We started placing ads, answering ads, posting flyers at Guitar Center, etc. etc. etc.

Finally we thought we might have a solid bite – a guy named Stephen (no – not Steve-O, this town ain’t big enough for two of us) called and we set up a tryout last Friday night. I had a sore throat and a sinus infection (still got it) and didn’t really fell like jamming – but we needed to take advantage of the opportunity so we set up a meeting.

In walks this skinny kid that looks around 18. Turns out he’s 34. Dang. Shaved head (what’s with drummers with shaved heads?), glasses, carrying a sack of his own drum tools with him. “Hmm, hope this guy can hang,” I’m thinking to myself.

We sit down to do the blah, blah, blah, before we get started. Musical backgrounds, influences, latest projects (I think this kid used to be the drummer for some local heavy duty super Satan metal band but I cant remember their name), etc. etc. etc.

Turns out we like a lot of the same stuff.

Then we move to phase two: we play him rough tracks off a CD of the songs were working on. Now let me explain the CD if I may:

The CD was pre-written and pre-recorded by the last incarnation of this band – that consisted of JR Rose (Bass player extraordinaire) and three other fellas, a whole other band in reality. I was not a part of the proceedings. Neither was our current guitar player. So the songs are not really “Our” songs per se. They are instead songs that were previously slated to be recorded by and for another band – and upon that band’s reaching the studio to begin the recording process – the band imploded. Happens all the time in Rock and Roll. You work out the songs, get pumped up, decide to spend the bucks to record a CD – and then once you start hearing the playback you discover that it sounds like Ka Ka. And whose fault is it? This Ka Ka sound? That’s the part that comes next.

Now, a good band, with solid players, and (more importantly) a solid working relationship, will simply review the problem, discuss it, isolate the issue, and fix it. Sometimes that means re-writing parts of songs that you thought were great only to discover that maybe they weren’t so great after all and your emotions tricked you into thinking they were great. Sometimes it means ditching entire songs altogether and writing replacements. And sometimes – it means going back to the woodshed for more dedicated practice so that your not making mistakes in the studio because the tape don’t lie. All of these approaches require a good amount of humility, because if your stuff’s weak, you’ll hear it on the tape. But can you swallow your pride and fix it? That’s the proverbial mountain that many musicians cannot climb, and I call it PRIDE HILL. Many, many bands die on Pride Hill. This one did. In one fell swoop, JR’s band split on him after a bad session in the studio, and now you have myself, Cliff the guitar player, and hopefully this new drummer cat, Stephen, to put it back together. This too is Rock and Roll.

So we play the drummer guy the CD of songs that aren’t yet quite so hot. This is a good testing ground because our jobs collectively are to take these old songs, and breathe life, and fire, and power into them and re-record them with the strength they should have had originally.

The new guy gets this.

I see his head boppin’. I hear him comment on what he’d love to do on certain parts of the song to make it rip. We all like what we hear him say. So we plug in to give it a shot and see what it sounds like, us, the new guys – and the even newer potential drummer.

Sounded good my friends.
Sounded real good.

This kid has power, he has chops, he has a great ear, and he knows why he’s there. Right away we were all feeding off each other and grooving. Now the ditch digging process has just gotten much easier – there’s an element of FUN in the room. That’s how the magic happens.

We offered him the job and he took it.
Solved the problem of two Steve’s in the band too… “Call me chops,” he says.

Gladly.

We got us a band now people. And our first “official” band practice is tonight.

JR, Cliff, Steven, and Chops - Uzed Carz.

Stay tuned.

Steve-O can be reached here. Read the previous entries of I'm With The Band.