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July 15, 2009
Let’s go Underground!
MUSIC PRESS RELEASE
Entertainment Blogger and much sought
after mandolinist Jim Drake dusts off his garage band roots and
sits in with Gorge punk rockers Speed Queen Underground for a
special acoustic set tonight, July 3, at Everybody's Brewing in
White Salmon. Taking the blogosphere to the next level, Drake will
actually embed himself into the SQU band, and play a fine
selection of covers, including REM,
Cyndi Lauper, and of course, a "Thrilling" tribute to the man
himself, Micheal J.
If Drake survives this grueling set of
music, he'll eventually publish an edited version of his
experiences online at www.hoodrivernews.com
If you don’t remember seeing that press
release anywhere, don’t worry, you’re not losing your mind. You
see, it all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to send it out to
anyone. That’s the way it goes in the fast-paced rock-and-roll
world. One minute, it was a normal day at work, and then, the next
minute, I was trying to schedule myself into jamming a few songs
with a hard-working local punk rock band SpeedQueen Underground.
So how did this happen? Well, when Jeff,
from SQU, emailed me information on one of their shows, I checked
out their website. It turns out that Matt Bynum had come onboard
as their lead singer. Hmmm. Matt used to show up at our mile
marker 6 gigs, all the time. We used to do this version of
“Walking Cane” where different folks from the audience would come
up and sing a verse. It was a really fun song, and Matt was
usually one of those folks who came up to the mic. You could tell
he really liked to sing and interact with the band.
And that got me thinking, SQU
was one of those bands I kept hearing about, but overall, I really
didn’t know. So, how can I turn this around, and find out more
about this band, get them on my blog, and make it fun, all at the
same time?
And then the answer hit me. It
was so simple.
I’d need to play with this
band.
Not, join-up as a full time
member, per se, but just say, ‘Hey – could I bring my mandolin and
jam with you guys for a few songs and write about the experience?
It would be a really cool way to write a blog, don’t you think?’
I’ve been in bands around here
for a long time. So I know all about the band practices, the band
meetings, the band emails, the band scheduling conflicts, the band
set lists, the band revised set lists, the band re-revised set
lists, it goes on and on. And in the back of my mind, I’ve always
wondered – do other bands go through the same things?
I decided it was time to find
out.
So when SQU’s email came in,
announcing a special rare acoustic show, I thought, well, here’s a
perfect opportunity. Let’s give this a whirl.
So, what happened? Well, the
short answer is, it worked! It’s funny, sometimes it just takes a
small effort to let people know who you are, and the rest of it
just falls into place. I kind of admit, when it comes to
interacting with other musicians, I’m a little on the shy side.
But when Jeff finally figured out who I was, I swear, in less than
4 hours, I had a practice time and location, songs, a set list,
chords, style descriptions, advice on what gear to bring, and an
invitation to jam with them at Everybody’s Brewing, to boot.
In fact, the band wanted to
play REM’s Losing My Religion,
which has a strummy mandolin part on it. So we would have to give
that a try, for sure.
So, that very same evening, I
head down to the secret practice spot. By golly, I say to myself
as I’m heading down this huge flight of stairs, it is sort of
“underground.” I wonder if that’s where the band name came from.
Music sounds are booming out of the open doorway at the bottom of
the stairs. OK, here we go.
SQU is in the middle of a
song, but I can’t tell what it is. But it looks like your standard
band-practice situation. You’ve got about 5 guys, with some sort
of instrument, plugged into some sort of amplification device.
It’s loud.
I break out my mandolin and
start looking around for a place on the mixing board to plug it
in. At first, we can’t get any sound, but after turning some knobs
here and there, it finally kicks into gear. After a few quick
hello’s and introductions, we’re off and running through some
tunes. Jeff had sent me a setlist, so I chose two or three songs I
thought would be able to get through. Mind you, we haven’t talked
about arrangements, or chords, or song keys, or anything, really.
Just start playing. You’ll get the hang of it.
I find out that SQU’s basic
method of letting someone know how a song goes is this:
“This song as a lot of C and G in it. Can
you put a solo here?”
We run through Michael
Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” And now, we’re on to the classic punk
rock song – Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.” SQU’s arrangement of
this tune is slightly different from the original, but since I
never played the original – it doesn’t bother me too much.
I bet these guys would get a kick out of
knowing that I saw Cyndi Lauper, probably back in the late 80’s,
at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. I remember that when
Cyndi told us who was in her band, it turned out her brother
played guitar. She opened for The Kinks (a band that I’ve probably
seen 10 times, but that’s another story.)
 (That’s
me on the right, onstage with SQU at Everybody’s Brewing, July 3)
The bridge to this song is giving me trouble. Was that
a B minor? For me, when it comes to trying to figure out what
chord someone is playing, I’m in trouble, especially if someone
plays an alternate chord shape (which, in SQU, someone is playing
an alternate chord shape every 1.24 seconds). I mean, I can read
the basic ones, and sometimes get the shapes right up the neck,
but for me, it’s best to have stuff written down.
Yes, after some analysis, and consulting
with other band members, there was a consensus that this song did
go to a B minor. I try to commit that to memory.
So, remember when I said that
I was wondering if bands go through the same kinds of issues all
my bands did?. Well, here’s a case in point: Craig, the drummer,
did make the suggestion that since no one in the band had played
this particular song before (we were about to try the
REM
song), that it would be a great idea if we practiced the song,
since the gig was, in fact, tomorrow. And I thought to myself, “My
god, this IS just like a regular band practice!” Leave it to at
least one band member to come up with the common sense approach.
After about 3 tries, the song
gets approved and placed on the setlist. It’s that easy.
Next, the fellow on my left,
Brian Nelson, tried out a few of his tunes. It turns out Brian is
visiting friends in the band, and happens to be sitting in, too.
I’m pretty sure he ran through some Pearl Jam tunes (Better Man?).
Lots of E and A. It turns out that Brian has an interesting story
about his job, so go ahead and read all the emails at the end of
the blog entry!
As I’m wrapping up to go home,
Craig asks if someone could actually print out an extra copy of a
setlist. “Yes,” I say to myself, “a band member needs an actual
copy of an actual setlist for gig tomorrow.”
This fully supports my General
Setlist Theory of Bands, and I’m glad I was able to witness this
event that has probably been occurring in bands for thousands of
years. I mean, when the very first band was created, they probably
carved out their setlist on a rock, or clay tablet. But of course,
a natural disaster came along and buried or washed the setlist
away, so not all band members had a copy of it anymore,………………
Read Jim’s email with SQU
here:
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