Whipping Up An Update

Been too bogged to blog much lately. But I'll try some catching up.

Played a gig last Sunday at the Cadillac Lounge out in Parkdale, a cool little bar. Things went okay overall, though we had some tempo issues with some songs. For some reason, we launched into "Men Without Women" at about half-speed. It felt like we were playing on quaaludes. It was kind of funny actually. It was quite a casual gig. Boag was talking to a friend of his who plays in a band called Der Backbeats, and he just said "hey, you guys should come along and open for us." So we did.

But, with every gig we discover things that we need to address, and it's good to learn these things. Plus, to be fair, we've played three gigs with three different fill-in drummers, so it's a bit hard to become a tight combo under those circumstances, no matter how good the drummer-of-the-moment is. This gig we had a great drummer sit in with us, Cam Giroux from By Divine Right, who has also played with Weeping Tile (Sarah Harmer's first band) and Oh Susanna, who showed up with him to catch the show. Cam's also a really sweet guy. A pleasure to rehearse and play with. But our search continues for a full-time drummer.

We have, however, found ourselves a keyboard player, in one Roberta Hunt, who has a background in jazz and boojee-woojee and possibly other stuff as well. We had our first rehearsal with her this past Wednesday, and it sounded great. She'll be adding piano and organ into the mix and it's just what we needed. She's also a very sweet and pleasant person (fed us pickles, cold cuts and beer at the rehearsal at her place), so I think she'll fit in marvelously.

She'll make her debut with us on Boxing Day (Dec. 26). We booked The Horseshoe for the evening, and our friend Heather's band will be joining us, along with another band to be determined. Should be fun. It's always nice to play The Horseshoe, and we'll see if we can get some people to come out and shake off some holiday stress with some good tunes.

Another good thing about having Roberta on board is that she lives relatively close to me--a short bus ride up to Coxwell station and then one stop over to Greenwood. Has a basement pad in a house I used to walk by almost every day when I lived on Greenwood. We'll likely end up rehearsing mostly at her place for practical reasons--her keyboard being less portable than our guitars--so it'll be less of a schlep for me, compared to going to Tim's place on Yonge Street south of Bloor. As much as I Iove my new Fender amp, it's a bit heavy even for the shorter trip. Lugging a 30-lb amp along with a guitar case and a backpack containing pedals and cables and such, is just too much of a hassle. So for rehearsals I'm looking to get a smaller, lighter amp, and I think I found one I like. Tried out a small Fender XLS(?) amp at Songbird. Can't weigh more than 7-10 lbs. Sounds good enough for rehearsal. Has an overdrive dial (which I probably won't even use), and even has reverb. $95 used. Should suit my needs just fine, and save some sore muscles.

We're still playing under the name The Braveyard Whips, but the push is on to come up with a new name for this gig. Tons of suggestions have been flying around, but so far nothing has stuck. Or at least nothing that has gained unanimous support among the band members. Some of the contenders at this point in time include:

The Dick Ellis Revival
The Handlers
Mavis
The Mayfields
The Mercy Patrol
The Tenders

Of some of the others I've suggested, I like:

The Molly Beggars
The Saturday Flyers
The Gonners (or Boag & The Gonners)
The Radio Sweethearts
The Boagarts

Ah, it's a tough business this band-naming thing. I honestly think the name will reveal itself to us, in something someone says offhandedly, or in some serendipitous event. We shall see. Suggestions are welcome.