This week's #ThisDealInHistory is taken from our March 6, 2003 show in Peterborough, ON.
The cut begins with a midtempo three-chord progression and an LFO-heavy Moog line. Some of the band's early influences (Thievery Corp, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Nightmares On Wax) are evident in these types of jams, and to this day you can hear these influences whenever we delve into this style.
At 1:12 we remain on the tonic note while we get our musical bearings. With the "Moonscraper" trigger cue played at 1:42, we begin adapting the feel and tempo to eventually get us there. I like the LFO nuttiness that i'm laying down on the Juno 106 - sounds to me like i've also thrown on the flanger pedal.
One can hear us attempting to expand (in breadth and depth) the ideas behind our builds and ramp-ups - something on our minds at this time as we collectively advanced and developed our musical personality.
We play around with the build until we drop into "Moonscraper" at 2:50. At times we ran the risk of playing this track too fast, but this version sits nicely and grooves along at what i feel to be a good tempo.
Great bass tone at the start of the jam at 4:15. Feels like it's pulling the screws out of the bass cabinet with all that low-end.
4:28 - One thing i miss from my old rig is my Fender Rhodes Electric Piano. The thing just became too bulky to carry around and while we all loved its tone, the reality was that as a touring band one has to find ways to make room for everything, and unfortunately the beloved "Number Four" (as we referred to it) had to get dropped. In this section the Rhodes is providing tight accompaniment to the squeaky Moog lead line. I'm also digging the really square bass tone that Dan's got going on underneath - we're in sympatico (sound-wise) in this section w the bass matching the Rhodes quite nicely.
I start playing a Rhodes lead line at 6:20 that quickly gets picked up by what i think is the Moog. An interesting harmonic mood shift occurs at 6:48 when i switch one or two notes in that melody line, opening up a whole new set of chord progressions for us to explore. Another mood shift at 7:46 - throw in a couple different notes and change up the chords again. It appears that Darren must have triggered "Glide" as i don't hear a cue in the bass or keys.
At 9:01 we hit "Glide" and from 9:45 onwards i play a bastardized version of Wham's "Careless Whisper" on the Moog, with everybody joining in the fun at 10:10. We're heading off into another jam at this point, but that's for another #TDIH! -Jamie
