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Gear Spotting (what are the "pro's" playing?)


daBowsa

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Lawrence Gowan - I saw his rig up close a couple of years ago, and if memory serves me I'm sure he had a Roland RD600 mounted in there.

 

Hell of a good player, and nice guy.

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Yep, as of late last year he was still using the RD600... not sure if it's still there, but it probably is.

 

He also had a Roland VK-8M mounted on top of the RD, with the front 'wood' section (around/under the drawbars) removed.

 

Also, looking back it seems that there were 2 XV-5080's and a pair of JD-8080's in the rack.

 

He's definitely a nice guy. He grew up a few miles down the road from me, and he's been an inspiration since his first album came out... y'know, Scarborough boy makes good. :thu:

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Sven, you're just on today aren't you? That pentagram tatoo bit was funny as hell (I still gotta get me one... :P )

 

And yeah, with all the keyboard players that stand behind and to the right/left of the drums, we could use some interesting people. I mean, a spinning stand is okay, but Gene Simmons flys over the audience spitting blood! Are we gonna let a bass player be cooler than us guys?

"...Keytar in a heavy metal band is nothing more than window dressing" - Sven Golly

 

Cursed Eternity - My Band

Dick Ward - My Me

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Dick, ever since I saw Tommy Lee's spinning drum cage, I've always wanted to do something similar... alas, I can't seem to find the right gig to get me strapped into a hydraulic crane with a 400 lb. Hammond organ that rises off the stage and spins... :rolleyes:

 

One reason I love my gig with Classic Albums Live is doing gigs like our "Wish You Were Here" show... 3 keyboard players and a guitarist, all lined up across the front of the stage, in front of everyone else. Sweeeeeeeeet. :thu:

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d172/SvenGolly/WYWH_Phoenix/CAL_2005_09_22_WYWH_Phoenix001.jpg

 

(a poor picture, taken from back stage right... but hopefully it conveys the sheer keyboard dominance... ;) )

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Cool. Musical family. I used to know his brothers from the bar curcuit in the late 80's. Don't know if they still play. I also knew quite well one of Gowan's keyboard guys Peter at the time - we used to swap DX7 patches. I loan my rig one time to Larry's brother one time.

 

I remember sharing a stage with Peter's band (w/Gowan's bro's) in the late 80's - he had an Ensoniq Mirage when they first came out, I was blown away when Peter played that sampled piano patch.

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Also, I've seen Styx twice with Gowan and I think the spinning keyboard is very cool. It's great, the audiance gets to see him from all angles, and he does a great job of timing the spinning and playing.

 

It's great to see the keyboards up front and part of the action, also looks like alot of fun.

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I think it was Fishbone that played on Saturday Night Live and their keyboardist had a stand that rotated. Not automatically, but he could spin his keyboard on the stand. He would run around with it, fantastic stuff!

"...Keytar in a heavy metal band is nothing more than window dressing" - Sven Golly

 

Cursed Eternity - My Band

Dick Ward - My Me

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That would be great - until the puking starts...

 

Edit: my vision is not of a 2d rotating disk, but of a spinning 3d hamsterball like thing. fre rotation in any of the 3 dimensions. That would explain why in my vision the puking started pretty early...

I'm just saying', everyone that confuses correlation with causation eventually ends up dead.
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Originally posted by Phred:

Edit: my vision is not of a 2d rotating disk, but of a spinning 3d hamsterball like thing. fre rotation in any of the 3 dimensions. That would explain why in my vision the puking started pretty early...

Hmmm... this looks like it's better suited to a nubsauce playing a keytar ;) , but I see what you're saying:

 

http://www.picnicsinc.com/chicago-picnics/picnic-entertainment/images/2003/spaceball.jpg

 

I dunno if Cursed Eternity plays stages big enough for this... whaddaya think, Dick? ;)

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Lol, not yet we don't, but I assure you, when we do, I'll be having all sorts of crazy shit. Ever seen X-Japan?

 

Check This Out , it's a drum solo, but holy crap, it's amazing looking. I was thinking something along these lines but with more explosions.

 

Explosions are always good :D

"...Keytar in a heavy metal band is nothing more than window dressing" - Sven Golly

 

Cursed Eternity - My Band

Dick Ward - My Me

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Yeah Sven - that's the ticket. Man, that would be fun belted in spinning around with a B3 in there with you - break out the gravol though.
I'm just saying', everyone that confuses correlation with causation eventually ends up dead.
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Yup, sure do!

 

The music video's job is to make people visually stimulated while inticing them to buy the CD. The live show is basically the same. I've never been to a concert where I walked away thinking 'man, I sure wish GWAR didn't wear those costumes' or 'boy, KISS sure overdid it' or 'man, The Who are too loud, completely ruins the experience'.

 

Anyway, I stand by my synth brass. There's a lot of keyboard sounds that I feel that a lot of people use in a very cheesy way, and synth brass is one of those.

 

 

So yeah, you summed it up. Synth brass is lame, explosions are cool.

"...Keytar in a heavy metal band is nothing more than window dressing" - Sven Golly

 

Cursed Eternity - My Band

Dick Ward - My Me

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Originally posted by Dick Ward (Alias: Mr. Pretentious):

Anyway, I stand by my synth brass. There's a lot of keyboard sounds that I feel that a lot of people use in a very cheesy way, and synth brass is one of those.

 

So yeah, you summed it up. Synth brass is lame, explosions are cool.

Synth brass is one of my favourite sounds! I was basically just saying that both are "in your face"... (I like explosions, big lighting rigs, etc. too.) Hmm, how can you use a sound in a cheesy way?

 

(I mean, the lead synth on "The Final Countdown" is more or less synth brassy...)

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And The Final Countdown is cheesy as hell :P I still love it though.

 

Naah, if I want in your face it's gonna be a huge orchestra hit, maybe some really intense strings, a pipe organ, that sort of thing. I get what you mean though :P

"...Keytar in a heavy metal band is nothing more than window dressing" - Sven Golly

 

Cursed Eternity - My Band

Dick Ward - My Me

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Originally posted by Dick Ward (Alias: Mr. Pretentious):

And The Final Countdown is cheesy as hell :P I still love it though.

 

Naah, if I want in your face it's gonna be a huge orchestra hit, maybe some really intense strings, a pipe organ, that sort of thing. I get what you mean though :P

I don't call it cheesy, I call it awesome! Cheesy means cheap and nasty! How is a big fat analogue synth lead cheap and nasty?!

 

Yeah, I like orchestra hits and pipe organs too. Nothing better than the bottom pedal to shake the room, too.

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  • 1 month later...

I saw Dr. John and Marcia Ball saturday night. Here is the lowdown on the gear I was able to see:

 

Marcia: Motif 8. She played with her legs crossed the whole time. That can't be easy or comfortable.

 

Dr. John: Steinway and a B3. Interestingly, he didn't use the typical L-type set up, but had both boards opposing one another. Not easy to play both at the same time that way, but he did it (no surprise). I saw a Leslie on stage, but wasn't close enough to get any more details.

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Last week (june 20), Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band were on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Ringo's keyboard player was playing a Kawai MP8, which I thought was cool because I have a MP9500, and just purchased an MP4, which should arrive via Fed Ex tommorow. You don't see many Kawai's being used by the pros as opposed to Roland, Korg and Yamaha, but maybe they're starting to get some mindshare.

 

I was thinking of getting a Roland RD700sx or Yamaha S90, but because I mainly use computer samplers (Kontakt and Gigastudio), got a second Kawai because of the midi features (4 programable zones, etc.). But what actually got me to pull the trigger on my worn out credit card was the price. The MP4 is being discounted to about $1100. Well, now I've got to sell my previous back up keyboard, my Yamaha P80.

 

Now I'm going to swear an oath on my credit card that I'm not going to buy any more sample libraries, keyboards, etc. for at least a year....well, except for a few small items I need.

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Which keyboard player? The All Starr Band is due in my town July 9 and the marquee says that he'll have Edgar Winter AND Rod Argent. Who was with him on Leno?

"In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome.

So God helped him and created woman.

 

Now everybody's got the blues."

 

Willie Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

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Originally posted by Mr. Nightime:

Which keyboard player? The All Starr Band is due in my town July 9 and the marquee says that he'll have Edgar Winter AND Rod Argent. Who was with him on Leno?

Hmm...I'm not sure, but if I had known it may have been Edgar Winter or Rod Argent, I would have payed a whole lot more attention.

 

Just to mention, the two songs he did on Leno were With a Little Help From My Friends, and What Goes On, which is another old Beatles tune Ringo sang on.

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  • 2 months later...
Originally posted by cjsm:

Originally posted by Mr. Nightime:

Which keyboard player? The All Starr Band is due in my town July 9 and the marquee says that he'll have Edgar Winter AND Rod Argent. Who was with him on Leno?

Hmm...I'm not sure, but if I had known it may have been Edgar Winter or Rod Argent, I would have payed a whole lot more attention.
Rod Argent is known to play a MP8 and he also played a MP9500 during the recent Zombies tour.

 

From the Kawai website:

" Having just completed the Ringo Starr All Starr Tour of the US for 2006, I wanted to say thanks to all at Kawai for the performance of the MP8 that I used. It played and sounded great. Not only did I love it (after all I know it well and use it all the time!) but the keyboard tech, who looked after both me and Edgar Winter, and has worked with a lot of the world's biggest artists, was also knocked out. He pronounced the action to be the best and truest of any electronic keyboard he'd ever played. Thanks."

Rod Argent

http://www.kawaius.com/main_links/digital/06_dpmain.htm
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