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Hello Rio;
My little barb was not aimed at you in particular. I just found it
frustrating when Malcolm told me that there are six freaking surf
bands in the area, and not one member of ONE of them showed up for
this event! I am in general quite irritated by the split that some
surf music fans create with the Shadows - it's like they think it'll
taint their purity if they associate themselves with anything to do
with the Shadows or Euro instro music. To me these genres are
completely compatible and should be combined for greater awareness of
both. Oh well. Sorry you couldn't make it. I understand all about
real life intruding.
As far as your guesses about the used shops, you're absolutely dead
on!! Our drummer bought his snare at Songbird, which is where we
spent the most time. I couldn't believe how many used Traynor amps
there were there! I guess they used to be made in Toronto? We were
also totally blown away by Tokai reproduction guitars. There was a
gorgeous white Strat '62 reissue copy w/ tortoiseshell pickguard that
played and looked as good as any US Strat I've see - for US$300!!!
NEW! There were also some Tokai Rickenbacker replicas that were
simply amazing. I guess Tokai can't legally sell stuff this close to
the originals in the US, cause I've never seen them around here.
There just aren't any good used instrument shops anywhere close to
where I live, and I love 'em. I get quite excited going into them.
I'll definitely check out their websites - it didn't even occur to me
that they may have them!
We definitely hope to be back in Toronto next year. Hope to meet you
then.
Ivan
--- In , "rio452001" <mpietra102@a...>
wrote:
> Hi Ivan,
>
> I would have loved to have made it, but was out of town that night
on
> a family thing... too bad the rest of our lives intrude on the
music
> sometime!
>
> From your description, you must have made it to the music stores on
> Queen Street... Songbird and Capsule? They carry pretty much
> exclusively used & vintage equipment, and you can find some
> reasonably good buys sometime (especially if you're paying in US
> dollars). Check out their websites, they're updated weekly.
>
> Hopefully you'll be back to TO sometime soon.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rio
>
> --- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
> wrote:
> > --- In , "Brian Neal" <bneal@i...>
> wrote:
> > > Soo...did anyone make it out to Toronto? Ivan, have you
recovered
> > yet? How'd it go?
> >
> > It was great!! As far as recovery, well, it's taking a while. I
> > think I'm coming down with something - let's hope it's not SARS!!
> >
> > Anyway, the show: we got in on Friday night (after a hellacious
> > drive, being stuck in rush hour traffic around Detroit for an
hour
> > and then for another hour at the border - Dane was driving for 12
> > hours, the rest of us somewhat less), and immediately were
treated
> to
> > a long practice/soundcheck set by Bruce Welch, his lead guitarist
> of
> > several years Phil Kelly (who is as good as Hank and plays with
the
> > feeling and excitement that Hank had in the sixties but lost a
long
> > time ago), and Licorice Locking, Shadows bassist from '62 to '64
> > (between Jet Harris and John Rostill). Bruce and Licorice, while
> > having spent a lot of time together over the last few years, have
> not
> > PLAYED music together since '64! Seeing them playing togegher
was
> a
> > big thrill. They had a Toronto pro drummer to play with them,
who
> > was not a good match - his bag was very obviously country
and '70s
> > rock, so he didn't really have that 'swing' to his playing, and
> most
> > importantly couldn't reproduce the Shadows signature syncopated
> ride
> > cymbal figures. Anyway, they played a bunch of songs while we
were
> > just hanging around together with another 10-15 people. That was
> > amazing. When they packed it in, I talked with Bruce and
Licorice
> > briefly, and asked Bruce if I could play his guitar before the
> > weekend was over. He offered it immediately! Now, this is the
> > legendary guitar that Cliff Richard bought for Hank directly from
> the
> > USA in the summer of '59, one of the first Strats in UK. Hank
used
> > this guitar to record Apache, Man Of Mystery, FBI, Gonzales, all
> the
> > classis Shadows songs from late '59 until early '61. I found out
> > later that the guitar is estimated to be worth a quarter of a
> million
> > UK POUNDS!!! Holy s*&#!! Even without knowing that I still got
> > shivers as I was putting it on. It's a fiesta red '59 Strat with
a
> > highly figured bird's eye maple neck, and stock gold hardware -
top
> > of the line in the '58 catalog. Bruce put on jumbo frets which
> felt
> > weird, but the neck was like a dream. I was playing the guitar
> with
> > which Apache was recorded!!! Wow. That was awesome.
> >
> > The next morning we had a lengthy soundcheck, and we played a
bunch
> > of songs, cause we were nervous as hell and thought that would
> help.
> > Hung out with Bruce and Licorice more. We played one relatively
> > obscure Shadows song from '65 to which Bruce responded with a
> > question: "What song was that?" He couldn't remember the name of
> his
> > own song! Our drummer Dane practiced four songs with Bruce and
> co.,
> > since the other drummer didn't know them or couldn't do them
> justice
> > (he hurt his wrist, or something): Guitar Tango, Shadoogie, The
> > Frightened City, and The Savage. Then Dane, our bass player Jim
> and
> > I got in the car and hit about five different music stores in
> > Toronto. Two of them were mostly used gear, and they were
> absolutely
> > incredible. I hadn't seen anything like it in years. Dane
bought
> a
> > beautiful and great sounding blue Yamaha birch snare that he's
been
> > wanting for a while, which matched his set. He was over the moon
> the
> > rest of the day b/c of this snare.
> >
> > When we got back the second half of the evening was starting,
> meaning
> > all the real bands (rather than club members). I missed almost
> > everything in the beginning cause I was in my room warming up,
> > getting dressed and trying to shake off the nerves. I missed
> almost
> > the entire set by the New Fentones. The old Fentones were
Shadows-
> > soundalikes in the sixties. They only released two singles, "The
> > Breeze and I" (the first rock instro version of this song that I
> know
> > of) and the incredible "The Mexican", a truly awesome song. Both
> > were just moderate hits The only original member of the Fentones
> on
> > Saturday was the bass player, but the others did very well. I
only
> > heard their last two songs: "The Mexican" and Bach's "Jesu, Joy
Of
> > Man's Desire". The former was good, but way too slow, and the
> latter
> > was incredible, I'd never heard such a cool arrangement of that
> > piece - lot of guitar pyrotechnics. The crowd of 300 (not bad)
was
> > on their feet afterwards.
> >
> > We went on next and played a great set, relatively mistake-free.
> Had
> > a really fun time. The guitar amps were provided for us, and I
> > should mention something for the gearheads (i.e., everybody on
this
> > list!). The Vox AC30 I was using for lead featured this little
> > device called the Vintage Unit. It's an add-on preamp that is
> easily
> > wired into the amp, and acts as a whole new channel! Why, some
of
> > you might wonder? Well, it's a preamp designed around the EF86
> tube,
> > which was used in the early AC15 amps AND the very early AC30s
> (they
> > eventually switched to 12AX7s cause EF86 are less mechanically
> stable
> > and fail quicker due to vibrations from high volume, especially
> when
> > bass is played through the amp - this is also what necessitated
the
> > introduction of the Top Boost, to recapture some of the tone lost
> by
> > the switch to inferior 12AX7s). Hank recorded all the Shadows
> early
> > songs (until '62 probably) with either AC15s or early AC30s, so
the
> > guitar sound was based around the EF86 preamp. Well, I kept
> > switching between the ordinary AC30 channels and the Vintage Unit
> > while playing the show, and the VU definitely recreated that
rawer,
> > more rock'n'roll sound of the early Shadows! I was quite
thrilled,
> > and will be getting it for myself. Here's the best news: it's
only
> > 115 UK pounds!! Check out the website here:
> >
> >
> >
> > Our setlist, for those interested:
> >
> > Temptation
> > The Rumble
> > Shindig
> > Blue Shadows
> > The Frightened City
> > Find Me a Golden Street
> > Big Boy
> > National Provincial Samba
> > 36-24-36
> > Fandango
> > Bossa Roo
> > Main Theme
> > Round and Round
> > Genie With the Light Brown Lamp
> > My Resistance is Low
> > Midnight
> > Little 'B'
> > The Lost City
> > Gonzales
> > Man Of Mystery
> > Shadoogie
> >
> > And, BTW, Malcolm, Man Of Mystery is one of the best known and
best
> > loved songs by the Shadows. Dan Forte AKA Teisco Del Rey in an
> > article for Guitar Player mag a few years ago put it in upper
five
> of
> > the best rock instro songs ever, and I gotta agree with him.
Also,
> > The Cruel Sea was definitely originally by the UK band the
> Dakotas.
> > They had several other great songs, they were produced by George
> > Martin, and they often used a 12-string guitar (Fender?) for
lead,
> as
> > they did in the original version of the The Cruel Sea, which was
> > written by their lead guitarist. I think the Ventures covered
this
> > song before the Challengers, but I'm not sure about that.
> >
> > Finally, Bruce, Licorice, and Phil. Their set is a blur, cause I
> was
> > still high from our set, and cause I was quite relieved to be
> done!
> > But they played a bunch of classics: Dance On, Foot Tapper, The
> > Savage, Guitar Tango, Shindig, Nivram, Theme From Deer Hunter,
> > Atlantis, Theme For Young Lovers, Peace Pipe, Atlantis, Spring Is
> > Nearly Here, FBI, Apache, a bunch of others. Bruce and Phil were
> > extremely good, and Licorice was INCREDIBLE (I often thought of
him
> > as the weakest bassist the Shadows had, but he showed on Saturday
> > that was totally wrong - he played an amazing improvised jazz
solo
> in
> > Nivram that blew me away, and peppered all the songs with
> imaginative
> > bass fills). But the highlight of the entire night for me was
when
> > Dane played The Savage with them. He played all the floor tom
> parts
> > flawlessly, and as it came to the end of the song he had to do a
> few
> > fast snare fills. Well, he played the first one in what can only
> be
> > described as an explosive manner! Bruce, Phil and Licorice just
> > turned around and looked at him with amazement on their faces!
It
> > doesn't get better than that. Oh, BTW, Bruce introduced The
Savage
> > by saying that as a young man he had a very fast right hand.
> > Uproarious laughter from the audience. He went on: "Playing this
> > next song only gets harder with age, though nothing else does"!
> Then
> > he said something about "Sherman Tank", and we had no idea what
he
> > was talking about. Only later did I find that he's referring to,
> > ahem, an activity similar to polishing the gun on a turret of a
> > Sherman tank. :) I guess it's a British thing. Well, a British
> > TERM, anyway! I pointed out to him later that there was a guy by
> > name of Rip Thrillby who ascribed this same factor to guys'
greater
> > ability to play double-picked surf guitar parts, which he found
> > entertaining.
> >
> > Anyway, they played a great set, and things wound down. We tore
> down
> > the equipment, and all went to the hotel bar at 1am, and stayed
> there
> > til 3am. I got to talk to Bruce a LOT, which was amazing.
> > Apparently just a few weeks ago, the Brit music industry
> association
> > gave the lifetime achievement award to Pete Townshend and Pete
> > personally requested ahead of time that Bruce introduce him at
the
> > event. When Bruce did that, Pete said that when he was growing
up
> > and learning to play the guitar, everybody wanted to be Hank and
> play
> > lead guitar. Then he said, "Not me - I wanted to be him" -
points
> to
> > Bruce and starts strumming an air guitar. Pretty cool, eh?
Heard
> a
> > lot of stories like that, and much more talk about Sherman Tank
and
> > such.
> >
> > After five hours of sleep, we all gathered again for breakfast.
> > Great camraderie all around, and I got to talk to Licorice quite
a
> > bit. Bruce, Phil and Licorice are SUCH nice people, it was quite
> > amazing. Such talent, too. Anyway, we left around noon, and I'm
> > still not completely recovered. We were lobbying very hard to be
> > invited to next year's Shadowmania (the real one, in London,
> > organized by Bruce), and I think we have a shot at it. We'll
see..
> >
> > Man, I'm tuckered out, too much writing. Sorry about that, got
> > carried away. Nice to meet you there Malcolm, and I was sorry
that
> > no members of the six Toronto surf bands were present, I would
have
> > enjoyed meeting them.
> >
> > Ivan
