Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

Steve Haynie

Supporter
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    18,019

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    93

Posts posted by Steve Haynie

  3. Posted

    On 11/13/2019 at 1:59 AM, crunchee said:

    If you want a P and a J in a Hamer bass, get a 1st Gen Cruisebass.  Blitz basses had them, too.

    Edited to add:  Also, I believe 4-string Hamer Chaparral basses had a P-style PU in the neck position, and a bass HB in the bridge position...though by design, a P-Bass PU is humbucking already.  

    The difference in the wood and neck joints is not going to be the same as a 2nd Gen Cruisebass.  There will be a big difference in the tone of each type of bass before getting plugged in.  . 

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    17 hours ago, Willie G. Moseley said:

    As for bass strings, who remembers D'Addario Reds (over 30 years ago)? They were copper-colored (thus the name, I guess), dirt cheap, felt nice, looked unique (particularly to other musicians who might not be familiar w/ 'em).

    They only lasted thru a few sets but sounded magnificent, particularly if you played with a pick. You knew you were past due changin' 'em out when they started to tarnish, like a penny.

    Also sounded great going direct into a board for recording, IMO. If they were still being made and I was still an active musician, I'd still be using them.

    It could be possible that D'Addario could make a similar product with a different metal.  Was the copper color plated on the outer wrap wire, or was there a an alloy with a reddish tint used for that wire?  If it was just a copper coating there is a chance D'Addario is still making something similar to those old strings. 

  13. Posted · Edited by Steve Haynie

    I went to a real rock and roll show! 

    My concert experiences are all over the place.  There are newer bands like Palaye Royale, and there are older bands like The Glenn Miller Orchestra.  Everything good appeals to me.  Way up in the mountains of North Georgia there is Anderson Music Hall at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds where they get a variety of shows with country, rock, bluegrass, and gospel bands.  Two weeks ago it was Atlanta Rhythm Section and Pure Prairie League putting on a good show.  Last night I was there again to see Tommy James & The Shondells.  I thought I was mixing in another show like seeing those 60's groups on the Happy Together Tour or Jay and the Americans.  Instead it was a more "in your face" like a rock and roll band should be. 

    There was an opening act called Radford Windham and Step Back Cadillac from Dahlonega, GA.  They did mostly covers and a couple of originals.  There were three guitars, bass, drums, and an accordion/keyboard player.  Would they be good to see opening another show?  Yes, they would. 

    What got me when I walked into the music hall was just how much equipment was on stage.  Two bands worth of gear can be a little or a lot, and this looked like more than what two bands needed.  When the opener finished very little gear was cleared off the stage.  Tommy James was going to put on a show with a full band, alright! 

    Before the show started some band members were checking their gear, and I noticed Greg Smith up there on stage tuning his bass.  Greg is normally Ted Nugent's bass player, but he plays with a lot of bands.  In particular, he has done a Happy Together tour as well as other 60's band tours.  That would be a lot fun when you consider how many of those pop hits had hooks in the bass lines.  (Oh, to have the credits of Joe Osborn!)  Greg has played with a lot of hard rockers, too.  Seeing him was a nice surprise.  I just wish he had stuck around talking to people after the show.

    There were two keyboard players.  On on stage left there was a Hammond organ with a rotating speaker cabinet behind it.  On top of the Hammond there was a Nord keyboad.  That was played by Mike DiMeo, another sideman with impressive credits.   On the other side of the stage there were Korg and Yamaha synthesizers played by Bobby Guy (if I got the name correct).  There was one drummer, but perhaps there should have been an extra percussionist considering how many players were on stage.  Just how many guitar players does it take to put on a Tommy James show?  Hmmm... it was three in addition to Tommy. 

    Johnny Golden had a Fender Strat with a HSS pickup setup going into two Marshall half stacks on stage right.  He has played with Meat Loaf, Billy Joel, and Edgar Winter among others.  I talked to him a minute or two after the show while he was packing up.  He played most of the leads during the show.  On stage left there were two guitar players with ES-335's or variants.  Behind them was another Marshall half stack and a Roland Jazz Chorus amp.  One of the two 335 players was a friend of Tommy named Caspar McCloud from Atlanta.  When I saw him I kept thinking he might be Punky Meadows with blonde hair.  He only got to do a little soloing toward the end of the show during Mony Mony/I Feel So Good.  The other guitar player was Jonathn Ashe.  (The spelling of Jonathn threw me off, too.)  For all my jokes about the show being the original Tommy James with no original Shondells, well Jonathn was there during the original run of hits. 

    Tommy James came out and played a Fender Jazzmaster most of the night.  I am not sure what amp he was using.  He also played an acoustic D'Angelico guitar for the newer acoustic version of I Think We're Alone Now.  I think the other guitar players were using Taylors. 

    So, now for the show. 

    The volume in the PA was not too loud, but the band sounded loud.  There were no clean guitar tones unless a song needed a clean guitar tone.  This was a rock band with no hesitation about it.  Every bit of the energy that made a pop hit was there.  Tommy is 72, but did not act like it even though he made jokes about everyone being old, like after all these years everyone is still on drugs... Lipitor and Plavix.  He reminded me of Eddie Money working the room to make everyone feel like they were at his house.  There was no teleprompter.  Tommy has his act together! 

    When Tommy played guitar he did some odd looking chords and used his thumb over the sixth string a lot.  It looked like he was playing in an open tuning.  With two regular guitar players backing him and another guest with him he still had his guitar out front quite a bit.  He really plays while he sings.  His voice is there, too.  Some of the singers from way back in the 80's have had to change keys or drop tunings to sing their old songs.  Tommy James is still hitting his notes after 50+ years.  With all those people on stage the backup vocals were full and harmonized, too. 

    Mony Mony was lively when the band played it.  Billy Idol has his version.  Tommy James rocks it just as hard.  The audience stood up and moved with that song. 

    The band is on fire.  The singer can sing.  Everyone is putting on a show.  Everything was right about this show.  It was as good as seeing ZZ Top and Cheap Trick last month.  If Tommy James & The Shondells had been in that show lineup there would be a lot of surprised people at how well the show compares.  Hiring the right people to be in your backing band makes a difference. 

    After the show Tommy and Jonathn came out to the merchandise stand to meet people.  Tommy took time to talk with everyone as he signed autographs and posed for photos.  At least a couple hundred people were in the line, and every one of them were treated nicely.  While waiting for my turn, way at the back of the line, I started reading the first chapter of Tommy's autobiography.  In that chapter he wrote about learning to play guitar, and there it was!  He learned to play in an open E tuning so he could change chords with one finger... as long as they were all major chords.  He has learned how to play other chords, but he still uses that open tuning.  My guess about the open tuning was correct. 

    Here is the setlist. 

    • Like 13

  21. Posted

    1 hour ago, devrock said:

    But....from a playing perspective? I think he’s sort of a hack. Outside of Pyro, nothing he’s done has ever impressed me (which fits, as Leppard hasn’t done jack shit since then, either, IMO). I’ve even seen some YouTube vids of him playing solo and it sounds like me wanking on a guitar - and that’s not a good thing. He’s simply never impressed me as a player at all.

    Call it wanking or whatever.  As much as we criticize, most people listening to the radio do not care how good someone plays as long as the tune is catchy.  Phil plays to his live audience, and Def Leppard has a lot of radio hits. 

    • Like 1

  25. Posted · Edited by Steve Haynie

    10 hours ago, Travis said:

    I’m being cremated. Ain’t no way I’m burning up one of my guitars with me. They need to be passed on and enjoyed by others for decades after my ashes are grown into a tree to be cut down and made into another guitar to complete the cycle...

    Reincarnation

    By Wallace McCrae

    What is reincarnation, a cowboy asked his friend.
    Why its something that happens when your life has reached its end.
    They comb your hair and wash your neck and clean your fingernails,
    And lay you in a padded box away from life's travails.

    Now this box and you goes in a hole that's been dug into the ground.
    And this here reincarnation starts once you're planted 'neath the mound.'
    Now pretty soon the clods melt down along with the box and you who are inside,
    and then your just beginning on your transformation ride.

    And then one day some grass will grow upon rendered mound.
    Until one day, on your moldered grave a little flower is found.
    Then say by chance a horse should wander by and graze upon that flower,
    That once was you and now has become your vegetative bower.

    Now the posy that that horse done ate along with all the rest of his feed,
    becomes fat and bone and muscle, essential to the steed.
    But some is consumed that he can't use and so it finally passes on through,
    And just lays there on the ground. This thing that once was you.

    And then I see's this on the ground,
    and I wonder and I ponder at this object that I found.
    And I begin to think about reincarnation and life and death and such.
    And I come away concluding old pal, You ain't changed that much!

    • Like 1
    • Haha 5
×
×
  • Create New...