Fenderbird put to proper use

gearHed289 · November 23, 2013, 11:10:43 AM

So a couple of months ago, this local Who tribute band Who's Who opened for my band. They were really good. Bass player is a good, old school rock and roll player. I had met him a few years ago when he was in a Stones band. He made a beeline for me when he saw the white Bachbird I had at the time and we hit it off chatting about old basses. He ended up buying like 3 Bachs. LOL! Anyway, they just did a big show, doing Tommy in it's entirety, plus a greatest hits set at a cool, refurbished old theater west of Chicago. They ended up asking me, our guitarist, and singer to do a couple of guest spots each. Well, as it turns out, about 3/4 of the way through the Tommy set, the bass player's hands started cramping up really bad. He barely got through the rest, so guess who got called up to play the whole hits set? Yup... That was a little bit of jumping into the fire since I'd only seriously learned 5:15. Thankfully I know the stuff so well in my head, and have messed around with a few of their songs over the years to the point where I was able to fake my way through it. What a blast! Dude brought (6) Sunn cabs and (2) Colosseum heads. Only 1 head and 2 cabs were plugged in, but it looked cool. Oh, and a '64 T-bird.

Hope to have more pics and maybe some video soon.

Dave W · November 23, 2013, 11:51:11 AM

That must have been a blast.

TBird1958 · November 23, 2013, 11:58:32 AM

I'd probably wet myself playing thru that rig............

OldManC · November 23, 2013, 01:27:58 PM

Sorry he got cramps but it's cool you got to step in and even cooler that you pulled it off!

godofthunder · November 23, 2013, 03:20:46 PM

Sounds like a gas! I'd love to do a Who tribute.

Basvarken · November 24, 2013, 07:52:32 AM

Cool story Tom! Great rig. Beautiful T-bird.

gearHed289 · November 25, 2013, 09:35:55 AM

So about the band real quick - the core is the four main guys, plus keyboardist (he's fantastic). For some shows they have another guy on acoustic guitar and violin (really really cool for certain things, and not just Baba...). And for the Tommy show, they brought in (3) female vocalists and a percussionist. I guess the whole thing was shot on video and they're editing it over the next couple of weeks. Here's something from my wife's phone. Me and my singer guesting on Pinball... This might only be viewable to friends of people tagged...

Post

And a pic. The Fenderbird just looks like a white blob in most of the pics.

uwe · November 25, 2013, 10:53:01 AM

Quote from: gearHed289 on November 23, 2013, 11:10:43 AM
So a couple of months ago, this local Who tribute band Who's Who opened for my band. They were really good. Bass player is a good, old school rock and roll player. I had met him a few years ago when he was in a Stones band. He made a beeline for me when he saw the white Bachbird I had at the time and we hit it off chatting about old basses. He ended up buying like 3 Bachs. LOL! Anyway, they just did a big show, doing Tommy in it's entirety, plus a greatest hits set at a cool, refurbished old theater west of Chicago. They ended up asking me, our guitarist, and singer to do a couple of guest spots each. Well, as it turns out, about 3/4 of the way through the Tommy set, the bass player's hands started cramping up really bad. He barely got through the rest, so guess who got called up to play the whole hits set? Yup... That was a little bit of jumping into the fire since I'd only seriously learned 5:15. Thankfully I know the stuff so well in my head, and have messed around with a few of their songs over the years to the point where I was able to fake my way through it. What a blast! Dude brought (6) Sunn cabs and (2) Colosseum heads. Only 1 head and 2 cabs were plugged in, but it looked cool. Oh, and a '64 T-bird. Hope to have more pics and maybe some video soon.

Austerity is overrated.

TBird1958 · November 25, 2013, 04:29:54 PM

Quote from: uwe on November 25, 2013, 10:53:01 AM
Austerity is overrated.

Ah, but Chrome is never overrated

gearHed289 · December 05, 2013, 09:32:14 AM

Better shot of the bird. I'm doing a full show with these guys on the 14th.

godofthunder · December 05, 2013, 10:08:25 AM

I'm Envious! I'd love to do a WHO tribute! Rock that Fenderbird!

leftybass · December 05, 2013, 01:51:51 PM

It would be cool. You could do early stuff with a Ric or Dano Longhorn too. And at some point in the Fenderbird set your drummer could "pass out" and you could call someone from the audience to play drums on a song.

Wilbur88 · December 06, 2013, 03:27:05 AM

Nice Pink Paisley too.

dadagoboi · December 06, 2013, 06:46:19 AM

Looking Good, Tom!

gearHed289 · December 06, 2013, 09:20:57 AM

Quote from: godofthunder on December 05, 2013, 10:08:25 AM
I'm Envious! I'd love to do a WHO tribute! Rock that Fenderbird!

Come to Chicago. Their guy moved to Florida I guess.

Quote from: leftybass on December 05, 2013, 01:51:51 PMIt would be cool. You could do early stuff with a Ric or Dano Longhorn too. And at some point in the Fenderbird set your drummer could "pass out" and you could call someone from the audience to play drums on a song.

Ha ha! Right! What was that - the Cow Palace? I'm actually thinking of putting flats on my Ric for some of the Tommy stuff.