Number 5 with a bullet

Kudos to my old bandmate Corrina for racking up #5 in Willamette Week's Best New Band contest with her new project Tu Fawning. I'm planning to round up the other ex-Flowers and catch their show on the 17th at Rotture.

In other band news, my new project Los Estimulantes has already gone through some major changes. Dave decided that he really wasn't ready to be pulled out of retirement, so he bowed out last month.

I called up Rob Scrivner, an old friend and former bandmate in National Anthem to see if he was interested in joining up. At the same time, Ben was talking to his former bandmate Zaben Long about possibly collaborating with us in Los E's or maybe in a different project.

After several discussions, we decided to bring Rob and Zaben aboard, so we are now a 5-piece with 4 songwriters and 3 lead singers. Rob, Zaben, Ben and I will be switching between guitar, keys and bass, while Marty holds down the drum chair. It's all very exciting and something I've wanted to do for a long time: the multi-singer/songwriter band, which I have raved about previously. First practice went well and we ended up drinking wine and chatting till midnight, which was remarkable for me, considering it was a Wednesday.

UPDATE: Last night's practice was even better and again went super late, till almost 11. Normally, I can only handle about 2 hours of rocking out, but we're averaging over 3. Rob had a couple new songs that we really dug into, one of which he had never been able to play successfully with a band, because of the odd time signature. Los E's ripped right into it, much to his delight. I've been reminded how much I like his material - good stuff.

Took a pass at one of mine, but no real sparks were flying. But many good jams in different formations. I didn't realize what a good bass player Ben was. I never think of myself as a lead guitarist, but I was having a lot of fun in that role, for better or worse...