For the third year in a row my first week of September was occupied with rehearsals culminating in a the 2008 CCMAs on CBC, GAC and a bunch of other networks around the world. Our band (The Lyin' Bastards under the direction of Tom Mckillip) assembled in Winnipeg On Sept. 4. Incidentally , there's an explanation of the Lyin' Bastards:
More than a band, The "LB's" are more of an entity. Think back through history of famous session player groups - The Funk Brothers in Detroit, Muscle Shoals' Swampers, Booker T and the MG's with Stax, The Section and Wrecking Crew in LA, The Nashville Cats etc. - the "LB's" exist in the same way. We all have more or less been through Lisa Brokop's band and have spilled over into sessions and live gigs throughout many acts in Canada and beyond. Someday I'd love to do a record with the guys and document the discography of the selected players for posterity. As for the name "Lyin' Bastards"..... a bit of an inside story. Ask me in person.
This particular lineup of the Bastards was Jerry Adolphe, John Dymond, Steve O Connor, Robbie Steininger, Jay Buettner, Mike Sanyshyn, Jeff Bradshaw, Tom Mckillip and myself. In Tom's words, "If you're going in to battle, this is the band you wanna have.". I agree - with a band like this you do feel pretty bulletproof.
Sept. 4
We arrive in the 'Peg around 3:00PM. We check in to the hotel and arrive at the MTS Centre where the awards are being held. We get set up in a back room and begin the preliminary rehearsals. We had 11 musical performances on the show, 17 stingers (musical segments played during walk ons, walk offs etc.), 8 bumpers (music going and coming back from commercials) and other misc. pieces which would be dropped on us at the last minute). Our past experiences on the show helped us with this one. With some preparation ahead of time, we were able to blast through all of the acts, stingers and bumpers in four hours. We were able to get a nice dinner and good nights sleep.
Sept. 5
We came back to the MTS, ran everything again and then moved to the big stage. Everything ran quite smooth - the backline gear (Alien Backline - Ed Caron) was excellent and the individual monitor systems were an improvement over last year. Gerald Sawchuk, our monitor man, did an excellent job. For TV purposes, we recorded 18 20-second stingers (music played during people walking on and off the stage). As testament to the band's ability, we did it in 41 minutes which I think is pretty impressive. We rehearsed with Gord Bamford - the song, camera angles, etc..
After the rehearsal I played a showcase at McPhillips Street Station Casino with BC singer Amber Nicholson. She's a ball of energy and a good singer.
Sept. 6
The day started with rehearsals at the MTS Centre. Doc Walker (hometown boys - the big winners of the weekend) were first. Great band - really dig playing with these guys. Randy Bachman, Beverley Mahood and Deric Ruttan were next. It was fun for me - Randy and Deric were late getting to the rehearsal so I was elected to sing their parts. Randy was a complete gentleman and it's always cool to play with a legendary performer.
As Terri Clark had a prior commitment, I was elected to sing her song next for rehearsals as well. I peppered her melody with a few well placed Bruce Dickinson like screams to amuse the crew. All in good fun and with no disrespect intended to Ms. Clark's song. Paul Brandt was up next. After Paul, I slipped out of the MTS to go to a nightclub called Cowboy's where I played a 20 minute set with Aaron Pritchett for the Universal Music party. I arrived at 7:55PM, jumped onstage at 8:00PM and was back at the MTS Centre by 8:50PM to rehearse with Johnny Reid and his fine piano player Dave Cohen. I hit the Paquin Agency party after that for an hour - then went back to the hotel.
Sept. 7
9AM - dress rehearsal with Terri Clark. Bad news for us - Terri had elected to use taped music in lieu of the band. While it is understandable (using a band she's not familiar with, the stress of hosting a nationwide TV show, comfort level in general) I was disappointed as I quite liked her song and thought the band more than did it justice. However, this is sometimes the case. I remember seeing Paul Shaffer, Sid Mcginnis, Will Lee and Anton Fig (world class musicians in thier own right) lip syncing with Laura Branigan at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary performance. Hey, if they have to do it, I guess we do too sometimes. Her fiddle player Janae is a sweet and talented young lady.
Next up was Jessie Farrell with bassist Ryland Haggis and guitarist Jesse Tucker. She did a great job as usual. George Canyon with keyboardist Mike Little and bassist Joe Butcher came next. Also a lot of fun to play with these guys.
After the rehearsal - we went to a soundcheck for Carly and Britt Mckillip's (AKA One More Girl, formerly known as Saving Grace) showcase at the Pyramid Club. The girls recently were signed to EMI Canada and was (or IS) being looked at by Capitol Nashville. We assembled a great band (most of the awards show band minus John Dymond, Steve O Connor and Jeff Bradshaw and adding bassist Dennis Marcenko). After the soundcheck Jay and I headed over to the Gala dinner for a 7:00PM performance with Aaron (2 songs). A quick dinner there and we headed over to the Pyramid Club and did the showcase. The girls rocked - I'm so proud...... I've known them both since they were very young and it was thrilling to see them do so well in their official debut performance. BEDTIME!
Sept. 8
Show day! 9AM - MTS Centre. We arrive and rehearse with Crystal Shawanda and her husband/ guitarist Dewayne (I'm sorry - I didn't get your last name,Dewayne...). WOW. She can sing. What a delivery. We're all blown away by what was (in my mind) one of the highlights of the night. After that, Kellie Pickler took to the stage. She (like Terri Clark) sang to a track. Apparently she had a bad experience with another house band at a theatre I won't mention .... let's say it was a very popular one in Nashville. This left her feeling cold about house bands. Oh well - can't win 'em all.
Lunch break and then - the DRESS REHEARSAL. This particular dress rehearsal couldn't have gone worse. The old showbiz cliche would dictate this is a good thing - however by the end of it we were pretty distraught. Missed cues, feedback, too long between direction.... all added up. We put our game faces on and, after a quick production meeting and some ironing out of our notes it was showtime. If I may be so modest, I thought we NAILED it. 99.5% - as good as one could get. The band was magnificent and I couldn't have been more proud to be a part of a band.
I attended a wonderful party afterwards thrown by RGK Music and Ole Publishing Company.
Overall - another great CCMA week - looking forward to the next one!
