For the past few years, I've played with my friend Ellie. Her dad and I have known each other through playing music in the area and about 5-6 year ago we saw each other at a garage sale and he asked if I wanted to play a couple of acoustic guitar type shows with he and Ellie. Well, that snowballed into a full band and opening shows for several national blues acts, which is pretty fun!
In August of 2013 we played our last show together under our old band name. We weren't sure if we would ever get back together again and for a year we barely even spoke. Our drummer and Ellie had a baby together, etc... Then we played one show in August the following year and it was like heroin junkies taking their first hit after being recovered... It was magical all over again. (That's the best thing I can compare it to...)
We decided we needed to play together again and let it go for a couple of months before getting back together. We had a lot of serious discussion and decided to not only get back together, but do so under a new band name (Smith & Liston) and throw out a large portion of our old music and original material in favor of newer, better stuff.
So last night we had our first "big" show out together at an intimate coffee shop which was packed to the gills and which we rocked for 4 hours. It was pure magic.
We also launched a kickstarter campaign last night (which I won't share here unless someone is interested...this isn't a commercial) to try and fund an album project. We're all really hoping we make our funding goal (if you don't, you get nothing as per Kickstarters rules). We launched it yesterday before the show and we've got a few backers already, so we're hoping to keep that momentum going!
It's so nice to get out and play again. I made myself a promise that there would be no more drinking of any kind at shows. I'm not 20 anymore (inching closer to 30) and the hangovers suck. Not worth the waste of money, either. The only thing that sucks at the end of the night is realizing how out of shape I am after dancing (I'm a somewhat...um...animated player...) all night long and not having that alcohol there to numb my aching back! hahaha
Anyway, just thought I'd share in my excitement! I've been playing guitar since I was four. It's one of the few things I'm proud to say I'm actually good at. We're hoping to be playing some festivals next year and within 2 years we'd like to be doing some bigger headlining type stuff and branching out across the midwest. We're no slouches when it comes to practicing, and our drummer is almost finished with his bachelors in percussion performance. Our bass player is Ellie's father and he's been playing for like...40 years easily. I've been around music my whole life and was raised in the household of a disc jockey who owns around 20,000 records. I've fronted my own bands and released full length studio albums.. so we're not just a garage band. The proof will be in the pudding (putting?) though. Excited for what's to come!
I'll drink to that! (water, that is...)
Rav
P.S. In case anyone is interested in checking us out..
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smith-Liston/122298111178130We don't have any music up yet, really. Part of the reason for an album. But if you look up Ellie Smith and the Commotion on YouTube, you'll see what we were doing a couple of years ago. :-)
