John Hendow

Last Friday’s gig at Neumo’s was fun, despite being a somewhat quiet night in the club. The audience that was present was plenty enthusiastic and had a great time. We decided to soundcheck with “Red Skies At Night” which went very well. Strangely, that song seemed a little random when we did it later in the set, but only the band noticed. The other band on the bill was Gruvbox, which is a local funk outfit. They laid down some great music and it was fun to chat with them before the set.

Overall I think we played a great show. I love the sound of the PA system in that room and the sound crew has a 100% pro attitude. Always fun to be in the middle of the Capital Hill weekend madness.

Last weekend I played 2 shows with my country band The 1 uppers. Friday night’s show was the Conor Byrne. The regulars who frequent the bar are big fans of music in general and they seem especially enthusiastic about country. We were last on a bill of three bands, which meant we were subject to the late starts and late finishes of each of the bands before us… by the time we took the stage it was well after midnight. We played many of the songs which we’re currently recording for our CD and threw in a couple of cover selections as well. I have been experimenting with using just the Telecaster, straight into my Hot Rod Deluxe with nothing else in the signal chain. This does sound good, but I found myself wishing I had a little more tonal variety available. I had a bit of trouble with the output jack of the tele; the cord kept falling out and I couldn’t seem to get it to lock into place. Some soldering will be in my near future. I didn’t get home until after 2:30 which is quite a bit later than usual. Fortunately I managed to sleep in until around 9:00 the next morning, which allowed me to be fairly productive on a home remodeling project.

On Sunday we played again, this time a mercifully early show at the Sunset in Ballard. This is a classic local bar that is legendary for its vibe. I decided to bring the strat instead of my tele, and also brought the Pod XTLive for some tone shaping. The addition of slight compression and delay makes a big difference in the feel of the guitar; it was worth the extra bit of gear for this gig. The other bands on the bill were very good, and it was fun to see friends who live in the area. During “Luxury Liner” we Kris spun a long solo that was a wild run of tricky licks. There’s no denying how good he is. This was one of his trademark jaw-droppers. Playing in a band with him and Jon Hyde is amazing. They’re great musicians who continually surprise us with great ideas. At the end of the night we celebrated another successful gig. The next show is a few weeks off because some members of the band will be traveling for work and other projects. We’ll get back to 1 Upping again soon.

Last Friday night the Dudley Manlove Quartet played at the High Dive in Fremont. This is one of the better local venues and has a terrific bar / kitchen staff, awesome sound engineer, and a generally great vibe. It’s surprising to me that more local bars aren’t like this; Seattle seems like a friendly and positive place, but so many bar employees seem to have a case of the grumps. At any rate, this was another outstanding evening of fun with the band and our friends. A few tasty refreshments were sent to the stage (many thanks!) and we had a great time rocking the hits.

I brought the telecaster as my backup guitar. Playing it during soundcheck was a treat and I considered using it during the second set. But I love the sound my of strat and just couldn’t force myself to switch. Guess that’s a good problem to have. I noticed during setup that the high-end noise is still present in the stage power at the High Dive. One of these days I am going to remember my VOHM and I’ll do some investigation. I can’t tell if I’m getting SCR noise or if it’s something in the line waveform. I usually dial down the gain and high end on my amp settings and it tends to make things work well enough.

We opened the night with “Forever In Blue Jeans”, which has a fun guitar intro. I worked the song up last week and was all set to play it in the key of A; in advance of the gig I sent an email to Steve to double check keys on a few songs and he told me DMQ does that song in Bb (!). So I reworked the intro without all cool open strings. We also added “Poison Arrow” which was pretty good. The guitar part on the studio recording is somewhat sparse with 2 chords played as harmonics but I occupied a little more space during the chorus, filling out the Em with a fuller chord texture. The balance of the set was material we’ve played together before. I have been using part of the solo during “Venus” to play musical quotes from other guitarists; I’ve played “Purple Haze”, “Sharp Dressed Man”, and others. For the High Dive gig I played “Walk Don’t Run” (which I transposed to the higher key). Mack was the first to recognize it. We seem to share the trait of being musical omnivores. Another amazing fun night with the Dudley Manlove Quartet. This is a great musical workout and I really appreciate the humor and joy of the other band members. I look forward to our next show at the Tractor Tavern on September 5.

Black Celebration performed last Saturday evening at Neumo’s on Capital Hill in Seattle. We were part of a three-band bill that included Love Vigilantes (New Order tribute) and Erasuresque (Erasure tribute). It was a hot day in Seattle and the club was very hot all night. They did have some fans operating to move the air a bit, but it was still mighty toasty! One of the nice things about doing these kinds of multi-band bills is that we always find ways to share equipment to minimize down time between bands. This also keeps the stage logistics to a reasonable minimum. I brought my trusty black strat and decided to bring the Telecaster as my backup guitar. Ricky (guitarist for Love Vigilantes) parked 2 of his ES335s in my guitar rack, and along with our 2 amps and couple of pedalboards it looked like we had an on-stage pawnshop going. 

  Neumo’s has a lot of rules. Probably as many rules as Dungeons and Dragons. Except there isn’t a saving throw. The venue is a lot of fun to play and I do enjoy it. They are quite organized and actually very cool to work with. Since I’m a PM by trade, documentation is always a positive thing.

I took advantage of the big stage by going wireless. It gave me the mobility to trot over to Zach’s side of the stage and wander back to visit Shane in drum world. Neumo’s has a very good sound system and our mix always winds up exercising their subs to great effect. Even the stage monitors and side fills are top notch, so it’s easy to get a good representative mix onstage. I thought we played an excellent show. All three bands were in good form, with strong audience reception. It’s always fun to have people in the audience singing along with their favorite Depeche Mode songs, and we even fielded a few requests (which, fortunately, were in our set list!). Overall, a fine evening of music and comraderie. I believe we’ll be scheduling more shows for the Fall, so stay tuned.

Hot! This was the hottest gig day so far this year, with temperatures hitting 90 on the outdoor stage at the Ballard Seafood Festival. It was hot enough that I could feel the stage burning my feet, right through my shoes. We did a great set of fun material and had a number of friends join us in the crowd. Most of them wisely stayed on the shady side of the street. Festival gigs can be a little random, and this one was no exception. I usually take a good look at the stage and sound system to assess whether there will be any issues with those elements, and it seemed like this was going to be a pretty standard deal.

Parking
The organizing team thoughtfully provided parking near the stage, which would have made it possible for us to leave our cars nearby while playing. Unfortunately the first band of the day left four cars parked throughout the event, occupying most of the available parking. We did manage to squeeze one of the cars into a spot vacated by a vendor. I guess the lesson is to be kind to your fellow musician and move your car after you’ve loaded out. Once we finished our set we left in search of showers and dry clothes.

Amp Gymnastics
During our setup time I placed  my amp on stand that tilts it up slightly. This makes it easier to hear without being loud, and is something I do at pretty much every gig. Because the stage seemed somewhat wobbly and prone to vibration I decided to take it down and put in on the stage to prevent any possibility of  it tipping over. I did this right after our first song, which took about 30 seconds to move it and replace the microphone. A well-intended stage hand came up and adjusted my amp by tipping it back against a monitor, presumably to improve my ability to hear it. Within 2 songs my amp had falled over backwards and was facing straight up. The sound guy came back up and replaced it in a leaning position, then put the mic back in to place. 2 songs later it fell over again. When he returned to monkey with again I shooed him away and left it lying on its back. Argh. My poor tubes, baking in the heat and being repeated impact stressed. Remarkably, my amp survived these drops without complaint. That’s a good amp!

Sound Operators
After our second song we wanted to make a few adjustments to the monitor mix. Stefan attempted to get the attention of the team at the front-of-house mix position for about fifteen seconds, without success. The production crew was having some kind of conversation in the mix tent and didn’t seem to be aware of the stage. Eventually the whole band waved and shouted into the microphones, which seemed to get them to notice, but it took a while. Strange. Most of the time the sound operators are on top of things. It might have been the heat.

Overall I had a great time playing. It’s always a gas to work with DMQ and I’m enjoying my time with them. Everyone in the band has played at these kinds of festivals and no one seemed affected by the random strangeness. We delivered a good show and the audience seemed to have fun as well. Another fine day, well spent!

Last night the 1 Uppers assembled for rehearsal. It’s been a little while since we were all together, and last night we were without our drummer. Eric is a busy guy and is occasionally unavailable, so we plodded along with the help of our substitute techno-drummer “Al E Sis”. We ran through some new songs last night; Jon and David continue to bring beautiful new songs to our set and it’s a pleasure to be a part of the music. Caben is rock-solid on bass which helps keeps the rest of us loonies in line. And of course Kris is just plain old amazing… he laid down a solo last night that gave me goosebumps.

It’s gratifying to hear the warm gritty tone of my telecaster straight into the amp. As much as I enjoy the tone of my Line6 gear, it’s just so fabulous to hear the uncolored sound of the guitar. A big salute to the Lollar pickups, Joe Barden bridge, compensated brass saddles and sneaky four-way pickup switch. This was all Kris’ idea and it turned my run-of-the-mill tele into a lovely tone machine.

I’ll be working on my guitar parts this weekend and hoping we’ll get a chance to finish up our recording soon. I need to track some solos and fills, and then we’ll add those final bits of audio candy to wrap up the CD. It’s been a good summer for music, and I’m playing more guitar than I have in years. I am very lucky to have a family that supports my love of music and tolerates all the madness that comes with it.

On Saturday I performed a show in Napa Valley with The Dudley Manlove Quartet. This was a trip that included the usual fun and strangeness of a band tour. In Seattle the airport security screening team was baffled at the xray image of my guitar. Whenever I fly with it I try to select the line with the youngest-looking operator, reasoning that they are most likely to understand what it is they are looking at. It turned out the xray tech was troubled by what appeared to be wiring inside my guitar. He said “it looks like there are wires inside this instrument”. I replied that indeed there were. For a moment I had a mental image of being forced to disassemble the guitar to show him where the wires are and what they do. He decided it wasn’t worth continuing to discus and sent me on my way. Our flight to Oakland was fairly uneventful, and we arrived more or less on time. When I retrieved my checked baggage I discovered the TSA had decided to open my flight case and “inspect” my pedalboard. It’s reassuring to know that my POD XT Live has been approved by the TSA. You wouldn’t want to be modeling amplifiers or effects without their clearance.

Stag’s Leap Winery is beautiful. I enjoyed spending time wandering around before we played, and took note of the amazing sights. There were a large number of hummingbirds and hawks in the air, which was very interesting to see. I also did a bit of exploring the tunnels where the wine barrels are placed to age.

The wine barrels were stacked against the walls of tunnels that seemingly went on for hundreds of yards. During our wandering in the labyrinth we expected to encounter a minotaur or something. Alas, no monsters were discovered. We did come upon a side corridor that terminated in a room where a Foucault Pendulum was gracefully swinging. Being a geek, I was delighted to blather on about the purpose and history of this device. My bandmates appeared to be captivated, perhaps because I was blocking the exit.

Our home away from home in San Francisco was Tommy’s Joynt, a legendary BBQ eatery and bar on Van Ness. They had a glorious selection of international beers, knowledgeable bartenders, and (we discovered sometime later that evening) a pretty tasty kamikaze. Much fun was had therein, with enjoyable conversation and beverages in abundance. During our evening wandering on Sunday we decided to have dinner in North Beach at a lovely Italian restaurant. It was a great way to end the day, although we did find ourselves back at Tommy’s for a nightcap…

Last Friday I performed twice with The Dudley Manlove Quartet: we did an afternoon show in Occidental Park (Seattle), and another that evening at Woodland Park Zoo. Our daytime show was part of the “Out To Lunch” concert series and was attended by a good sized crowd. Many wonderful friends from my current job and my former job were there, along with some of Seattle’s obligatory colorful characters – including “Scarf Guy” (see picture). Scarf Guy is a fixture in the local art / music scene and seems to always be full of exuberant joy. I just can’t approve of the blatant display of color (since my wardrobe is 100% black) but then again he seems pretty comfortable with it. We did a pretty good variety of material for the day show, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Definitely a great time.

On Friday night we played a wedding reception at Woodland Park Zoo. The bride and groom were both in resplendent garb, and they provided wonderful food for guests and band alike. Among our specific instructions for this gig was “don’t spook the owl”. Apparently an owl was being brought into the reception area in order for the guests to enjoy an up-close encounter with a winged predator equipped with flesh-ripping talons. Nothing says “happy wedding” quite the same. We were billed second to the owl and told to wait until it had exited the building before we began our portion of the night’s entertainment. It’s good to know where the band falls in the prioritization of things. In Spinal Tap tradition, we wondered whether the owl had a bigger dressing room than we did.

Both shows were a blast and continued to provide opportunity to polish our presentation of the music. Working with DMQ is really forcing me to learn a lot of new material and to constantly be on my toes musically. It’ a great time and I look forward to the next gigs.

This weekend will be busy one. Friday I have 2 gigs: lunchtime show in Occidental Park (“Out To Lunch” concert) followed by evening wedding reception. Saturday morning I fly to California for an evening gig, followed by toodling around in San Francisco before returning Monday. It’s going to be a fun weekend, but in the next 24 hours I need to finish woodshedding some of the songs and packing up my toys for air travel. It’s not glamorous, but it’ll make for a fun weekend of music and adventure!

This article recently surfaced on Google, and it’s a bit of a flashback to consider what I was up to 27 years ago. As a teenager I spent the majority of my time playing guitar and had began to play with local bands in Seattle, working to learn more about the music, the professional music scene, about myself. One of my first steady gigs was with a local band fronted by Jim Cull (now a local DJ). Our band “Straight Shot” was a wonderful learning opportunity for me, composed of musicians Nick Nicholai (keyboardist who performed / recorded with Louis Armstrong, Theresa Brewer and Loretta Lynn), John Jansen (guitarist who played professionally with countless country bands) and Howie Johnson (original drummer of The Ventures – “Wipe Out” !). At the time I recognized that I was playing with accomplished older musicians, but in retrospect this was probably the luckiest break a young musician could have. Nick, John, and Howie were incredibly generous with their musical knowledge, teaching me great turnarounds and cues; they were also very kind in sharing their road-earned wisdom about playing professionally. In the context of this band I played bass, guitar and banjo – we performed “Dueling Banjo” every night, along with other bluegrass staples. We played together for years, working almost every Friday and Saturday, and they patiently guided me as I learned the ropes. Jim was a steadfast friend throughout the years of playing in that band. He did an admirable job of interpreting the music Tom Jones, Elvis and Frank Sinatra. 

This article mentions a single “Do Ya / I’m Sorry” which we recorded in Bellingham’s “Fairhaven Studios”. I’m proud to say this was my first professional recording. I multi-tracked electric and acoustic guitars on the B-side of the single, with layers of 12 string forming a shimmering texture. I’m still pleased with the way that recording came out. Our engineer Armen Stein was very good and understood how to get the sounds we wanted. He also did some great dancing behind the control board while we recorded.

For me, this was an amazing introduction to the world of professional music. The band, the bars, and the audiences were all new to me, and I found a lot of adventure in the whole thing. It was a bit like running off and joining the circus I suppose. One of the key elements in the adventure was that for my first four years playing in this band, I was a minor and technically not even allowed to be in the bars where we played! Most of the places we played didn’t seem to care as long as I was onstage. Generally I was required to spend my set breaks sitting outside in the van, or if the bar allowed it, hiding in the kitchen. Great experiences all around, and an auspicious beginning. 27 years later and I’m still out there with the circus!