Hey there and welcome to my....ummm...space.
This isn't really a band...per se...it's more of a place where I wanted to upload some of my past/present musical ventures for people to peruse without going through all the hassle of making a web page. Presently, I'm hoping to put together a full time group here in Charleston. We're running as the names "King Of Thieves" and you will, someday, find them on in my Top Friends. The band will be all original music. And, god-willing, we will force our way into the hearts of everyone in Charleston, and make a name (even a small one would be nice) for ourselves. Fingers crossed!
The above mp3's are a culmination of a couple bands. Here's the run down of what's going on in them, the story...BEHIND THE MUSIC.
1. Jeeves Got Blues
This was my band in Dallas, TX: High Water Junction. Matt is on vox, Derek is on drums, Wiley on bass and me on harp. "Harp" (aka "harmonica") is what people who play this god forsaken instrument call it to sound cool.
2. Single Thing
This is by my most recent band, Ten Feet Tall. Scott on vox, Josh on guitar, Larry on bass, Jeff on drums and me. Josh is the song writer on this one. We did a little bit of tweaking of it when we worked it out for the band. But 95% of it was there already.
This song was recorded and engineered by me on ProTools LE. Then we took the tracks over to a pro studio to be mixed and mastered. Best way, I think, to record an album. Do the tracking on your own. Unlimited takes, you can do it on your own and/or have fellow bandmates there helping you out. And you aren't paying by the hour!
3. Sanford and Son
The reason HWJ was known as "that band with the Chinese harmonica player that does Sanford and Son."
4. Business As Usual w/Blues Traveler
Technically it should be Business as Usual with Rob Lowe since this is clearly not my band. This is me sitting in with Traveler in October of 2005 at the 9:30 Club in DC.
Truthfully, I didn't know I was going to play with them. Especially since I had just sat in with them back in July at their show at Ram's Head in Baltimore. Before the encore, Tad (Blues Traveler's bass player) told me they wanted me to sit-in. I went back stage and met Matt Bradshaw (another harp player that had sat-in with the band before.) We were each given harmonicas...but only one microphone to share. Since I had just played with them a few months before, I figured it was cool if Matt took the mic, and then passed it to me whenever his turn passed.
It's kind of hard to tell what is happening on stage and who's playing what, so here is my best chance at explaining this craziness:
So here I am on stage, walking around with a harmonica and no mic. They hit the chorus and Matt is just standing there. So I asked him for the mic and then did some stuff to comp in the background. Handed the mic back to him and then he did some stuff during the verse and then took the next chorus. This lead into the jam. He and Popper are trading lines while Ben (Blues Traveler's keyboard player) is making fun of me for not having a mic.
So I was standing on stage with nothing to do when all of a sudden John Popper turned around during the jam and just gave me his mic. For me, this was like holding Excalibur or some other sort of Holy Grail, Light Saber/amazing thing. For guitar players, imagine Jimi Hendrix or someone like that just handing you their guitar. It's pretty sweet. Best I can remember I played a phrase, gave it back to John. He handed it back and then said "push this button for distortion". That's when I just erupted into (quite possibly) the most tasteless lick I could think of. (approximately the 3min 30sec mark) The jam WAS ON!!! John then plays the chorus and then we're back to more dueling harmonicas. John handed me his mic again, and then we started trading off again. Me through his mic, then him on his mic, then Matt on the 'shared' mic. At some point John stopped playing and just picked up tambourine so Matt and I could just trade back and forth. It was at this point that John decided to start putting effects on the mic for me. Hence the delays and random fx going on in the bkgrnd. In my myspace picture section I've got pix of John's harp rig. There is a small yellow amp that he uses ONLY for feedback. For people that play harmonica they know that feedback is the evil bastard result of playing harp. That it's somewhat unavoidable. We avoid it. Popper is such a bad ass he's got an amp that is dedicated to making feedback. Kind of like how a guitar player will purposefully feedback (like Jimi Hendrix on the Star Spangled Banner...or when guitar players will smash their guitars). Well, I figured if we were using effects, I *had* to try that. I pointed to it, and John obliged. That explains what is happening at the 6min 10sec mark of the song. Awesome. John told me the band all agreed that it was bad ass that I went straight for the feedback. Tons of fun. John eventually took his mic back (to restore order) and directed me to his vocal mic. Since John is about 2 feet taller than I am, I had to literally stand on my toes to reach his mic. That's me harmonizing with the guitar at the 7:04 mark. John is the high line. Matt is the low notes.
Anyway, it bears mentioning that Traveler has (as far as I know) never performed this song like this before. It was very much just an open ended jam with people throwing cues left and right. God this band is awesome!
Oh yeah, since I didn't know I was going to be sitting in, we didn't have our cameras or anything with us. So, unfortunately, there weren't any high-res pix taken. So the picture that comes up when you play this mp3 is one taken from when I played with Blues Traveler the previous time.
5. According to You
Probably one of the best received original tunes that we did in HWJ. No one can really figure out what this one is about. But According to the song's writer, Matt Mullis (esteemed guitar player and lead vocalist in the MJD band), it's about how musicians think they are awesome even though no one wants them to be in their band.
6. Motherfunker=Run Around w/Me
This is the first time I sat in with Blues Traveler and one of the most amazing nights of my life. Motherfunker is just an awesome funk/jam song that Traveler does. It's never been released on an album...unfortunately...but I love the song b/c it showcases all the members of the band. Pop this one on and listen to it all the way through. The stuff that Ben (keys), Tad (bass) and Brendan (drums) put down in the middle jam is just amazing. Plus, as an added treat, they let me stay on stage with them and play Run Around. It's kind of a crazy with two harps on it. We actually had something worked out, but Popper kind of forgot the plan, so it just became a free for all at the end. But man, it was so cool. Especially b/c I was super super super nervous during Motherfunker. So to kick back, play Run Around and let it all fly was great. If you listen really closely to the end, you can hear me play the melodic line "and many mooooooore."
Well, that's about it...for now. Thanks!
