A weekend chock-full of rock
Hello again from rock land, rock fans! It's good to see so many of you back here with us again, for our post-rock weekend roundup.
Let's get it aaaaaaall started with FRIDAY at TT REYNOLD'S! What we had there was an eclectic rock lineup with Honeychuck going first, Willie Strings & the Players second, and Random Access third. None of the bands sounded anything like each other, which can be a very good or very bad thing depending on the night.
To start off, we've got Wes napping in the parking lot of TT's for nearly 45 minutes before venturing out to start loading in just after 8. Naturally Ben is there promptly at 8, and Deb shows soon after. By 8.20, 8.25 the three of them have all their gear in the club and are just waiting for the dinner-crowd muzak acoustic cover duo to clear off. At 8.45 they're all done - and that's when they start waiting for Sam to show up.
And waiting. AND waiting. It seems the "everybody be there at 8 for load-in" conversation missed a certain set of ears and despite the fact that he lives the closest, he was the last to arrive. Now - in a face-saving move if there ever was one - he brought his own help with him and the drums got set up in near-record time, starting at about 9.30 or so. Just enough time for a line check on everything and ...
... off they went. Honeychuck came out with a strong opener, and possibly the only jam-oriented song they have, "Conversation". Wes was clearly enjoying his rig that night, going with his ubiquitous Koch Twintone 50-watt head into - oh wait, can you believe this?! A FULL STACK! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first - Wes brought the rock with his matching Marshall 1965 speaker cabs, the 4x10 on top and the 2x12 underneath for a classic rock look. He chose the 1988 PRS "Classic Electric" (aka CE24) for the bulk of the set and it was a wise choice. The volume-matched Seymour Duncan pickups in that guitar, combined with the 4x10 cab, just gave him a crushing tone that cut right through the mix.
I happen to know that one of the reasons his CE24 performed so well that night was that he has recently lowered the bridge completely to the body and inserted a 3/4-inch pine block behind the bridge for both tuning stability and increased vibration transfer! It was a tight fit to be sure, but with patience, a little sandpaper, and a well-placed tap from a hammer, that block dropped right in. Fresh strings on this guitar helped him out a lot, as even the renowned Kevin Rucker commented that it had been a VERY LONG time since he had seen Wes make it through a full set without breaking a string.
For the middle of the set, starting with the drop-D tuned "State Line", Wes resorted to his classic Thorn #40, a stunning sounding guitar in its own right.
Honeychuck's new songs went over quite well, and despite a bit of a train wreck while playing "Ziggy Stardust", the set's only cover tune, the 50 minutes the band was on stage was just chock full of rock. One milestone was that it was Sam's first set as a vocalist; his high tenor helped immensely on several tunes and was critical to round out the pop feel of "Monuments & Trees".
Cut now to Sunday afternoon in the park - Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, MD, that is. The scene is the Annual Baltimore Pride Festival in the Park, and it's homos as far as the eye can see. But never fear, stalwart rock fan, as nobody is turned away from the park and sprinkled in amongst the gays are a good number of straights. Kids and dogs were simply everywhere, and a more bucolic family environment could not be found for miles around on the hot and sunny afternoon.
We'll start the day off at about 11 a.m., at Wes' house, as Ben drops in for brunch and a ride to the gig. The two of them hit the road at noon, chatting and listening to metal all the way to the park. Good directions from the Festival website got the job done, and despite an illegal u-turn and being forced to pay $5 to park despite being performers at the Festival, they had no trouble getting onto the grounds. They parked illegally for a few minutes to unload the gear, then got prepped behind the stage.
It was along about that time that they saw one of the three "super fags" as Deb put it - a young man wearing impossibly brief leather shorts and a chain harness. The other two wore kilts with similar S&M harnesses. They felt that made the day's experience complete, as Ben felt a bit out of place in his kilt.
Wes & Ben arrived at the Festival grounds about 1.30, expecting to get ready for their 2.40 time slot on stage and have some time to hydrate, urinate, and walk around. Deb arrived a few minutes later. Luckily for the band the entire event schedule was running about 25 minutes behind, because Sam didn't arrive until nearly 3 p.m. He barely had enough time to choke down some water before he had to get set up on stage and start playing.
Sam has since resolved to attempt to be more on time for gigs. We'll see if he's serious about it or not.
Wes, Ben, and Deb waited for their turn to play through a few other acts, including The Damsels (who can sing!!), Stalking Horses (who play noisy jangle-pop or jangly noise-pop depending on where you're from), a couple of speakers, and the current mayor of Baltimore, who came out with his family to pimp his run for governor in the fall. Nice man, and his wife is hot to boot.
Very soon after Sam arrived, Honeychuck took the stage and simply flattened the crowd with their all-out rock & roll assault. With only 4 songs to grab hold of the crowd with, they rose to the occasion and played a nearly flawless, if short, set. Wes' full stack from TT's only two nights before made a repeat appearance, and his glee at being able to really crank the amp up in an outdoor environment was clearly obvious simply by looking at him as he played his beautiful and toneful PRS Custom 22 guitar. Though he had Thorn #40 in tow as a backup, he never needed it as the PRS performed wonderfully. Even the soundman commented on how great the combination of PRS and Koch sounded, both on stage and through the PA. Wes shyly credited the amp and 4x10 cab for his superior tone.
Wes really seemed to enjoy his stripped-down rig, which consisted of very little. He ran his tuner through the effects loop of the amp, and daisy-chained two 20-foot cables together and that was it. Classic old-school signal chain, and it worked! Not a lot of mucky-muck to mess with - he even skipped using his channel switcher pedal for lead boosts and just went with loud for the whole set!
Ben played through the previous band's bass rig, an Eden head and simple 1x15 cab. It sounded awesome, punchy and growly at the same time.
The set was flawless, with every band member hitting on all cylinders for the 20 minutes they were on stage. It was hot, sweaty work, but they rose to the challenge and just whipped the air with a sonic assault.
Post-set, Honeychuck set up their merch and gave away a bunch of cd's to newly-won fans in the crowd. Wes made sure to stay hydrated and Ben got some chow. Instead of walking the gear across the field again, Wes backed his truck up to the back of the stage and he & Ben loaded it right there. That was when the first bad aspect of the day reared its ugly head - Wes' window wouldn't go back up!! He would come to learn on Monday afternoon that the window motor had finally given out, but that didn't help the boys as they endured a loud, windy, and HOT ride home with the windows down...
... said ride to include a tour of Baltimore's seedier neighborhoods as they quickly discovered getting INTO the city that deeply was a lot easier than getting OUT of the city and back onto the Baltimore-Washington Parkway... but that's another story.
Peace, and thanks for tuning in!
Let's get it aaaaaaall started with FRIDAY at TT REYNOLD'S! What we had there was an eclectic rock lineup with Honeychuck going first, Willie Strings & the Players second, and Random Access third. None of the bands sounded anything like each other, which can be a very good or very bad thing depending on the night.
To start off, we've got Wes napping in the parking lot of TT's for nearly 45 minutes before venturing out to start loading in just after 8. Naturally Ben is there promptly at 8, and Deb shows soon after. By 8.20, 8.25 the three of them have all their gear in the club and are just waiting for the dinner-crowd muzak acoustic cover duo to clear off. At 8.45 they're all done - and that's when they start waiting for Sam to show up.
And waiting. AND waiting. It seems the "everybody be there at 8 for load-in" conversation missed a certain set of ears and despite the fact that he lives the closest, he was the last to arrive. Now - in a face-saving move if there ever was one - he brought his own help with him and the drums got set up in near-record time, starting at about 9.30 or so. Just enough time for a line check on everything and ...
... off they went. Honeychuck came out with a strong opener, and possibly the only jam-oriented song they have, "Conversation". Wes was clearly enjoying his rig that night, going with his ubiquitous Koch Twintone 50-watt head into - oh wait, can you believe this?! A FULL STACK! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first - Wes brought the rock with his matching Marshall 1965 speaker cabs, the 4x10 on top and the 2x12 underneath for a classic rock look. He chose the 1988 PRS "Classic Electric" (aka CE24) for the bulk of the set and it was a wise choice. The volume-matched Seymour Duncan pickups in that guitar, combined with the 4x10 cab, just gave him a crushing tone that cut right through the mix.
I happen to know that one of the reasons his CE24 performed so well that night was that he has recently lowered the bridge completely to the body and inserted a 3/4-inch pine block behind the bridge for both tuning stability and increased vibration transfer! It was a tight fit to be sure, but with patience, a little sandpaper, and a well-placed tap from a hammer, that block dropped right in. Fresh strings on this guitar helped him out a lot, as even the renowned Kevin Rucker commented that it had been a VERY LONG time since he had seen Wes make it through a full set without breaking a string.
For the middle of the set, starting with the drop-D tuned "State Line", Wes resorted to his classic Thorn #40, a stunning sounding guitar in its own right.
Honeychuck's new songs went over quite well, and despite a bit of a train wreck while playing "Ziggy Stardust", the set's only cover tune, the 50 minutes the band was on stage was just chock full of rock. One milestone was that it was Sam's first set as a vocalist; his high tenor helped immensely on several tunes and was critical to round out the pop feel of "Monuments & Trees".
Cut now to Sunday afternoon in the park - Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, MD, that is. The scene is the Annual Baltimore Pride Festival in the Park, and it's homos as far as the eye can see. But never fear, stalwart rock fan, as nobody is turned away from the park and sprinkled in amongst the gays are a good number of straights. Kids and dogs were simply everywhere, and a more bucolic family environment could not be found for miles around on the hot and sunny afternoon.
We'll start the day off at about 11 a.m., at Wes' house, as Ben drops in for brunch and a ride to the gig. The two of them hit the road at noon, chatting and listening to metal all the way to the park. Good directions from the Festival website got the job done, and despite an illegal u-turn and being forced to pay $5 to park despite being performers at the Festival, they had no trouble getting onto the grounds. They parked illegally for a few minutes to unload the gear, then got prepped behind the stage.
It was along about that time that they saw one of the three "super fags" as Deb put it - a young man wearing impossibly brief leather shorts and a chain harness. The other two wore kilts with similar S&M harnesses. They felt that made the day's experience complete, as Ben felt a bit out of place in his kilt.
Wes & Ben arrived at the Festival grounds about 1.30, expecting to get ready for their 2.40 time slot on stage and have some time to hydrate, urinate, and walk around. Deb arrived a few minutes later. Luckily for the band the entire event schedule was running about 25 minutes behind, because Sam didn't arrive until nearly 3 p.m. He barely had enough time to choke down some water before he had to get set up on stage and start playing.
Sam has since resolved to attempt to be more on time for gigs. We'll see if he's serious about it or not.
Wes, Ben, and Deb waited for their turn to play through a few other acts, including The Damsels (who can sing!!), Stalking Horses (who play noisy jangle-pop or jangly noise-pop depending on where you're from), a couple of speakers, and the current mayor of Baltimore, who came out with his family to pimp his run for governor in the fall. Nice man, and his wife is hot to boot.
Very soon after Sam arrived, Honeychuck took the stage and simply flattened the crowd with their all-out rock & roll assault. With only 4 songs to grab hold of the crowd with, they rose to the occasion and played a nearly flawless, if short, set. Wes' full stack from TT's only two nights before made a repeat appearance, and his glee at being able to really crank the amp up in an outdoor environment was clearly obvious simply by looking at him as he played his beautiful and toneful PRS Custom 22 guitar. Though he had Thorn #40 in tow as a backup, he never needed it as the PRS performed wonderfully. Even the soundman commented on how great the combination of PRS and Koch sounded, both on stage and through the PA. Wes shyly credited the amp and 4x10 cab for his superior tone.
Wes really seemed to enjoy his stripped-down rig, which consisted of very little. He ran his tuner through the effects loop of the amp, and daisy-chained two 20-foot cables together and that was it. Classic old-school signal chain, and it worked! Not a lot of mucky-muck to mess with - he even skipped using his channel switcher pedal for lead boosts and just went with loud for the whole set!
Ben played through the previous band's bass rig, an Eden head and simple 1x15 cab. It sounded awesome, punchy and growly at the same time.
The set was flawless, with every band member hitting on all cylinders for the 20 minutes they were on stage. It was hot, sweaty work, but they rose to the challenge and just whipped the air with a sonic assault.
Post-set, Honeychuck set up their merch and gave away a bunch of cd's to newly-won fans in the crowd. Wes made sure to stay hydrated and Ben got some chow. Instead of walking the gear across the field again, Wes backed his truck up to the back of the stage and he & Ben loaded it right there. That was when the first bad aspect of the day reared its ugly head - Wes' window wouldn't go back up!! He would come to learn on Monday afternoon that the window motor had finally given out, but that didn't help the boys as they endured a loud, windy, and HOT ride home with the windows down...
... said ride to include a tour of Baltimore's seedier neighborhoods as they quickly discovered getting INTO the city that deeply was a lot easier than getting OUT of the city and back onto the Baltimore-Washington Parkway... but that's another story.
Peace, and thanks for tuning in!