Jack
Reed, bass player with The Coppertones, Model Citizen, Alpha Dogs and myriad
other configurations of musicians, sits in with us (no, he won’t wear a yellow
sundress) and Michael Byron, lead guitarist/singer for Alpha Dogs, plays with
us, too – he’s a bassist at heart, we suspect!
We love the guys for stepping in, and MAN can they groove – whoa! But it’d
be nice, swell, groovy, awesome, I-know,-right?- if we could find that magic
combination of deeply funkified groovin’ gal. Had one of our fans tell us
recently that we need to keep it all-women. Pure. ….mmmaybe. I dunno. It’s hard to look for
replacements when the guys sound so good.
I’ve
heard people say a band is only as good as its bass player. I’ve heard the same thing said about
drummers. And “only as good as the lead
singer,” “only as good as its lead guitarist,” ad nauseum.
Heck, in my experience, all five pieces of the band have to be cookin’ to get
it right, make it tight, get it “in the pocket.” Bart Elliot of the website
drummercafe.com has it right when he explains that “in the pocket” means: “To
the musician, it feels like the music is playing itself, as though everything
has merged together ... all the rhythmic parts being played by one instrument.”
That kind
of playing is such nirvana! I call it
being “inside” the music, when the music is flowing and you are enjoying the
ride. It’s a lovely feeling.
Anyway –
back to bass. Moods Swings are still
groovin’ with our temp bass players and loving every minute of it. But if that special female Groove Bird flies
into our nest, we’ll be happy to make the room.
