Ok – Sky and Derek have upgrade our rigs. Sky has acquired a Meteor Harp amp combo loaded with 2x10” Weber speakers and 1x12" Weber speaker rated at 50W. I’ve acquired a 65 amps “London” head pumping a 2x10" cabinet loaded with Jensen reissue P10R speakers rated at 18W. The London is two channels with one channel voiced after a VOX 15ac and the second channel voiced after an 18W Marshall. A Lo-Fi band stepping into the boutique realm – go figure…. - derek
www.meteoramps.com
www.65amps.com
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Sept 1 2009
Well here it is Sept 1 2009 and I’m listening to the Dan Auerback record. If you’re not familiar with Dan, he’s ½ of The Black Keys (who I love) and his new solo record is an example of his songwriting more than The Black Keys raw fuzzed energy.
Personally I’ve been going through a re-birth of sorts with my family which has been going very well – it’s all about balance as the wife says. I have a slight chance today in going over to the Wells Fargo Center here in Santa Rosa to check out Sheryl Crow’s sound check and meet Peter Stroud who not only play’s guitar with Sheryl, but is a partner in 65 amps. I absolutely love the 65 amps partially the London and Lil Elvis model although I lean towards the London. Peter has been using them on the tour and I’m hoping to get a one on one demo of the amp and hear it in a full band situation before I make the decision to purchase the London. Hmm by saying London it sounds like my mind is made up.
Now for The Aces, we’ve slowly been revving things up and will need to start getting our ace in gear. Word from El Toro Records is our record has come in from the pressing plant and is getting ready for distribution. So what does this all mean? While I have goals I’m not absolutely sure how this will all unfold. Sure the traditional way is to release a record, get some publicity behind it and then hit the road. Well it’s not that easy these days. First there needs to be balance with family life and there needs to be a clear sense of direction for the band. It’s no longer jump in the van and play every bar/club from California to Maine. While that does define touring, it does not define a successful tour. I’d prefer us doing a "supporting act" roll for an already established band to get maximum exposure and experience. There’s not only the so called “road” experience, but there is an aspect of learning to adapt to different venue’s night to night, the aspect of 5-7 nights of shows in a row and driving, working with different personalities in the venues, learning to fine tune your sound and get the best sound possible out of unknown sound systems, learning how to keep reigns on your money (that’s right I want to make money to support my family, career and band), how to keep the energy and emotional state positive (wheat grass anyone) and keep four personalities from getting frustrated with each other. This is why I feel we need to be in a position for success while still taking some chances/risks. I’d also fool myself and the band if I think our core fan base is blues. While we’re rooted/influenced in the blues, we’re not a blues band we can appeal to fans of other genres (rock, blues, punk, alt, roots, etc). Some of our songs show that we’re not that type of band and I feel our songwriting can evolve. Believe me I’ve been though this before when I was in my 20’s with Mitch Woods (well the driving across country and playing bars/clubs) so I’m familiar with what it takes – that’s why I’m setting my expectations higher – putting this out in the world on what I want to do so I can make the right connections and the universal can make things happen (e.g. luck).
So we’ll see how this unfolds over the next say 3 – 9 months. And yes I’d love for the band to hit the road and show what we have domestically and internationally. It should help us build our internal relationships as well as grow our songwriting. And the sheer possibility of meeting great smart & creative people along the way is inspiring to me.
Oh BTW The Aces have entered into the Independent Music Awards too. Looks like I have to fix this layout too.
All the best – Derek Irving
Personally I’ve been going through a re-birth of sorts with my family which has been going very well – it’s all about balance as the wife says. I have a slight chance today in going over to the Wells Fargo Center here in Santa Rosa to check out Sheryl Crow’s sound check and meet Peter Stroud who not only play’s guitar with Sheryl, but is a partner in 65 amps. I absolutely love the 65 amps partially the London and Lil Elvis model although I lean towards the London. Peter has been using them on the tour and I’m hoping to get a one on one demo of the amp and hear it in a full band situation before I make the decision to purchase the London. Hmm by saying London it sounds like my mind is made up.
Now for The Aces, we’ve slowly been revving things up and will need to start getting our ace in gear. Word from El Toro Records is our record has come in from the pressing plant and is getting ready for distribution. So what does this all mean? While I have goals I’m not absolutely sure how this will all unfold. Sure the traditional way is to release a record, get some publicity behind it and then hit the road. Well it’s not that easy these days. First there needs to be balance with family life and there needs to be a clear sense of direction for the band. It’s no longer jump in the van and play every bar/club from California to Maine. While that does define touring, it does not define a successful tour. I’d prefer us doing a "supporting act" roll for an already established band to get maximum exposure and experience. There’s not only the so called “road” experience, but there is an aspect of learning to adapt to different venue’s night to night, the aspect of 5-7 nights of shows in a row and driving, working with different personalities in the venues, learning to fine tune your sound and get the best sound possible out of unknown sound systems, learning how to keep reigns on your money (that’s right I want to make money to support my family, career and band), how to keep the energy and emotional state positive (wheat grass anyone) and keep four personalities from getting frustrated with each other. This is why I feel we need to be in a position for success while still taking some chances/risks. I’d also fool myself and the band if I think our core fan base is blues. While we’re rooted/influenced in the blues, we’re not a blues band we can appeal to fans of other genres (rock, blues, punk, alt, roots, etc). Some of our songs show that we’re not that type of band and I feel our songwriting can evolve. Believe me I’ve been though this before when I was in my 20’s with Mitch Woods (well the driving across country and playing bars/clubs) so I’m familiar with what it takes – that’s why I’m setting my expectations higher – putting this out in the world on what I want to do so I can make the right connections and the universal can make things happen (e.g. luck).
So we’ll see how this unfolds over the next say 3 – 9 months. And yes I’d love for the band to hit the road and show what we have domestically and internationally. It should help us build our internal relationships as well as grow our songwriting. And the sheer possibility of meeting great smart & creative people along the way is inspiring to me.
Oh BTW The Aces have entered into the Independent Music Awards too. Looks like I have to fix this layout too.
All the best – Derek Irving
Monday, August 17, 2009
Record coming soon !!!!!!!
Looks like our El Toro Records release will be ready around December. So this means we'll be thinking how or if we want to use a publishing. Also we entered "You're Gonna Lose" and "Mr Highway Man" into the 2009 Independent Music Awards. Results will be Jan 2010.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Quick blast
Tune into KSRO 1350am or KSRO.com today (friday) at 5pm to hear The Aces live in studio. Then next week it's our Lo Fi Explosion show at The Last Day Saloon on July 30 at 8pm - burlesque, fuzz guitar and exploding amps - FUN ! - derek
Sunday, July 19, 2009
16 hours away from NOW
Yesterday headed over to a local music flee market. Saw a Line 6 echo park, but the price was not interesting enough. Picked up a megaphone for my show tonight - well in 16 hours from now. Also gonna use the house Fender Super Reverb instead of my normal fender tweed bassman, looking for some different tones. I was unable to find a Marshall JTM45 plexi, so I opted for the Super. Anyway we have load-in around 5:30pm on today (sunday 7/19), sound check from 6pm - 6:30pm, get some food, do the preshow meet and great then hit the stage at 8pm sharp opening for The Arc Angels in Petaluma CA - Mystic Theater. Awesome place which holds over 1000. Hope you can make it.
Aces will also be on KSRO on friday 7/24 promoting my Lo Fi Explosion show on 7/30 at the Last Day Saloon in Santa Rosa. Going ?
Aces will also be on KSRO on friday 7/24 promoting my Lo Fi Explosion show on 7/30 at the Last Day Saloon in Santa Rosa. Going ?
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Action !
Derek and Sky from The Aces will have a small roll in an upcoming Butcher Brothers horror film called "The Violent Kind" - more on this soon !
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The Beat Man in SF
I saw a killer show this past weekend with the wife. Reverend Beat Man was at the Hemlock Tavern in SF. This guy is killer ! Raw PUNK BLUES !!!! He is a songwriter, musician, and voodoo rhythm records owner. I mean wow! Beat Man is from Switzerland and I'm starting to thing there is some F'n good music over there. Check out Voodoo Rhythm Records from Switzerland and El Toro Records out of Spain. This stuff beats what is coming out for blues in US maybe with the exception of Fat Possum - what's great is they don't put out any "formulated sound". By that I mean the guitar plugged into a fender stuff. While that's good and all, after a while all the artists start to sound the same. Music should be fresh, raw and primitive. You know like the old Chess and Sun stuff.
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