Last night was our third practice with the new line-up of Monkey68
[Craig and I are pleased to welcome Trevor Chandonnait aboard]
and things are gelling really, really quickly, mainly because:
- Craig has been playing with me for a couple of years
- Trevor has a great feel to his drumming, and he and Craig are already locking together
- We are playing in a pocket directly shaped for and by my songs
There’s also the fact that we are a bunch of old… erm… older dudes making music – dudes who have learned the critical skill of listening to what each other are playing. We’re old enough to appreciate constructive feedback, and collaborate to the best of the performance/song.
This line-up feels good. REALLY good.
[which is saying something, given how much I enjoyed playing with Tony, Pete and Patrick in previous iterations of the band]
Even at practice 3, I would have gigged what we played last night just as it was; seriously looking forward to how tight we’re going to become over the next weeks/months. As I near completion of the new record
[did I mention that?]
it’s also cool to hear those songs tried and tested with the band. I’m leaning towards, maybe, adding an extra player in at some point in the future
[keys – electric piano and Hammond]
though the core trio is my focus first and foremost.
Last night got hot and humid in the practice room, here’s a picture of as we were getting underway – and before the sweat started condensing on the walls!
If you zoom in, you’ll see me in the mirror behind Trevor – so it’s officially a trio shot 🙂
Stay tuned for updates here, or even better join us at Facebook.
Love-peace-trust
Songs we’re working on so far:
- Magpies and Mongrels (unreleased)
- Walking Away (unreleased)
- Blind Eye (unreleased)
- She Says She’s (next record, Turquoise Cyan Sapphire)
- Oo-whee (next record, Turquoise Cyan Sapphire)
- Just Love (next record, Turquoise Cyan Sapphire)
- Over The Moon, Brian (Grope)
- Tequila In The C-Field (Grope)
- Side-By-Side (Sparse)
- Walking In Circles (Grope)
Wish-list, or coming soon!
- Painkiller Morning (Grope)
- What Do They Know? (Grope)
- Be Still (Sparse)
- UNtitled (Sparse)
- Blaze (Sparse)
- The Lights Are Out (Sparse)
- Up 4 Air (next record, Turquoise Cyan Sapphire)
- Cruellest Kindness (next record, Turquoise Cyan Sapphire)
- Travelling (next record, Turquoise Cyan Sapphire)
