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The band will play on ...

My various adventures and ups and downs while trying to put together a band in Buenos Aires. Connecting with like-minded musicians, who want to play for enjoyment rather than money or ego, isn't as easy as it might seem ...

Blog posts March 2013

Second Hand News

A short history of the drumkits I have loved and lost.

Other musicians have it relatively easy. The practice studios are generally well equipped with amps, mikes, cables and a basic set of drums. A guitarist just needs a guitar to plug in and play, a trumpet player only his horn and as for singers ... well they waltz into the studio with little more than a couple of sheets of lyrics. If you’re really lucky the singer might bother to buy their own mike and maybe even stretch as far as a tambourine. We drummers, on the other hand, have to stagger into the practice room under the weight of cymbals and whatever else we might need.
 
The drum sets available in the studios vary in quality, but…

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Stool Pigeon

This has been a truly inspirational evening; full of ideas.

My wife has taken to rescuing pigeons from the street; actually they're Turkish doves, but the word in Spanish is still 'Paloma'. She finds the little babies abandoned and brings them home to nurse back to health, feeding them with a syringe - the local chemist has been giving us some very strange looks recently. Once they are big enough to look after themselves, she is loath to part with them and it's generally up to the birds to seize the moment and make a bid for freedom. The apartment isn't big, so consequently, at any one time there can be 4 or 5 pigeons doves flying around in the kitchen.

There's a quiet little cafe bar ju…

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We don't need no education

Learning a musical instrument is a never-ending process.

My first set of drums, a present from my parents, came with a strict condition attached: I had to take the instrument seriously and learn how to really play. That meant classes. This seemed like a great idea, and even better because my folks were paying. For the next six months, religiously, every Saturday morning, my mother gave me a lift to Warrington where I had private, one-to-one classes with some old Jazz guy.
 
Looking back, the classes were excellent, but I failed to take real advantage of the opportunity. I had to buy a copy of Buddy Rich's Snare Drum Rudiments and learn things called paradiddles, buzz rolls, flams, ratamacu…

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Take Five

A short list of tunes is beginning to take shape.

Tonight's practice went pleasingly well. After a couple of somewhat frustrating sessions, we now - for the first time - have all the necessary band members, and so were able to have a proper attempt at our short list of covers. We are only working on five songs at the moment - plenty for only 2 hours in the studio.

Sunny - A much covered Jazz/Pop standard. Quite complex arrangement, but coming along.

Alright - cover of original by Jamiroquai. Very simple song (from my perspective).
 
It ain't over 'till it's over - cover of song by Lenny Kravitz. A few interesting little tricks and a very fast hi-hat make this challenging for me to play…

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Piano Man

We urgently need to expand beyond Bass, Drums, Guitar & Vocal.
Recent experience has led me to believe that keyboard players are a) very hard to find, and b) all mad. With my previous band we (actually mainly me) spent 3 years trying to find someone ... anyone ... and the ultimate failure was at the root of many of the problems which eventually developed inside that group.

Many of the keyboard players I met were full-time professionals looking for session work. Others were very talented amateurs with their own music already written and trying to find a readymade band to play their music. All seemed incredibly driven people with no time to spend just having fun. This pretty much sums …

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Ring, Ring

Trying to get a good sound from not so good equipment: Does a bad workman blame his tools?

Tuning drums is both an art and a nightmare, and something which I've never been very good at. Well tuned drums can sound fantastic but badly tuned they can be awful. It's easy enough to get a passable sound from the bass and toms, but the most important piece of the kit, the snare drum, has always eluded me.

Getting a good sound from the snare was always complicated ... but now we have YouTube!

I recently had to change the head, so I went on line and watched about 50 videos of various professionals doing it; some getting very technical and complex, while others just put on a new head in a matter of min…

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Cum on feel the noize

The difficulties involved in maintaining both a useful level of practice and a decent relationship with the neighbours.

Initially learning to play must have driven my parents crazy - if there's one thing worse than having to listen to someone practice the drums, it's listening to someone learn how to play the drums! Hitting everything too hard; playing rhythms out of time and synchronisation; stopping and starting ... over and over again.

To be fair, my folks were very good and let me get on with it ... in my bedroom ... directly above the living room ... at 5.00pm every evening, when I got home from school ... for at least an hour. Fortunately we lived in a nice detached house with double…

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Can you feel the beat?

I found a room for individual practice: It's not great, but it's better than nothing.

One of the big problems with playing drums is practice. Some instruments, particularly electric or electronic ones - guitar, keyboard, etc - can easily be adapted for practice without annoying anyone: headphones. Trumpets, saxophones, violins and the like are melodic (assuming a certain level of ability) and the neighbours aren't going to mind. But drums ...

 
In the apartment I have a 'practice kit' - 5 rubber pads attached to a metal frame in a way which allows them to be positioned similar to the way a real set of drums would be distributed. Hardly an ideal solution, but placed on a rubber mat it makes…

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Come blow your horn

A firm hand will be needed to maintain direction.


I had a meeting yesterday with a potential trumpet player; an interesting and unexpected new instrument to add to the mix. He seems enthusiastic and has every intention of coming to the next practice session. Hopefully his style is 'bright' and 'up' rather than that low mournful New Orleans funerary style.

This addition has lots of potential, but will require some adjustment to the selection of songs. We also still need a piano/keyboard - and I'm not having Fernando back; that would be a big mistake. Once we have all the pieces in place, I foresee a tricky balancing act to keep everyone happy and together.

Previous experience has tau…

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Dirty deeds done dirt cheap

This is my project, so I have to take responsibility for the bad stuff as well as the good.

It's all got a bit Machiavellian recently: trying to remove Fernando from the group, without causing too much offence. My wife disapproves of the way I'm going about things. Still, better to do it straight away, than drag things out over the next week.

 
Argentines can be real cowards when it comes to letting someone know how it is, and telling the truth in a direct way can be misunderstood as being rude. But twenty years living in Yorkshire means I have no problem calling a spade a spade.
 
I sent Fernando an email to say his services are no longer required, and buttered it up a bit by pointing …

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We don't need who you think you are

A good working environment among average musicians is probably more valuable than having a temperamental star.

Tonight was the night for some decision making. I’ve pulled together all of Fernando's "rejects" and decided that staying with them is going to be a more relaxing and enjoyable experience than pursuing his standards of excellence. I'm really not into playing with another group of over ambitious fantasists, and all the pressure and time that goes with it. The people I've found seem to have their heads screwed on the right way and I think we may be moving in similar directions.


So here's the line-up as it stands right now:

  • Tomas - bass. In his late 30's. He's been playing bas…

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Ghosts in the Machine

El Reflejo

After the intensity of last year, starting again from scratch is proving to be a big shock.

With regard to tonight's practice session ... It's not really that interesting when you only have 3 songs to work on, none of which any of us can play that well yet ... and we're missing a vital instrument.

 

Personally, I'm feeling very frustrated with my playing. When I practice on my own I can do some great new licks and fills, but then they just fall apart when I try to apply them within the band setting. I must keep in mind that I've been working on some pretty difficult new skills and everything isn't going to fall into place straight away.

 
I also think I'm s…

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Can you hear my drums Fernando ...

There is a limit to what one can expect from non-professional musicians.

Fernando (keyboards) is a very 'special' person. I was in a band with him about five years ago, and thinking about it now, I don't have great memories of that experience - although it would be unfair to place all the responsibility on his shoulders for what went wrong then.

 
On the plus side, Fernando is a fantastic keyboard player; something very hard to find among non-professionals. And I have to admit that when he called me a couple of weeks ago I was seduced by the prospect of playing again with such a talented musician.
 
However, I had forgotten just how difficult he can be to work with. Fernando is ve…

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There She Goes

We've lost one already.

I thought it was all going far too smoothly and easily; a band had magically appeared from nowhere with all the necessary members ready and organised. Too good to be true? ... of course!


An email arrived today from the singer, Conni. It seems that we: "might not be moving in the same musical direction". This is obviously code for:
  1. You're crap and I don't want anything more to do with you - possible
  2. You're far too accomplished musicians and I feel intimidated by you - unlikely.
  3. You're all really old (she's 24) and some of you are losing you hair and I'd rather not be seen with you - possible
  4. My mum won't let me stay out so late on a work night - doubtful
  5. I've …

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