The 1 Uppers will be performing this Saturday at Slim’s. As part of my preparation for this weekend’s gig I’m doing some practicing at home. It’s also an opportunity to continue the fine-tunining of the pedalboard. We are likely to surprise the audience with a few new items, and naturally you’ll be hearing some favorites as well. The band has been working on recording a CD and we’re making good progress on it. Hopefully we’ll be ready to begin mixing and mastering this recording in the next month or so. I still need to finish up some solos and stuff, so a couple more studio days loom in the near distance. Come on out this weekend and hear The 1 Uppers!
|
|||||
|
I’m unfamiliar with the Donizetti opera, so this will be an interesting first exposure to it. The others are absolute classics and very familiar to music majors. I recall analyzing The Magic Flute for several weeks in a cross-functional music / history class. For the Rossini opera, we’ll be studying “The Rabbit of Seville” to ensure we’ve got our scalp-massage choreography ready. If you’re inclined to see an opera for the first time, I recommend The Barber of Seville as a great starting point. If you’re looking for something with vocal pyrotechnics, get tickets for The Magic Flute. About a month ago I rebuilt my guitar pedalboard and have been making some adjustments to the setup since that time. It’s been performing beautifully and I’m happy with the results. This effort included the following ingredients:
The next step is “pedal tetris”. Before mounting the pedals on the board I spent several hours trying out some layouts to see which would be best. I had a bit of a head start… before I ordered this board I got all the dimensions of my pedals and did several test layouts in Visio to ensure this would work as expected.
Here is a picture of the pedalboard with all pedals installed. Each pedals is mounted with velcro, and some also got a zip-tie “seatbelt” to keep them from shifting. You can also see a number of zip-ties securing the cables between pedals. This helps keep the layout neat and manageable. When installing zip-ties it’s nice to clip the tails off once they’re nice and tight. This usually leaves a sharp end where it was cut. I used a lighter to melt those sharp ends slightly, reducing the potential for pokes and cuts. Part of the setup process involved making the custom-length George L cables and connecting the power cables. I adhere to a simple rule of routing power below the board and audio above it. This is both for aesthetic and electrical reasons. By keeping these runs separated (even by half an inch) it helps prevent noise from getting into the signal chain.
So which is which? In the diagram on the left I’ve identified each item. The routing is as follows: The Input Select is a simple A/B footswitch for choosing either the XDS Wireless Receiver or the second input. This allows me to easily go from wireless to wired inputs without having to pull out any cables. Next is the Peterson Strobo-Stomp 2 Tuner pedal followed by the Keeley Compressor, Keeley-Modified Crybaby Wah and the Way Huge Pork Loin. This signal chain feeds into the Line 6 POD XT Pro which is then routed to my amp. It was an interesting project to assemble this setup. It’s definitely the cleanest and most flexible system I’ve ever had. I’d love to find a way to get this kind of power and tonal versatility from a smaller system, but good tone requires good gear. The next gear project will probably involve searching for / building a really great Stratocaster.
Recently, Beggar’s Group USA re-released special versions of the first two Bauhaus albums. These are beautifully packaged box sets including additional tracks and live performances. Naturally, I’ve picked up both of them along with the bonus disc, AND ordered the “Studio 79″ disc from the UK. My hope is that the other Bauhaus albums will receive the Omnibus treatment.
 Live In The Studio 1979http://archive.beggars.com/releases/74/bauhaus-live-in-the-studio-1979 This recording recently was made available via the Beggar’s archive in the UK. This is the original studio recording of Bauhaus 1919 (they later shortened the name to just “Bauhaus”). The recording date was January 26 1979, only four weeks after the band formed. I’ve heard other fans discuss these sessions with a sort of goth reverence. I haven’t received this overseas shipment yet, but I only ordered my copy about five days ago. I’m sure it will be a fascinating peek into the early moments of the band.  Warr Guitar - Front Last night we had the first Preons practice in quite a while. We intentionally took a little break last fall, though it wound up being a longer break than we anticipated due to work, vacations, Swine Flu, and the holidays. But we’re a hard bunch to keep down, and last night we reconvened for a full-band rehearsal. We played through the material from the most recent CD, along with the songs that we’re planning to record for the upcoming release. Generally it felt pretty good. There were definitely some moments where we had to search our mental files to recall our parts to songs, but I was satisfied that we got through everything we attempted. I only brought my 5 string bass last night since there would be so much to remember as it was. Just a few songs into the evening I found myself wishing I had my fretless and Warr guitar. It’s pretty standard for me… I definitely love to play all those instruments. I’ve been putting some effort into Warr guitar lately and look forward to expanding my use of the sonic range, along with improving my general technique. The band has the potential to really rise to something special and I think this will be a good year for us. We’ve been talking about a slightly different approach to composition and performance, and there may be some opportunities for us to introduce new instruments or technology into what we do. Brad and I chatted over dinner before rehearsal, and we’re both considering how we might spice up the band’s sound. I’m planning to transition more of my bass parts to fretless bass and Warr Guitar. The band has an interesting dynamic and I appreciate having so much freedom in what I do with them. Look for us in your local saloons. The Preons will be getting twisty. |
|||||
|
Copyright © 2010 John Hendow - All Rights Reserved - Play Nice |
|||||
This weekend we extended our subscription to 
Bauhaus remains one of my favorite bands of all time. As a young guitarist in the 70s I was a fan of Led Zeppelin and KISS. I liked dark, big music (and I still do). In the early 80s I also became enamored of new wave and the “new romantic” music that was coming out of the UK. But I’ve always had a rock and roll heart and Bauhaus was a fresh sound. The first thing that struck me about Bauhaus was the intensity and ferocity of the musical texture. Some of their songs are dense noisescapes and others are utterly stark and desolate. All aboard the goth train! Unfortunately by the time they became well-known in the US, the band had broken up. The family tree of post-Bauhaus projects is pretty big and includes Dalis Car, Tones on Tail, Love and Rockets, and solo albums by the band members. In 1998 the band reunited for a live tour which led to ongoing performances and recordings. Upon hearing of the planned reunion tour I decided I didn’t want to go; my fear being that it’s usually such a disappointment to see a favorite band reunite after so long. Rather than risk seeing post-peak it seemed safer to leave my fond memories of the band intact. Less than one week before the Seattle performance I repented and bought tickets. It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. I was blown away at the energy and intensity of the band, and felt lucky to see them delivering such a great performance.
In The Flat Fields
Mask
…And Remains
Recent Comments