Lower Than Angels @ The Roxy

Finally, it was time for redemption. I've never had the opportunity to redeem my own sub-par performance on the same night. So, I was not about to let this chance go for naught. Once we were announced (around 11:45 p.m.) I started playing a C7 chord in reverse on my Line 6 to get a backward-masking sound and Wade came in with the famous drum beat for "Tomorrow Never Knows," the Beatles classic. Once the whole band came in it was ROCKING! We arranged the end of this song to dovetail into "Nothing Can Separate Us," a Beatle-esque tune that was co-written by Darren. Next, was "You Are The Greatest." Darren has a great guitar solo ala Rick Nielson from Cheap Trick at the end of the bridge.

After this we played my most recent composition entitled "Is Seeing Believing," which has a psychedelic verse with guitar loops and lots of vibe flowing into a Jon Brion-flavored chorus. We then fall back into psychedelica for the bridge/solo in half-time, which features Bob Harty (pictured below) unleashed on the electric guitar. He absolutely tore it up. He is amazing. We love playing this song because it ebbs and flows differently each time. It's very in-the-moment, which is exciting musically (for me, anyways).

After this we played "Mothra," a medium-tempo song with plenty of vibe and pulses in the verses, a rockin' chorus, and a great slide guitar solo by Bob Hartry at the end. Next, was "Goodbye," which is a mellow but (I think) powerful song with a Radiohead influence, and a killer guitar solo by Darren.

Finally, we played our finale, "Deliverer." This is an 8-1/2-minute epic reflecting my Queen and Beatles influence. During the second verse (admittedly, very "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds") Bob and Darren had a harmonic convergence that sounded so amazing with my swirly Leslie guitar sound. It was just like heaven, to coin a familiar phrase. At the end of the song, the music had risen to such a crescendo that the band was going crazy. To the left of me is Dean standing his bass on the ground in upright position, strumming all four strings. Behind me, Wade was thundering drum fills and cymbal crashes. To the right, Bob is laying on his back with his hand stretched out tweaking his delay pedal to create other-worldly sounds. His guitar is laying by his Divided by 13 amp feeding back. Darren is leaning in front of his amp amazed by what he is hearing. I soaked in the moment as long as I could before bringing the band in for a crash landing. Redemption.