Writing songs by the beach…and reflecting
It has been wonderful taking a break from performing this past year. In all the years I have played out and performed I never thought I would say this. I was telling this to another musician I had just met a few weeks ago, and his comment was “you got to play out all the time”; but then I could guess with sure accuracy, that he didn’t play out much.
Between 2004-2007 I did an average of 250-300 gigs per year. In many cases, 2 gigs in the same day and some for as long as 7 hours non stop (like the Skokie Art fair) in brutal heat. The things that you discover when you tour and perform that much are things that seem to escape the usual musician you encounter who has a day job and says you should “play out all the time”. Some of the things that I discovered were:
1. How poorly mic stands are made - if it says “heavy duty” it means it will break twice as fast.
2. Never purchase “professional” PA stands, mic stand equipment from Guitar Center as most of their stuff is junk
3. How many dings, nicks and scratches that hit your expensive guitar are finally enough?
4. Always bring extra everything (batteries, cables, etc..)
5. I set the record for breaking clocks/watches (there seems to never be a clock in the stage area even of coffee houses) and the ones I brought with always had strange batteries
6. People who are over 40 years old very rarely ever purchase a CD at a concert
7. Close friends that come to a concert always leave the smallest, (if any) tips, and its the person who doesn’t know you at all that give you the biggest tips
8. Always bring a very long extension cord as even festivals with a fully built stage may not have any electricity wired up anywhere near the stage.
9. The majority of places that pay for you concert, make it almost a mystery as to who you get your paycheck from at the end of the gig.
10. When someone see’s you play a martin guitar and they own a lower end one (like a D35, etc.) they never can identify a top of the line martin.
11. In the midwest, on 75% of the performances (I did), someone will actually try and carry on a conversation with you while you are performing in front of an audience and don’t understand why your not talking back in the middle of your song while an audience is watching
12. 98% of the people who write their email address down on your newsletter list, couldn’t read what they wrote down either
13. Playing for “exposure” really means - “we don’t want to pay you anything, but we want you to feel like we are doing you a favor by “allowing you” to play for free at our place”
14. Most of touring consists of driving and driving and driving and very little playing.
15. When performing live for a TV show, the sound technician usually knows less than you about sound and amplification
16. When performing live for both radio and TV there is no such thing as reverb or EQ.
17. One Art Festival gig is worth 20 cafe gigs
The best concert I played at was “Art in Air” in Webster Groves MO, which was right across the street from my old Jr. High school I attended. I performed in front of thousands of people and the stage manager and the setup was very impressive. The worst gig was at a Pot Belly Sandwich works shop when a bee stung my left thumb during the last song of my gig.
Due to all of the happenings of going thru equipment, cables, etc.. I have decided to refocus everything. The year of 2008 has been one of change, working what most would call a normal job type thing, and living in a really cool place next to the beach. I am writing songs and am working on ideas for another batch of albums, both electronic and acoustic.
Once 2009 gets here I will start focusing on performing live again; but first I am working on some changes on my performing equipment.
What it looks like so far is the following stage setup:
Crate Limo battery operated amp (PA) with a large tripod
Monitor: TC Helicon VSM-300Xt
Pedal Board: Boss AD8 acoustic guitar processor, Boss EQ20 twin pedal, Boss Stereo Chorus
Digitech Vocalist performer
Freehand Musicpad Pro (new item)
I am still sorting thru the guitar portion, I may get a less expensive martin to do gigs with that
For the new Age ambient albums I want to work on I need to get a host of upgrades that I have fallen behind on, so that will take awhile (ie: Digital Performer 6, Reason, MachFive, Autura Moog Modular V, etc..)
Hopefully when I am ready to hit the road again I will have a new perspective and some new creations worthy of this year break I have had….
dt