Category: Non classé

What is too much of a good thing?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the difficult state of affairs for live music in Toronto.

Sure, there are places to play, and plenty of talented people out there, but the opportunities to make a decent living at live performance are thin, to say the least. Part-timers like me with a decent day job can manage, if we accept that we are paying/playing for the pleasure, or “exposure bucks” as Pat Kelly has shared. Doesn’t help much with food and shelter though, or even the price of replacement guitar strings.

Many clubs I have approached for shows have given up on the idea that they have some responsibility for attracting and retaining clientele by offering a great ambience, food and service. These clubs (not all) rely too much on the entertainment to fill the vacuum of their non-marketing. Of course, the reverse is almost unthinkable (see image). I know people in service industry work long and hard, but they need to get better at promoting their venues and curating the supporting entertainment as an added value, not a sine qua non.

But it’s not all their fault, and the more interesting question is, how did it get this way?

Music used to be something rare and special, and marked an event in people’s lives. The only way to hear it came through live performers: drummers in African villages, minstrels travelling from village to castle in the middle ages, buskers, troubadours, singing in the fields, and live bands of every description playing in parks, parades and dance halls through the 20th century. Live was the ONLY way to hear music.

The advent of recorded music made it more available, but still, the equipment required still limited the listening to radio (the only place where it was free — albeit sponsored), jukeboxes and gatherings at people houses around the turntable. Yes, there was a time we would invite friends over to hear the brand new album we just bought! Music was still something special.

Since the arrival of portable music players (Walkman/Diskman, iPod), cheap or illegal downloads, access to music is considerably easier. Ubiquitous and free elevator/mall music, tipped things over the edge. Music has become a commodity (just Google that one!) that is much too often taken entirely for granted, much like air-conditioning (I’m of an age where I remember signs like this one).

I believe that when something is taken for granted, it loses perceived value. As a performer, I have to accept that some of my audience may have lost sight of the specialness of music because it’s hyper-ambient. It seems like an imposition to ask for payment as many listeners may feel it should be free, whether it comes from a piped-in music service, or a band on a stage. I sometimes almost feel guilty about that, but I do have a band to pay.

I hope that my songs being original make them special enough.

Now, don’t get started on illegal downloads.

First, of all just some new shows confirmed: Saturday, July 30 back at the Black Swan, and Friday, August 12 at Relish again. More updates as we receive confirmation of pending gigs.

In the interim, we will be keeping our heads down a bit more from a performance stand point due to the pressures of the DAY JOB, but also to take the time to finally properly record the songs we have been playing live. For that, I have enrolled in a course in audio recording and will be seeking out a good and reasonable studio. Something good should hopefully come of it.

While there are few Félix and the Cats recording out there in the wild, every song ever played has a corresponding home demo, using Garageband on a Mac computer. On those demos, all the instruments are live except the drums which are built-in loops. The idea was to use these recordings as musical notebooks to share with the rest of the bad and guest sidemen.

Unusually, I will share one of these with you: Mr. Juicy Fruit. When the “proper” recording is done, it may be interesting to compare the two. We’ll see.

Mr. Juicy Fruit was first recorded over 10 years ago on GB, and written even before that. It was a reaction to an individual at a bar on Danforth and Donlands when NeMo and I played for Jeanine Mackie. While the band was playing, this odd and likely very drunk man would dance wildly on his own, do somersaults, then leap onstage and hand out sticks of gum to the band mid-song. He deserved a back-story, so I made one up.

Here it is. Warts and all.

Mister Juicy Fruit © 2005 Félix and the Cats/R. Pelletier.
All rights reserved. [SOCAN/ASCAP]

verse 1
Mister Juicy Fruit likes to leer and cuss
Mister Juicy Fruit ran off to the circus
Mister Juicy Fruit loves his exercise
Mister Juicy Fruit drinks too much to be wise

chorus
Say hello, say hello, hello
Say hello, what do you know?
Say hello, say hello, hello
Say hello, what do you know?
Say hello, say hello, hello
Say hello, what do you know?
Say hello, say hello, hello
Say hello, what do you know?

verse 2
Mister Juicy Fruit is a desperate dancer
Mister Juicy Fruit knows he has the answer
Mister Juicy Fruit rumbles and he tumbles
Mister Juicy Fruit shouts even when he mumbles

chorus

bridge
Mister Juicy Fruit’s soul is full of bile
Mister Juicy Fruit will go out in style
Mister Juicy Fruit, he won’t want your help
Mister Juicy Fruit, he’ll see you in hell

solo over chorus

verse 2
Mister Juicy Fruit ,behind the rough façade
Mister Juicy Fruit, is he truly bad?
Mister Juicy Fruit, behind his liquid eyes
Mister Juicy Fruit, is there a kind surprise?

chorus

My name is Félix and I am a gear-a-holic.

I, like most guitar players, can never have too many guitars/amps/pedals. It’s a well known thing. Just ask any guitar player. Fortunately, I don’t handle the finances in my household, so the urge to procure even more is kept in check by outside scrutiny, and forces me to think long and hard about getting new stuff, rather than act on impulse. It’s all good. Thanks, H!

And while other players are less restrained, the purpose of this current blog is not to denigrate the desire to collect. Rather, I would like to talk about making reasonable choices of what to bring to a show, when there can be so much to choose from when you have a mini-music store in your basement.

This idea stemmed from some recent shows when, in some cases, I went out too light, and in others, a lot of gear should have been left at home. So I made some notes that I thought I’d share with any players interested.

1. Transportation: the vehicle you are using to get to a show may only allow so much. A Vespa vs. a SmartCar vs. a van, for instance. Or even transit. Not a big deal, but worth saying.
2. The room: it’s simple—small room, small amp, big room—bigger amp, or small amp through PA.
3. Set-up time/sound check: the more gear you set up, the more complexities work themselves into it, and the greater chances something technical will go wrong. Just connecting everything up may gobble up all your pre-show time too, time better used reviewing songs, or even chatting with friends who took the time to come out to support you. You don’t want to be stressed out worrying about a late start before hitting the stage. For instance, I have a two-amp setup that sounds awesome when working well, but it takes nearly 45 minutes to put in place, and balancing it requires at least one run-through to balance with itself and the band. Don’t fall in the trap of thinking you HAVE to use the gear because you bought it and spent so much time putting the system together. Its time will come.
4. Same applies to guitars; you don’t need to show off your entire collection. Remember that unless you have a tech tuning them for you before very song, they are likely to need a tweak before the song, which stalls the performance. In some cases, if you are playing some songs in different tunings, a dedicated guitar for that can make sense, but if you can retuned faster than switching, stick to the one. Set breaks can be an opportune time to switch as well. Learn to play your material on any of your instruments and in standard tuning, no just the open ones for specific songs.

Keep in mind that for most non-musicians, who generally compose you audience, they neither understand or care about your new rare-bird 1950-something with the PAF humbuckers and the Bigsby vibrato. That’s guitar geek talk for a select group. Regular folk just want to hear and see you having fun and share that feeling.

As Fred Thériault, Senior Vice-President for Long and McQuade told me wisely many years ago, when I worked for Yorkville Sound, “People listen with their eyes.” He did not mean that derogatorily for the audience. It spoke a truth about people’s expectations that I still need to remind myself of from time to time.

A groovy gig at Relish last night. Thanks to friends current and reconnected, family and strangers who stayed for the show.

This week’s topic is the venue where we performed, and the special place it holds for me in my own long, strange trip.

Owned by Joanne Clayton, Relish Bar and Grill opened nearly 11 years ago. Through the years, it has stuck with its slogan: Come for the food, Stay for the music!

The bar is a nexus for original talent, not only on stage where live music plays 7 days a week, but also on staff, as most employees are performers themselves. The most special of these musical nights for me, and led to Félix and the Cats directly, is Stir It Up Sundays, the weekly open mic hosted by my band mate, Paul Brennan, and David MacMichael, who earned his place as an honourary Cat last night, subbing for NEMO on bass.

What distinguishes SIUS from many other jams I’ve been to, is the strong emphasis on original material. To my knowledge, this is unique in Toronto, where the typical open mic features many cover, blues jams and the like. Relish is different, and full credit go to Paul and David, and encouraged by Joanne for curating that development.

Stir It Up Sundays was instrumental (groan!) in encouraging me to write new songs. A complimentary remark from David and Paul about a new tune always made my week. So I kept writing and launching them, polished or half-baked, most every Sunday night. The support, and counsel, of all the musicians that attend the open mic also meant a lot.

Speaking of which, there are so many regular attendees of SIUS that need mentioning, and I hope you will make some time to come out to listen to them. Here are some of my recent favourites (apologies if I missed you…I will do this again for you too!).

David MacMichael: the co-host and an incredible songwriter. David fronts the Danger Bees, plays bass for a variety of bands, including Sam Taylor and the East End Love, and guitar for Jonathan Roy. His songs blend angst, humour and sensitivity over a sophisticated yet approachable musical base (yes, get them on iTunes).

Michael Cuddy: Michael’s lovely phrasings and haunting lyrics stick with you long after hearing. Sink or Swim and Motel Kalifornya are great examples, but he also shows his wry humorous side in Tweet.

Arch Rockefeller: I can imagine playing with Arch is a happy challenge. Great lyrics over sometimes unusual chordal and rhytmic changes show Arch’s virtuosity and imagination. Check out his material here.

Jace Traz: When Paul Brennan is away,  Jace fills in with David. In true renaissance style, Jace is a talented visual artist, a great drummer, also with the above mentioned Sam Taylor and the East end Love, and a clever and gifted songwriter, with such powerfully catchy songs as Pistachio Girl and Start to Cry. I never tire of hearing any of Jace’s songs. A Sunday night without Jace at Relish is incomplete.

Will Meadows: Will’s love of country music is obvious when he is performing traditional bluegrass tunes, singing and playing with taste and intricacy. Will is a superb multi-instrumentalist, and rises to any challenge as a solid and capable sideman.

Tyler Ellis: He makes it look so easy, as every line Tyler sings seems to fall naturally in place, and brings a smile with it. Here he is with Will Meadows on one of the SIUS shows.

Special guests: One never knows who will pop in to Stir It Up Sundays. Some nights, the regular gang is there, and other nights, surprising performers make their way to Relish, such as an all-bassoon group covering popular songs, or even visitors from far-away places like France or Arizona, just passing through. Once in a while, new talents discover SIUS and makes it a regular feature of their week, as it’s such a welcoming and supportive place to try out new ideas.

The long and short of it is this: whether you are a budding songwriter, a musician who wants to network or a fan of original music, there is no better place to go on a Sunday evening. Enjoy!

 

When I started to get back into this “music thing”, I decided I would do things differently from what was for me the traditional approach to paying the band. In the past, in all my bands, we would sit around at the end of the night waiting for the club to play the leader, who would in turn divvy up the proceeds to the rest of the group. This time around, I pay the musicians, and technicians if that is needed, before we hit the stage. It just seemed to make sense.

“Well, thanks, and goodbye!” is the usual joking reaction, especially when I first did it. It made me think, based on the reaction, how unusual this practice might be, at least in my own experience. Yet, it makes sense on so many levels.

First of all, as a singer/songwriter, especially with my name first in the band identity, it’s my reputation that’s out there and my responsibility to support it. My fellow musicians are my performing musical partners, but the financial risks are not theirs to share. That’s on me.

Second, why have others wait to be paid? Paying them up front is a tangible sign of confidence, makes them feel happy and allows then to leave at the end of the show as soon as convenient. And, it’s far less risky than keeping hundreds of dollars in one’s pocket all night.

In doing research for this blog, I found a great article by Ari Herstand in Digital Music News who says the same and more, and probably better than I have. I guess there a few original ideas, but many are worth repeating! It’s a great read, especially for other singer/songwriters.

Finally, a quick reminder that this Saturday, April 23 at Relish Bar and Grill is the possibly-annual Félix birthday show, starting at 9:30. We hope to see you there!

 

First, a note of thanks to all who came to the Billiards Academy show last Friday. Special shout out to fellow musicians Tim Cameron aka TC Folkpunk  and Carlos Morgan for your encouragement, to the staff at the Billiards Academy for a warm reception and to Johanne Britton and Chase Washington for making it possible (and the photo). These two run a first-class, professional show.

Coming soon, on Saturday, April 23, and I am back “home” at Relish for a birthday’s eve show, starting at 9:30. If it happens again next April, can we call it an annual event?

For this show, the awesomely talented David MacMichael will sit in with Paul Brennan and me, filling in on bass for the fabulous but unavoidably absent NEMO. David is a superb songwriter and a busy guy, fronting one of my favourite bands right now, the Danger Bees, as well as playing guitar for rising star Jonathan Roy. Thanks for doing this, David!

David and Paul are also the backbone of Stir It Up Sundays at Relish, the best open mic for original music in the city. I will always be grateful to them (and the restaurant) for the opportunity to come out of the writer-composer closet, and for their amazing ability to make everything I have played there sound good.

Owned and cheffed by Joanne Clayton, Relish is a unique venue in its genuine love of great food and music. As the band plays at 9:30, come earlier for a great chance to sample their tasty selection if tapas style dishes before the performance. The selection of beer is excellent as well.

Looking forward to seeing you all on the 23rd!

Every so often, I get asked about the guitars I play, or at least about some of them…

These two!

These guitars were designed and produced in Japan in the early ’80s on by the Tokai Gakki Company. I won’t go into the full history of this guitar, you can read more here.

The one on the right dates from 1982, while the one on the left is probably from the ’90s (no serial # on that one). Both are unusual in that the bodies are made of racing car engine grade aluminium, with chambers built in to reduce weight and increase resonance. The necks are standard maple with rosewood fingerboards. The name Talbo is an acronym for Tokay Aluminum Body. Many of the write-ups say the guitar was made popular by DEVO, and Tim Farris of INXS, but images in the wild are more elusive than for Nessie or Bigfoot.

My favourite detail is the headstock decal, which reads a syntactically awkward, “The New Legend Of The Guitar History.”

I love my Talbos for their great tone, easy playability and original look.

I hope to see you at the Billiards Academy on Friday, April 8 starting about 10. Also, check out my new Facebook avatar, courtesy of Powerpuff Yourself.

 

 

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!