Itchy fingers
Entry posted by mark555
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If you had asked me this time last year if the band would be playing again with the same line up I would definitely have said no because I was convinced it couldn't happen. Allen, the drummer, had decided that he was going to look for something else, and I couldn't blame him, he did it honourably and just said he felt things weren't going anywhere without a singer, and we agreed. So, we all shook hands and decided to give it a break. On top of that, Pete with the yellow telecaster went to his house in the south of France for the summer, so I suppose it gave us all some time to sit back and think. I had been convinced that the only way forward was with a singer in the band, and we just could not find one. In fact, recently I went for an audition with some local guys who were looking for a replacement guitar player because they needed some one with a bit more "fire" in their playing. I think I would definitely have been asked to join them, but When I spoke with them a few days after I told them that I didn't think it would work for me.
These were good guys and I liked them, but I have a very deep friendship with Pete and Shaun, and that friendship means a great deal to each of us, I enjoy the company of these guys and Shaun and I have been like brothers since we were fourteen, and we are both 52 now. So, I politely said no thanks and decided to give it some more time to see what happened with the band, which is called Route 62, a spoof on route 66, as the M62 motorway runs just north of the town centre where we are from, and we have previously played gigs in towns along the motorway.
Eventually, about three weeks back Shaun was asking me when we were going to do something, and Pete was also pushing for something to happen. We wondered about Allen, at 66, he is a very competent rock drummer and can lay down a strong beat, his timing and finishing are superb, so we wanted him with us. It turns out though, at the minute there isn't much call for really good experienced rock drummers, so Allen was more than happy to meet up with us. On Thursday of last week I packed my Tokai Les Paul (not risking the 555) and headed of to our practice venue. After nine months of not playing together I was surprised just how tight we were and also I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed it. We just relaxed and played some of the songs we did well, which included Thin Lizzy's version of Whiskey in the Jar, Black Magic Woman, Down at the Doctor's, The Promised land and one or two others that we enjoy. We all had a really good time and we are going to get together each week and put a new set list together, keeping the songs we played well and replacing others with songs we can play effectively. This might mean backing off some songs which I can play great guitar parts in, but fall down because to play them properly we can't do both vocals and guitar.
So, we are going to get a new set list together and see where that takes us. But for a first get back together, it couldn't have gone better.
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