On this tour, we will have four musicians and one sound engineer (who is also a musician, but he is not performing on this tour). Our line-up for this tour is unconventional to say the least. The band consists of: Nicholas David on keys, bass synth, acoustic guitar and lead vocals (of course); Debra G on background vocals; Dylan Nau on guitar, lap steel and drum machine; and myself Maxaphone on Saxophone and EWI.
Playing together in this stripped down formation has taken some getting used to, as prior to this tour we were performing with an 8 piece band including bass, drums and an additional keyboardist and background vocalist. Initially, my mind kept wanting to replace the parts that were missing when performing in this smaller group. Because of this, our initial rehearsals sounded like weaker versions of the full band, and were extremely lacking. A different approach was required. The songs cannot, and will not, sound like they did with the full band. To try and replicate the full band is impossible. After getting this into my mind I was able to approach the songs with a fresh set of ears, and re-imagine the arrangements based on the new instrumentation. Once this happened, something fresh, new and exciting was born. After a few trial runs at shows in Nashville and Cincinnati, the new group found its stride, making exciting, fresh, and elastic sounds that compliment Nicholas' world class voice and free approach to performing. We perform one more headlining show tonight at the Bluebird Theater in Denver tonight, and then we are off to Albuquerque for our first support show with the Avett Brothers.
Heading into our run with the Avett Brothers, I am excited to showcase this material to new fans at some truly great venues. Stay tuned, this is just getting interesting.
Playing together in this stripped down formation has taken some getting used to, as prior to this tour we were performing with an 8 piece band including bass, drums and an additional keyboardist and background vocalist. Initially, my mind kept wanting to replace the parts that were missing when performing in this smaller group. Because of this, our initial rehearsals sounded like weaker versions of the full band, and were extremely lacking. A different approach was required. The songs cannot, and will not, sound like they did with the full band. To try and replicate the full band is impossible. After getting this into my mind I was able to approach the songs with a fresh set of ears, and re-imagine the arrangements based on the new instrumentation. Once this happened, something fresh, new and exciting was born. After a few trial runs at shows in Nashville and Cincinnati, the new group found its stride, making exciting, fresh, and elastic sounds that compliment Nicholas' world class voice and free approach to performing. We perform one more headlining show tonight at the Bluebird Theater in Denver tonight, and then we are off to Albuquerque for our first support show with the Avett Brothers.
Heading into our run with the Avett Brothers, I am excited to showcase this material to new fans at some truly great venues. Stay tuned, this is just getting interesting.
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