Friday 21st September 2012 Colorado Southern at Chatfield’s Sports Bar, Littleton Denver USA

Jacqui and I were taking a holiday in the USA and had arranged to see Dan in Denver.  Dan said “Come along to my bands gig on the 21^st “;  “Actually one of guitarists is having an operation so you might have to deputise – and its our first night with new drummer!”  We arrived in Denver on the Thursday evening.  Denver is 7 hours behind the UK so although we were tired from the journey, we woke early the next day regardless and were up and about by 9 am. After a day exploring round Parker where Dan lives,  he ran us over to the gig about 25 miles away on the South West side of Denver.  Chatsfield’s is a typical American bar with a sizeable stage (by UK standards) at the front as you come in from the car park.  Rick had already arrived with the band’s gear in his big MPV and set up was coming together.  Dan introduced me to the guys in the band: Dennis (Telecaster & Dan’s pink Strat into a Crate valve half stack), Rick (Les Paul and Fender Twin), new drummer Robert and  Larry (Strat into Marshall half stack) now recovered from his operation;  and teed me up to come and guest on ‘Johnny B Goode’ in the last set.  As the band were setting up Jacqui and I were introduced to Christy and Betsy  (Rick and Dennis’s ladies) and we all wisely elected to drink water through band set up!  Rick was also in charge of an old Peavey PA with at least 3 monitors.  Dan was soon set up and showed me his Ibanez plugged into his  Mark Bass 1x12 combo amp.  Very compact and light amp and a very good loud sound from something so small.  There was a problem with Rick’s pedal board which absorbed some time and attention.  Meanwhile Dan and Larry were having a shot of something strong so they would be tanked up and ready to go. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Problem solved but sound check would now have to be minimal with a bit of adjustment on the fly!  The band opened up with “Whiskey Rock and Roller”.  Not as loud as I expected!  I suggested a few adjustments between the opening numbers.  More treble on PA,  bring up Dan’s bass and Larry’s guitar a tad and even more top on the PA.  After a bit of fiddling, they settled into a well balanced American rock groove at the right volume for the hall.  The soundscape is interesting.  Dennis has quite a toppy guitar sound (as you’d expect with a Tele).  This fits well with Ricks more middley Les Paul sound.  The new drummer in the centre sounded good and not overloud;  and then you had another contrast on the left between the trebly sound of Larry’s Strat and Dan’s deep bass to complete a full and wide soundscape.  Rick and Larry do most of the vocal duties,  with Rick focussing on rock and Larry doing the less heavy country / blues numbers.   Dan and Dennis occasionally join in on chorus’s and there are snippets of harmony, but the genre doesn’t really call for big harmony arrangements. The bar was fairly full with a mixed crowd:  some eating,  some listening and several doing bits of dancing from the off.  Good applause at the end of numbers!   

 

 

 

Jacqui, Christy,  Betsy and I had bagged a band table and we had a waitress dedicated to the band and its followers to take drinks orders.  So I started on the beer – ‘Coors Light’ the local brew.  By the third set I was sufficiently relaxed to take Ms J for a spin on the dance floor and I had another one or two after that.  By the start of the 4^th set it was getting on for 7am UK time and I was feeling a tired and just getting a bit chilly.  So when I was called up to join in an extended Johnny B Goode I was a bit taken unawares – straight off I forgot to give Jacqui the camera.  Rick kindly lent me his Les Paul (and pick).  I strapped it on;  it was quite low slung but not really polite to adjust it.  I gave it a strum and it sounded good so off went.   Dennis started and I picked up the opening riff with him.  I think I play it a bit more like the record but it didn’t sound too conflicted with two lead guitars playing slightly different lines so we pressed on.  As we got to the verse I came into some familiar territory as I heard Dan belting the vocal out,  so I put in my ‘patent’ open A with added C/G notes to the basic riff to countrify and  underpin Dennis’s playing higher up the neck. 

The low slung guitar meant I had to keep my head down so no chance to look up for band signals,  but the solo came where I expected and Dennis and I doubled and traded solos through a few 12 bars.  I thought we got it pretty good despite the booze; in fact the Les Paul played really well allowing me to try out some quite fast licks!  After a few more verses and solos it was all over. 

I handed the guitar back to Rick,  mentioning that his pick was in the strings, and strode through the crowd for a rest,  pausing to “hi five” Christy who said: “Awesome Rocking” or something similar.  Rick immediately forgot where the pick was and the intro to the next number was interesting ‘til he found it tucked in the strings.  The remainder of the set passed quickly and it was pack up time at 1am Denver US time = 8am UK time.  The band had been very well received and a couple of guys came up to buy them a round of drinks!   By the time the band got loaded and we got back to Dan’s it was approaching 3 am and we were well due a long sleep – today being another tomorrow or something like that!   Actually after that night we adjusted pretty well to US time and the rest of the trip went well.  We spent a great few days with Dan looking round Colorado,  visiting bars and quilting and guitar shops.  On the Wednesday Jacqui and I took an AMTRAK train over the Rockies to Sacramento to see the 150 year celebration of the start of the Union Pacific railroad which forged the first rail line through the Rockies.  With temperatures in the high 30’s we had a fine time in Sacramento.   Also couldn’t resist visiting Folsom Prison while we were in California.  All too soon it was over and we were back in the grey wet UK.  Well,  I have now achieved one of my ambitions - to perform in the USA!