Mission 101 - Ride Shotgun With Us!

New Show Booked

If you look over to your left, you'll see that we have a new show booked this summer.  Come see us in Los Altos at Fiesta Vallarta on June 25th at 5:00 p.m.!

Not Gone... Not by a long shot....

Ok, so it may be noted that it's been quite a while since any new posts have come up.  It may also be noted that it's been quite a while since any shows have been listed.  Wow, life really throws fast ones at you sometimes.

So, if you remember from our last posting, Barrett was getting ready to get married.  The wedding was wonderful, and with the help of many friends and family it went off without any issues.... ok, may a couple of hitches here and there, but nothing earth shattering.  Half of Mission 101 (aka Shay), performed during the ceremony.  After the wedding, a relaxing honeymoon was enjoyed.

Next up was the holidays (thanksgiving, Christmas), and much family stuff was going on.  In fact, an increase in family sizes.  Shay's lovely wife was pregnant, and due to deliver in April.  So Shay took time off from music to focus on his family.  And in April, a new band member was born!  We welcomed Conor into our lives, on April 11th, 2009.

Ok, so back to normal, right?   WRONGO!!!!!  There must be some kind of band mate symetry going on, as Barrett is now getting ready to enter the state of fatherhood.  Barrett's new bride is now pregnant, and expecting on October 19th.

So all things considered, it's amazing we've even had a change to pick up guitars lately.  But we did do just that recently, and the music was just as invigorating as always.  We will be doing some shows this summer, and hopefully getting to some recording.

Nuptial Intermission

Just a quick update to let all our fans know that we WILL be back with more shows and more music very soon.

Barrett's wedding was a wonderful affair, and now he and his new wife are getting ready to leave on a much deserved honeymoon.  More to come in the NEAR future.

Last Show of the Summer!

Just a quick reminder to everyone, that Mission 101 will be playing this Saturday at Santana Row on the Park Valencia Stage.  So come and get your Mission 101 fix!  We will be taking a break after this show, due to Barrett's wedding and honeymoon, but we'll be back for more shows after that.

How the song evolves

We often get the question, "How do you go about writing a song?"  Well, the answer is different for every song with us.  Sometimes I come up with a guitar riff that sounds cool.  Other times, Shay has lyrics bouncing around his head.  And yet other times a song just seems to evolve on its own.  A case in point is the song, "Never In A Million Years."

When Shay first wrote the song, it was really a quiet, simple song.  One acoustic guitar, one voice.  In fact, our first round of recording was exactly that.  One guitar, one voice.  And it sounded good, but it was missing.... something.  I worked and worked on that song, and it just wasn't right to my ears.  The song was simplistic, but it was almost too much so.  It needed something else.

Enter Tim and Heather into the picture.  At the time of the recording, I was living downstairs from them.  They came down to listen to what I was working on, and I started hashing out ideas with them, while Tim and I enjoyed a little Scotch.  I mentioned I was thinking about doing something with the electric guitar on it to fill it out.  I was going to leave it at that, but Tim said, "Hey, just hook it up, and let's see how it sounds."  So we did.  And I started playing this riff on the electric that mimicked Shay's guitar, but much dirtier sounding.  Wow!  Suddenly the song sounded COMPLETELY different.  Harder.  Edgier.  At Tim's insistence, we recorded the guitar track down.  But now, the song was pretty even musically across the whole song, but Shay's vocals kick up a notch on the last verse.  Well, then the guitar should do that also.  So, we ran a guitar solo over top of Shay's last verse.  That really jumped up the grittiness of the last verse.

Next up, was a bass line.  I had a bass line all ready for the previous incarnation, but with the changes we had made, it no longer fit.  So I pull out the bass, and did a quick "How about this?"  Tim, Heather and I worked over it till we found something that worked.  By this time, I was getting a bit tired.  I was ready to just call it a night, and record the bass the next night.  But Tim was insistent.  "Record it NOW, before you forget it!"  He was right of course, so we did lay down the bass line.

It was at this point, that I realized that it was very very late at night, and Tim and I had finished 3/4 of the bottle of Scotch.  I was instantly worried that everything we had recorded would turn out to be just drunken musical ramblings.  Well, there was nothing for it at that point.  Sleep was needed.

The next morning I got up (curiously without the expected hangover), and the very first thing I did was turn on the computer and listen to last nights recording.  I was in complete shock, as it was as good to my sobered ears as it was the night before.  In one night of fooling around with ideas, the song had practically evolved on it's own, and had turned into something neither Shay nor I had previously envisioned.

While we don't use electric guitars during our show, I think that that hard edginess to the song now comes though in our live performances.  The song spoke.  We listened.

Just a bit of sillyness...

Ok, so this won't be the most poignant post of all time.  But here is what Mission 101 would look like if they were on the Simpsons:

Silly I know.  I found a Simpson character creator a while back, and in a moment of boredom, I played around with it.  Now if I could just get us to guest spot on the show...

Hectic Weekend

Well it's certainly been the musical weekend for both Barrett and I. First off on Friday night I headed up to Berkeley to attend a show by Hans York and produced by my good friend Phil Cohen from CoYo Productions. It was a great show in the quaint community run theatre/coffee house 'Freight and Salvage' with many happy fans treated to an excellent show from Hans. Han's new CD 'Young Amelia' is well worth checking out - cool, melodic, mellow and very polished. You're likely to hear it on KFOG as it's getting good airplay there over the past few months, especially on Acoustic Sunrise every Sunday morning.

On Saturday Mission 101 again played Santana Row in the same location and boy did we enjoy it! Again the location was hot, hot, hot, and shade was again of paramount importance. That said the show went very well if a little quiet. The location in particular is rather transient so we tend to find ourselves now keeping it very relaxed, very mellow and laid back as that better suits the mood of folks in that venue. By the end of the show we were both pretty tired. It's amazing how three hours of performing in 80deg heat can drain you. Regular water breaks and sit downs are a must.

On Sunday there was one final excursion for the week. This time we headed south to Salinas to try out for a backup band opportunity for Randy Travis who will be playing in the area in a few weeks time. It was a akin to a small-town American Idol experience for both of us. First off the auditions were held in a large downtown theatre attended by two hundred or so locals. After casing the joint for an hour or so and getting a feel for the venue, the stage and the audience, we headed back stage to sign in and await our turn. Backstage was fun to say the least as we were surrounded by fellow performers of every age and music genre. There were young kids with their moms, teenagers, old fogies in their latter years and Mission 101 somewhere there in the middle. When our time came to perform we went on stage and plugged in. After a brief introduction from the host for the show, we kicked straight into 'Riding Shotgun' - our up-tempo crowd favorite.

The whole thing was over in minutes and we were shuttled off stage to make space for the next. All performers were allowed to do one song, and having finished ours I packed up and headed back to the Valley for the remainder of my weekend with my family. The only problem was the traffic which had me stuck on the freeway for almost two hours.

On arriving home Barrett informed me that we didn't make it to the next level of the competition. Apparently the judges were looking for uber-country type music and we certainly don't fall into that category - I think I'm happy to say.

So that's if folks, next weekend is quiet but there is a show in Santana Row again during the week. I'm sure Barrett will update the schedule as soon as we have details. Until then, once again, thanks for riding shotgun with us!

Mission 101

Upcoming Show...

Just to let y'all know, we have a show coming up this Saturday in Satana Row again.

Santana Row - Park Valencia

368 SANTANA ROW
SAN JOSE CA 95128
Park Valencia is located near Maggiano's Italian Restaurant and Starbucks

The show starts at 1:00pm and goes til 4:00pm. If you happen to be in town, we'd love to see you drop by to join us for a set or two.

Santana Row Show - July 5th

  So we played Santana Row again but this time it was a new location known as Park Valencia - located near Maggiano's Italian Restaurant and Starbucks. The good news is that it was a good location with a proper stage. The bad news is that it was the day after Independence Day and everybody seemed a little bit tired - almost in recovery mode. To add to that we had a last minute notice that we would be sharing our mic with the organizers of a dog parade - yes folks, a dog parade.

The day itself was hot, hot, hot. Shade was an imperative and we managed to wrangle a large sun umbrella from one corner of the stage to another and that at least afforded me the quality shade I needed for that Irish skin of mine. Barrett was suitably attired for the day with a classic Fedora and that did the trick for him. 

As per our previous gig at Santana Row, the set up was quick and easy and the sound check with the system we have took no more than five minutes of Barrett and I ranting miscellaneous nothings into the mic...two, two...one, two, two...

Once all was setup, we took a quick bio-break and returned for the start of the show, which of late we've started with 'Alone In My Room'. From there we went straight into 'The Journey' and then a few more standard Mission 101 numbers. In the whole show, we tried only one new song and that was a cover - 'Mrs Robinson' from Simon and Garfunkel. It was the last song we did and despite some intial audio problems where I couldn't hear my own voice, we managed to get a handle on it and finish it out quite tightly. Trying a new song is always problematic.

You can practice only so much before you gotta throw your hat over the fence and do it in front of an audience. The problem with that however is this is when you discover a new set of problems and difficulties not revealed during normal practice. For example, in doing this, we both found the tempo to be tricky - I wanted it faster, but Barrett thought slower was better - he was right. Similary, the harmonies of the opening bar are deceptively simple until you do it in front of fifty or so people in 90 degree heat when you can't hear your partner that well. All in all, it went well, but there's room for improvement and personally I cannot wait to sink my teeth into it again in a few weeks time - same location.

Overall the show went well, but the need to break for the dog show folks kinda cramped our style. That  too is something we're learning to contend with. The key things we took away from this show is that we gotta tweak our set given the audience and it's state of mind. I feel we should have played more mellow material. On the technical side of affairs, Barrett noticed that we should place our mics closer to the front of the stage the next time. Aparently this is an old trick of the greats - don't distance yourself from your audience. Get as close as you can.

The really great thing about the show however was the attendance of so many friends and acquaintances. We really do appreciate folks taking the time to come and support us and it really makes a difference getting such positive feedback on the show and requests for songs folks have come love from the CD - Sky Blue. So, to you folks - a big thank you from both Barrett and I.

In the larger scheme of things, we have a few more gigs lined up in Santana Row in July and August and possibly the Bad Ass Cafe in Monterey. Then we go quiet for a while as Barrett and Tasha will be having their wedding and honeymoon. Following the wedding, we'll be back in the saddle doing more gigs and starting to work once again on the next CD. Hopefully, we'll get a few samplers of the new material available on this site for you to check-out once they're ready.

So, until then amigos, thank you for Riding Shotgun with Mision 101

Mission 101 Goes Live!

At last folks, we're starting to rock'n'roll on the promotional aspects of Mission 101. It's been quite the few years in the making but at long last we're leaving the safe domains of the practice rooms on to the stages of the Bay Area. Recent gigs in San Jose (Santana Row) and Monterey (Bad Ass Cafe) have been great successes and there are more to come. So, please do take the time to bookmark the blog and drop in and leave a comment whenever the mood takes you!

Mission 101