May Birthdays 
Hey guys, it's time for another trip report. You guys are probably sick of reading my trip reports by now, as I have written one about hanging out with Dick Dale, my '65 Twin Reverb amp, and now this. Never the less, here goes...
I am an amateur guitar player, I played a bit back in the 90's and then went on a hiatus from 2000-2014. I started to get the itch again a couple of summers ago, so I bought a guitar and started playing on Oct 1, 2014.
I've loved 60's surf rock since my mom introduced me to it in 1995, especially Dick Dale. She lived in southern California in the early 60's, and used to go see him at Harmony Park Ballroom. Anyway, I began playing again and found a couple of guys who also like the Ventures and surf music, and we formed a band. I mostly play lead, "D" on Rhythm, and "K" on bass. We are all honest with ourselves with the fact that we are amateurs, and I mean real amateurs!
Moving right along, I noticed a drummer on this forum that was also from Memphis. I sent him a message about a mutual acquaintance that we have, and we started to talk a bit. The subject of my band came up, and I told him that all we lack is a drummer. I specified that we are looking for an amateur because we don't want to waste a professional drummer's time.
Much to my surprise, he graciously offered to sit in with us when his schedule allowed him to. Obviously, we took him up on his offer. So last Wednesday night, none other than Ted from Satan's Pilgrims came out to jam with us. It was just the 3 of us, as the rhythm guitarist was out of town.
I'll be honest, I got nervous and messed up a lot, I mean I really bombed. 
"K" kept up on bass pretty well, considering he didn't know a lot of the songs we were playing. Now I am not a butt kisser or a brown noser, and yes I realize Ted may be reading this, but I have to tell you guys that he couldn't have been nicer to us.
I was struggling to keep up, and my timing was way off, but he was really cool about it and kept on jamming. We must have played Walk, Don't Run four or five times, but he didn't complain once. I did OK the second time we played "miserlou" and also on "Dawn Patrol," but that's about it.
I have never jammed so hard in my life, I even got a really bad cramp toward the end. Someone told me to drink lots of Gatorade and eat a banana or two before I play next time. Anyway, I have rambled on enough. The point of this trip report is that Ted was awesome, and we really had a blast jamming with him. How often does a professional drummer jam for two hours with a guy who can barely play guitar, I would say pretty much never.
I promise you guys I will lay off the trip reports for a while. Well, that is at least until I play in front of an audience on amateur night at a local bar next month! Take care, and thanks for reading.
—MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale. New EP Louder Than Life available on bandcamp and website.
Last edited: Jan 02, 2016 19:43:13
