Sometimes when I practice, I like to play along to a random selection of The Meat Purveyors’ tunes. That band plays upbeat bluegrass faster than any other band I have heard. Their music is great, but the way they burn through certain songs is more impressive than their songwriting.
During my time in Los Angeles, I played in Spank – a band that prided itself on playing downstrokes on the guitar faster than any other band. My right forearm was bigger during that time than at any other time in my life. I want to get back to that. There’s something cathartic about playing guitar really really fast. It’s something that not many people are able to do. While I have a lot of work to go to get to the speed I want, I think I will get there. And when I do, you can expect me to form a new, upbeat bluegrass band that blows through songs faster than a snowplow through snow on a Minnesota street.
After running through The Meat Purveyors‘ brilliant “All Relationships Are Doomed to Fail” album, I proceeded to create and play through the set list for the Valentine’s Day show:
1. Inspiration
2. Kids
3. Boulder
4. Lookin’ Past Me
5. RunRunRUNRUNRUNNN!!!
6. Tonight was a wonderful night!
7. 2 Sisters/Monster (end on down beat after last chorus)
8. Quittin’ My Job
9. You’re all that I want.
10. Leaving L.A.
11. Killer’s Creek
12. Colleen
13. Let’s Get Funky
It’s going to be a good one!!