Now it's On

We played the Studio Suite last Friday and I just want to say that it was totally amazing. That place is a really fun relaxed joint, and I always enjoy the funky atmosphere for a change.The venue encouraged an encore, 'cause the crowd was into us and the booking/sound guy liked our show, so we finished up with a Granddaddy cover, "Now it's On." Playing that song was the perfect cap to what turned out to be a perfect night. Let me first emphasize that in the small time LA club scene, one never gets to play an encore. The venue is always running late (or if they're not they're expecting to be eventually) because they've overbooked the night so as to get as many bands to bring their draw as possible. (They rely on our music and our promotion to sell drinks, though most of them don't pay us a dime... but that's another story.) HT, being the juggernaut of creative power that we are, has at least two sets of great original material and then a healthy stable of covers on top of that. This means that we're always packing our sets as tight as possible with our songs, and the sound guy is always ready to pump the canned music as soon as the last echoes of chaos howl into the air. So just being invited to do an encore felt really special.On top of that, I love playing that Granddaddy song. It's a really great tune about optomism and (literally) stepping out into the world and inviting it to your door. "Bust the lock off your front door - once you're outside you won't want to hide anymore - light the light on the front porch - once it's on you'll never want to turn it off anymore - cause now it's on..." Gosh. It's so joyous. It makes me misty. Can I say that?It's, to me, the epitome of a great cover. We really give it a totally new spin, but it comes so effortlessly and honestly that it sounds absolutely natural to the piece. I sometimes feel like an artist covers a song and labors to change it, smearing it with their own fingerprints and pasting it together like some ceramic vase re-purposed as a coffee mug. In our case, I feel like we just play that song with our instrumentation as we would had we written it ourselves, and it comes out like the vase re-built out of mahogany. Such is the case with "Now it's On."I also feel like it's not an easy song to pick. As shameless as it sounds, it's a hip selection. Half of our audience doesn't get the reference. Coming up in bar bands, my dad always instilled in me the value of making creative choices in your music. Choose obscure stuff; the deep cuts or the lesser known bands. Choose the stuff that real music fans will respect. Anything else invites comparison. You don't do "Satisfaction." The fucking Stones do "Satisfaction." Everyone knows that, and though they're entertained by the novelty, it's a temporary fire. Like a puff of a cigarette or a taste of chocolate... it's there and nice but it's gone soon after, and in it's place is the association with the Stones. And let me tell you: everyone fails by comparison to the Stones... or The Beatles, or Iggy Pop, or ACDC, or David Bowie, or whoever you want to put in there. But a deep cut, a B-side or a fan favorite... that allows you to make the song your own, which in turn earns respect. And respect from your audience and yourself is what separates you from the jukebox in the corner.I don't sing "Now it's On," either and it's nice not to sing sometimes. Being the lead singer is great, and I understand the importance of having a strong, consistent voice as a band still winning it's audience. However, I get to play some great little fills in that song and Bob does a wonderful job on the lead vocals.In the end it's just fun, and it shows through. Someone said of us that we look more like we're having fun up there than any LA band they've seen in recent memory. I love that. We're not up there to "make it." We're all really smart, creative, talented guys. We all have options and multiple talents and cool dayjobs, and nothing to prove to anyone but ourselves. We do this because it's great fun, so when the cover ends and the entire bar cheers, there's nothing more rewarding than that.