This has been one of the most fun and rewarding weeks of my part-time drumming career. I haven’t had this much fun since I was a full-time musician living in Los Angeles and travelling the United States. The past week, I was able to play in 3 very different environments with 3 different bands for 3 very appreciative audiences. It was a privilege to provide music to over 2135 people!
The week started on Sunday when I played with the praise band at a local Lutheran church for the morning worship service (about 200 people in attendance). I’ve been playing at this church for a long time, like 20 years. There have been many different musicians who have played in the band and I think the latest edition of the band is one of the best.
We play a combination of praise and bluesy-religious music if you can imagine that. After our usual Thursday night rehearsal, I felt good about how we were going to sound and, on Sunday, I wasn’t disappointed. Our instrumentation was: 2 guitars, bass and drums.
Here’s a song list from the order of service:
- Gathering Song: Strong Tower – Kutless – Cool tom part on the pre-chorus.
- Call to Worship Songs:
Joyful – Brenton Brown – Nice off beat snare on the “&” of 2 on the chorus.
Righteous One – Bruce Muller
I Lift My Eyes Up – Brian Doerksen – Nice beat using the toms on the verse. - Song of the Day: Not To Us – Chris Tomlin – Nice, driving tune. Sixteenths on the hat.
- Offering Song: Walk Down This Mountain – Bebo Norman – I played this one with brushes on the snare and the snares off.
- Sharing the Feast: Burn Bright – Trent
- Lord Reign in Me – Brenton Brown
My next gig was on Tuesday night at a local church Mardi Gras celebration. It turned out to be a pancake feed with about 75 people (I liked the sweet potato pancakes best). It was more intimate and we even had some dancers!
This band was a variation of our praise band but with the addition of keyboard, harmonica, flute/sax and female vocalist. We have played together before but it had been at least 6 months. We rehearsed a couple times in the weeks before the gig.
We had a great time playing classics like:
- Chameleon – Herbie Hancock
- The Weight – The Band
- Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison
- Under African Skies – Paul Simon – I played a cool Nanigo double-time beat that I learned from Mel Brown.
- Running Down a Dream – Tom Petty
- Cool Jerk – The Capitols
The week ended on a high point travelling from Seattle, WA to Redding, CA to play at the Cascade Theatre with The Chris Ward Band. Chris is a very successful and talented country-rock singer/songwriter with a great band. We usually play casinos and bars in Washington state but sometimes venture further from home. This trip was definitely worth it!
When we play casinos we play 3 sets: Chris Ward originals, an Eagles tribute and country-rock cover songs (by other artists). For the Redding gig, we played the Eagles tribute set with a couple Chris Ward tunes for an encore.
The first show had 760 people; the second show had 1100 people! The people of Redding are great; very friendly and appreciative. They sang the Eagles tunes as we played them and they even stood as Chris sang “God Bless the USA.” Regardless of your political stance, it was a moving tribute to our troops. We made a lot of new Redding friends as we met people after each show. We hope to return next year.
Our Eagles set was:
- Take It Easy – Good starter, Chris always sounds great.
- Lyin’ Eyes – Long song with a story
- Peaceful Easy Feeling – Features bass player Craig
- Heartache Tonight – Features percussionist Kenny
- Desperado – Chris does this solo with guitar
- The Best of My Love – Kind of an acoustic set thing
- Seven Bridges Road – Man, our guys can sing!
- The Long Run – Starts with a drum solo so the guys can switch instruments
- Tequila Sunrise
- Hotel California – Kenny sings, Ross plays an awesome guitar solo
- Love Will Keep Us Alive – Nice tune that sounds best with a simple drum part.
- Already Gone
- Life In The Fast Lane – Another awesome guitar solo
- God Bless the USA – Chris solo
For encores we did:
- I Love It – Chris Ward original
- Get To Be You –Another driving Chris Ward original
We had a long drive home but it seemed shorter as we shared stories about the shows and thought about our Redding friends.
It was quite a week, one which I will not soon forget. I feel fortunate to have played with such gifted musicians for such appreciative people. It reminded me (again!) of why I love to play the drums. Feel free to share a story of your recent playing experiences in the comments below. I’d love to hear your story!