Miracles can happen through Craigslist.
We all knew that Patrick’s days with Soul Plane were numbered, Patrick included (see “Waste of Bass” blog – April 21, 2008). Patrick will be taking on the fierce, relentless opponent that is his academic workload come September of this year. He received his letter of admission to a program called “Systems Design” at the University of Waterloo (an hour away from Toronto) just over a month ago. If he doesn’t devote 110% of his time to his classes, his entire life will be ruined well before the first set of mid-terms that launch their assault in October. Soul Plane made moves immediately in the interest of damage control.
We thought we had a permanent bassist in Ed Kennington (see “Pro Bass Fishin’” blog – April 25, 2008). Too bad the guy’s an actor (look him up on imdb.com) before he is a bassist and has since reconsidered his Soul Plane membership upon the realization that many auditions for parts in movies are coming his way, and as a result he won’t be able to put a full-time commitment into Soul Plane. Since then, in desperate attempts to find a competent replacement for our roster, Soul Plane has resorted to stopping random people on the street and asking them if they play bass. Statistics show that 100% of people we asked were thoroughly disgusted by us.
But not Luke Rust.
After I answered an ad Luke had posted on Craigslist, we emailed back and forth for a bit and set out a date where Luke would come in and jam with Soul Plane. Luke showed up to practice with two bass guitars – none of which were the conventional 4-string bass guitars I was accustomed to seeing. He had a 5-string Warwick and a 6-string Douglas on him. Definitely cooler than the g-string thong I had on me. He introduced himself respectfully to everyone in the band, and we wasted no time in setting up the instruments in Aaron’s basement.
Once the boys were done setting up, I looked around at everyone and asked them what song they wanted to start with. Luke was the first to speak up: “Life is Beautiful, please.” We were floored – this guy had done his homework, which at once showed me that he had a sense of self-initiative and commitment. In fact, I can safely say that this was more commitment than any of us have ever shown to Soul Plane. By the middle of the chorus, Aaron was already nodding his head at me, signalling to me that this Luke kid was a keeper. We finished this little audition process off with another two, or three songs, and by then it was clear that Luke was our main man. Before we stepped outside for a smoke break, I spoke in private with both Kevin and Gideon individually and they were all for offering the position to Luke.
The best part about it is that Luke was all for offering himself to the position – after playing with us he told us he was loving the music and wanted to be a part of the band. Over the summer, Luke has to work around some tough service hours (he is currently a waiter at the new Boston Pizza at Woodbine Ave./Major Mackenzie Blvd. – go say “hi”), but from what he told us, he shouldn’t have a problem working in Soul Plane practices around that schedule. Over the school year, Luke will be at York, where he’s going into his third year as a criminology student, so he’ll be in the city for practices as well. As such, the localization of Soul Plane is finally complete (minus Mel who is going to be in her final year at the University of Western Ontario, but we’re all convinced that she’s secretly Wonder Woman and can be anywhere at any time as long as she gets 24 hours’ notice). It’s a God-damned relief, I’ll say that much.
We officially welcomed Luke to Soul Plane by taking him for a feast at a local Chinese restaurant called Tian Xin Place – the band’s primary feeding spot. Lemme tell you, the guy eats like a champ, too – he stayed neck-to-neck with me, and normally it takes two people to do that at any given restaurant. This was when we found out how well-versed he was with not just the bass guitar and its surrounding concepts, but also how familiar he was with the concept of music in general. While we waited for our food, Luke was conversing with Kevin and keeping up with him as they discussed jazz, rock, metal, and even classical music. They each listed off their favourite musicians of all-time and found that they had many in common. They chopped up, almost down to the quarter-note, several of the tunes they each had in their iPods; they used terms like “dynamic,” “phrasing,” “poly-rhythmic scales,” and “chromatic tones” in their dialogue and understood each other perfectly. They traded suggestions of what songs by which bands the other should hurry up and download. Gideon and I sat there picking at each others’ asscracks for the entire duration of this conversation, arguing about who was more hungry between the two of us. I don’t know why no one’s taken the initiative to have us put down yet.
Because our session with Luke went so well, we decided that it was time to start integrating him into the music and preparing for Patrick’s exit. It was thus also decided that the upcoming Toronto Night Market show could very well be Patrick’s last show with Soul Plane. Talk about a bittersweet night to come...
It’s been fun, Patrick, and you’re one talented son of a bitch on that bass. I almost wish you weren’t as academically inclined as you are; it would have been nice to not have had to go looking for a permanent replacement for you in the first place. Unfortunately, I can’t have everything my way. There is no doubt in my mind that you, my friend, are meant for something far greater than playing bass for a band whose emcee still misses the toilet bowl when he pees (and that’s only if he manages to take his pants off in time). We’re all going to miss the groove you brought to the Soul Plane table, homie, but life has to go on for us when you inevitably depart. Hopefully you, as the rest of us do, feel that we did your legacy justice by bringing someone of Luke’s calibre into the family to fill your shoes. No matter what, though, your name will always be remembered as a founding member of Soul Plane’s musical direction... thank you for your very significant contribution, and I, on behalf of Soul Plane, wish you the best possible future that you can carve for yourself. And if I know you as well as I think I do, you’re set for life.
