This picture pretty much sums it all up. It’s not every day I get to play in Ryan Martinie’s office. Seriously…big thanks to Ryan for being the kind of guy who would let me use his rig.
Unbelievably, we use EXACTLY the same bass rig.
Roll call in this next pic – left to right – Chris Welborn, myself, Chris Eggleston, and Ryan Martinie. Yes, the bass nerd out session was QUITE strong this evening.
I got the call from Chris Welborn at January NAMM 2019; “Do you want to open for Soften the Glare?”
Uh…yeah. Like…hells yeah. But life is already like a game of Jenga with all the projects I tend to have a finger in. The reality was trying to find the time to make it happen. But this was something that needed to happen. So, that being said, I had the setlist firmed up before I was on the plane flight home from LA so we would waste no time getting a project together. The timing of that call was actually perfect. I was demoing the Gizmotron booth during the show. Gizmotron heard my ideas at the show and sent me home with a unit to outfit the Spector Legend NT with. The Gizmoed-out Spector became even more of a beast once it was outfitted with the unit. Huge thanks to Aaron and Gizmotron for his support on this project.
This idea came together quickly to say the least…some of it while walking to my rental car in the NAMM parking garage after that phone call…the rest of it on the plane ride home. Thankfully, I had done a solo gig some years ago at a local brewery and invited Chris to sit in. That experience actually became the bones for what we were about to do next.
Fast forward through a few weeks of practice…the installation of a Gizmotron on the Spector NT (because it took a bit of creativity to get it to place between the EMG and the bridge)…redoing my pedalboard with some new ideas…writing some new material…a search for a drummer (thankfully Tom Sapp jumped in and gave this a go)…and even a death in the family of a band member (Chris mother, Ann Welborn, passed away a week before these shows…rest in peace Ann)…BUT…we debuted at Epicure Cafe in Fairfax Virginia on Monday April 8th to a small but VERY enthusiastic crowd…some folks coming from over an hour away to see this lineup do it’s very first show.
Many thanks to Sandi Redman for catching this show on video.
And then…a few days later we opened for Soften the Glare. Meanwhile, there’s that look we kept giving each other as that day progressed, “Wow…this is happening. We’re a part of it.”
Couldn’t make this story up if I tried. And we’re not going away anytime soon it seems. Keep checking my schedule…I have a feeling I’ll be adding more shows to the schedule for this band very soon. Which, considering how unlikely and improbable this all was in the first place…makes me smile.