grabbin' handfulls of the shit

Sunday nights playing at the Retreat in Brunswick area bit of a treat. One of those rooms that gets a great sound. (No place for trembling acoustic turns though- you would be EATEN by the CHAMBER!). People come to the place to sit and listen to MUSIC and thats a thing to be marvelled at and encouraged in this crude, fly by night world.
The amazing Go Go Sapien did a set first. All dressed in white. Drums,bass, guitars times two and keys. All singing. Springsteen-esque pop arrangements with stunning, dynamic block chords and big choruses. Will can only write classics. Emily is a powerful , engaging presence, the rhythm section turns on a dime for the complex arrangements and Call Walker places cool licks and turnarounds and solos at will where they have most effect, and sings , all the while dressed in a white knee length kaftan/hospital dressing gown. Something (off) white (and crumpled) anyway. They all carry it off so well. Can't fail to be a name dropped by many trendy lips within the next few MONTHS!

Then we did a long set from 9:00 to 10 :45 or so.
I was playing my 12 string OLP. I love my OLP. It passed the test. So LOUD, though the sound has a PLANGENT quality. And you know that is needed sometimes. I need it all the time now. It melds with Stus Rickenbacker in a most pleasant way.
I turned around and was shocked to see Stu Thomas wearing white sunglasses a la Corey. Stu is a fashion daredevil.
We played about five brand new , unrecorded songs and they have now all passed , unscathed, and emboldened into this dimension. We have to run them around the fields a few more times before recording. Some have very delicate dynamics. Highly strung though. Suspended, augmented , flattened, sharpened AND diminished in the chordal voicings. Going for TUNES , grooves and choruses. Two guitars , bass and drums. MIDNIGHTS CATS, I DON'T WANNA KNOW MYSELF, MT GAMBIER NIGHT, PLAYIN' CHICKEN (thats a song about playing another song- rock'n'roll is where I hide) and FIELD RECORD ME were the tunes we let fly with. All peppered through the set. We continue to rehearse and arrange the stuff .

A few years ago I was talking to a keyboard payer and asked about how he chose the notes he was playing. He told me he had once had a teacher who just sat at the keyboard and said to him , "JUST GRAB HANDFULLS OF THE SHIT!"

I found this to be incredibly inspiring and use it as my credo for writing and recording and performing music. I grab handfulls of the shit. We did a song on "we wuz curious" called " crime and underwear". It was a song about losing your voice or you ability to articulate things ar at least, your conviction. I sing " I used to sit at the table and grab handfulls of the shit! I COULD grab handfulls of the shit! Now I dunno- my reach is longer but my hands are soft! Its like I know what I'm touchin' and it spooks me! All I knew was the beginning- now I'm fixed on the end! i was hurlin' thunderbolts at will!"

It was a song about turning the corner.Artistically.The world our music goes into, thats another story that I cant really influence. Playing shows in clubs to people who come along and take a ride with you for a while. Even though you're grabbing handfulls of the shit and throwing out a lot of new stuff, thats great!

We'll be back at the Retreat on Sunday 28th March at 9pm again