We Be Jammin'

A jam session is defined variously as "An informal gathering of musicians to play improvised or unrehearsed music" and "an occasion when musicians play music together in an informal way". Which is essentially the same thing said in a different order. Jam sessions have been around since the dawn of the jazz age and possibly even before that, where musicians can work on new material, try different ideas, and generally have fun. Well, last night was no exception.

This isn't purple, but it is the same kit.

I'm sure I've mentioned on many an occasion that I was in various bands throughout the '80s and that I recorded a lot of solo demos in the late '80s/early '90s (which you can hear at my MySpace artist page). My mate Andy and I went to a place in Ashford called RightTrack which offers rehearsal rooms, music tuition and recording facilities all under one roof. We had booked a rehearsal room which, including use of the very nice Pearl Export 5-piece kit (purple is my favourite colour) and the big-ass PA, was only £18 for 2 hours.... not at all bad.

Andy's is a sunburst.

We did not have any preconceived notion of what we were going to play. The first thing I noticed was how good I was considering I have not sat behind a drum kit in 20 years. After a few teething troubles with Andy's guitar (a nice Ovation semi-acoustic) we had a stab at a few rock classics - Hey Joe and the like - and slowly became more cohesive on numbers such as All Day And All Of The Night. But it was when we just jammed, let the juices flow, and improvised that we not only played the longest but sounded the best.

This one includes the little-known tunes Burn So Blue and Trip.

When I came home I was so jazzed from rockin' it out (in the truest sense of the words, my fellow Outbackers*) that I dug out all my old tapes from the '80s and beyond, even those from my very first band (we were terrible - have I mentioned that fact before? I just thank the Lord above that the tapes are all that survived and that there are no pictures of the band playing, although I have been reliably informed that there is a video somewhere - eek!) and played them until the wee hours. I must say that barring the poor musicianship and lousy vocals, a lot of my early tapes had some good ideas in them, particularly lyrically, but also in little flashes of occasional brilliance contained within songs, chiefly some of the more obscure ones with titles like  Big & Beautiful, At One, Jane and Trees In Winter.

Anyone interested in getting the band back together? Let's raaaawwkk!!!


*Outbackers refers to the fine group of individuals that I worked with at the Gainesville, Georgia (G-Vegas) location of Outback Steakhouse,  where the rallying cry was "Rock It Out!". My fellow Outbackers were Kory, Erin L., Shea, Megan, Erin S., Ray (word up!), Deko, Jacob C., Mandy, Jacob R., Kyle, Mulkey, Steph, Casandra, Rashida, Gaby, Andrea, Heather, Amanda, Cindel, Claire, Ashley L., Ashley Y., Brandy, Kim, Julia, Chancey, Jessi, Stephen (hey sexy man!), Corey, Chad, Mario, Rob, Elmo, Trey, Dee, Angel (mas vasos por favor!), Whitney, W2, Lindsey, Brice, Brantley, Patty, Ben, Shelley, Moose, Ashley M., Luke, and if I've missed anyone, I apologise... love y'all!