We spent 2 days litterally throwing together 3 tunes for a demo, and Mitzi our singer put together a Myspace page. We don't have any pics yet, so the profile pic (of her) will be of us when we get some.
Anyhoo...let me know what yooz think of the tunes. We did it in 2 days in our keyboardist's psuedo-studio in his house. I myself think the guitar mix in all 3 need to come up...a lot....but that's just me ;) Plus I would like to have done the little solo's in 'Weekend' with a stronger patch....but due to time I just used the rythm patch and pretty much did a one-shot take through the whole song (I punched in on the last solo because I started laughing and fucked up ;)
http://www.myspace.com/that80sshowband
The mixes sounded very keyboard-and-vocal-heavy - more bass, more drums, more guitar...
Good job, though. That Jump solo is a bitch. I have a version of me with one of my bands playing and singing the song somewhere - that might be good for laughs. If I find it, I'll post it.
If I ever go visit my "brother from another mother" up there in Fayetteville, I'm going to try and come see you guys (and gal).
Tripper
Holy fucking crap those keyboards are loud. I've never even noticed the keyboards in the verses for "Working for the Weekend" before, but that version is totally drenched in them.
However, you guys sound super tight, and your playing sounds totally pro. I am impressed with your sounds and your riffage. Nice gig!
Well, I only got a couple of seconds of Working for the Weekend (a song we used to open our second set with back during my brief period of playing with a band). The song now says "unavailable." That said, the keyboards sounded about right, it IS a very keyboard heavy song after all.
Fabulous stuff, great musicianship & a terrific monster solo on Jump - (I must try that one myself one day - when I'm feeling brave! ;D). Only one thing that spoiled it a little for me - the singer has a nice enough voice but for me she really lacked something on Jump - not enough 'balls/raunch/grit' - that song really needs to be belted out from deep down. I listened to it a couple of times & I think she was struggling with key/range particularly at the beginning.
Congrats on a great job! :)
Rich
CraigBert — Apr 22, 2009Well, I only got a couple of seconds of Working for the Weekend (a song we used to open our second set with back during my brief period of playing with a band). The song now says "unavailable." That said, the keyboards sounded about right, it IS a very keyboard heavy song after all.
I listened to them back to back after I made that comment, and I stand by my original statement. Needs less keyboard, but very tight and well played.
Thanks guys! I totally agree the keys are pretty hot in these....I'll give you 3 guesses as to who mixed them lol. I may get with Jim (keyboardist) and see if we could back the keys off a bit.
Yeah Jump isn't one of Mitzi's better tunes. She more than makes up for it when she belts out tunes like 'Gloria'. She's much better in the upper registers.
As for the Jump solo, that's a tough one for me to sound how I want to sound on it. The timing is just a tad strange.....I'll get it eventually. Maybe.
Johnny,
I agree with what most others are saying. The mix could be improved (hey man, we want to hear YOU!) but the playing is good and tight.
You'll get that Jump solo. It ain't that tough.
DreamTheaterRules — Apr 23, 2009
You'll get that Jump solo. It ain't that tough.
Said the man who has never proven he can back up his playing claims... ;)
It IS tough to play it correctly. It isn't tough to fudge your way through it, though.
I will concede that it isn't one of Ed's more difficult solos...it's about average for him.
Tripper
Ok, enough with the jokes for now. The playlist finally worked for me so I can finally comment!
The playing IS tight - love it! I can definitely say lots of positive things and you're definitely the type of band I'd love to go watch.
That said, here's my (hopefully) constructive criticisms:
- Yes, I can hear what Charger is talking about now, however it sounds more like there's a blanket over everything and some of the correct separation is missing
- Yes, I can hear that the solo to Jump is off - so what
The main thing I'm wondering about is your choice of demo songs. Watching a band live, I have no problem listening to a female singer handling songs meant for a male singer - it's all part of the show, however, for a demo list why wouldn't you feature more than just the Kim Wilde song? Maybe it was partially the mix, however she just didn't seem to have nearly enough power in her voice for Jump (but damn did she sound good in Kids in America). Working for the Weekend was closer, but still another male-vocal oriented song. Have you considered focusing more on songs by Pat Benetar, Pretenders, Heart, Scandal or Berlin? There's also selections from the Eurythmics, Motels, Missing Persons, Quarterflash, Jefferson Starship, Blondie, Fleetwood Mac and 'Til Tuesday that might be considered as well.
I'm just saying... :)
LOL "touche' " Ok, so as not to start all that again, let me rephrase that.
For Eddie, and compared to his other solos, that is not one of the tougher ones.
better?
For the record, I've played with Johnny. That was intended more as in encouragement to him because he's quite capable of playing that solo. Note for note if he wanted too. ;)
Tripper — Apr 23, 2009[quote author=DreamTheaterRules link=1240369895/0#7 date=1240457488]
You'll get that Jump solo. It ain't that tough.
Said the man who has never proven he can back up his playing claims... ;)
It IS tough to play it correctly. It isn't tough to fudge your way through it, though.
I will concede that it isn't one of Ed's more difficult solos...it's about average for him.
Tripper
I agree with all the comments apart from those I disagree with :)
Band sounds great Johnny.
Post a BT for Jump in the FNJ - see how people get on with it. ;)
if they dare ;)
Yeah, I'm not sure why those were the 3 tunes they picked. I just showed up and those were what were already started. We already do some Blondie, Eurythmics, Starship, Pat Benetar, Scandal, Go Go's, with several more on Craig's list (heh..) on our list of to-do's.
My picks would have been Gloria, The Warrior, and Rio.....which are the best sounding 3 we do so far. Oh well. Once we start playing, I don't think it will matter too much. People love 80's music, and I think we'll be playing a lot once we get going.
And I knew Howie's comment was meant constructively :) I'll see if I can get a copy without the solo so we can have fun with it. I know I could do a lot better if I had all night to work on it.
