This week I started at the House of Blues and Jazz. It was a bit of a mixed bag. Mario and Selim's visa's were delayed so we started with Eddy on the first couple of nights, then Edwin.
First of all, this place was meant to be one of the first jazz venues in Shanghai (after WW2) and was packed every night. Some of the musicians that are still here now are because of HOBAJ. They hired bands from abroad to entertain tourists and wealthy loclas on the bund.
Then came in some competition (JZ club, Heyday, Lincoln Centre) over the last 10 years and it's become a shadow of its former self. Still its position on the bund is prime. Couldn't really get much better. They are still getting some customers, but it has so much potential!
For the band, things are broken like keys on the grand piano not working, dodgy sound set up, broken amps, monitors etc. There's not much care or love. The sound guy is upstairs playing on his phone, often has the mic turned off and then cannot be found during the performance.
But anyway..... on the positive side, it's still one of the best gigs in Shanghai so I'm going to try my best to be positive about it.
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I brought both my upright and electric bass this week as Eddy likes to experiment more and likes it loud. Edwin is studying jazz in New York so the upright works better with him.
I thought the stuff we did with Eddy was beginning to develop quite nicely. There's a lot of potential there to create something kinda experimental but still keeping it groovy with lots of improvising. It reminds me of when I moved to Melbourne in 2003. Bands like Moguai and Explosions in the Sky (post rock??? I think) were doing instrumental music, blending interesting sounds. Essentially guitar riff based music, well orchestrated builing and developing through the song.
Eddy's stuff has those kinds of sounds, but it's improvised. Basically the drummer is orchestrating, creating peaks dips and plateaus, while the bass is laying out the harmony, and the guitar is covering the melodic aspects.
Check out the previous posts if you're interested in listing to what we were doing (august 6,7, and 11).
It would be really nice to develop this project by playing it more often, and talking a bit more about how we can shape some of the material. I felt there could have been a bit more space and more use of dynamics.
In reality, the transitory nature of Shanghai most likely won't allow it. Guillaume and I will be at HOBAJ until the end of September, so we'll have to wait and see.
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The other stuff with Edwin was also cool. He's got some great talent and is sounding very nice and clean, beautiful lines. A bit more experience and he's going to shoot to the top!
We played with April Wu on Friday and Li Shihai on the Saturday. There was a serious typhoon in the area, but we still managed to get a decent crowd out. I guess people being stuck indoors the whole day isn't fun on the weekend. Still need to come out and have a good time.
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So tomorrow we start as the house band for the next 6 weeks or so. I've been struggling mentally with the sound, so I hope we can get it all set up where everyone can hear and be happy. Also I need to keep myself in check, as normally when you start playing with the same people every night, you start hearing all the little mistakes, or just things that you wish could be different. And they are hearing that about you too! So like I mentioned earlier I'm going to try and consciously stay on the positive side when in doubt.
Actually Guillaume said some things to me about what I need to improve. About having more precision and consistency, hearing the sub divisions, and singing what you play.
I say that I'm open to it, but it is hard to swallow sometimes. Must be true! But seriously I do appreciate honest feedback.
I had some criticism for him too, but when I asked if he could come down in volume during the bass solo his face changed a little. So the other stuff I'd like to say, might need to be said in a better way.... I don't know, it's all about perception and personal taste anyway. Thats why musicians are often very emotional, because criticism goes against something you love. But anyway.... I like making fun of this guy! haha I don't know if it's because he's very opinionated, or because he's French.
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The studio has become a bit of a home for the homeless. Getting more people wanting to stay there now to save some bread.... And also, I started leaving our private bathroom open for everyone. Guess what happened? It's a mess!
I'll wait another week and see if one of the 'guests' will clean it. If not I will, but I will also change the lock.