Early in this month of July, it seemed that The Henhouse Roosters might practically have the month off! With only one engagement at Freddie's II slated for 7/28, there seemed to be a lull, which Ed & I BOTH were not crazy about. We've been proud & happy about our development since first meeting (going on almost FOUR years now), and have been enjoying around three gigs per month lately, pretty steady. It sure looked like a boring month...
Life as a Rooster has taught me that just when you think you have the Rhythm of the Barnyard figured out.. here comes the Curve Ball- Lots of unexpected activity & lessons this month!!!
Right around the beginning of the month, Ed announced a new addition to The Flock- a brand new Martin guitar!!! Lots of great bottom-end in this beautiful new axe, and that's what Ed's playing is all about! This guitar proves itself to be more Worthy every time Ed straps it on. It has a great Authoritative THUMP to it that further enhances our sound. We've always felt that The Henhouse Roosters deliver way more than you'd expect from just two guys, and this Martin really jumps to the front!!! We've both been learning a lot about what the new Martin can do.
Then, out of nowhere, we managed to get a booking for a private party. Now, I mention the party simply because that was the beginning of a few revelations.
The gig was last Saturday evening. It was the hottest day of the year so far- upper 90's with high humidity. A perfect day IF you were an attendee at this party- there was a beautiful in-ground swimming pool, nicely landscaped all around. Not an ideal situation for The Henhouse Roosters though, as we were set up well above the pool, which seemed to suck up all our sound and the pool seperated us from our audience. This produced some new acoustic challenges for us but in the end provided some valuable lessons too.
We got a rough start, dazed by the heat and daunted by our challenges to be heard by our audience. Ed said he had some of his amp controls pegged in order to get his volume levels up, which then created even more complications. I had my volume up so high that if I moved around much, our audience was treated to some real feedback torture. After a few songs, we got a handle on things and our show improved, but during the post-show debriefing we were doing a bit of head scratching trying to come up with solutions.
That's when a gear change occurred - literally. A few days later, a practice session was called. We decided we'd try an alternate set up, using Ed's mixer board and vintage Peavy speaker stacks. The Rumpus Room in Bethel Park took on a studiolike aura... lots of cables, amps, big speakers...
But the SOUND!!! We both had so much power and balance, thanks to the addition of mixer board & speakers! We finally felt like we could stop TRYING so hard, back off from playing too agressively and concentrate on expressing ourselves. We were both so pleased with our sound that we both wished we were playing a show that night! We went through several of our standard favorites, all enhanced by great mixing and more volume.
The combination of great wooden tone from the Martin guitar, proper mixing of our sound, and enhanced volume through the Yamaha mixer into the Peavey speaker inspired a new approach to our repetoire. We fooled around with "Knights In White Satin" by The Moody Blues! Has anyone out there ever heard of The Poussette-Dart Band??? (Didn't think so...) Keep your ears open for a great tune by them called "Amnesia". It has a great Country feel to it, with ample opportunities for Ed to show off some of his formidable slide skills.
Open D tuning really seems to suit the new Martin exceptionally well. We're planning on bringing back a really interesting original tune created by Ed years ago which I titled "Curry In A Hurry". This tune seemed to blend well into a Rolling Stones song, Prodigal Son (actually a traditional folk tune), which was originally released on The Stone's album Beggar's Banquet. We're planning on squeezing these two together. Another mash-up could be "I Hear You Knockin'" going into "Come Together". Finally, we stumbled into another traditional blues tune, made popular by Blackfoot- "Train, Train", a Rock Classic based on the song "Mystery Train", lots of great harp on this one.
This summer slowdown for The Henhouse Roosters has yielded some good, solid lessons. Ed and I both agree that the acoustic challenges we encountered at the private party triggered some real positive reactions. We'll have to try out the new approach to our setup with the mixer/Peavey speakers. Some potential winning new tunes were inspired during the chain of events too. Come hear the best Guitar/Harmonica duo around! The Henhouse Roosters are turning an important corner in their history!!!
Life as a Rooster has taught me that just when you think you have the Rhythm of the Barnyard figured out.. here comes the Curve Ball- Lots of unexpected activity & lessons this month!!!
Right around the beginning of the month, Ed announced a new addition to The Flock- a brand new Martin guitar!!! Lots of great bottom-end in this beautiful new axe, and that's what Ed's playing is all about! This guitar proves itself to be more Worthy every time Ed straps it on. It has a great Authoritative THUMP to it that further enhances our sound. We've always felt that The Henhouse Roosters deliver way more than you'd expect from just two guys, and this Martin really jumps to the front!!! We've both been learning a lot about what the new Martin can do.
Then, out of nowhere, we managed to get a booking for a private party. Now, I mention the party simply because that was the beginning of a few revelations.
The gig was last Saturday evening. It was the hottest day of the year so far- upper 90's with high humidity. A perfect day IF you were an attendee at this party- there was a beautiful in-ground swimming pool, nicely landscaped all around. Not an ideal situation for The Henhouse Roosters though, as we were set up well above the pool, which seemed to suck up all our sound and the pool seperated us from our audience. This produced some new acoustic challenges for us but in the end provided some valuable lessons too.
We got a rough start, dazed by the heat and daunted by our challenges to be heard by our audience. Ed said he had some of his amp controls pegged in order to get his volume levels up, which then created even more complications. I had my volume up so high that if I moved around much, our audience was treated to some real feedback torture. After a few songs, we got a handle on things and our show improved, but during the post-show debriefing we were doing a bit of head scratching trying to come up with solutions.
That's when a gear change occurred - literally. A few days later, a practice session was called. We decided we'd try an alternate set up, using Ed's mixer board and vintage Peavy speaker stacks. The Rumpus Room in Bethel Park took on a studiolike aura... lots of cables, amps, big speakers...
But the SOUND!!! We both had so much power and balance, thanks to the addition of mixer board & speakers! We finally felt like we could stop TRYING so hard, back off from playing too agressively and concentrate on expressing ourselves. We were both so pleased with our sound that we both wished we were playing a show that night! We went through several of our standard favorites, all enhanced by great mixing and more volume.
The combination of great wooden tone from the Martin guitar, proper mixing of our sound, and enhanced volume through the Yamaha mixer into the Peavey speaker inspired a new approach to our repetoire. We fooled around with "Knights In White Satin" by The Moody Blues! Has anyone out there ever heard of The Poussette-Dart Band??? (Didn't think so...) Keep your ears open for a great tune by them called "Amnesia". It has a great Country feel to it, with ample opportunities for Ed to show off some of his formidable slide skills.
Open D tuning really seems to suit the new Martin exceptionally well. We're planning on bringing back a really interesting original tune created by Ed years ago which I titled "Curry In A Hurry". This tune seemed to blend well into a Rolling Stones song, Prodigal Son (actually a traditional folk tune), which was originally released on The Stone's album Beggar's Banquet. We're planning on squeezing these two together. Another mash-up could be "I Hear You Knockin'" going into "Come Together". Finally, we stumbled into another traditional blues tune, made popular by Blackfoot- "Train, Train", a Rock Classic based on the song "Mystery Train", lots of great harp on this one.
This summer slowdown for The Henhouse Roosters has yielded some good, solid lessons. Ed and I both agree that the acoustic challenges we encountered at the private party triggered some real positive reactions. We'll have to try out the new approach to our setup with the mixer/Peavey speakers. Some potential winning new tunes were inspired during the chain of events too. Come hear the best Guitar/Harmonica duo around! The Henhouse Roosters are turning an important corner in their history!!!
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