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Setting Levels
August/September 1999
"Perfection is Unattainable"
Edited by Paul L. "Pro" Pearson, Ph.D., (pro@strangepleasures.com)
Strange Pleasures-www.strangepleasures.com
Tape of the Month
Site of the Month"All around the world, same song..."
-Digital UndergroundFrom Colorado to Australia...One of the bigger disappointments of my two-week trip to Australia in July was that I didn’t get out to see any live music (or koalas, or kangaroos, or reefs, or outback, or kookaburra). But it wasn’t for a lack of bands, just time and energy. In the cities at night, it was much like I’d expect here. There were guys on the street playing guitar and singing songs with drunks for change (I got in on two renditions of "American Pie" with some blokes while "pissing on" in Adelaide myself), flyers on the posts, and entertainment rags with the listings. There was nothing I could determine that was strictly jam, but I could tell there were a few bands among the lists that were probably down with the program. I did talk to a few ‘Musos’-cats that were in bands, mainly jazz/funk combos that would probably be jam-oriented. My sense is that they have the same struggle we do here-you can get club gigs, but you can’t get on the radio or get any attention from anyone outside ‘the scene.’ It’s puke-makingly obvious from the radio and TV that Ricky Martin and Brittany Spears and Jennifer Lopez and all the rest of the detritus we find on our sets filters directly down under. I was hoping for an all AC/DC station-instead, I got Rick Springfield’s video for "Jessie’s Girl." I thought maybe the pop stations would at least have some true homegrown Aussie pablum to gripe about, but it was pretty much the same old song and dance. If you can make money in the music bidness, then good on ya, but why does all the over-hyped crap have to be SO pervasive? At least they have ‘footy’ (Aussie-rules football) to hold on to, keeping them from completely falling into the black hole of our ‘Maccers’ (McDonald’s) culture. (Bart Simpson and Al Bundy, excepted, of course.) Anyone for Hungry Jacks?
From Australia to Minnesota via Omaha...While I was away, my band was busy. I missed some six or seven shows in less than two weeks. A few days after getting back, I was thrown back into the fire running sound for the Big Wu at the Saddle Creek. A blown transformer caused an outage that persisted for 3+ hours, causing us (Strange Pleasures) to pack up and hope that we could get the Wu underway for their set. The Wu spooked and we lined up another venue to move to. Last Call, everything was torn down, rolled up and on its way into their van when the lights came back on at 9:30. Set it up, tear it down, set it up again. We finally got them rolling about 10:45-about when they would have played, had we opened. The confused crowd that had shown up, left, and then returned was smaller than it would have been had there been full illumination, but the show went on. Off the bat, I had problems with the kick and snare drum ringing. The drummer’s headset mic seemed to picking up a TON of higher frequency noise (didn’t actually need overhead mics on the kit because it picked up ALL the cymbals), thus, his vocals were difficult to bring out. To top it off, there was a ghost in the machine just waiting to wail feedback when he felt like it. (This may have had something to do with the phantom power used to power his mic, but it was impossible to isolate on the fly.) Strange, but again I had been two weeks off of the soundboard and almost a month from the Saddle Creek-which can sometimes make you feel like you’re looking at a board for the first time again. The load in, load out, load in probably took its toll on the guys in the band. You could tell that they wanted to play, it was frustrating and they were hot and tired, but they still wanted to play. Their chi was off, and so was mine. It’s always a slight struggle to get the sound right with a new band, even a good one like the Wu. But, I’m finding it more and more true that if the band isn’t all in the harmonious circle, you sometimes CAN’T make the room sound any better than it does. Nevertheless, the Big Wu were professional throughout the difficulties and put on a fine show, but I suspect it wasn’t anywhere close to their best. I’m waiting for another chance to do their sound when they’re truly ON...and I am as well.
From Minnesota to Texas...The following Saturday night, Erik Blomenkamp (guitar-SP) and I ran sound at the Creek for a band called the Groobees from Amarillo, Texas. Falling outside the realm of "jamband" (all songs 3.5-4.5 minutes) but inside the realm of kind bands, the Groobees have a sound driven by their Texas roots and their lead singer, Susan Gibson. She has a Melissa Etheridge/Mary Chapin Carpenter voice to go with her acoustic guitar and a song that the Dixie Chicks took to #1. We were ‘groobing’ most of the night, amidst fighting vocals in the room. The recording tells the story, as Susan’s voice edges into distortion on the hardest notes. The tongue-in-cheek country songs were hilarous (especially "Cheap Trucker Speed") and their lead and rhythm guitar blended well together, even if their second vocalist didn’t do Susan’s voice enough justice. I was looking for a cover of "A Little Bit is Better Than Nada" from Tin Cup with a squeeze-box in the house. Of course I didn’t get it, but my call of "Eastbound and Down" two songs early was right on. More work and some time will help this band develop-they’ve got a pop sense in their music, and Susan has a solid stage presence. Again, professionals doing their thing. The sound was an improvement over Wednesday, but in the words of Roy, "Perfection is unattainable."
From Texas to Boston...ALLSET arrived in Omaha a day early to crash on our floor. Fresh(?) off the road from the rest of their Spreading the Gel tour (renamed the Sleep Deprivation Tour on the last leg) and a hassle from some Iowa law enforcement that had it in for ‘hippies,’ they decided to come to Omaha to drink Coors, play Jet Moto 2 and JAM. These guys have the right idea. They’re just out having fun, playing good music and keeping it on the road looking for a kind scene. For whatever reason-maybe it was my third show back, maybe it was the vibe, maybe it was just finding the right combination of dials, probably it was the band(s)-but the Creek was thumping that Thursday night. From about song 2 of the Strange Pleasures set, I could feel that it was going to be a great night. The dialing was minimal from that point on. Pleasures took an up-tempo "Scarlet Begonias" and segued it beautifully into a SLOW "Fire on the Mountain", much slower than we’ve ever played it, allowing Greg Beebe’s vocals to shine. Tipping in at 20+ minutes, it DIDN’T get boring. "Lying in the Sun" (original) was solid as always with a crazy chaotic jam that broke down into beer bottle bass slide and siren sound effects from Scott Moore’s keys before kicking back in. Even a fill-in drummer (Greg McWhorter subbing for the cast-bound, phrisbee-hound Steve Fisher) and a bass amp failure during "Love Me Like a Man" (sung by Miss April Domet) couldn’t phase them, as Steven Petty grabbed Erik’s guitar and ripped off some nice blues licks. A good five minutes of ridiculous banter ensued before Chris’ (ALLSET) bass amp was ready to go. Something cool about being SO loose on stage, yet SO tight in the music...
ALLSET came on to a crowd that was filtering in, sorta late as usual on Thursday night, and tore into it right off the bat. With the kit and bass already set, and no vocals to worry about, it didn’t take long to lock them in. I’ve noticed that our Creek crowd will sit and applaud when they are "just" listening. Appreciative, yet tentative. Then, if they like what’s happening-if they don’t, they leave-the sitting turns into dancing and the applauding turns into screaming. Exactly what happened about the third song or so. ALLSET’s brand of jam is different than what I’ve heard. These guys definitely have something going on. Chris said that people either "get it or they don’t." The Creek definitely got it, and the boys treated the crowd to a great show-debuting at least three jams. I’ve heard electrified fiddle before, but never this way. Brad Slate has some definite talent and a different perspective on the sound, and the rest of the band is able to capture that and complement it-spinning, trancing, grooving and tripping. Sadeeq’s keys were a bit tough to pick up on line level, but great in the room and on tape with some added dB from bussing and boosting. The bass and drums were a bit too loud for my taste in that room (at least Brad warned me about Matt!), but the deletion of the vocals made the mix much easier to handle. I just had to boost the vocals up between songs so they could talk to the crowd. In my opinion (and a few others overheard), they really could benefit from vocals on some of their songs, just to break up the instrumental feel. But, their sound is phat and will continue to develop nicely over time. Professionally, the guys were very easy to work with and really liked the disc we came up with that night (see below). I would encourage you to see them in the Boston area, or wherever they are playing. They have three things I admire: a unique sound that they are developing within themselves, a lack of Attitude (except when they’re playing), and a real love for the process of creating music. That, my friends, will get you farther and make your journey a lot more fun than being an aloof, self-righteous prick copping someone else’s groove. ALLSET’s got a permanent invite on my board for just that reason. And if they do a few dishes in-between runs on Snow Blind, they can cook all the damn spaghetti they want at my house. Perfection may be unattainable, but nights like that bring it closer than ever.
No worries, mates...
Pro
It is the Strange Pleasures/ALLSET Show from 8/5/99, Saddle Creek Bar, Omaha NE. This is a soundboard recording direct to CD (SBCDM)-your copy will be SBCDA2 (SBCDM->Analog->Analog), or SBCD1 (SBCDM->CD).
If you’d like a copy of this tape, here’s the rules:
1> you have to have less than 20 hours of jamband tapes total OR nothing from ALLSET or Strange Pleasures. (unless you want to submit one of your crunchiest recent acquisitions as a candidate for next month-low gen tape or CD only)
2> you have to send me blanks and postage (B&P) in an envelope -the show is 3 CD’s, and they MUST be Digital Audio CD-R’s (not computer CDR’s). Thus, the show should fit on two 100 min. tapes. I will let you know when I get your request. If you would like just ALLSET, it should fit on one 110 minute tape. The Strange Pleasures set will fit on a 90min.
3> you have to promise to be a good trader and spread this tape around.
4> you have to be patient, because I’m often out of town for work, or working the board on my ‘time off.’
Email your request to pro@strangepleasures.com
Site of the MonthWhy not?? Three professional bands from three distinctly different areas of the country with three distinctly different sounds. Broaden your horizons!!
ALLSET http://www.mer-ka-ba.com/allset.html
The Big Wu: http://www.thebigwu.com
The Groobees: http://www.groobees.com
Pro was born on a baseball diamond in Nebraska at the age of 9. He is the president of the unofficial Kurt Rambis Fan Club, Omaha NE chapter and is into Strange Pleasures when he isn’t analyzing your DNA. © 1999, www.strangepleasures.com
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