CAT | Shows
Whiskey Swillers
Creeping Time used to play every month or so at Conor Byrne. During that time, it was always a predictably good time. There was always a decent sized crowd and things would always get a little wild on the dance floor (and stage). The last couple times we’ve played there, however, have been much more subdued. I have a few ideas on why this may be. I’ll do my philosophical rant in another post…
The Whiskey Swillers opened things up with some good hard-driving old-timey tunes. We’ve played with them before and they also have their own regular night at Pies and Pints. They have stayed true to their style of music and continue to tighten up.
We played second with an alternate lineup: Ken, Dave, Tom Rooney, Rickie Gene Powell, and myself. While this lineup is full of great guys and musicians, it’s always a little harder for me. With Creeping Time, I’m used to playing the guitar – and therefore helping drive the tunes. However, this lineup finds me mostly on fiddle and mandolin, forcing me into more of a supporting role. While still incredibly fun, there’s nothing I like better than hammering away on the guitar and driving the dynamics on songs that are engrained in my soul.
The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank closed out the night. A real nice duo from Duluth, MN, they turned out straight-ahead fast paced sepia-blues. It was interesting to hear some of the same flavors that I’ve grown accustom to in James Apollo‘s music – specifically the Sepia-ness. Two interesting notes. 1) These guys were magnets for dancing women. As soon as they started playing the dance floor filled up with women and stayed that way throughout their set. 2) One of the few men dancing was stomping through an entire song. You could see him fatiguing towards the end and some beers were knocked off tables. When I asked him about it he said “In Duluth we stomp. That’s what we do.”.
Sugar Nile, Blue Moon Bible Vol IV
Tractor Tavern, Wednesday night. Annie Ford Band, Sam Russell and the Harborrats, Falcon.
The Annie Ford band was playing their second live show and you would have never known it. Backed by three strong musicians, Annie’s role as lead vocal and songwriter felt just right. I’ve seen her mainly as the fiddle player in Slim Pickens. But this incarnation was a fresh departure from the strictly old-time standards of that band. Some hints of Neko Case, but staying original all the way.
When our turn to play came along, Sam informed the sound guy on our setup and I was sure we were going to get berated. 5 vocals, an average of 2 inputs per musician (and we were a 7 piece), and a complete drum kit change. It got him a little grumpy, but he wired everything up quickly and dialed the sound in even faster. Because we were 7 musicians, we weren’t able to rehearse very much at all. Instead Sam gave us a loose skeleton of each tune and we basically built on that and followed his dynamics during the set. This approach worked perfectly with the group that we had and you could tell it was as much a rush for the audience as it was for us. It always feels really good when the band is tight, and the highs and lows of Sam’s music wildly swing your emotions and keep things interesting. Overall, a really fun set to play.
Falcon closed out. Some really nice harmonies and solid grooves. Their drummer was co-frontman and they had him front and center on stage. That was pretty cool to see as the skin pounders usually get shoved away in the back. Really nice folks and they had a guy playing midi-controller-laptop that totally made the soundscape.
Oh, and did I mention that the show represented a release of our latest CD The Sugar Nile, Blue Moon Bible, Volume IV
Of course, Best is a biased word. Nothing I write below will compare to the majority of the world’s experience with Rush – arguably much ‘better’ than my favorite bands. But what the hell…
Saturday featured a super-fun triple birthday party for my boy Oliver, daughter Madrona, and myself. At one point in the night, a group of us were sitting together outside making great music. It started out with a few requests from Oliver – Take me out to the ballgame, Happy Birthday, and Bad Moon Rising. Looking around, I realized that almost everybody was participating. And not just the standard obligatory singing. Kids were jamming on drums and recorders while parents sang, banged away, strummed strings, and beatboxed. What made this awesome was the amount and variety of participation. Not only the variety of instruments but the fact that 2 year olds as well as 50 year olds were all getting down!
Sunday night at Pies and Pints was another example of an awesome band. Though much more polished and focused than a group sing-along, it was just as inspiring. By the end of the night, Pat, Tom, Johnny and I were playing tunes as fast as we possibly could and still not hitting any speed limits. The harmonies were tight and the dynamics were even super dynamic ;)
I must note that this was originally inspired by a video Michal took during a visit by Taly, Liam, Ben, and Ari. All the kids (5 and under) had hold of a different instrument and were thoroughly jamming along. The family band: my dream in the making…
Another good weekend of shows. This time a wedding on Saturday and Pies and Pints on Sunday. Though it surely feels like we’re getting to the end of summer and ready to hunker down for the winter.
The wedding was on the south end of Whidbey Island at Fireseed Farm. Creeping Time played it with the original lineup (Ken, Dave, Kjell, and myself). As soon as we showed up we knew it was going to be good. Lots of young single folks in the middle of that part of life where everybody’s getting married. They were itching to dance before we even started. Though I was super happy with how we played and all, I’m pretty sure we would have had to screw up pretty bad to tame the party spirit that was in that place.
Sunday Pies and Pints started off really strange. We played a couple tunes and the sound was bad and the timing was off and tuning and shit… We started one song, stopped suddenly after just a few measures, everybody started tuning, and then we just walked off stage. I thought we were in trouble… But by the end of the night we pulled it together and folks were coming in off the street to dance and even add some percussion to the jams.
Ah, the life of a ‘professional’ musician. And by professional, I mean paid.
Four gigs in three days, and all well-paying. Starting to think I could quit the day job if I didn’t have a mortgage and the festival season ran throughout the year ;)
Friday night Creeping Time (original lineup) played a corporate party. Great food, super nice folks, trying to let off a little steam after some grueling tasks at the office. Lots of kids there, which was nice to see. One kid dressed up as Gumby and danced around for a little while.
Saturday day: Creeping Time (exploded lineup with Ken, Dennis Jolin on drums, Tom Rooney, and Rickie Gene Powell) at the Rainier Mountain festival. With the band after us cancelling at the last minute we got to play a full 3 hour set. There was an MC announcing festival events in between songs and several times he said things like: “Nice jam, boys. Really like that controlled chaos”. Our type of guy!
Sunday day: Boys of Greenwood Glen (exploded lineup the same as the day before but without drums). Though it was the same lineup, these were all Rickie’s tunes and he definitely led the band. It was really fun to wear two different hats with the exact same band. Felt a little like halloween.
Sunday night: Pies and Pints. Same old good stuff here.