Guitar
Sandybone and the Breakdown, Tilting at Windmills Tour 2012
Personel: -Sandybone- fearless leader, lead vocals, rhythm guitar.
-Dave Webb- piano, endurance driving, vehicular worry.
-Pat Darcus- upright bass, positive attitude, amazing vocational tales.
-Grant Stovel- drums (Edmonton), amazing laugh.
-Kelly Kruse- drums (Calgary, East Coulee, Red Deer), unshakeable cool.
-Double D (me)- lead guitar, lap steel, beer abuse, fruitless herb searches.
Tour Dates:- May 11- New City Legion, Edmonton, Alberta
- May 12- Mikey's Juke Joint, Calgary, Alberta
- May 13- East Coulee Spring Festival, East Coulee, Alberta
- May 13- The Vat, Red Deer, Alberta
May I start this post by saying that under no circumstances, should one ever name their band the Breakdown (or the Flat Tires, or the Trainwrecks, etc.) if you want a fighting chance with karma when you hit the road.
As a point of reference, the Breakdown has experienced a failing alternator in the first blizzard of the year in the Rocky Mountains (dead windshield wipers operated by binder twine, no headlights), a frozen brake calliper two hours before a major festival, minor incidents with parked vehicles, inadvertently stolen gasoline and, most recently, mysterious sensor-related engine issues in our quite limited touring career. One can't help but wonder if we're bringing it all on ourselves, having a name like that. We have, however, always made the gig.
This tour was booked about as tightly as one could hope: we were to leave Vancouver some time around midnight Wednesday, May 13th, drive sixteen hours or so, set up in Edmonton, find a place to shower and eat, maybe sleep an hour or two, play the show, tear down and drive to Red Deer, hopefully sleep, drive to Calgary, drop the gear at the club, hopefully go to a friends for dinner, shower, sleep(?), return to venue, play show, drive to Drumheller, hopefully sleep, play afternoon festival set, drive to Red Deer, set up at venue, hopefully get riotously drunk before catching a few hours sleep, then drive sixteen hours home. I would hopefully receive three or four hours sleep at that time, before my young son woke up and needed his Daddy, round about 8am, Monday the 14th. Perfectly normal scenario for those of us still crazy enough to tour Canada without tour support of some kind- for those of us who still like to drive to our gigs, no matter how far away.
All in all, things went largely as planned. A minor panic upon arrival in Edmonton around an uncommunicative bar owner and locked up venue turned into a fortuitous meeting with the manager of the bar we usually play, and two free rooms to shower and nap in before show time. All turned out to be par for the course at the venue, the New City Legion, which turned out to be a cool room with a great soundman and staff. (Thanks for the shots, Dave.)
Suitably cleaned up and rested (got an hour twenty!), we headed down to the venue to see the openers the Dead Stringers absolutely killing a set of Django-jazz and viper tunes. Ben Sures has pulled together a magical trio here- the energies are so balanced between the players, and they handle complex material with a smile and a chuckle. Check 'em out if you get the chance.
We got a chance to say hi to our drummer for the night, the excellent gentleman Grant Stovel; Grant is an old friend who idolized Sandybone's drumming (back when he was doing a lot more of that sort of thing) and who played on my long out-of-print album. Possessed of a legendary laugh, a lanky frame that seems purpose built for drumming, and seemingly completely devoid of any cynicism whatsoever, Grant is a prince among men; our reunion is happy, to say the least. Soon we were rocking out in that peculiar intensity one can only achieve through pure exhaustion- I can't say it was our tidiest show, but I think it was a good'un. And Grant was sharper on the material than we were. You gotta' love this guy.
After a few post show drinks, I was surprised to see that my gear had been loaded despite me, was bundled into a vehicle, and off we went to Red Deer, approximately an hour and a half away. The day was getting kinda' long by now... anyway, upon arriving at our lodgings (the 'Bone's sister and brother-in-law's) for the night (4:45 or so), we chanced to shut off the van for a second, then restart it, whereupon it went from even-tempered purr to raggedy misfiring nightmare. Aw crap.
I chose to not worry about such things and make inroads into road pops, which I did with such aplomb that I literally found myself herding cats at seven am. Umm, time for a quick tally: napped till around 3pm Wednesday, got about an hour's sleep in the van, one more before show, so by 7am Friday I've had two hours sleep in the past 37 hours. And now, a couch.
So, when we all arose the next morning, we were all hoping our dire impression of the van's health was some sort of projection of our own; maybe she just needed some rest, too!
Uh, no. The poor girl is sick. Sandybone's mother (who lives there) shows up with a replacement minivan within the hour, God bless her cotton socks, and we're on the road only an hour late! Our unofficial band motto "if we hurry, we'll just be late" is reiterated and off we go to Calgary.
We arrive at Mikey's Juke Joint as the legendary Tim Williams was performing his happy-hour set; I'd never seen Tim play and thoroughly enjoyed his eclectic and driving show. We loaded in, somewhat saddened by the knowledge that Lucky Holloway's legendary chicken and ribs dinner was off the menu for the evening, due to time constraints. Awww... Our drummer for the latter third of the trip was Kelly Kruse, an easy-going fella' with an ready smile, a relaxed confidence, and a jazz drummer's precise hands and ears. We're in for another treat. A quick meal, a change of clothes out of the back of the van, and a quick taste of some hash a friend had laid on me in Edmonton, and it was showtime once again.
Sandybone has a tendency to open with a long set, usually an hour ten or so, but has a quality unique to him, in that he will up that to an hour and a half or more if he's particularly exhausted. This night was no exception, and Kelly was suitably astonished by the unlikely duration of our first show. However, those long sets will make a band in a hurry- you've got nowhere to hide, you have to find your way through it all, sorta' like the quixotic journey we were engaged in. Our spirits were raised by the news that Sandybone's brother-in-law had fixed our van- a pimply little sensor problem. Again, not the tidiest of shows, but honest in its "direct from the heart to the jugular" directness. We achieved true lift-off in the second set, repaired to the bar for a short while, (excepting our driver-du-jour), loaded up the van and drove a couple of hours to Drumheller, Alberta's dinosaur bone wonderland.
At 5am we finally got into our B and B, after keeping the poor proprietor up for a half hour of aimless driving, using dinosaur statues as landmarks. A beer and a chat and I repaired to my mattress on the floor, for my five hours of beauty sleep. I got up first the next morning, having noticed that the place is bath-tub only, and noting the tendency for ablutions to slow down sans shower, and of course, the fact that we are supposed to vacate the premises by 1pm. Well, we got out by two...
The East Coulee festival was about twenty minutes up the road, and we pulled in with enough time to have a short wander, eat some sort of food thing they gave us, and set up.
It was a hot and sweaty venue, but we took to the show with a bit of swagger and earned two standing ovations. With little time to pat ourselves on the back, we had to load up and head off to Red Deer for the last show of the trip.
Another drive, another change of clothes out back of the club, another rushed dinner, uncomfortably close to show time. And then there came the evil standing waves, which left poor Sandy's guitar sounding like a rabid cheese grater with an adenoidal issue. It's just not the sort of thing an exhausted bandleader wants to have to deal with when his folks are in the audience and his band is pooped. So, I suppose that first set wasn't our most shining moment on the tour, but the middle-aged ladies "presenting" was kind of amusing. Eventually Sandy moved his amp a foot, all the audio gremlins retreated, and we had a really cool second and final show.
Back at Sandy's sister's place, we had an appropriate post-gig celebration, but soon it was time to set up my little pallet on the floor; the next day we would be off for home in one solid sixteen hour drive, and normal life would resume.
To be honest, I'm still feeling a little blue; it seems like we should be still out there on the highway, rushing off to some other gig, tilting at windmills.
http://sandybone.com/
http://www.reverbnation.com/sandyboneandthebreakdown
http://www.myspace.com/sandybone
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Guitar
A Tale of Two Tours- Part 2
Sandybone and the Breakdown, Tilting at Windmills Tour 2012
Personel: -Sandybone- fearless leader, lead vocals, rhythm guitar.
-Dave Webb- piano, endurance driving, vehicular worry.
-Pat Darcus- upright bass, positive attitude, amazing vocational tales.
-Grant Stovel- drums (Edmonton), amazing laugh.
-Kelly Kruse- drums (Calgary, East Coulee, Red Deer), unshakeable cool.
-Double D (me)- lead guitar, lap steel, beer abuse, fruitless herb searches.
Tour Dates:- May 11- New City Legion, Edmonton, Alberta
- May 12- Mikey's Juke Joint, Calgary, Alberta
- May 13- East Coulee Spring Festival, East Coulee, Alberta
- May 13- The Vat, Red Deer, Alberta
May I start this post by saying that under no circumstances, should one ever name their band the Breakdown (or the Flat Tires, or the Trainwrecks, etc.) if you want a fighting chance with karma when you hit the road.
As a point of reference, the Breakdown has experienced a failing alternator in the first blizzard of the year in the Rocky Mountains (dead windshield wipers operated by binder twine, no headlights), a frozen brake calliper two hours before a major festival, minor incidents with parked vehicles, inadvertently stolen gasoline and, most recently, mysterious sensor-related engine issues in our quite limited touring career. One can't help but wonder if we're bringing it all on ourselves, having a name like that. We have, however, always made the gig.
This tour was booked about as tightly as one could hope: we were to leave Vancouver some time around midnight Wednesday, May 13th, drive sixteen hours or so, set up in Edmonton, find a place to shower and eat, maybe sleep an hour or two, play the show, tear down and drive to Red Deer, hopefully sleep, drive to Calgary, drop the gear at the club, hopefully go to a friends for dinner, shower, sleep(?), return to venue, play show, drive to Drumheller, hopefully sleep, play afternoon festival set, drive to Red Deer, set up at venue, hopefully get riotously drunk before catching a few hours sleep, then drive sixteen hours home. I would hopefully receive three or four hours sleep at that time, before my young son woke up and needed his Daddy, round about 8am, Monday the 14th. Perfectly normal scenario for those of us still crazy enough to tour Canada without tour support of some kind- for those of us who still like to drive to our gigs, no matter how far away.
All in all, things went largely as planned. A minor panic upon arrival in Edmonton around an uncommunicative bar owner and locked up venue turned into a fortuitous meeting with the manager of the bar we usually play, and two free rooms to shower and nap in before show time. All turned out to be par for the course at the venue, the New City Legion, which turned out to be a cool room with a great soundman and staff. (Thanks for the shots, Dave.)
Suitably cleaned up and rested (got an hour twenty!), we headed down to the venue to see the openers the Dead Stringers absolutely killing a set of Django-jazz and viper tunes. Ben Sures has pulled together a magical trio here- the energies are so balanced between the players, and they handle complex material with a smile and a chuckle. Check 'em out if you get the chance.
We got a chance to say hi to our drummer for the night, the excellent gentleman Grant Stovel; Grant is an old friend who idolized Sandybone's drumming (back when he was doing a lot more of that sort of thing) and who played on my long out-of-print album. Possessed of a legendary laugh, a lanky frame that seems purpose built for drumming, and seemingly completely devoid of any cynicism whatsoever, Grant is a prince among men; our reunion is happy, to say the least. Soon we were rocking out in that peculiar intensity one can only achieve through pure exhaustion- I can't say it was our tidiest show, but I think it was a good'un. And Grant was sharper on the material than we were. You gotta' love this guy.
After a few post show drinks, I was surprised to see that my gear had been loaded despite me, was bundled into a vehicle, and off we went to Red Deer, approximately an hour and a half away. The day was getting kinda' long by now... anyway, upon arriving at our lodgings (the 'Bone's sister and brother-in-law's) for the night (4:45 or so), we chanced to shut off the van for a second, then restart it, whereupon it went from even-tempered purr to raggedy misfiring nightmare. Aw crap.
I chose to not worry about such things and make inroads into road pops, which I did with such aplomb that I literally found myself herding cats at seven am. Umm, time for a quick tally: napped till around 3pm Wednesday, got about an hour's sleep in the van, one more before show, so by 7am Friday I've had two hours sleep in the past 37 hours. And now, a couch.
So, when we all arose the next morning, we were all hoping our dire impression of the van's health was some sort of projection of our own; maybe she just needed some rest, too!
Uh, no. The poor girl is sick. Sandybone's mother (who lives there) shows up with a replacement minivan within the hour, God bless her cotton socks, and we're on the road only an hour late! Our unofficial band motto "if we hurry, we'll just be late" is reiterated and off we go to Calgary.
We arrive at Mikey's Juke Joint as the legendary Tim Williams was performing his happy-hour set; I'd never seen Tim play and thoroughly enjoyed his eclectic and driving show. We loaded in, somewhat saddened by the knowledge that Lucky Holloway's legendary chicken and ribs dinner was off the menu for the evening, due to time constraints. Awww... Our drummer for the latter third of the trip was Kelly Kruse, an easy-going fella' with an ready smile, a relaxed confidence, and a jazz drummer's precise hands and ears. We're in for another treat. A quick meal, a change of clothes out of the back of the van, and a quick taste of some hash a friend had laid on me in Edmonton, and it was showtime once again.
 |
| Me and Mr. Bones |
At 5am we finally got into our B and B, after keeping the poor proprietor up for a half hour of aimless driving, using dinosaur statues as landmarks. A beer and a chat and I repaired to my mattress on the floor, for my five hours of beauty sleep. I got up first the next morning, having noticed that the place is bath-tub only, and noting the tendency for ablutions to slow down sans shower, and of course, the fact that we are supposed to vacate the premises by 1pm. Well, we got out by two...
The East Coulee festival was about twenty minutes up the road, and we pulled in with enough time to have a short wander, eat some sort of food thing they gave us, and set up.
It was a hot and sweaty venue, but we took to the show with a bit of swagger and earned two standing ovations. With little time to pat ourselves on the back, we had to load up and head off to Red Deer for the last show of the trip.
Another drive, another change of clothes out back of the club, another rushed dinner, uncomfortably close to show time. And then there came the evil standing waves, which left poor Sandy's guitar sounding like a rabid cheese grater with an adenoidal issue. It's just not the sort of thing an exhausted bandleader wants to have to deal with when his folks are in the audience and his band is pooped. So, I suppose that first set wasn't our most shining moment on the tour, but the middle-aged ladies "presenting" was kind of amusing. Eventually Sandy moved his amp a foot, all the audio gremlins retreated, and we had a really cool second and final show.
Back at Sandy's sister's place, we had an appropriate post-gig celebration, but soon it was time to set up my little pallet on the floor; the next day we would be off for home in one solid sixteen hour drive, and normal life would resume.
To be honest, I'm still feeling a little blue; it seems like we should be still out there on the highway, rushing off to some other gig, tilting at windmills.
http://sandybone.com/
http://www.reverbnation.com/sandyboneandthebreakdown
http://www.myspace.com/sandybone
- Steel Bodied Loic Le Pape Mustang
guitarz.blogspot.com Loïc Le Pape is one of these French guys who makes übercool guitars out of steel - here is his take on the Mustang. Simple and raw, it looks like the ultimate nu-garage rock guitar, isn't it? Also it has interesting...
- Peavey T-40 And T-60 Users And Literature. .
Peavey were keen to let it be known that their guitars were being used by major artists, at the time - perhaps the most famous, was Ross Valory of the band, Journey. There was also Leon Medica of Le Roux and Banner Thomas from Molly...
- Electra Outlaw Mpc X620. . . . . . .
Looking more like a Starship than a Bass!!! This is one I have had some time and mentioned before but never got around to taking any shots of it That was until today, when the sun finally came out, after what seems like four weeks of solid...
- Volcas Plus
I will perform for the first time with my Volcas in a couple of days for an all electronic set - together with Ines Birkhan reading excerpts of her novel Angel Meat. Verwerfungen....
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