Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Outlaws at Universal

Announcement - OUTLAWENGINE.COM lives! Not sure how we will use it but for the time being it points to our myspace page.

Monday night the Outlaws made an appearance at the Universal Bar And Grill in Universal City, CA. Jacki was able to make it out even though she had been fighting sickness the last few days. Andrew from Seven Seraphim also came to check us out. More on Seven Seraphim later.

Our set was only 30 minutes so we had to drop a couple of songs from the set. This meant the first change in our set list since we started gigging in early April. Nate continues to line up shows so come out if you can.

May 1 2008 12:00A
Club Good Hurt West Los Angeles, California
May 4 2008 8:00P
B.B. Kings Universal City, California
May 16 2008 12:00A
Paladino’s Tarzana, California
Jun 5 2008 11:00P
14 Below Santa Monica, California
Jun 26 2008 10:30P
The Derby Los Feliz, California


Outlaw Engine
April 28, 2008
Universal Bar & Grill
Universal City, CA

Rebelution
Born In East LA
This Woman (Fool Of Law)
Big River (Johnny Cash)
Sweat Out The Sin
The Palace Of Pleasures ->
I Know Why
The Four Horsemen (Metallica)



Sunday, April 27, 2008

105 degrees is LA

Mudcrutch at the Troubadour

Last night Jacki and I got to see Tom Petty make a rare club appearance in the standing room only Troubadour in West Hollywood. He was playing a set with his original band from the 70's called Mudcrutch. The band includes a couple of members from the Heartbreakers and a couple of the original guys from the Mudcrutch days before Tom Petty became famous.

They are doing a small run of concerts in California and this was the 2nd night of 6 sold out nights at the Troubadour. Unfortunately they didn't distribute tickets in an effort to prevent scalping, so tickets were sold exclusively through Ticketmaster and could only be picked up by the credit card owner. Supposedly this standing room only I heard the venue only holds 300 people.

The band played a solid 2 hours, and although the audience knew very little of the material, it didn't stop the crowd from having a great time. The band threw in a few covers including a couple of Dylan covers that had the crowd singing along. Security was tight so no good pictures from the show.

Near the end of the set Jacki noticed that what appeared to be Tom's monitors on the floor of the stage were actually teleprompters. I guess after all of these years you can't expect Tom to remember 2 hours of new material. However I doubt anyone noticed the use of them all night.

Tom took an unassuming role settling in on bass for the entire night and even let some of the other guys sing lead vocals on a couple of the songs. Although Tom doesn't look like a bass player he sounded great plucking the country bass lines with his his thumb the entire show.

Highlights of the show for me were Summertime Blues, the bluegrass influenced instrumental June Apple and the Crystal River jam at the end of the song. Tom also turned part storyteller telling a hilarious story about coming to the Troubadour in the 70s and being invited on stage to play with the Knack after getting a bit intoxicated. When it was all said in done he thought he had a memorable appearance but in reality he ended up trashing the tables and ended up owing the club nearly 500 dollars.

A great show in a great venue.

Mudcrutch
April 26, 2008
Troubadour
West Hollywood, CA

Shady Grove
Orphan Of The Storm
Six Days On The Road
Scare Easy
You Go Your Way, I'll Go Mine
This is a Good Street
Love Of The Bayou
(Band Introductions)
Queen Of The Go Go Girls
Rip It Up
Summertime Blues
June Apple
(Tom Petty Troubadour story with the Knack and Bruce Springsteen)
House Of Stone
Love Please Come Home
Crystal River
Topanga Cowgirl
The Wrong Thing To Do
Bootleg Flyer
Encore
Rainy Day Women #12 & #35
High School Confidential

Friday, April 25, 2008

Putting on the Hurt

Wednesday night Outlaw Engine played Club Good Hurt on the edge of Venice. We went on at 11pm and played a tight set in front of friends. The venue had a great vibe, decent sound system, and Bianca, the promised nurse bartender.

We arrived early enough to catch the band before us but I don't remember their name. We enjoyed drinks, and I discovered Vodka and club soda is a pretty tasty drink. The set was short and sweet, as it will be for the next few shows. We played the same set but now Nate, our singer, has started to rename some of the working titles based on his lyrics.



Outlaw Engine
April 18, 2008
Club Good Hurt
West Los Angeles, CA

Rebelution
Born In East LA
This Woman (Fool Of Law)
Big River (Johnny Cash)
Sweat Out The Sin
The Palace Of Pleasures ->
I Know Why
Honey
The Four Horsemen (Metallica)
Travelin' Band (CCR)

Born In East LA is quickly becoming one of my favorites and its been running through my head ever since the show Wednesday night. With that I'll leave you with a couple of videos from the show.





Thanks to Marc and Eric for coming out late on a Wednesday night and to Jacki for taking the video and staying out past her bedtime.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Outlaw to play Club Good Hurt

I just found out we will be playing Club Good Hurt tomorrow Wednesday April 23. We will go on around 10:30 and I'll be down there around 9pm. Come out if you can.

I think its time for a new flyer :-)

Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Outlaws Ride Again

Outlaw Engine had our second show this past Friday at Paladino's. Jacki and I arrived to the venue around 8:30 just as Wil, our guitarist was pulling up. We decided to arrive early so we could load in with the band that was scheduled to go on at 9pm. This would give us time to get our gear into the club and to relax a bit before the show.

Once gear was loaded in I was able to have a beer with Jacki and meet friends as they came into the club. This week I had quite a few more friends and co-workers show up. I probably brought out between 15-20 people to this show, even including a couple of members from my other band Spidersuit!

I ended up traveling for work 4 of the 5 business days last week so we were only able to get in one rehearsal at 10pm on Wednesday night. I had flown in that morning from Mexico so I was running on caffeine fumes for rehearsal. Fortunately this one rehearsal was just enough to improve on the previous week's show.

We played the same setlist and things felt much better. The tempos were there, I wasn't forgetting changes, the band seemed to groove better this week and most importantly my muscles didn't freeze up on me like the did last week.

Outlaw Engine
April 18, 2008
Paladino's
Tarzana, CA

Tequila Rockingbird
Born In East LA
Fool Of Law
Big River (Johnny Cash)
Sweat Out The Sin
Blue Fly Whisky
I Know Why
Honey ->
The Four Horsemen (Metallica)
Travelin' Band (CCR)

Afterwards I did a quick load out and was able to say hi to my friends. The band ended up hanging out for another hour or so, drank some more beer, and I shot pool with a friend. We even got our first band picture, courtesy of Jacki.

We are in the process of lining up some more gigs in May so we won't be quiet for long.

Here are couple of videos you can enjoy from Friday.



Sunday, April 13, 2008

Eddie Vedder at the Wiltern

Yesterday I met a friend of mine from work, Jeremy, out to see Eddie Vedder on his short West Coast only April Fool's Tour. I wasn't sure what to expect, I had peeked at a setlist from a previous night so I knew he would be playing material from the Into The Wild soundtrack and I knew a handful of songs he tends to play solo would be part of the set. But what I didn't expect was Eddie solo with an acoustic guitar (or ukulele, or little guitar, electric guitar etc...) for close to 2 1/2 hours.

I hate to say it but the rest of Pearl Jam wasn't missed. Eddie entertained, sounded fantastic vocally, told jokes and stories between songs, played a little improv, and even had to give a surprise acceptance speech to accept his Golden Globe Award for Into The Wild in person.

Our tickets were through the 10c fan club and once again the PJ fanclub didn't disappoint. We were dead center 6 rows off the floor. We were on the second level off the floor so our seats were elevated above the section in front of us so we had no trouble seeing. And Eddie even made the crowd sit and said since he was playing a theater setting he wanted everyone to sit back and enjoy.

A very entertaining show. And even the opening act Liam Finn was a pleasant surprise with his unique and entertaining set. Liam's set consisted of him with a female vocalist setting up loops on guitars and vocals and jumping between frenetic drums and guitar from song to song, all in the context of a singer songwriter motif with a little angst.

Eddie's performance of Arc at the end of the first encore was amazing. He built up layers of vocals performing one vocal at a time with layer upon layer before wailing a vocal solo on top of the foundation he built. After this I was convinced the show was over. Such a unique and perfect ending. The curtains dropped and Eddie graciously gave what appeared to be his final bow.

When he came back out he played a couple of songs solo and finished the show with a standing room only performance of the uplifting song Hard Sun.

Other highlights from the set included Man Of The Hour, this song grabs me in an emotional way every time, Soon Forget (w/ the uke), the anti-war song No More, and the crowd sing-a-longs with The Beatles' Dylan-esque You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, and Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down.

Eddie Vedder April Fool's Tour

April 12, 2008 Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Support: Liam Finn (with Eliza Jane Barnes)

Main Set: Tuolumne (Intro Music), Walking The Cow, Around The Bend, I Am Mine, Dead Man Walking, (God Is In Control*) (Limit Yourself**) / Masters Of War, I'm Open, Man Of The Hour, Setting Forth, Guaranteed, No Ceiling, (with Golden Globe Acceptance and Speech), Far Behind, Rise, Millworker, Soon Forget, Broken Heart, Driftin’, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, Trouble, If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out, I Won't Back Down, Forever Young, Porch

Encore 1: Society (with Liam Finn), Throw Your Arms Around Me (with Liam Finn), No More, Arc

Encore 2: Growin' Up, Lukin, Hard Sun (with Liam Finn and Eliza Jane Barnes)

* from a TV commercial
** improv

Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Outlaw Aftermath

We just finished our first show. I had a decent turn out of some friends from work and some business partners. Thanks to all who came, I really appreciate the support.

We went on stage right at 10pm and played about 40 minutes. I thought our set would last longer, but given this was our first gig the adrenaline was pumping and we raced through the material.

Outlaw Engine
April 11, 2008
Paladino's
Tarzana California

Tequila Rockingbird
Born In East LA
Fool Of Law
Big River (Johnny Cash)
Sweat Out The Sin
Blue Fly Whisky ->
I Know Why
Honey ->
The Four Horsemen (Metallica)
Travelin' Band (CCR)

The funny thing is I didn't even know the names of some of these songs, and I'm seeing the titles for the first time from the printed setlist! Haha!

Honey is by far the hardest song for me to play in the set, with numerous time changes, a groove that rocks in 11/4 and some speed metal style drumming in the verse. We nailed it! So that was a big relief. I had some first show jitters so I missed a couple of intros and lost my place during one of the chorus' but all in all I'm pleased with my first performance. And one lesson learned is I've got to tighten all the cymbal stands before I start playing. I had one cymbal that kept falling during the set. Oh well.

I bought a Tascam DR1 on my way home from work and I was able to get a live recording of the set. I tried to get a board mix but I didn't have it set up right so I just got a recording through the built in mics. I now have some homework to listen to the performance before our gig next Friday.


Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Outlaw Engine Gig #1

This Friday, Outlaw Engine debuts their new drummer. Me! If you are in the LA area click the flyer to the right and print out and bring to the show. If you bring a printed flyer you will receive a discount at the door and most importantly the band will get credit for having someone at the show.

We are the third band of the night and will be in front of a Bad Company tribute band. We will also be playing Paladino's on Friday the 18th as well. I guess this place will become the equivalent of the Last Great Watering Hole for my last band.

I look forward to seeing everyone out at the show.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Spidersuit Recording Day 2

We resumed recording bright and early at 10:30am today at our rehearsal studio. After listening back to the tracks I decided the ever increasing tempo on Love Sick was something I couldn't live with. We ended up doing 3 additional takes and finally got something I could live with. I've been sick most of the week so I was worried that I wouldn't have the energy to play. I ended up being fine energy wise although I had to concentrate on playing more than on the first day of recordings. As a result my playing was a little stiff and it took me the three takes to get loosened up.

After that we went to recording a couple of more new drum tracks. The first was Far Stick and the second was Devil Went Down To Pedro. We did two to three takes of each and I'm fairly pleased with my performances. On Devil I changed to smaller cymbals on the second take in order to give a lighter sound, but the band seemed to prefer the vibe of the first take better. I think I prefered my performance on the second take better but I'll have to listen back once I get copies of the recordings.

We also did a take of a song I wasn't as familiar with called Isaac Newton A Go Go. At this point the band next door started rehearsing so we had to stop recording. The first take wasn't a keeper so we will have to revisit this one in a future recording session.

I have a gig this upcoming week with another band so I had to break down my drums after the recording. This leaves six drum tracks recorded and ready for the rest of the band. Our goal was to track 4 songs so having 6 songs recorded will give us some options of if we put out a 4 song vinyl single or even a 6 song cd ep.

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