Set list from the Jamestown Mercantile show with Chain Station. An incomparable night full of friendly people, wonderful hosts at the Merc, and a music vibe that brought us all together for awhile.
Baby Hold On (with CS)
Hey Jane (with CS)
Bouncing Round the Room
Whiskey, Wind and Wheat
I Know You Rider
Best I Can
Black Water
Loving Cup
Sweet Inspiration (by request)
Boogie On Reggae Woman
Can’t Stay Here (with CS)
Wagon Wheel (with CS)
Feelin’ Alright (with CS)
Another night of fantastic musicality with our pals Lo Down on the Mothership. We’re planning to get back out to the Lazy Dog soon, so stay tuned!
Come Together
The Valley
Mountainside
Hey Pocky Way *
Feelin’ Alright *
* Guest bass guitar playing from Chris (Lo Down), Guest singing from Jen (Lo Down), BJ unwinding the joint on funky saxophone
Last night Zen Mustache played live on KGNU. This was a special treat for us, not just for the exposure but also because the show was streamed live over the internet. Many of our out-of-town supporters finally had a chance to hear us LIVE! I got a number of messages through facebook and email from friends and family who tuned in to the show on their computer. Totally love how the technology connected us!
If you missed the show and would like to hear it, it’ll be hosted in its entirety on KGNU’s website through 4/23/11. Check it out here. You’ll need to find the day April 9, then click on Jam Sandwich. A little tricky to find, but worth it. Here’s the set list:
Shoes in the Road
Can’t Stay Here
Awakening
Whiskey, Wind and Wheat
Midday Buzz
Mountainside
The people we met at KGNU were terrific. Rebekah hosted the show and opened the opportunity to us. She was great to work with, at once professional and super-chill. She loves doing this, loves the music scene and the live music vibe, especially if she gets to dance! George was the easy-going and technically savvy sound engineer, who came into the studio off-hours to work the sound. Being on the radio was also a perfect medium so send out props for folks who have been supporting us along the way. Chris, who does our studio recording for us. The BolderBoulder folks who booked us and are publishing us on their BolderBoulder Bootlegs CD. Other bands like Lo Down, and Chain Station. Geoff’s Mom.
After the show, during the load-out, Geoff and BJ got to talking with Rebekah about music, and about various bands. Phish. Jazz is Dead. Derek Trucks. Some philosophical stuff got woven in. It was genuine conversation, rich with candor and humor and humility. The other guys bantered a bit with George. We wrapped cords and joked about how many ways, good and bad, we’ve seen sound equipment handled by other bands and other venues. There was just this feeling of connectedness. Of being part of a community, if only for a short hour or two.
For me it was another nugget validating why I choose to do this music thang. I’m thirty-eight years old; I have a wife and kids and a mortgage and a job to hold that all together. Why spend my precious little free time doing local music? For me, it’s the connection. With the other fellas in the band. With the people who come to our shows. With the other bands we meet. Last night with the KGNU crew.
Makes me think of that scene in I Am Legend. Will Smith (Neville) is talking to Anna. Do you remember that scene? Neville: [talking to Anna about Bob Marley] He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate… literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people’s lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why – He said, “The people, who were trying to make this world worse… are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.”
I not trying to say I’m on a mission to light up the darkness – I’m no Marley – but there’s definitely a drive to be with other people, to connect. And making a connection through music is really, really fun. For me it approaches pure joy. As long as there are more experiences like last night, I hope to never let it go.
Friday was our first time playing at the Oriental, and we hope it isn’t the last. The staff was so friendly, the sound was unbelievable, and the backstage party in the green room was packed! Geoff’s quote summed up the night: “It’s not the size of the room that matters, it’s whether you have a PBR trough!”
Set list:
Clam Slam
Shoes in the Road
Can’t Stay Here
Midday Buzz
Mountainside
Loving Cup
We came, we saw, we kicked its @$$!! If you didn’t make it to Cervantes last night then you ought to find your way to Zen M show soon! What a night! We love our Lo’ Down friends, and the Mothership delivered an awesome high-voltage show! Sharing the stage with Lubriphonic brought an energy all by itself, and what a treat to swing over to catch the New Mastersounds in the Ballroom. These shows just keep getting better and better!
Zen Mustache set list for 3-12-11 Cervantes Other Side:
Mountainside
Feelin’ Alright
Whiskey, Wind & Wheat
I Know You Rider
Clam Slam
Shoes in the Road
Can’t Stay Here
Sweet Inspiration
Boogie On Reggae Woman
Midday Buzz **
** First Time Played
Set list and thoughts from D Note in Arvada 2-12-11
The Valley
Come Together
Clam Slam
Hey Jane
It Won’t Eat *
Best I Can
Loving Cup
Purple Rain
Notes:
* first time played
Evolution of the Performing Band
Last night’s one-hour set at the D Note in Arvada felt good. Everyone agreed it worked great.
After a super-quick setup, Ethan worked the soundboard running line checks. It’s always a rough-and-tumble thing to set line levels. You’ve got to take the time to do it right, or the sound ends up being a mess. Nonetheless many times, such as last night, the room is full of expectant people listening to the bass drum and the snare drum and the bass cab and each individual vocal microphone. It’s a lot to ask the crowd to sit through too much of that.
Last night, we buzzed through the line checks quickly, and got into the performance. Sound levels on stage felt good. We heard later that sound levels in the house felt good, and you could hear every instrument, and especially Kyle’s vocals, clearly. Way to go E!
We knew we had just a one-hour set, and two other bands were coming after us. So we went into the set with a plan to move efficiently from one song to the next – no down time. Geoff picked that up quick after The Valley; even while Ethan did some minor tweaking to stage levels, Geoff laid down the opening riff of Come Together, and the audience had something to plug into. It worked great, and we were off and running. Each of our transitions were short and well-timed. Each of the song performances was tight and polished. I could read the energy coming off of Geoff and BJ, and hear my keyboards clearly to respond with my own energy. Good stuff!
After the show, tear down was efficient and I don’t think we held up the other band getting their show rolling. It’s important to maintain peace between the bands…
After the show, we always check with each other about how it felt. Every one of us felt the set was smooth and tight, and stayed very much in the pocket.
It’s interesting to observe what “in the pocket” means. It means we played a strong show. The audience loved it. The energy stayed up and never got lost even with songs that had a slower pace. (It Won’t Eat and Best I Can, for example, got as strong a crowd reaction as Come Together and Clam Slam.) But we also didn’t take any risks on stage last night. The crowd would never know that, but we certainly did.
I watched the Decemberists at the Boulder Theater last week and absolutely loved their live show. Very tight, very polished, and such a rich mixture of sounds, melodies, rhythms, tones, lyrics. However as a musician watching other musicians, I also got the sense that they had done exactly the same thing a dozen times in a row. It’s not that they didn’t love what they were doing – they did – however it appeared to me while they were performing very technical stuff and doing it very well, I picked up a vibe that this was just another show. Nothing special or unusual. Other than changing the set list from night to night, every show is the same.
That’s kind of what it felt like for Zen Mustache last night. We could play that same set, with some variation of the song choices, night after night, and I bet audiences would love listening to it. We could write new material and add songs to the mix over time. But the way we played them had something missing. Something the listeners would never see or understand. Risk. We didn’t risk anything on stage last night, and because we have taken risks on stage in the past, that felt absent to me.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to take risks on songs that could train wreck us. No way. We only put stuff on stage that’s polished and ready to go. But when the time comes, and we feel it between us, everyone in the band knows we’re going to jump off the cliff and see what happens. To do so requires experience, good judgment, and trust. We also have to have a game plan for recovering gracefully if that jump takes a bad turn.
I perceive a band like Phish does this every night they’re on stage. Some nights there’s an incredible payoff, for the band and for the audience. Other nights, it just never clicks and while they don’t train wreck they also don’t reach those high moments. But you can’t reach the high moments without taking the risk, and it’s so interesting to watch them take the plunge night after night.
Thus the title of this post – the evolution of the performing band. Who are we? Who do we want to be? The reason to perform music is to draw people together to share in the joy of music. That joy means different things to different people. It’s an open question in my mind, and one I’m ready to engage.
Send your thoughts and comments about this blog to the band! Use the comment section and we’ll add your perspective to this blog post!
That was an EPIC weekend! Thanks to Joe and Aaron at the Friends of CAIC for putting on an amazing, sold out event for a great cause. Thanks to Bob and Scotty from KCMV/KSMT for having us in the studio and letting us play some tunes. And huge thanks to all of you who came up to Breck and showed us so much love and support! Let’s do it again really soon!!!
Set 1
Shoes in the Road>
I Can’t Stay Here
Come Together
Awakening
TBNL>
I Know U Rider *
Set 2
Loving Cup
Clam Slam
Hey Jane *
The Valley *
Wagonwheel *
Baby Hold On * +
Encore
Soulshine
Mountainside
notes:
* with Jarett Mason on Mandolin
+ with Colton Bradford on air guitar/keys/drums & dance moves
Thanks to everyone who came out for a terrific time at Lodo’s last night! We had fun performing a nearly all-originals set, and the whole cast from Nathen Maxwell’s group was quality. From the new sound system, to the new banner, and especially to the great new people we met, it was a class act all around. Check out Nathen Maxwell’s upcoming Colorado shows on our friends page! In the meantime, Continue reading “Set List Notes 11-6-2010 at Lodo’s”
