Well, not really headlining. Toque played at Headliners Sports Bar in Jersey Village last week - Tuesday, January 10. It was a kinda open mic thing, real informal. We went on about 11 and did two 5-song sets. Some of our songs we did well, others not so well - but we didn't bomb any songs, and the crowd was with us the whole time (mostly they were friends of Jax and the band anyway, which always helps).
Among the songs we played were Black Velvet (Alannah Miles), Zombie (The Cranberries), What I Am (Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians), Such Great Heights (Iron & Wine), Are You Gonna Be My Girl (Jet), and Free Fallin' (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers). As always with live music, some songs were more fun to play than others, and we played some better than others. My most glaring mistakes were on No Rain, where that beboppy bass line got me all tripped up.
For this show, I played my Squier VM Precision bass (see below), and I ran it through my usual gig rig: Marshall MB450 head and Fender Rumble 410 cabinet, with no additional effects. I set up the Marshall's footswitch, but I never switched it out of the Classic setting. I didn't direct at all and I think I kept the volume around 3.5, as it's a relatively small club. The crowd were mostly young (20s), although there may have been a few folks there in their early 30s (and by early 30s, I mean 29 or so).
It was a good night overall; a good opportunity to rip out a decent 45-minute set and get a good feel for what this band feels like onstage.
A study in concentration (above). Jax is probably looking at her husband, Chance, while John is deep in zen-like concentration.
This would be the perfect band shot, except that Brad is obscured. I like pictures like this, as we're each doing our own thing, in overall unison (hopefully).
Jax doing her thing, probably during one of the more melodic songs, where she gets to "sing pretty". She's a classically-trained singer with a magnificent range and a trainload of talent and versatility, which enables the band to play just about anything we want, instead of being stuck in 90s alternative or some other genre.
Slapping low over the bridge on my new Squier VM Precision, probably during "Zombie". I look old.
A great shot of John in mid solo. John is the real deal: a talented and versatile guitarist with the patience to work with knuckleheads like me. He plays a Cort guitar with EMG pickups. When I played it, I couldn't tell the difference between it and a Paul Reed Smith.
Another great shot, this one of Brad Mangold. Brad is a hardworking, experienced professional who takes charge of the beat and delivers every time. Whatever we're playing, Brad is on top of it.
