Dennis Coffey and the phenomenon of “How did I miss that?”

Dennis Coffey and the phenomenon of “How did I miss that?”

I love music. I especially love music that’s like a lot of other music that I like, which explains my obsession with Beatles-derived power pop, classic-sounding funk, and pretty much everything that sounds like the bands I already love. I also have a tremendous blind spot sometimes, which often makes me miss out on music that will touch me deeply. Case in point: The Meters.

Back in 1994 or so, two of my brothers, our “brother from another mother” Caleb, and I were goofing around in the basement of our house in Pennsylvania, and were on a funk kick. We created this jam-oriented music that came out sounding like a guitar-heavy version of Parliament meets the Allman Brothers. It was SO MUCH FUN. And we kept getting funkier and funkier over time. Then we moved away, and the regular jams ended. We’d get together over spring break or whenever we could manage to make it happen a few times over the next few years, but it was never really the same.

At one of these “reunion jams”, Caleb asked me if I had ever heard of The Meters.  He made me a mix tape of some classic Meters tunes. I couldn’t believe we went almost the entire life of our funk jam group and we never listened to this band, because our music had the same vibe (only with mountains more skill and talent, of course). I became obsessed, but also realized that I had heard one of their most signature tunes, “Cissy Strut” over and over as the bed music for a promo for one of the specialty shows on my college radio station. I always LOVED the music on the promo but never knew what it was.

I somehow MISSED this band…and I have no clue how. It was around me. I was very active at my college radio station. I knew the guy who hosted the specialty show and we got along great, but I never asked him about that music.

This happened AGAIN this week, which brings us to the title of this post. Dennis Coffey was one of the guitarists in the Motown house band – probably most famous for his funky rhythm chording and his early adoption of the wah-wah pedal on many late-60s Motown tracks. He has an incredible song called “Scorpio”, pieces of which were used as the basis for many rap songs I’ve known (including LL Cool J’s “Jingling Baby” (main riff) and Young MC’s “Bust A Move” (percussion breakdown)). Again, I always loved these little bits of music, and heard them a lot, but never knew or sought out the source.

In discovering this song due to the sad passing of legendary Motown Funk Brother Bassist Bob Babbitt (who has a very long solo in “Scorpio”), I started to listen to more of Dennis’ music and realized his guitar style is probably the closest to my own among all of the famous guitarists I’ve heard. His mixture of funky riffs, jazzy chords, and slinky-yet-adventurous pentatonic leads sounds more like what I do when I pick up a guitar than even my guitar heroes. I don’t know if it’s the fact that I grew up in a family that loves classic Motown, but there’s something that’s just “home” about playing guitar that way. The fact that Dennis even plays my favorite type of guitar for that sort of playing because it’s meaty but still has a shimmering top end (he usually uses a Gibson semi-hollowbody) made it even more clear that if I have the chance, I need to see him play live and hopefully meet him. He’s a kindred soul.

It’s interesting to me that I managed to miss Dennis Coffey’s music even though it’s so similar to the music I’d make if I was making instrumental funk. If I were more of a pessimist I’d be sad because in this discovery it’d be the realization that my style wasn’t original, but I’m not a pessimist like that. My style came from all those blues and funk and classic rock and roll influences I absorbed early in my playing, filtered through all the phases of obsession with different genres that followed. The smoothie of influences somehow ended up with me approaching the instrument like Dennis Coffey, even though I never really heard his own music, just his contributions to Motown (that were preceded by and could be confused with the earlier Funk Brothers guitarists, Joe Messina, Robert White, and Eddie Willis). Coffey took soul and funk psychedelic, right around the same time as The Meters made it all New Orleans and sloppily tight.

I’m happy that their music is now a part of my life, and I’ve been happily consuming it ever since I heard of The Meters in the late 90s and Dennis Coffey just last week. But I really wish that I hadn’t missed out on it before. I feel like my life is improved because I’ve heard this music. Isn’t that the goal here, though? Making music that people will hear and consider a pleasant addition to their life? Something that inspires them and makes them feel joy.

On to the “How Did I Miss That?” phenomenon: Like Coffey and The Meters, there are a bunch of artists I missed out on loving the first time that have become my favorites, it makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with me sometimes. It’s really stupid, actually. I remember playing Sloan on my college radio station and liking the songs we played but I didn’t become a massive fan until Caleb played their album “Navy Blues” for me (if you haven’t heard it, you need to). I didn’t discover King’s X until their third album, and they’re up there in my personal “pantheon of greats”.

I have another phenomenon – the “I hate them and then I love them”. Example? I HATED Rush when I first heard them in 1988. HATED. Now they are my favorite band. Same with Led Zeppelin. Just couldn’t stand them…now I adore them. I remember seeing Jellyfish on TV in 1990 and thinking they were weird. I had no idea how much they would mean to me later in life; their two albums are two of my favorite albums ever made.

I don’t know if anyone else has these sorts of issues, but I live with them. The good part is, I eventually come around, usually. I just hate the fact that it takes so long sometimes.

So rock on, check out some Dennis Coffey tunes, some Meters, some King’s X, some Sloan, and Jellyfish. Maybe they won’t connect with you the way they connected with me (when I finally came around), but thanks to friends and second chances, they are now a part of my musical life. I consider myself lucky because I love them all and they bring me joy.

Until next time…
TMS

A 4th Of July post

A 4th Of July post

Just because it’s 1:42 PM and I’m home on a Wednesday, I figured it’d be cool to make a little blog post about my musical pursuits. First, a happy 4th of July to my American readers. I hope you have the day off, too. Happy birthday to my musical brother Caleb Rose (aka Salib Ali Baba from Jive Town Jimmy and the Knights of the Purple Cadillac). Now to musical stuff.

I was going through my book I keep of lyrics for songs that I perform acoustically (as rare as that particular event happens to be), and I happened upon some songs I thought I still knew. Sadly, there were chunks missing. I’ve always had a very good musical memory, so I started to play through the tunes and eventually figured out most of what was missing (I think), but the fact that it was even absent made me wonder if I’m starting to lose that skill, that steel trap of a brain that remembers how things go even if I haven’t even thought about the song in years. Probably not, but as I age, I don’t feel as fleet on the fingerboard as I once did. I sweat profusely from pretty much the first lifting of equipment before a show all the way through the end of the show, no matter what the temperature or how I’m dressed. Even though I haven’t been cursed with the graying or the loss of any hair, I think I’m finally getting a little old. Of course, that’s okay. It’s just a weird thing for someone who likes to play pop music, which is so focused on youth and vitality, to start to feel old.

Of course, then I think about the guys I see in “grandpa bands” having fun while being stunningly boring, and I realize it’s what you make of it. Who cares if you’re feeling old? Just rock out the way you know how and to the limit of your ability, and you’re still serving your audience and yourself, and being honest. I still endeavor to put on a high-energy show with Roman Holiday, and being the youngest dude in the band (and the most mobile), it’s my job to do my part to keep it moving. Thankfully I have two great foils in Ned and Lee, who both love cranking up the energy level.

As for writing and recording music, if I can get everything cleaned up and rearranged in the studio to foster creativity, then I think I’ll be able to make some progress. I recently acquired an electronic drum kit that sounds great and has USB so I can record parts into the computer more easily (and fix them because I’m a shitty drummer). Once everything is moved around a bit and streamlined, it’ll be a place where I can finally bring all the old songs to life the way I hear them in my head and hopefully write some better, newer songs that represent who I am now. As I finish projects, I’ll start releasing them on iTunes, Rhapsody, and stuff like that. But I have to finish stuff for that to happen. We will get there. 🙂

Thanks for reading, and have a great 4th of July!
TMS

A few unexpected surprises…

A few unexpected surprises…

So the last time I posted on this little web log I talked about playing regularly and how weird that felt. Taking a break after that run of shows was weird (but good), and when we played our “return” show on the 16th at Carlos N Charlie’s it was great. We got some great video of the band with a packed dance floor (which I will post when I can). In my “non-band” life, the band’s guitarist is my best friend here in town, and we try to hang outside of band stuff when we can. Now that he has a wonderful girlfriend who is encouraging to both of us and about the band, and who really wants to get us all together more, we’ve been meaning to all get together and hang out. So that happened last Saturday evening, and it was really fun and wonderful. First date for me and the wife in what seems like forever. As we were winding down from dinner, my guitar-playing friend got a text from a local venue looking for a band to play that night. Turns out it’s (in my opinion) the best venue on East 6th Street, “The Stage On Sixth”. It’s a country-focused club that has a history on Broadway in Nashville – this is their Austin version of that club. We’ve talked frequently about trying to get in that place, but it’s never worked out for whatever reason. It turns out that the fact that we aren’t a country band really didn’t matter to the crowd…they hung out and sang along and danced and it really went well other than a few technical glitches. Bonus? Great pay. Bonus? No lugging PA. I think we can really do well there, and I’m excited that they seemed to really enjoy us as well. Hopefully it will become a staple of our calendar. We deserve it because we know we can make those crowds happy and keep them hanging around…and that building has a lot of happy history for the band, too…it used to be Bourbon Rocks, where we had some of our best early shows in the four-piece version of the band.

On the original front, my buddy (and former Slaphappy bandmate) Dennis and I were working on a true collaboration – he sent me some music and I tried really hard to come up with something decent for it. I labored over ideas until I had something that kind of inspired me, and then I sent it (along with some bass and second guitar ideas) and haven’t heard anything. I’m not very creative these days…there’s a lot going on in my personal life. Maybe my ideas just sucked and he doesn’t have the heart to tell me…

So that’s la vida del Schizo for the past month or so. More to come. 🙂

Peace and love and good happiness stuff…
TMS

Gigging regularly is WEIRD. But cool. And a tribute…

Gigging regularly is WEIRD. But cool. And a tribute…

So the band’s been playing every week for the past few weeks…and we’re coming to the end of our streak of regular shows. It’s been a really fun ride, and I’ve been loving the variety – from the big show at the Mudder Dash to a lightning-plagued show at Carlos N Charlie’s – we’ve seen a whole lot of different situations, faced a lot of challenges. Thanks to the bros for keeping it fun and light. Which brings me to a tribute. I only had the pleasure of being around his manic energy just a few times in my life, but they were memorable. (RH guitarist) Ned’s very good friend Tim passed away today. He was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met…and I really enjoyed when he came to our shows those two or three times – he came up and sang with us, and cheered us on, and heckled us…and it was all great. Much love and sympathy to his family, and to my dear friend and musical brother Ned, who was also Tim’s dear friend and musical brother. I can’t imagine what you’re going through, and just know I love you and will be here if you need me for anything, brother…rest in peace, Tim.

Holy poo…it’s been a while!

Holy poo…it’s been a while!

Sorry it’s been so long since the last post…there have been a lot of non-musical things going on (and the previously-mentioned Roman Holiday stuff. Gigs for the most part have been good… They updated the software on the POD HD500 finally and I’ve been using that at the last few shows, which is cool. They finally included a bass amp model, so I can get a really great bass tone out of it. I’ve been using the headset mic extensively, and it’s been good. I actually don’t mind looking like a dweeb to my “cool” friends because the freedom is completely worth it. I did write most of a song the other day, and I’ve come up with some great ideas that I think will become songs, so that is nice as well. Once the partial song is completed in decent demo format I will post it here. I’m pretty excited I wrote something. Well, off to get ready for tonight’s show…and to perhaps feed my children… Hopefully my next update won’t take almost three months.
TMS

So what do you want to do?

So what do you want to do?

This is a question that’s been plaguing me for quite some time now. I’ve been relatively content just kind of dragging along playing covers for the past twelve years, never really succeeding in making time for my own music. I’m not sure if it’s a defense mechanism of some sort (you can’t fail if you don’t try) or if it’s just the fact that I’m not very organized and I’m a husband and a father of two children. At times I’ve kicked around various original ideas, and I’ve written about 20 songs in the past decade, but when you compare that to my output before 2002 (and before children), it’s been literally decimated. Again, I’m not sure if this is a result of poor planning or fear of creation. It’s probably a mixture of both. Navigating a metaphorical path back to being creative is something I’d like to achieve sometime in the near future, but I’m not really sure what type of creativity I really wish to pursue. Do I want to write more songs? Do I want to take the songs I’ve written and complete my first album? (Obviously I could do both.) Is the reason I’ve had so much trouble with writing a result of crippling self-editing or a genuine lack of inspiration? Is the creativity I want to reach once more even musical? Do I want to pursue my love for comedy as a stand-up? Or is there something else out there that will allow me to express myself artistically?

It all boils down to this question, which I keep asking myself: “So what do you want to do?” Right now, I really have no idea. Roman Holiday is about to get busy, with a pile of dates booked. Four shows at Carlos & Charlie’s this summer, Two booked up in Temple at The Green Door, and a bunch of private parties. I know we want to take the band’s live show to the next level (it’s good now, but it could be better), so I know that’s going to be sapping some of my creative energy as we work our way towards that goal. For sure it will take my TIME because there are a lot of cool party-type things we’ve been meaning to add to the show, and that will be the plan over the next month and a half or so.

I’m going to do my best to capture whatever ideas and inspiration I have and write it down or record it so I don’t lose it. Even if it doesn’t end up being something useful or usable, the very discipline of capturing these ideas might lead me on the path back to being a creative person again. Thanks for reading!

TMS

Of Art Shows, Acoustic Guitars, and Headset Microphones…

Of Art Shows, Acoustic Guitars, and Headset Microphones…

So on Saturday night I had a fun gig. In preparation for the gig we discovered the area we had to set up was very small, so I decided I’d use my headset microphone. When I opened up the ziploc container I had been using to hold the mic, I discovered something horrible – the mic element must have reacted with moisture in the windscreen and it corroded it out completely, making it useless. Thanks to my wife’s relationship with a local music merchant, I was able to replace it (with some trade we had there, at the hefty full price of a new mic) and I was back in business.

I had been concerned all week as to whether I’d be able to play my acoustic and sing well for the crowd, since I didn’t really know if they’d appreciate the sort of solo acoustic show I tend to do (which is a collection of popular songs from the 60s to now rearranged for solo acoustic and voice), but I was “wallpapery” enough for it to go over very well, and I got a lot of compliments. And Lee helped me out on a bunch of songs hitting the kick drum or tapping out rhythms on the snare, and singing some backing vocals.

Partial song list:
Hello
Baby One More Time
Bus Stop
Elenore
Can’t Buy Me Love
Superstition
Drift Away
Bad Moon Rising
No Such Thing
Sunday Morning
Hole Hearted
I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight

Once the crowd thinned some, we played as the full band, and the wireless headset combined with the wireless on my bass was a dream come true…I had forgotten how much fun it was to be able to run around and sing…and I didn’t even mind that I looked kind of dorky. Neither did the crowd – they weren’t a dancing crowd, but they had all kinds of great things to say during and after and seemed to really love us. Here are some pictures of me in action:

Me, Ned, and Lee. Ned's just standing there.
Garth Brooks with a better shirt and actual hair
Me singing with my eyes closed, as usual.
Rocking out
Truly "into it" and singing with my eyes closed. Again
Yes. I'm a DORK.
I'm a total ham for the camera. As usual.
My favorite shot of the party.
My favorite shot of the party. Through a door into the room where I was playing.

It was a great time, and thanks to them for hiring me and the band, and to Ned and Lee for being awesome, as usual.
TMS

Life’s “noise”

Life’s “noise”

I haven’t been inspired to write anything in a long time. I’ve sat down on so many occasions, trying to some up with something neat, and I think maybe I’ve written one riff/chord progression that might become a song at some point in the last six months. It drives me up the wall, because I used to be such a prolific writer. Of course, that was a LONG time ago (we’re talking over a decade), and before I had a family, so my life was quite different and I was not the same person then. I was lonely. I had a lot of time on my hands. Now I have almost no time on my hands, and the time I have, whenever I try to do something musical, just makes me sad because I can’t seem to come up with anything. I think my mind is suffering from a lot of “noise”. My day job isn’t inherently stressful, but I make it that way because I care far too much about it. I have a really weird focus when it comes to certain things, and my reactions to life seem sort of out of whack. I get really mad and frustrated at little things that are often out of my control, and am almost numb and emotionless when things more important to me or life in general go wrong that were in my power to shape. I haven’t been able to figure out why this is, or how to change this upside-down way I react to things, but at least I recognize it’s there, which is the first step to dealing with it.

This relates to music because this noise is drowning out creation and inspiration. There have been times when I have felt truly inspired in the last year – one day when I took the morning off I wrote a song. It came really fast and seemed really good. Now when I listen to it, it’s basically way too wordy to work, though I still LOVE the chord progression and feel. I just have to modify/rewrite the melody it to make it workable, and I haven’t been able to muster the energy to do it. I have a lot of older songs that basically need new words (the music is great), but I haven’t been able to find anything I really want to say that doesn’t sound forced or cliche. It’s kind of driving me nuts, because the words have always been EASIER than the music for me. Maybe it was just that I didn’t care as much about them then, and kind of let whatever come out come out, but it’s still frustrating. Sometimes they turned out really well (especially on the songs I wrote from 2004-2006), other times, well, I’m embarrassed to even sing them now. Considering how I feel about lyrics, and how much more important they’ve become to me as I’ve grown older, I think the combination of the aforementioned “noise of life” and my own paralyzing self-editing are crippling my creativity.

So what is the way out of this? I honestly don’t know. If you read this and have any good ideas, I’d appreciate them. But I will eventually find something that inspires me and allows me to create. I think I’ve mentioned before how much the setup and cleanliness of my studio frustrate me now. I definitely need to find a way to reorganize it so that it’s more functional. I also need to get rid of a lot of crap that lives in my garage and set up a comfortable place for have people over to jam, because I think I derive a bunch of inspiration from just jamming out ideas with people. Maybe I can put together a band and shape my existing songs, because that might inspire some writing as well. All I know is that playing in the cover band is fun and easy, and has been quite a salve for the pain of not being creative when we’ve had regular gigs. I just need to make the time to play more, get together with the guys a little more, even if we don’t have gigs, and maybe even explore some other fun musical projects with some friends with whom I haven’t yet really had the chance to work.

Thanks for reading this long message…although I doubt anyone would get this far, if you have, you’re a special person and I am grateful. I have an art show gig with Roman Holiday at the end of the month that should be fun, and hopefully a rehearsal or two before that, so things should be ramping up in that regard. We also should be booking our spring/summer shows soon, so knowing we’ve got stuff coming up will be a good cure to the winter doldrums.

It’s been really rainy the past few days, and it feels like we’re in Seattle. The upside of this is the cedar and mold pollen are pretty mellow right now, so my allergies aren’t screwing me up and making it so I can’t sing as well as I know I can. I do need to practice that more so I can improve my consistency and control, but when is that not the case? Singing is really fun. On that note, and as a followup to my last blog, I haven’t heard a peep from the Capital Suspects guys, so I’m not sure what’s up with that. I guess they don’t need me to fill in…which is okay. I hope they find someone great for their position, but I did have a lot of fun being “The Singer” for a night.

Happy New Year and all my best in 2012!
TMS

Just singing…

Just singing…

Me singing to a dance floor full of ladies at Shooters on 1431 in Cedar Park
I had a gig this past weekend with Roman Holiday’s former drummer Greg’s band Capital Suspects. Just singing. No guitar. No bass. Nothing but my chubby, aging ass and a mic stand. I had no idea what to do with myself! My entire career as a singer and performer has involved me holding some sort of guitar. It felt so strange, but honestly it was exhilarating to really be able to belt out the songs and just worry about singing for once. It was a fun time, and I enjoy those guys a lot. I’d be happy to fill in with them again…maybe next time I’ll play a little guitar, too.

An especially fun part of the night involved Ned (Roman Holiday guitarist) getting up and playing with Greg and me (I grabbed Capital Suspects bassist Kevin’s 5-string). It was a nice little reunion, and we played two songs – our ripping verison of “Always Something There To Remind Me” and “It’s Tricky”.

All in all, it was great.

On to Musical Schizo stuff – it’s confirmed: I have failed. No album in 2011.

I don’t see me getting into the studio any time soon and finishing anything. I have too much to do for work and then I’m headed on vacation for a week. It’s okay, though, I haven’t felt all that inspired lately…hopefully a new year will inspire me to create. I really need to clean and organize my studio so the creative process goes more smoothly, and I think that will be #1 on my list of new year’s resolutions (along with getting my lard ass on the elliptical at least 30 minutes a day).

Thanks for reading, and see you in 2012!
TMS

Back for the attack!

Back for the attack!

And no progress on my album. The cover band’s played a bunch of fun shows since we called it quits…and I posted a video of a song I wrote for my dad here: My Old Man

I need to do more of those videos. Anyway, I don’t know that I’ll be able to finish the record before the end of the year, but I’m still going to try. I might end up just finessing a bunch of my existing demos to make them worthy of album inclusion.