Good Vibes to Playing Dives

It is not that often I get to play REALLY GOOD MUSIC with more than a few like-minded individuals. Last week, some friends and I collaborated at Vibe Asylum, a recording and rehearsal studio off Ward Avenue. It is the best public studio on the island because each room is fully stocked with top-of-the-line musical equipment and ice cold air conditioning. For a drummer like myself, the latter makes a world of a difference! Tracy gave great customer service too by loaning out pairs of drum sticks and allowing drinks inside the room. Thanks Trace!

The jam comprised of Girish (gear-ish) on psychedelic guitar, HPU Ian on thumping bass, Joey Zeez on drums, old man Neil on the fluttering sax, and Dizzy Darren on keyboards. All of us were equally as hyped to play because we knew it was going to sound amazing, and it did! The mixer levels were perfectly preset, so my friends plugged right in as I threw down some funky drum breaks. We blended Reggae, Blues, Funk, Soul and Hip Hop with each of our own diverse improvisational styles. It sounded better and better till we finally tore the roof off!

My mission was to record the jam on my friend's MacBook but was not working with the PA and mixer. I was only able to record a few songs on my phone, therefore only crappy sounding versions exist. It is okay because I knew we would meet again soon...

A week later on May 8th, we had a chance to play inside Bar 35. Everyone was stoked again, but this time I was exhausted from school, printing, and selling at First Friday the day before. Despite my condition, we constructed some good improvisational jams to the soulful singing of Capp on the microphone, whose vocals complemented our overall sound very nicely (Capp performed with Mykah 9, featured on my Jazz Minds and Rhymes blog).

After jamming for an hour straight, my limbs started tensing up. I was determined to finish strong so I clenched my hands tight until that last chord struck. Then wow! I was spent, and could not imagine trying to carry the drums back up four floors.

For compensation they gave us gift certificates in which we used immediately on pizza and beer! Whew!It was all down hill from there.

Mighty Mighty Diamonds

The spirit of legends performing on Oahu continued this weekend with the Mighty Diamonds, a trio of singers who helped make the Roots Reggae genre popular in the late 1960's-early 1970's. They performed Friday night with their backup band at Tropics on the corner of Ward Farmer's Market. I found out they were going to be there while listening to KTUH in my car around 11 p.m. waiting for my friend to come out of his house.

The gig was not advertised in any paper, gearing it towards the island's underground music community who may not have 35 dollars to see them perform on Valentine's night at Pipeline. We immediately drove to Tropics to find the place almost at full capacity. I knew the door man so we got in for 10 dollars. The energy was powerful inside because it was the headliner's first time performing in Hawaii, and it was much anticipated.

The backup band played heavy on bass, drums, and keyboard, while adding echo effects to form what is known as dub versions. They performed Reggae classics with the offbeat wizardry only veterans of the industry can do. The crowd responded with a frenzy of cheers, including myself. An hour later, the Mighty Diamonds singers came on and swooned the crowd with their soulful harmonies and hooks. I looked around to see all couples joined at the hip.

Two o'clock in the morning came upon us quick as the band played their hana hou. The crowd wanted more but the joyous occasion had to come to an end. We left immediately after the last cymbal crash at around 2:15 am in order for myself to have a few winks before work.