Hackubus

+1 On the early 80s MIJ Fender. +1MEELION on the Les Paul Junior.

HBD!

Happy Birthdays fellas!

HBD!!

Wow. That's a great deal. Bought one last Thursday, what a fun little amp!

Happy Birthday!

Have a big'un!

I've got a '77 JMP & an '82 JCM 800. Both have similar sounding voicings. Haven't cracked em open to look inside however. Afraid I'd let the magic smoke out. The JMP is a MONSTER though!

HAHA Worry not, OGG & I are unabashed acoustic haters, so it's not likely. We'd be more likely to start a pedal steel/steel drum combo than an acoustic duo.

ROK was a lot like this deal. The Airport Friend actually was an organizer of ROK. Drummer guy spent the 1st two days in drunken stupor like that too. But we managed to survive that. I just don't have enough energy to start this band over for the third time. A friend of mine had been whispering in my ear to join his country/red dirt band, so the bassist & I started playing with him last Saturday. I'm thinking I'll just be hired gun til I get the wind back in my sails again. OGG had an offer to come with us, but he declined.

Sept 6, we were booked to play a fundraiser with two other bands, the headliner being a Kiss tribute band that I'm friends with. I could tell that some of the guys were less than receptive to playing this gig, as it was a freebie. Not to name names, but I'll name names...the singer & the drummer protested the most. Here's the backstory about my band. See if you can spot the problem children! Singer Guy (SG)isn't the greatest vocalist, can be an entertaining front man, is a charming, motivated guy in regards to booking gigs & can do a pretty good "RAWK VOICE". Can be pitchy at gigs, does no vocal warm ups & drinks a little too much at the shows. Due to issues with money/wife/job hasn't been to a band practice since early July. Hasn't been the same frontman since last year. He had ceased talking to the audience between songs, I'd have to goad him into saying anything between songs. Hasn't booked many gigs since last summer. It would appear his 'Give A Shitter' has broken at some point. But dude IS my friend, so I've let a lot of it slide and should have said something earlier. Bassist (Bassist) is a really solid player, has good chops, motivated, enjoys playing. Volunteers to bring the other guitarist & drummer to practice in his vehicle since they live about 30 miles away from the practice warehouse. Can't say enough good things about him or the other guitarist. Drummer Guy (DG)is a competant player, doesn't care for practicing without the singer, bit of a pot head, eat up with "Little Man/Big Man" Syndrome. Has major issues with getting to practice as he's broke as a joke & hit from four sides with child support. Pompous little asshole IMO. Other Guitar Guy (OGG) is a easy going, go with the flow type. Getting to practice is a financial problem with him as well. He & I make a pretty good guitar duo, IMO. Good egg. Me, I'm pretty much the financial backing for the band, I provide the trailer & transportation to the shows, own & maintain the PA system, provide the rehearsal space, funded our cd's recording last summer, musical director and I guess for lack of a better term Head Chief. Or big sucker. I dunno. sigh.... If it weren't for the fact the bassist rounds the guitarist & drummer up and gets them to practice, we'd probably never practice. We don't really have to practice the old material as we've been playing it for close to four years now. But it's been problematic in adding new material when I can't get these guys down here. ON TO THE SHOW. Sept 6. The band rides with me to the gig which is about 90 miles from the practice warehouse. We're to play at 8PM SHARP. The singer is coming from another town, his trip is about 120 miles. He has to work that Saturday and doesn't get off til 6PM. He's assured me he will be on time for the gig. Directions to this gig were less than optimal, but we find the place and arrive on time to load our gear in. Unfortunately, my wife, my brother in law AND our singer had the same directions they'd printed from the internet.... 7PM Wife calls screaming at me because she's lost. Baby in the backseat screaming her poor little head off. (all ages show, mind you) 715PM Bro in law calls, he's officially way bad lost & giving up to go home. 720PM I spot our guitarist & bassist with the most sour looks on their faces. "what's up" I ask them. "You DO NOT want to know" they reply. Drummer spotted wandering around with some scanitly clad cougaress with a glass of merlot in one hand & a bud light in the other. 735PM holy hell y'all, where's our singer? "He went to the airport to pickup his buddy, then he's coming here" Oh. Wait! WHAT?! 740PM wife calls. I'm still an asshole. Thanks for the reminder, babe! 750PM SG: " I'M LOST! WHERE THE HELL IS THIS PLACE?!!" 8PM Band takes the stage, lots of watch checking, faux knob twisting and looking behind the amps on the part of the other guitarist & myself to make it look like we're NOT MISSING A MEMBER ONSTAGE. Possibly the biggest audience we've been in front of in a very long time. All eyes are on us. I'm about to have a kitten on stage in front of all these fine people. 805PM Screw it, let's do it! We start the first song, I guess I'll sing it. Plowing our way thru the first song, who do I see bounding thru the audience? Our vocalist! He arrives right in the middle of the solo, shoots me a smile and I say "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU!" 805-855PM We play our set, madder 'n hell at the singer, monitors suck, can't hear the drums, singer is pitchy and again avoids the audience between songs, we don't really have any fun til the last song, our metal'd up version of "Devil Went Down To Geogia" The crowd goes wild. Autographs signed, high fives, a collective sigh of relief is heaved from the string section. Drummer disappears. Slide our amps out of the way so the Kiss tribute band can now go on. 930PM Singer & his friend from the airport sneak off without saying goodbye to any of us. Drummer & other guitarist spotted gettin' likkered up in the backstage area. Bassist & myself watch the Kiss tribute band. Many cold Dr Peppers consumed by the two of us. 1230M show's over. Guitarist & drummer can't stand without assistance. Bassist & myself strike gear & load the trailer. Start the 1.5 hour trek home. Drummer mouthy as ever. "FUCK you & your mohawk Bassist!" "Fuck you & your scraggly beard & left handed guitars, OGG!" "FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU Hackubus!" "AND FUCK THAT MOTHERFUCKIN SINGER GUY" For ten minutes he berates us, tells us we don't understand him, but the bong does. Whatever dude, get dead already. FINALLY, he slumps over & passes out. We bitch amongst ourselves about the stunt SG pulled on us. 2AM Almost home and the phone rings. It's Drummer guy. "I called SG and I QUIT, but I want you to know I'm not quittin' you guys. I love you guys" So if I'm understanding you correctly, you've just put me into a 'he goes or I go' situation, Mr Drummer Guy? "YUP. Is correct! Him or me, bitch!" Me: Sigh... 1PM Sunday, Sept 7. Singer Guy calls me. SG: "dude, Drummer Guy called and left me SEVEN messages last night and threatened me!" Me: yeah, he was pretty drunked up & full o' hate. SG: "I'ma gunna whoop his ass" Me: Well, he's got it coming if ya ask me. SG: "Well he's dead. You better find another drummer" Me: Sigh.... 5PM Rest of the band: "FIRE SINGER GUY" Me: Sigh Monday, Sept 8 2PM: Me to SG "You're out. You seem to be outta gas, we've got a full tank, just let us run her into the wall without ya if you don't mind" SG "OK, I was thinking about quitting anyway, I'm sick of this crap." We STILL HAVE A GIG Sept 20. In fact, we have four more shows on the books! Bassist & myself go thru every song in our repertoire (repetwat as we refer to it), seeing who can sing it. We split em up between us & eighty-six the ones we can't do. Fifty + songs whittled down to about 24. Call some friends to see if they're band will open for us and buy us about two hours. Excitement abounds in the band again at the new possiblities & challenges. Friend's band agrees to open for us & the bar is down with it. Drummer Guy calls each remaining member to give us his big General George S. Patton speech about how committed he is and how we're gonna make this work. Yay Drummer guy! Practice scheduled for Thursday Sept 11. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are apparently just no good for Drummer Guy. Wednesday spent trying to determine if DG will be at practice or need transportation to rehearsal via text messaging, phone calls, smoke signals & Pony Express. All go unanswered until approx. 11:20 PM Wed night with his response via text. His response: the single solitary capital letter "Y". Oh crap. Y as in "yes"? Y as in "WHY?" Yankee? Yellow? Yahtzee? Clarify, please do! No response. Thursday: DG non responsive to calls from Bassist & OGG regarding ride. They come to rehearsal early. 7PM No DG. They call DG. And wake him up. DG: "you guys were supposed to come wake me up & get me!" I call the little bastard. He actually has the audacity to raise his voice to me and repeats the fact we were supposed to wake his 34 year old grown ass & give him a ride. I remind him the phone works two ways. More yelling and screaming from his end. Me: Fuck you, you little sawed off sack of curly headed gap toothed shit. Come and get your fucking shit. We are done, it's over. I never wanna hear ABOUT YOU, OF YOU, OR ANYTHING REGARDING YOU. You've got 48 Hours or your shit's in the creek. Don't delay!" Hugs & tears amongst OGG, Bassist & myself. And that's how four years of being in a band together came to an end. Y indeed!

Good to hear!

That was really cool!

HBD to you!

Don't forget Dwight Yoakam, especially his first five records IMO. His lead guitarist Pete Anderson will knock you out.

HBD TCB

Happy birthday you ol' internet legend, you.

Best wishes!

Outstanding job Roy! The burst looks great.

Happy Birthday!

HBDs all y'all!

You really should. Cuz after all, the soundguy is a douche.

I've got three 4x12 cabs, but never use more than one at a gig. Sometimes at practice I'll run two cabs for shitz n gigglez. The third 4x12 is on perma-loan to our other guitar player. Nicer places get the 1960TV cab treatment, gun 'n knife klubs get the old beat to hell, 'Peavey VTM Cab Dressed Up Like A Marshall' B cab treatment. My Rivera Quiana sounds like GAWD thru two 4x12s, but pretty anemic when ran as a normal open back combo.

Lookin' good!

Mine does. http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n145/sc...nt=101_0507.jpg