John Hendow

On Friday April 24, the Dudley Manlove Quartet performed at the Triple Door for our 20th Anniversary show. It was a great night of music with a sold-out audience sharing the fun event with us. For this show we invited founding drummer Jeff Mosier back to perform one last with us, and it made the evening all the more special to have him behind the kit. In addition to being an evening of “lasts”, it was also a night of firsts : at the age of 51 I’ve finally gotten to the point where I can’t read without my glasses! So rather than squinting down at the set lists, I just wore my glasses onstage. Seeing myself in the pictures from this show is pretty amusing… I look like a more dignified, bookish version of myself, with short hair. You’d almost think I was a respectable grown-up. Fortunately, all my friends and family know better.

During the week before this show I updated my AxeFX to the latest firmware, which really opened up some new sounds for me. Each firmware update unlocks more magic inside this device, and the amp / effect models always wind up sounding more alive and responsive. For most of the DMQ 20th Anniversary show I used the same ten patches, but there are some specialized settings for a few specific songs (e.g., “More Than This”) to recreate specific recorded tones.

For this show I brought along the Les Paul Gold Top, but I never got around to using it. The black strat continues to be my main guitar, and was really the perfect choice for every song in this show. I wanted to use the Les Paul for the second set, but didn’t get a chance to switch my wireless transmitter over to it during the short break. When we hit the stage to begin the second set, I realized I hadn’t done that, and decided to just finish the show with the strat, rather than interrupt the proceedings to make the switch onstage. So that beautiful guitar sat onstage on a stand and watched the action without being part of it. After the show, a friend (dressed as a penguin) helpfully carried that guitar to the car. So at least it had a ceremonially important night.

The set list was composed of songs that have been staples in the DMQ catalog for a long time:

Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
It’s Not Unusual
Copacabana
Silly Love Songs
Dancing Queen
Night Fever
Brandy
You’ll Never Find (You’re Gonna Miss My Lovin’)
Seattle
Sweet Caroline
Let’s Stay Together
September
I Wish
Suspicious Minds

(set 2)
Power of Love
Let’s Dance
Rio
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Centerfold
More Than This
Melt With You
Little Red Corvette
Take On Me
Video Killed the Radio Star
American Girl

(encore)
Don’t Stop Believin’
Don’t You Forget About Me

A few days after the show we discovered that a reviewer from the Huffington Post had been in the audience, and they posted a nice review online:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/l-steven-sieden/dudley-manlove-quartet-ro_b_7171362.html

Nothing like being called “middle aged” by the national press :). It was a blast to see that the night was enjoyed by so many people.

At the end of the night, there was a nice backstage toast to our good friend Jeff, and we celebrated all the great fun that we’ve had together over the years. DMQ will move forward with a new drummer, and of course, I’ll still be working with Jeff in BowieVision, our David Bowie tribute band. BowieVision is performing on Saturday May 30 at The Triple Door, and you should definitely come see us. It’s the perfect room for the spectacle of our video and light show.

On to the next!

During the past few months, I’ve been working on a film project called Area 152. I happen to live in Burien, Washington, which is about ten miles south of Seattle. Among Burien’s many enjoyable weird characteristics is an annual event called the “Burien UFO Festival”, which always takes place on April 1st (yes, that’s April Fool’s day, but the event is real). The origin of the event is a movie called The Maury Island Incident, based on a UFO encounter that occurred in 1947. For the past few years on April 1st, Burien has closed a few blocks of 152nd and hosted a street party with a beer garden, music, and of course, aliens and “men in black”.

For this year’s festival, the organizers suggested that local amateur filmmakers should produce 7 minute movies featuring local businesses, and having a plot involving “men in black” or aliens. My wife and I, along with another couple who are friends of ours, decided this sounded like fun, so we started brainstorming plot ideas and potential filming locations.

We wound up with about four hours of filmed footage (!) that I eventually edited down to six minutes and fifty six seconds. This was the first time I’ve done chroma-keying for video special effects, and I was pretty pleased with the silly UFO + fiery crash + smoke plume that I composited atop a video of a local restaurant.

Once I had the film edited to its required length / sequence, I spent another few days completing the score. Because our title being Area 152, I decided to use 152 as part of the music:

• The chord sequence in the main theme is I-V-ii
• The main theme is stated using a rhythm of 1-5-2 pulses, matching the chord functions
• I used groups of instruments reflecting the 1-5-2 theme as well

Elsewhere in the score, I created individual musical motives for

• The “men / women in black”, played by the four of us
• The “MIB headquarters building”, for which we used the Burien fire station on 146th
• Our official MIB vehicle
• The “interview” theme music, played under the four business interviews we conduct in the movie
• The “UFO” theme, associated with the craft as it attempts to land

When I put together the final movie, I wound up removing most of the original camera audio and replacing necessary sound effects with Foley and post-production voice-over. All in all, pretty satisfying to have worked on this, and definitely an enjoyable project. We’re already scheming to make our next movie for the 2016 festival.

Last month I retooled my pedalboard a bit, replacing two of my Mission controllers with the new Fractal EV-1 controller pedals. I am finding the new EV-1s to be much smoother and better for fine control over volume and modulation blending, and the Mission is best suited for wah control. I have another small modification planned for the next few weeks involving the small black box just below the Mission controller. Stay tuned for the next solderfest!

Today I received two Fractal Audio EV-1 Expression Pedals. They will be added to my pedalboard, and will replace my current controller pedals. These expression pedals are beautifully built, and have a special planetary gear system. Like all Fractal Audio products, the EV-1 is engineered as a work of art, and the care that was taken in packing / shipping them should give you some idea of how thoroughly they design their equipment.
From the Fractal Audio web site :

The EV-1 is an all new EXPRESSION PEDAL, perfect for use with all Fractal Audio Systems products (and many 3rd party devices). Unlike most expression pedals it has a true linear response with planetary gearing and a long, smooth pedal throw. The EV-1 doubles as an analog volume pedal, with separate IN and OUT jacks connected to an audio-taper pot. It features a sturdy cast metal housing, comfortable non-slip rubber tread, and is available in either Silver or Black.

Naturally, I bought two black ones 🙂 I really can’t wait to mount them on my pedalboard.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been putting in some dedicated rehearsals for our upcoming BowieVision shows. This comes with the usual fun of loading up my car with a few hundred pounds of gear, loading up my cart, and pulling it into the rehearsal room. Fortunately, we typically rehearse at a facility where there is a fairly convenient ramp into the building, so generally there aren’t any stairs involved.

We’re adding “Beauty and the Beast” for this show, which is really exciting. It’s one of my favorite Bowie songs, and I enjoy playing Adrian Belew’s fantastic guitar parts. We are double-billing for the next two shows,with a band called “This is not my beautiful band”; they’re a Talking Heads tribute from Portland, and reputed to be quite good. I’m looking forward to hitting the stage tomorrow night for our show. Feels like our rehearsals are going well, and the material in our extended set is sounding really good. If you’re out and about in Seattle (1/24) or Portland (1/31), I’d recommend checking out the show!

A few months ago I added an expansion module to my MFC-101 controller. It sits on the left side of the pedal, and adds four switches and has allowed me to include scene up / down commands in a hand placement. I’m hoping Fractal Audio will eventually update the MFC-101 software to provide scene display in the readout so I know which setting I’m currently using. But for the moment, this is a big step in making my stage setup more flexible.

Last night I attended the Three Below concert in Seattle, featuring three incredible musicians: Trey Gunn, Michael Manring, and Alonso Arreola. Trey is one of my favorite musicians and composers, and he is a trailblazer in touch instrument technique. He performed and recorded with King Crimson for twenty years, and has continued to expand his musical horizons in other global projects. Michael Manring was a student of fretless bass legend Jaco Pastorius, and has a very interesting approach to using the eBow on fretless bass. Alonso Arreola is new to me; he is a remarkable virtuoso who employs a wide range of slapping / popping / percussion techniques, and has recorded with David Fiuczynski .

The experience of seeing three bass wizards might sound like a master class, but this is a true musical experience. Each member of the ensemble performs an extended solo piece, showcasing their technique and approach; in each case, the use of effects and looping expands the horizons of the instrument. They also play a number of pieces arranged for the trio ensemble; this really shows off the highly developed musical awareness they each possess.

They have multiple dates on this tour, including Portland on Wed 10/8, and Corvallis on Thur 10/9. Read the reviews and get your tickets!

I am looking forward to this evening’s performance by King Crimson. The band produces intense, adventuresome rock music that defies categorization. One of the things I’ve long admired about them is their stylistic diversity and restlessness. It’s difficult to pin them down, and the band’s lineup changes every few albums. At the helm throughout the band’s existence has been Robert Fripp, one of the most individually unique guitarists in the world, who has collaborated with many other high influential musicians that I love (Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Brian Eno, etc).
Starting in the 1980s, the band has also included my favorite musician: Tony Levin. To quote the Wikipedia page:

A prolific session musician since the 1970s, Levin has played on 500 albums, including those of Cher, Alice Cooper, John Lennon,Sarah McLachlan, Stevie Nicks, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Buddy Rich, The Roches, Todd Rundgren, Seal, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, Warren Zevon, Kevin Parent, Laurie Anderson, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Gibonni, and Jean-Pierre Ferland. Additionally, he has toured with artists including Paul Simon (with whom Levin appeared in Simon’s 1980 film One Trick Pony), Gary Burton, James Taylor, Herbie Mann, Judy Collins, Carly Simon, Peter Frampton, Tim Finn, Richie Sambora, and Claudio Baglioni.

Tony’s bass playing inspired me to pick up bass and to learn fretless. He always adds the perfect groove to every context. I’m really looking forward to hearing this new lineup of the band. It will be a challenging and inspiring night of music!

I’m pretty pleased with my AxeFX rig, and it continues to perform beautifully at shows of all sizes. My current setup involves a pair of Euphonic Audio VL110 cabinets. They’re great sounding and deliver a lot of punch. However, I’ve also been considering the possibility of using a monitor wedge for my listening position. I have been looking at the Xitone 1×12 passive monitor as a possibility. The advantage of a dedicated monitor would be putting the sound right at my performance position, and being able to carry a smaller rig.

Xitone cabinets get very good reviews from other AxeFX users, and I have been exchanging email with the owner of the company. It’s likely I’ll be adding this cabinet to my system in the near future.

On Saturday 9/30, two of my bands performed as a double bill at the Fremont Oktoberfest. We have performed at this event many times in the past, and it was great to continue our annual tradition of being a part of this great outdoor party. We arrived to find the usual crowd: huge, enthusiastic, and ready to party! The Dudley Manlove Quartet performed first, running some of our favorite pop and rock hits. The crowd really responded nicely to the 60 and 70s pop, and when we launched into the 80s material and rock classics, it was over the top.

We had just a few moments between bands to do some resetting, and to change clothes. BowieVision was a big hit, with the audience joining us to sing backup vocals on a number of songs.

For this pair of performances, I brought the full AxeFX system, which was very satisfying. When I started to set up, the stage tech manager came over with a mic stand, ready to put it in front of my speaker cabinets. I told him “thank you, but I don’t need a microphone, just the XLR cable please. I’ll give you a full-range output from my system”. He wasn’t thrilled about it and said something to the effect of “direct out for guitar never works”. That statement may be true for some processors, but with the AxeFX, direct is really the optimum connection method for the board. The AxeFX handles the effects, amp, speaker cabinet, microphone and room response modeling. At any rate, I checked in with him between bands to see if the FOH operator needed any adjustments. He didn’t ask for anything to be changed so I just carried on. The response and tone of the AxeFX is fantastic, and I’m really enjoying the system.

Looking forward to the next big public shows for both bands. BowieVision will be performing at the Crocodile on Saturday 10/25, and the Dudley Manlove Quartet will be performing at the Sunset Tavern on Friday 10/31. See you there!