- Joined
- May 10, 2020
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 56
Like many here (or so I've read), after graduating from college, getting married and starting a family and "real" career, I got away from -- yes, perhaps "too far away from" (in hindsight...) -- live music and performing with rock bands until the last few years when I picked it up again and invested in newer -- and much lighter! -- equipment. Sure, I occasionally jammed with friends or other musicians, but nothing like what I did the other night.
Having the desire to "get back out there again", I linked up with a local non-profit "School of Rock" type program and joined an adult rock band with two others, a guitarist and a drummer. We didn't have a bass player or vocalist sign up, so our instructor played bass for us (you can see him in the shadows of one image), and by default I sang lead vocals -- and I haven't sung much over the last 40+ years either! (And it showed on week 1, but I sure did a lot of vocal exercises and singing over the last 9 weeks.) For only playing together as a band that many times (9), our band "Perfect Strangers" closed out the school's annual fundraising concert with a 4-song set and we were treated to a professional stage, sound system and lighting. Neither of the other 2 band members had ever played such a large venue before, or even with a formal band (other than just their informal jams); and it's been 4 decades plus for me since my UMass days when I played out a lot, so this event and the school-of-rock program turned out to be the perfect way to get back into it -- and now... I WANT MORE.
Anyway, my Hammond SK Pro 73 sounded awesome and easily handled a wide variety of voices, such as: Churchy Hammond for Bach's "Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor" intro that I connected to Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" intro with a heavily-overdriven Hammond tone -- as that seemed to be a great way to introduce the band -- as Perfect Strangers was our name. From there we morphed into Collective Soul's "Gel" and a guitar & synth patch combination did the soft intro, plus I played overdriven Hammond chords while the guitarist did his solo. Sounds for ELP's "Lucky Man" included strings (as background on verses & choruses 2-4) along with a soft Hammond tone on verses & choruses 3 & 4, plus an organ solo we put in after the 3rd verse/chorus to lengthen the song, and man oh man -- the synthesizer on the SK Pro did a really great job emulating Keith's Moog synth solo! I put it into "unison" mode and dialed in 6 voices, with a slight detune and some delay & reverb, adjusted the ASDR and filters by ear, and then added in some ring modulation as the synth solo ended. Wowza! Then it was a Vox Continental organ tone used for The Doors "Light My Fire", followed by Hammond organ (88886) on verse/chorus plus an overdriven version of that drawbar setting for the main riff to finish our set with Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water".
At the end of the gig, I got a lot of questions and great feedback on the SK Pro and I think I might have helped to sell a board or two, as the younger kids and parents there couldn't believe all the sounds that I had coaxed out of it. Plus, I think I rocked it too.
For sure, the Hammond did much better than my vocal chords did -- but it was all for a good cause, we had fun, the band did great considering all factors, and the audience enjoyed the show.
I think the best part -- besides being up on stage and turning my Hammond into "The Beast" (as they used to call Jon Lord's organ for his intro to "PS") -- is that my wife & kids, and other friends and family all got to see "this 'ol man rock" just like he used to tell stories about.
And now I want MORE!!! The "beast" has been unleashed!!!
Cheers!
Old No7
(Dang! I can't add either .mov or .mp4 files...)
Having the desire to "get back out there again", I linked up with a local non-profit "School of Rock" type program and joined an adult rock band with two others, a guitarist and a drummer. We didn't have a bass player or vocalist sign up, so our instructor played bass for us (you can see him in the shadows of one image), and by default I sang lead vocals -- and I haven't sung much over the last 40+ years either! (And it showed on week 1, but I sure did a lot of vocal exercises and singing over the last 9 weeks.) For only playing together as a band that many times (9), our band "Perfect Strangers" closed out the school's annual fundraising concert with a 4-song set and we were treated to a professional stage, sound system and lighting. Neither of the other 2 band members had ever played such a large venue before, or even with a formal band (other than just their informal jams); and it's been 4 decades plus for me since my UMass days when I played out a lot, so this event and the school-of-rock program turned out to be the perfect way to get back into it -- and now... I WANT MORE.
Anyway, my Hammond SK Pro 73 sounded awesome and easily handled a wide variety of voices, such as: Churchy Hammond for Bach's "Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor" intro that I connected to Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" intro with a heavily-overdriven Hammond tone -- as that seemed to be a great way to introduce the band -- as Perfect Strangers was our name. From there we morphed into Collective Soul's "Gel" and a guitar & synth patch combination did the soft intro, plus I played overdriven Hammond chords while the guitarist did his solo. Sounds for ELP's "Lucky Man" included strings (as background on verses & choruses 2-4) along with a soft Hammond tone on verses & choruses 3 & 4, plus an organ solo we put in after the 3rd verse/chorus to lengthen the song, and man oh man -- the synthesizer on the SK Pro did a really great job emulating Keith's Moog synth solo! I put it into "unison" mode and dialed in 6 voices, with a slight detune and some delay & reverb, adjusted the ASDR and filters by ear, and then added in some ring modulation as the synth solo ended. Wowza! Then it was a Vox Continental organ tone used for The Doors "Light My Fire", followed by Hammond organ (88886) on verse/chorus plus an overdriven version of that drawbar setting for the main riff to finish our set with Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water".
At the end of the gig, I got a lot of questions and great feedback on the SK Pro and I think I might have helped to sell a board or two, as the younger kids and parents there couldn't believe all the sounds that I had coaxed out of it. Plus, I think I rocked it too.
For sure, the Hammond did much better than my vocal chords did -- but it was all for a good cause, we had fun, the band did great considering all factors, and the audience enjoyed the show.I think the best part -- besides being up on stage and turning my Hammond into "The Beast" (as they used to call Jon Lord's organ for his intro to "PS") -- is that my wife & kids, and other friends and family all got to see "this 'ol man rock" just like he used to tell stories about.
And now I want MORE!!! The "beast" has been unleashed!!!
Cheers!
Old No7
(Dang! I can't add either .mov or .mp4 files...)
