The Who Show

[jacko]

Nice pics mike, looks like alot of fun too.  
BTW, where's the 4x10?
 
graeme

[ox_junior]

I dropped it for the Ojai gig.  When we're in those uncontrolled festival situations, I can't count on the sound man to give me enough guitar through the monitors.  Even though our guitarist is playing thru a Hiwatt 100 4x12, when I play with my full rig (especially when I have my 4x10 at ear level), I can't hear him.  If I dial up the highs I can still get a good sound thru the 2x15 although it doesn't pop quite as much.
 
Alembic Spyder + Trace Elliot AH600SMX + 4x10 + 2x15 + Fulltone Bass Distortion Pedal = THUNDER OF THE GODS!
 
Mike

[ox_junior]

More gigs (all in California):
 
Saturday October 8 at the Blue Cafe, Long Beach
 
Thursday November 3 at the Canyon Club, Agoura Hills
 
Friday and Saturday, November 18 & 19, at the Grove Theater of Anaheim -  A TRIBUTE TO QUADROPHENIA starring Steven Schareaux and The Who Show!  More details on this later, just giving you all a sneak preview....

[ox_junior]

Here's ticket ordering information for THE QUAD TRIBUTE:
 
www.thewhoshow.com/quad1.html
 
 
Enjoy and hope to see some Alembicians there!

[zn_bassman]

Great site Mike! Wish I could attend, but the commute's too far. Can you get some vid/audio clips for us?
 
What kind of sound are you guys going to use? With your Spyder, I would assume the bass will sound very different from the Fenderbird on the studio recording and '73 tour. What about your guitarist - cleanish studio sound, heavily distorted Les Paul '73 sound, or other? Or maybe you're going for the '96-'97 sound? And what are you doing for the solo on 5:15?
 
I have a boot of 1 of their 6 shows at Madison Square Garden in '79 (Roger sings happy birthday to Kenney Jones) - they did phenomenal versions of Punk Meets the Godfather and Drowned, the latter featuring great improv work by Pete and John on his Spyder. That tour was a great showcase for what can be done on a Spyder.

[ox_junior]

Hi Zn,
 
Vid/audio availability is TBD at this point.  We haven't decided if we're going to make any recordings public after the show...many factors there.  I will, of course, post pictures.
 
I am having a Fenderbird built for me as we speak, hope to use it a little for this production.  I will probably play at least 75% of the show using the Spyder though.  Will most likely be closest to that 1979 tone.  There will be a bass solo on 5:15, but it will be very short.  I'll just do a few hammer-ons, that should be enough flash.  
 
Since we are only using one guitarist for the show, Darren will be switching between a clean sound (using a Boss acoustic simulator pedal) and a distorted '73 tone.  He will be using a Les Paul Deluxe as his main axe, through his Hiwatt PT-model head.

[zn_bassman]

I understand the problamatic nature of releasing recordings - it would be great to get even a couple of snippets, if possible. Sounds like you guys have a nice blend of sounds from different periods, should go over well. But you can't do a short solo, that would ruin the main reason for the show!  ;-)

[ox_junior]

Well...the more I study John's 5:15 solos (especially the version from the RAH 2000 DVD), I realize I don't measure up.  Not even close.  Why mess with perfection?  This is the only part of the show that makes me nervous.
 
If we can use snippets of sound, we'll put them up for sure.

[zn_bassman]

The seeds of that solo were sown in '89 - listen to the short runs he did during the down time late in the song on the Join Together live album. By '96, he was doing the big overpowering solos, but they started out much simpler and shorter (ref. the Prince's Trust concert at Hyde Park) and evolved over the years. A lot of the bread and butter runs aren't that difficult for one who has John's basic playing style down - you shouldn't have any problem with them, according to the vid clips I've seen of you.
 
5:15 got voted down in our Who shows, but I used some of those lines in the solo bridge between Amazing Journey and Sparks - that got some of the biggest applause at the shows. At the first one I used my Epic through my GK 12 into the desk. At the others I used my new Rogue through a Fender Bassman 15, a GK 1x15 + 4x10 into the desk, and my GK into the desk respectively. I didn't use my Zoom pedal, so the tone wasn't even juiced up/Buzzardized the way it should have been.  
 
So I'm encouraging you to pull out all the stops (or at least a bunch of them) - John's legacy, your equipment, the opportunity, and your own talent are all screaming for it!

[ox_junior]

We'll see what I can pull off.  Thanks for the clips, I'll be viewing those shortly.
 
That solo bit in Sparks is fun to play.  For this show, in addition to 5:15, of course I get to play The Real Me, and they let me go off at the end of Dirty Jobs, which is fun.  I'll be using my standard amp set-up at the Quad shows (Trace Elliot AH600SMX/4x10/2x15).
 
The Fenderbird I'm having built is the body of an Epiphone reverse T-Bird, in Seafoam Green, with a Mighty Mite replacement blonde Fender neck and chrome Schaller tuners.  For pickups, I've settled on Gibson Les Paul bass pickups with custom-made mounting rings that will give me the width I need to replace the current P/J set-up currently on that bass.  I understand these pickups have quite a bit of rumble to them, they were described to me as a Thunderbird on steroids, which should be cool.  I've had no luck locating the vintage chrome T-Bird pickups, so this is the closest I can get at the moment.  Should be an interesting instrument when it's done.  I'll post photos when it's done in a couple of weeks.

[zn_bassman]

Enjoy the clips, I hope they're useful! You can always use John's trick of soloing over bridges and g**t*r solos.  ;-)
 
Check out http://www.thewho.net:16080/whotabs/equipment/bass/equip-entwistlegear-endorsements.html. About halfway down the page is a prototype Fenderbird by Lakland which was to become a production model. Lakland scrapped the project when John died.
 
Your Fenderbird project sounds cool, I hope it comes out the way you want it. A T-Bird on steroids would be perfect. John apparently got his big, ranuchy Fenderbird sound by having Gibson make him thicker T-Bird bodies (to accomodate the P neck) and moving the bridge slightly, plus the pickups that are no longer available. It's the difference between the Lynyrd Skynyrd bass sound (Leon Wilkeson) and John's incredible sound from '73-75.
 
Personally, I want to get rich playing my Rogue so I can get a Buzzard-2. I want to get richer still from that, so I can take the Alembird idea in a somewhat different direction. Dreaming doesn't hurt....  ;-)

[ox_junior]

Getting REAL close to The Quad Tribute - so I thought I'd repost the URL to get tickets:
 
www.thewhoshow.com/quad1.html
 
The Who's licensing arm has given their blessing on the show.  If you're on MySpace, you can get more info at:
 
www.myspace.com/quadtribute
 
Hope there are some of you here in southern CA that can come out!
 
Cheers, Mike

[ox_junior]

The Quad Tribute - Phase One was an outstanding success!!!
 
Two write-ups in the LA Times, an official blessing from The Who's licensing arm (as we helped to sell copies of the new Tommy/Quadrophenia Live DVD), a complete sell-out crowd Saturday night, who were on their feet for Love Reign O'er Me and did not sit down again - as we killed 'em with My Generation after the curtain call - a smashing good time!!!
 
Here's me with my Alembic Spyder, hopefully doing justice to John's memory:
 

 
 
Hope to have more pictures and reviews soon.
 
Cheers, Mike

[borisspyder]

Bravo!

[zn_bassman]

Mike, congrats on a great show! Wish I could have been there. Would love to see more pix (and audio files if possible). With such a big project under your band's belt, the sky's the limit!