this is something I've never seen before

[Alpo]

The drummer. They'reTHEY not only got a mic pointed at him, so you can hear him singing. They got a mic pointed at his drum set.

 

 

I made five damn corrections when I proof read (and another one just now because otto decided that I really wanted to say "when I approved Fred"), and he still slid one by me.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

old school way to send to a mixing board 

 

  CB 

[Blackwater 53393]

We always mic the kick drum and use a couple of overhead mics for the rest of the kit.

 

Both of our drummers sing harmonies and both have songs that they sing lead on.

 

One also plays keyboards and the other plays harmonica!  Seven band members and six vocal mics!!!

 

We NEVER mic the snare or cymbals individually. They’re plenty loud for most venues without any help.

[MizPete]

Please tell me this means you're still performing in some/any configuration.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Thanks, Bubba.  the Cowsills were one of my favorite groups but it's been years since I've even thought about them.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

10 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

We always mic the kick drum and use a couple of overhead mics for the rest of the kit.

 

Both of our drummers sing harmonies and both have songs that they sing lead on.

 

One also plays keyboards and the other plays harmonica!  Seven band members and six vocal mics!!!

 

We NEVER mic the snare or cymbals individually. They’re plenty loud for most venues without any help.

TWO drummers!

 

pardon me please I really don’t know music, just thought I’d mention that.

 

 

[Creeker, SASS #43022]

My band from my much younger days; most of the venues we played were small - so no need to mic the drums themselves.

 

Each band member was mic'd for vocals.

With secondary microphones for the acoustic guitars/ upright bass vs. when we were playing electric.

 

Four piece country band - I played upright and electric bass.

And my vocal microphone was usually turned WAY down (or sometimes even turned off) as my singing skills are limited to (very) minor backup harmonizing.

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

2 hours ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

my singing skills are limited to (very) minor backup harmonizing.

 

Hate to say it but I think even Roseanne Barr has me beat.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I very rarely miked my drums when I played for 35 years. We played. mostly small clubs, I did cut out a hole in the front head of my bass drum and had a small pillow in it. The hole was for some projection and the pillow deadened the booming sound. I also sang mostly backup but also a few leads so I always had a mike. 
If we played a larger venue I had a mike in front of the bass drum. 

[Pat Riot]

14 hours ago, Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 said:

old school way to send to a mixing board 

 

  CB 

Yep!

[Blackwater 53393]

4 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

TWO drummers!

 

pardon me please I really don’t know music, just thought I’d mention that.

 

 

YES!! Two drummers. Once in a while a third percussionist!! We play/played a lot of heavily arranged and orchestrated Rock ‘N’ Roll songs, (think Moody Blues and Allman Brothers Band) and tried to reproduce the sound that you heard on the album or in a live performance. Two drummers, two guitars, (both guitarists playing lead at times) keyboards, (The keyboard player also plays violin/fiddle and when he’s playing fiddle, one of the drummers plays keyboard) bass player, and one incompetent, instrumentally challenged, (the rest of the band will tell you that you can leave the “instru” off of that) no rhythm, tone deaf vocalist.

 

The drummer who doesn’t play keyboard plays harmonica.

 

Everyone but one of the guitarists sings on a lot of numbers and even that guitar player doubles in with the other one on a song or two!

 

We often have/had guest performers who joined us, so there are/were times when we’d have even MORE players on stage!

 

We did a show in Nashville, several years ago, where we had five guitars, two bass players, two drummers, a conga/bongo player, a keyboard player, a second harmonica player, and lady vocals performer on stage for a whole set!

 

 We jammed for an hour and a half! The sound guy literally cried because he didn’t have his recording equipment at the venue that night!

 

One of the guests, a great friend and a fabulous performer, laughed when we kicked off the set. He said, “This is better than Talladega! We’re five wide comin’ outta the fourth turn and running WIDE OPEN!”

 

 

[Alpo]

4 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

TWO drummers!

 

pardon me please I really don’t know music, just thought I’d mention that.

 

 

Last band I was in, we had 16 drummers.

 

Of course, we marched 265 pieces. Not counting the flag corps or the majorettes.

[Alpo]

3 hours ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

And my vocal microphone was usually turned WAY down (or sometimes even turned off) as my singing skills are limited to (very) minor backup harmonizing.

I recall this part from a very dumb novel (and this is the only part I recall from this very dumb novel) call The Stuntman. The guy is hiding from someone - I don't remember whether it was a cops or a gang or what, but he was hiding from someone. And there's a band up on stage.

 

So the leader of the band brought him up on stage and gave him a guitar and told him, "just pretend you're one of us", and he turned the amp and mic off.

 

But he got caught anyhow because one of the searchers noticed that after everyone else had quit playing he was still fingering the guitar. Oops.

[Blackwater 53393]

On 8/20/2024 at 6:07 PM, MizPete said:

Please tell me this means you're still performing in some/any configuration.

Mizz Pete!  I talked to Mark a few days ago and he said that he is FINALLY starting to get the results he wanted from all the surgeries!!  His hands have begun to recover and he’s really excited!

 

We’re getting together (most all of the band) for a big weekend dinner next month and everyone has said that when Mark is ready, we’ll at least do one more show, if it’s only for one last dance!!

 

I’ll let you know more when we get some jams in and see how it feels!!

 

I think we ALL need to do it, if for no other reason than we get to go out on our own terms!!

[Rip Snorter]

5 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

Mizz Pete!  I talked to Mark a few days ago and he said that he is FINALLY starting to get the results he wanted from all the surgeries!!  His hands have begun to recover and he’s really excited!

 

We’re getting together (most all of the band) for a big weekend dinner next month and everyone has said that when Mark is ready, we’ll at least do one more show, if it’s only for one last dance!!

 

I’ll let you know more when we get some jams in and see how it feels!!

 

I think we ALL need to do it, if for no other reason than we get to go out on our own terms!!

My oldest friend, for 60 plus years is in chemo.  Trying to compose a note / conversation on mortality.  How long you live vs. how well you live and and how well you exit.  This parallels my basic train of thought.  God Bless!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Coincidentally, today NY Times ran a story on Drum Corps World Championship 

 

 

[Blackwater 53393]

Rip,

The greater portion of the band has been together for more than a quarter century!!  

Some of the guys were in other bands that battled when we were all in high school.

 

The one drummer and I started junior high together in the seventh grade and one of the guitar players that worked with us for several years and still joins us now and then lived behind me on the next block!

 

I’ve known the keyboard player since 1969 when he was one of the bigger local acts in the clubs in Nashville.

 

The average age of the band is 71.5!! The keyboard/fiddle player, (he’s actually a classically trained violinist) is 84 and the youngest guy in the band is 62 or 63!!

 

Those friendships are forever and we call to keep up with each others’ lives all the time!  There’s a group text for emergencies and quick notes that’s five or six years old and running.

 

The life well lived…. I don’t know if my life qualifies, but I’ve done a lot of things that people only dream of doing and I’ve been a lot of places.  I nearly died a few years ago.  I’d said to others and promised myself that when I draw my last breath, I want to look around and say, “I didn’t miss much!”  
 

I said it twice in that episode of my life.  I may not have much, but I have lived well!!  

I hope that I have done right by others.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

Blackwater 

  ya will know when it is time to leave the music bizz 

when I quit , I did so , on my terms 

had a good following , made fair $$$ , but hated doing the CD perfect covers 

Chickasaw 

[MizPete]

22 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

I’ll let you know more when we get some jams in and see how it feels!!

Please do.  Black Gold, maybe?  I wanna beeeeeee there.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

On 8/21/2024 at 4:33 AM, Alpo said:

Last band I was in, we had 16 drummers.

 

Of course, we marched 265 pieces. Not counting the flag corps or the majorettes.

Sounds about right, but we only had 180 musicians.  The rest were rifle drill team members (with M-1 Garand rifles and fixed bayonets), majors and majorettes, twirlers,  a color guard and often a convertible provided by Ben Redd Chevrolet or Wilson Ford with "dignitaries" aboard.

 

My GOD that was along time ago.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

9 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

 

My GOD that was along time ago.

Were drums even invented then?