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--- 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
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
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
Ivan, I didn't take it personally, but I did feel bad about missing
the event... I certainly don't have anything against the Shadows! In
fact, it's funny, but my sister's boyfriend is an older British ex
pat... the first time he heard our band (on disk-- he still hasn't
made it to one of our shows), he immediately says, "Sounds like the
Shadows" (we don't particularly, but I suspect he would have said the
same thing about any instrumental guitar based music he heard), which
I guess illustrates your point, but from the English/Euro perspective.
Incidentally, Malcolm's a great guy, a real gentleman and a big
supporter of the local instro rock scene.
Finally, one more TO store worth checking for used/vintage gear is
Twelfth Fret, but it's at the other end of town. All of the places
I've mentioned have websites worth checking.
I do hope to meet you down the road. All the best, Rio.
--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
wrote:
> 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
Ivan, wow, thanks so much for the detailed report. Sounds like an amazing
time. And you got to play "the" Fiesta Red Strat!?? That is so cool.
So is Jim officially done with The Troubadours now?
Thanks,
BN
> Licorice was INCREDIBLE
Absolutely. I spend a lot of time ignoring bass players. :) Not this time.
Licorice kept my attention as well as the guitar players did. That's a rare
event.
> Nice to meet you there Malcolm
Ditto, Ivan. Best of luck with Shadowmania in London and thanks for a great
post!
--
Malcolm <<-- not a signature
"They should know they're the Grateful Dead now." -- Phil
"It's never too late to be up-to-date" -- Dan Hicks
"My clock loses time like there's no tomorrow" -- Malcolm
> I am in general quite irritated by the split that some
> surf music fans create with the Shadows
It wouldn't surprised me at all if, among the city's surf bands, only rio
knows who the Shadows are! No wait. The guy in Atomic 7 will definitely know.
> I couldn't believe how many used Traynor amps
> there were there! I guess they used to be made in Toronto?
Haven't they always? I used to know Pete Traynor in the mists of time. He
pretty much carpeted the city with his stuff. :)
> 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!
Don't you mean CAD$300? I've never seen anything for sale in town with a US
price on it. (And I hope never to....)
--
Malcolm <<-- not a signature
"They should know they're the Grateful Dead now." -- Phil
"It's never too late to be up-to-date" -- Dan Hicks
"My clock loses time like there's no tomorrow" -- Malcolm
> Incidentally, Malcolm's a great guy, a real gentleman and a big
> supporter of the local instro rock scene.
<shuffling feet, head down> Aw shucks. I see way more folk music! :)
The 12th Fret is about a 20 minute walk from my place. I bought my Bullet 15
there. Tele I'm playing now was bought there too. Sadly, not by me!
--
Malcolm <<-- not a signature
"They should know they're the Grateful Dead now." -- Phil
"It's never too late to be up-to-date" -- Dan Hicks
"My clock loses time like there's no tomorrow" -- Malcolm
>
> The 12th Fret is about a 20 minute walk from my place. I bought my
Bullet 15
> there. Tele I'm playing now was bought there too. Sadly, not by me!
Hey Malcolm, I was there the day before yesterday and picked up a
1965 Made-in-Italy Eko Condor 820. It's got lots of switches
and "double polarity" pick-ups. It was probably considered beneath
the store's dignity, so to speak, so they never advertised it on
their website and it went for a song. Check out this site if you want
more info: www.fetishguitars.com.
Hope to see you again soon,
Rio
> --
> Malcolm <<-- not a signature
> "They should know they're the Grateful Dead now." -- Phil
> "It's never too late to be up-to-date" -- Dan Hicks
> "My clock loses time like there's no tomorrow" -- Malcolm
see below...
--- In , MalcolmO <MalcolmO@c...> wrote:
> > I couldn't believe how many used Traynor amps
> > there were there! I guess they used to be made in Toronto?
>
> Haven't they always?
I said "used to be" cause I thought they hadn't been produced in a
long time. But I think I've seen some new amps with a Traynor name
on them recently in ads. Is this the same company, or did someone
just buy out the name? Anyway, I was not aware that Traynors came
from Canada until last weekend. I think these amps are all-tube, and
are a real bargain!
> > 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!
>
> Don't you mean CAD$300? I've never seen anything for sale in town
with a US
> price on it. (And I hope never to....)
Well, I converted the CAN$ to US$ cause I assumed that most people on
the list don't know how much the CAN$ is worth, whereas they have
some idea of the US$. Of course the price on it was in CAN$, so
don't worry, the US isn't invading monetarily quite yet....
BTW, I found that guitar online. You can see it here:
The price says CAN$865, but the actual guitar was on sale for
something like CAN$500!
Also check out the entire list of guitars, especially the Tokai Rick-
copies:
Ivan
Jim is most likely done with the Troubadours, though the situation is
a bit uncertain. We bought and took with us his black P-bass, and
handed it off to the new bass player, who is now learning the Shadows
songs and looking to buy an appropriate-sounding amp. However, we're
all really good friends still, and we all were sad about Jim leaving,
including Jim himself. I wouldn't be surprised if we play together
again in the future. But for now his '60s-soul band is taking up
almost all of his time, since it's really going places. We're happy
for him, and we hope the band becomes a huge success. They're called
the Elevations, BTW.
We were fortunate enough to find another great bass player by name of
Scott right here in Hillsdale, where I live! He's classically
trained, can read music (WOW!), he's my age, and loves all music!
I've never seen a person so eclectic in his tastes. We're gonna
start working with him soon, and I gotta say that it really is
painful to even think about practicing all these songs from scratch
yet again! But we're very lucky we found him, and I'm looking
forward to the Troubadours future.
Ivan
--- In , "Brian Neal" <bneal@i...> wrote:
> Ivan, wow, thanks so much for the detailed report. Sounds like an
amazing
> time. And you got to play "the" Fiesta Red Strat!?? That is so cool.
>
> So is Jim officially done with The Troubadours now?
>
> Thanks,
> BN
Ivan,
Although I think I have spoken to Jim all of about 12 minutes over
the 3 times I've seen you guys, he came across as a genuinely good
guy. And very funny. And it was quite apparent to me he was a damn
good bass player. It is too bad, but best of luck to him in his
other band.
However, that is great news about finding another capable bass
player so soon.
Another question I had: Did you get to talk to Bruce about the
upcoming Shadows reunion tour? Is it really going to be the "last"
one? When was the last time Bruce and Hank played together? Why
doesn't Hank come to the Shadowmanias?
Okay thats more than 1 question. :)
Thanks man!
BN
--- In , "Brian Neal" <bneal@i...> wrote:
> Another question I had: Did you get to talk to Bruce about the
> upcoming Shadows reunion tour? Is it really going to be the "last"
> one? When was the last time Bruce and Hank played together? Why
> doesn't Hank come to the Shadowmanias?
Brian, good questions. I did talk to Bruce about the tour. I think
he fully expected it to be their last. in fact, I think he was quite
surprised that it's even happening (apparently, it was Brian Bennett,
the Shadows long-term drummer, that put the wheels in motion).
There's a lot of bad blood between Bruce and Hank. Bruce is very
open about his perspective. He felt very betrayed by Hank when what
started off as a holiday from the band during which Hank would record
a solo album, it turned into the end of the Shadows and the beginning
of Hank's solo carreer. The last time they all played together was
in '90. Bruce was under the impression that they were all going to
pursue some projects separately for a year, at most two, and then the
Shadows would do another album and tour, in short, continue. That's
not the way it happened, and later Bruce found out that neither the
record label, nor the management, nor Hank intended it to happen that
way. All along apparently they intended to end the band, and
concentrate on Hank. So, understandably Bruce felt quite mad and
betrayed. They've spoken only TWICE since '90! Once after Bruce had
undergone the prostate cancer surgery three years ago, and then again
several months ago when they talked about the upcoming tour. So,
there's the bad blood. From Hank's perspective, he's been very mum
about these things, and never talks about them. However, as he
himself will acknowledge, Bruce is not an easy man to work with.
He's a perfectionist, is very demanding, and isn't very tactful about
it, often being called Sargeant-Major by the others. Though Hank and
Bruce were best of friends since they were something like 13, lived
and struggled together for many years, and always worked togeher, I
guess after 33 years or so of it, Hank had had enough.
Hank does NOT attend Shadowmania. Several reasons, probably. He
would overshadow (no pun intended!) Bruce, and this is really his
event. Also, since they haven't had any contact for such a long
time, it would be quite presumptuos to just show up. They need to
iron out their differences in private, which is on the agenda before
they start practicing for the tour. I asked Bruce if they'll be
recording anything for the tour, and he said that if they did, they
would certainly break up before the tour even starts! To me that
says that Bruce considers their differences irreconcilable, and they
will simply learn to tolerate each for this final hop through the
memory lane, the epilogue to this great chapter. But these things
change, who knows what will actually happen....
There you go.
Ivan
> picked up a
> 1965 Made-in-Italy Eko Condor 820.
Hmmm... another guitar. Congrats!
The info on the Eko 820 is more specifically at:
> it went for a song
That's good, because the '63 Jag at Encore is _not_ for a song.
--
Malcolm <<-- not a signature
"They should know they're the Grateful Dead now." -- Phil
"It's never too late to be up-to-date" -- Dan Hicks
"My clock loses time like there's no tomorrow" -- Malcolm
> Is this the same company, or did someone
> just buy out the name?
Y'know, I dunno. I should find out. I've wondered about that too. In the old
days, they were EVERYWHERE. Then I didn't see any for a long time but (truth
to tell) I didn't see ANY amps for a long time. I should find out.
> I converted the CAN$ to US$
OIC. Thanks for clarifying that.
Cripes! The Tokai even looks like it says Fender on the head!
This marked the first time I've seen Songbird's website. I still have not
seen the store. :/
--
Malcolm <<-- not a signature
"They should know they're the Grateful Dead now." -- Phil
"It's never too late to be up-to-date" -- Dan Hicks
"My clock loses time like there's no tomorrow" -- Malcolm
