Enter The Rumble Strippers
Did you see that Gibson is finally releasing a Marc Bolan Les Paul? At first I thought, “great, something else I gotta buy.” But after seeing its $5,000+ price tag… uh… no thanks. But hell, even for my somewhat unusual tastes in guitarists, this means my top three favorite players all have signature models. Reverend Horton Heat has had his G6120RHH signature Gretsch for a few years now, and Johnny Marr has a signature Fender Jaguar in the works (which I actually will buy). Does this mean I’m like… mainstream?
Back to the lecture at hand. So my rockabilly band finally has a name and is ready to launch. We are “The Rumble Strippers,” and you can find us here and eventually here. All girls ‘cept me. We’ve got a jazzy singer, a bull fiddlist, and a spunky drummer. I’m playing guitar and writing (in theory). It’s wide open though. Maybe someday I’ll sing a little. As we get rolling, we’re still working out a logo and all the housekeeping type stuff. We’ve got a couple originals, but until we’ve built that up a bit, it’s mostly covers. Old Elvis. I’ve snuck some Link Wray in there. The goal is definitely not to be a cover band though. I’m looking forward to a new band experience. There will be no standing on the shoulders of The Smiths. No built-in audience. It’s gonna be starting from the ground floor again and playing tiny places, opening for other bands on ridiculously large bills, etc. You know, stuff normal bands are supposed to go through. I was fortunate enough to skip most of that with TCB’s big success, but now I’m ready to give toiling a try. We’ve got a couple of shows on the books including our quiet debut at Grant & Green in North Beach next Wednesday (2/16).
I’m happy with my new guitar tone. I’m happy to have the chance to redefine my role in a band. To make it what I want. I’m happy to have a chance to stretch myself and be creative and spend more time developing a different style of playing. No set expectations, but no limits either. It can be as amazing or as crappy as I choose. It’s all about how much time and effort I want to dedicate to it. Something new. And like I said, I’m all too happy to just be a tiny little bar band for now. Test the waters quietly with no pressure to hit a homerun every time. And depending how it pans out… maybe go balls out with it later. We shall see.
“To define is to limit.”
— Oscar Wilde
Listening to: Reverend Horton Heat – “Space Heater”
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