Richie,
I've been informed that the OK show went "Buckelss" because of bad wheather. I was also told tht you learned new songs just minutes before the show and sang several of Buck's songs. The comments were that you did awesome and there's no doubt about it, as you're a pro!
You have my admiration for such a feat. I'd be interested in your opinion about the show and having to learn a song in no time and taking the singing.
Take care!
More Cowbell!


_________________
More Cowbell

I heard cliff notes help.

It was sort of sprung on me. Nobody told me anything until a few hours before the show. Woody went up to me and said, how's your voice today? and then started laughing. I had no idea what was going on with Buck's flight. After soundcheck, Eric and Woody had a meeting and they decided I was going to cover Buck's parts. I took a guitar from the gig and brought it back to the hotel room. I had about an hour and a half to work with. First thing I did was transcribe the lyrics. I pretty much know the lyrics from hearing them so much, but I didn't want to chance messing them up. I wrote a few key phrases from each line down on paper, so I'd remember the order of the lines. That only took about 20 minutes. After that, I had to start learning the guitar parts. Since I already know the chords to the songs, I just learned the signature licks. I have enough live stuff on the ipod where I was able to learn the parts.

This was my checklist in my head

Learn to play my part and Buck's part at the end of Red & Black at the same time (so instead of the harmonies being spread over 2 guitars, I did them on one)
Main Riff in Black Blade
Burnin For You Solo
Cities On Flame middle solo. (which ended up knocking my guitar out of tune horribly)
Hot Rails To Hell Lick After the Chorus
Last Days of May Intro Lick
The Reaper Solo

Right before the gig, in the dressing room, I re-programmed me effects pedal so I could cover the guitar harmonies in Burnin For You (it usually takes 2 guitars to play, but my effects pedal can play on the parts)

I also came up with a little something to do during the pre-reaper solo.

Aaron taped the lyric sheets all over the floor near the mikestand.

One thing I didn't go over, which almost tripped me up was the end of Godzilla. If anyone ever wondered why we must do solos in Godzilla, it's because Buck's guitar has to be re-tuned for Reaper. His guitar is designed to be able to change keys, but even with that feature it still takes a good deal of fine tuning. Usually the drum and bass solos give the crew plenty of time to get that tweaked.

At the end of Godzilla, I was handed the Cheeseburger and it was tuned up a whole step. I had to do a little conversion in my head to play the riff right. That was no problem, but singing and doing that at the same time was a little more challenging. Even more difficult than playing the song was playing Buck's guitar. I wasn't used to it at all. Things are in a different place than on standard guitars. I don't know if the scale is different or if the neck meets the body at a different point, but it was definitely odd for me. His action is also pretty high, meaning the strings are high off the neck, making the guitar harder to play. That's how he likes it. Plus the tremolo (whammy bar) system was completely foreign to me, and when I tried to use it, the whole guitar went out of tune. Luckily that happened before I went out on stage, and Aaron was able to re-tune it before I had to play.

I was difficult and I was really nervous, but luckily the audience was very cool and supportive and we all had a good time. It was a cool experience, but I was very happy to have Buck back on the next gig.

-Richie

Great read Richie, thanks for sharing! It's Michele, and I was wondering what was going through your head that night. I can't imagine. I'm sure you must have been pulled in every which direction, but you definitely pulled it off well. It sounded great, and you're right, the crowd was really backing you. Heard lots of good comments, so hats off to you!

Michele

Yes, very interesting read.

Richie, I was at another Buck-less show back in 2005 when Allen was still in the band and you were still on bass. It was out in Monroe, WA and Buck had food poisoning or the flu or something like that and couldn't make the show. I remember that you stepped up to play guitar and sing most of Buck's parts (like this recent gig) and Allen played bass instead of you.

That was the first time I'd seen you play anything other than bass, and I remember my wife and I being extremely impressed with your versatility.

Can you recall what that experience was like and how it compared this recent one? Did you have more/less time to prepare, etc?

That time was way harder.

I had a week to prepare for that, but I had never played any of those songs on guitar at that point.

I had to use Buck's guitar all night and his rig, which was difficult for me. His stuff is set up for the way he plays so naturally it was difficult for me.

Also, Allen playing bass made it a little tougher as well. Aside from doing my own practicing, I had to also teach Allen a lot of bass parts, so I had my hands full on those gigs. I remember we did two of them. The first one was very rough, and the 2nd was a lot better.

This recent time was a breeze by comparison. I was the only person that had to change parts, everyone else played what they usually play. Plus I had my own gear, and I play most of those songs on guitar already. I think I was able to focus on getting the parts down this time as opposed to last time which was more of a juggling act.



Last edited by Richiesos on Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:54 am; edited 1 time in total

that is some SERIOUS dedication!
THANKS for sharing all the 'inside' specs on how you made that happen
(and for being so cordial backstage in Wausau, WI on 8.8.9)

Awesome... whenever I learn songs just before I show I totally beef it, but then again it'll be my bandmates suggesting a really random cover of a song I've never heard xD.

Quick question though about Black Blade... is the first chord (before the C) a Fsus2 or sus4? Or something else entirely?

And is the third chord in the Dmin part of Buck's Boogie a fully or half diminished 7?

Sorry to bother you but I'm itching to know just for my own curiosity xD

Richiesos wrote:

That time was way harder.

I had a week to prepare for that, but I had never played any of those songs on guitar at that point.

I had to use Buck's guitar all night and his rig, which was difficult for me. His stuff is set up for the way he plays so naturally it was difficult for me.

Also, Allen playing bass made it a little tougher as well. Aside from doing my own practicing, I had to also teach Allen a lot of bass parts, so I had my hands full on those gigs. I remember we did two of them. The first one was very rough, and the 2nd was a lot better.

I have to wonder why Allen didn't play guitar and you bass and vocals that time?

Allen didn't play guitar that time because he didn't feel up to handling Buck's parts. Allen is a great blues-rock player, but Buck's playing is from another planet so it's a lot harder to cover. I think they had me play the Buck parts because I'm the resident music nerd and I'm obsessive enough to try to get the parts as close as I can.

Now to answer the music questions:

Black Blade: That's just F C F C.... It's technically F/C C F/C C. Since the bass is already playing C, the guitar can drop the bass notes. You could also call, the first chord a Csus4, but F C F C is probably closer to what Buck is playing.

Buck's Boogie Dm Part: This is another place where it could technically be a few different things. I'm playing B D F. That's a dimished triad. A fully dimished chord would be B D F Ab. A half dimished chord would be B D F A. If you try them in the progression you'll get interesting results. BOC isn't really a band that plays too many 4 note chords outside of a 7th chord (as is the case with all great rock bands. Chords with too many notes just sound wrong in rock.) I just play a B dimished triad, 3 notes, not addressing the 7th at all. Here's where it gets interesting. If you held a gun to my head and said "YOU MUST PLAY A 4 NOTE CHORD HERE" I would play a G7/B. I think that that chord is more accurate to that section than either fully diminished or the half diminished.

The G7/B is G B D F. Adding the G to the B D F sounds more rock n roll than the Ab or the A in my opinion.

There ya go...long winded answer from the resident music nerd.

-Richie

Richie,
I just watched this show on youtube and wanted to tell you that YOU
simply amaze me with everything you do. I just wish I could have
been there for this gig but I live in sucky Ohio. I do hope that if there
ever is another Buckless show, that I'm there to witness it. You are
very special!!!
John

Thanks! I was amazed that someone put the enite show up on the web!

-Richie