Playing through the changes

Detail: Dave Fleminger at the Casbah, May 29, 2009 (photo by Sean McMullen)Now it can be told: When we concocted the idea of the Che Games for May reunion show at San Diego’s Casbah Club, I was very apprehensive about what it would sound like.

After all, we were bringing together bands that for the most part hadn’t played together since the mid-’80s. Plus, we were asking these folks to practice more or less on the fly. The Che Underground diaspora dispersed us geographically for many years; for most of the acts, opportunities for full rehearsals were few and far between.

Backlit AnswersI was amazed by the results: The bands were so tight, and I daresay many of the musicians are better now than they were in 1984!

It makes me want to learn more about how all our players keep themselves musically active — not just the people who performed at the Casbah, but the rest of the musicians on the blog.

What are you playing now, and with whom? How do you find the time? How do you feel about your technical and aesthetic progress (or lack thereof) since the Reagan Administration?

And hearkening back to our “Who’s the OLD dude?” discussion: What would the youth you were then think of the musician you are now?

47 thoughts on “Playing through the changes”

  1. Ha! OK, I’ll prime the pump here.

    The Che Games was an incredible chance to start thinking like a gigging musician again. I really haven’t played out since moving to New Jersey. (Basically with the exception of our annual block party, where I lead some of the dads in a band.)

    For me, bands were always as much a social and team-building exercise as a musical effort … And I’ve had real difficulty making time to play with new people — learning curve’s too high given the business of our everyday lives.

    Before prepping for this show, I was mostly plunking around on a guitar or uke. Since we started rehearsing, I’ve really recognized how much I miss it. Perhaps we can do some more projects over distance — and who knows? Maybe I’ll make the extra effort to reach out to local people to play at least a little.

    Tom Ward: I’m coming for YOU!! 🙂

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  2. Cool…who thought of the title Playing Through The Changes and why?? I know the significance as a practicing Jazz dude, but I think the title will be lost on most folks.

    I’d love a thread to exchange music practice info. What has your learning experience been like since ‘Reagan”!!

    Sure wish we could go back to seeing the thread titles…over there…on the right….

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  3. My favorite part of playing music is the moment of creation, and I’m usually mining my brain for that embryonic spark that happens from time to time. Basically, I listen to a lot of music, let it sift through and see what happens. I also really enjoy starting a band from scratch and taking it to the point when it clicks…successful interplay is a fun challenge.

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  4. Matt, yes we can do some projects over distance. We’re working on putting together the next Blues Gangsters CD next year with a cast of thousands from the Che Underground. We want all of you to be on it in some shape or form, including the poets (we need lyrics). We are ALL Blues Gangsters…

    More on this shortly!

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  9. right! sanborn. that hair! yikes. the show was produced by lorne michaels, but i don’t remember it. “night music” or “sunday night”?

    yes! debbie was the shit! big influence on me, along with chrissie, exene, joan j, patti, poly, ari, nina, lene, siouxsie (early stuff). hmm, so who do we have now? hmm…still thinking…

    ***i am in talks w/ 3 other chicks from ché to start a band. so far, just drum & bass, ‘rine, + vocals…stay tuned.***

    i <3 …. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLLzj8zGCPg

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  11. Well Lori, some people like my musical taste and some think it “derivative and unimaginative”. ha.

    Have you had the chance to read all 800-900 posts on the INJECTIONS thread?? Basically, everything is covered there.

    Lucille Skum…that would be a great band!!

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  12. One of my favorite aspects of the Casbah show was trying the songs out again with both Hobie and Wendell, who’d been in Noise 292 sequentially, never synchronously.

    After those days, Wendell went on to become a very wonderful installation artist, and Hobie had a variety of musical adventures up in Humboldt and points beyond. They came back to the band with a ton of great ideas … Wendell’s nouveau-Noise percussion kit was brill, and Hobie was blowing my mind with that strip of titanium and the contact mics (as well as some very cool keyboard stylings).

    Big fun — I honestly preferred the new levels of integration and control in the set!

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  13. >>…many of the musicians are better now than they were in 1984!

    With 25 extra years of practice, I hope I was at least a little better than I was in 1984…ha.

    It’s great to see all these people wanting to play music now. As for myself, I’m much more interested in doing something that’s new to me than reviving something I did years ago.

    Lori, your bass is cool… I never even knew you played.

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  14. >>As for myself, I’m much more interested in doing something that’s new to me than reviving something I did years ago.

    Dave: It’s funny … After so many years, three other substantial bands and a ton of songs written and covers covered, revisiting that Noise 292 material did feel like something new to me! 🙂

    I’d touched only one of the songs in the repertoire for more than 20 years (“Candle” has followed me around from band to band). I had a blast reinterpreting those songs as an adult.

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  15. thx, dave. it’s sweet. and i’m jimi style (lefty). didn’t start until I moved up here. back in sd, i played my vox organ and fender rhodes stage piano. but i wanted to graduate up to something i could hold and cart around. i really don’t know why i stopped. no matter, i WANNA now. oh, i may be calling on you for consultation w/ the new band. so be forewarned. 🙂

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  18. oh dave, we would be honored. right now we are merely just a spark. only started talking about it a couple of hours ago. but that’s how it all starts right? btw, where’s that blues gangsters cd? *batting eyelashes*

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  19. I haven’t played bass regularly for a couple of years, the last band I was in was an incarnation of Unsteady that the wheels fell off of in … 2006 I guess. Before that I had played fairly steadily other than one other retirement from ’99 ’til ’05. I came out of retirement again for the Che Show after being bombarded with guilt trips and cajoling from David Rinck, and because I didn’t want to spoil the party. Doing the show affected me a lot more than I thought it would. It was a real treat to play and hang out with, David Rinck, Matt Johnson, Dave Ellison and David Fleminger. My chops were in terrible shape and there is video and photographic evidence of me playing with a pick on “Raw Power” and “Walldrugs” which prove this. Oh well.

    I’m putting most of my spare time and effort in to my DJing and music production these days. In fact, I told Matt R. that I wanted to DJ at the re-union before the Wallflowers thing got hammered out. I’m open to doing collaborations with singers and musicians, but no bands please, I’m still retired from that. “I was quit when I came in here, and I’m twice as quit now…”

    I think the young me would be a little surprised to see me not playing bass anymore, but also pleasantly surprised to see that I’m DJing and producing. But who knows. These kind hypothetical questions don’t really hold much sway for me.

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  20. Paul… Leo Fender intended the electric bass to be played with a pick… nothing wrong with that. In the original brochure for the Precision, it said something like “Can also be played with your fingers.” (I actually think Leo Fender’s biggest contribution to music history was inventing the electric bass as we know it). Anyhow…I thought you sounded great.

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  22. well then, let’s all thank dave r. for his charming, guilt-tripping skills. to think we would not have had that treat! paul, you MADE the party. thank you. again. missed seein’ you guys play. so. very. much.

    wait, so you’re NOT supposed to use a pick w/ a bass. no wonder i sucked. ;P

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  23. >>I think the young me would be a little surprised to see me not playing bass anymore, but also pleasantly surprised to see that I’m DJing and producing. But who knows. These kind hypothetical questions don’t really hold much sway for me.

    Paul: Ha! I don’t really find that question falls under the category of “hypothetical” — since I am me (as you are he as you are we and we are all together, even) … And I actually know what my thought processes were in ’84. As the leading authority on Matthew Rothenberg after a lifetime of study, I can speak for him pretty categorically. 🙂

    He wouldn’t love looking as old as the guy on stage, but he’d envy the codger’s self-possession.

    My younger persona would also note that Noise 292 was playing tighter and with a lighter touch than the band’s professed impulse toward cacophony of yesteryear. He might sniff that it seemed less dangerous that way.

    Two things: First, I’d like to try the set again with an additional 10 minutes or so that would let us spread out a bit sonically, ’cause I think we could achieve escape velocity. Forty minutes was hard to shoehorn, so we stripped it down.

    And second, some of that old-school cacophony (for me, at least) was compensation for a lack of technique. To me, Noise 292 was more of a pop band with hooks than I was able to convey at my 1984 skill level.

    In some ways, at Che Games we were playing the songs more like I had them in my head all along. In other ways, we were able to bust the old mold and work in new ways as a group, which I was very pleased about considering our very limited rehearsal opportunities. Both were very satisfying.

    I’d really enjoy some other chances to work with the Noise 292 crew, within logistical reality. On some new material as well! Considering geography, we’re never going to be able to be a “band” in the going-steady, practice-‘n’-gig sense, but that kind of frees us up to be, uhhh … Musical friends-with-benefits? 🙂

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  24. Absent comments from our host, Eric Bacher, and the prolific Bruce Injection, this is beginning to look like the thread that should have gone under the “Funland” video post. In that vein, I must say it was an honor to simultaneously be part of Dave Ellison’s Wallf***er debut and Paul Howland’s curtain call, all while balancing a shot of whiskey on my head. Oh, and I thought the title of this thread was a reference to the myriad conversations going on at the rehearsal spot in the week leading up to the show:”There’s s’posed to be a break right there! You keep playing through the changes!” Or was that just me?

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  25. Hmmm, based on rehearsal, my old self would think I’ve progressed a bit in some areas. Based on the show, he’d probably wonder what happened to my chops (screwed up almost every lead — my hands were so sweaty my fingers kept slipping off the strings!).

    He would wonder where I got that voice.

    Personally, I felt my best guitar playing was in the mid 90’s. I had time to practice, I took lessons that truly helped me advance. But time is something I have very little of these days, so I rehearse when the band does, and that’s about it. Which equates to me losing a lot of my former abilities.

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  26. I’m still confused about the thread title intent. “Playing through the changes” has only one definition that I, personally, know of. Outlining the harmonic progression of a song through arpeggios and chord tones…as opposed to wailing lead solos based on scales.

    Other meanings would be cool too….

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  27. >>I’m still confused about the thread title intent. “Playing through the changes” has only one definition that I, personally, know of. Outlining the harmonic progression of a song through arpeggios and chord tones…as opposed to wailing lead solos based on scales.

    Bruce: Yes, that would be right — plus, there’s the double meaning here that we’ve all changed musically and temperamentally since our youth.

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  28. Kevin: you played awesomely at the show!! I regret not hearing you guys during the mid-90’s (other than on record) but in any case you sound tremendous these days!

    There’s always gonna be that difference that the stage/venue presents that you can’t fully prepare for in rehearsal. Lights can make you sweat different stuff than at practice…in my case the red lights at the Casbah made it impossible for me to see *any* fret markers on sides of the guitar necks. Not something I had planned for…always wish I had learned to play without having to look at what I’m playing..

    The variables of rehearsal vs. gig could probably be worked out to some kind of ratio….fr’ instance if you have a song 93% perfect in rehearsal you could expect to have it only 66% perfect at the show (numeric values are for examples only, your numbers may vary).
    This isn’t a lower-expectations thing, it’s more like you take the confidence in the material you built in rehearsal and expect your careful planning to loosen up a bit. ‘Cos in spite of any some-such formula the actual event usually provides a level of pumped that more than makes up for any minute details that were given lots of attention at practice but were tossed under the flying carpet once the whole thing starts rolling.

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  30. Thanks Dave, I knew there was a ratio of rehearsal to performance song competency formula out there.
    Practice, practice, practice.

    and once again, the quote of the weekend on the dance floor was “Man, I don’t remember them sounding this good”.

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  31. >>Personally, I felt my best guitar playing was in the mid 90’s.

    Kevin,
    You are fortunate then, that some of your best playing has been recorded for all posterity.

    Re: sweaty fingers at the Casbah--the Casbah lights tend to be blistering hot. Add to that the fact that if you want to hear the monitors, you have to stand to the back of the stage, and it becomes an insidiously difficult venue. I’m looking forward to hearing how we sounded, because I have no idea!

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  32. I was pretty pleased with the mix, myself. Considering the Amazons were an acoustic band, that was the first time I’ve played a set with a full-on electric lineup since the Ho Hos in … 1997?

    The LAST gig I ever played in San Diego was Jan. 31, 1987, when Club Cult hosted 3 Guys in a Chinese restaurant called Wok Express(?) Ever play in a tiled room? Plus, we never learned to set our levels — what a mess!!

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  33. >>…in my case the red lights at the Casbah made it impossible for me to see *any* fret markers on sides of the guitar necks. Not something I had planned for…always wish I had learned to play without having to look at what I’m playing..

    Wow, I’m glad to hear I wasnt the only one. That was the first time I’d ever encountered that problem… you can even hear me play the riff on the wrong fret in the Walldrugs video.

    >>>…if you have a song 93% perfect in rehearsal you could expect to have it only 66% perfect at the show

    With me it’s always been 93% perfect in my bedroom, 66% perfect at rehearsal, 40% perfect playing live.

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  34. Me too dave…why I became an Ed. major and not a performance major in College.

    I could play a difficult piece great in my room, always played it mediocre, at best, in recital.

    The greats play BETTER in front of a crowd!

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  37. Thanks Paul…good point. The greats are able to give spectacular performances whether it’s “perfect” or not! And, as all things, it’s usually not.

    As students there were many players who winced when they played wrong notes and others who smiled right through them.

    I’ve heard that when jazz players screw up an improv, they play it the same way when it comes around again to give the impression it was intentional!

    I

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  38. Didn’t play anything at all in the Reagan years. Finally got a chance to start playing guitar in 1993. Now working on Gymnopedie No. 1 as a guitar duet. I’m also doing some rhythm guitar and vocals for a local band.

    >How do you find the time?

    Five years ago I committed the last hour of the day to music. I love to have that feeling between everything else and sleep. I need it. As I’ve told my daughter, “If you don’t practice, you’re not a musician.”

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  39. “If you don’t practice, you’re not a musician.”
    Yes. I’ve never understood people not wanting to practice.
    My question to those that don’t like to practice is, “Practicing is playing music, you like playing music right ?”

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  40. I dont think perfection and greatness are the same thing at all… I still love Johnny Thunders and lots of other sloppy bands. I was more or less just talking about how it is for me practicing something, rehearsing with a band, and playing onstage. No matter how well I think can play something, once I get onstage it’s different… everything sounds different, you can never hear things clearly, you cant see (as Dave F mentioned), everyone’s adrenaline is high, etc. Of course, once the band starts playing on stage regularly I start relaxing and getting used to it. Didn’t exactly have that luxury this last time at the Casbah though…

    >>>I’ve heard that when jazz players screw up an improv, they play it the same way when it comes around again to give the impression it was intentional!

    I’ve actually done that plenty of times… you hit a bad note so you got back and hit it again so it sounds like you did it on purpose. “If you do it once it’s a mistake, if you do it twice it’s jazz.”

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  41. “It’s possible that you guys are confusing perfection with greatness. They aren’t always in each others company.”

    Dammit. Now you’ve made me stop and think. It’s never been put to me quite that way before. And, of course, you’re right. I rarely put much weight on anything but my technical performance, and so few people actually notice it. Looks like I’ll be having a new attitude after gigs . . .

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  42. Ray, yeah that Casbah stage is really difficult! The way they got the monitors set, you gotta stand way back in front of the drums to hear the vocals, not exactly my style (I prefer to be 20 feet in front of the monitors with my peeps). They should really hang the monitors from the ceiling so you can at least stand on the edge of the stage. Also, it’s impossible to see the crowd with those lights in your eyes.

    Matt, I’ve had that Amazons CD on the player all week. Overall great stuff, but “Brother P Touch” is a fantastic song that stands out to me. I love that tune, I’d love to cover that here! Everyone here needs a copy of that…

    Robin, funny you mention that, but I also made the decision a few years ago that the last couple hours of the day belong to me and my instrument of choice (was sax, now guitar). If I make any break through in the night, I like to wake up and repeat it first thnig in the morning, with the intention that it stays with me that way.

    Dave, I think the ratio is more like 95% in practice equals 35% on stage!

    Paul, yeah it was great to hang out with you guys again. Man, that was so great.

    Dave (again): look out you rock and rollers!

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  44. I used one turn of phrase that’s been bugging me — although I’ll bet it’s just egocentrism and no one else even gives a shit. 🙂

    Earlier in this thread, I said I’d been in “three other substantial bands” since Noise 292. (That’d be 3 Guys Called Jesus, the Ho Hos and the Amazons.) For my own comfort, I’d like to clarify that I regard them as “substantial” in terms of the amount of time and effort invested and my own personal satisfaction in creating them — I was contrasting that with small, pick-up cover sessions that never gelled.

    I wasn’t trying to imply commercial success or a major effect on music history. 🙂

    Just sayin’.

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  45. How about “substantial” meaning “music with substance”. It all sounded pretty substantial to me, Matthew.

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  47. BTW the Amazons CD rocks. I’ve had this on my player all week. Great stuff, it’s very substantial.

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