My Friend the Bass Player
I want to tell you about my friend. My friend is a very talented instrumentalist. I met him a long time ago, a guitar player, a friend of friends of my brother's.
After just hanging out and partying, like amateur rock-and-rollers did in the '80s, we ended up together around a cassette 4-track machine. He recorded one of my songs. It was one of the first times I can remember that someone else showed an interest in my music.
Later on, it happened that we were in touch and decided to form a band. I still had my songs, and he still had an interest. Chocolate Zulu was born. Existing in the dining room of a house in Monrovia, CA (211 S. Alta Vista Ave), Chocolate Zulu wrote, played and recorded around the Los Angeles area for maybe a year and a half, two years.
After that I moved to Atlanta. I had tons of new material from a musically active period, and I recorded a whole new collection of songs (Up From Here). I played around with the songs at open mic nights around the city, and with a trio that practiced in a church but never played any gigs. Irreplaceable Specimen, as we called it (because free stickers), recorded a 5-song demo of songs that went on to be part of the Orange Cones setlists.
When I got back from Atlanta, I got in touch with my friend. He was still into it. He wanted to keep playing in my group. So we found someone to play drums, and we set up in the "Cat Room" and we worked out a large setlist. Orange Cones played only a handful of shows, but besides a few specific numbers that we really liked, we played an almost completely different set at every one.
My friend is the perfect bass player for me. He's not a perfect friend, or a perfect person, but he's the perfect bass player for the way I work. In my ideal situation, he would be in my band.
I would like to have a party. I would like my friend to be there, and I would like The Daves, the drummers of Chocolate Zulu and Orange Cones, to be there. Then we could have two band reunions with just four guys, three of whom are named Dave.
At this party, I would have an acoustic guitar (I got a sweet new Ibanez that would be perfect for the occasion) and an electric guitar (I've been dying to try out my new Epiphone Les Paul in a band), a bass rig, then one drum kit, and one drum. We would start with Chocolate Zulu. Dave R. would man the single drum and a microphone and I would play the Ibanez. Then Dave M. would get behind the kit and I would strap on my Les Paul, and Orange Cones would do a set. Three Daves and two Js.
After just hanging out and partying, like amateur rock-and-rollers did in the '80s, we ended up together around a cassette 4-track machine. He recorded one of my songs. It was one of the first times I can remember that someone else showed an interest in my music.
Later on, it happened that we were in touch and decided to form a band. I still had my songs, and he still had an interest. Chocolate Zulu was born. Existing in the dining room of a house in Monrovia, CA (211 S. Alta Vista Ave), Chocolate Zulu wrote, played and recorded around the Los Angeles area for maybe a year and a half, two years.
After that I moved to Atlanta. I had tons of new material from a musically active period, and I recorded a whole new collection of songs (Up From Here). I played around with the songs at open mic nights around the city, and with a trio that practiced in a church but never played any gigs. Irreplaceable Specimen, as we called it (because free stickers), recorded a 5-song demo of songs that went on to be part of the Orange Cones setlists.
When I got back from Atlanta, I got in touch with my friend. He was still into it. He wanted to keep playing in my group. So we found someone to play drums, and we set up in the "Cat Room" and we worked out a large setlist. Orange Cones played only a handful of shows, but besides a few specific numbers that we really liked, we played an almost completely different set at every one.
My friend is the perfect bass player for me. He's not a perfect friend, or a perfect person, but he's the perfect bass player for the way I work. In my ideal situation, he would be in my band.
I would like to have a party. I would like my friend to be there, and I would like The Daves, the drummers of Chocolate Zulu and Orange Cones, to be there. Then we could have two band reunions with just four guys, three of whom are named Dave.
At this party, I would have an acoustic guitar (I got a sweet new Ibanez that would be perfect for the occasion) and an electric guitar (I've been dying to try out my new Epiphone Les Paul in a band), a bass rig, then one drum kit, and one drum. We would start with Chocolate Zulu. Dave R. would man the single drum and a microphone and I would play the Ibanez. Then Dave M. would get behind the kit and I would strap on my Les Paul, and Orange Cones would do a set. Three Daves and two Js.
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