Pro Bass Fishin'

As I slide into the passenger side of Kevin’s Passat in the parking lot of Finch station, I notice a foreign figure lounging out in the backseat looking way too cool to be part of this particular carpool. He looks like he is already the rock star the rest of us are still trying to become. The aviator lenses resting on his face are most definitely symbolic of his confidence and poise, and his relaxed-but-totally-don’t-fuck-with-me posture is akin to that of a cocaine kingpin who just snorted a rail right off a stripper’s bare back. I am almost star-struck, but then I realize that anyone sitting in the backseat of Kevin’s car in hopes of becoming Soul Plane’s bassist can’t be doing too well for themselves. After I greet Patrick (also in the backseat, beside Mr. Superstar) and Kevin, the stranger extends his hand:

“Hey, man. I’m Ed, nice to meet you.”

“Yo, what’s up man, I’m Yui. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you from Kevin here…”

“Yeah, he talks a lot of shit, doesn’t he?”

“Haha. Ha. No but seriously, we actually need you to be good.”

“Oh.”

I can’t even tell if he’s joking behind those sunglasses. I decide that if he tries to get smart with me, I’m going to point out in as descriptive a fashion as possible the striking resemblance between him and that guy from Hanson who got a sex change.

By the time we pull out of Finch station, the conversation puts the spotlight on Ed. He tells us about himself and his background: he just dropped out of the National Theatre School (Montreal, QC) to pursue an acting career that involves a camera, and his plan is to either work in Toronto for a while, or apply to Ryerson’s film program. Although he has yet to appear in anything major, most people would know him from some obscure film I forget the name of as well as some Pizza Pop commercial he did (I also forget how recently he did these, so be sure to ask him next time you have him over for dinner). He has been doing auditions for movies and TV series left and right, and his representation is working hard to get him more, and while it does so, he earns his living as a bar back at Philthy McNasty’s. Essentially, he’s the Canadian version of the hopeful actor/waiter-actress/waitress combination running so rampant in the upper-echelon neighbourhoods of L.A. these days, waiting for a huge break. Amen to that lifestyle, brother.

Before heading to Aaron’s for practice, Kevin detours back to his house to grab his guitar and to do his brother some kind of 5-second favour that was asked of him earlier in the day. As we wait in the car, we wonder aloud what the hell is taking Kevin so long:

Patrick: The guy’s probably hitting a bowl or something.
Ed: Or shitting.
Yui: Or masturbating.
Ed: Which one of those was the favour for his brother?

Sense of humour is definitely bonus points; unfunny people are just shitty and no one wants to make music with them. Upon arrival at the Mellet house, we head straight to the basement after all the formal introductions are made. Without wasting too much time, the five of us are soon running through the tracks of our summer set list, the one we finally have down for the tour (also the one I finished writing all the lyrics for, like, yesterday).

Times of urgency are right now. There’s always a distinct worry in such situations that the instrumentalist we’re trying to audition doesn’t like the music on the spot and chooses to not join. This would be very bad for us because we need the bassist who is playing in lieu of Patrick for the tour to know our material well enough by mid-June, less than a month and a half from now. In the unlikely event of such dissent on the part of the auditionee, we generally take one of two possible courses of action: 1) bring our hopes way back down and get to getting our search on all over again, or 2) punch him/her in the head until he/she agrees to be part of Soul Plane. Usually, it’s the latter, simply because it’s much easier.

I casually glance over at Ed after every one of my verses to check for a reaction, and at one point, in our run-through of “Impossible,” I catch a glimpse of him in his classic (as if I’ve known him for more than 3 hours by this time) “chill” pose from the waist-down, but from torso-up it looks like a team of paramedics are applying defibrillators to his chest in a desperate attempt to save his life. He is, without a doubt, into the music. This adequately relieves my main and most burdensome concern. For the first time since meeting Ed, I’m thinking it might work as long as the guy can actually play a bass guitar. He confirms, after hearing several songs, that “this shit is kick-ass.” Hopefully this isn’t him being an actor.

Let me make a side note here to say right now that Patrick is one of the most upstanding people I know (despite the fact that I’ve known him for just over 6 months). Most people leaving a band they enjoy being in as much as Patrick enjoys being part of Soul Plane would harbour feelings of jealousy and resentment towards the rest of the band, sometimes even if they know deep down that the change/separation/removal is necessary – either because of a business move to maximize the band’s collective potential or because of circumstances whereby a commitment to the band cannot possibly be made. But not Patrick – the guy not only sits and chills as he watches Ed take over the position that is rightfully his, but also goes out of his way to give Ed pointers to let him know how he usually plays certain parts of a song so that Ed could get into the groove of our music more quickly. It takes a big man to do that.

It’s not like Ed needs too much advice, though. With six years of bass-playing experience under his belt with local funk and punk bands, he is ready to go the minute Kevin drops the jam. He effortlessly rips it in half. Gideon smiles up at Ed as Aaron wraps it up with some heavy crashes and says: “Sick, man, I really liked that.” Gideon doesn’t like anything.

After more improvised playing, we decide to get down with Ed on a real Soul Plane track. We hit him with “Welcome to T-dot City” and “Soul Playin’,” and despite being completely new to the music, the boy handles his business proper. Once we finish up practice, it becomes clear that with a little help from Patrick (before he leaves for Europe) to fine-tune the details and specifics of a few of our songs, Ed could very well be the new guy we count on to be Aaron’s rhythmic counterpart in Soul Plane. He’s in, and so are we. Welcome to first class, homie.

Waste Of Bass

Being as intelligent and capable as Patrick is can often be a gift and a curse. When you’re as smart as he is, much is expected of you, and as smart as you would be, you would do everything within (or without) reason to achieve each and every single one of the objectives set out for you. Patrick is every parent’s dream. He’s the kid who never drinks and never does drugs, the kid who exhibits a polite, gentle indifference towards social events. He’s the kid who wants to do well in school, not so much to please his parents, but to better himself because he knows that working hard builds character. He’s the kid who listens to his parents’ emphasis on academics and trusts them because they have walked the same path he wants to walk – one that can only lead towards success and financial security, all natural disasters and bad luck aside.

Lots of people dream. Patrick sets goals… little ones, whereby he carefully handpicks each brush with a vision to paint the perfect bigger picture on the canvas that is his life. The bass guitar happens to be one of his tools, one he wields with passion and ardour, with technique and a frighteningly solid sense of rhythm. He usually plays sitting upright on his amp, as if it were a mountain that even Marvin Gaye would admit was high enough. He has the feel to bring Ray Charles back from the dead. Unfortunately for Soul Plane, his inclination for academia is the paint roller to his bass skills’ sketch pencil; in short, he plays bass for fun, and goes to school for real.

If Patrick gets accepted into his program of choice (and we sincerely hope that he does because this is what he wants as well), he might have to hop off of Soul Plane. From what I’ve heard from my friends and colleagues in both programs, neither Engineering Science at the University of Toronto nor Engineering at the University of Waterloo (the only two he applied to) would allow any extra time for Patrick to commit himself to a band. In fact, the direct result is that he will most likely end up committing himself to a nut house. But there’s always a chance that he will beat the system, a chance that he’ll be able to handle the rigorous schoolwork that will undoubtedly be cut out for him in either of those programs as well as the once/twice-a-week Soul Plane practice. But all this would be banking on the crucial fact that he stays in Toronto and attends U of T (St. George), and this is far from being his first choice. This wouldn’t be a problem for us if he didn’t have the marks necessary to slide into his first choice program, but he does.

Over the last year that Soul Plane has been a band, it’s no secret that we’ve gone through our changes. I’m told by Gideon and Kevin that turnover rates are usually high for a band’s first year. But more than anything, Soul Plane has become family to me. And believe me when I tell you that every single time someone has had to go, it has sucked. First it was Dan, and then it was Nickie, and now Patrick. It’s never enjoyable, but if it’s necessary, then it must be so, and we understand. What has to be done has to be done, regardless of whether or not it’s fun.

As for right now, we know this much: we need a bassist for the tour (Patrick will not be joining us due to a family event he needs to attend in Europe over the course of the summer), and possibly permanently if Patrick can’t juggle both school and Soul Plane. We’re looking, though; Kevin has several bass playing friends who are, from what I hear, nothing short of phenomenal, and have all the time in the world to commit to our cause. Well, I hope “phenomenal” is what they really are, because if Patrick himself wasn’t phenomenal, what he brought to the table made us phenomenal, which is at the very least twice as good.

Thanks for riding with us, buddy, it’s been great. On behalf of Kevin, Gideon, Aaron, Conor and Blythe, I sincerely thank you for answering my email reaching out for your services when we needed you most, back in September of ‘07. My (and I’m sure everyone else’s) only regret is that we didn’t get to play more shows together, but hey, maybe you’re much smarter than even we believed… maybe, God willing, you’ll be able to take school and this band head on and we’ll be playing together for a long time yet – because I truly believe that if anyone in Soul Plane has the smarts to get the best of both worlds, it’s you. Just don’t prove me wrong.

…and you have my word (and everyone who reads beyond these parentheses is a witness): once school starts and you realize that you are a freak of nature who can, in fact, do both Soul Plane and school, your membership in this band will definitely be open for negotiation. Take the best of care, homie, and give us a shout again when you got time; we’ll most definitely jam. For now, as they say in Québec: on s’verra, bye.

Contest Announcement Pre-Announcement

Vlad and I were chopping it up over MSN about a producer who had contacted me recently and offered to produce an exclusive demo release for me after having heard Soul Plane’s music. I am definitely going to take him up on that offer and go splits on this project with Vlad; the producer’s beats are fresh like whoa. More details to come once deals are inked and cemented into stone tablets. Here’s why this matters to Soul Plane: one thing always leads to another when we’re in the middle of conversations like these, and this time proved to be no different:

- www.soulplanemusic.com says:

He's a good producer though, no?

vlad says:

He has a couple nice tracks, can't really say he IS good yet

- www.soulplanemusic.com says:

I think he's more innovative than most who are out there

vlad says:

How much does that really say?

- www.soulplanemusic.com says:

Enough, because I think that's what most people say about Soul Plane

- www.soulplanemusic.com says:

It's enough to get them to perk up for a minute

- www.soulplanemusic.com says:

Now we work on holding them for longer than a minute

vlad says:

I think you should get more opinions on soul plane

vlad says:

get feedback from like 1000 people

- www.soulplanemusic.com says:

HOW though?

- www.soulplanemusic.com says:

I'd do it just to GET 1000 people to listen

vlad says:

Offer incentive

vlad says:

Be like... post your feedback and possibly win a chance to be on the soul plane bus

vlad says:

Say... 20 people get on blah blah blah

- www.soulplanemusic.com says:

That's not a bad idea at all.

vlad says:

you were saying you had a big ass bus, so fill it with the most dedicated fans

vlad says:

you'd get the best feedback while on tour

- www.soulplanemusic.com says:

Haha, that is true

vlad says:

That's what I'm saying tho...

vlad says:

get a bunch of people interested

Most definitely the idea of the millennium and it’s only the 8^th year of it. Look out for contest ad and details to come…

Life Is (Somewhat) Beautiful

Finally.

Enough said.

Worst Day Of My Life And It's Only 1 AM

Okay, I know I said no more updates before putting “Impossible” up, but if I decided against my better judgment to remain a man of my word no one would read anything on this blog until the demo came out. Dave hit me with a 180-degree decision that I must announce… our other radio edit is actually not going to be “Impossible,” but rather “Life is Beautiful.” More on this from the man himself, along with more promises (Dave should legally change his name to Dalton McGuinty):

Dave - Fruit Should Not Look Surprised... says:

your going to hate me

Dave - Fruit Should Not Look Surprised... says:

i made an executive decision after much criticism

Dave - Fruit Should Not Look Surprised... says:

and life is beautiful is a way better song

Dave - Fruit Should Not Look Surprised... says:

blythe-wise

- www.soulplanemusic.com [UPDATED] says:

I appreciate that executive decision to no end

- www.soulplanemusic.com [UPDATED] says:

So what's up then?

Dave - Fruit Should Not Look Surprised... says:

2moro you will have life is beautiful

Dave - Fruit Should Not Look Surprised... says:

100%

- www.soulplanemusic.com [UPDATED] says:

Ahahaha shit. Okay. What time?

Dave - Fruit Should Not Look Surprised... says:

well i ahve a band in at 5 so before 5 lol

- www.soulplanemusic.com [UPDATED] says:

Perfect.

I’m this close to going George W. Bush on the guy.