Tag: michael doubrava

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wwsp horse

We have a new band mascot: horse head by Carla Hayden, photo by Michael Doubava.  Seems appropriate. It feels like we are in a new phase of the band. Hard to pinpoint, but most likely it’s just that we’ve played a number shows together in a short span of time, and to my ears, we sound better than ever. We have added new songs to our ever-evolving set of music and we have a finely-honed core of songs from 10+1 that have really emerged anew in our “stripped down” guitar, drums, bass and percussion line-up.

Last night at the Red Line Tap was just head-opening.  Carla and I sang with such confidence, and the sound onstage was tight, intimate and powerful. We opened with “Killing Place,” and it really set the tone for an intense set. By the time we got to “Fallen” our band was a wild, barely-contained tornado of sound. Rich and Tim played as one wild-ass drums/bass r&r unit. It was totally exhilarating. Afterwards, my whole body was jangling with a fiery energy.

I think it was the best we’ve ever sounded live onstage. It’s what we’ve often glimpsed in some of our rehearsals, this balance of discipline and wild abandon, all resting on a foundation of  fairly tightly constructed songs. It’s hard to write about, hard to describe, and maybe it can’t really be described at all. It was an “experience” and it seemed like everything. – Jammer

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images-1My good friend Michael Doubrava, photographer extraordinaire, left a voicemail after our Stones tribute show. “Jimmy, with every song you sing, you make the world a better place.” It was a nice thing to say. Maybe it was said tinged with a dollop of irony, or maybe not. But I do truly love the sentiment. And really, isn’t that why we do this thing?

When we sing and play music, when we band together, join our musical sensibilities for a song, a set of music, we are trying to create a vibration, a feeling, an energy, something bigger than ourselves. And by doing, we transform ourselves. And we hope that this energy, this vibration, this power can seep into other people’s consciousness. Maybe we inspire by example?

And it’s doesn’t really matter if the song is light or dark, the main thing is it real, is it heartfelt, is it well done? And when it works, there is love in the doing. So there is love. Love. And maybe this love can be given away, passed onto someone else. And yes, maybe in that way we can make the world a better place. It all might sound a little sappy and soft-hearted, but it’s certainly a worthy experiment. And gives us a reason to believe. – Jammer

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2013_01_26_GalleryCabaretThe never-ending city tour continues. Our first whitewolfsonicprincess show for 2013 was at the Gallery Cabaret last night. A pretty amazing little club, funky and sort of “bohemian;” which is just about the perfect setting for our band. We were on a bill with Christina Trulio and The Gunnelpumpers. Lots of cool sounds.  It was a great mix of music. We were smack dab in the middle of the bill, book-ended by Christina’s gorgeous “cowboys and brazilian” songs and the Gunnelpumpers over-the-top, improvisational madness. When it was our turn, we played a tight set, my new Seagull acoustic guitar (Love that expert Canandian build quality!) sounded big and full, and our bass player’s new fret-less bass added a smooth shimmer to our songs. We were all inspired by the sound on stage. The Cabaret is a very lively room. When Douglas Johnson joined us on Clevinger bass, it pumped up the adrenaline level a notch or two. Carla’s vocals were soulful and resonant. Rich backed it all up on drums, adding an extra, big-time wallop on that little wooden stage. The crowd was friendly, attentive and very generous with lots of words of praise. Good vibes all around. An excellent start to the new year!  – Jammer

Postscript: The Desiccated Old Blackbird, talking about our show last night: “Jimmy, it was great seeing you without that fucking hat!”

 

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This portrait of the Lovely Carla, whitewolfsonicprincess’ lead singer, came out of a working session with the inspiring and gifted photographer Michael Doubrava. We enlisted Michael to take some photos of the band, and this “out-take” emerged from one of those sessions. The strange twinning of  images seems so gothic and spooky. For some reason it makes me think of Edgar Allan Poe and Lenore. Black & White Cool! Thank you Michael! – Jammer