My band: Axes of Ego
Offline My band's web site is here. Some MP3s and videos are available through the blog on that site. Our latest performance was unrepresentative of our usual stuff -- it was completely acoustic.
There is a house concert circuit in northern British Columbia -- and, for all I know, beyond. People make their homes available as small concert venues and there are performers who travel the circuit, doing small acoustic gigs in living rooms, rec rooms, etc.
A woman here in Hazelton makes her house available as such a venue. There was no act schedules for the last week in January so she decided to bring in a local band. Steve, our bass player, suggested to her that she get us to do it. She agreed and we did it. We're usually a loud rock'n'roll band but we traded in our electric instruments for acoustic guitars. Our drummer pared his kit down to just a snare, high hat, and cymbal and used brushes. Steve put aside his electric bass and used his big double bass. (I'll post again when I have the pics.)
Since the sound and space were smaller, we called ourselves Hatchets of Hubris instead of Axes of Ego for this gig.
We played two sets of ten songs. Steve recorded the performance with a single mic in the loft above the performance space. I did some editing and added some compression and I've uploaded the first ten MP3s to our blog.
I'll post again when I get the second set edited and uploaded.
Reality is the graveyard of the gods.
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The second set has been edited and uploaded
Reality is the graveyard of the gods.
Thanks for that mate - good sounds from you guys and seriously great song selection there. That stuff's right up my street.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
Thanks. It's good to hear that. We normally do the loud danceable rock'n'roll thing so it was interesting for us to do something different for this gig.
Reality is the graveyard of the gods.
Like that bluesy stuff, also Wild Horses. My local pub has bands 4 nights and it's a dangerously tempting 78m (yes, I measured) away...
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
Wild Horses has special meaning for me. Before I was really aware of it as a Rolling Stones song, I was familiar with it as performed by a local band. Some friends of mine, a little older than me, had a band called "Us Guys" that had been active in the local scene since the '70s. A few years ago, they played a New Year's Eve dance here, which my wife and I attended. They played "Wild Horses", of course, and we slow-danced to it. When the band took a break, I noticed that the singer, who was the band member I knew best, seemed to not be feeling well. I went to see how he was. He said his stomach was really bothering him but he came back to do the next set.
A month or so after that, I found out he'd been diagnosed with stomach cancer. I went to see him in the hospital and it was pretty clear that he was in really bad shape. We talked a bit; he thanked me for checking on him at the dance; I told him that I care about him. A few weeks later, he was dead.
When I sing that song, in my head I'm hearing him sing it. I don't generally say anything about it to the audience -- those who know will know without my making it obvious -- but I'm remembering my friend, Arnie, when I sing those words.
His drummer, Al, is now drumming for my band. Without Arnie, his band sort of fell apart. Our previous drummer was only 19 or 20 and she left us to go to culinary school. I asked Al if he'd like to fill in for a gig after she left. It turned out that he was itching to get back into playing and we were looking for a drummer, so...
Man, I wish there were more venues for live music where I live. It's getting to the point that we're thinking of playing the local bar even if they don't want to pay us, just so that we can get out and play a little more often.
Reality is the graveyard of the gods.
"I Ain't Superstitious" was written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Howlin' Wolf. I like Howlin' Wolf's version a lot better than a later cover recorded by the Jeff Back Group with Rod Stewart on lead vocal. I respect the musicians in the Jeff Beck Group but I really prefer the Howlin' Wolf arrangement. Our version is loosely based on the version Wolf recorded with Clapton et al on the album The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions. Great album, by the way. Other Howlin' Wolf songs I want to start doing with the band soon are "Sittin' On Top of the World" and "Wang Dang Doodle".
Reality is the graveyard of the gods.