Longing for the day ...

The Genre Benders are born

Well, after a long time discussing, planning and figuring stuff out, The Genre Benders had their first rehearsal/bash in a live setting two nights ago. Of course, various members have been writing and recording bits and pieces for a while, but Wednesday was the first time the stuff had been played by real people in real time ...

The lineup was me: drums and vocals; Matt Mikkelsen, electric and lap steel guitars; Peter Baker, keyboards, sax and backing vocals; and Peter Retchford, bass and backing vocals. We started out with a five-minute Blues Jam and then had a look at Sammy Hagar's "There's Only One Way to Rock" before getting stuck into an extended jam on "Dancing With the Stones", then "Mighty Fine Day", "Heart's With You" and finally, "The Liar", which is a great song the origins of which I know nothing about.

The purpose of this jam was to try to pull together a 45-minute set for the Q-Music Big Sound Artist Showcase 2006, for which we've applied but have not yet been accepted. It's a good excuse to play something real for a bit, whether or not we get the gig this year. We'll need to move quickly to pull it together if we get the gig.

The Genre Benders also have their own MySpace site with artwork, and I'm working on a website at http://www.genrebenders.com, though this is not up yet. I'm slowly working my way through everything we need, with next priority being a drummer ... Volunteers?