Camelback Trout Sighting

Well, you may remember that we mentioned the Song of the Camelback Trout last week - Wednesday night rolled around and Jeff and I performed (ready or not, here we come). And it was a lot of fun. Thanks to those of you who came out, and thanks to the Westminster Student Association for giving us this opportunity. For those who might have missed it, here's a couple of photos (courtesy of Janine!):

Christian & Marilyn on guitars/vocals

Jeff on djembe & Bert on bass

The whole thing was an awful lot of fun. We made some mistakes, the sound setup wasn't perfect, etc, but overall things went well. I didn't break a string or lose my voice; Jeff is great on drums, and Bert is simply amazing on the fretless bass. There is always something special about being able to make music together - to share it with others makes it even more special.

Speaking of sharing, Ryan K actually recorded it (thanks man!) - nothing fancy, just capturing the main output to disk (which means we didn't pick up the bass very well). If you'd like to give it a listen, it's available here (77 MB). That said, please keep in mind that it's very rough - there's no editing, so you get to hear us try and remember what to say in between songs, you'll here me flub and start over, the levels aren't set real well (one of the drum mics is too hot; the bass is too low), etc.

In other words, it'll sound like you're listening to a bootleg. And if you can handle all that, you just might hear the camelback trout singing somewhere in the background...

Couple of technical notes-to-self as I've listened to the recording and reflected on the experience:

• a) there's a big difference between playing a couple of songs in a talent show and actually being the whole show - I'm generally quite comfortable playing in front of people; but I was much more nervous than I expected and actually found myself worrying while I was playing (trying not to forget lyrics, trying to remember what comes next, etc). And that causes everything to tighten up a bit, rather than flowing naturally.
• b) I was actually pretty pleased with how we sounded live (especially considering we didn't really have time to practice).
• c) after listening to is on tape, I wish we would have had more time to practice - if I could actually keep on tempo and not speed-up all the time, I think these would actually be some pretty decent songs.

Well, there's lots more that could be said, but there's no point boring you. What we'd really like to do is find a way to get 4-6 hrs in a studio and just record the whole thing all over - a couple of passes for each song, trying to get it on tempo, well balanced, and tighter on the vocals (in a good way) - with the goal being to cut a decent recording that wouldn't be painful to listen to. But time is short, (and cash is even shorter), so I'm not sure how this could happen. But it sure was fun anyway, and Jeff and I would both like to find a way to do more of this in the future.

If anyone actually listens to the whole thing, I'd be interested in knowing which songs you like best, and which you like least (eg. if we had to drop a couple of tunes, which should they be?). Any feedback would be appreciated...