Adventures of a Drummer ( Hanover Fist July 2010)

  7-3-10 I’ve had a couple of days off from music with time to rest physically and prepare mentally for this months schedule. Last Thursday at Quaker Steak was a summer event with a thunder storm before bike night which makes the bikes come later in the night as we play till eleven and do an encore. Friday night was Smoky’s in fountain city a very good crowd all night that loved the band, We played till one with two encore. A great way to finish a long month. June was good and July looks the same as tonight we play in pioneer Tennessee near Oneida at a huge campground and tomorrow a veterans celebration at Quaker Steak from two till four. We booked Loudon Parks for later that night but the production company changed their minds and wanted us to play at five. Not enough time to get from Knoxville to Loudon, next year..

7-5-10   The Defenders Bike club, which are law officers, raising money for down syndrome foundation and knows the band will bring in donations. This was a hot day in the sun for a hundred people and the band played great while keeping all the people entertained and happy till four. Hanover Fist has become a tight band again gaining popularity faster with Gary in the band. Now the band is tight on five sets of songs and more, learning new ones each week. The quest continues with the summer half over and many gigs left to play. Need to get some rest and prepare for next week. We have recorded some live sets from bike night with a new zoom recorder. I am mixing those songs for practice.

7-25-10 As expected the Friday night club gig was good for the first two sets of crowded tables, then play to the bar people. Saturday was about the same only a bigger club that had more bar people, The band played good, tired after two out door gigs in ninety-five degree weather. We put on a show to a few tables of friends and the rest of the night was watching sports on big TV while playing. Summer is slow in clubs that don’t have out door bars, these two clubs don’t and a couple others we are book in the next month. We will have to make contact, one club contacted William canceling the band for August due to low business. We understand and keep a check on theses venues that book months advance. The band has been lucky to pick up a gig in place of a cancelation. This is a slow down period as the season is past half way and people are waiting for the last month to give away the prizes. We have two more months of bike rallies which give away motorcycles at the end of the season. People will come back by the end of August for the September give a ways. In the meantime rest and relaxation is what I am doing to prepare for next month and another month of heavy schedule.… I have been recording live performances of the past two weeks. The best was the bike night at Quaker Steak, but the Spicy’s recordings had a good mix, but muffled, and the Rookies recording had great crowd participation for a club setting. I will make a bike night CD.

7-18-10 Mid-Summer and the Band is On Top.

 Popular that is. As we finished another weekend with great results. Wednesday at Clinton Highway Knoxville Harley Davidson was a dead crown as the heat has been ninety-five degrees with no rain in three weeks. It being mid season some people are coming later in the evening or not getting out. The band played good in the heat no problems. Being off Friday this week and schedule to play the Bobarosa Saloon Saturday, William got word from some fans that a different band was playing that night and called Jessie the first of the week, and yea, we were canceled. Bob and Jessie do this to us every year, we turned down two bookings for that night and Bobarosa doesn’t call to cancel you. But, William made a call to Gator Point Marina who wanted to book us for Saturday and had to leave a message. A day later the marina called me to confirm they still wanted us for that night. It worked out. The marina was one of the best gigs all summer. This is not the easy place to set up, but the crowd is so responsive that it is worth every effort. Many boats anchored in the water and many boats at the dock. Every one said we are the best band they have heard. We will be back at Gator Point Marina in August on our regular scheduled gig.

 Hanover Fist is picking up gigs for this fall from word of mouth and following up with e-mail confirmations rather than making phone calls. We have no promo package, no music demo, we have original CD’s left, but all our gigs come from referrals. Got to be doing something right. Next week starts four gigs in a row with Wednesday with Knoxville Harley Davidson, Quaker Steak on Thursday, Spicy’s on Friday and Rookies on Saturday. A great week of playing with the best gigs in Knoxville and the weather is going to be sunny and hot all week.

7-23-10 Two gigs down two to go, half way in a four gig week we finished the out door motorcycle rallies in ninety-five degree weather. High humidity and hot crowds kept Hanover Fist playing great. I can’t keep a dry shirt. The audience was big last night and singing with the band. We know hundreds of people and tell us how they missed us. That keeps us going and the show keeps getting tighter adding new songs while the bookings keep coming in. Hanover Fist is booked thru September and starting for the fall club circuit. Lets see how many clubs we can keep in business this winter. Bring large crowds to hear Hanover Fist play cover songs from the seventies, eighties, and nineties. We play current songs that are popular and or requested. That makes the band popular. William “cuts up” with people, Roger is always talking to someone, Gary looks good, I’m trying to stay out of trouble, and Les is just there. What ever needs to be done Les is there and we all pitch in and make sure the trailer is packed, tip the server and pay the piper.

 The next two gigs are indoors, late night gigs. Tonight at Spicy's in Powell, up the road from Quaker Steak and, being summer, the crowd may be small or come in late. Too hot to go out. The weather is to be one hundred degrees with humidity today and tomorrow. Good to be inside with air conditioning and a different sound than outdoors. Saturday night we play at Rookies in Cedar Bluff and again don’t expect a big crowd but it is fun playing on the stage at Rookies. After fifteen hundred people at Quaker Steak last night all the audiences will look small in the clubs. We will have fun and this makes a good money week as well. All of the four gigs pay well. Hard gigs but pay well.

 Another hot week end as Hanover Fist played a great gig at Royal Blue Campground with three hundred people scattered in a big field while we played on a concrete slab with a storage building. People were dancing every where in the campground and the drinkers were right up front and close to the band. We had a great time and played good. It was a long trip to Pioneer TN and a hot night but the band played one hour and a half sets and put on a great show. The next day was Quaker Steak & Lube for the Veterans of the Harley Owners Group who organized a ride to the Lube. Another hot day at 2 PM, Hanover Fist was requested for this event, this is our third year and we gave them the show they deserve. It was a great ceremony with color guard, bagpipes and Les playing the national anthem. We played till four and had a good time with two hundred people and most staying the whole time.  

 July is off to a good start with next week at bike night on Thursday and Atlanta GA on Saturday. We are going down on Friday and spend the night and play the next morning at eleven. This is an Army event we get our instruction a piece at a time. I know the gig is in Atlanta and play from eleven till five, but I have no address yet. I will find out Tuesday at rehearsal from Roger he book this gig. Les is riding with me and Gary has his kids for two weeks and taking them to Atlanta. William and Roger are going early and playing golf and staying at Dianne’s while the rest of the band is coming later that night and staying at a hotel. Again location not disclosed. The adventure has begun as I put together the pieces and make this gig happen because we have to be back in Knoxville Sunday morning ready to play at eleven thirty. Pack and drive back home after the army gig and get ready for the motorcycle gig in a few hours. This schedule continues the whole month of July with the third week having four gigs in a row. A motorcycle rally mixed with club gigs, late night and next day. This has been a good season half way now summer looking strong and fall is promising. 

7-11-10 Bike Night and US Army in Atlanta: the Defenders in Knoxville

 This week end was a good time a good trip to Atlanta and a good bike night at Quaker Steak. Thursday was a hot night with six hundred bikes most of them came late and the band had to play till eleven. A good crowd and the band played well kept the people drinking and the manager loved it. Everyone in the band made a great event.

 Getting in late last night left little time to sleep as I plan to drive to Atlanta. Les is riding with me and coming to my house after work Friday evening. Gary has his kids for a few weeks and they are riding with him. William is riding with Roger and leaving Friday morning. Gary is leaving Saturday morning. Hope we all make it on time. (We made the gig on time and the Army loved us.) This was the second time we played for this division and we remembered some of the soldiers and they remembered us. We met new friends. This was family day, out side, in a park on the base. Soldiers played in the band as one played bass and another svocals and all had a great time. Hanover Fist opened with a forty minute show took a break and talked to the soldiers. The lieutenant major was going to play bass for a song, then her sergeant played bass for about a set, the event lasted till three in the afternoon and we were on our way back home.<script type="text/javascript"><!--google_ad_client = "ca-pub-2283558010051296";/* adventures of a Drummer */google_ad_slot = "7086229369";google_ad_width = 728;google_ad_height = 90;//--></script><script type="text/javascript"src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script>