Rewarded with The Truth

Hello Blog-

It's been a while... a long while. Been hiding for several months, but I'm ready to resurface and resume a musical  life.

Falling Upstairs was a hell of a ride and a lot of fun. Steve, Keith and Dave...y'all were great and that was the best band I've ever played in. The most work, but the best band.

And now... it's onto the next thing, whatever that is. It's never fun, finding a new project. Meeting new people. learning new personalities and experiencing new egos. But the most difficult part of finding a new band is finding the truth.

People will contact you, email or text. In rare instances, they'll even call and get you pretty excited about what they'll do and tell you what you wanna hear. And then... inexplicably and without notice or reason. They're gone. *poof*

Just like that. The e-mails stop. No replies. The calls stop. no replies to voicemails. I'm left to reason that a spaceship came and plucked them up off the face of the earth.

Maybe not, but that's what I like to tell myself.

Honestly I find that I failed some litmus test in some way. I said something wrong or someone came around who was a better fit or maybe they just can't admit that the whole thing just fell apart.

Whatever went wrong, I wish people would just send a one sentence email explaining what happened. I'm a big boy... I can take it. It feels as though if you do everything right. Say all the right things, portray yourself in the correct manner. Be more than they ever expected, you may be rewarded with the truth.

But if something is amiss. If some little unexplainable chip causes any consternation. If your voice sounds wrong or if your email address is too difficult to remember or .....whatever. You'll be banished from the thoughts and minds forever. It's a nasty by product of the social media world in which we live, but it sure would be nice if I knew that whoever I was talking to hadn't keeled over from a heart attack!

Off and running in a big way....

It's really happening. Falling Upstairs is back! The band has been ramping up with steady gigs and preparing for bigger and better things ahead.

We've taken some gigs I'd rather not take and running sound from the stage in order to work on the stage show, the set lists and the performance aspects with a big light at the end of the tunnel.

Through determination and perseverance, Steve has landed us a gig at Down Under Pub in Frisco on July 20th.

We're super excited and will be working our asses off to present the best show possible. I knew it would come at some point, but we are back in the "A" rooms again....sweet!

Is What I Get

The moon and the stars have truly aligned. I feel as if I'm living a dream. In just a few short months with much hard work, my new band "Falling Upstairs" is a reality. A strong, talented and dedicated group of musicians have gelled so well that we're show ready and BOOKED!

Not just booked, but BOOKED! The demos are being well received and clubs seem eager to have us on their stage.

Thanks to Mike 'Groover" Hoover for believing in us enough to put forth the hard work necessary to take on a very difficult task. Bass guitar in a band like this is not easy, but you are making it sound that way.

Thanks to Dave "Comedy" Brown. Dude, you were there at the right time. When we needed someone who could guide us musically, you pitched in and made it happen. You know exactly how to play guitar in a track project.

Thanks to Keli Peacock. Your countless hours of talent in building the logo, the web site, for the long hours in rehearsal of handling the show, being there during the show when I needed you, herding T-shirts and all the other chores that go along with putting and keeping a band together. Your priceless.

Thanks to Steve Mitchell. I can't believe we found each other in an endless sea of redneck rock bands. I still can't believe there is someone out there who not only wants to do sophisticated pop/dance tunes but actually sees the value in it. You have taken 10 years off of my age. It's been an absolute joy working with you and seeing this through.

Thanks to all the FU fans. We'll be seeing you real soon thanks to all the great people mentioned above.

What I want

This isn’t complicated. People who inquire about my services often ask what it is that I’m looking for. I can honestly tell them that I’ll know it when I see it. But that’s not fair. They asked a pointed, direct question and the question deserves a pointed, direct answer. This will not be pointed and it will not be direct, but it will be thorough.

First let me tell you what I DON’T want.
1) I don’t want to play for a band that asks for a “Hell Yeah” and get’s one
2) I don’t want to play in a band that takes a “pause for the cause” or reminds patrons to “tip your bartenders and waitresses cuz they’re working hard for you so you don’t have to”.
3) I don’t want to play in a band that plays “my favorite song”.
4) I don’t want to play music that was recorded before most people in the club were born.
5) I don’t want to play a song because “you can’t be a band in Texas and not play this song”.
6) I don’t want to play in a band when the singer looses his place in the song so he just repeats the lyrics to the first verse for the second and third verse.
7) I don’t want to play in a band that plays songs by request when the lead singer requests them because that what he wants to hear.
8) I don’t want to play in a band that plays their favorite music instead of the patrons favorite music.
9) I don’t want to play in a band that keeps playing the same songs in the same order, the same way every gig.
10) I don’t want to play in a band that doesn’t aspire to improve and doesn’t aspire to play better venues.
11) I don’t want to play in bands that plays to this crowd:


So having said that what I do want is to play in a band that:
1) Wants to play in “A” rooms, knows what the “A” rooms are and what music bands are playing in “A” rooms.
2) Plays music recorded this century and is popular by young crowds.
3) Plays older music that “Sells well” with younger patrons.
4) Rehearses to be better, consistently works up new songs including creative arrangements to put their own signature on the music.
5) Doesn’t mind tracking the band to “thicken’ the sound.
6) Either has a sound engineer and runs the sound from the stage with precision
7) Speaks to the crowd with creativity and sophistication
8) Can play authentic requests from the crowd and doesn’t talk down to them
9) Varies the set lists and turns the lists over every 6 months
10) Play each song with enthusiasm, vigor and precision
11) Plays music to this crowd:
It isn't difficult.

Ok… so I peek a little…

I can’t help it. I wanna know what other drummers are looking for gigs right now, what they’re looking for…you know, sizing up the competition as it were.

Besides it makes for great, entertaining fodder for the blog. This is something I just stumbled across this morning. It’s classic.

This drummer is looking for “like-minded” musicians. The drummer lists his experience, his preferences and his dislikes, goes on to describe his influences, distances themselves from the normal Dallas music and then drops this little bomb…”I do have demos but want to hear your stuff first to see if I will even consider it. No ego here, I just know what I want and don't want.”

Expressing your desires and dislikes is the definition of ego. But I submit that maybe this drummer might be on to something.

By setting himself on a “self important” pedestal, this drummer may be creating an illusion of “greatness” that might not otherwise exist, thus making themselves a coveted target. Not just that, but this drummer may be pouring a foundation of further iconism whereby the drummer is not only sought out by the great unwashed musicians, but worshiped during the tenure. The drummers words shall always ring true and others dare not question the wisdom. The drummer may require and demand respect not earned and can only lead and never follow.

Or, this drummer could just be a “turbo-douche”.

Goodbye Gravity… we hardly knew ya

Just hours before my planned resignation from the cover band I’ve been gigging with for the past year, the band leader called me and said they wanted to go in a different direction with a drummer.

My immediate thought was, “you’ll never go in a different direction”...that's why I'm leaving". My immediate reaction was, “this will save me a phone call on Tuesday.'

I planned to stay for the next two gigs, I had an overwhelming feeling during the last song Saturday night that this would be my last time on stage with these guys. And since they instigated the seperation and not me, I would feel awkward now playing on stage with them again.

It was an amicable parting. If there ever is any such thing. It's unfortunate that we couldn't find a way to stay together because I genuinely like these people. But they just won't move forward. During my year tenure, we played pretty much the same 48 songs, the same way, in the same order every gig. Not much ever changed. It seemed to me like nothing ever would and my tank ran dry.

For example, we only played four songs Saturday that we didn’t play the first time out last August. I just can't play those songs anymore.

In any regard, some friendships will endure. These were not unpleasant people. I enjoyed their company. I just didn’t share their passion for “vintage rock”. Forget "classic rock". When the song lists "averages" 30 years old, it's "vintage rock" bordering on "fossil rock".

I’ll take a healthy break and start searching for the next thing.

Ladies and Gentlemen....Welcome to the Stage, "The Room Emptiers"!

I read a book a few years ago....imagine that, a drummer who can read...called "Brand You", a simple guide to realizing that you are your own entity. The place you work for, or in my case, the band I play with, does not define who I am.

I'm Mike Peacock, drummer, currently playing with the band, "fill in the blank". Actually not a bad name for a band... but it could be anyone.

Just realizing that thought pattern makes things a little more tolerable when bands that I'm associated with begin to venture down an unhealthy path.

Such is the case now. When I agree to go forward with a band, I usually tell them, "Look, I'll give you 90 days and you give me 90 days. Past that we'll take it a gig at a time". I learned that from Alan White who told Yes the same thing almost 40 years ago. He is still with the band. Apparently, it's still going pretty well.

I can't say the same thing with the band in which I'm currently associated. In just under a year, the band has gone from an expanded, more up to date playlist, to converting right back to where when we began. Playing the same old, tired songs from the 70's and 80's... songs that are 30 to 40 years old. Songs that comprised the entire set list a year ago.

This band went from wanting to get better, edgier, more current right back to "brickhouse", SRV, "mustang sally".

Interestingly, it was one of the band member who put it in perspective for me. He suggested that people play that music because, 1) it's easy to play, 2) it's what they know how to play and 3) it's the first songs they learned how to play. That made perfect sense to me.

I've often said that entertaining a crowd has nothing to do with the what the people on stage like to play or even listen to ... it's what the crowd wants to hear. I think the concept really is quite simple, yet so elusive.

Another case in point. Because this band has reverted back to the comfort and convenience of the original set list, this is what happened last Saturday night at our gig. We took the stage at 10. There were well over 100, perhaps even 150 people in the bar. At 11, when we finished out first set, there were about 50 people in the bar. By the end of the third set, there were about a dozen people in the bar.

That's a real kick in the teeth, especially when you know there is nothing you can do about it.

I was talking to the band-mate who made the earlier observations during the first set and asked him if he noticed how many people left during the first set. He admitted he did. He asked me what I thought we needed to do and again, I suggested the set lists are just too old and worn out. He asked what I thought we needed to play. That, I told him, is the age old, 64 thousand dollar question. I said, "The only thing I know for sure is that I don't know WHAT to play. But I sure know what NOT to play".

He nodded in agreement and we went back in to empty the room some more.

There's a misguided notion among some bar managers that it's a bands job to bring in the crowd and I disagree. It's a bars job to bring the crowd, it's the bands job to keep the crowd there. We failed Saturday and were paid for failing.

Which is why I'm leaving this band. I cannot, in good conscious, take money for running off paying customers.

It would be nice to find some people who play music well and understand the simple concept of what it takes to keep patrons in the room. I'm finished with bands that don't. Abiding by this simple rule may lead to my retirement earlier than I wanted.