Fellow musician Mark Davis and I had our debut as the Davis Leigh Duo last night at the College Hill Coffee Company. Mark plays guitar and does the other half of the lead singing in 99iQ, one of the two bands in which I play. Both Mark and I would like to play more than the others seem to care to play, so we've talked off and on about doing a semi-acoustic, quiet duo.

Last night, we gave it a shot.

It was definitely different. I'm used to playing in bands, where there are generally at least four people on stage and a moderate-to-large amount of volume produced. I'm certainly not used to latte machines that are as loud as us. I'm not used to the sparseness of the instrumentation (though Devon came by about halfway through the first set and brought a conga drum to give us some percussion accompaniment).

Rule One: the sparser and quieter the group, the more important all the individual parts are, and the more mistakes stick out. I was playing my fretless acoustic bass most of the time, and found that I really had to pay attention to my fingering. Being a little flat or a little sharp was far too noticeable.

But... overall, those who were listening said that it sounded good (and yes, those I asked would have told me if that wasn't the case, too -- at least most of them.) And we'll get better as we do this more often. Also, coordinating two people for practices, gig dates, and everything else is one hell of a lot easier than coordinating four or six.

So we'll see. Hey, if nothing else, it'll give me practice (and more material) for Mpls guitar circles.

From: [identity profile] tshaile.livejournal.com


Sounds like a good direction from a couple perspectives. Enjoy!

From: (Anonymous)


I did not note any serious problems from where I was sitting (though Mark's vocals could have been a bit louder).

Joel

From: [identity profile] jbru.livejournal.com


Sounds fun! I'll look forward to hearing the new material next time you're up this way!

From: [identity profile] haniaw.livejournal.com


That sounds like fun. How cool was it playing with Devon?

From: [identity profile] sleigh.livejournal.com


Playing with Devon was a lot of fun -- he does very well!

From: [identity profile] sleigh.livejournal.com


Thanks, Joel -- I'll remember that (and you can tell us mid-set if that's ever the case again!) Though perhaps it should have been that my voice could have been a bit softer... :-)

From: [identity profile] sleigh.livejournal.com


Basically, we took two lists -- tunes that Mark sometimes does solo, tunes that I do sometimes solo -- and added a few tunes from 99iQ's list, and came up with a quick and dirty couple of set. The list below is "tunes on which Mark sings lead" followed by "tunes on which I sing lead" -- there was no order, we alternated who sang lead and the person singing lead chose the next tune.

I suspect next time we play, there will be several different songs in the list...

Mark's leads:
Don’t Stand So Close To Me - Police
Brilliant Disguise - Springsteen
King of Pain - Police
Losing My Religion - REM
Refugee - Petty
I’m A Believer - Monkees
Key West Intermezzo - Mellencamp
So Lonely I Could Cry - WIlliams
Joy To The World - 3 Dog Night
Imagine - Lennon
Continental Spare - (original) Davis
After The Gold Rush - Young
Pop Song - (original) Davis
Dock of the Bay - Redding

Steve's leads:
Lawyers, Guns, & Money - Zevon
Roland The Thompson Gunner - Zevon
Hi-Tech Rich Guy Blues - (original) Leigh
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
Galileo - Indigo Girls
Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
Blackbird - Beatles
Dear Prudence - Beatles
Old Apartment - BNL
Consequence Free - Great Big Sea
Long Silken Hair - R. Thompson
Hallelujah - Cohen
Time of Your Life - Green Day
Last Dance - Petty
Behind Blue Eyes - Who

From: [identity profile] madtruk.livejournal.com


This set list kicks ass.

Yeah, I know, not very witty or literate, but hey, there ya go.

I bet you had fun!

From: [identity profile] sleigh.livejournal.com


We did, we did! And yeah, I think overall it's a pretty good set list (though I'm gonna talk to Mark about "Joy To The World" -- I loath that song...)

From: [identity profile] jdonat.livejournal.com

set list...


Everly Brothers stuff? Depends on how your voices work together.... I know, that goes back a long way, but I always loved the harmonies...

From: [identity profile] ontology101.livejournal.com

Loving...


...that you are singing Warren Zevon (a personal favorite) and quite happy to see you are doing "Personal Jesus."

Any chance the Davis Leigh Duo will be playing Chili Con?!

A.
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