Axes of Ego

Axes of Ego performing Willie Dixon’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” on June 14, 2014 at the Main Street Fair in Smithers, BC. Canada. Also, just before that, the tail end of our cover of CCR’s version “Midnight Special”.

When we do “I Ain’t Superstitious”, the lead vocal is usually performed by either Heather Harris or Laurette Tesla, neither of whom were available for the event. So, that duty fell to Brad Reddekopp this time.

We had an outdoor performance scheduled in Smithers for the evening of Friday, July 4, but it has been moved to Thursday, July 3 at Bovil Square in Smithers, BC .  (It was always going to be at Bovil Square.)  The Friday event was sponsored by the Town of Smithers but the new Thursday event is part of the kick-off of the Midsummer Music Festival, which begins the following day at the fair grounds in Smithers.

Unfortunately, Al Sebastian won’t be able to make it to that one but we’ll round up another drummer for the night.  Don’t worry, though, Al is still our number one drummer.

So, we hope to see you there!  The time and length of the performance are not yet confirmed but we’ll post an update as soon as we can.

• Update #1: the show will probably be from 6 pm to 8 pm.
• Update #2: Good news: Don Intermela has agreed to fill in on drums for this performance.

We’ll be performing from noon to 1:15 pm this Saturday, June 14, on Main Street in Smithers, BC, for the annual Main Street Festival.

There will be live music from 10 am to 4 pm and plenty of other events and activities so come on out and enjoy the day!

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So far, here’s what’s scheduled for us both definitely and tentatively this summer:

Smithers Street Fair
Bovill Square, Smithers, BC
Saturday, June 14
12:30 – 1:45pm

Summertime at Bovill Square
Bovill Square, Smithers, BC
Friday, July 4
5 – 7pm

Rock the North Benefit Jam
‘Ksan, Hazelton, BC
July 11 – 13
(times to be announced)

Kispiox Valley Music Festival
Kispiox Valley Community Grounds, Kispiox Valley, BC
July 25 – 27
(time to be announced)

Summertime at Bovill Square
Bovill Square, Smithers, BC
Friday, August 22
5 – 7pm

Man, there’s nothing like playing for people who are ready to have fun and know how to have it.  Such was our evening at the Bear Creek Lodge clients and staff party to celebrate a successful conclusion to their heli-skiiing season.  Tables were danced on, full forward flips were performed, libations and a wonderful array of hors d’oeuvre were consumed, and people danced to nearly every song and sang along with many.

A gentleman about our age, from Germany, expressed great pleasure at having travelled to British Columbia and hearing AC/DC songs performed live.  He also won the evening’s prize for the best (or, at least, most enthusiastic) dancer.

A very fun evening in a great setting.  Thanks, Joy, for hiring us.  🙂

Here are a few photos taken before we played and between sets.

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We had a long, intense band meeting last night and finally came to a consensus.  We’re ditching the classic rock and the original compositions in favour of transforming ourselves into a Donny Osmond tribute band.  Steve Kern will take over lead vocal/front man duties.  I’m sure you’re all just as excited as we are.  It’ll be breathtaking!

We only did six songs but they made us the closing act (when we’re the loud ones, they usually put us last 😉 ) in an evening that ran a little more than an hour-and-a-half and, from what I could tell what with the stage lights and all, everyone seemed to still be there when we played and they made nice approval noises after each song.  I hope plenty of money was raised for the Smithers art gallery.

Apparently, this event used to focus only on a certain type of music.  Show tunes and such, if I remember correctly.  These days, they’ve expanded their musical tastes significantly!  There was classical music, there was folk music, there was a choir, there were dancers of various genres and, whaddaya know, there was an aging rock & roll band: us.

It was pretty cool to have our alumnus, Heather Harris, join us for several songs with her blues harp.  Laurette won’t be able to make it to our gig at the Bear Claw Lodge on April 3rd but Heather happens to be willing and able to step in for it.  We’ll miss you for that one, Laurette.  Heather, thanks for coming out.

Here’s what we played:

• I Ain’t Superstitious (Willie Dixon; circa 1961)
• Shopping Blues (Brad Reddekopp; 1998)
• Heartache Tonight (Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bob Seger, J.D. Souther; 1983)
• Right (Brad Reddekopp; 2010)
• Keep On Lovin’ Me Baby (Colin James; 1990)
• Northern Sky (Brad Reddekopp; 1989)

By the way, a recording of “Northern Sky” featuring Brad Reddekopp and Theresa Forsyth is available on a compilation CD benefiting community radio in Prince George, BC.

http://cfisfm.com/new/index.php/11-frontpage/21-classic-rock-cd

Happy birthday to John de Boer, our most recently-recruited, second youngest, and probably our most versatile band member. Thanks for rocking, John. You’re enriching our sound while expanding your own horizons. 🙂

BTW, we started talking about playing AC\DC’s “It’s a Long Way To The Top” years ago but we knew it wouldn’t work without the pipes. John was the missing element that brought the idea into reality.

We’re playing at a benefit next month and they wanted a photo for the program.  They needed it this week. Well, we didn’t have a photo showing the complete current lineup so we hurriedly did a short photo shoot before practice last night. Here we are. Ain’t we pretty?

Here’s the rough demo version.  It’s mostly just intended for other band members but I like it enough to let others have a listen if they’re so inclined.  The bass, drums, and keyboard are fake (programmed on the Linux version of Melody Assistant – really nice shareware program for this sort of thing, by the way, owned/maintained by a small family company in France) and I didn’t have my electric guitars handy so I used an acoustic.