I wonder if this will get spammed.....

let's give it...oh, i don't know...10 minutes.

Garbitrary Band

So we starting our recording today. Little did we know what we were getting into.

The day started with Roop and I driving downtown to rent a mixer that would enable us to record. No problem there. Then Steve and Scott arrived and we started to get down to business. After getting all the equipment setup we started to record some drum tracks. We got a few takes done and things started to go wrong. I could bore you on all the different technical difficulties that took place but I'll spare you. Just about everything went wrong. And just when we would fix one thing, another thing would go. First the computer would crash, then the speakers would cack, then the power would fail, then the audio capture device wouldn't .......umm capture. Hehe, in the end it made for an interesting day.

The title of this post refers to the program that we use to record with, Garage Band. Because the program was being so "arbitrary", Roop cleverly renamed it "Garbitrary Band". In the end we did get a killer drum track for Drink Up Boy. You won't believe your ears when you hear the stuff Roop pulled off for this tune. Stay tuned for more info on the recording process.

Jim

Last Gig of the Summer

Big thanks to everyone who was on Unionville Mainstreet last monday. The gig was a complete success. The weather was perfect for acoustic rock.

This was one of our first gigs without La Nai so we invited a long time friend of the band's, Mark Braithwaite, to play with us. Approximately two years ago Mark played with us a few times and even played on an unreleased recording of Ice Jam. He's back, better than ever, and we hope he'll guest star at gigs to come.

We started recording today, but i'll let someone else tell you about that.

-Scott

I'm not dead.

In case my extended absence from this forum may have lead you to believe, I haven't perished in some spectacular car accident..yet. That's not for another 4 or 5 years, as most of my friends seem to think.

Things on the band front have been good. We had a very long and productive band meeting a week or two ago, where we discussed and decided on some key issues regarding the direction this band is going musically, our plans to fill the void left as a result of Nai's departure, the upcoming recording, and even the name of the band.

So, I don't think I'll be pissing anyone off if I kind of divulged some details about the band meeting. First off, we've decided that a primarily- and I will elaborate on this term shortly- electric guitar player is going to fill the fifth spot in the band. Musically, it's perhaps one of the most versatile instruments. It also facilitates stepping into new, different territory. In terms of the person- who we haven't found yet- they'll play mostly electric, but I think ideally, we want someone who can play solid acoustic/rhythm/classical as well. SO, we're in search now.

The name of the band....we're changing it. To what, we don't know. Stay tuned. Who knows- 'Viking Picnic' may rock the world again.

Recording- we're recording this coming week as a result of some equipment availability last time. We're doing three tracks instead of five, i believe- Bathroom Mirror, Drink Up Boy, and Winter.

...So that's that ...for now. I guess we'll fill you in on that stuff when things start happening.



...

To those interested, we're playing a gig on Monday- labour day outside of Jakes on Unionville Main St from 12-4 or 1-5..or whatever.

yeah, so come- it's the last gig of the summer!

Take it easy.

-Anuroop

Recording

This is just a heads up - the Jim Smith Band is about to embard on a recording project. Recent recording gear purchases on mine and anuroop's part will enable a studio quality recording and we've got some songs we've been itching to lay down.

-Scott

New Format for Band Emails

Just got this email from someone who sends me updates about his band all the time. Randomly. I never asked for it, I just get them.

The funny thing is that the rest of the band gets them too, randomly.

This one is brilliant though:

Getting There is all it takes...
once you're there it's gonna be great
...we're gonna cut some rugs and rip up the floor boards
...Even if that's just a metaphor of sorts...
Cause the Major Milliken ain't doing renovations...
They're just kickin' it down with some great libations...
so step on up and whet your whistle ...
We're all Passengers yo and may I just say fi-shizzle...Peace!

From this, one can extract that the gig is at the Major Milliken, and that the band is Passenger.

Middle aged man + words like fi-shizzle = BEST EMAIL EVER.

Take notes, kiddies.

-Scotty

Anuroop's Dissiapearance

Attention all who know Anuroop Kalle:

He seems to have dissiapeared. We have a prime suspect - David Gray. The Jim Smith Band began receiving emails a few days ago from Anuroop's email account signed David Gray, the contents of these messaged written in such a way that they could only be from David Gray.

Could anuroop have been kidnapped, perhaps ritualistically sacrificed by David Gray?

Or could it be worse, could it be as we've always feared... that Anuroop has in fact been David Gray all along.

I leave it to you to decide.

Time Lapse

Its been too long since anyone's posted, so I take up the responsibility!

Gigs lately have gone really well - there's been a bit of a lull as everyone takes a moment to enjoy their summer. Thankfully though we have a gig on monday on mainstreet unionville, so it'll be a good opportunity to flex our musical muscles.

Monday is our first gig in more than a year as a four piece ensemble. La Nai has left the band to persue other groups and focus on school (which is a huge playing commitment). The challenge of fitting JSB into her disgustingly busy schedule (which is good because she's on her way to becoming a gigging musician) became to great, as well as the hassle of travelling from Etibicoke on multiple transit routes to reach rehearsals and gigs.

We're going to miss her alot.

We're going to make the best of it though, and we can still kick it as a four piece. We're trying to figure out where to go from here - mostly who we'll get to sit in the fifth chair. Even whether or not it'll be a sax player or something else is up in the air.

In the mean time we're tightening up the four of our sounds and redirecting our creative efforts to create more meaningful and interesting music.

I guess I just wanted to let everyone know what the scoop is.

-Scott