Take Four?

I appreciate all music... depending on mood, surroundings, and dosage, I'll listen to just about anything. Sometimes, it's compelling, like some good singer/songwriter tune that will make you sing along, or it could attract with a train wreck-like quality, like some lo-fi world music recordings from the 50's that somehow broke out of the Library of Congress. Through all the varieties, I appreciate all...

The other day I heard the Dave Brubek jazz classic "Take Five" on the local smooth jazz station... a modern remake by a modern smooth jazz ensemble... and they played the song in 4/4. Isn't part of the original Brubek version's appeal, it's hook, why the record was and still is notable that is had the unusual rhythm of 5/4 (hence, "Take Five")? But these modern cats, they don't take five, only four. Smooth jazzed it right out.

Perhaps another form of gentrification??

November at Home.

The summer is behind us, and thus the Young Dubliners are finished with touring for another year. We occasionally have a leg or two in the fall (remember the Irish tours?) and early winter (a fun time to play gigs in Alaska!). But, this year the Dubs are taking it easy for the holidays, playing just a handful shows for the remainder of '08.

Having lost all of my gear in our trailer theft in August, I've slowly been replacing what I had with a slightly new direction. For starters, for several years I played a stock Vox AC30 both on stage and on recordings; I also used a Framus Ruby Riot combo. After some experiments on rented gear, I replaced the lost Vox with a Marshall half-stack - a bit edgier than I have sounded, and probably louder too! I'll have to be careful not to blow the hair back from the folks' faces in the front rows!!

Through a small miracle, I recovered my two Framus electrics. Turns out a gentleman in the Phoenix area purchased them at a swap meet shortly after the heist, as well as a few other accessories of ours, and was unwittingly auctioning them on eBay!! When we spotted them, we contacted said gentleman to ask where he'd found them. He still had me guitars, and graciously returned them immediately. A shout out to Richard in AZ - you're on the guest list for life my man!!

Since settling back into life in Los Angeles, I've been fortunate to hit the studios on a number of projects. All have been tracking guitar for independent artists, on a range of music swinging from adult alternative to pop to plain alternative to plain wacky. One outing was a return to working with singer/songwriter Jeff Aeling, whom I worked with on a project last December. We spent a fantastic week tracking basics and overdubs at Sage and Sound Studio B in Hollywood... Other locations I saw included Echo Park Recording, tracking guitars for the Young Dubliners, Tim Boland and Ken Sluiter producing; Bright Orange Studios, for Brian Cram, with Jon Mattox producing; and Chun King Studio for Craig Bowden, with Shawn Nourse producing.

I am currently playing a fly date with the Young Dubs, performing 2 nights at the Sarasota Irish Festival in Florida. We're threatening to start playing some tunes from our new CD, due out in February.

Cheers until the next time!

A brief catch up!

Well hello. Long time no blog! Hope everyone's having a fantastic election season.

I'm finally back home after a long and awesome bunch of tours with the Young Dubliners. We're replacing all of our gear slowly and surely. In no time the show will be back to normal, replete with lazer lights and go-go dancers (ok, just amps and stuff. But someday..._

Times are exciting because the band has just completed our new album! Still untitled, it's slated to drop in February - just in time for the March Madness tour and St. Paddy's Day. My ears are still ringing from the final mixdown session we had today! The songs and sounds are possibly the most ambitious and inspired records this band has produced to date. Maybe writing and recording 4 albums with the same lineup has something to do with it...

But, no rest yet! Tomorrow, I'm beginning preproduction for another project. Jeff Aeling, whom I had the pleasure of sessioning for last year, has a new batch of songs which he is recording in Hollywood, back at Sage And Sound studios. The demos sound great, and I'm looking forward to writing some eclectic and rockin guitar tracks with Jeff again!

Have a great Thanksgiving, or whatever you celebrate in your part of the world.

The Dubs Tour and Pedestrian

Been out with the Young Dubliners for a couple of weeks, great tour. We played a few major Northwest cities - Seattle, Portland, Boise - and some smaller ones - Spokane, Bend, Medford. Everything from large rock music venues (The Knitting Factory) to free outdoor concerts (Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend); we even gigged in a roller rink-turned-arena rock concert. So variety is the spice of life!

And speaking of variety, and you electric guitarists out there can understand where I'm coming from, it seems that every city has a different level of voltage coming out the sockets. On some stages, my Vox amp sounded just sweet as usual, while on others the sagging voltage left my guitar sounding like the strings were found in an old abandoned mine in the desert. Can the power companies of America get it together and get nice strong electricity to everyone equally? Is that so much to ask?

Just like it would be a solid to all of us if the highways of America were equally smooth everywhere you drive. But if you travel from, say, California to Idaho through Utah, your auto has to endure miles of buckling, patched pavement which feels like washboard when driven at 70 MPH. But then you come to Nevada, and start to think that a state with legal gambling may not be all bad, because the roads are like butter. I wonder where our tax dollars are going when, in Cali at least, there are ALOT of people in the tax base, and you'd think the roads would be half decent. But instead, we're closing some state beaches and parks, and cutting back on educational spending, to make ends meet. Hmmm...

But hey, let the good times roll. I'm off subject here. I just wanted to tell you about the band which opened for us on this last tour. They're called Pedestrian, are from Los Angeles, and are not to be missed if you're fan of indie rock and good songs. Check them out on myspace, or at your music outlet of choice, and you won't be disappointed.

Keep it safe and sane this Independence Day! I'll be sans fireworks back at home for a week, and then hittin' the eastern half of NoAm (North America) during July and August. Write at ya soon!

Bob

tour du jour (the Danish weeks)

So, Ireland went off w/out a hitch! Four shows, 110 fans, mega good times. Now, the band is in Denmark.

We do pretty well here for being outsiders. Our last CD, "With All Due Respect" was released over here and with two previous tours, we're starting to make a name for ourselves. One telling moment was last night, when we played a new song, "Rosie", which we've recorded for our next album (and thus has not been released yet), and some audience members already know the words! How could this be?? After the show, I spoke with a coulple of folks, who told me that they knew "Rosie" from seeing us play it on the CBS Early Show last month - they streamed it on the web. Awesome!!

I'm hoping that someone from Framus Guitars will drive up from Germany to see me. Framus are made in Germany, but I believe they're located too far south to just cruise up to Denmark for a night. Still, it'd be cool to show them their guitars in action...

Alrighty, gotta close so I can make the bus for the next stop. No rain!!

Bob

Now in Ireland

I just landed in Dublin with the Young Dubs! We’re here for a couple of days before commencing our Irish tour. It was actually sunny today. Hope that lasts! Anyway, just accidentally slept all day cuz of a sleepless flight from LA, so I’d better get out and have some fish and chips and stout!

Tour’s Going Well!

Just letting y’all know I’m doing OK out here. The Young Dubs are in full effect! 16 appearances, 6 flights, and 2 more shows to go.

Here’s my idea of quality "me" time:

Getting some sleep WHILE talking with those back home!

Gonna post some pics in the Young Dubliners blog real soon. C U Laters!

- Bob

Here’s to Healy

Sad to hear about the passing of Jeff Healy... had the pleasure to see him play in Denmark last year. Being blind, he taught himself to play the guitar laying flat in his lap - awesomely! It was great to watch him up close, and his talent will be missed.

Do I have everything???

Going away with the Young Dubliners... for three back-to-back tours! Spent today packing lots of clean (not for long) clothes, duct-taping my well worn equipment case (about 7 layers), eating a home cooked meal for the last time in a while. Now I think I'm ready. Do I have everything?? Enough guitar picks? Razors? 7 weeks is a long time. It's tough enough just remember all of our songs, now personal stuff? Can't I just buy new socks everyday instead, and throw my olds away?

Just watched a little vid of the Foo Fighters live to get inspired. OK, think I'm ready...

Some new sounds to sample

So, here it is, well into 2008. Time for some fresh music on my space!! I kept my solo number, Multnomah, up and also added some selections that I've sessioned on, and a song from my band I was with prior to the Young Dubliners. Here are some credits and liner notes:

"Alibi" - this is the first track on the debut album by Jason Whitton, "Thriftstore Cowboy". It was produced by Jon Mattox and Sebastian Sheehan; I played atmospheric electric guitar, something I thought brought out the haunting melody as the song climaxed - sort of like a steel guitar on the moon.

"Gold Driver" - before the Young Dubliners, I spent 7 years playing clubs and pubs up and down So Cal with the Cram Brothers Band. This song is from our only CD release, "SuperCaliberOfEcstacyAsAliceDosedUs." Even though our style was pretty heavy, this one captured our alt-country side, with a chicken-pickin' solo by yours truly. Listen close to the lyrics - our singer Chris Cram wrote mostly all biographical songs...

"These Are The Things" - last December, Young Dubliner's violinist Chas Waltz produced a collection on demos by this fantastic singer/songwriter, Jeff Aeling. I got to play a fun variety of rhythm guitars on this track, and the solo is truly inspired - written mostly by Jeff humming it to me, it's simple yet very musical.

"Say What You Will" - another from the Jeff Aeling sessions, a nice soulful ballad with a melancholy lilt. I got to play only acoustic on this one. Although my heart is with the electric guitar, the acoustic actually feels like a "true" instrument... very expressive...

Hopefully Jeff's music will see a release on CD sometime this year. The Cram Brother's CD was an indie release, so if you ask one of us, we may still have some copies left in the backs of our cars. And Jason Whitton's CD is available from Bright Orange Records, online at iTunes and CD Baby.

All the Best,

Bobby