My not very interesting band practice report

[Brian Krashpad]

So last night was the first time my main band, Crash Pad, got together in like a year. I put the band "on hiatus" when it got to be more work than fun, for a couple different reasons. First, our drummer. He didn't have a car, so I had to go fetch him and his kit from across town, bring him over to the practice, and then take him home back across town after practice. To make matter worse, he lived in the opposite direction as my house from the practice site.

If he'd been a great drummer with great gear, I might've continued that, but he was so-so in both departments.

So I robbed my side-band drummer and convinced him, at a minimum, to drum for an upcoming CD-release gig that will happen whenever the homeless charity CD, that he and I recorded a song for in November, comes out.

Both the two high school kids I had on rhythm guitar and bass agreed to do that too. They are both kids, but good enough on their respective instruments for the material. The guitarist had announced last year that we should scrap all our material and write all new songs, which was when I pulled the plug. He didn't have any similar comments last night, so maybe he has revised his thinking in that respect.

I had a setlist ready of 7 songs, which may be all we need since the CD-release will probably have way too many bands to begin with. I cut out anything that had been on the last Crash Pad CD of a few years ago.

Anyhow, it went pretty darn good. I was in fairly good voice, especially for not havng sung lead in a year or so, with the exception of one song I let the other guitarist sing, where I sing backing. On that one I was trying to sing in too high a register, and it took me awhile to figure out what I was doing was not going to work, and drop down.

Also, that song reminded me of how I need to lean on the other guitarist to sing out. When we first ran the song, he was singing through his mic, which I had mixed for backing, and I couldn't hear him. So I figured switching mics would fix the problem, since we had been really good about setting a reasonable playing volume, and I had been able to hear my vocals clear as a bell all night.

Still couldn't hear him.

Guess I'll hafta clue the sound person when we play out that s/he'll really need to boost him for that song.

We played for a couple hours, at a very mellow pace. I think we got through a few passes at all but one of the 7 songs. Aside from the obvious learning curve issues (the drummer had only played the one song before, so he was making up his arrangements, and learning where stops and such were), we sounded waaaaaay better than I expected we would. I thought I would screw the chord progressions up a lot more, but only had a couple minor gaffes, and the same was true of the two kids. The bassist in particular sounded downright great, and the drummer made a point to tell him so (as did I).

I played this all practice:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3131/2686545950_7efd400e5d.jpg

My rig was this head:

http://www.afn.org/~afn52445/SovMidget.jpg

Into one of these cabs (angle-front):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/BrianKrashpad/risson1982ampedit.jpg

Dang that guitar and rig sounded good. The Sovtek through a halfstack is really the perfect combination for Crash Pad, and the P-90's in the Epi sounded boss. I'd meant to switch guitars and also try out this'un in a band sitch:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/3141374077_74b1b0f4a0.jpg

But I was having so much fun with the Alley Kat I forgot to.

:facepalm:

As usual, you comments are welcome and encouraged. I apologize for the lack of band drama, but am hoping the illustrations help in some small part to make up for that.

[R_of_G]

I'm definitely interested in your thoughts on the Dano when you get around to playing it Brian. I've been listening to a lot of Elvis Costello the last few weeks and he, as I'm sure you know, has a few Danos.

[Brian Krashpad]

I apologize, Jayson. Some people on more than one board have asked me about the Dano and I had it all tuned up and in the room, and got so into the practice I forgot to switch guitars until the drummer announced he needed to get going. I did plug it in briefly to check the tuning, during a break, and I can tell from that little bit that it will be the kind of guitar I may need to change my usual amps settings for, as it sounded quite different (at this point, I don't know yet if that's in a good way or a bad way) from the P-90's in the WildKat.

[evenkeel]

Sounds like a very good and productive practice session. Lack of drama is a very good thing.

Kudos to you and the drummer for giving the bass player for a bit of positive reinforcement. Everybody needs a "attaboy" once in a while.

[R_of_G]

If the practice was working for you at that level there's little to be too concerned about. There's always next time to try out the Dano but good practice is infinitely valuable.

[bigoldron]

Sounds like a good evening Brian! Glad you had a good, non-eventful practice. Sometimes a lack of drama is just what the doctor ordered!

[tot_Ou_tard]

I found it interesting even with the lack of panties thrown by groupies.

I'd love to hear your AlleyKat in action someday..the Dano too.

[Brian Krashpad]

I found it interesting even with the lack of panties thrown by groupies.

I'd love to hear your AlleyKat in action someday..the Dano too.

Oh man, I am so stoked about the Kat, as well as using the Sovtek again. At the practice I didn't use any pedals at all, just the Kat straight into the dirt channel of the Sovtek with the "volume" dimed and "master" adjusted accordingly (probably not far off from how it's set in that stock photo I posted, by odd coincidence). The input jack on the dirt channel on the Sovtek broke awhile ago, so I had switched over to using my Sunn head with a pedal, but I recently got the Sovtek jack fixed, and this was the first time I used the Sovtek at band volume again.

Although the Sovtek is a 2-channel amp, the channels are not switchable. So you can use the dirt channel all the time, or the clean channel all the time, but can't switch back and forth very easily (you'd have to physically switch the amp to standby, yank the input cord and move it to the other channel's input, then take it off standby-- obviously not something you could do in the middle of a song). Of course, if you use a pedal with the clean channel, you can switch between clean and dirt, but that's kinda a waste of a great tube distortion channel (very early Marshall). Which makes the Sovtek perfect for Crash Pad, since my distortion stays on for almost the entire set.

The only exception is the intro to "Irish Eyes" (our rocked-up version of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling") that begins with just my vocal and a clean guitar, for a full verse before the rest of the band kicks in. I do that one by simply turning down the volume on my guitar, and it cleans up pretty well (not perfectly clean by any stretch, but close enough for gubmint work). By doing that intro like that, there's an added bonus-- at the end of the last line of the mellow "clean" intro, I hang on the last word of the last line ("sure they'll steal your heart a-waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay") and pull the volume back up on the guitar, which usually sets off some nice controlled feedback that announces "Now we gonna rock you!" Then the drums kick in and we do exactly that, haha!

Anyhow, speaking of feedback, that was a concern of mine with the Kat, since it's 2 singles in a semi-hollow. That wasn't a prob at practice, though; I got some nice controllable feedback but nothing that was bad or impossible to handle. I really like the pot setup on the Kat in that regard, it's the only guitar I have set up like a Gretsch semi (one master tone, a volume knob for each pickup, and then, on the lower horn, a master volume). What that arrangement allows one to do is to set the relative volumes of the two P-90's with the individual volume controls on the lower bout, but then turn the whole guitar's volume up or down with the master on the lower horn, without messing up the relative volumes. Makes it real easy to turn down between songs and avoid any unwanted feedback or amp noise, although it's probably even more useful on big-boat semi's or fully hollow laminate guitars that really resonate, versus the smaller "chambered solid" Kat design.

[sunvalleylaw]

That sounds like a really cool guitar, and I like how those controls work. I would love to hear it. I was listening to some of your stuff with Hoyt again the other day, and would love to hear some Crashpad stuff. Is there some up on your myspace?

[Brian Krashpad]

That sounds like a really cool guitar, and I like how those controls work. I would love to hear it. I was listening to some of your stuff with Hoyt again the other day, and would love to hear some Crashpad stuff. Is there some up on your myspace?

Yes, there are 4 or so songs at the Crash Pad myspace page linked in my sig.

The first one listed there, Labor Day, is the one I recorded in November with the drummer (I did all the bass and guitar parts). Iirc that one has a Hamer Special (P-90's) playing the double-stop "lead" that goes throughout, a Ric 620 and LP Classic on rhythm, and my '52 RI Tele for the little line that doubles the bass line throughout. Bass is my '80's MIJ Squier P-bass.

Warning, the chorus has a semi-bad word ("piss") that features prominently so you may not wanna blast it at the office (or close your door or use headphones or something). Also, the lyrics to that one are overtly lefty political, if you care about that sorta thing one way or t'other.

The other songs besides Labor Day are old material done with a prior version of the band several years ago. If you've been to the page before, they were probably the ones up then.

[sunvalleylaw]

It's ok, you can say "piss" at my law office without repercussion. ;) The other guys are used to hearing weird music (not that I am calling your stuff weird) coming out from my office, and even encourage me to send more blues licks out into the hall from whatever guitar I may have there and my son's little amph that sits next to the desk.

As far as politics go, you know I am not offended. At their best, lawyers and independent courts are the last defense for the people against tyrranny. I love the idealistic view of Adam Smith's invisible hand, but I also love the realism present in Hoyt's song about it. I hope the above is not viewed as political discussion, but merely a statement about where I am in regards to your lyrics.