Garage Band Redux - April 14 and 24 at Blue Note Napa

[MikeR]

Last year I was part of a garage band put together by the Napa School of Music. We had two performances at a local club and I had a blast doing it. So, I decided to do it again this year. This time we have three guitar players, including me, one of whom has been playing for 30+ years, so he's our ringer. The catch is that he's a metalhead, so there's that feel with everything he plays. Our lead female singer and our bass player are both high school seniors, so that's a bit different as well. On the plus side, the bass player loves the blues, so I got them to add Further On Up The Road to the song list and she wanted to do a Samantha Fish song called Kick Around. Her father is the other guitar player. Some of the songs are more pop-flavored than I'd like, but it's an opportunity to play some different stuff.

We're fortunate to play this time at the Blue Note Napa (https://www.bluenotenapa.com/). They're known for jazz acts, but they have all kinds of music mixed in.

I hope to have some video posted after the first show (unless I suck, in which case it will be deleted).

Here's our song list. I'm singing the lead on Running Down A Dream, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Further On Up The Road:


Running Down A Dream – Tom Petty

Hit Me With Your Best Shot – Pat Benatar

Gloria - Laura Branigan

One Way or Another - Blondie

Addicted to Love – Robert Palmer

Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen

Further On Up The Road – Eric Clapton

Kick Around/Old Time Rock and Roll – Samantha Fish/Bob Seger

I Love Rock and Roll – Joan Jett

 

[JohnHurley]

Sweet set of songs! Best luck!

 

[PapaBear]

I'll be watching for the video!

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

Sounds like fun. Playing something different with different people is always a good experience

 

[sloslunas]

Now that sounds like fun, and I like fun!! Go get 'em Mike...

Steve

 

[tommytubetone]

Looks good Mike! Have a blast.

 

[JestMe]

I remember the first video... You guys did great. I'm looking forward to the reunion! Have a blast!

 

[MikeR]

I remember the first video... You guys did great. I'm looking forward to the reunion! Have a blast!

The female lead singer and keyboard player from last time are now performing with the School of Music's house band, so there are some big shoes to fill. Other than the drummer (who is an instructor at the school), it's an all new group.

I still can't believe that people are paying $15-30 for this. The $30 per person booths are sold out for Sunday! There are three groups playing, but someone must have a lot of relatives.




BTW, I met the guy with the hat in the above photo. He's been in past garage bands and plays regularly in a band in town. He's a good guitar player and when he found out I knew Griff, he couldn't say enough about how much he loved Griff's lessons on Youtube.

 

[MikeR]

Well, the first night went pretty well. I didn't forget any of the lyrics and only partially messed up a few solos. The crowd seemed to enjoy it. What didn't go well was the recording. I was using a Saramonic SmartMixer with my cellphone for the first time and the level was set too high. I matched it to an earlier group, but apparently, we were quite a bit louder. Also, the lighting washed out the faces on stage. Crazy Little Thing Called Love isn't too bad, so I may post that video, but otherwise, next time. Here's a photo of the band:

 

[JestMe]

The picture came out good! I bet it sounded great as well.

 

[dvs]

Great shot, Mike! You all look comfortable up there on stage, too.

Were your amps mic'ed? I have a newfound interest in any details you might care to share about the setup for monitoring and FOH.

 

[MikeR]

Great shot, Mike! You all look comfortable up there on stage, too.

Were your amps mic'ed? I have a newfound interest in any details you might care to share about the setup for monitoring and FOH.

Yes, they were. We had a sound check earlier to get the levels set, particularly in the floor monitors to hear the vocals. The Blue Note sound guy did everything. To be honest, I really don't know much about it.

 

[MikeR]

Here's me singing "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". The audio's pretty bad, but it's better than the other songs. I'm going to record the audio next time with my Zoom Q2n so at least I'll have decent audio.

 

[dvs]

Singing is great, Mike! I liked the clapping break; nice tight ending, too.

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

Crappy recording but I agree you guys did a good job.
Real story: band member comes up and says "hey, let's do an Elvis song..."

 

[JestMe]

I thought the singing was great even with the poor recording... great audience participation!!! Nice job!

 

[MarkDyson]

Really great stuff!

 

[PapaRaptor]

It is so cool to see what you've done since the first time I saw you at BGU Live 2012. Great job, Mike!

 

[tommytubetone]

That was great Mike!!!

 

[Dr. Ron]

Very cool Mike...you really brought out your best Freddie Mercury! You guys were good.