Hail to the King!

As part of a friend's birthday celebrations, I went along to see Leo LaDell close the 2006 Otago Festival of the Arts. This time he'd recruited a fine couple of horn players. The set included a fair bit of Memphis-style stuff. It was a fantastic show, another testament to Leo's talent and versatility. He also managed to attract a better class of punter than the usual pub crowds.



University exams are here, so Chris and Anders are sequestered away to study. Thereafter they'll be heading out of town for the summer. Mike will have one of his research trawls coming up soon too, so Crosseyed Cat will be going into recess for a few months, dammit. I'll just have to come up with something else to keep the habit satisfied.

Empire Pub

On 29 September we played the Empire Pub. It was tough, since Bob had only been back in the country for a few days after heading home to the states for a month. And Anders had a heavy essay to do for his course, so we weren't all able to practice much together before the gig. That made it pretty heavy going, especially since we wanted to do 2 new songs. Kauia also had to pull out, with a sore throat.

It was also a fairly quiet night in town. Nevertheless, we managed to pull it off and had a small but appreciative audience. My mate Warren Saunders came along and did a great job of mixing sound for us.

I think we still all agreed that we never want to be so underprepared for a gig like that again.

Harmonica Blow Down

On 9 September, I played at the Harmonica Blow Down. Organised by Leo LaDell, it capitalised on the Charlie Musselwhite concert in town that night, so it had a pretty healthy crowd. I played a couple of songs in each of two sets, and had a thoroughly good time. Anders was second guitar, and he had a ball too.

The other harp players - Terry Ebeling, Matt Langley, and Leo were of course fabulous. And there were a few special guests there - nobody from Charlie's band, but ex All Black Josh Kronfeld got up and did a fine stint, and Midge Marsden's offsider Bullfrog Rata played a little guitar and sang. Midge was there at the bar, but looked pretty shagged after the Musselwhite gig, so didn't get onstage.

Another great blues gig, thanks to the catalytic power of Leo LaDell. Good on ya Leo.

Musos Club

On 28 August we played the Dunedin Musicians club. We had a great time. Kauia Moriarty sang with us again, as did Geva Downey, and King Leo Ladell popped along, so we dragged him up to play some of his fantastic chicago-style guitar.

Gig Pictures

I just got a DV tape of some of the gig from one of my workmates and burned it to DVD for everyone. Here are a few frame captures.



Mike

Boog and I

Action!

Anders and Geva


Anders

Me in full blow

Kauia


Preaching the Blues

You have to love a band with backing vocals - and pretty girls!

First Gig Feedback

A few people have said they really enjoyed the gig - especially the Bigbang covers! Darryl, the manager of The Backstage has emailed to talk about more gigs, so the evening was successful!

It's a semester break at Otago University, so Anders and Chris are out of town for a week or two. But the lads are red hot to keep practicing, write and add more material. We'll be back at it next week.

First Gig

Finally the night has come.

We played at a venue called The Backstage, in Bath St. I'm so glad I insisted on a soundcheck when I found Stu our sound guy would be available after all. I had to bunk off from work and it took some effort to score enough mics and sus the PA, but we would have sounded like crap if we hadn't. The venue is a pretty good space and stage, although the sound's a little on the bright side.

It was a wickedly cold and drizzly night, being the winter solstice. Bob's other band Dragonfly warmed up for us, to a pretty small crowd, but they were good. Nice original rock that reminded me a little of Fur Patrol. I missed the middle of their set and went for a walk. I hate hanging around the venue making small talk before a gig. The anticipation distracts me horribly. I think it used to make me power drink, but I'm too old for that shit. Most of the time anyway.

A bunch of family and friends had arrived by ten thirty, when we got up to start. I had two new additions to my gear. A tambourine, and a set of earplugs. Boy I am getting old. We opened with some comfortable blues tunes that Mike and I have been playing for years and jamming with Anders for months. I was pretty pleased with my harp sound, I had my amp mic'd though the PA.

Then I strapped on my strat and played "Curious George", a tune I wrote for my daughter and dad. That was weird. Mike asked me to play lead in the middle, which was scary, and I actually had to fight the tears towards the end. I think it went down okay. We've been adjusting the structure of the tune all week. It'll be great to fill the set with more originals. I'm losing my fear of not being a strictly blues band. We'll be what we'll be.

I started Rufus Thomas's '"Walking the Dog" on guitar, and played some more lead. It felt great, and was scary to stretch myself on another instument, but I don't think I sucked too bad.

Then in the middle of the set, we played some other new material, including some covers of Bigbang, a Norwegian band. I really don't know how to describe their material. Folky, bluesy rock I guess. It's a stretch, but a lot of fun. Mike's stepdaughter Kauia joined us to sing a great version of Junior Wells's "Little by Little", and did a fantastic job of bv's on some other stuff, along with Anders' girlfriend Geva. One of the gang from work video'd Kauia's spell, so I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy.

Boog, the guitarist from White Hot and Blue also showed up. It was good to see him again, and hear of his recent adventures in his new band The Boogiemen. Sounds like he's enjoying the band leader thing too. It's a lot of work, but rewarding. He got up and played harp on Little Charlie and the Nightcats' "Thinking With The Wrong Head".

It was all really well received by the crowd, even though they were mainly family and friends. Among the band, there was a feeling that the set softened around half way, then firmed up again, but after all, it was a 90 minute set! We were really stoked by it all, especially since Crosseyed Cat has only been together for three weeks.

New band, new intruments, new material. How could it not be a buzz? It was a great night, and augurs well for the future.

Practice and Execution

This Tuesday we practiced. We covered around 9 of the 15 tunes we set as a target, and I think the enormity of the task before us has struck home: Assembling a band and a set for a gig within just two weeks. We want to be tight.

The additional factor is Mike's youthful ward Kauia. She's going to sing a number with us, so that took a little work. She sounds great, so thats one less worry.

Then last night, we went to the Empire to crowd test the lineup. I put the newer, more challenging material into the set, since it needed the practice, and because we've been jamming a lot of the 12 bar stuff there for months anyway and needed a change.

Towards the end of the set, Mike blew his amp, and mine didn't sound too healthy, although I suspect that may just be the amount of gain I had on my mic. I'll have to check it out this weekend.

I'm thrilled to report that the crowd called for an encore, and we all had a blast. By the time we were into it, the crowd would have been 40% local musicians, so we couldn't have asked for a more discerning bunch! I managed to get all the new lyrics right, and Mike and Anders played well, but most encouragingly, Bob and Chris are obviously starting to work together and gel. It was a valuable boost to our confidence for next Thursday: The gig!

Crosseyed Cat

We're a band at last, named - as all great blues bands are - after a Muddy Waters tune. There are probably other blues bands out there with the same moniker, but not in Dunedin. Not this decade. So let me introduce to you the other members of Crosseyed Cat:

Dr. Mike Beentjes. Guitar/Vocals. Mike and I have been playing together for over 20 years now, starting off as a couple of Zoology Students jamming in his flat, then in student band The Mudflat Houserockers from 1986 to 1988, then White Hot and Blue from about 1990 to 2004. We've had a lot of adventures over the last twenty something years. Like Brownie says to Sonny: "That's a long time to be with a man, ain't it?"



Anders M Jensen. Guitar/Vocals. The Oslo Kid. At a jam night featuring mostly wannabes and untalents last year, Anders stood out like a Keith Richards lick against a background of white noise. We started jamming at the Empire pub, and it immediately became imperative that we form a band. So far I've introduced him to Little Charlie and the Nightcats and Freddie King. He's introduced me to Vidar Busk and Bigbang. Not a bad swap.


Bob Zammit. Drums/watch this space. I met Bob in the classified section of dunedinmusic.com. Bob rocks. When we got him along to the Empire, he fit the bill immediately. Fresh from the states, he had a few rock bands over there and ran his own music shop. He's classically trained, y'know.

Chris Miller. Bass/Tuba. Our newest discovery. Chris is still studying music and plays in a local brass band. He hasn't played a lot of blues, so he's doing well for a kid who has been dragged into the deep end. Can't wait to put that tuba to use in the band.

So far, we've had a couple of gentle practices. Plenty of work to do on finding the Crosseyed Cat groove, but some very interesting things have emerged. I think we're going to have a much more original sound than White Hot and Blue, my last band. Secondly, the tune I just wrote for my daughter Georgia really came together. We're all looking forward to the next few months.

Let It Roll!

Lucky I'm so busy writing and editing at work, otherwise I think I'd go crazy.

Anders, Bob, Mike and I are all fit to burst. In the past few weeks we've jammed with some interested bass players, but nobody has leapt out as being the man (or woman) for the job. And it's only been jamming, no real working on tunes. I think the highlight of last week was that I broke my first guitar string in public. I'd like to work on my guitar skills and play a little in the band.

I also saw that Boog, our old guitarist's new band is playing in town this weekend. Stand back, here come The Boogiemen! I hear they're good. I'd expect them to be. I'll have to drag the boys down there for a listen. It'd be great for the new boys to sit in if they could.

Hopefully our situation will resolve tomorrow. I renewed my membership of the Muso's club last week, and booked it out for a private jam/practice session. We're expecting a couple of highly rated bassists to come along, one recommended by Leo Ladell, and another who's been playing in the Otago University Capping Show with Bob, so the anticipation is high.

Even if the bass players don't work out, the four of us are just eager to really cut loose together for the first time, rather than be constrained by a pub jam night.

Feelers are out for gigs and we've had a couple of positive responses - we can do it as soon as we get this beast together.

Come On, Come On, Come On!

Nearly there!

My shoot around Melbourne and Sydney went well. I got to work with some great crew, including the fabulous cameraman Peter Nearhos. I also got to meet and interview the legendary Ron and Val Taylor, pioneers of underwater film and shark conservation.

But wait a minute, this is a blues blog! My point, and I do have one, is that I also managed to get a couple of nights off with Clay Hichens. Clay's a current affairs show producer for the ABC. He's also fine guitarist and great music enthusiast. We basically immersed ourselves in cd's, dvd's and intoxicants for 48 hours, and talked a lot of shit about music. He did manage to finish his garage conversion (into a music den), so I can't have been too big a distraction.

The real news is that it looks like we have our drummer. Bob Zammit is new to town, but comes with a lot of talent and experience. Now we just need to find a great bass player and we'll be on our way - once we all agree on a name of course. Bob is currently gigging in the Otago University cappng show, and is off to practice and approach someone he says is a very promising bass player tonight. Maybe this time next week we'll have a blues band and a practice under our belts! Like it says on the cover of Charlie Musselwhite's South Side Blues Band: Stand Back!

The New Paradigm

It's already two weeks since my Dad died. It's been strange. I haven't exactly been overcome with grief - Dad had a great life and his death didn't come as a shock, but I've been feeling run down, tired, and finding it hard to concentrate at work. I left early on Friday with a headache and fell asleep when I got home.

Last Wednesday I played a tune for him at the jam. He wasn't really into my music - he used to call my stereo a 'noise machine'. But the first time he saw me play with White Hot and Blue several years ago, he was beaming with surprise and pride. I think now I'll always play a tune for him. He taught me much - like: Life is change.

We played with a great local bass player and drummer last week, both happy to play with us, but committed to other bands. I think it finally dawned on us that we don't need to be so desperate about finding permanent members for the backline. Really good players just fit anyway, without weeks of practice. For now, we'll just use the best guys who are available for whatever gigs we get. I think the first step will be to play a freebie at the Dunedin Muso's club, just to get our set into shape. That'll be fun.

So this week, instead of jamming, Mike, Anders and I will go over the set list. We've jammed nearly 30 tunes or so already, so we'll take the best of that, shove in a few new ones, and some of our old original songs, and forge ahead. Who knows, some day soon, we may find a permanent drummer and bass player. Well, as permanent as things can be.

Then I'll be out of town for a few days around Easter. I'm heading to Australia to direct some interviews for a TV series. It'll give me a chance to catch up with my old mate Clay Hichens in Sydney. Clay and I got a great little 4 piece together for a while over there. It'll be fun to catch up with him.

Live On In Me Old Son

Nick Copeman

24 Jan 1924-20 March 2006

My Daddy

Gear

Time to talk setup. Can't say I've got anything fancy. I've used a Sure Green Bullet microphone for years. I run it through a Fender Performer 1000 amp. If I really need to stand out from the band, I use the amp foot pedal to switch to a gain channel. Recently I added a Holmes harp commander, which I love. It gives me some control the eq and gain, and also has a handy compressor to help kill feedback. Guitar amps aren't really made for microphones, so it matches the impedance and lets me get that nice fat tone I've been seeking. In small venues I can just run through the amp, or for larger rooms, can take a feed from the amp into the PA. The Harp Commander can also go straight into the PA. Saves lugging an amp and still gives me a pretty nice sound.

There are a few things I'd like to work on. I like the fender, but a good small to medium sized tube amp would be nice. My next long overdue move will be a volume pot on the mic. I'd like to play around with other effects a little more when I get the time. I went to a workshop with Kiwi harp man Brendan Power, and he demo'd a lot of cool tricks with delays and choruses, but at the end of the day, all we really want is a killer tone.

I mainly use Lee Oskar harps, although I really like the Hohner Special 20. I switched to Lee Oskars 'cause back then they were the only ones I could get replacement reed plates for, so I've pretty much stuck with them. Occasionally I clean them in an ethanol solution - Vodka and a cotton bud is pretty good.

I used to haul everything around in a leather briefcase, harps in their plastic cases, but just bought a little box and packed it with foam for the harps. It's a cheaper solution than a purpose built harp touring box but it's not super robust. We'll see how long it lasts. I think any gig money I make this year will be going into gear.

Star Players

This week's Wednesday jam went well again. We had a crack at a few songs we've never tried before, like Little Charlie and the Nightcats' "Clothes Line", and Junior Wells' "Little by Little". Definitely stuff to work on and put in the set list. No serious candidates for our new rhythm section among the jammers, although one could have the job if he wanted it. Glen Krawczyc popped along with a couple of my other workmates from NHNZ. Glen used to play bass in big time Aussie band "Icehouse", but of late has been putting in a lot of time with electronic drum kit and ipod. He got up for his first time drumming with flesh musicians and really nailed it. Shame he's only in town for a few months finishing a documentary, or we'd have press ganged him into our lineup.

I've been meaning to check out Leo LaDell, an American bluesman who has moved into town recently. So, last night I got off the couch, called Anders and dragged myself into town. Pity Mike didn't make it, but I'm damn glad I did. Leo is awesome, as a guitarist he has a great classic Chicago style and he's a mighty fine singer and harp player too. Dunedin stalwarts Ivan Hamilton, Jack Hiku and Nic Leeden from Sufficiently Breathless were backing him up, and Nic played some pretty blistering blues himself. That was great, since I've really only heard him play immaculate rock guitar. After Nic filled Leo in on my pedigree in a most generous fashion, they invited Anders and I to sit in for a few songs. We were pretty nervous, not wanting to show ourselves up, but I'm happy to say we didn't embarass ourselves too much. It was a lot of fun. The guys were making suggestions as to who we could recruit into our band, and it reminded me what a great musical community we have in Dunedin. I have to get out more.

Looks like blues is undergoing a little revival in town. Hallelujah. It's good to have more souls in the congregation.

My kind of Podcast

Nothing personal to add today, but one thing I want to do is point anyone and everyone toward The Roadhouse Podcast. I upgraded to an ipod last year after having a couple of 128mb mp3 players, so I came to podcasts a little late in the game. Finding this podcast fully justified the expense of the ipod. Well, maybe that and the Scott Sigler science fiction podiobooks.

The permanent link is on the right of the page. If you like the blues, you'll love The Roadhouse. The host, Tony Steidler-Dennison is a pretty cool guy who pretty well stays out of the way and lets the music do the talking. It's like hanging out at your blues-loving mate's house while his wife or girfriend is out. Not too much chit chat, just a great a mix of unsigned artists, indies and a few artists from major blues labels like Alligator, Black & Tan etc. It's a solid hour of, as the official line says, "the finest blues you never heard".

One snag: Tony has just upped the res of the mp3's from 96 to 128k, blowing the average file size from 35 or 40 mb to around 50mb, meaning it's one hell of a download if you're on a dialup connection, but it's worth it. I've heard a bunch of tunes and artists I'd love to cover - as soon as I get the band together!

CC

Word on the Street

Well, Wednesday night's jam was a lot of fun, as usual. We mainly improvised a bunch of tunes, and young Anders played out of his skin, as usual. And, as usual, it's always a pleasure to play with Graham Dooley, a drummer up for anything, including this cozy photo outside the pub.

Word is spreading about our search for a backline, and we're expecting a few people to get in touch any day. I also heard that the mercurial Boog Roberts will be visiting town with his band, The Boogiemen, some time soon. I'd love to see him and Anders trade licks, if they don't cancel each other out in a blaze of musical energy.

The Empire is a great little pub, and one with a rich musical history, being over 140 years old. The host, Garth, plays bass for the house band with Graham. They usually play a mixed set of hard and classic rock, and then let any jammers get up. In the break, I joined the cigarette smokers outside on the street and partook as they passed around ginger biscuits.

Ginger biscuits. We must be getting middle aged. There was a time when...

Ah, that's another story.

It starts here

Ok, here it is: my blues life. Occasionally you'll see there's a crossover with my day job and my home life, and of course, there's a fair bit of backstory, which I'll cover occasionally. But here's where I'm at right now:

I'm sitting in front of the telly, post dinner. My wife Ali is beside me, commenting on how old David Bellamy looks. Georgia, my two year old daughter is plucking the guitar I got her for her birthday. Now she's asking for a pick. It's a constant battle to hang on to my picks, at home and in the band.

I say in the band, but right now I'm not really in a gigging band. When I was, Boog, one of our guitarists, tended to borrow picks and lose them. Now it's my daughter. At least she's discovering music young. I wish I had. It would be so much easier. My last band was called White Hot and Blue - after the Johnny Winter album. We played together for about 15 years, on and off, but since our bass player Gordy spends half the year ski patrolling in Scandinavia, and the other half out of town at a ski resort, and since Boog kind of left town without telling anyone, it's time for me and Dr. Mike to rebuild.

Dr Mike and I have played together for over 20 years, him on guitar, me on harmonica. Our drummer Graham is still around, but with White Hot and Blue not gigging, he's found himself other work, and since he relies on music for a living, we're not going to tie him to a part time blues band. So we're looking for a whole new back line - bass and drums.

The good new is, Boog has been easy to replace. Guitarists are easy to find, but good bluesmen aren't. Luckily, we met this Norwegian kid at a jam last year and he's great. The three of us just clicked musically, so we've been jamming semi regularly, and looking for other players. Anders is like the anti-Boog, a mirror image, opposite, but equal. Boog was all natural talent and small-time crime. Anders is a trained musician, clean-cut, and studying social work here in Dunedin. They've both got a great feel and dedication to blues music.

So, tonight I'm off to the weekly jam at the Empire pub. I'll read Georgia a bedtime story, pack my amp and harps, and we shall see what happens.

CC