-About 9 days ago I received a message from George-the singer/guitarist for White Noise-asking if I could fill in on bass for 2 shows. One is on 10/30 and the other is on 9/18-only 9 days away. This would be 3 sets of cover tunes. I said sure-I’ve jammed w/ them 2 times in the past and they’re great guys.Plus i could use the money 🙂 I received the set list 4 days before the show from Jim (drummer) and went to work. There were a bunch of repeats from the last 2 shows-but also some new songs. I was a little sick this past week so I didn’t really dive into it until Thursday-2 days before the show.

-Whenever doing hired gun shows, the main thing to remember is the knowing the key of the songs and any changes to the arrangements. White Noise tunes to Eb so that was cool (I normally play in Eb)-but most of the songs they cover are in standard tuning. Not a problem-except I showed up to the show w/ my bass in standard tuning. Luckily I asked some questions about key during set up and quickly fixed that. One thing that helps reduce the pressure at White Noise shows is I can bring a music stand so if I don’t have the song down, I can just read the music while playing along.

-Dominick’s moved since the last time I was there. It’s now where Cheers used to be in Scriba. I got there a little later than I wanted to but it was a pretty relaxed atmosphere so I just got things set up. First issue was lights-there basically weren’t any :). Not that I was expecting some big light show-but the only lights were 4 of them in the ceiling-and I couldn’t aim the light to my stand. I actually had to get the dome light from my car to use (see photos for a pic of this). The 2nd problem was where to put my camera-which was now acting like a camcorder since my actual one isn’t working. No biggie though.

-We started at around 9:40 or so. Here’s the set list

SET 1
-When I Come Around-Green Day
-You Really Got Me-The Kinks
-Keep Your Hands to Yourself-Georgia Satellites
-I Ran-Flock of Seagulls
-Last Dance W/ Mary Jane-Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
-Talking in Your Sleep-The Romantics
-Something So Strong-Crowded House
-Only Wanna Be With You-Hootie & the Blowfish
-Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong-The Spin Doctors
-Bad Moon Rising-CCR
-R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.-John Mellencamp
-Found Out About You-Gin Blossems
-Hash Pipe-Weezer

SET 2
-Hey Jealousy-Gin Blossems
-Evil Ways-Santana
-The Breakup Song-Greg Kihn
-No Matter What-Badfinger
-867-5309-Tommy Tuotone
-Living After Midnight-Judas Priest
-Runaround-Blues Traveller
-Purple Rain-Prince
-All Day & All of the Night-The Kinks
-Surrender-Cheap Trick
-Play That Funky Music-Wild Cherry
-Cumbersome-Seven Mary Three
-Kryptonite-Three Doors Down
-Rockin in the Free World-Neil Young

SET 3
-Word Up-Cameo
-500 Miles-The proclaimers
-She Hates Me-Puddle of Mudd
-I Saw Her Standing There-The Beatles
-Born on the Baijo-CCR
-I Used to Love Her-Guns N Roses
-Turn the Page-Bob Seger
-We’re an American Band-Grand Funk Railroad
-Fight For Your Right-Beastie Boys

ENCORE
-Paranoid-Black Sabbath

-For the most part, I knew what the changes were in regards to keys. For ex., with the Hootie song, it’s in F# but they do it in G. 500 Miles is in E but they do it in A. I didn’t know till we hit the stage that “You Really Got Me”-which is in G-was being performed in A. Not a problem. There were a few times where I would say “So that’s how you guys end the song.” 🙂

-I had a problem hearing the monitors thru out the night. Having ear plugs didn’t help but I have to wear them-I don’t want to damage my hearing further. In one of the pics I made a goofy face at one of them 🙂

-George told me that he’s read my reviews from the last 2 times I filled in and enjoyed them-especially the parts about sudden key transpositions on stage and performing songs that I was totally unprepared for. Did that happen at this show? Do fish like water? (HA!). That will tend to happen at almost any hired gun gig where you don’t get together to jam at least once before the show-which is how it is when I work w/ these guys. They hire me and I come in as prepared as I can. In the 3rd set, they started playing “I Used to Love Her” and I’m like-“What’s that?” I was basically taught the song on stage as we were playing it. I snagged it before the 2nd chorus.

-In the 2nd set, a woman asked me if we did any ballads. On the list was “Every Rose has it’s Thorn” so I told her we did it and went and told the guys what she wanted. George mentioned “Purple Rain” and said the chords but unless I’m going deaf (well, I am but that’s another story-HA!), I don’t recall hearing that we were going to play it. So we get ready to play it and they start “Purple Rain”. I was like “This doesn’t sound right-and then figured out it was a different song when they hit the F# chord. So I basically had to learn the song on the spot. Their arrangements are pretty simple so it’s not that hard-per say-to pick up. Having said that….

-I think they were getting their frustrations w/ their past bassists out on me cause then they called out a Beatles song. Just kidding 🙂 Before I got the list I started going over the old list and that was one of them. It’s a cool-and busy-bass line. While I didn’t play it as well as if I’d come in prepared for it. I think I did OK. I should memorize it-just great bass playing on that song.

-Dominick’s is a small place-had a decent crowd there. One guy recognized me from CAROLINE BLUE & asked me “Isn’t this stuff pretty “light” for you?” I don’t mind-I like a pretty wide range of music. Plus I was getting paid 🙂 Also, as I said earlier, George & Jim are cool low key guys-no ego/substance abuse/arrogance here. We did get an encore. “Paranoid” wasn’t on the list but I’d performed that with CAROLINE BLUE so-while I wasn’t playing the proper bass line-I got by while playing the guitar part. Camera ran out of power a few times. We actually had a power issue on stage before the 2nd set. We couldn’t get power to the amps.

-I want to thank both George & Jim for calling me to fill in this night. I’ll be playing w/ them on 10/30 at Greene’s in Oswego. They already told me they’ll be loading up on 80’s stuff. Should be a lot of fun. Hope you like the pics