Deja VU & Nico, Live at Waikaretu, Feb 2012
All the pedal modding is great fun and gives me untold hours of pleasure just tweaking pedals and mods to get the best out of them but at the end of the day you do tend to ask ‘What’s it all for?’.
Well for a few years now I have worked towards a single concert event on the farm. A few mates get their bands together and we put on a big show for the friends and neighbors.
It’s always a gas, but it’s a ton of work for a one off event.
Last year I decided to put together a Velvet Underground act – Deja VU & Nico we called it. We started rehearsals in September 2011 and the concert was held on Waitangi weekend Feb 5th. The band was Robbie van de Lisdonk on drums, Danielle Smith on bass, Matt Grant on guitar and keyboards and me on guitar.
It was great and we decided to have a bit of a break and see what we felt like doing later on.
Well we’ve had that break and have decided to put another band together with the same line up but with Matt on bass and Danielle on guitar so she can sing a bit more.
We are paying homage to the garage rock sound that we all love so much. This means I get to bring out the dirt pedals that I’ve been collecting/hoarding for years now.
It’s just an exciting thing being in a band like this again. Lots of raw sound, a tiny bit too much volume, and the smell of warm amps drifting out of the garage.
And we really are in the garage. OK it’s got carpet on the floor but I trap the occasional possum in there and it’s got a workshop and oil stains and everything else.
Some of the sounds we’ll be looking for will need to have pedals custom built to get just the right sound, but for the next few months I’ll be in gear heaven as I work through this.
I’ll update with a few posts a we go along and get some recordings done as well.
And some photos.
L – R : Matt Grant, Robbie vab de Lisdonk, Danielle Smith