I know I haven't posted anything since late April. Life's been a little busy getting in the way. Personally, professionally, and, most importantly, musically.
The first thing that happened in the musical sphere was meeting a guy that makes custom pickups. Really REALLY good custom pickups. No, they're not for sale at this time, but talk to me in a couple of years, and we'll see where that stands. What I CAN say right now is that I've gotten to play several of the mass produced pickup manufacturers' products over the years (DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, Rio Grande, Lindy Fralin, etc), and in my personal opinion, this guy's pickups smoke them all. Enough so that as of right now, three of my four primary guitars are loaded with various models, with plans to replace the pickups in my other one soon. There's a clarity and fullness to these things that I haven't encountered before.
That's been a lot of fun. But what good are awesome new pickups if you're not making music with them?
That's where the other happening comes in.
Over the past couple of years I've been involved in a recording project with a very good singer friend of mine. (Shameless plug) You can hear the stuff we've gotten done so far at www.reverbnations.com/theobgs
As he has played this music for various and sundry friends of his, they have asked him "Where can we come see you play?" And sadly, he's had to answer "um, nowhere, as there's no band". So he came to me and asked me if I'd be willing to possibly start working with him in a band setting.
A bit of background:
I've done bands off and on since I was 15 years old. Over the years, I've discovered that I don't work well in those circumstances. I can be a very, um, DEMANDING type of person. There just might maybe be some control freak tendencies involved. This makes me an ...interesting person to deal with. Now add that to the frequently volatile nature of other musicians. Shake vigorously. Then put it in a blender. Just for fun, whack the resulting mess with a large stick. Can you guess how that's turned out in the past? Yeah. Ugly, no?
Once I got done curling up and rocking back and forth under a table, I told him that if he could find other people to play with, I'd show up with my stuff and see what happens. So he did. And I showed up. And you know what?
Damn if I didn't have a great time.
I've spent the past 5-6 years doing nothing more than playing in various permutations of The Dungeon (my recording room), but I haven't had the opportunity to actually play with people. I'd forgotten how good it feels to take a tube amp and, oh, say, TURN IT UP. A lot. And it's interesting what happens when you work with real grown ups. You know, instead of being in your mid-20's. So as of right now, it's a work in progress, and I'm having WAY too much fun. Who knows? We may even *gasp* gig at some point in the future. At least, that's the Evil Master Plan.
All of which brings me back to those new pickups. Instead of going off for hours about the minute sonic qualities contained within their wee little magnetic hearts, I'll put it very simply:
Fuck me, they sound good.
And in the end , what more can you ask for?
