Weekly Update - June 7th - 13th - Neon/Bandit/Moth/Charity

This past week was a busy one.  After work Monday I taught a lesson to my Decorah student, who continues to make good progress on his second original tune.  After the lesson I had a quick rehearsal with Michelle and Adam in preparation for our performance at the Bandit County Fair on Saturday.  I managed to catch Neon at a private party at the Root Note on my way home Monday night.  I enjoyed their short acoustic duo set and it was good to see them live before starting production on their debut album on Wednesday at Ghost in My House Studio.  I did get a video of their last song recorded on my iPhone, you can check out by clicking here.

I had Tuesday off and spent a good portion of the day continuing to rehearse being a one man band.  This has been both fun and very difficult but I am nothing if not determined and I am confident I can work up a decent set of material with a month or so of daily practice.  The purchased the glass jar at the right to facilitate some sun-charged water but the the lid does not fit as tightly as I hoped and some gnats met their doom inside of the luke-warm cauldron calling the water's drink-ability into question.

I had Wednesday off as well and after spending the morning in more one man band rehearsal I was excited to get started working on the production of Neon's debut album.  Matthew, Nick and Theo arrived around noon and proceeded to lay down nearly all the tracks for their song Nobody's There in about 3 hours.  I was impressed with their musical skills and professionalism and was even more excited about how the recording was sounding.  I am definitely looking forward to continuing work on this project on my days off for the next couple of months.

Wednesday night Joe and Evan were over for the 2nd official Moth Mountain rehearsal and we are all slowly getting more comfortable with the tunes but I wouldn't expect a live performance to late Summer or early Fall.

I worked both Thursday and Friday and did not get a lot accomplished musically besides more fun/frustrating one man band rehearsing in a very hot garage.  However, all the heat and humidity has done wonders for the container garden and I hope to begin enjoying the fruits of my gardening labor in the not to distant future.

Saturday morning I packed up the car and headed over to the Bandit County Fair to play drums for Michelle Lynn as one the Bad Passengers with Adam on Bass.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and I only wished I had been able to stay and camp at the festival all weekend as a ton of great musicians were performing.  The show went well and it was fun to play while being amplified by a real big P.A.

Sunday was mostly spent cleaning and running errands but local musician/songwriter/journalist Randy Erickson was over to Ghost In My House Studio for a couple of hours in the afternoon to lay down guitar tracks and vocals for a song he penned for a local charity.  I will be laying down drums, bass and potentially some lead guitar on the track this week and will have more details available on the tune soon.

Until next week!

Weekly Update - May 31st - June 6th - One Man Band

Because of the extended holiday weekend this past week was slightly abbreviated.  After work Tuesday I taught a lesson to my Decorah student who is making great progress on his second original song.  After the lesson I had a rehearsal with Michelle Lynn and The Bad Passengers.  Our next gig is this coming Saturday, June 12th at The Bandit County Fair in DeSoto, WI at 1pm.  Click here for more info.

Wednesday I had the day off and spent the morning continuing to work on new songs.  I have also been trying to spend a little more time with the guitar than I have been in the past couple years and use that as starting point for the writing of new songs.  Wednesday eve Joe and Jaran were over for a split Brahman Shaman / Wigglepuppy rehearsal and we continue to get more comfortable with each projects material.

Thursday I left work early to go to an ultrasound appointment with my wife. We are happy to announce that we are expecting our first child, a baby girl this Fall.  We are very excited and although I may take a break from any live performing for a few months around the birth I think all the changes the new baby will bring to my life will be nothing but positive.

Friday I worked and also mailed out DEMO packages to a number of my favorite independent labels.  Not expecting much, but little feedback would be nice.  Friday night I constructed my make-shift one man band equipment with a miniature bass drum and a tom drum modified to have  snare sound and to be played with a bass drum pedal.  Special thanks to Adam and Michelle for loaning me a couple of these components to test out the concept.  Once I got the two drum kit assembled I soon realized how difficult it is to play a drum beat with two feet while singing and playing guitar, but practice makes improvement and I am excited to work up a whole set of material utilizing this set-up, check out a video of my progress on Why oh Why using this one man band setup below.



Saturday I gave a lesson to my La Crosse student and it is good to see all his hard work paying off.  The rest of the weekend was spent doing errands, chores, working on the home improvement projects and continuing practice as the one man band.

Until next time...

Weekly Update - May 24th - 30th - Midlake

I worked Monday and taught a lesson on my way home.  We started work on my student's second original song and I am encouraging the young songsmith to take the reigns more on this one and he is doing a great job.  After work on Tuesday I headed up to Minneapolis with my close friend and RVM bassist, Jason Ptacek, to see Midlake's show at the Cedar Cultural Center.  The Cedar is one of my favorite venues because it sounds amazing and you can literally stand at the foot of the stage with no one pushing on you etc...  The show was really good and I was impressed by the tightness of the 7 member group who often had 4 guitars going at once.  The drummer was also very impressive and seemed to play a larger role in the live situation than he does on the records.

I had the day off Wednesday and continued working on new songs as well as the seemingly never-ending laminate floor project.  Wednesday night was a Moth Mountain practice sans Evan who was otherwise engaged.  Joe and I worked through the 4 finished songs a few times each and were starting to feel more comfortable with the material again by the end of the night.

Thursday night I headed down to Del's bar in La Crosse, WI to drum for Michelle Lynn with Adam on bass.  The show was a lot of fun as our weekly rehearsals have continued to increase the amount of material we are comfortable performing together.  Driftless Music founder Adam Wiltgen has been kind enough to tape some of these performances, check out Black Hole from our set at the Acadia Cafe last week below:



Friday was spent doing work around the house.  I was also able to make it down to the Root Note to catch a portion of the Adam Without Eve CD release party where I watched 3/5 of Mouse Pocket deliver a quality set followed by good sets from a collection of local rhyme slayers including Hyphon and Efftupp.  I spent the rest of the holiday weekend relaxing around the house doing cleaning, laundry and playing some music when I could.

I am taking the month of June off from playing any Brahman Shaman shows to focus on recording a talented local band, Neon.  More soon...

Weekly Update - May 17th - 23rd - City

This past week ended up being fairly busy music wise.  Taught a lesson on Monday afternoon. Did a rehearsal with Michelle Lynn on Tuesday evening after a nice long walk with her and Adam as we awaited the closure of the retail store below their apartment.  Wednesday I spent the morning enjoying the outdoors while working on the arrangements for some new in progress songs.  Spent most of the rest of the morning being frustrated by baseboard trim installation in the house.  Got the yard mowed before it got too hot and had a good Shaman rehearsal with Jaran and Joe in the evening.

I also had Thursday off and again spent the morning working on songs and the most of the rest of the day being frustrated by baseboard trim, alas a carpenter I am not.  Friday, Joe, Jaran and I headed up to the Acadia Cafe in Minneapolis to play at a Driftless Music showcase put on by Adam Wiltgen.  Unfortunately the sound man for the show decided not to show and left the bands to sort of figure out on our own which we did with varying degree's of success.  Had a lot of fun drumming for Michelle Lynn during her set and also had a fun electric Shaman set, however, the late night drive home was about 3 hours longer than I would have liked.

After unsuccessfully trying to catchup on missed sleep Saturday morning I headed down to Iowa for another Rearview Mirror rehearsal with the original lineup.  Practice went well and it is always fun to hang out with Jason, TJ and Adam all in one place.

Made it back in time Sunday to teach a quick lesson and unload and set gear back up in the studio.  After getting most of a large branch which had fallen cut up I retreated to the air-conditioning for a lazy end to the day.

Will be drumming this Thursday at Del's bar in La Crosse, WI for Michelle Lynn and with the other Bad Passenger, Adam Ptacek at 10pm.

Weekly Update - May 10th - 16th - Spill

This past week was fairly uneventful.  No live shows to play.  Had another fun practice with Michelle Lynn on Tuesday after work and she has approved of Adam and I calling ourselves the Bad Passengers, so any shows we play with her will likely be billed as Michelle Lynn & The Bad Passengers... "are we there yet?"

Wednesday, we attempted the first official Moth Mountain rehearsal with a lineup of Joe Dawson on Guitar and Vocals, Evan Klug on Bass and me on Drums.  It was a fun first practice and I am looking forward to getting more comfortable with the material and hearing some of Joe's new ideas.  May try to do a show or two late this Summer or early this Fall.

I haven't been getting as much time to record and work on new ideas as I would like as I have been spending most of my free time installing laminate floor in the upstairs of our house and my limited construction skills and the slanted walls have made the job take longer than it should.  However, I do have about five new songs written and I am trying to focus on a more defined groove for the songs.  With this in mind I have been working on singing while drumming to spark some new ideas.  I was attempting to video one of these sessions on Friday with the Iphone and inadvertently spilled a whole cup of coffee on my studio laptop, bah!  Luckily after a few days drying out in front of the dehumidifier it seems to work like new and now has quite the delicious coffee aroma!

This week I will be playing with the Brahman Shaman electric trio (Jaran Carson & Joe Dawson) at an Adam Wiltgen established Driftless Music showcase at the Acadia Cafe in Minneapolis.  I am really looking forward into taking in Chicane Theory's acoustic set as well as playing drums for Michelle Lynn's set if I can get up there in time.

Until next week, be well and create!

Weekly Update - May 3rd - May 9th - Double Duty

Last week was filled with musical fun.  I got to teach a lesson on Monday and my student has completed his first song and is now anxious to work on more.  Tuesday I had a fun practice with Michelle and Adam until the lightning shut us down.  Didn't do the usual Wednesday practice but still got to hang out with Jaran for a bit and chat drums.  I spent Wednesday morning working on new song ideas and spent most of the afternoon working on home improvement.

Thursday night Jaran, Joe and I headed over to Ed's No Name Bar in Winona to play some Brahman Shaman songs opening for Danelectric and The Brilliant Beast.  We had a lot of fun and I was happy that my new two amp set-up worked out as well as it did.

I spend Friday  demoing a newer song as well as spending some more time working on bass parts for the Wiggle Puppy songs.  Friday night Jaran, Joe and I headed down to the Root Note in LaCrosse to play two sets, the first as a WigglePuppy and then another electric Shaman set.  The show was a lot of fun, I got to play bass for a set, play guitar and sing for a set, if only I had played drums the night would have been a real turkey...  Imaginary Jack and Brilliant Beast both played great sets as well.

Saturday was spent cleaning the basement and setting up all the gear that had been brought to the shows the previous two nights, which was a surprisingly large amount.  Also got a quick chance to try out the 1960's Zildjian Hi-Hats I got off of Ebay and while they sound awful paired together they sound pretty good matched a variety of ways with my Paiste hats...  Sunday was Mother's Day...

Weekly Update - April 26th - May 2nd - Routine

I will keep this brief as this past week was pretty routine.


Worked and gave a lesson Monday.
Worked and practiced with Michelle Lynn on Tuesday.
Had the day off Wednesday, worked on new music and had good Brahman Shaman and Wiggle Puppy rehearsals.
Worked Thursday.
Had the day off Friday, spent some time playing music and was on 95.7 The Rock in LaCrosse, WI with Dio, spinning a few songs off of Animist.
Spent the weekend at my cousin's wedding in IA.


Two shows this coming week:


May 6th @ Ed's Bar in Winona
Brahman Shaman Electric Trio
w/ Dan Edmonds Band & The Brillant Beast
9pm


May 7th @ Root Note in LaCrosse, WI
Brahman Shaman Electric Trio & WigglePuppy
w/ Imaginary Jack & The Brillant Beast
8pm