Shakedown Band - Canadian Rock And Roll

"The Shakedown Newsletter" #5

Well, well, well, WELL.... The "Shakedown Band" was happening in fine form Thursday night Jan.17.2002 over at "The Rising Star Studios". If ever there was a rehearsal with a flip, flop and fly… this for sure would have been one of them. It was lively and well done. Along with having "Stevie-Keys" back behind the keyboards after having fulfilled his mission from GOD… it must have been a God type mission because he seemed so much more at peace with himself. The entire crew was in sync together that night and it appears that the guys are really much more on the same page together now. Funny how you can suddenly find yourselves jumping up to a new plateau after what before looked stagnated a bit and the music seemed to have been in this standstill mode. You blink then BAM. Your off and running on a whole new wave and what appears to be now moving forward at a noticeably higher level.

Poor Peter. Why do we do it to you that way? Such abuse he takes from us/me. So once again I’m left saying thanks a lot my soldier type friend for helping out and going the extra distance again. Staying till 10:00pm instead of the scheduled 9:30pm… again. Thanks for your most valuable time that you have been putting in with the MP3 feature in the quest to be effective and efficient. (I have just laid another batch of taped tunes on Peter to transpose to digital format.) Each time I promise him that we won’t ask extensions of more rehearsal time on our rehearsal nights together and then "whoops" it happens all over again and again on a weekly basis. He shakes his head, I shake my head, and we all shake our heads and then push on. Thanks again Peter. I can’t really say I’m sorry because as is certainly clear by now, it would only end up being a lie.

Where is Stevie-Keys?
Playing with the "Shakedown Band".
I was listening to the practice tapes from our Jan.17th rehearsal. There are some good out takes from the night’s work and still more to be done of course but it is going forward with good results. Lets all keep at it with the same focus guys and we are going to have a lot of fun this upcoming summer.

If you have been following the persistent onslaught of E-mails that have been band-associated this past week. You no doubt have got to be getting more and more impressed with the " Shakedown Band’s" front office efforts to make ready our future designs and presentations to the, "Listener-Ship." The J-man has been a busy guy and effectively has gotten us up and established with our very own "Shakedown Band" web site.

The site will contain and be a central location for us all to keep tabs on all that the band does and has and all that its members are on about. Everything from future upcoming gig events, bios, MP3 song samples, band photo shoots, a message board perhaps and even a contact listing for the "Listener-Ship" to use when buying up all our stuff. Great work on the Web-Thingy J-man. Looking forward to your future samples and it was all done very quickly and well. Must be that it comes from your mother’s side…

Check out http://www.angelfire.com/rock3/shakedown you guys if you haven’t done so already yet and stay in touch from time to time with this site as the changes and updates will be constant. Let’s face it boys. It will become an integral point in how we communicate with our markets and it is indeed an engine for the "Shakedown Band’s " future endeavors.

Meanwhile, back at ‘The Studio’. Jack found out that he has yet even another pedal setting to twiddle with for new sound from his digital guitar processor. Brandon was hot with his fun new toy… the electric roll of tape that he was becoming quit expert with on the symbol repairs. "Mini Vise Grips" Brandon. Much less time consuming to use and holds up better.

A topic of concern came up Thursday after the rehearsal was over and I believe all were present at this point. We have been needing to establish our place for doing our rehearsals and as it turns out "The Studio" on Crockford Blvd. (Birchmount / Lawrence) has been decided on unanimously as our headquarters for our weekly rehearsal spot. This particular studio has it all over the other studios that we have searched out and tried with the one irritable exception. "NO SMOKING" Anything. Which really sucks the big’yun where members who would otherwise indulge in such vises are now going to have to crack open the hallway’s exit door between sets in order not to freeze to death after sweating it up in the sets. Notice I didn’t point out anyone in particular on this issue. Right Steve? However all kidding put aside. Stevie has considered it and said that he is willing to overlook that very negative aspect in order to be onboard the same page with us all in the long run. This was a great relief to me and the others as we didn’t want to have to kill him during torture treatments needed in order to persuade him. Steve is another soldier in our ranks and I just want to say thanks for your cooperation in the matter Steve. It gives conclusion to this matter that has been hanging over us for some time now while trying to find the right place for us. "The Studio" has a great room for us and makes for excellent tape recordings of our rehearsals. It has all the comforts needed for our band when we are working our asses off and to do so in a studio room of its great size, great gear, boom type stands, guitar stands (nobody else has offered this sensible feature) a proper PA system that isn’t punched, decent couch and comfortable sitting chairs, a fridge for our buviuors (beer) and whatever your pleasure, along with a pretty decent drum kit for Brandon including his favorite "China Symbols". It has a very competitive price to boot of just $45.00 per 3-hour block and is properly set up to deal with sound reverberation and acoustics.

Outside of the no smoking thing the only other negative was that squirrelly little guy that has the keys to the door and manages to sneak past our notice were we will often find him sitting there in the studio. Having come out of no where… the guy is so, so, what is the word for him anyway? Weird?

Damn them for they’re "no smoking" anything policy. YO… Stevie… it’s a good room as you know and to loose that one would have had been a bitch. We all admit that we liked it for the same reasons. Where would we will be able to get a comfortable room like that elsewhere that will be central to us all and a room as well done as it is at that price?

News Update:

The MP3’s of 6 songs are now ready and available for you to have on your computers with more being compiled as we speak/write this. Each MP3 will have a name and "item number" feature to its tag and it is needed in order for all of us to identify each one so we can converse on the right MP3 selections when needing to do so. I suggest you each create a separate new folder and maybe title the folder "Shakedown Band MP3". So get on board the ICQ train cause there is a whole lot to be done and always to little time. You all should have yourselves hooked up to it and ready to go by the weekend. Just dial in ICQ.com for your free program download and the MP3’s will be on their way to you once you have contacted me on ICQ. It’s a great chat program plus it handles the MP3 transfers really well. We were not able to get the MP3 transferring to happen on "Outlook Express" where as ICQ handles it readily. Peter suggested this and I am glad that he did. Peter, Peter, Peter. However did we manage before you came along.

A suggestion was made by someone that perhaps we might instead of maybe a rehearsal on a particular week, we instead might have a gathering for us all at a predetermined location and hang out while discussing different things towards us as a band, our songs, our future gigs, stage attires, etc. I personally would think that this is an excellent idea. Plus we can invite the J-man to join us if he’s available (he is holding down 2 jobs and a school study course and maybe even a life after all that plus us too). By the way J-man. If you are interested enough. You are welcome to come to any of our rehearsals you choose. We would love to have you along. Bring earplugs. Maybe oversee the recording if you like.

Ok you guys... that’s a wrap.

Yours truly,

Madcowjack