Houston musicians and the local scene (or lack there of).

I have played professionally since 90 in the same band, Global Village. We called it quits a few months back because we could not agree on our goals. Some wanted to do original and some wanted to do cover. We were pretty popular thoughout the 90's playing Fitz and the Satellite (man, I miss that place) and several Party on the Plazas among many other cool gigs and venues. I'm just waiting for the next opportunity to join an original R&B horn band (I'm a trumpet player) so I might be waiting awhile.

 

I really miss both Global Village and the Satellite. Y'all were a fun band to listen with the horns and the guitar work of Leeland (?).

I also miss the Hollisters. I saw them many a time at the Sat when Eric Danheim was playing guitar for them. I guess I should add the Suspects to that list as well.

 

By the way, thanks for adding the orange is in song to the playlist. Man, I really enjoy listening to your stream. I've got it in my iTunes and listen to it often.

 

#6 on David Letterman's Top Ten List of Things That Sound Bad, But Aren't

 

Thanks.

By the way, I would add some of b-ball freak's Global Village to it, but I haven't seen that CD since I "loaned" it to someone . And, of course, I'm looking forward to adding some Slapshifter to the mix. Speaking of SS, I saw Chris and Renee putting up posters over at Rudyard's on Sat. Anyway, I was thinking of keeping the "Clutchfans bands" while rotating different non-Clutchfans songs on a daily basis. As you may know, the whole database is in the last link below, and I still have room for about another 15 songs or so. So, I have plenty of options left.

I guess one of the songs is fairly relevent to this discussion. In Before We Fall, Carl Hayn sings about singing in a "dirty bar downtown" and how he just hopes to get paid.

 

Listening to your playlist gwayneco, thanks for doing this.

One question, who is Ruthie Foster? That song "Another Rain Song" is fantastic. What a fantastic voice. A very good guitar player as well.

Jeff, you guys sound great! Awesome bass playing!!!

RMTex, Magic Sam ain't got nuthin on you

Modulator sounds great!

 

One of my favorite local bands. They sounded great, despite a much-suffering soundsystem, at the Proletariat L.A.D.I.E.S. show last night (best band of the night, in my opinion).

 

Thanks, Bob.

Ruthie is a singer/songwriter type artist who now lives in College Station (I think). I've been hooked on her since she was on Austin City Limits. I finally got to see her this spring at the Mucky Duck and I was even more impressed. She brings a lot of different styles to her music - folk, blues, gospel, reggae, etc. She does a very moving and haunting version of Oh! Susannah that I just adore. I am not sure when she is coming to Houston, but she's playing in Austin on Oct 9 and 10. I may be headed out that way just to see her.

Yeah, I think Jeff may have a clue or two on the bass .

I know RMT will mention it as well, but Carl Hayn and the Holdouts will be at Cactus Records this Sat from 1-3p. I've yet to see these guys live, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Modulator is a fun band, too. It's a nice sound and I like the way the keyboards are integrated into the music without overwhelming the other instruments. And congrats to them for getting a write up in the Chronicle a couple of weeks ago. Nice to see the Chron talk about a local act not named Beyonce.

 

Email me and I'll hook you up.

 

zeldas was the first place i ever played too. they used to give you a bunch of those little tickets that would get your friends a dollar off if they came out.

i remember all the neckties that they had hanging from the ceiling of the stage.

 

Hell yeah! Thanks for adding us to your playlist.

 

Yup, we will be doing an instore at Cactus this Saturday from 1-3. CDs and TShirts will be available. St. Arnold's will be providing a couple of barrels of malt and barley brain lubricant. Should be a fun party for everyone. C'mon out and introduce yourselves, everyone! Then, after the gig and after all the St. Arnolds runs out, we can retire to a local icehouse to continue the binge! YEEHAW!!!!

Hey....do I actually have to DRIVE A CAR that day?????? Hope not!!! STAY OFF THE ROAD!!!!

 

You're welcome. I just added a new group of songs from the non-Clutch fan bands, so today is a different mix.

Also, here's a site on the Houston music scene that I came across (via www.publiustx.net):

http://donewaiting.com/houston/

 

The Slapshifter demo will be mastered tomorrow, so I'll be able to give you a couple to add late this week.

Also, I should have the mastered record from Stacey Steger. Leesa and I played on seven cuts of that CD and I'm sure Stacey would love getting added to the list.

In early September, I'll have finished producing Peter Scafidi's first CD. It also has Leesa and I on it (as well as Amy from orange is in on violin) and by mid September orange is in's demo will be finished.

I've been in the studio too damn much lately!

 

blendt's first studio extravaganza should be finished with the mix/mastering this week. It shoulda been finished Sunday, but somehow a guitar track mysteriously vanished from one song. So if you want some more clutchfans music for your streaming goodness, I'd be happy to throw a copy your way.

Which studio did you go to Jeff? We went to Bungalow Studios in the Heights area. Mark Shannon's a good guy, and we had lots of fun, so I have no idea what you can mean by spending too much damned time in the studio!

 

Mark is a friend of mine and right around the corner from me. He's a great guy and does a tremendous job. My guitarist is an engineer and we've been doing everything in his room. He's got great engineering skills and I have good ears, so we've been doing pretty well. Plus, I've been working in studios since I was like 20, so I'm used to the environment.

I guess if I had only been working on one band project, it would be fine, but try doing two records and two demos with four different artists all at the same time. Yikes!

 

There's a number of good salsa bands out there. They make money.

It's just alt-rock is so boring. Who wants to pay money to hear angry whining? If there were an alt-party band they'd make money. People want to have fun.

 

You obviously haven't been to a local alt-rock show in a LONG time. Otherwise, you'd know that the whiney stuff has been dead for several years. Alot of the newer bands are much more upbeat and influenced by more danceable music (disco, 80s stuff, even old-school R&B).

I should use this forum to give special thanks to thadeus, who lent Modulator his minivan when our Explorer full of gear broke down. It was a real act of kindness that brightened an otherwise technically-cursed night at the LADIES show (someone fried our Fender Twin amp with a cup of water, singer's microphone didn't work, monitors were not working and our drummer broke his bass drum pedal). Still, the other bands were great, and all the people working at the Proletariat are super nice. And we always appreciate the audience.

John Lomax wrote an article a couple of weeks ago asking for more scene unity and less stylistic cliquishness (if that's a word). While I don't agree with his premise that all music from Houston should have audible southern-roots-music influences (as a port city, it's stupid to expect Houston to have such a predictable sound), I would like to see bands of contrasting styles do shows together. But I don't know if audiences really want that.

 

Well, that depends heavily on the show. There are more than enough whiny, heavy alt bands to go around in Houston.