This is going to be one of my longer Blog posts....

Where to start ? I think I’ll take this opportunity to go back to mid year 2007 where I formed VEX ( a covers band) with vocalist Teresa Costin (ex. Oz Idol finalist) who I was also playing with in a band called Taken. VEX is a 4 piece covers band that was performing around Victoria 2-3 times a month at venues like the San Remo hotel, Bridies, Star Bar, Bright, etc etc. We had a great time doing modern covers which ‘T’ and Simon (our guitarist) used to pull off in an awesome fashion live. This band had everything ranging from the ‘roadtrips’ around Vic, through to the recording and video sessions that we all enjoyed. At the same time I was playing with Teresa in ‘Taken’ a Mornington Peninsula based covers band around 1 night a month  at Beaches. Taken also featured my good friend and awesome drummer Taleb Taleb. 

Just to make things even more interesting it was during this 12 month period that I was playing in the incredible Shane Diiorio blues band. Shane is an outstanding guitarist/singer and the nicest guy you could meet. I had an absolute blast playing with Shane and Taleb during some of those crazy over-the-top funk/blues gigs. Shane - you know I am really looking forward to the time I can fill in for you again...and good luck with your US tour !!

Anyways....back to the story...as you can tell it was a pretty busy time playing in 3 bands so I finally made the difficult decision at the end of last year to focus on VEX (and also start taking on some private bass students - maybe thats a blog entry for another day). I continued to work with VEX through the first part of 2008; but as things would turn out I had a number of other projects on the go that also needed some attention. Initially these projects included: ”Kounterfeit” and “Fighting For Friday” both startup coverbands playing contemporary music. I have really enjoyed playing with both these groups although the workload in getting new songs into the grey-matter has been pretty high. Unfortunately Kounterfeit has taken a hiatus and as such has been put on hold. FFF on the other hand has managed to do its first gigs as well as record a few tracks and create a video   We are also waiting to hear from UpTempo (in the next couple of weeks) to see if the agent is prepared to take us on.

At about the same time as Kounterfeit was slowing down I joined a bunch of awesome musicians who were putting together a ‘corporate style’ soul/jazz band. This has been a really useful experience for me as it has introduced me to some great new musicians (and an old friend) and made me lift my playing to a whole new level to cover off some of the jazz standards that this band has in its repertoire. As things stand we have been in rehearsal for about 2 months and are almost ready to gig.

Finally - I have to mention my latest venture in creating another band. 2 weeks ago I jammed with a guitarist, vocalist and drummer who want to form a 4 piece funk covers band....need I say any more... We have put together a song list and are focussing on getting our stuff together very fast....rather than fill up this blog....I’ll save an update on our first ‘real’ rehearsal for my next blog...Needless to say I am excited about trying to get this new band out and playing every weekend !!

Stay tuned - and Peace

J