Shakedown Band - Canadian Rock And Roll

"The Shakedown Newsletter" #9

Well, well, well, WELL.... The "Shakedown Band" was ‘A-HAPPEN’IN’ again last Thursday night, Feb.28, 2002. This time it was at, "THE ART ZONE STUDIO" on Broadview Ave. @ Danforth Ave. in Toronto. Sorry about last week’s mis-Q on the street name folks. I fully gaped and gave Peter Szekeres the wrong street name and had him on a tour of the city of Toronto that night. For having done that to you Peter I am truly so sorry…(’tee,hee’)

It was a bit hairy getting the rehearsal underway for the first 1½ hours but when we did, it was really enjoyable and the band was soon off getting down to business.

One thing that really bummed me out on Thursday’s rehearsal was the glitch I was having with my Sony tape recorder machine. I thought that the problem was a recording-microphone but it’s the Sony tape recording machine itself. I know now were the problem is and what is wrong. I’m just not sure of how I can fix it or how cheaply it will be to fix the dam thing. I hate it when that happens…

The rehearsal brought forth about a new tune, "NOT TODAY" that will be continued on into this week’s upcoming rehearsal on Mar.07th. where we will be trying out yet another new location which will be, "THE CACTUS STUDIOS". Check out the Cactus Studios site: http://cactusrehearsalstudios.com/ There is a Virtual Tour of each studio room and the site is kind of a hoot...

The "Shakedown Band" will be there on Mar.07th rehearsing in one of the larger studios that they have. It’s already booked officially and the proprietor has stated to me that the gear is top end with great microphones and P.A. system which will include floor wedge monitors, Elite cabinets. As he described the goods to me I must admit that I hope he’s right. Because it did sound very nice and creamy to me... We’ll see.

This time you are all on your own to find your way there and stuff. We are booked under the name ‘JACK’, PHONE Ref: 416 723-7454 and the CACTUS phone number there is 416 531-7101 ATT: Steve. Hey, it’s a new one to me too and this way, I stay out of trouble.

I predict… that in about 4-6 more rehearsals our band will have developed the music material that we have been hammering on for those past weeks. The materials are arriving at a very good level finally when being played and that we will have enough materials and are going to be able to fill in at least as a warm-up band, or possibly even enough new material will be ready that we can maybe even look to doing our own gig. Right now you still have to look beyond the gear issues that we sometimes have to deal with and the shit that happens when rehearsing the songs sometimes. Plus see that we now are all realizing together, what the song should sound like. I felt that it was very much more apparent in last week’s rehearsal at The Art Zone. We are now going into a stage in our band and song development that will be a plateau that is needed. A change where we are coming together and a new band tightness that should be a real pleasant step up for us all.

You have all brought forward lots of good work up to now which has resulted in a lot of great ideas on the songs that we have been working on. Now lets see if we all can stay the line some more and be repetitive on the ideas each and every time we play the materials.

I am bringing an organized rehearsal itinerary each week to be worked on. As you must realize by now, I have an agenda for this band. That is to see how far and big "Shakedown Band" can go and still have fun. I believe in this and you and I feel that we can do this well enough to be very pleased with ourselves and the efforts put forward down the road. We all have to want it together for it to work. It can’t work any other way. That’s what’s next in the rehearsals. Lets all be on the same page together on this.

The MP3 features are now posted by our J-Man on "The Official "Shakedown Band" Web Site and we should each now be down loading them to our PC because they are useful to communicate and reaffirm what we will each need to be doing on each song. Our "Shakedown Band" Official Web site: http://www.angelfire.com/rock3/shakedown The MP3 will demo to date some our best takes and help to communicate when trying to get across a sound or part that needs to be incorporated into a song on a consistent basis. Here is a short list that we at least should have loaded onto our PC: "Thinking About You #2"… Refugee"…"I’m Coming Home #2"… "Disco Nights #2… "Pop Shop #1…"Not Today" #1… "I’m A Man #1

Please put these on your PC as they contain good things that we will be needed to be consistent with from now on. Or if you want go ahead and load them all. Make sure that your MP3 titles are included as you see them on the Site. It is important that the ID numbers are associated with each. I attached the files to have for future references and changes and it includes a "must have" short list for downloading. Please make sure you have a short list at least on your files. It'll be updated time to time as we go.

News Updates:

The band will continue to look towards altering its locations for its rehearsal locations.
We are booked officially into the, "Cactus Studios" for Mar.07th 7:00pm - 10:00pm.
We will be trying the "Cactus Studios" next. Then we move along to "The Art Zone" the next week after that for 4 weeks.
I have completed now officially booking a 4-week booked commitment at The Art Zone which will run Mar.14th, 21st, 28th, Apr.04th after which we will move onto another location and plus other "tested" studios and possibly some more "new" locations in the near future.
Don’t forget to try using the "Billboard" that is provided on the "THE Official Shakedown" web site.

Watch out for our Shakedown Band’s web site which will have new song releases and other features as the site continues to develop as we do. Pictures, bios, letters, MP3, etc.

Ok you’s Guys... that’s a wrap.

Yours truly,

Madcowjack