Thursday 21 August 2014

More Woodshedding

Another diligent night in the rehearsal rooms, working on older tunes, building the set.

Tonight's tunes -
You're Not Here Now
Primeval Call
Burden Of The Debt
Black Cloud Comin'
In A Violent Way
Fire & Clay
Long Screamin' Slide
Early Grave
Defying Science

Late Night Lineup (click for bigger)
I tried out a few combinations of Distortion Pedals too.

Left to Right :
Joyo Tremolo
Langtronics Fuzz Junkie (good ONLY on its own, into a clean channel)
Marshall Guvnor 2 (excellent Marshall sound)
AXL Tube Overdrive
Ibanez Tube Screamer (these 2 play well together)
Korg Tuner.

I might need 2 distortions for the tour - I'll try next week using the Guvnor and the Tube Screamer to see how they are together (in the band context)

We also played a brand new tune - endless ! Joy!

Now - a glass of Bordeaux and some Necks.

I just did the count - we have got 32 songs pretty much under our collective belt, with another 11 to be learned in the next couple of weeks. That gives us plenty of material for the tour. A couple of rehearsals of running through them all and then gather to construct a set with the main spine in place and a pool of tunes to add as we see fit - shaping up nicely!

Monday 18 August 2014

Wishaw


We had great fun playing  in Wishaw at Be In Belhaven. A short set, because that's what the organisers wanted. (click on any photo to see it bigger)

Stage - side : guitars ready to roll
My Moon guitar, Big Black, is now 28 years old. Still a joy to play

Minimalist Signal Chain
Simplest possible stage setup - Guitar -> Tuner -> Vibrato -> Tube Screamer -> Amp


Rocking at the fun fair

Thursday 14 August 2014

Woodshedding

A good rehearsal - the set for Saturday in Wishaw is sorted, 10 songs, 32 minutes.

Onstage around 7:30 as part of Be In Beltane, in Belhaven Park - Sat 16 August.

We also ran through a bunch of songs from the "long list" for France. Preparations are going well.

Non-set tunes this week were : 

Pauper's Grave
Prairie Chain
Long Screamin Slide 
Early Grave
Defying Science
Sister
Have Some Fun
Heya
Justify
Someone to Love

Tunes for next week : 

You're Not Here Now
Primeval Call
Starting All Over Again
Burden Of The Debt
Black Cloud
Where The Bones Are Buried
Down Where The Madness Grows
In A Violent Way
Girl It's Me

We managed not to be as loud as last week, and we had fun playing Prairie Chain almost too fast - a proper "ramming speed" version. It doesn't swing at that pace, we are just on a runaway horse hanging on for dear life - but it's great fun. Some variability on hearing my vocals in the monitors too - all good prep for being on the road.  

I am stripping back the pedals so I can have as few as possible on the road - tuner, vibrato, one distortion - and maybe a spare distortion. This way I know I can get a decent clean amp sound, gussy it up with a stomp box I like, and I'm all set. 

Now - some Corte Mayor Rioja, and no music at all, because my ears are kind of done in.