Last night was Rick Toops’ CD release party (www.ricktoops.com) – I was happy to be part of it – the drummer, bassist, sax man and 2nd vocalist I’d not met before (always a tricky situation on stage) – everyone was extremely cool and all were great musicians – it was very cool to meet some new cats as well as being a joy to play this set. Rick’s new platter, 2PS, is available at CD Baby (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/RickToops) – groove-based soul/pop at its finest.
Here’s Rick laying down:
“Funny thing happened on the way to the sheet music…”
Wonder what ’Applause’ means in Italian?
I feel extremely fortunate to be able to work in a wide variety of musical situations – each of these disparate jobs allow me to flex very different musical muscles:
01 May – Motown Spectacular: The Coasters, The Platters & The Marvelettes – Lucky Star Casino – Show time 8pm – www.luckystarcasino.org – This date features versatile powerhouse drummer Mike McCraw: www.mikemccraw.com – tickets: www.zooamp.com
04 May – Rick Toops (soulful pop/rock) – CD Release Party – Belle Isle Brewery – 9pm – www.ricktoops.com - www.belleislerestaurant.com
07 May – Ty England (Country/Western) – TBA – www.tyengland.com
xx May – The Recliners – NOTICE – Recliners gig has been postponed/rescheduled – stay tuned. Instead:
08 May – Terry Allen Band (Country/Western) – Southern Nights Dancehall & Saloon – Abilene, Texas – 10pm – www.terryallenband.com, www.myspace.com/terryallenband07, www.myspace.com/southernnightsdancehall
15 May – Banana Seat (Disco/R&B) – Point After Club – OKC – 9pm – www.bananaseat.com
22 May - Ty England - (Country/Western) – Aubrey, TX - TBA – www.tyengland.com
?? - DATE MOVED - TBA - Logan Walker and the Jazz Guys – Lawton, OK – 2pm (Logan is a fantastic Tenor cat – extremely rich music history, an extremely gracious cat and general beautiful person) – this is a straight ahead, Real Book quartet date – I’m very much looking forward to working with him again.
29 May – The Recliners (Rock) – Dan McGuiness Pub – Moore, OK – 9.30pm – www.reclinersband.com – www.danmcguinnesspub.com/moore
www.ricktoops.com – Rick is a very talented singer and keyboard player – his new CD 2PS is available here: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RickToops - great stuff all ’round.
This past week I got the opportunity to perform a set with him – dig the bass/drums duo on the clip!
For this gig I was using my 1983 Fuji Gen Gakki ’62 RI Fender Strat > ’76 RI Dyna Comp (with various circuit modifications!) > the new GtrWrks bV Overdrive > Malekko E600B analog delay > 1966 Fender Bassman which is loaded into a custom JD Newell solid pine 2×12 combo cab (open back) loaded with Reverend All-Tones (love these speakers!).
The Strat features a Callaham bridge w/steel block; Seymour Duncan pickups (B: Hot Rails; M: Classic Stack Plus; N: Lil 59); DiMarzio custom pots; Raw Vintage trem springs; Late ’70s vintage NOS solid/hand turned brass knobs, switch and trem arm tips from Kahler. Of course, as you well know, there’s a significant amount of tone to be added via knob material… uh… or something like that.
This is a very short live clip of one of the tunes from Rick’s new record:
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7375208/19286955?v=7375208
http://toneblue.exblog.jp/10844155/
Seems the special edition bVs that were built for Kiyotsugu Amano (http://members2.jcom.home.ne.jp/ki-amano/ - www.myspace.com/kiamano) were well received.
The bV Overdrive is a smoothly voiced OD with plenty of gain, plenty of lows. Newly badged bV ODs will be arriving @ Tone Blue (www.toneblue.com) later this spring – stay tuned for more info.
Tomo Fujita is a celebrated, funky blues guitarist. He teaches at Berklee College of Music in Boston as well as recording/touring with his own music. Not only does Tomo san dig the 19 Sixty 3, he loves Ibanez TS10 Overdrive pedals – these were made by Maxon in the mid/late 80s for Ibanez and can only be had on the used market today.
Over the past 2 or 3 years GtrWrks has repaired and in some cases made slight modifications to old TS10s that he’s scored. The TS10 (and 10 series in general) were considered by some to be more cheaply made than the previous 9 series effects – that said, the TS10 is a great sounding overdrive – sweet ‘clean’ driven tones with a tight low end and smooth attack.
Check out Tomo’s recordings and sweet sounds at www.tomofujita.com – dig this as well: http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/tomo-fujita
Recently stage time has found me working with classic country and western swing group Wilton O’Neal and Old Habits – classic stuff all ’round. This group features southern Californian Dale Bennett on bass and vox. Dale worked with Wynn Stewart at Wynn’s heighth of popularity – gigs, recording, et al. Dale’s a cool cat wearing his popped collar denim jacked and vintage Fender Jazz in Lake Placid Blue – killer instrument. Lots of fun working with these cats.
I recently played a date with Oklahoma’s Ty England (www.tyengland.com). Ty’s hits include Should Have Asked Her Faster, Two Ways to Fall, Smoke in Her Eyes. He also spent several years bunking with then sharing many stages with Garth Brooks – playing great acoustic guitar as well as lending his superior vocals. You can hear a couple of Ty’s newer songs here: Stronger, Perfect Girl, etc - http://www.myspace.com/tyenglandaliveandwell.
Mr Yoshi Mizui of Tone Blue (www.toneblue.com) recently hipped me to Kiyotsugu Amano digging the bV Overdrive – I’ve built a couple more custom units for him and more will soon be available for purchase directly from GtrWrks and Tone Blue of Kobe, Japan. You can hear Mr Amano’s extraordinary guitar and composition skills here: www.myspace.com/kiamano - good stuff for sure.
