Outlaw Bass Player

Your Weekly (or so) Outlaw Bass Player Update

This picture looks like it should have something to do with whiskey

Since signing on with the Carter McKay Band about three weeks ago, I've been very busy learning and practicing their set list. My first full show with them was on May 12 at Sam's Boat in Seabrook (as mentioned below in a prev post). After that we played on May 17th and May 19th at the Lee County Fair, and then at a private party in Seabrook on Sunday, May 20.

Coming up are shows at Sam's Boat on Richmond (in Houston) on Friday May 25 (tomorrow 7pm), and then at Southland Icehouse in Katy, Texas on Saturday  May 26th.

June isn't booked up yet, with a couple of exceptions. The band books most of its shows only a few days in advance, so it's hard to make arrangements for freelance work. I'd like to turn a few shows with Outlaw Lynn or maybe someone else as available, but that will take a measure of scheduling legerdemain. Basically any night I'm not either playing out or rehearsing is lost money.

In Toque news:

This past Tuesday, Toque played its final show with Brad Mangold on drums. This was a bittersweet event, as it's always good to jam with Brad, but it sucked to know that he was leaving the band and the Houston area. The evening was made somewhat better by two very important factors: First, we played the best live set we've ever played, from both technical and "feeling" perspectives. The set was only something like 12 songs, but we've been rehearsing them relentlessly for weeks and weeks, so we were dead on. Brought the house down, so to speak.

Second, we met Brad's potential replacement, a  chick. I got to play one song with her and her friend (her friend supplied the vocals and acoustic guitar). From this limited meeting, I get the impression that she can play, she can hold a good beat, and played smooth - a little less grungy than Brad, but a good, solid beat.

Toque will take a week off, and then resume operations on June 4th at our regular rehearsal space, with the new potential drummer in full audition mode. Once we find our drummer, the next challenge will be to bring on a lead guitarist (John will continue in a lead/rhythm role), so stay tuned for that.

Rehearsal and All That

Rehearsed with Toque tonight. I continue to be impressed by how tight this band sounds; all that practice time is paying off. We were together and "on" all night, and this was one of those practices in which no one really wants to stop.

We're gearing up for Brad's going-away show, which is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, May 22 at 10pm, at Headliners on Jones Road. Brad, our drummer and a major part of why this band has been clicking, is moving back home to Portland in a couple of weeks, and we want to have one big bash to send him on his merry way in style. We'll be playing all of our songs, originals and covers, probably in two sets. Everyone in the band will invite everyone we know, and invite all of them to invite everyone they know; we want to pack out the place.

Carter McKay Band

Played my first full show with the Carter McKay band last night at Sam's Boat in Seabrook. Where the heck is Seabrook, you ask? Good question. I'd never been there before; it's down near Deer Park in the Pasadena area.

I'd also never played a Sam's Boat before. It wasn't my all-time best performance, but it wasn't a train wreck either. I'd rate my own performance as okay, maybe nearing "good", but nowhere near where I want it to be. I learned basically their entire songlist, although there are some rough spots to work out.

The Carter McKay band is a country band, playing mostly current country, like Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean. The nucleus of the band is Will Carter and Morgan McKay, both vocalists and rhythm guitarists with a ton of talent. Everyone else playing with them (one guitarist, the drummer and yours truly) are either new to the band or walk-ons filling in for someone - although I was quite impressed with the guitar player.

We have a rehearsal today, and then on Thursday we're playing the Lee County Fair. On Saturday we're back at the Lee County Fair, opening for Kevin Fowler.

Elsewhere in the news, it would appear that Toque is nearing its inevitable conclusion. Brad, our drummer, is moving back to Portland in a couple weeks and leaving us without A) a drummer and B) a PA system. We might be able to make something work, but it would definitely take some time and considerable effort on our part to get back to the point where we're ready to tighten things up for recording.

The way it looks right now is this: Toque, at least in its current iteration, is about to wrap. But if we can find a drummer, a small PA, and probably also a lead guitarist (John would continue in a rhythm role), we can probably resuscitate the band into a viable 5-piece within a year.

So there's your Outlaw Bass Player update for this week. Now I'm gonna go get some sleep. Later!

Another Quick Update

Toque appears to be doing well at the moment. We have four gigworthy originals - all of which are outstanding in both lyric and music devlopment - and the fifth is in the works, close to being finished.

The reason this is important for the band is this: A couple of recent open-mic appearances didn't go so well. This wasn't our fault, but we came off looking unprofessional and unorganized. What happened was, some well-meaning friends of the band failed to properly organize their own events and, by extension, ours. SImply put, someone didn't have his shit together, and it made us look bad. So, we've decided that we're probably not going to do a lot of open-mic nights in the near future - espcially at one particular venue.

Instead, we're going to focus on using our practice time to perfect our original material in preparation for recording an EP, which we hope to have completed some time in 2012. I really think the future of this band is in its originals; it's simply not a cover band.

And speaking of cover bands, the blues / classic rock project is on hold until further notice, due to some medical work that our singer is having done. We're talking neurosurgery here, which tells me that it's pretty serious and had to be done. So the rest of us are in a holding pattern, hoping Scott has a full and quick recovery - partly for Scott and partly for the project. This was a fun bunch to jam with, both on the blues side and classic rock.

I mentioned before that I'd been contacted by the Josh Ward Band, well I've also been in touch with the Carter McKay Band. I don't know why, but for whatever reason I never got back in touch with Josh Ward after my Honey and I went to see him play an accoustic set at a restaurant in Cypress. We enjoyed his work and I particularly liked his choice in songs, but I jsut never called them back. I think one thing was that they evidently do a lot of one or two man accoustic shows, so the bookings on their website don't necessarily reflect how much I'd be playing. Or, maybe it was something else that I'm not even aware of yet. I haven't ruled out playing with them, though. We shall see.

As for Carter McKay, I was referred by a good friend in the business. I'm told there are some issues there, but I'll leave that alone. I can deal with a lot of "issues" if the money is right. I'm pretty seriously considering working with them. Again, we shall see.

And there's the Outlaw Bass Player's update for this week. I'll keep you posted as things develop.