My back is feeling a little better today, thanks to a good supply of muscle relaxers.
Other than that, most of my thoughts today revolve around the fact that I get to go play music this weekend. It's been a few weeks now, and I miss it like a junkie misses heroin. Over the next three weeks, Plastic Saints will play 5 shows without our bass player. Our drummer's brother will be filling in, and while I love playing with him, it's just not the same as playing with our normal lineup. Our sixth show in March, however, will see the return of Mr. Christilaw. And for that I am grateful.
I just love playing music. It's hard to describe the feeling I get when I perform, so let me try to do so by giving you a typical "day in the life" for me during a show.
I try to get to the venue a little early. I have to load my gear in because I can't afford a guitar tech, so I want to be there in plenty of time to set everything up and test out the sound before it's time to start. I load my amp and pedalboard onto the stage and get everything plugged in and connected. My amp is a Fender SuperSonic all tube combo that I bought a couple of years ago. It's the first amp that I ever had to save up to buy. My pedalboard is a perpetual work in progress. I am constantly switching out pedals and modifying the tone. It's a bit of an obsession, really. Next I open up the cases and greet my guitars.
Alice, my black Paul Reed Smith CE, is my oldest and my favorite (but don't tell David, my red Stratocaster, that). I've had her for almost 14 years now, and she's been through Hell and back with me. She's been hot-rodded with upgraded electronics and special hardware to increase her natural acoustic resonance. She has many scratches on the back from my belt buckles, and has had a floor tom dropped on her once. When that happened, I had to replace a couple of knobs and sand down part of her finish that was chipped off, then coat over that area with clear nail polish to seal it. You can't see that area now unless you look closely at her. A few months ago, I had to have all of her frets replaced - and that modification was the equivalent of a couple's retreat for the two of us. It made me fall in love with her all over again.
David is my candy apple red Fender Stratocaster. I call him a Fender Stratocaster, but he is only a Fender Strat in the sense that that's how he started out. As soon as I got him, I upgraded his pickups, nut, and saddles. In the past year or so, I have swapped the original Fender neck for a new one from Warmoth and replaced the bridge with a Callaham Vintage S bridge. Basically what all of these mean is that the only original Fender parts left on the guitar are the body, the tuning machines, and the output jack. David is named after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Mr. Gilmour played a candy apple red Strat with the same pickups as mine on the album I consider to have the greatest guitar tone of all time: Pink Floyd's Pulse. I got David as a replacement for my first Strat, which was stolen. David is also (obviously) a male. He is a male not only because I wanted to name him after David Gilmour, but because I have to fight with him to get the tone I want - much like one fights with a brother. Alice and I don't fight. We love one another and the more loving I am with her, the sweeter she gets.
Once Alice and David are out of their cases and all tuned up, I hopefully have a few minutes left to get a drink and chill out a bit before show time. When it's time to start, I usually start things off with David for cover shows because we usually start with the more bluesy, cleaner sounding songs. For original shows, lately I have been playing Alice exclusively. David's tones are bright, glassy, and punchy, while Alice's are thick, creamy and smooth. Either way, the music starts and I am usually reminded how much I love these tones that I have worked so hard to build with all of the gear I have. The first couple of songs are spent getting used to the sound on stage and making any corrections that are needed. After that, I start to scan the audience and try to find people to connect with. It's really easy when I have friends there, but at the same time, I know that I have more of a reputation to uphold when they are there. Usually around the third or fourth song, I am really starting to enjoy myself. I can look back at my rhythm section and joke with them during songs.
Rhythm sections are often the most overlooked part of a band. It is truly an aspect of music that you don't appreciate until you hear a bad one. The drums and bass have to work together literally like a clock. They do more than just keep time, however. They set the feel of the whole song. If one or the other is out of sync, the whole song will just sound amateur. If the song calls for swing, they both have to sing. If it calls for a back beat, they both have to play behind the beat. At some time during each show I play with Plastic Saints I separate myself from my playing and thank the heavens for the rhythm section in that band. They are easily the best rock rhythm section in Spokane. If you don't believe me, come listen to a show without one of them and then listen to a show with them both. You'll never doubt me again.
When we play these shows, there are many songs that we play over and over again, and honestly we get quite sick of them. There are those, however, that give me shivers every time I play them. One of these is Old Love by Eric Clapton. This is one of the few songs on which I improvise the guitar solo each time I play it. Each time the song feels different, so I really just try to connect with the song to convey what is at the heart of it that night. A few of my other favorite covers include Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses, Rock And Roll by Led Zeppelin, and any of the Rolling Stones songs we do. By the time the night is over I feel completely satisfied. My back is a bit sore, my feet ache, and all I can think about is grabbing some McDonald's on the way home. I get home around 2:00am, and then I get up the next day and can't wait to do it all again.
Hopefully this gives you a little bit of a peek into my world.
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1 comment:
Very cool piece.
Alas, as cool as David is, there was really no replacing that Lake Placid Blue doll you had before. Like literally, no replacing discontinued models. The devastation was held back only due to that magical thing called property insurance.
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