Friday 23 April 2010

Finally, A Rhythm Section!

AliSpark showed up a couple of months ago and has fitted in really well with us, we love her personality her percussion and drumming skills are great, she's using a djembe, a banana shaker, a shimmery tingly wind chimey thingy (what's is called again Ali?) and a Roland electronic kit. We're still using the backing trax as they have FX on them but once she has the whole set down we can strip the drum track off.

Joogum started playing a bit of bass at the electric jam, coached of course by Boogum or Mr Joogum. She got a new bass for her birthday and has been to our first rehearsal to get a feel for what we're doing. I liked her energy immediately, she is practical, down to earth and seems mad keen to learn the instrument, I feel glad she's giving us a try!

With live drums and bass the band can now get rockier and heavier which I will certainly enjoy because the tendency will be to brand us as prog rock or electric folk and that's not What She Wrote!

So, that prompts the question, what ARE we doing?

Well, we've got up at the Kendal jam which Al and Wicca run on a Wednesday and done various configurations of Wynd songs.

There was a hilarious episode at Frank's Lectern jam on AliSpark's birthday where she played Visitation for the first time on a kit drum, it, er, sounded weird, but no matter.

We now have six backing trax and two numbers which do not need backing trax so are ready to deliver about 45 minutes of music, due to the fact that a lot of the songs are pretty long, up to 8min. It's an eclectic band, we can have songs as long as we like! Two of the songs are now fully available on Facebook and the Wynd Group there grows weekly.

Better, warmer weather means that we will be able to film our first Rock Video since all the storyboarding is outside.

We have two gigs so far this summer, one at the Earthship Open Day in Stanmer Park on July 18 and one to raise money for Busking for Cancer at Brighton Bandstand on August 8, can't wait.

Lurex is muttering about various other local outdoor gigs, it seems this is Wynd's destiny, to play outside, I personally am a Leo gal so of course sun on my face, wind in my hair, perfect!

We've also acquired a much bigger PA and some more gear in general, so we will be louder, clearer, and more confident from now on.