Crispycat Recordings: Progressing the band...

Sunday, September 06, 2026

Progressing the band...

Playlist

Up late...

Blurry...

There was work to do...

It was still the weekend...

Prepared elements of, but did not write, yesterday's entry...

Did some prep too on the next CBQ LP, "Elevation", deciding to swap the covers around between the main LP, which becomes this...

...and the bonus LP (tracks now uploaded to Bandcamp), which becomes this...

...and got down to putting together a sleeve for December's "Disquietmusik X", which I'll record at the end of November...

...all of which meant I needed to create a new "CBQ 2026" GIF...

...which was nice...

Anyway, breakfast...

...and a wee sojourn outside for Luna...

Then, Anne was off to Pickleball...

To compiling and starting the process of the weekly podcast (the 36 tracks included swell the playlist above)...

A pause in proceedings on Anne's return...

Lunch and into Season 4 of "Scandal"...

Then, off to Tynecastle for Anne, where Hearts came from 1-0 down with a penalty in the 84th minute and a winner in the 96th, with a red card for opponents Dundee, between the goals...

A bit like Argentina beating England at the World Cup - the losers scoring early then "parking the bus", only to lose out to two late goals, with the winner coming in injury time...

As I followed it unfolding, I enjoyed the highlights of Queen of the South v Airdrie yesterday, where QoS also came from behind to win 2-1...

Off the bottom of the league at last, with their first won, and points, after 5 games...

Then to continuing with the podcast...

I was timing my work with a stop watch - just under 3 hours from start to putting out the posts and links on BlueSky and Fleecebook...

But then, there's another 3 hours as I listened back to ensure no glitches (which I should, of course, really do before publishing LOL)...

Rearranged the desk to add in both the Sony speakers now, in stereo mode, the necessary adapters having been delivered in the afternoon after yesterday's order (once I'd worked out exactly what I needed)...

There was productive WhatsApp correspondence with the band too...

Over the last few days, we have agreed:

(a) to rehearse every second Tuesday (moveable if needs be to days in the vicinity) over the next 12 months and

(b) to play at least 6 gigs over the next 12 months, based around a featured artist or theme...

The question came from Keith: "So, what exactly do we want to be working on at the next session, Mon 14/9"..

JB replied: "I'd say what we've already been doing. Still a lot to do with those songs and I think we are getting somewhere with them."

The last two points, I agreed with...

I think though, we need to be more productive and not only hone but, also, play...

My input : "I’d like to do something like this, on the understanding that we’ll be listening beforehand to the work we’ve already done on the original canon and on Dylan (I can provide a (in places, rough) mock up)..."

Noticeably no-one said "Send it to me , Dave"

Oh well...

I went on...

"This would be in preparation for a performance.

It factors in 70 minutes for honing ideas etc

If we go with the ideas above (re rehearsals & gigs), including cancelling the next rehearsal post a gig, we will have, each time, just 3 planned rehearsals before each performance

However, if we aim for our first gig to be Sunday November 15, at least we’ll have 5 opportunities to rehearse for that one."

Then...

Proposed Songs for 14 Sept Session

Original Canon (25 Mins + 30 mins leeway for honing = 55 mins)

Second Generation

Orifix

Breaking Silence

Stuntman

So You Think You Can Dance

Paranoia's Got You

Computer Operator

Featured Artist (Bob Dylan) (60 Mins + 40 mins leeway for honing = 100 mins)

Desolation Row (2nd Session "Quiet" Version)

A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall (James Bond Version)

The Times They Are a Changin'

If Not For You

Knockin' on Heaven's Door

Mr Tambourine Man

All Along the Watchtower

Like a Rolling Stone

Tombstone Blues

Queen Jane Approximately

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

Hurricane

Desolation Row (1st Session "Loud" Version)

Encore (15 Mins)

Crazy Horses

The Jean Genie

Mrs Robinson

Total 170 mins plus 15 min set up, 15 min break, 15 min take down = 215 mins

Timings

10:30 Set Up & Soundcheck

10:45 Original Canon Work

11:40 Dylan Work pt 1

12:30 Break

12:45 Dylan Work pt 2

13:35 Encore

13:50 Take Down

14:05 End"

No comeback from Keith - Johnny W was AWOL in that London and not on the chat...

Thankfully, JB was engaged...

JB came back with : "I'm mostly fine with that. Maybe cut it down a bit on the CMs and Dylan. I don't think Orifix is a good song for OAPs to play. Bin it now 😂. We need to avoid any mission creep and avoid the same old stuff etc. Glad there's no Queen on the list too...🤔"

..which was fine but, the idea for these gigs is to get away from playing "well known covers we're a bit sick of" and to play our own stuff and that of a featured artist or theme...

So...

Me: "Proposed timings for a gig were set out above - 25 mins CMs, 60 mins featured artist. If the honing of either at the rehearsal is taking longer than the 70 mins built in for honing, we can leave out the encore - think we all know those 3 pretty well already - which would give us almost an hour and half to muck about...

Do you have a suggestion to replace "Orifix"?

...and there won't be any Queen unless we decide to feature Queen..."

JB: "Don't think we should replace it. Do less even. Keep the CMs stuff light until we see how it goes down."

Me: "Appreciated input JB all noted - one of my own goals though is for us to actually BE Capital Models, as opposed to a covers band...

So if any of the "old" songs are found to be wanting, the four of us need to write some new ones to take things forward...😉

Await the thoughts of K & JW..."

JB: "Think big but start small"

...to which I gave the thumbs up...

So, all in all, I think we're making good progress on galvanising ourselves and giving the band some sort of purpose...

The thing is, for the plan to work, we must work harder and faster (and at home!) and more proficiently...

On the basis of the agreed action re rehearsals and gigs, including cancelling the next rehearsal after a gig, as I pointed out above, we will only ever have 3 sessions to put together, and learn, the featured artist/theme set...

Which might not be enough...

Maybe it won't be a "hobby" anymore...

Which may not fit with what the others want...

We'll see...

Meanwhile...