There’s a lot going on this month for us, but most of it isn’t out in public. We’ve hunkered down in preparation for things to come, and most recently we went back into The Proper Way‘s studio and recorded more tracks with Scott Rogers pushing all the sounds through the wires and into his big stack of boxes to make waveforms on the computer. Someday, soon, we hope we’ll have these all tied up with bows and loaded onto other formats so that you won’t just have to look at pictures of us making and listening to our own music — you’ll get to hear it, too.
Caryn’s mic, Caryn in the background.
Tim picks up one of the many instruments around the studio in between our takes.
Ian is special. He gets his own room and a slew of microphones.
Adam contemplates which of the 88 keys he should play.
Listening to tracks. Tim’s here too, but he’s behind the camera.
A few photo selections from The Proper Way studios, mostly taken by Tim.
But I think we were destined for basements. Recently we moved into Tim’s basement, at least for quick but invasive visits for rehearsing. It’s the perfect space, complete with equipment and centrally located for the four of us. The neighbors haven’t complained. The rest of his family hides away, except for the very faithful dog, Lila, who loves to settle in next to Tim’s bass amp until we hit a note that’s just too piercing, and then she gets up and leaves. She’s unapologetic. We’re grateful for the space and the support, even if it’s contingent on us hitting the right notes.
But now, our favorite basement might be at the Funk ‘n Dive in Ogden. In spite of the effort to haul gear downstairs, we had a great time on their centrally located stage and with their welcoming staff, especially Matt, who ran sound and welcomed us to the green room and the stage, and handed out our tickets for drinks and food. And then we were greeted by artifacts like this:
Message from Funk ‘N Dive to bands headed to the stage.
We rocked it “supa hard,” indeed. There was talk about “blowing the roof off the place” but then we changed our minds, since we were a few floors below the roof, and heaven only knows how much brick was above our heads. We still turned it up as much as Matt would allow. More important, it sounded good. A few die hards stayed late and we played a few extra songs, and a couple in the audience asked us later if we could play their wedding — and we really hope that works out, even if they don’t get married in a basement.
From backstage, with Caryn silhouetted but Ian in the glow of a red spotlight. (Photo credit: Scott Rogers)
Besides discovering that we like playing in basements, and the Funk ‘n Dive in particular, there were some gems of joy from Friday night. Nothing big, just those things that you hold onto after a show, like when people were singing along to us doing a piece from Sesame Street. Or, in spite of the fact that Caryn’s pointed out that people forget to applaud if we do an instrumental when she’s not on the stage (this was an awkward truth at one gig), the good folks of FnD cheered out after an instrumental riff — whistling and clapping and all that. Our friend, Aaron, was celebrating passing the bar in Utah, and we were delighted to dedicate “At Last” to him. We got to do new songs that were roughly themed around Halloween, but it turns out that now we think we’ll keep them in constant rotation, we like them so much. And then there was this realization that I had (though I haven’t talked to the band about this, they’ll just have to admit that it’s true now that I’ve put it into writing): Caryn often polls the audience to see if they can name a re-creation of a pop tune that we’ve completely changed. It turns out that this is really hard for people, and I’ve decided that it doesn’t matter — and maybe we shouldn’t even bother asking — if they recognize the song’s origin or not. We can let the people who know the song feel like they’re in on a little secret, and everyone else can twist their head with that partial recognition that this might be a Katy Perry song — but it couldn’t be because there’s a swing to the bass line and I play more than three notes in the chords. Maybe it was Katy who first did it, but maybe it was Ella. It’s hard to say.
And then there was a final compliment from someone who stayed late: “‘Orange Colored Sky’ was great,” she gushed. The thing is, that’s a fairly obscure song, even as a jazz standard. There’s a good chance she’d never heard it before. But it is a really good song, in a delightfully obscure and kooky kind of way. We’re excited that we get to learn these kinds of tunes and try to do them justice. So we’ll keep playing this and other jazz covers and other new inventions, in basements or otherwise. We’re looking forward to bringing it all back to Funk ‘n Dive the next chance we get.
Earlier this week we worked three new songs that we can offer out to a live audience at the Funk N Dive on Friday, 9-Midnight (along with The Proper Way). We’ve gotten into a routine of putting a recorder on the floor when we want to run a new song straight through for the first time. Besides giving Caryn a track to rehearse with, we all get an irrefutable memory of exactly how we rehearsed that song. (Sometimes it’s a fun time capsule, too, realizing how much a song morphs for us as we work it over time.) I put the tracks on my phone and listen to them to get the feel for the changes and entrances. But more than those technicalities I love to hear the end of each recording.
It’s a small miracle, playing a new piece, start to finish. So it makes sense that after the music has finished there’s this pause as the last note fades, and then laughter. It’s some cross between laughing at a punch line and the laughter of astonishment. There’s delight in giving life to something that wasn’t clear before, the genuine joy in figuring something out.
And, I never imagined I’d ever get to play a Stevie Wonder cover.
Next week we get to play along with The Proper Way at Funk N Dive in Ogden. It’s one of those late night $5 cover gigs for us — the “big time,” as they say. (Details here.)
But sometimes we play consignment stores, too. Not just any old consignment store, mind you, but the big lofty ones in historic districts while the rain is pouring down outside. Brigham City had us playing for their final farmer’s market of the season, but Mother Nature made sure to sweep in with a tumultuous cold front. Not a problem: just move with the market into the expanse of space whose wood floors supported old couches and bar stools, artwork on the wall and an old organ under the staircase.
That staircase led up to a loft that overlooked everything, facing the street and keeping sentry on all those who would come and go: vendors, tomato buyers, some enthusiastic dancers, and a few high schoolers dressed up and on their way to homecoming dance. Best of all, it sounded great from that elevated stage. We’ve played fancy platforms with sound boards and monitors, and they didn’t compare to the space behind the banister and up against the antique ceiling.
Caryn introduced the gig, inviting people to come out with a call to Facebook and uttering the phrase I’ll cherish forever. “We’re going to serenade the crap out of this consignment store,” she proclaimed. And she was right. We all had a good time, and we went home with fresh bread and tomatoes.
We’ve joked that we provide the Jonas Brothers this professional courtesy of improving upon their song. In particular, Ian takes something that was intended to be a very straightforward, uncomplicated rhythm into a pile of syncopation on the drums. Caryn* layers coy vocals on top of this and Tim lays a foundation with the bass line.
The piano is just along for the ride on this one. When you play with a great quartet, you continuously get to be immersed in the work of 3 really amazing musicians. This feels like an entirely new song.
And also, we really, really had a fun time playing here on the outdoor patio of UTOG. It was like playing in a back alley and a backyard at the same time.
*And doesn’t Caryn look like she’s an angel with a halo from the backlight here?
Standards & Substandards 