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