We’re Jamming

Blast from the past 

The other day I was searching for drummers for a project we’re developing and came across a website for drum tuition. To my surprise I saw the details of the drummer with whom we put together Snowdogs, the band Mat and I were in back in the day. Way back. The drummer, Gaetano Di Giacomo, ended up quitting the band while we were in full flow and I didn’t hear from him since. That was many years ago.

So I fired off an email and we reconnected. We chatted on the phone and a lot of memories came back. We travelled, ate and slept together: first in a Ford Escort, then in a van and then on airplanes, did the £50 a night gigs in front of 3 men and a dog, did big festivals, starved and slept on floors when necessary, ate sushi at the Tokyo Hilton when possible. Gaetano had quit playing the drums when he quit the band. But 3 years ago he had picked it up again because his heart and soul wasn’t in the IT business into which he went after he stopped working with us. I realize that most everyone who’s in an unsigned band will go “duh! why would anyone want to exchange being in a professional band for working in IT?” but let me tell you for nothing, being in a band for a living is harder work than you think.

Gaetano is back playing with some jazz and latin bands. He’s also a drum teacher now. He is going on to study percussion at a Conservatoire. Has a drum room in his garage. How cool.

Probably the best times that I ever had as a musician were during the first few months when we got signed. We didn’t have to work for a living, we could play all day. Over to Scream Studios http://www.screamstudios.net/ in Croydon we went every day for a 11am start. Played the set once, then jammed for 3 hours solid. No plan. Just winged it on these wild improvisational flights of fancy. Threw in everything we could think of and ended up doing stuff we would never have dreamed of. It was pure musical bliss.

Football anthems 

Speaking of jamming… when the footie World Cup was in Germany a few years ago, the publisher who controls Bob Marley’s catalogue was approached by someone who wanted to make the Marley track “Jamming” (we’re jamming, we’re jamming, I hope you like jamming too) into the official German World Cup tune. They proposed recording a version of the song with new lyrics: We’re German, we’re German, we hope you like Germans, too!

Unbelievably, the publisher declined.

Artistes in the studio

We’ve just spent a couple of days in the studio with Ejectorseat and Rosalita. Got some cracking, cracking new songs in the can. We also hosted The Amateurs www.myspace.com/theamateursuk whose new EP we produced. Really cool Steely Dan-esque kinda Bruce Hornsby type vibes, almost overshadoed by the fact that they formed a local covers band with a rather legendary singer: Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. All for charidee and the guys said the ride was worth it. If you can think of a more legendary rock singer, answers on a post card, please.

Another band worth a sly mention is Alpha Road www.myspace.com/alpharoad . The Cambridge youngsters are receiving a bit of the ol’ a&r heat at the moment. Summery vibes, great high-life style guitars and pop choruses. We’re lovin’ it.

51 Breaks www.myspace.com/51breaks did an interview for Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music. The campaign has only just started, and the reviews are coming in thick and fast. The good people at Manilla PR www.myspace.com/manillapr are doing a stellar job. But let’s not kid ourselves: it’s not only who you know, it’s the record you make.

Tom R. is also liking Esteban’s single Santiago www.theanimalfarm.co.uk/santiago.mp3 and check this out: Total Guitar will feature the band on account of guitarist Liam’s amazing finger picking style. Give credit where credit is due: the guy is a grade 8 guitarist with a very cool style of playing. The video for the song is excellent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV5KLvVMbE0

As is this review by the legend that is Toxic Pete:

‘Santiago’ is the debut release from Midlands outfit Esteban. Their relaxed but forceful style, with a touch of Latino here and the odd hint of afro rhythms there, is at times quite exotic - a blend of funked-up indie and straight pop/rock with a twist. Phatt and juicy bass vies with seismic percussion, that sounds like its been set by an atomic clock, as incessant ‘twiddly’ guitar refrains run and flow unerringly across the vibrant rhythmic backdrop but still leave plenty of room for the heartfelt and very effective vocals to shine and get their messages across. Well crafted and beautifully produced, Esteban’s warm and uplifting style gets nicely under yer skin and quickly gets the feet tappin’ along. Esteban keep the pressure on by cramming quite a lot into what space there is but amazingly they never sound cluttered or even remotely over-busy. Generally, the songs here have plenty of light and shade, numerous time signatures and several ‘world’ influences which help to keep the Esteban sound fresh and ‘alive’.'Santiago’ features just four tasty, summery tracks; ‘Santiago’, ‘Say It Loud’, ‘Mass Aura’ and ‘Paperboy’. The Esteban way is simply great at sensible volume levels but becomes a real ‘beast’ when its maxed out and throbbin’! Fantastic music for those balmy BBQ nights but with their mucho singalongability this stuff’s equally fitting for the club or pub scene - Esteban’s music seems to be pretty all-encompassing actually - take it whichever way you like or whenever or wherever you like and its gonna do its job good and proper!

Esteban’s funky pop stylee is massively up-lifting and extremely likeable - Esteban do funked-up better than most and the pseudo-’world’ undercurrent lifts the Esteban funk to higher levels than many similarly ilked outfits. Tasty work from a very impressive bunch of funksters - radio friendly, commercial and, overall, a damn good vibe!

How ’bout that?

Smudge’s www.myspace.com/smudge recent Manchester date was sold out! And it wasn’t held in a cupboard either. The Music Box holds a fair few people. The fact that XFM have picked up on them over there will not have hurt in getting the numbers out.

Practise makes perfect

Let us move on to more important matters. I have been travelling up to the mighty Blackheath Squash Rackets Club for secret training sessions to improve my schwing… They’re secret in that I daren’t tell my wife who’d give me grief if she knew that I was just “goofing off” (her way of putting it, I call it training) instead of what she thinks I’m doing - making a living in da music biz so that my family get to engage in important projects like eating and paying bills. They’re also secret in that I don’t want my club mates to find out. I’m pretty sure neither party is a regular reader of News At Zen so the secret is safe…

I reckoned that if I was to progress in my squash career I would have to start training. Drills. Drills. Drills. Hit the ball this way. That way. Run back and do it over and over and over again. Some players hate doing it. I actually quite enjoy it. I like the routine of it and the concentration that you have to put in to make the ball do what you want it to do.

Lo and behold (sounds like a firm of dodgy accountants!) I have improved. I nabbed a couple of good scalps in club friendlies, guys I wouldn’t have beaten before. That was a nice feeling.

One of my club mates used to be a professional basketball player, played for England and enjoyed what perks pro basketball affords in this country. Certainly doesn’t compare with the US, but better than most office jobs. He quit professional sport early and trained to become an engineer. He was at a wedding some weekends ago where he met a lot of his old team mates, some of whom were now within their last seasons as pro athletes. My mate said that the vibe wasn’t that great: what with unemployment looming, no pension or financial security to speak of, maybe some kids and a girlfriend - and a wife! It was an interesting insight into the world of professional sport. You know, it’s not dissimilar to the world of rock’n'roll. Desperate men in search of desperate fortunes.

I’ll be damned if I know how on earth Mat and I ever managed to make a living out of being in a band. Reconnecting with our old drummer brought back a lot of the vibes we had back in the day. As great and special as those vibes were, we are fortunate in that we have moved on and found a new phase, a new thing for us in the world of music. And as great and special as those new things are, when Mat and me get a moment to ourselves in the studio, he sits behind the drum kit and I fire up the Marshall stack and we let rip. Pure musical bliss.

V.

This entry was posted on 19/07/2008 at 10:49 am and is filed under News At Zen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.