Another Vocal Rehearsal...

Just back from another vocal rehearsal and feeling pretty chuffed with how it went although I have to admit that as well as feeling a lot more comfortable with the songs, another big part of my chuffness lies with the purchase of a new toy.  The Zoom H1 portable recorder.

I don't have a scooby about its reputation amongst the audiofiles and I don't really care.  I think it's awesome.  Brilliant sound quality and I should have had one of these things years ago!

Aaaand the good news is that is that after listening back on the rehearsal I'm feeling pretty good with how things are going.  I've replaced a couple of songs from last time and put them into a potential set order.

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
No concerns with this one.  It'll be good to hear the band rock this one up.

Breathe (Prodigy)
I need to watch where to come back in from some of the breaks but I think it'll be easier to follow the musical cues from the band.

History Repeating (Propellorheads)
This is fun to sing, the songs got a great groove.

Istanbul (They Might Be Giants)
Getting to grips with the phrasing now and also figuring out the best parts where I can take a breath.

Love Rears Its Ugly Head (Living Colour)
This was more comfortable to sing than last week.  Another song where figuring out where breaths can be taken is key.

Punch & Judy (Marillion)
Getting better with the intro and first lines of the verses but still needs work.  I also stumble on the second line of the last verse which was odd as it wasn't an issue before.

Crazy Horses (Osmonds)
Not sure if this is fitting with the other songs but that's likely down to the fact that I need a second vocalist so currently I'm not singing along with a chunk of the song when I feel I should.  Hopefully if someone can do the second vocal part it'll sound better.

Stone Cold Crazy (Queen)
Damn it, I printed off the Metallica version and they changed some of the lyrics.  Curse you Hetfield!!!  Hadn't tried this one before tonight and wasn't sure if I could do it.  Changed second and third verses aside (grrrr), I got through those lyrics that I could use and am quite happy it'll come good.

Two Tribes (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
My phrasing is all over the shop with this one.  I think it's because Holly Johnson doesn't sing a verse the in the same way throughout the song.  I'm hoping it won't be so tricky when singing it with the band as I can do my own thing with the phrasing and it's not going to clash like it does now.

Whippin' Post (Allman Bros)
I really wasn't trusting my ears with this (the driving force behind buying the H1) but I've listened back a couple of times and I think I can trust them now.  Happy happy, joy, joy!

War Pigs (Sabbath but with the FNM faster pace)
Another one I tried for the first time and it's a lot of fun to do.  My only concern is that it might be too long for the set.

The set's probably going to need a trim by a song or two but I'm really looking forward to getting the band in to see what they can do to them.  

That's all for now!

Frazzappa Gig

I've been asked to put a band together for a charity gig my work's putting together for their charity of the year, SiMBA and thought I'd blog about the process.  It'll likely be an immediate thought diary thing that I do after each rehearsal to help me keep track of how things are going with the songs but who knows, it may change along the way, I don't know.

Anyway, to bring you up to speed...  

I did a similar thing a couple of years ago and at the time I thought I'd challenge myself by being the singer of a band.  I'm normally, in fact scratch that, I'm ALWAYS the guitarist with occasional backing vocals when I'm gigging.  It's what I do and love but in all my years of playing live I've only ever sung lead vocals once and that was as an emergency stand in as the singer who was supposed to play dislocated his shoulder a couple of days before the gig (that'll sound familiar to some, I'm sure).  Weirdly, that was also for a charity night, for Comic Relief.  It was a tiny room in the basement of a pub in the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh and I only had to play three songs (Oliver's Army, People Are Strange and Sunny Afternoon if I remember rightly). 

It was awful.  No, I, was awful but it was a long time ago and possibly the first (or certainly close to) the first time I'd ever played in front of an actual audience.

Preparations for this gig have already begun and I've had a couple of vocal rehearsals on my own to see if I could actually sing any of the songs before I get the band in for rehearsals.  Here's the set along with my thoughts:

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
No issues with this one so far.

History Repeating (Propellorheads)
Need to practise a couple of line but not too bad.

Shout (Tears for Fears)
Haven't really tried this one yet.  I'm not sure it'll make the final cut as I'm only really thinking about it as it's my daughter's favourite song at the moment.  The pace of the song might jar a bit with the rest in the set.

Istanbul (They Might Be Giants)
Oh, that's a lot of words to sing quickly!  Fun to do though and the biggest test is not to get tongue tied.  Might need another vocal to help out with some of the overlapping singing.

Punch & Judy (Marillion)
It went a lot better than I thought it would.  The opening line of each verse needs a lot of work though.  Fish sings weird.

Breathe (Prodigy)
Oh yes, this is going to my favourite I think.  The key appears to be to just go for it.  It'll be interesting to see if I manage to give it as much laldy in front of people as I do in a room by myself.

Love Rears Its Ugly Head (Living Colour)
If I can nail this one I'll be very happy indeed as it's quite a vocal work out.  Needs work but I think I'll get there.

Whipping Post (Allman Brothers)
Wow, I don't seem to struggle with the powerful singing that's required for this one.  I think it sounds pretty decent but not sure I can trust my ears as I thought for sure I wouldn't get close.

Crazy Horses (Osmonds)
This is fun although someone else will have to do the end of the verses and the bridge.  It's what the Osmonds do on the record and it's waaaay out of my range.

Two Tribes (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
We can definitely rock this one up.  I need to listen to the vocal lines a lot more though as I'm all over the place with it.

Delilah (SAHB Version)
I think this will be ok.  I can't reach the big line at the very end at the moment although I hope it's more of a lack of practice than actually out of my range.

Right, that's all for this one.  I've got another vocal rehearsal booked in for the same time and place next week so until then!

Let me know if you've found this interesting at all and any and all comments are appreciated about the set as well as any other questions you might have!


F