One way that band life is much like a business is that band members may come and go, just like coworkers. In the case of Beau Hodges Band we've been extremely blessed to have a core group of guys that have been playing together in the project since the end of 2011. Tyler, Beau, Hoz, Slater and I have enjoyed a lot of time together and a lot of time on stage making people's heads bop and feet stomp. Tuesday of this week, we're going to have a rehearsal. This is not unlike many Tuesdays (or Thursdays, or whenever we rehearse) in the past in many ways. But this Tuesday we'll get together to rehearse our set(s) without our good friend Hoz*.
We have been a two-guitar band since we started jamming. Hoz has this killer (and BIG) Les Paul sound, often playing in open or dropped tunings, often employing a slide and making his own awesome sounds . He has this knack for killer licks/riffs and when he is 'ON' his solos are almost perfect. I have always been the Fender guy, with a Fender tube amp and the rhythm role of adding on the top.
We've gone through a shift/change before. When our first bass player Pat left the band and Matt (Slater) stepped in (actually, stepped up - he learned to play bass to fill the role) and put his banjo and mandolin down to totally own the bass. We got Jason up to speed and Slater moved back to adding bluegrass and americana sounds to the picture. Slater shifted back into LOW gear (get it?!) when Jason moved to Florida.
This shift is different.
I have been working on how to put the important touches in some of the tunes (I am not a slide guy, no matter how much I try) and dialed in a roaring modern distortion sound option so that the 'buzz' is still there when we go heavy. I have done my best to fill things in a bit. We'll see Tuesday how it translates!
*To be absolutely clear, Hoz had to move to Arizona for personal/family reasons, and noone holds it against him. He is also going to try his best to come back to Vegas for shows when he can.*
We have been a two-guitar band since we started jamming. Hoz has this killer (and BIG) Les Paul sound, often playing in open or dropped tunings, often employing a slide and making his own awesome sounds . He has this knack for killer licks/riffs and when he is 'ON' his solos are almost perfect. I have always been the Fender guy, with a Fender tube amp and the rhythm role of adding on the top.
We've gone through a shift/change before. When our first bass player Pat left the band and Matt (Slater) stepped in (actually, stepped up - he learned to play bass to fill the role) and put his banjo and mandolin down to totally own the bass. We got Jason up to speed and Slater moved back to adding bluegrass and americana sounds to the picture. Slater shifted back into LOW gear (get it?!) when Jason moved to Florida.
This shift is different.
I have been working on how to put the important touches in some of the tunes (I am not a slide guy, no matter how much I try) and dialed in a roaring modern distortion sound option so that the 'buzz' is still there when we go heavy. I have done my best to fill things in a bit. We'll see Tuesday how it translates!
*To be absolutely clear, Hoz had to move to Arizona for personal/family reasons, and noone holds it against him. He is also going to try his best to come back to Vegas for shows when he can.*