Vacation! It’s not just a Go-Go’s song (ah, how my youthful 2nd Grade heart did flutter for Belinda Carlisle) but it’s what we’ve just returned from. Well, two thirds of us. Paul took a family trip to California, sweat a lot and spent his kids’ college money at Disneyland. I had a couple weeks in glamourous Edmonton, AB for a wedding, an anniversary and, unknowingly, a mosquito-swatting convention. Brendan hung out in Vancouver and glared at hipsters.
We just reconvened this week for our first rehearsal in ages. While I toil away editing the EP, we thought it might be good to remind ourselves what PLAYING in a band is like. And we remembered that we both enjoy it and are pretty good at it. Right out of the gate we tried out a new song I’d been working on, and since it was basically a three-chord wonder, we had it humming along quite nicely within a couple of passes.
It’s kind of a giddy feeling when, as a band, you lock into a song together. Playing music with others is a wondrous way to get out of your own head and just be in the moment of what you’re making. You’re focused and intuitive and in the full flush of discovery: watching the song to see where it’s going without a prescribed outcome. Well, that’s how we work, anyway. I know lots of people demo and outline their songs but I’ve never worked with much of a map of any kind to arrange by. It helps that the three of us know each other so well after a decade that the stylistic instincts are good and sharp as a Henckels knife. Ironically, I can still never accurately predict what the boys will start playing underneath my chords. It’s nice to still be surprised!
So as we get ourselves show-ready, September again feels like a time of renewal for me. It's back to school! Time for new outfits from Sears and The Bay and some fresh Elmer's glue and some cahiers d'exercise! Davey has a mustache this year! So does Natasha!
Maybe it’s just having had a break from the grind of routine and my less-than satisfying day job but I feel restored and positive and ready to tear down old, bad habits and build new, better ones. I’m hardly the poster boy for self-actualization but clearly there’s got a to be a better way of seeking happiness than watching downloaded full seasons of cult TV series while immersed in pints of ice cream. It’s probably not hot yoga or spirit-guided self-affirmations for for me but a noisy, humming tube amp waiting on a fiery open chord is as good a battle cry as I can think of. And then some ice cream. Happy Autumn, everyone.
Smithee
***Holy shit, I just Googled the lyrics for “Vacation”. It’s really depressing! Oh, Belinda, don’t be sad. I’ll get in my TARDIS and come back to 1983 to console you.
We just reconvened this week for our first rehearsal in ages. While I toil away editing the EP, we thought it might be good to remind ourselves what PLAYING in a band is like. And we remembered that we both enjoy it and are pretty good at it. Right out of the gate we tried out a new song I’d been working on, and since it was basically a three-chord wonder, we had it humming along quite nicely within a couple of passes.
It’s kind of a giddy feeling when, as a band, you lock into a song together. Playing music with others is a wondrous way to get out of your own head and just be in the moment of what you’re making. You’re focused and intuitive and in the full flush of discovery: watching the song to see where it’s going without a prescribed outcome. Well, that’s how we work, anyway. I know lots of people demo and outline their songs but I’ve never worked with much of a map of any kind to arrange by. It helps that the three of us know each other so well after a decade that the stylistic instincts are good and sharp as a Henckels knife. Ironically, I can still never accurately predict what the boys will start playing underneath my chords. It’s nice to still be surprised!
So as we get ourselves show-ready, September again feels like a time of renewal for me. It's back to school! Time for new outfits from Sears and The Bay and some fresh Elmer's glue and some cahiers d'exercise! Davey has a mustache this year! So does Natasha!
Maybe it’s just having had a break from the grind of routine and my less-than satisfying day job but I feel restored and positive and ready to tear down old, bad habits and build new, better ones. I’m hardly the poster boy for self-actualization but clearly there’s got a to be a better way of seeking happiness than watching downloaded full seasons of cult TV series while immersed in pints of ice cream. It’s probably not hot yoga or spirit-guided self-affirmations for for me but a noisy, humming tube amp waiting on a fiery open chord is as good a battle cry as I can think of. And then some ice cream. Happy Autumn, everyone.
Smithee
***Holy shit, I just Googled the lyrics for “Vacation”. It’s really depressing! Oh, Belinda, don’t be sad. I’ll get in my TARDIS and come back to 1983 to console you.