Where I've been lately

[Erikk Von Hyde]

Well, since the original stuff some of you guys got to see in the recording session videos on here has been rotting on the drummer's hard drive I got pulled into a Black Crowes tribute band scene and gave that a go.

This vid is an HD promo movie on Y-tube, taken from a show we did back in January of this year. We opened for a G&R tribute band and the place was PACKED, been kinda' downhill ever since! ha ha haa I guess it's too soon for Crowes tribute, either that or they're just not big enough to warrant one b/c their fans couldn't care less about somebody doing their tunes it looks like. Most people can't even name 5 Crowes tunes anyway and the rest can't stand an entire evening of Crowes material so I guess we're gonna' let it fizzle and focus elsewhere. Seemed like a good plan at the time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPWm-MkH ... re=related

I had the VM going on my side of the stage, went back and forth between my 'Paul copy and custom painted Fender Strat. I had a Gretsch gold-top 'Paul there but the Duncan Antiquity pups (60's mini buckers) I had put in for that gig were just GARBAGE and squealed/howled even with me standing a good 15' from my rig with my back turned to the cabinet. We've watered down to just a variety cover band now doing mostly classic and some modern stuff but I swear, every time a club calls and wants to book the Crowes tribute out of nowhere it's like "Ugh, really? You sure you want that?" ha ha haaa

[surfnorthwest]

Welcome back man. Your band sounds great, Black Crowes is good stuff.

What the hell is that swill your chuggin

[surlybastard]

Nice man, you guys are really rockin' it

[slowpokerhino]

That really is a shame. The Black Crowes really are one of my favorite bands. Saw them live last year and it was one of the best shows (performance wise) I think I've ever been to.
Unforunately, most people only know their early hits. The stuff they've done recently (Warpaint & Before the frost...) are amazing.

What happened with the stuff you recorded? It sounded very good.

[SteveD]

I really like the Black Crowes and that looked like a bloody good tribute to them from here. I would give it a little more time before calling it in if it were me. Love the frontman, very rock and roll!

[Erikk Von Hyde]

Thanks for the props fellas, we've been disappointed as you could probably guess after putting in all that work learning a bunch of Crowes stuff but I guess it may take time for something like that to get momentum going. Steve, our singer is the main reason I even bothered with it actually, the very idea of impersonating someone else makes me wanna' puke but he sold me. Without him I honestly think the whole thing would be sunk b/c the lead vox are the most important flavor in replicating Crowes songs IMHO so once I heard him do 'Sometimes Salvation' I was on board immediately. It was a blast to dedicate a guitar to open G tuning and have at it anyways, I still dig using that tuning and am trying to do some writing in that vein as we feel composing some originals together could be a good thing to experiment with. Between all of us, our common ground is classic rock mixed with some heavy stuff and then band-wise we're all fans of Raleigh, NC's 'Cry of Love' from a few years back, we all loved Jake E. Lee's Badlands and I am always throwing in some of Zakk Wylde's Pride & Glory flavor when it's appropriate so we may get some heavier southern rock-fueled material cooking sometime soon. Personally, for me, the direction would be a soup of Badlands, Zeppelin, P&Glory, Cry of Love, Soundgarden, King's X and hard Black Crowes (for some rootsy feel, if that makes sense). Geez, I could go on and on.

The balls-out original stuff I was grinding on before just came to a halt b/c by the time I found some vocalists to collaborate with & complete the tracks the bassist and drummer both became unmotivated since the band was dead so, after my tracks were all done, everybody shelved it. Was I pissed? HELL YES!! :cuss So, I'm hoping to get a hold of everything and just wrap it up myself, I wrote 90% of that material and would at least like to have something to show for it y'know? Something besides my gh3y sesson videos anyway! ha ha ha I'd literally have to swing by the drummer's place with my terabyte drive and make him copy the tracks over while I drink his beer Bassist said he'd come lay down his final tracks whenever I'm ready for him so if anybody takes the bull by the horns for these songs to ever see the light of day it will have to be me. The drummer has too many distractions and his new job isn't exactly granting him any more free time than he had before in all fairness *sigh*. I hate being all over the place and having my musical priorities so scattered like this b/c it makes it impossible to stay focused on anything long enough to get it completed, I'm sure most of you guys know what that's like. Tell ya what, as soon as something is done and ready to be seen/heard y'all will be the first to know! I've missed being on here and am stoked to be back rappin' with the coolest cats on-line

Surf, waddap! I think that bottle of Scotch in my hand is Laphroaig, very 'peaty' tasting stuff.

[slowpokerhino]

I'm sure you already know that Cry of Love's Audley Freed (a VERY under rated band & guitarist IMO) was in the Crowes for a short time.

[gtrman]

Good to have you back on the forum ...
I am not into the Crowes at all but you guys rock .. it's nice to see a tribute band the goes all out.
The band is tight and I think I would enjoy seeing you live !

[enjolras56]

Band sounds great. Your singer is bad ass!