Tuesday Report

Last night I was watching a bit of the CBC show 'Monday Report'. I came to the realization that Rick Mercer isn't nearly as funny as he thinks he is. He should stick to talking to Americans. That's some good stuff.

Haven't seen you all in awhile. What's happening? Peter...what's happening?... We had a good weekend in the JSB camp. Had a good practice in which we started another new song that was sounding really good. We also added some more kickass-ness to the soon-to-be-premiered 'Winter', the first brain-child of Anuroop Kalle for the JSB. This will allow him to finally escape the clutches of the timeless joke:

What do you call people who hang around musicians?
Drummers.

Hehe.. Word on the street is that his recent, well-publicized stay in an oven resulted in not only a full-body browning, but a wealth of musical ideas pouring out of him. Toasted is better!

Just wanted to keep you all posted that the countdown to Sin City is now 3 days. No more, no less. I know you're all as excited as I am, I can see it on your faces. Haha seriously though... On Friday Bram Cayne, Scott and I (so far) are going on a Superlicious (the most amazing chinese fast-food on the planet, straight-out-the-wok style), Sin City, and Korean BBQ bonanza. If you would like to join in on the fun, you are more than welcome, as it will be such a good day it will destroy the world.

Otherwise I must spend all of this week studying for calculus. Stupid calculus... arrr. Matey.

If Sin City were a person, I wonder how that person would fare in a one-on-one against Jack Bauer... I'm thinking it would be a tough match, but Jack is so gangsta he would triumph once more.

Seacrest out.

Jim Smith Band on the web

For anyone that's interested, the Jim Smith Band info is now available at Canadian indie music site www.overhear.com

If you want to check it out, visit http://overhear.com/opl/11793.php

Hope everyone's having a good week so far

-Scott

Are you our sound guy?

Jim, Steve and I saw our long time friend Matt Colautti perform in Waterloo in the play, "You Can't Take it With You". The show and his performance were great, but his sax playing in the jazz band that played during intermission was especially awesome.

What was really interesting about the show, though, was the fact that what must have been Chris MacBride's younger brother had a lead in the same show. While Chris has told me about his brothers and how none of them are at Waterloo for engineering, I know now that he's a liar. Or that he doesn't pay attention around the house.

hehehe

-Scott

Late night musings.

And the winner is....

Jim Smith! ..for doing some detective work and discovering what the origins of "He Hate Me" are! I won't post the answer here..but if you want a laugh...google it and build her a cake or something.

Great work, jim.

SPEAKING of Jim...jim came over today and we jammed out pretty much all day. I presented a new bridge for 'Winter', the song I wrote, and it is badass. Yimmy seems to agree. It's definitely going to be added in there. Aside from that, jim kicked ass. What everyone should know about him that they don't is that he's too easily overlooked. Jim Smith is a damn good guitar player...Just watching him play, it's really clear how truly solid of a guitarist he is. What's more, is that he's much more than capable of soloing and things beyond simply rhythm. Watch and listen clostely to the guy at the next gig or whenever you have a chance...I have no doubt you'll see him for what he is, rather than just part of the rhythm section.


In other news...we saw Tranquil play tonight. Damn, they have some amazing new stuff..especially the (2nd) song they played tonight. Like always, great show, guys.

**disclaimer- some very...honest writing below. Just so it's clear, i'm happier than I've ever been in this band. These are just some things I've been thinking as of lately to improve ourselves..which I'm sure everyone else does. If they don't, I'd be concerned!.../disclaimer****

They- and more importantly, listening to some new and interesting music as of lately, have really inspired me to want to take the jsb in new directions, while ofcourse, sticking to our roots. I just think that we need to explore our individual and collective range of musical ideas and abilities.

It's frustrating, though. Being completely candid (hey this is what this blog is for, right?), it seems as though some people aren't as willing to explore new avenues of musical experimentation- whether subconsciously or fully aware of it. As a general rule- and this doesn't exclusively apply to music, but rather anything in which one expresses themselves artistically, there is nothing more counterproductive and detrimental than limiting the artistic communication of ideas and constraining oneself by formula or comfort. I believe this is one of the most challenging obstacles we've faced as a band.

What's more, is that we come from distinct musical backgrounds. Yes, this is apparent in our song writing and performance, however, I feel the band hasn't exhausted even a microcosm of the potential for diverse, interesting, and captivating songwriting. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm exceedingly proud of what we've accomplished over the past 3 years.

I hope this does not come accross as an angry rant- because it is most certainly NOT. It's merely a confession of what I believe to be our biggest shortcoming as a band. There are so many unwritten "rules" I'm just simply tired of adhering to- and that's where some musical differences in the band arise. In my honest opinion, I couldn't care less if a song we write isn't particularly radio friendly. I'd like to avoid compromising potentially great ideas for the sake of attempting to adapt to the type of garbage formulaic nonesense that taints most** of the radiowaves. And yes, I do believe some of the stuff on the radio is great..just...not all of it.

At the end of the day, I love this band like absolute crazy. I love my bandmates..performing, songwriting, and jamming with them- after all, they're easy to hide behind because of how great they are as musicians....I just want to step forward into the musical fog and find some amazing things. With these guys, I'm more than positive it will happen and it'll be damn easy. They're like 4 musical...volcano's.....errupting..with...musical.....lava....all the time.


Ahahaha. Anuroop out.

Let's Vote

What is YOUR opinion. Please respond with whether or not you think that picture looks like Anuroop after he's been placed in the oven.

Here's my vote: I don't think it looks exactly like Roop, but I think it looks alot like him. If someone took it into photoshop and lightened the skin, and I quickly glanced at it I might think its Anuroop. While anuroop is more attractive some of the facial features are similar.

Your turn.

He Hate Me

If anyone can tell me where the title is in reference to, I will buy you a drink. Seriously.

Okay, upon further review of the "Anuroop in the oven" picture, I realized that that guy looks nothing like me. The only similarity I can draw is that he has longish hair like I do- and that he's brown...really, really brown.

HOWEVER, as everyone knows, I'm the last person you want to pull a prank on...because I WILL retalliate. Certain wookies can testify to that. Anyway, Scott found that picture, however, it was Steve who posted it. The poor bastard....Now he's gone and made me do something like this...

Edit NUMBER 2: The picture goes BACK UP. Steve Soman at his finest, ladies and gentlemen. On his 19th birthday...and no, he's not sleeping...he's just keeled over a toilet. AHahahahah.

EDIT 3: Steve, You can't stop me. This can go on forever, or you can take down the "Burnt Anuroop" picture. AHahahahahahAHah.

------
The burnt Anuroop picture in no way damages you. Nor does it tarnish your image. ...No pun intended, hahaha....
------

But to say I look lliek someone not ...particularly......attractive (Sorry "burnt anuroop", if you're reading this. AHahahah...iS damaging)...

Fine.

but not as much as that picture of you is to your image. AHahahahaha. The war rages on.

Damage done...again.

AAAhahHa.

Take it easy, kemosabes.

The Extended JSB Family

Howdy,

OK, I worked today on a new section of the website which is now complete and uploaded - the Extended JSB Family. You can find it in the "Features" area of the website, and it has pics and bios of the various people who have been a part of what we do. You know how we do. Check it out - you never know, you might even be there!

Biggest live event of the year?

I know this will cause a rift in the band, but I will not be censored any more.

I've been BEGGING Jim and Steve and Anuroop to put a notice about tonights FABULOUS performance on the site, but they refused, because it's not a JSB performance per se. However, I believe that promotion of this event could have taken our status from local to INTERATIONAL SENSATION.

Tonight, at the 3rd annual Victoria College karaoke contest, I gave perhaps the greatest performance of my life singing Jasmine in 'A Whole New World'.

While I am fairly sure this breathtaking performance will jettison me to superstardom, I am dedicated to the band and will probably keep playing with the JSB.

For now.

hehehe

-Scott

Big League Chew

Folks, seriously...I need your help. I've been looking high and low for Big League Chew. Remember Big League Chew? That delicious, shredded bubble gum in a pouch, perfect for satisfying any gum craving, or acting as a chewing-tobacco supplement for baseball players.

See here:
http://www.retrojunk.com/media/60/

I used to love this stuff years ago. Last week we wrote a new song, which Scott wrote the lyrics for late Thursday night as his last post said, which was tentatively title 'Big League Chew'. This is because I sang temporary lyrics about...well, you guessed it. I have no idea how this childhood treasure popped back into my mind.

ANYWAY, the moral of the story: if anyone knows WHERE to find Big League Chew, please let me know. I really want some.

Soman out.

p.s. I also really enjoy writing lyrics...so much that I still haven't wrote the lyrics to another new song, written by our very own Roop. Sorry Roop, hahaha.. he's been hounding me for weeks now. But, I DID finish writing the melody. Just flipped on my computer mic and laid down what was in my head so I wouldn't forget it. Listening to it now... Practice tomorrow!

Lyric Writing

I like writing lyrics for JSB songs. I have written some heinously bad lyrics that I immediately disregarded, and there are even some that are recorded that I think have idiotic moments. ANYWAY, I like doing it, and sometimes it turns out well so I continue to do it.

In rehearsal last week we write a song. It was pretty great, because it sort of blossomed from a short guitar idea of Jim's into a fully realised song. Steve notates it, and sends it to me because I had asked to do lyrics because in rehearsal I had a great idea for them.

By wednesday I'd forgotten the great idea, but I was still mortivated. Late thursday night I get back around 3am (no class on friday, so don't you wag your finger at me) and I decide to sit down and write them. On top of being up since 8:30, I just returned from the after party for my concerts on tuesday and wednesday nights, so I have an additional reason for being out of it.

So I crank them out. I think they're brilliant and fall asleep with a smile on my face.

I laughed pretty hard when I woke up and read them. They weren't terrible, but they definately reflected a Scott sailing at half mast. I did an edit, and I like where they are now. They are simple and pretty, but version 2.0 is unified and actually says something.

You'll all hear it at the next gig and you'll have to tell me what you think.

-Scott

Who's got cross-Canada fans? These guys!

Here's a fun email I received today:


I wish to order 1 copy of each CD. what form or payment do you guys prefer, check or money order or something else, also who would it be made out too. All I have to say is, you guys are great, I been telling everyone I know about you guys and they are loving you too just from the songs on your site. I came across your site by a link on a buddy Craig's site he is also in JSB "Jimmy Swift Band" http://www.thejimmyswiftband.com. Any chance your coming to the Halifax or Calgary area? If you do, your booze are so covered my me! Also I'm going to try to see what I can do to get you alittle radio air time. A buddy of mine does some work on CBC Radio and for Ryerson University and he is always looking for local people to talk too, maybe he can do an interview or something of that jazz. so let me know if you would be up to that and about the cd's, and keep up the good work.

-Rob

Ps - Free booze!

_____________________

Anyway, its great to get positive feedback from surprise sources. Especially sources who promise free booze.

So who's coming on our pan-canadian (haha pan) tour? FREE BOOZE!

Tranquil

I intended to write this post sooner, but I'd rather write it late than not at all.

Jim and Steve and I saw Tranquil play early last week in a battle of the bands at York University. They played extremely well - despite the fact that they got the opening spot and the event suffered from bad marketing = poor turnout. But as a testament to them, they still exuded the same energy that one would expect for a packed house.

There were quite a few bands, and each of the bands was high caliber and different styles. I feel that Tranquil showed the most musicianship and showmanship out of the bunch. Another band took the prize, however I think that would of had more to do with the judges preferences than anything.

I hadn't seen them play in a long time, and I really enjoyed it. Whenever I see them play I always come away with ideas about how to improve my own performance.

-Scott

The Buddha is smiling on JSB

Hey everyone

Thanks so much to all who came out to the Smiling Buddha on Thursday. We all had an awesome time playing and we feel that the whole night was a huge success. Special thanks to The Protagonists and Justin Loach for helping us out. All of you played amazingly and really added to the evening.

Some of the highlights from the JSB side of things were: a rocking ending to When We're There, La-Nai's super amazing solo in Get Out of M'Jam, the debut of new songs like Drink up Boy and Relief and of course Dan Roberts blowing the snot out of Ice Jam. Some of the not so fun moments were: that crappy guitar player breaking a string and having to use his lousy guitar for the end of the show, and also having the beginning of Second Best crash and burn in a fiery explosion.

All in all, a great night and we can't wait for the next show at the Buddha. Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 16 as we fully plan to rock the house again.

On another note, Roop, Scott, Steve and myself had a really chilled out practise today. We basically just hung out and occasionally played some music. We jammed out a lot of different ideas which was really fun and refreshing for me. Roop even brought his electric guitar and he and I jammed out some songs on two guitars! We also practised old FUTS tunes so that we can being some back in future gigs. Remember the good old days of Bust and Let Her Live?

To top it all off we wrote a new song tentatively called "Big League Chew". It's pretty remarkable how fast it came together. Usually it takes us several practises to get a song to a final state. But with this song, all we need now is lyrics. In other words, we wrote the entire song from stem to stern in one rehearsal. Watch out for it hitting the setlists soon.

Party on and don't forget the crystals

Results:

So my anxiety was misplaced - the gig went extremely well. Thanks to everyone who came. Since it is 3:11 as I sit here and write I will let another band member give a play by play of the evening, but I was just wondering for those of you who were there, what did you think? What songs did you get into, what were some highlights?

-Scotty

Tomorrow

I'm kind of anxious about tomorrow's gig.

1. We haven't played our entire library of songs live in MONTHS, so while I know some will be great there are others that I'm going to have to stretch to remember and perform perfectly. On the other hand, if there are good people and a good vibe, it won't matter if every song is perfect, if people are liking it every song just has to be good, and have energy.

2. While we have done downtown gigs, we've never headlined/had a downtown gig to ourselves. I'm not really nervous about this point, just excited!

3. I hope people come. There's a buzz about the gig here at UofT, and I know a core of people will definately come, I just hope we get a real crowd out. If we can get a crowd out, we can start a buzz about the band and maybe drum up a following that will come out to show. A following we don't have to persue, one we just have to send a mass email to and there will just be a crowd. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow.

I talked to La Nai today, and even though she's sick, she's excited about the gig. She is a busy girl, playing with lots of people, and I was worried she'd be stressed and it would be a 'crap, I have to do a JSB gig' thing. Fortunately she put my fears to rest and reminded me how much she's into the band.

Nervous - Excited - Hungry - a little itchy... TOO FAR.

hehe

-Scotty

Still Got it.

So, since everyone else is doing it, i figured I'd post my thoughts on the last gig in Barrie.

After over five months, I was quite nervous to hit the stage and perform again. However, it wasn't a fear one would associate with the nervousness which comes as consequence to a competetive setting like the band competition. It was more of a "damn, I haven't played in front of people in a really long friggin time". Despite occasional rehearsals and smooth runthroughs of our repetoire in the past, nothing it seems can truly prepare you for a performance.

So, at around 4pm, we (the band+joseph (from Tranquil)+ mike moss + danielle ) arrived at the foundation night club. We then proceeded to sign in and were "randomly" selected to go dead last in the order of bands. At 5 the competition began and the first band hit the stage. They were actually pretty decent for being together for less than a year (as I recall). Cracker and I began playing pool. We spent 1.50 on a bunch of games (the old calling pockets and grabbing them before they fall into them trick). This is when vertigo began kicking my ass hardcore. I felt overwhelmed with dizziness and nausea. Danielle ran accross to the drug store and brought back some gravol. I took two. Bad idea. The nausea was gone, but I was extremely drowsy for the rest of the night. SO, what was there to do? SLEEP IN MY CAR!

I slept for about 40 minutes and I was still drowsy. We went back inside the foundation as the sun was setting (more or less). I sat at the back where the sofas were keeled over, sipping a coke while Cracker ran through the lyrics of drink up boy. It was BEYOND out of it at this point. The room was ACTUALLY spinning. Not good. After some good (and not so good bands), a hardcore band went on and that cheered me right the hell up.

At around 8.45, the jim smith band was on deck and we began setting our stuff up. Still extremely dizzy, I got on stage and we began setting up. Now, I have a theory that adrenaline can take any amount of discomfort away (temporarily) before it kicks your ass after it wears off. Anyway, We opened the set with a rockin ' this is fun'. By then end of it, my throat was exceptionally dry. Like sandpaper! I shrugged it off, however. It was great to see complete strangers enjoying themselves. I caught a few smiles from members of other bands, as well as random others bopping their heads and dancing to the music.

We then promptly started "Drink Up Boy'. Man, I love this song. Talk about hard on the wrists! Anyway, people seemed to enjoy this one, so yeah! Mike tore this song up. oooh, that boy can play. After DUB, we started a very rockin ICE Jam. Mind you, I was truly unable to swallow at this point. I even mouthed 'GET ME WATER' to danielle and joseph in the audience, but to no avail. They were heavily into the songs. This song is so much fun to play, I can't even begin to describe it. It's the song I most commonly associate with a gig like this. It's apparent (or at least I think it is), that everyone- jim, steve, and scott (and mike), get really into it. We even threw in a G-UNIT! in there! It was awesome hearing the double bass. I love it when the drums are miced nicely!

lastly, we finished off the set with When We're there, but not before I stole steve's water and got a few sips in there. Oh man. That was a lot of fun.

We not only ended up winning that night, but had a LOT of fun. It was great to get back into the gig season like that. Had it been another venue- or a street festival, it wouldnt have been the same.

Special thanks to Joseph (Yoseph), and Danielle (boonie noonie) for making the trek with us.

Anyway, what the HELL am I doing typing this!? i have 2 problem sets due tomorrow! AHHH!

Hope to see everyone at the finals! Our sister band, Tranquil is also going to be there to kick some ass!

And a reminder! To all those reading this (yes...ALL OF YOU). We're playing at the Smiling Buddha Bar tomorrow (Thursday) at 9pm. Find one of us on msn for details or check the website for directions and....stuff.

Okay, I gotta jet. Take it easy, kemosabes