Welcome to the return of This Deal In History (version 3.0)!
In the past, This Deal In History has featured a cut from a long-ago New Deal concert alongside comments and insights from Jamie. This edition will feature a concert from *last week* (11/10/19) in Asheville, NC - the first #TDIH to feature drummer Davide Di Renzo.
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Last week’s Asheville concert was an exciting one; it featured a lot of improvisation but it also featured what is quickly becoming a hallmark in TND3.0 - patience.
One thing that’s different about TND3.0 is our willingness to sit on the groove for a very long time, letting the body of the piece develop and bloom at its own pace. While the TND1.0 and 2.0 iterations had some very strong musical qualities we were never really known as a “patient” band. This has changed with the addition of Davide as our drummer. Davide’s strength behind the kit has contributed to the confidence that we’re showing in letting the music travel to its natural destination. It’s also showcasing the trust between us in allowing the music to get where it's going on its own.
This Asheville snippet exemplifies that musical trust and patience. It starts with a dark rhythmic mood interspersed with bursts of noise alongside MSG’s delay throws. I introduce a bubbling repeated line (00:18) that sets this cloudy-yet-patient tone before transitioning into a melancholy melody that complements the moodiness we’ve created so far (1:15). All the while Davide slowly, ever slowly builds intensity only to pull back and return to that bedrock groove.
You’ll notice that Dan is playing the same notes over and over - he’s in no hurry to get to the finish line and he’s trusting his bandmates to take the music where we all feel it going. Interesting note - at 1:55 he plays the trigger for “Technobeam” and then incorporates it into his bass groove (almost invisibly). He’s not calling for the song to be played immediately - it’s merely the clarion call to the future.
At 3:33 Davide takes it up a notch with a snare/tom-tom groove (bonus points for his “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” cowbell bit at 3:56). By 4:08 we’ve somehow managed to take this improvisational piece to a new level of intensity without changing much of anything. I’m still playing that moody lead line and Dan is still playing the same Technobeam-inspired bass line but *something* has brought the jam to a higher level.
4:39 - I join the Technobeam party and start playing the trigger cue. It’s at this exact moment that Dan decides to mess with his T-Beam rhythm. So, we’ve brought it one step closer to playing that song but at the same time we’ve suspended ourselves in the musical ether, comfortable with “letting it all hang out” (a favourite musical phrase of mine to describe TND3.0) and definitely in no hurry to arrive.
A full 2:30 of tension/build goes by before we finally release into Technobeam at 7:15 - but even then we’re not done. Davide decides to play a teaser-type drum groove over the first part, refusing to give in to the suspension, holding us back until he’s ready to let it all out with the full T-Beam groove at 08:21.
Just listening to this right now gives me chills. Enjoy.
-Jamie