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65-24-40 Report / Breakaway March 07

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Submitted By: host | Added On: 5/7/2007 | Total Views (1232) | Total Downloads: (2)

I’d been asked a couple of times by both Critter and Chris to start a road journal, but I wasn’t in the same band (Kung Pow) as I was when I started my “Under the Covers” column. I had been quiet about leaving Kung Pow and quiet about starting with the band I play with currently, so it might behoove me to tell you some about who I’m playing with now. I hadn’t done a column feature on Kung Pow because I didn‘t want my column to be perceived as self promoting (even though I’m guilty of name dropping sometimes) so I was hesitant to do a “road journal” that seemed to constantly promote who I was playing with (“Under the Covers” is supposed to about other peeps)….but I started doing the “65-24-40 Report” to provide content to the editors when my “Under the Covers” interviews didn’t get emailed back from the bands… therefore I'll try to only include things that are interesting as opposed to a daily breakdown play by play journal, although I'm not convinced that ANY of this is particualrly interesting<blatant hedonism is omitted so as not to wreck families, this IS the internet and open to the public>      Lets fill in the blanks first. The rhythm section for Breakaway Louis Newman-drums and Jason Hoffman-bass played for Kung Pow and left to be the house band for Cupid Records http://www.myspace.com/memarieonline until Jason Jones (a Warner Brothers songwriter) http://www.myspace.com/jonesville formed a road band for himself with Louis and Jason and ex- Jo Dee Mesina guitarist John Zocco. Gwen Sebastian (a Kung Pow sub and country singer/songwriter) was brought in for harmony vocals. When Jone’s live schedule slowed down the band decided to keep playing the same country circuit as “Gwen Sebastian” but would also play the rock/pop circuit as “Breakaway”.Their guitarist, John Zocco, later left to go on the road with Carrie Underwood and I was called as his replacement in June of 06.We play everything from Patsy Cline to Kid Rock to Lit to Rush to Etta James and back as well as originals...and do it all pretty authentically.I am curently on the road about 200 days a year. The 65-24-40 Report Breakaway road journal March     Friday March 9th, the band left Nashville on I-65 south headed down to Mobile, Alabama. Louis was driving and slammed the van and trailer over to the shoulder just outside of Mobile. It seems that he had witnessed the car behind us roll head to foot three times (we later found out that their SUV hit our trailer as it was rolling and crashing out of control). There was a state trooper stationed in the median (as they tend to do) who did not see this and wasn’t aware until one of the nearby drivers informed him. The accident yielded a broken arm (miraculously) and we completed our journey and loaded in for sound check at The Whiskey. The promoter wanted us to open for Jeff Bates at The Whiskey the following weekend but we were booked. My friend Kevin Vonderhofen http://www.myspace.com/empire21music  was sitting in with Lonestar that night in Mobile and we had been trying to have lunch together for months now. He usually plays with Richard Marx but this weekend we were in the same town. I managed to not have time because I had taken my rack, pedalboard, and speaker up to the hotel room to program sounds (the elevator capacity was 2500 lbs so I had to make two trips) and it dominated my day.        Saturday March 10th  (Mobile, AL )~the band had Mexican the next day across the street from the hotel. We talked about the pending USO tour in Europe for January and February of 2008; we also talked about canning the Wildhorse dates (our only local Nashville gig) that were on the books. We left that night after the show. We had the only week off for the next nine months and everyone had a lot to do in town, we were in a hurry to get started. An hour down the road our alternator went to sleep with the fishes. We checked into an Evergreen Alabama hotel (where ever that is) and waited.      Monday March 12th (Birmingham, AL) The van was working now and we stopped in Birmingham for a quick bite; spent about an hour thinking of ambiguous ways to order the Big Box Meal from KFC  such as : “I’d like your big box so I can take it out to the van and eat it”, “Do you have any white meat to go in your big box”. ”Lemme have a couple of jugs to go with that big box” (KFC sells tea by the jug), “I’d like to put some honey on that bisquit”…so on and so forth.     ( Mon 3/12-Thurs3/16 ~ home ) One of our harmony/back ground singers, Melinda Doolittle, was doing well on American Idol and it was apparent to the nation that she would not be going home anytime soon. Gwen showcased for record companies Wednesday and we had to rehearse the new vocalist while home….after hitting the home shower I finally ran out of shampoo and conditioner. It occurred to me that I had been using the same stuff at home that I was using a year ago and had finally ran out. All that hotel shampoo/conditioner had kept me goin’ all this time. This is how little I am actually home.      Friday March 16th . The band headed I-65 south to Vicksburg, MS. I worked on my rack at the hotel room and used my combo amp /pedalboard for the show. I wouldn’t have had room to use my rack anyways. Scott Jones http://www.myspace.com/sjonesmusic was navigating the space shuttle while simultaneously playing guitar with The Heather Dawn Band.      Sunday March 18th <the early morning hours> Breakaway headed back after the show for a few days off. I was driving and it was the first shift I had driven since we had decided to keep the speed at 64. We had been monitoring the gas mileage for a couple of months and it seemed that we got 8 miles a gallon going over 70 M.P.H., and upwards of 12 miles per gallon by going under 65 M.P.H. We could save thousands of dollars in gas by driving 64 M.P.H. and were each committed to the new “policy”.       Tuesday March 20th (home)~Time to get back on the road. Imagine showing up for departure with no sign of your punctual guitar player. 20 minuetes goes by, 40 , 55 minuetes. Still no Paul.- Voice mail messages left are doing no good. After making the journey backwards from the north Nashville departure destination to the guitarist’s Antioch home, there are still no signs of life. Imagine waking from your sleeping slumber to pounding on the door and furious door bells. It seems we were leaving on Tuesday not Wednesday. I sleep w/ my ringer muted (so I can’t hear it ring). My car was in the garage (so it appeared no one was home). I sleep with a loud fan (to combat tinnitus) so I didn’t hear the first few doorbell rings. Gwen was about to call hospitals and jails. Now more than an hour after departure time (and 15 miles the opposite direction) the guitarist is located. Since I never unpack I was ready to leave. The band loaded up my gear, I threw on yesterday’s  clothes, no shower. We would be (basically) gone for almost seven weeks. Imagine leaving for a seven week trip with five minuetes notice. The band headed I-24 West to St. Charles, MO. …..so much for 64 M.P.H.      Wed 3/21 – Thurs 3/22 (St Charles, MO), I was tweaking my pedalboard while Taylor Hicks was soundchecking next door so I popped by to check out their gear (we missed Daughtry by a week). They were using shields on all of the amps and drums for the first time. We went over on our set breaks that night to hear him and he was always playing covers. We play 4 – 7 originals every night, so it was hard to believe that we were playing more “original material” than Taylor Hicks was. Great band though.      Monday March 26 (Philadelphia, MS) – I’ve decided to move. My roommate has some health issues at the moment but if I can get a sense that he’ll be ok with my moving I’ll be putting my stuff in storage. I won’t actually have a home for a while. It doesn’t make sense to pay rent and amenities when I’m only home a couple of days a month at best. I won’t actually have a home.      Wednesday March 28 (Philadelphia, MS)~ we actually have the day off. I pulled my rack out of the trailer and miked it up to protools so I could adjust the sound levels from patch to patch to accommodate the recent changes I’d made on March 16th in Vicksburg. I planned on using it again in Kansas City to check for any “real life application bugs”. If it made it through the week glitch free I would be finished until I sent both my GP-100s to the Roland factory for service in 2008 while we are overseas. My new pedalbord payed off when we arrived for sound check in Philadelphia. They were remodeling the casino stage and we (along w/ everyone else that played there) were playing on a temporary stage with makeshift production until construction was finished. It was required to use the provided backline no ifs, ands or buts. My pedalboard sounded stellar through the Peavey Classic 30 (if I had only my rack or was dependant on an amp based tone, as opposed to a pedal based tone, I would have been screwed).          I spent the rest of the day updating my calendar and working on the monthly JPaul Newsletter  which would go out the following weekend.

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