51m0n Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 This is going to be stupidly long, apologies in advance! Been out of action on the live scene for a fair while now, spent a couple of years trying out for various bands and either didnt really gel with the people or the material (always one or the other, occasionally both). Basically I have become very very sensitive (hyper-sensitive) to a lot of the signs that I'm not going to enjoy a project, and with the best will in the world I dont want to waste anyone's time (especially my own) if its not going to meet some basic requirements regarding characters involved and the music. Eventually I all but gave up playing live, just doing the odd covers gig depping for a friends band really in order to keep the worst of the live performance rust off. This has even tailed off over the last year or so. Anyway I was mooching around on a musos looking for musos site a few weeks ago and listened to some stuff by a guitarist who had my ideal list of influences for a great guitarist and liked his stuff (as in hit the like button) and thought nothing of it. Alongside that for a year or so I've been chatting to a chap whose son goes to music classes with my youngest. Turned out he was a drummer, and his band fell apart when their bassist discovered he was effectively going deaf. Major downer as he loves playing. Now I assumed he was into far rockier stuff than me for several reasons. Out of the blue this guitarist gets in contact, saying he'd liked some of the stuff he heard me playing on myfarce (or whatever) and would I like a jam sometime. In order to make it more interesting I invited the drummer along - being that without drums its all a little vague for me. We convened initially 2 weeks ago at a rehearsal studio, all a little aprehensive (I'm as rusty as a old nail, truth be told, and the guitarist fella has done very little in the way of originals stuff). Over the course of a couple of hours it becomes apparent that we are all really into the funky groovey stuff with a bit of reggae thrown in. That we are all very rusty, but the feel when its on is spectacular right from the off. That we are all having a top time breaking the ice. Importantly there are absolutely no egos in the band, not one (the drummer and I had to insist the guitarist turned up a bit more so we could reaqlly hear what he was doing). So we decide to repeat this in a couple of weeks time to see if it was a one off, all of us feeling it may be a little too good to be true. This Sunday was just fantastic. Guitarist brings some of his ideas out, they're extremely cool, everyone wants to completely share the creative process, everything is worth trying, no one is doing anything for anything but the good of the groove. The drummer is absolutely swinging his pants, fabulous drumming, lots of space, and swing to it, without being too busy, sort of a cool funk meets reggae vibe, just incredible groove. And we laughed, and laughed and laughed at the sheer joy of making great music. We talked for a while about the creative process, what makes us tick in terms of writing and performing (note for note or lots of improv with structures - all that sort of thing). Got a really really positive feel for where we could take the whole thing, and discovered huge areas of crossover of stylistic infuences beyond the obvious. Now there is talk of a keyboard player/trumpet player who is looking for a similar project - now that will be the icing on the cake! I recorded both weeks on the Zoom, and listening back there are some interesting things, the drummer has really great ears, is rusty, but clearly very accomplished, and chooses lovely beats that compliment the people around him, really playing off people. His timing is immaculate. The guitarist has the sweetest rhythm feel, makes judicious use of quality effects, and has a delightful clean tone, and the little lead parts he puts together are exactly 'right'. Oh, and I absolutely love my bass, and rig, and tone, and am starting to believe that this could be really good... Just wanted to share something really positive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrenleepoole Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 From small seeds might acorns grow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 That's wonderful Si! Really pleased for you mate. Keep us informed. What about vocal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul torch Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 nice one, good on you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 Cheers chaps! Vocal? We dont need no steenking vocal, we're too funky To be honest I'm not at all sure, no one has shown any interest in getting vocals involved, and I can see why, as soon as you get a vocalist there in lies the path to rigorous structure, since very few vocalists like waiting for the resat of the band to finish their damn groovey noise and get on to the chorus.... Some sort of vocal sampling triggered by well trained mice may be the answer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redstriper Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Excellent news, everything has it's time, and this is your time It sounds like my band and I thank my lucky stars to have found such a perfect scene after all these years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah thomas Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 That is great and fantastically encouraging to[i]o! [/i]Thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMech Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 The thread title for this on the front page stopped at 'Oops I think I just formed...' and for some reason I just assumed the final two words were going to be 'a cult'. The actual OP was far better, albeit less amusing as a concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 Just for fun, here's a link to one of the things we mucked about with, it just kind of 'happened' as these things do.... It is just jamming along together, zero structure, or form, or chord sequence, and we are rather rusty, but it was so much fun! [url="http://soundcloud.com/51m0n-1/track-7/s-T7TIC"]http://soundcloud.com/51m0n-1/track-7/s-T7TIC[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oopsdabassist Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Great stuff mate, we record our rehearsals too, and all my wife can say is 'do you guys EVER stop laughing?' Makes for a great vibe and really shows through when we play. Really happy for ya, and hope things get even better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akabane Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Very very nice 51m0n, both to read and to listen to! Btw Is that the Roscoe V you sporting at the recording? Sounds lovely (grammar question incoming: "and to listen to" sounds correct to me but is it correct? looks rendundant now that I type it - sorry, English is not my first language so always improving ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah thomas Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 'to listen to' sounds good to me. I teach English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL, used to be called TEFL) so I can be pretty picky when I want to be! It just sounds a bit clumsy with the repitition of 'to' which is why we get such pompous statements as 'for your listening pleasure'. I prefer 'to listen to.' Straightforward and very clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1341939062' post='1726613'] Just for fun, here's a link to one of the things we mucked about with, it just kind of 'happened' as these things do.... It is just jamming along together, zero structure, or form, or chord sequence, and we are rather rusty, but it was so much fun! [url="http://soundcloud.com/51m0n-1/track-7/s-T7TIC"]http://soundcloud.co...track-7/s-T7TIC[/url] [/quote] That'll sound cool when you've all tightened up a bit, nice one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1341932064' post='1726416'] And we laughed, and laughed and laughed at the sheer joy of making great music. [/quote] Brilliant! Don't that beat all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 Yes its my full rig (such a rig slut, can't bear the ones they have at that studio compared to mine!) and the Roscoe, fairly old strings for me, but it certainly works in context! Its really cathartic that free jamming thing, and the laughing at ourselves, our mistakes and each others mistakes (with no malice, just all the "doh" moments all round) was just totally energising. Thanks for listening! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Another great, inspiring read. Thanks for posting! If this continues, I'll stop smoking BC and will start injecting it straight into my veins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Sounds like you're onto a good thing there dude! Happy for ya By the way that B string sounds bloody immense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyBob09 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 That's sounding great man. I think the cake may be iced with the addition of a sax? It could be totally not your thing though but I'm hearing some great groove and rhythm section playing but some sax on top of that with a melody line might just hit the sweet spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) The Roscoe's B is immense, and very tight at the same time, its taken me a very long time but I now cant feel at home on a 4 string, and use floating thumb to keep things damped nicely ( coupled with left hand damping naturally). I have not had any GAS for rigs or basses since getting this lot - with the tiny exception of Sheps fretless 6 string Roscoe, which is the most sublime fretless I've ever played. Apparently there is a keys/trumpet player who would be up for joining in, I think that will do the icing job very nicely, although we'd also be well up for a scratch DJ too - in order to generate some very early hip hop type vibes. Of course none of us have any idea where to find a scratch DJ, which is a shame! Some of my favourite horn sections are trumpet and trobone - if we got that we'd be golden! Edited July 11, 2012 by 51m0n Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merello Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Sounds great. I'm a big reggae fan, so once you have some tracks laid down then please share! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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