This week's #ThisDealInHistory is taken from our performance at UVM on Sept 25, 2004.
This gig carries a little weight as it was our first show back from our self-imposed nine-month hiatus. We chose to take this break in order to give us a chance to reset and to work towards developing new stylistic approaches and musical ideas on stage and in the studio. We had begun to feel that our creative development was stalling a little bit and we didn't want to find ourselves in a musical rut, so we stepped away temporarily.
The break served us well and we came back with fresh concepts and sounds, paving the way for what we consider to be the "third stage" in the New Deal's creative development.
The start of this clip offers a perfect example of what we were now shooting for - less emphasis on strictly dance grooves and more emphasis on taking chances, varying tempos and moods as well as expanding our palette of "sonic scenery".
The jam fades in with an ambient dub jam complete with a spaced-out synth melody and lots and lots of empty spaces. We were consciously holding ourselves back from constantly hammering away at the groove, instead preferring to try and create something special out of sparser musical scenes. When we do eventually enter into a dancier groove at 2:08, it's far more intimate and (to me, at least) part of a fresher harmonic and sonic realm that wasn't spiritually available to us before the hiatus.
I also began to place a lot more faith in my "Random Patch Generation" concept, where i basically close my eyes, pick a random sound from one of my keyboards and just start playing it, tweaking it along the way until i'm satisfied. This concept has spawned innumerable memorable jams throughout the years, directing my performance creativity to areas i never would have thought of going otherwise.
It's tough to pin down specifics sections in this jam that point towards our development - rather it's the overall vibe of the performance. We're looser, freer, less concerned about what's happening or what will happen - preferring to play in the moment and let it all sort itself out somehow. For example, from 7:25 to the start of "Back Off" at 8:51 you'll notice that we're just sort of ambling our way into the track. Dan plays the trigger cue at 8:18 but before that there's no real hint that we're making our way to "Back Off". There's no definitive build, no "hey, check this out - we're now going to consciously develop this transition until we hit the song". Of course, we continued to utilize that concept throughout our jams, but we decided that it won't be the only way to get into a song. In this instance we repeat half of the lick over and over until it sounds like the record needle's stuck, and then boom we're into the main part of the song.
For those keeping score at home, at 9:06 i mess up and go to the key change a whole section early - hey, it was nine months since i had played the track last! I guess that's what you get when you never rehearse...
Check out the start of the "Back Off" jam at 9:49 - it's just me and Darren taking it wherever we're feeling. He wants to stop playing the groove at 10:07 and just hit the snare occasionally for a couple bars? Cool. He wants to bring it back and hit some shots here and there? Cool. Dan wants to come in for one note every two bars? Cool. It makes the section where we all join back in at 10:57 that much more meaningful. The transition back in at 12:07 is basically a cool drum roll from Darren with Dan repeating that half a line again until we just jump right back in to the main track. -Jamie
