There have been some feelers out there about filling in for someone but nothing came of them. At this stage in life I can pick and choose what I want to do. The Townedgers have been my band, my vision. But the past year I really wanted to return back to just playing fun songs and just play a live gig without the hassle. After all The Townedgers is first and foremost a band that does originals or the oddball cover. Even so, I felt that The TEs are a fish out of water here in the Eastern Iowa area and a hobby band. Sales of The Townedgers albums are nil and are given to net radio stations to play. With the departure of Geoff Redding and Martin Daniels doing more music production I just did not see the need for new replacements. And I really thought that I have taken The TEs are far as I can go. Actually Fitting Finales is basically a Rod Smith solo album under the TEs banner.
This past weekend, I went up to Rumors to jam on a few songs with The Saloonatics who came back to host and while I heard the electric drums okay from behind the kit, the crowd thought I was air drumming, they couldn't hear the drums outside the cymbals and snare drum. But Barth Daniel was up there on bass to help along.
Tim Wiley, I have jammed off and on through the 9 months of my return, he talked about getting a band going before but I really didn't know much about him and since I didn't know him very well, I didn't sign off on the idea. Tim was the main guitarist on when I played up there and we fumbled through a couple Santana numbers and that was it. Or so I thought. Perhaps I made an impression on him, he once again pitched an idea about a power trio band. This time he said he knew of a bass player out in Norway Iowa that had his own drum set and perhaps we should fancy a jam together and see where it leads? I told him about I do have a regular night time job and I'm not about to give that up but however if you can work around my working evenings and if there's a connection to the songs and such, perhaps I can help out. None of this Free Bird stuff that we got burned out...back in 1984.
Cedar Rapids is full of drummers, lots of great ones and a few good ones. I basically play just for shits and giggles and trying to keep in shape. Tim is heavily into Stevie Ray/Jimi Hendrix and mainstream blues and of course certain classic rock songs. We have crossed paths in both electric and acoustic jams but we really sat down and really talk at length of what to do for songs. I guess when we did jam together I made somewhat an impression and he chased me down and told me of his vision of a band. So I told him to pick a date and we'll get together.
My take: Tim is a very good guitarist and is capable of playing certain songs, the Hendrix, The SRV. He's not flashy, very businesslike, tends to go by the recordings at hand, whereas I'm more into improvising. The Townedgers (when I had guys in the band) could improvise, so did Open Highway and Paraphernalia Tyrus for that matter. The latter we couldn't play to the record, we were not good enough but we could improvise with the best of them. I didn't seek to play any other band after Tyrus went on hiatus, I didn't want to do Bon Jovi or hair metal or country but rather originals. Nor did I want to deal with drug addicts or drunks or egotistical leaders of certain bands. Outside of The TEs, the last band I worked with was the I/O project with my best friend Russ in 2008. Blue Scratch was high on the list, Julie Gordon influenced them enough to consider me. But I really didn't think that in the end, I be giving the nod to Tim Wiley on a power trio format. Tim knew a bass player that had his own drum set! That meant I didn't have to lug mine out. A win win situation for me.
So we did our first practice, out in the boonies called Norway (why is I can never a close by place to jam at?) and Ben lived in a trailer that have a few bass guitars and this five piece Yamaha drum set all set up. Very nice sounding indeed, I guess Wes bought this drumset for a drummer who was too drunk to show up. He went all out, the cymbals were Sabian AA's a good professional brand of cymbals. In that two hour span, we worked up a set list of at least 35 decent songs from classic rock era and a few things thrown in. I suggested Susie Q and Let's Work Together and we ran through a rough version of One Way Out. And I must say we got more accomplished today than the last couple bands I been in, with the guys spinning their weeds and not coming up with much. I have to say that Tim and the bass player were very open to new ideas and not so much on the tired classics. We can play them if requested, (except Free Bird-only at gunpoint) but I think the majority of the songs that we did run through would get people dancing.
Tim is calling this band the Wiley Kats. And I'm cool with that. The next step is to see if we can pull this off with the minimal of rehearsal time. After all, we're restricted to weekends and the occasional day jam before work, but I can get nights off from work to play on a Friday Night or Wednesday or even host a jam session uptown. I'm not doing Arizona this year again. I do reserve the right to continue jamming with Rod Albaugh when he wants to get together in the future. I do feel that The Wiley Kats might be perhaps the inside track to playing live once again; if that's the cause, then they will be my first priority. I'm honored that Tim thought a lot about me to draft me into this project. And as long as I can hold a beat down I'll make that commitment. As for the songs of the Townedgers, they won't be part of the Wiley Kats. If the guys want to come up with something original of their own so be it. But The TE songs don't fit the style of this band.
But the days of the crash and bash of Tyrus is long gone, I cannot play in that out of control style anymore,nor want to. I'm more into keeping the beat to get people on the floor. I'm too old for drugs, too old for the girls out there, and cannot drink the hard stuff anymore. I think these guys do have their act together, at least during the first time of getting together and might be dedicated to rocking again. That could change but at least we had a very good first day of jamming.
We'll see how this pans out. The way I look at this, it's Tim's vehicle and he's more hungry to hit the stage and play the gigs and to make money at it. I'm sure Ben is the same way. Martin Daniels has been helping me trying to keep the time and beat with the arrangements that I know. I think Tim is more by the record rather than improvisation. That might be a problem. But if we can work with each other and not let our stubbornness and egos get in the way, we might pull this off. He might just fire me after the first gig, but I know what I can and cannot do. So far it's been working quite well during the popcorn jams.
BTW. The bass player's name is Ben. Tim corrected me on this when he called this morning.
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