UnCharted gig at Chaps and other news

How has everyone been?

I have been busy with non-musical related things: graduate summer class on technology (which provides more credentials for my other website and pursuits), maintaining and repairing my house, and working out financial issues (nothing bad, just streamlining everything).

I have news from the band fronts, and potential more bands to play with (if the price is right).

Recently (June 22) UnCharted played a gig in Buxton at Chaps Saloon-- yes, another country bar.

We were situated on one side of the room and had a longview of the bar and pool tables. The audience was maybe 20 people at most (and all at the bar) while we played. There was a lack of communication between our singer (who showed up at exactly 9p when we thought we had to start) and the owner-- we were supposed to play at 8p! We started playing at 9:20 and flew through Set 1 without a pause (no banter needed since everyone was drinking and watching a Bruins game).

Aside from the obvious scheduling issue, the biggest problem with this gig was the sound. This is our first gig with the incorporation of the awesome Korg M50. I purposefully built various soundbanks for many songs and thought I had mixed them well-- once our drummer got a hold of the signal, they became overpowering and the bass player was angry throughout the night (my bass overpowered his). I made a few changes here and there but I knew a little equalization on the main mixer would do the trick-- it never happened. At least the money happened at the end despite lack of a crowd.

My rig has certainly grown these past few years. I have 2 keyboards, a laptop controlling set lists on a monitor in front of the singer and bass player, my own 12 channel mixer for a stereo mix of both keyboards (and why I can use a headset as my monitor), and I have pedals for each keyboard (soon to be a midi pedal as well). I have the complete system-- I just need a cooperative band and we need someone to mix us properly per song.

In other news, I auditioned for a hip hop band on Tuesday called The JumpOff. The keys were minimal and so were the gigs they have planned. I was called yesterday to join the Tina Kelley Band (the country band I helped win a few awards)-- they wanted me for a gig this weekend at the same Chaps Saloon mentioned above. That fell through but I would be seeing them in the future..


 Sometimes a band is a very personal thing to some people. Once it becomes money, you realize that it doesn't matter what style you are playing or where you are playing so long as the cash flows. Every musician can enter "the zone" in any style of music-- I find little places to be creative in everything. The world is changing and the importance of any one band is all hype. Landing gigs and having agreed upon amounts is what makes the gears move-- let me see that in writing!

There is a lesson in all of this-- work hard, do not specialize and limit yourself, and have a proven track record if you want to live as a musician.

Otherwise-- just have fun!