needs more cello

So the other night, we played with a cellist. Or more accurately, Erik and I jammed with a cellist, another singer, and yet another person. It kind of came about quickly, over drinks of course. Friday night we were out with a friend of mine (Kristina, singer, amongst other musical talents) and her sister who was visiting from Seattle, and sister's roommate. And to this moment I'm not totally sure how it came about, but Kristina claims that she was pushing Erik into jamming, because she knew I wanted to so bad. So he said sure. Which is all I heard, and all I needed to hear. I was on the phone immediately, booked the next night at 8 o'clock. Erik put out calls, messages, to the other guys. (No luck either way.)

Well the night progressed, and again I'm not totally sure how this happened, but the girls all got invited out to jam as well. Because Sis brought her cello as well as her banjo to Vancouver, I think is why.

Anyway, so the end verdict - it was fun. But it was Weird. While it was cool to be able to work on interactions between myself and Erik so well because we could really hear each other, it also illustrated how important - or certainly, how thoroughly integrated - all the other instruments are. The other guitar adds a real layer, and the bass - well, I just plain got lost a Lot that night, and I think it was the lack of Jason's bass. Whereas the drums provide the structure to the group, and the guitars fill the sound, the bass really is the glue that brings it all together.

But the cello, such a trip. There were times where it was so clear, and it was amazingly cool to hear. It just changed everything, and in a good way. My conclusion was: sometime, I need to hear the cello AND the bass together. Chris Walken wants more cowbell, I'd like to hear more strings.

And we didn't even break out the banjo!