Jazz Pianist, Composer, and Teacher based in Vancouver, B.C., Canada

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Well just the other Sunday we recorded 4 of our songs in Whistler.  Why Whistler you ask, when most of us live in Vancouver.  Well as it turns out, this great guy Steve, and business partners, put together this thing called WMN.fm, which is an online radio station portal.  As well they got funding to build a little recording studio that they are letting any west coast musicians, being us, use for FREE!  Yep that’s right, no strings, for free recording.  It’s not huge, but has one sound booth and a very nice computer set up running the recording that I’d like to own.  So we did the 4 hours of travel there and back so we could record our songs.

So I got there around 1 ish in the afternoon.  Surprise surprise I was the first one there.  Got to stop doing that. Alexis is the only one ever on time or early other than myself.  Eventually after a snack we ended up at the studio.  Alexis went first as for most of the songs he has a steady rhythm part that we all play off of.  I was going to go last, which I like because I can hear all the other parts and then play what comes to mind for my part better.  Alexis had all his parts down, but it still took just over 3 hours to record his parts.  Mostly electric guitar, but he threw in some acoustic that we normally don’t get for our live shows.  Phil showed up from work halfway through so we got to chill while watching Rachel work on the computer pushing record and all that.

So exciting it is Recording

Nate went next and laid down all his bass tracks in about 45 minutes.  It is the bass, not rocket science.  That being said Nate plays it exceptionally well and without his bass we don’t sound very good.  Then Alexis and Nate had to take off back to Vancouver as Nate had to work the next day, which left me all alone to record my parts with Rachel and Phil when he was there.

My parts were not easy to record I found.  I hate recording.  I like the thought of having an album/song played on the radio and I get to hear what my fingers played, however, my part is always a work in progress.  I definitely wasn’t expecting to record a month after learning and creating the songs.  I haven’t decided fully how half the songs go yet.  Two of the songs I more or less have locked in, the same every time, keyboard parts.  The other two songs though, change every time.  So eventually when and if you end up hearing this exact recording it probably won’t sound like the songs live.  Close, but not exact.

Problem with recording the keyboard parts for Rachel and I was the amount of tracks and time needed.  Most of the songs I use upwards of 3 different sounds, a lot of them at the same time.  So for ease of use and volume leveling in the recording we had to record them all separately and on two tracks as my keyboard is in stereo.  Long story short after about 3 hours I was finally done.  If I had been pickier and got those two songs the way I really wanted, I’d have been there at least another hour.  The last time I recorded I did about 1 song per couple of hours and those were just solo piano.

It was fun experience though and I look forward to the end result.  Hopefully they sound even better than they do live.  We recorded:

“Bad Enough”
“Arm in Arm”
“I Hear Her Voice”
“Let us Stop”

all great songs that you’ll have to come out and hear live.  Tour is still planned for April-May of 2011.  Stay tuned for details.

Faas

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Well August 29th brought us to a competition gig.  We played at The Cellar Nightclub in Downtown Van.  Our first somewhat serious venue.  I say serious because there were bouncers.  Also, and this was my favourite part of the evening, their was a VIP section.  Yes the band got to be in the VIP section before we went on and it was all roped off with that fancy velvet rope stuff on the metal poles.  On the downside it looked like the VIP section, if you know what I mean and Lindsay said it smelled.  I didn’t ask of what.  Still we were big wigs for a few hours.

The VIP Room Couch

So this gig was apparently a competition that ran every Sunday night during the week.  There was one band performing each of the nights and then the house band comes on and does live karaoke the rest of the evening.  So we showed up to show our stuff.  We each were able to get a monitor on stage which was great, I could hear myself perfectly for the first time.  Of course with that many monitors the stage was really really loud.  I need earplugs, they cost a lot. 

Alexis was asked to not set up his rig and use the house guitar players gear.  He was a really nice guy apparently, but kinda rude to make you play essentially a different instrument.  They were going to do that with the keys until Rachel told them we need all the sounds I use on mine.  The show went great we played mostly for a stagette party that was there mainly for karaoke I assume, but they got a better show from us:) Everyone sounded pretty darn good.

The entertainment director of the club said we were great and would be one of the three bands coming back for the final show night.  Haven’t heard from her yet and it’s about the time for that…maybe they run on musician time.  It’s a really slow time with no specifics, just ask Rachel (she’s always late)

My Lovely Wife with some guy in VIP Room

Next up we’re recording 4 our newer songs. Apparently the formula is practice for a month, play 4 gigs, record.  A lot sooner than I was expecting, but the recording is free so why not right?

Ryan

>So the night of Tuesday August 24 brought us to Oscar’s, a pub just inside Burnaby off of Hastings.  This was the second of the pubs owned/managed, I’m not actually sure, by the same guy.  So tonight we played our whole set which went better than the time before.  We’re starting to make each song tighter than the last time.  It was odd playing the few songs we hadn’t played for a while. 

The one song called ‘Leave Me Alone’ I hated my part too when we first started recording.  So I changed it.  It has a pseudo Mexican flavour to it so I added in some trumpets with my organ.  Apparently Rachel couldn’t hear me at the first gig because when I played it this time she turned to be laughing and asking what was I doing.  She liked it, just wasn’t ready for it. 

Everytime we play I’m testing out new things.  Tonight I had finally got a new sound card expansion for my keyboard, only took 11 years.  So I tried out some better sounding pianos and strings which I’ll be keeping.  Now to get some better organs….

Everyone was on their usual good form with so few screws ups I’m sure nobody noticed.  We tried a new band introduction during the last song, which goes pretty well and only take about 30 seconds all said and done.  We’re getting this act together, that’s for sure.

Oh, I got a hat, can’t see my face but now I look cool…..er.

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On Aug 19th we had our second gig as a band.  This one took place at the Rusty Gull pub in North Vancouver.  This is not a big place.  When we saw the stage before setup we all cringed a little bit.  The stage was the size I would normally use for playing a solo gig.  Instead we put on keys,bass,guitar,2 mics, 5 bodies, and some drums!  It was a very tight fit and everyone only had the room they were standing in to breathe and no more. Aside from the stage space though the gig went well.  The purpose was to play for the owner and if

he liked us he would hopefully book us for other shows.  Well, he liked us a lot.  He thought the band was really tight, the songs were catchy and well done, and he wanted more.  We only played 9 of our current 11 songs but after hearing us, for the next gig, which is at one his other pubs, he wants the whole set.  He asked us if we had three 45 minute sets of music because then he could start hiring us for places right now.  Unfortunately we only have one 45 minute set, so we’ll be cranking out some more tunes soon.

I had fun, Lindsay got to see us play again which was great.  The levels of the instruments were quite balanced, which is always one of my highest concerns as I can never hear the piano/keyboards in any other band I’ve seen.  Alexis rocked out on the guitar and his solos were great and more audible this time.  Nate was steady as always on the bass, and Phil kept us together as he should. Oh and that lead singer girl Rachel worked the crowd in her little way and put on a great show.

After the gig we once again got some food.  This time at Raglans, I believe it was called.  A Jamaican kind of cafe with good stuff, but over priced in case you’re thinking of going.

Details from the next gig coming soon.

Ryan

>Aug 14th, 2010.  Our first gig as a working band.  I use working loosely as I qualify that as getting paid, but we were still playing for people, getting exposure and some stage practice.  The gig was at 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon on a nice outdoor stage in downtown PoCo (Port Coquitlam).  The only thing that was not good about the day is that it was during the heat spell out here and it was probably around 35 degrees when we were playing.  I was wearing black pants.

There was a decent turn out of folks to listen and we were very well received.  I found that surprising seeing as the average age of the crowd was probably 60+.  Our songs are definitely aimed at teens and people in their 20s.  We had a few goofs being the first time we played, but everyone was professional enough to work through them and you probably couldn’t tell.  My favourite one was during a song called “Arm in Arm”, after the first chorus Rachel didn’t start singing right away so I’m thinking she’s getting into the song, working the crowd and giving me a solo over the verse part.  Well the solo started getting kind of long for pop music…turns out she forgot the words.  We got back on track though and finished the song and it gave us a fun little story.

We’re still working on getting all the sounds leveled out just right for a live show.  Unfortunately that will change at every venue so the work may be in vain, maybe not.  All in all it was a great first gig, low pressure with a lot of fun. 

If you’re ever in PoCo’s downtown there is a great little Mongolian Grill type restaurant just up the block from the stage which is beside city hall.  Really cheap and nice good food.  We hit that for a much needed food and air conditioning break after the gig.  Lay off the Thai Pepper Sauce, much too warm when it’s already 30+ degrees outside.

Next show details coming soon…

Faas

>June 27th.  One week after auditions we started rehearsals.  They’re taking place at the manager’s house which is nice as I don’t have to drive fully into Vancouver.  Takes 45 minutes depending on traffic anyways, I hate traffic out here, but I digress.  Got to meet the rest of the band at the first practice and we’re an odd mix of musicians. We’ve got 3 tall skinny white guys, a Filipino, a girl of course, and our manager is East Indian.  Going completely on stereo types we don’t look like a lot of bands out there.  However we sound great. 

Even at the first rehearsal we were laying down songs in a quick and good sounding fashion.  Over the month of July and a bit of August we practiced every Sunday afternoon for about 5-7 hours and cranked out 11 performance ready tunes.  All lyrics written by Rachel and the music by the rest of us (minus a few songs that already had parts).  We usually ended practice with dinner, more often than not it was authentic Indian Cuisine made by our managers family.  They’re great and make very tasty food.  I’m a chai tea lover and I got one made for real, from scratch, awesome.

Creating the music was fun and sometimes tough as we all had ideas.  Some good, some not as good, some just plain bad.  On the whole though I’d say most of the songs came out really good.  As with any set of songs some are better than others, you’ll have to come listen to judge for yourself.  I’ve written out a lot of keyboard parts to memorize, didn’t realize I could play so many sounds at once with only 2 hands.  Although with the keyboard split 6 different ways I sometimes forget where each sound is…until I hit it by mistake that is.

I should take this time to introduce the band, check the pictures when they’re up to match the names up.  Lead singer is Rachel Thom, Guitar/Backup Vocals is Alexis Nery, Keyboards are myself, Bass is Nate Shaw, Drums are Phil Turbide, and our manager is Parneet Dilawari.

We’ve been prepping for our first gig which was August 14th, in Port Coquitlam. 
Details in the next post.

Ryan