The Rockula Update- City Tavern review and retrospective

I believe that tonight’s performance of GIRL at City Tavern was a good one
Apart from my very obvious stumble in “Sick”, I thought things went pretty well
I am writing tonight’s blog with a very positive outlook

My October had been set up in advance and I had a good schedule of Halloween events
A couple of gigs towards the 31st fell through but I scrambled and managed to pick up a couple at the end
I was even named “Resident Video Artist” at Free bass
But all of this forward momentum was causing me to neglect my concentration on GIRL
This resulted in my guitar player Izzy pointing out that I should have my shit together by now
He was right so I drilled the set with Judy and also by myself

One of the things that made preparing for this gig more fun was the new drum riser in room 14
It was built really solid and actually provides a resonating chamber underneath the drums
I am also shedding for some songs that I will do drum cover videos later on, so I have been switching back and forth from the covers to the GIRL setlist
We had a final run through on Thursday and I did very well, so I was let off the hook by Izzy
The gig wasn’t until Saturday so I set back up in 14 and shedded some more
Judy had commented that the room we were playing was pretty live and that people may not appreciate a full on sonic assault, so I decided that it would be a welcome change to play a show without switching into Berserker Mode
The rest of my time was spent trying to adapt to playing the material with a little more restraint than usual
For me, it is actually more difficult to play with a lighter touch because of all of the pounding I have done over the decades

One of the best parts of my recent musical situation is that GIRL caused me to resurrect the Frog In A Blender drumkit
It sounds great in medium volume situations and is incredibly compact
I plan on using it for PyroPlasticFlow gigs when I can’t use the Molecules
My setup time is much less stressful because of this great drum set
I was never more glad than tonight at City Tavern because things were quite compact
I tried to be neighborly and help the other drummers move their equipment
Small rooms like this can become a bit of a chess game where drummers try to set up their gear and stay out of the way at the same time
It appeared that everyone stayed off each others’ toes and we all made the evening flow fairly well

I enjoyed the evening and liked all of the bands
The Rebecca and Brian from Signals and Alibis let me eat their queso
We talked drums and looping pedals
The Bright was very energetic and had a diverse sound
The Crazy Ivans are always on top of it
They are one of my tenants at the studio and I hear them drillng all the time

All in all, tonight was a very positive one indeed
GIRL has a gig at Sue Ellen’s on Dec 14th
PyroPlasticFlow may become a duo very soon and there are other multimedia presentations in the works

Momentum is on the rise