We had a few firsts at our jam session this week. We had our first Didgeridoo and the police came for a a listen. Not Sting and Stewart Copeland (although if you're listening boys, you're welcome to pop in), but the boys in blue, the fuzz or the Rozzers.
Other than the police following up a noise complaint, it was a damn good night. we had a lot of new faces. Multi-instrumentalists Nate and Francisco were there from the onset and we had some cool chilled out jams with the Didgeridoo and some percussion.
Once a few more people had arrived, despite having had a dodgy throat all week, I kicked the singing off with a few of our standards:
Luckily Eoghan arrived again to taise the bar and teach a few new songs. we did a pretty good jam on 'Movin' on up' by Primal Scream:
Now that I know it, I think I'm going to steal Eoghan's idea and Fraser and I will try it at the next open mike.
Ali also showed up around this point. He's a wonderful lead guitarist, but what I didn;t know is that he prefers acoustic. Ali and Eoghan then did a version of romeo and Juliet with David:
Ali then did some great folk in DADGAD tuning:
Christoph the drummer also made his first appearace at this Jam session. We had many a good Jam at the Mine with Christoph and it was great to see him again. He was there with another new face; Pascal. Sensing some serious talent I paired them with Lorenzo and Robert and we heard some of the best music that the Jam has produced so far; assisted throughout by Nate and Francisco on percussion . Well done boys!
A usual, the CC Muziek Café lounge was pretty full too:
After this the police arrived, so Tamira's set was particularly quiet. The regulars then kept the Jam going until I unplugged things at 1:30am so that I could go home to bed before work.
We had another great night last night. The previous week had given me a little confidence in the fact that I could sit back and enjoy the night a little. When I arrived, Robert and Fergus were already playing away. I quickly got everything set up and joined in. We now have a big enough group of musicians that there are several regular faces who are showing up – Bram, Ali, Wally, Roberto etc.
It was a very “Jammy” night, I don’t think I sang until about 23:00 and I was even playing the drums for quite a while.
After last Friday’s couch Jam – and a few new friends came along. Thanks to David and Elisa.
The band I'm playing in all came along(sans Tamira) and we ran through a few of the songs that I still need to work on before Saturday:
Lisa looks particularly annoyed, but no one is really sure why.
We also had a returning drummer in the form of Wally, who kicked off a medley of Led Zeppelin songs:
We managed to make it all the way through Stairway to heaven with nearly the right words. Whole Lotta Love with no words, and Thank You with a lyric sheet. It was great fun too loud, and very entertaining.
While all this was going on, Matthew was interviewing various Jam Session hosts and regulars for a promo video for the bar. Watch this space - embarassing-interview-youtube-moment on the horizon.
As with last week the night closed magnificently with a Set by Giovanni and James which featured lots of guest stars:
Last night I dropped in a new event in Amsterdam. The CouchJam at Talia. Talia is a great little Deli, come catering business, come living room, come small venue. I heard about it through Bernie who played in the mine a few times and was a regular at the Jam Sessions. The plan was to have a chilled unamplified Jam Session on couches - sounds like a good way to start the weekend.
I walked in a little apprehensivly, unsure if I was the only outsider attending. It was chilled right enough. Bernie was sitting on one couch and there was a guitarist(Tim) on the other sitting beside a guy(Mauricio) playing a snare and a set of hi-hats.
I wouldn't often just sit down and join in - but for some reason it felt right. There were various people mingling, eating great food and joining in with some random shakers and tambourines:
The evening passed in a blur. I had brought my Open Mike song book and some people sang a few songs from there. This worked pretty well. I also tried in vain to keep up with some Gypsey Jazz Jam's, but eventually I had to just tap out the rhythm on my guitar. Before I knew it - a few hours had passed and it was time to stop.
After everyone had been out the front of the place a for a photo - Nicola(One of Talia's owners) called us through to the back room and fed all the musicians a Tiramisu:
A great Jam last night. I'm finally managing to focus on the musicians and accepting that I don't have much control over how many people turn up to watch us. When I arrived, Fergus was there to play bass and I was pleased that Eoghan had come down to see what we were doing. Fico was also there - and he always has fun while he's playing, so it made for a good start.
We had a lot of fun running through various songs and and exchanging ideas. It was a very song oriented start to the Jam. Normally I throw out a few songs to warm people up before we try to bring together some jams, but we plays a number of songs led by either me or Eoghan. It was great to have Eoghan along to take the lead a little and also to sing some great harmonies for the stuff I was doing. The stuff I remember is Sympathy for the Devil, Talkin' bout a revolution, Man on the Moon, Whiskey in the Jar and Dancing in the moonlight.
We also had a new face at the Jam - Cecile - who started very well by getting us to Jam a version Glory Box by Portishead and then slotted in really well on vocals and guitar.
After that, Danielle arrived and I felt there were enough people who could play guitars and sing, so for the first time so far in our Jam Sessions - I took to the drums. It's been a while, and I get pretty self-concious about whether my bass drum is in time, but I'm pretty sure I coped okay and no-one noticed that I've not played in months and my brain disagrees with my arms about my drumming ability.
After this, I sat back with Karolina and let everyone do their thing. We had almost no audience, but around 20 musicians. Robert came along and Karolina even played(Zombie). The night closed with me playing Bass, Robert playing guitar, Bram playing keyboards and Den playing drums.
I had a great night. I think I'll branch out to Bass and Drums more often.
My second jam session of the year, and we’re starting to relax into the rhythm of the thing. People are turning up and know what’s going to be happening. We had a pretty slow start tonight. Our “house band” still consists of Devin Deen and I. Tonight we were pretty quickly supported by Andre Smoge, who is a Norwegian I had met by chance the night before. He’s a jack of all trades musician who I don’t think fully showed his full deck last night but he was keen to jam and play bass, guitar or jam some vocals which is always good.
We started with an extended Jam of Sympathy for the Devil to an almost empty bar. This gave way to some free jamming with Andre skat singing. I’m not convinced it’s the stage for free jamming. No one seems to be able to hear each other and it can drift toward a rabble at times. Still we persevered and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. After that the bar got a bit busier, I ran through a few songs with ted on Bass and then a younger guy on drums(Name to be added) joined us.
After a short break, some of the regular musicians(meaning they’ve been before) showed up. Dave, Robert and Coco’s own James started the inevitable blues jams to blow away the cobwebs. Slow minor blues a la Since I’ve been loving you and various other bits and pieces.
After that things went all Latin, José from Venezuela and Janan(sp??) from Cuba who gave us some great latino loungey music. Danielle Cornelissen and Will joined in on drums and guitar to and there was even some dancing:
From this point, I knew there were enough musicians about that I could have a seat and start to enjoy it without the stress of wondering if I’ll have to perform too much or if the bar will be totally dead.
While it all went latin up the stairs, I had discovered that Tamira and Lisa had sneaked in down the stairs:
Tamira and Lisa took to the stage backed by Devin, Deen and Alfons. The stage was getting busy and my previous plans to sit on my arse and take some photos were quickly thwarted by the dreaded decibel meter which seems to edge above 86dB every time anyone enjoys themselves or my arse hits something soft.
Okay. Rant over. Tamira and Lisa were wonderful, and the practicing is starting to pay off. They have a gig in CC Muziek Café on the 29th January, and it’s guaranteed to be a fun evening.
By the time Tamira finished everyone was ready for bed, but the diehards stayed on for around an hour of Danielle jamming with Robert, Deen, Andre, Dave and Devin. Very extended versions of Louie Louie, Ring of Fire and The first cut is the deepest made for a great close to the day and luckily it was during this that Andy Reeves from the Amsterdam Stun pooped in, so I can only assume that he thinks it’s always that coherent. Thanks Danielle.
All in all a great night which started with me unnecessarily stressing about no musicians coming; but it turned out to be a pretty good night. We still don’t have the audience numbers that we’d like but hopefully happy musicians is a good sign that word of mouth should start to take effect.
Here´s some of the songs that appeared during the evening:
After 6 months of oscillating between playing rockstar and playing grumpy-organiser-man - the Coco's Jam Sessions are no more. It seems that the Jam Session was the only night that was a guaranteed success, and the bar is going to replace it's stage with a DJ booth.
It was a great experience while it lasted, and I learned a lot, but there is a part of me is glad for a break. As the nerves and worry of managing to get through the night with unknown musicians gave way, it became an organizational chore. How do we plug in 3 guitars in with 2 guitar cables? How long do you give the drunk guy a shot on the drums before you ask him politely to leave? How do you explain to the Reggae enthusiasts that reggae sounds terrible if their timing is terrible? And also is all this shit your responsibility?
Through the Jam Sessions I have met loads of new musicians and contacts and built a lot of confidence in playing and even singing. Thank you to everyone that put up with it and thank you to everyone that participate; we did ourselves proud. Onwards and upwards to the next adventure.
Tomorrow is a public holiday in the Netherlands so the Jam session is packed. We have Aron Levin of the Heaters from Cincinnati warming up for his show on Saturday and various other people that don’t need to work tomorrow. Sefi is going back to Israel so it’s the last time we’ll see him for a while.
Sandra is leaving at the end of the month. Her departure has finally given us a deadline to work towards for finishing her CD. We´re aiming for 8 studio tracks and 4 live tracks, so Wednesday was spent recording bits and pieces of vocals and assembling some rough mixes of the tracks. We also recorded guitar for "better to burn out than fade away" and "born with a tail".
Afterwards we headed down to the mine for the Wednesday Jam Session. it was eally well attended:
Sandra brought down several friends including Pierre Corneille who took the first videos from our Jam Sessions:
I had today off to go to Scotland for the weekend and Fraser had to take a flight early this morning, so we swapped roles and I did a late one at the Jam Session. It was fun seeing what happens after I leave for once. It tailed off towards 2am and then once all the local bars closed, it got busy again until about 4am... it was a great night and I didn't stop playing... It feels good to wake up with tired fingers.
The Jam Session fairies were kind to us this week and it was a great night.
The night started with a take away pizza session at my place with Tamira, Sandra, Karolina, Fraser and I… it always feels great eating with the band(or some of them) before a gig… preparing the army for battle or something like that.
We had the perfect balance of Fraser and I getting to sing songs and lots of people coming up to play. Tamira has really found her voice, and sang several tunes…
The Jam Session attendace fairies didn't do their work this week. It was our second "Dead" night. It's hard to tell why. It was the week after Easter... so maybe people had bank holiday hangovers, or maybe the draw of the Champions League games proved to much for some people. I don't belive there is so much crossover between guitars and football, but maybe I'm wrong.
I really enjoyed the session anyway. When it's quiet we get much more oppurtunity to play. We did an excellent(I think) cover of Man in the Mirror we murdered yet another beatles song and I finally mangaged to slip in a (somewhat reduced) version of Stairway in the proceedings. Oh yeah.... and we debuted our first ever female drummer(Tamira) at the Jam session.
Last night's Jam session was packed. There was a great vibe.. Following a Les Claypool concert, Stephen has taken to Bass playing with a tad too much fervour, but we had stellar performances from all the usual suspects and I even managed to keep folk in their toes by slipping in a Tina Turner cover sung by yours truly in between the inevitable funky jams, and it wasn't Acid Queen!!!
Pretty good night again... it amazes me how sucessful these nights are. There weren’t so many musicians this time, but there were still plenty punters…my self indulgent highlight of the night was Maggot brain…If I honestly thought anyone apart from me would want to hear it I’d just play it all night.
Anicdote of the night was a guest guitarist who kept on asking where the pickup selecter switch was on my one pickup guitar...
It was a bit of a slow start but by the time I left, the Jam Session was wailling... Giovanni Bassano and James O'Reilly made their first appearance and really impressed. I managed to sit in on drums with them and provide some lead for some pink floyd later in their set.
With continuing testicular fortitude I managed to sing Jimi, Led Zep and Tina Turner back to back.
