Tunes and Travels

Today I booked train tickets for this weekend. I'm heading to London to hang out with Goucher friends also abroad in the country-- Debra on Friday night/Saturday, then Kellene, Rafael, Kevin (visiting from his studies in Berlin) and Sarah from Saturday night to Monday afternoon.

I just got back from a rehearsal space, where I jammed with Ben, Tony, Jon and Vicky, a singer Jon discovered through classifieds. All of us except Ben (who was too busy) picked a song last week and after practicing on our own we jammed them together tonight. Jon picked the Pixies "Gigantic," Tony picked the Libertines' "Don't Look Back into the Sun," Vicky picked the Queens of the Stone Age's "Go With the Flow," and I chose Alice in Chains' "Would."

The rehearsal space is in this killer local rental place and was furnished with bass and guitar amps, a loud PA, and most importantly for me a cheapo beginner Yamaha bass. We began just by jamming for a short bit on a little slap lick I came up with on the spot per Jon's prompting and that was a good time. We started with "Go With the Flow," and we all heard Vicky's voice for the first time-- very solid! Then came "Gigantic" which is about as simple as songs get and it came out just fine. After "Don't Look Back into the Sun" came "Would," which I was stoked on because I really wanted to hear a female voice belt that huge chorus. Vicky sounded quite awesome and it's the only song of the four I play bass with a pick on...very fun but easy bassline.

We ended with a 15-minute-ish jam and agreed it was a good time. I need to pick a tune for next week-- I'm torn between the Foo Fighters' "Everlong," Dinosaur Jr's "Raisans," or the Doughboys "Fix Me."

I got good feedback from the dudes and really felt great playing music with other people. It's something I rarely get to do, and I'm quite grateful to be invited into the fold.