Month: March 2016

Okay, bad joke on a great song!

This week’s blog is on the topic of audio technicians (affectionately referred to as “sound guys”) at live club shows. Somehow, they are the most obvious yet most invisible part of the performance.

While most small venues provide only a basic sound system that the performers run themselves, essentially for amplifying voices and acoustic instruments, larger rooms will often provide a house audio tech, and this is where things get interesting.

The band/”sound guy” dynamic is a complex one, and the reasons better covered in other blogs here and here. Suffice to say, in some cases, the musicians ask too much and thank too little, and at the other extreme, the technician is too rigid, or simply too uninterested to care. Fortunately, our show at the Black Swan was neither.

Right from the start, things went well with Kevin Gould of Reinforce Sound. He showed up when he said he would, listened to our needs, and quickly set about rigging the stage for us. In turn, we tried to keep the levels on stage reasonable so he’d have something to work with. Kevin remained attentive throughout the entire show. One quick tweak at the beginning of the evening and we never had trouble hearing ourselves on stage for the rest of the night. The feedback from the audience was also nothing but positive.

So, officially, thank you, Kevin for a great evening for us and our audience!

 

We are happy to announce a recently added show to our calendar, this coming Friday, April 8 at the Billiards Academy on Danforth and Logan (above the Tim Hortons). This will be part of their Fluid Friday series. Thanks to our own NeMo and Johanne at JJPress/mobtoronto.com for putting us in the touch with Chase at Xpozae for the booking.

The Billiards Academy has 9 pool and 3 billiard tables for those fond of that sport. For the, and the rest of the patrons, it also features a great food and beverage menu, and since we won’t be playing until after 10, make an evening of it and grab some dinner too. I am pretty sure the band will.

 

As the saying goes, a good time was had by all! Here are a few pictures of the event taken by Ian Sinclair, photographer extraordinaire. He must be good cause he caught me smiling! See the bottom of this post.

We were particularly chuffed at having the very talented Sam Taylor sitting in on many songs during the night. Sam, despite his youthful looks, is an old soul in the best way possible, and someone to watch and listen for. The kid is truly talented, as you can discover for yourself if you check out his recent releases on iTunes here, or catch him live (even better). He made my guitar-overdub-loving heart soar, particularly on Song for Vicky (more on that one in an upcoming post). We had a lot of fun trading riffs as well in Old Man Blues.

Thank you Sam for joining us! I hope we can do it again real soon!

 

No, it’s only the beginning.

It’s been a long while since Neil and I have played together at the Black Swan, although we have many times over the years. This will be my first time there with my own material, so I am nervous, but in a good way! There is also the distinct possibility of some friends sitting in at various points in the evening, so the pieces are in place for an interesting evening.

I will be continuing to add content to this site over the next few weeks, so please be patient as it evolves and I learn the ins-and-outs of WordPress.

I hope to see as many of you as can make it on Saturday, and if not, there are other shows lined up. A calendar should soon be available on this site, once I figure out how to do it!