tuned.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Review: Pixies Toronto

Lucky for us we got to see the Pixies Doolittle Tour last night at Massey Hall in Toronto.  We’ve included the video we took of the first Doolittle track “debaser” and some pics.  Our gallery seats were sooooo sweet!

The Pixies were always one of those bands we liked but never loved.  Doolittle and the material they produced around that time, came out when we were discovering so many different sounds.  It stood out at the time for “not standing out” (if that makes any sense) and we think Doolittle endures because of that.  Its a catchy mix of grace and grit that gave it broad appeal and as time has wore on, we’ve become huge fans.   We’ve seen them once before and that show ranks in our top 10 of best shows ever.  They blew us away on that night and last night was no different except for its raison d’etre.

The show last night was different because its focus is on playing and celebrating the anniversary of the pivotal “Doolittle” release.

The Pixies first entertained us with some B sides and then jumped right into the Doolittle tracks as they were in order of the lp.   One can only marvel at their understated cohesion and how all the little parts each member brings to every track combines into something utterly fantastic to behold.  That in essence is the beauty the Pixies and of Doolittle.  Doolittle was never quite duplicated in the same manner by the band either by choice or by group evolution since its release.  But as fans, would we even want them to duplicate it?  That is also a part of Doolittle’s charm, aura and attraction.  Its a shinning, warm and beautiful sonic gem in a sea of sorta similar gems but it stands out as the best of them all.

We spent most of the night watching Kim play the bass of course.  The first show many moons ago, the drumming of David Lovering had us mesmorized as that was our personal musical focus of the time.  We learnt a lot from watching their interaction during the course of this show.  If Kim was not singing a song, she essentially would play facing David the entire time.

While we enjoyed Kim’s banter with the audience during the show and we know she speaks for the entire band, but it would be nice if they all would share a thought now and then. The end when they all finally did speak was hilarious so maybe that is the point or result they are seeking.

Looking forward to seeing the show again in a day from now in Hammyland!  Perhaps a post about that too so stay tuned!  Til then, this monkey’s gone to heaven!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.