Hiya!
-I’m going to be filling in on bass (being a hired gun so to speak) with the band White Noise Friday night at Dominicks in Oswego,NY. I filled in with them back in January at the same place. Their set list is as varied as ever (see my post from 1/24 to get a gist of it) and it should be fun-plus I’m making some money so that always helps! š
-I’ll be back sometime Saturday with a show recap & hopefully some pics. If you happen to be in the area, drop by and say hi! I’ll have my hair tied back and glasses on-I have to read music from a stand ( I can learn songs-for the most part-quick but re-learning 40+ songs taxes even my memory). It’s going to be a good time. I should have some pics too.
-Wish me good luck!
*READ WWJ’s SHOW REVIEW IN THE 1ST COMMENT*
WAYNE W. JOHNSON 
Hiya!
-It still feels a tad weird doing a show recap on my own blog instead of the CAROLINE BLUE one, but I’ll be one over there soon enough. š
-A few weeks ago I received an email from George from White Noise. They wanted to know if i could fill in on bass for their show @ Dominicks in Oswego, NY on Friday 10/2/09. I wasn’t doing any shows w/ CAROLINE BLUE that night so I said sure. The money sure helped on that decision too š I was sent a list of 45 songs to work on. having filled in for them before, I was at least familiar with a chunk of their list-but I still had to re-learn all of it-as well as work on about 10 new tunes i’d never touched before. In addition, unlike the last time I filled in, CAROLINE BLUE has been pretty busy as of late. On top of that, the show fell on month’s end @ my work-where we usually get slammed pretty hard. Also keep in mind I didn’t get a chance to reharse w/ the band at all-I just had to learn the songs and we’d see what happens on stage.
-I find fill in work to always be an adventure for several reasons. The main thing is, even if you know a song-the band could be playing it in a different key and/ or arrangement. That means being quick on your feet (so to speak) on stage. Once you start the song, you’re committed so if there’s a problem it has to be fixed pronto.
-White Noise likes a lot of variety in their setlist. Here’s what was played this night.
SET 1
-Rockin in the Free World (Neil Young)
-Found Out About You (Gin Blossoms)
-No Matter What (Badfinger)
-Signs (Tesla)
-Bad Moon Rising (CCR)
-Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears For Fears)
-Pink Houses (John Cougar Mellencamp)
-Your Love (The Outfield)
-When I Come Around (Green day)
-Surrender (Cheap Trick)
-Cumbersome (Seven mary Three)
-Evil Ways (Santana)
SET 2
-Word Up (Cameo)
-A Horse with No Name (America)
-Born on the Bayou (CCR)
-Hey Jealousy (Gin Blossoms)
-We’re an American Band (Grand Funk Railroad)
-867-5309 (Tommy Tutone)
-Run Around (Blues traveller)
-I Ran (Flock of seagulls)
-Hungry Like The Wolf (Duran Duran)
-Down Under (Men at Work)
-Only Wanna Be With You (Hootie & The Blowfish)
-I Melt With You (Modern English)
-I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles)
-Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison)
-Turn the Page (Bob Seger)
-My Own Worst Enemy (Lit)
-Hash Pipe (Weezer)
-She Hates me (Puddle of Mudd)
SET 3
-Keep Your Hands to Yourself (Georgia satellites)
-500 Miles (The Protectors)
-Talking in Your Sleep (The Romantics)
-Fight For Your Right (Beastie Boys)
-My Sharona (The Knack)
-A varied list to be sure! I worked on it the best I could and got myself ready. I got out of work late, but already had my car packed up just in case. I still arrived w/ 20 minutes before show time. I got all the gear in, set up the vid camera (of course!) and relaxed for about 5 minutes before we went on.
-In the middle of the 1st song came a small problem. Since I didn’t have all the songs memorized, I brought a music stand & tab for all the songs just in case I lost my place and/or didn’t have the song memorized. Course, if I’d kept up on these songs like should have off & on it wouldn’t have been a problem. Anyways, part way thru the 1st song, the house lights went off-replaced by a few green lights. The stage was a lot darker and it was harder to read the sheet music-but you make due you know?
-White Noise was running the PA from the stage. It was a nice little setup. Only thing is, we didn’t do a line check before going on. As a result, based on the video, the guitar was pretty loud. If the guitar was playing something different from the bass, it was ok-but if they were the same, I couldn’t be heard. One song was “Word Up”-which has slap bass-something I’ve never done before. It was pretty basic, but it was still new for me to do.
-Although none of the pics showed it, I did play some of the songs without a pick so as not to totally offend the bassists out there (HA!). I can use my fingers, but I’m better w/ a pick and when cramming songs, I went to what know best.
-Every fill-in gig I’ve done (3 so far) there has been a song where you very quickly realize that you’re not in the same key as the other band members. This one was no exception. During “When I Come Around” I was playing it a 1/2 step lower so I had to transpose it on the spot. Likewise, on “500 Miles” it’s in E but WN plays it in A. Okeybe! Found that out the hard way:) There were also some throw ins -“Turn the Page” was added a day before the show and “Evil Ways”, while on the original list, wasn’t on the final set list. But that’s ok-those things happen in hired gun gigs. I’ve done shows where a song will get called out-and I never even heard of it! You’re told “It’s in this key and it goes like this. Just follow me!” and away we go! Some of the arrangements this night were news to me too (like a drum solo in the middle of “Evil Ways” but again, you make due. It’s all part of the fun per say.
-I’m glad we got to play “Talking in Your Sleep” this time-I love that bass line! Simple yet very groovin! “My Sharona” is fun to play too. On “She Hates Me”, CB plays that too-but there was an arrangement change on it towards the end which briefly caught me off guard.”I Ran”-the way I play it-can actually be an endurance tester and speaking of which, the “tester” for me was “I Saw Her Standing There.” Great bass line that is constantly in motion s that’s a endurance tester as wel-especially considering that WN repeats a few parts twice that aren’t on the Beatles version-that was a nice piece of awareness that hit me (HA!)
-There was a decent crowd here but as time went in it dwindled till there was only a handful of people left-hence why the 3rd set was short-there were several more songs on the list. I just relaxed & took things in stride. All I had to do was play tonight. This one guy came up to me before we started-saying he saw CAROLINE BLUE @ D.S. Humphreys and was looking forward to this band tearing it up-even after I told him CB & WN play in totally different styles. He did have a CB CD in his car and thought it was great so that was great to hear. š
-The tape footage was too dark via the lights for me to take still shots w/-or even to use for vid clips down the road. maybe next time. Thanks to both George & Jim for having me fill-in-it was fun and I had a good time. If you need me to fill-in again, let me know (schedual permitting). Thanks also to Malisa for taking some pics. Maybe I’ll be doing more fill-in shows-as long as it doens’t conflict w/ CAROLINE BLUE stuff of course š
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