OT - Strictly Banks - A Serious Undertaking Live
Doug Boucher
thing.
A couple weeks after having my head torn off at two Keneally shows in August
1998, I did something totally insane and flew over to England for two weeks
to play bass for Strictly Banks - a band covering the solo music of Genesis
keyboardist Tony Banks. We did a week of hellishly long rehearsals, took a
few days off so I could recover from an equally hellish Guinness/Scrumpy
Jack hangover, then a dress rehearsal; before our one-time performance. I
was on an airplane back home (with a bottle of Southern Comfort as my lovely
traveling companion) within 15 hours after the show.
After a year and a half, we're releasing a CD of what happened that night.
This is about half the show - the other half was deemed unsuitable for
release. We covered songs from Tony's solo career, and also two older
Genesis songs. (Neither of which made the final cut.) Why, you ask? Well,
Tony never did this himself. His solo albums never sold anywhere near what
the 80s Genesis albums did (despite the fact that there's generally at least
a couple songs per album that are far better than the ones on the Genesis
albums of the same period) so he never went on the road with them.
Here's the final track list:
Queen Of Darkness
Another Murder Of A Day
Back To Back
Strictly Incognito
Red Day On Blue Street
The Lie
Somebody Else's Dream
The More I Hide It
I'll Be Waiting
An Island In The Darkness
You'll likely not know of any of these tunes unless you've got the albums,
of course. But the thing that makes this CD worth it for me is that we
managed to somehow capture something that Tony's albums only hint at. Now, I
must first say that this album is LOADED with mistakes. I'm not gonna
whitewash that (I bet my band mates aren't gonna like me as much after this
thing is out) but if there's any excuse it's that a few of the guys in the
band are essentially amatuer plaers with little ambition of devoting
themselves full time to this kind of thing. This was very much a "fan"
thing, and I hope that enthusiasm comes through.
That said, I think our strengths were in our approach to the arrangements -
something I personally think Tony lost a lot of in the beginning of the 80s.
Some of these tunes suffered from weak production and arrangements ranging
from the lame to the ridiculous. So we tried to fix that. Whether we
succeeded is up to the listener I guess. I think we did some very good
things with some of these tunes, and I'm very proud of a few moments.
For me, the highlights of the CD often revolve around our guitar player,
Manir Donaghue. Manir's a great guy, too. He added a very Steve Hackett-ish
solo onto the end of Somebody Else's Dream that I think takes the song about
a hundred levels up. (And I loved that song to begin with.) Our singer, Dave
Whitehouse, put his heart and soul into every performance. If you'd been
there, you'd thought of Dave as the true star of the show.
As far as the songs go, I think our stripped-down arrangements of The More I
Hide It and I'll Be Waiting (with our female singer Sophia Capernaros) work
extremely well compared to the originals. And our versions of Queen Of
Darkness, Another Murder Of A Day, and Strictly Incognito pretty much rock,
dude. An Island In The Darkness is an obvious choice because it's 17
minutes long, and I think ours (a few dodgy moments aside) can be considered
a superior arrangement to the one on the Strictly Inc. album.
My own bass playing is as good as could be expected given all the
circumstances surrounding that bizarre two weeks, and I'm reasonably proud
of my playing. And I like the fact that the producer (Nick Davis, who has
done some of Tony's albums and a few Genesis ones as well) mixed me well and
got a good tone thang happening. Whee!
I became a musician because of Genesis and Tony has had a major influence on
me, so I'm quite happy to be a part of this little adventure. The CD is a
bit rough, but here it is. Hope some of ya like it.
For info on ordering Strictly Banks - A Serious Undertaking...Live! go to:
Enjoy!
Dougie
--------------------------
www.geocities.com/eraserhead667
You'll love it, it's a way of life.
"When I was faster, I was always behind." -
Neil Young
Adam T. Lindsay
> I became a musician because of Genesis and Tony has had a major influence on
> me, so I'm quite happy to be a part of this little adventure. The CD is a
> bit rough, but here it is. Hope some of ya like it.
>
> For info on ordering Strictly Banks - A Serious Undertaking...Live! go to:
>
> www.strictlybanks.co.uk
Wow, Doug!
I was curious when you first mentioned this project a while ago, but now
I'm downright intrigued! I love Banks' writing, but the arrangements on
nearly all his stuff really makes it difficult to appreciate his solo
work, it's true.
I'm amazed that Nick Davis was involved. What kind of involvement (if
any) did Tony have?
Adam
Bill Carter
about this. Even though I've never really followed Tonys solo stuff I
very much appreciate your enthusiasm for the project. Plus it sounds
like the trip to England must have been a quite an interesting
experience to say the least.
There's so much cool music to get and only so much budget these days
but I look forward to hearing this someday.
Bill C
>I became a musician because of Genesis and Tony has had a major influence on
>me, so I'm quite happy to be a part of this little adventure. The CD is a
>bit rough, but here it is. Hope some of ya like it.
>
>For info on ordering Strictly Banks - A Serious Undertaking...Live! go to:
>
>www.strictlybanks.co.uk
>
Sheryl
>
> For info on ordering Strictly Banks - A Serious Undertaking...Live! go to:
>
> www.strictlybanks.co.uk
>
> Enjoy!
> Dougie
Boy, the bass player sure is handsome, wonder if he'll sign my copy of his
CD?
You rule my world, baby.
{smooch}
Doug Boucher
"Adam T. Lindsay" <adam-p...@no.starlab.spam.net> wrote
> Wow, Doug!
The CD or the Guinness/Scrumpy Jack hangover? :)
> I was curious when you first mentioned this project a while ago, but now
> I'm downright intrigued!
I'm terrified to say anything to that. :)
I love Banks' writing, but the arrangements on
> nearly all his stuff really makes it difficult to appreciate his solo
> work, it's true.
It's a rather bizarre thing. I think Steve Hackett was responsible for far
more of the 70s Genesis sound than anyone gave him credit for. Because after
he left, a lot of the attention to detail went away. And Tony's own albums
are really guilty of that. I think A Curious Feeling is a wonderful album in
terms of the writing, but the production sucks and why Tony played guitar
and bass himself instead of getting someone else in baffles the heck out of
me. That album could have been stunning rather than simply excellent.
He told us straight up that we'd have to change the arrangements. This stuff
just couldn't be played live the way it is on album. The two Bankstatement
tracks that made it are vocal/piano/bass only. Because the orginal
arrangements are horrible and bloated with tons of weedly synths and stupid
drum machine programs. They're actually rather nice pieces of fluff the way
we did them. :)
> I'm amazed that Nick Davis was involved. What kind of involvement (if
> any) did Tony have?
He's writing a bit on the liner notes (I haven't seen that part of it yet)
and he allowed us two days at The Farm to produce this. I saw The Farm while
I was over there from the outside. (Rutherford drives by while we were
outside. He was just starting the newest Mechanics album at the time. I felt
like a celebrity stalker.) :)
Tony met with everyone in the band except me and the guitar player and
talked over stuff. I couldn't be there because I hadn't flown over yet. I'd
love to meet him someday, but it would have been odd, so I don't really
mind. I probably would have just pissed him off asking about 25 year old
music anyway. :)
Anyway, Tony got Nick Davis to give us two days, which meant that we
couldn't fix up much. If we could have, we could have had a few different
tracks on, but oh well. The only overdub is the vocal on the first verse of
Red Day On Blue Street, because the radio mics didn't work on that part. We
were utterly plagued by technical problems all night like that. When we did
soundcheck, I sounded like Chris Squire on steroids. When the show started,
I sounded like a bad Chinese-food fart. I guess I was OK out front, but my
tone onstage was unbelievably bad and it screwed me up more than once. We
had one track that would have made it to the CD except that the guitar solo
got mangled because Manir couldn't hear himself at that point. That stuff
just happens smetimes, but for a one-off show, it makes things rather
frustrating.
I've got the CD on right now. I was very against this ever being released
for a long time, but now I'm very impressed by how good it sounds versus my
memory of the night. Nick really did a great job on here. I've liked very
little of his productions before in the Genesis area, but he got us sounding
far better than we have any right sounding. :)
I told Mike about this at the Butler show where he destroyed my mind just
two weeks before I went over to do the show. Mike said "A Tony Banks tribute
band? Wow, that's bizarre." No shit. :)
Doug
Doug Boucher
"Bill Carter" <max...@mindspring.com> wrote
> hey Doug, congratulations on the release. I'm happy to read from you
> about this. Even though I've never really followed Tonys solo stuff I
> very much appreciate your enthusiasm for the project.
I've gone from enthusiasm to apathy to outright hate back to enthusiasm in
the past year and a half. :)
Plus it sounds
> like the trip to England must have been a quite an interesting
> experience to say the least.
It was the first and only time I've left the US. I was awake for nearly 48
hours when I first got there. I'm from Indiana, looking out a window and
seeing a little English village was a total mindfuck. I spent four days in a
little bed and breakfast and the old guy who ran the place (and made killer
breakfast) reminded me of a cross of a member of Parliament and Syd
Barrett's dad. :)
You English guys - I LOVE your country. I didn't get to see near enough of
it, but I loved what I did see. I went into London a couple times and I
spent a day in Surrey aroun d where Banks lives. We went to Charterhouse
(the school where Genesis formed) and I was blown away by the sheer *age* of
the place. Again, I'm from Indiana. I've got fucking corn fields to look at
there.
> There's so much cool music to get and only so much budget these days
> but I look forward to hearing this someday.
Hope ya like it. As I said before, it's a pretty rough performance (an area
that I'm loathe to talk about much) but it has its moments, and a couple are
quite excellent.
Someday I'll do Strictly Keneally. :)
Doug
BillT
news:Fc1T4.16528$_l1.1...@typhoon.kc.rr.com...
> It's a rather bizarre thing. I think Steve Hackett was responsible for far
> more of the 70s Genesis sound than anyone gave him credit for. Because
after
> he left, a lot of the attention to detail went away. And Tony's own albums
> are really guilty of that. I think A Curious Feeling is a wonderful album
in
> terms of the writing, but the production sucks and why Tony played guitar
> and bass himself instead of getting someone else in baffles the heck out
of
> me. That album could have been stunning rather than simply excellent.
It stunned me at the time, a huge fave for years, and I agree about
Hackett. Well, I would, wouldn't I? Steve is god. I still think the
production on A Curious Feeling could be improved, but, then, I'm an
enormous kibitzer. As a listener, it's like Olias of Sunhillow to me; so
damn good that the production can take a hike. Which it did. But then I
think twice. As an engineer/producer-type, it bugs me shitless. Where's my
SSL?
> were utterly plagued by technical problems all night like that.
Friends don't let friends do monitors. Or in England, foldback. All it
takes is competence and a decent rig, really. One-nighters can be tough for
many reasons, though. Was Wade there?
> I told Mike about this at the Butler show where he destroyed my mind just
> two weeks before I went over to do the show. Mike said "A Tony Banks
tribute
> band? Wow, that's bizarre." No shit. :)
Especially for a Bass player. One of his best tunes has but one note in
the Bass for the main part. Only three in Apocalypse in 9/8. You got it
easy, you don't know when you got it good.
Dammit, I swore again.
Bill "Watcher of the Pedal Tone" T
Doug Boucher
"BillT" <xf10...@svn.net> wrote
(A Curious Feeling)
> > me. That album could have been stunning rather than simply excellent.
>
> It stunned me at the time, a huge fave for years, and I agree about
> Hackett. Well, I would, wouldn't I? Steve is god.
Gotta hear the new thing he did of Satie stuff. I love Hackett to bits. Or
something.
I still think the
> production on A Curious Feeling could be improved, but, then, I'm an
> enormous kibitzer. As a listener, it's like Olias of Sunhillow to me; so
> damn good that the production can take a hike.
Olias Of Sunhillow = stuff I love that I don't even bother inflticting on
others because I'm selfish and want to love it all to myself.
Which it did. But then I
> think twice. As an engineer/producer-type, it bugs me shitless. Where's
my
> SSL?
I adore the album enough not to really care, but Tony's tunes have so much
more potential than he himself often gives them.
> > were utterly plagued by technical problems all night like that.
>
> Friends don't let friends do monitors. Or in England, foldback. All
it
> takes is competence and a decent rig, really. One-nighters can be tough
for
> many reasons, though. Was Wade there?
I wish he was. We had some "professional" company in who I wasn't impressed
with. I really sounded like shit once the show started. Probably a large
chunk of the reason that our version of Mad Man Moon didn't make it on the
CD was because of the shit monitor mix fucking a couple of us up so bad. I
could play that song in my sleep and destroyed it that night.
> > I told Mike about this at the Butler show where he destroyed my mind
just
> > two weeks before I went over to do the show. Mike said "A Tony Banks
> tribute
> > band? Wow, that's bizarre." No shit. :)
>
> Especially for a Bass player. One of his best tunes has but one note
in
> the Bass for the main part. Only three in Apocalypse in 9/8. You got it
> easy, you don't know when you got it good.
I adore Tony, but he wouldn't know a rhythm section if one bit him on the
ass. He's lucky he had one of the best rhythm sections of the 70s behind
him. At least until they cheesed out too. I don't care what anyone says -
Collins/Rutherford from 71-at least 77 and possibly until the early 80s was
about as groovin' as prog got. No one made those kind of riffs sound like
that. The Archive box set is a Phil Collins drum clinic before he went to
hell. And Mike...he's in need of a mechanic. What a bassist he used to be.
(Sigh)
> Dammit, I swore again.
Shitfucky!
> Bill "Watcher of the Pedal Tone" T
Another fun part of Strictly Banks was during rehearsals trying to find out
how many Tony tunes we could stick the first two chords of the Watcher Of
The Skies intro into. You'd be surprised.
Oh, I need to clarify something - the CD isn't out for a few more weeks.
Duncan Phillips (the band's drummer/leader) informed me that he's got a
minor issue with EMI to handle before it comes out. But you can check out
all the poop on the website about it. www.strictlybanks.co.uk
Here's what Tony Banks wrote for us in the liner notes:
"As most readers of this will know, I have never had the courage to perform
live any of the music from my solo albums, (apart from a section of 'Short
Cut to Somewhere' that Genesis did as part of a medley at a concert to mark
Atlantic Records' fortieth anniversary). When Duncan contacted me with the
idea of doing this concert I thought the idea interesting, but that it would
probably never get off the ground. I obviously underestimated his
persistence and determination to see the project through. Anyone who has
ever put on any kind of show knows all the problems that can arise, and all
the time and effort it requires I was very flattered that anyone
would even consider doing such a thing, this was never going to be an easy
venture. I am very impressed with the results, considering this was a
one-off concert of music that is not straightforward in the first place To
my ears the best moments are when more freedom is taken with the
arrangements, for example 'The More I Hide It' I think works well. I hope
those of you who not have all the original albums will perhaps through
listening to this be inspired to complete the collection."
My favorite sentences are the first and last. :)
Dougie