I've seen the band play a few times before, mostly during Jack Daniel's Set Nights, and I've always admired how they are able to come together despite having such a large number of members in the band. I believe the actual number of members is 10 (1 guitarist/vocalist, 1 guitarist, 1 bassist, 1 drummer, 1 blues harmonica player, and about 5 people as their horn section). I actually blogged about them already before. I even posted a bootleg audio recording I made of one of the songs they played that night (http://sundowndos.blogspot.com/2011/04/jack-daniels-set-reveal-night.html).
Windi, Fritz "Dr. Sticks"'s wife, asked me if I was going to jam with Jack Versus the Crab through a comment on this blog about two weeks prior to the gig. I actually didn't think she was serious until she followed up with me 2 days before the actual day of the gig. I was fortunate that Fritz followed up with Windi to ask me about it. Of course, I giddily accepted. To be given a chance to jam with with Dr. Sticks and the rest was a dream. And I wasn't about to pass that up.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend their band practice that Friday. So I only had the three songs that they had posted online, aside from the song that I recorded from the last gig of theirs that I watched. I listened to those songs a few times come Saturday, and that was all the practice I would ever get for that gig. LOL!
I begged my good friends Joseph and Roland to come with me as moral support and to help with my gear for the night. Before I knew it, it ended up the usual full posse with Sarah (Joseph's wife), Dave (Roland's brother), Millet and Guy also coming along. That made me more excited and equally even more nervous about the gig.
I showed up with my friends at the gig venue very eager-beaver early. Apparently, I was the only one that showed up for the call time on time. The actual band were all late. I found that amusing. So there I was getting all nervous going practically blind on yet another gig. They only served Red Horse beer at B-Side. I think it was a sponsorship thing. But I like Red Horse. So that was far from a disappointment. It actually helped calm my nerves.
People started trickling into the venue, and the band members of Jack Versus the Crab started arriving as well. Apparently, they were 4 horn players short for the night. So that actually made sense as to why I was invited to join them for the gig. Fritz and Windi finally arrived after a while. Fritz came over to me and talked to me about some of the other songs I wasn't familiar with. Luckily all their songs were conveniently in 4 counts. It was just some of the sudden breaks that I had to worry about. Fritz knew Guy from around the music scene from way back. So it was pleasant for such a rockstar like Fritz to hang out with us for a while to chat. I always get starstruck with Fritz's presence.
(Photo credit goes to Roland and Millet for pictures taken during the Jack Versus the Crab set. Thanks friends! The rest of the pictures are from my Blackberry)
Below are a few videos that Joseph took of our set using my Zoom Q3HD. I didn't bother embedding the entire set here. If you want to see the entire set, you can look it up on my YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/SunDownDos).
I was particularly proud of the last two videos I just posted above. The 2nd song above was the only song I actually planned parts for from listening to the song online earlier that day. The last song I just had to post even though my Zoom Q3HD ran out of space. I have a solo in it around 7:20. It's not a spectacular solo. What was fun for me was that I was so happily lost in their jam song. And yet, I surprisingly was able to keep in time.
I was so high after that set. The band seemed to like my playing, and even Fritz said I seemed to even know the songs better than some of the band memebrs. LOL!
The band was apparently looking for me during their gig at B-Side the following week. Windi mentioned that none of them had my mobile number. So they couldn't reach out to me and invite me. I've given my mobile number to them since then. Waxie, the vocalist/guitarist/song-writer of the band mentioned that he just needs to run me by the rest of the band before taking me in regularly. I certainly hope they get me. It would be such a privilege to be part of that band. If not, it's all good. I was fortunate enough to gig with them even once.
My friends and I stayed on to watch Sinosikat? play. Karel Honasan, monster of a bassist, seemed to be a mainstay in that band already when he used to be just a pinch hitter. And Kakoy seems to be in a lot of bands I love these days. He's everywhere. Joseph and I were in fanboying mode once again. We were even able to sneak in a picture with Kat after she and her band played.
The rest of that night was spent feasting and boozing at Roland's place. Guy and Millet cooked up a storm, and I just kept eating and eating and eating. I love how that family makes me feel so welcome at their house as if I was actually part of the family. Some highschool friends came along too. So it was bustling at the Sacerdoti's that night.
We hung out there for quite a while. Joseph, Sarah, and myself ended up passing out and sleeping there for the night. We woke up close to lunch time on Sunday. I told them I'd treat them all to some great Indian food at this restaurant called New Bombay near my place.
After we feasted, Roland dropped me off at my place. Surprisingly, Joseph and Sarah still wanted to hang out at my place. So the three of us spent the entire day at my place listening to music and playing games on my PS3. One game of note is Hard Corps: Uprising, which is essentially the latest sequel to an old school Nintendo Family Computer game called Contra. We actually played that game all afternoon until night. By the time they left, I was exhausted, yet content. I was surrounded by music, booze, food, gaming, and great friends. I know I am sounding clichet already by saying this on the nth blog post; that was a whole lot of fun.
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