Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

Day 188 - Nov 27 - Stuttgart Show

**** Pondering's ****

Rats! I totally spaced something about yesterday's gig. The place is called Festhalle and though it has been home to many awesome rock shows over the years, it also has a much darker past. See if you can spot any similarities in the two photos below,

Humans can be unbelievable stupid as clarity in hindsight so often reveals. Majority populations of whole countries sometimes run full bore into a direction that is nothing but a really bad idea. It happens over and over again throughout history and one could easily look at our world today and spot plenty of bad ideas in full swing. How cool would it be if someone made a 'bad idea detector' and we could just meter the concept and if it reads negative go "hmmm, says here that this is a really bad idea, maybe we should re think the plan." Oh wait, I guess we have two tools that do that already and they are called common sense and logic. Unfortunately those two tools are bit too complex for the masses to conceptualize and instead large groups of mindless minds often follow the alternate method known as "follow the biggest asshole like a bunch of idiot sheep."

My first reaction to the Festhalle was negative based on my knowledge of it's past but it did not feel negative. Quite the opposite, the grandiose, beautiful and majestic building built in 1909 was unique and curious and complex. So I pondered, as I so often do and what I came up with was it feels like an artificial reef now filled with life and sound and colors that was once powerful warship, now sunken and helplessly over run with the opposite of a bad idea.

**** End Pondering's ****

I would like to announce a breakthrough in touring roadie bloggery! I am sure y'all are astutely aware of touring rule number one; 'always carry your tour laminate' which also includes not losing it. Rule number one of blogging, Dave Rat style, is 'never go anywhere without a camera.' So looky at what I made,

With the camera in my pocket and the laminate hanging out with the bus key, I not only have my laminate and camera but I also have the added benefit of reducing the likelihood of donating either of them to the ether world.

**** Issue of the Day ****

The issue of the day is actually a derivative of a mathematical equation that I am very familiar with from past experience.

Water + Cell phone = Bad

Last time when my cell tried to commit suicide by jumping in the lake, I fetched it very quickly in hopes it would survive the 2 second rule. You know like when you drop food on the floor, if you fetch it up super quick, it is still edible. Well, it did not do so well and I think with camera's and water it may be the .0000001 second rule, anyway, this time it was different. You see, me, my cell and Chad were at a bar having a drink and my cell was 'allegedly' the designated driver. Unbeknownst to me though, my cell phone decided to have a little drink after all, hence the corollary to the formula is,

Beer + Cell phone = Bad

Luckily I was able to catch it drinking rather quickly and it only had a small sip. Not enough to destroy it completely but clearly plenty enough to give it a lasting hangover. The main issue is that

"my cll phn no longr will typ th lttr btwn D and F and th numbrs two and svn, nor th last lttr of th alphabt and th first lttr of th propr splling of kwick ar also not working."

**** End Issue of the Day/Week/Month? ****

The place we played is pretty much a squashed version of a Euro Hockey squared off arena. Straight forward stuff and I don't mind the acoustics in these places at all.

And finally, lets all pile inside my bus bunk, come on in!

Th doing my bst to liv my lif whil avoiding bad idas,

Dav Rat

**** Random Pondering ****

In my rambling travels I occasionally stumble in to a thought or observation that fills me with great annoyance. Usually, if I ponder it long enough I can unravel the essence of the imbalance causing the ripple. My most current mental puzzle came while reading a series of comments about an artist heart felt creative work on a message board. The seemingly endless stream of scathing negativity peppered with occasional "I don't care what you say, I love it/them." I felt this fury inside me increasing as I know full well that the comments were a mixture of senseless babble and mindlessly shooting of opinion-pellets. Useless opinions, spoken with fierceness and conviction, demeaning stabs as if somehow the spitting spite in a public area at 'people that following their life dream' elevates spitter them above the person whose back they spat upon. I realized that what bothered me is not the opinions, as I fully feel that humans are justified to form and speak their opinion, but what is missing the credibility quotient and the requirement that the opinionated accept public rebuttal to their statements. What is the credibility level of someone verbally attacking while remaining anonymous? The words of an insecure and jealous couch potato sits along side a bright eyed energetic dreamer following their passion, both are regarded by the onlooker with little to differentiate other than the knowing that the humans that tend to be most forcibly vocal about their opinions also tend be the most confused.

**** End Random Pondering ****

For this European leg we are using the Rat PA system that we left over here last time we were in Europe. While Peppers were in the States, Pearl Jam used it and now we have it back with a few small changes. The most significant difference is that the side clusters are now L'Acoustics Kudo's rather than the L'Acoustics V-Dosc/dV-Dosc. I am good either way but the Kudo system is more versatile and is faster to set up and pack up. Here you can see six of the ten per side we are carrying.

Another change made on this run is that we are running a cleaner stage by eliminating all wiring crossing front to back. Here we can see Dave Lee enjoying some relaxation while running John's pedal cables.

Since it has been a while since I have posted a band shot, here is pretty much what it looks like from the pirate ship

The forgot to be funny today,

Dave Rat

How about some holiday cheer in a German village? And if my home state governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger can refer to places like San Diego and and San Francisco as "towns and villages in cowleeforneeeah," I guess Frankfurt can definitely qualify as village, even if there are five million humans running around in the general area. So, for a change, Scott and I set on about the town to adventure and see what we find. Village? What a silly notion

Deciding what type of food to eat was tough. Hey Scott, what kind of food should we eat in Frankfurt? Well, even though we forgot to eat hamburgers in Hamburg, it looks like Frankfurters in Frankfurt is a go

More importantly though, if you are ever out this way, they make something called Gluhwien

Red wine, served warm, cinnamon spiced and I highly recommend it in anything less than high quantities, unless you like waking with a headache the size of Texas or so I was fortunately warned by Scott. Mmmmm, yumm! So we ate, drank and shopped

for useful items

That could come in handy. Another fun thing to do if you ever are out here is to avoid parking illegally. They don't mess around. This truck pulled up along side a 'mis-parked' car and we spotted it just getting airborne. By the time I got my camera out and snapped the pic it was on the truck and a few seconds later it was gone, truck and all.

**** Roadie Card Series #1, Card #3, Dave Lee ****

My goal for now is to present the 'Serious Six' consisting of roadies Scott, Dave Lee, Tracy, Chris Warren, Lyssa B and me. Hand selected by seniority which for some strange reason seems to also parallel the high eccentricity levels as well. I am not really sure if Peppers collect eccentrics or create them but either way, here is our next lovable roadie seen here studying the ways of modern pirating

And of course no good trading card comes without stats

Funny stuff? I think maybe I should print some up. Ha ha, I still have more surprises in store, not sure what they all are yet but some I do!

**** End Roadie Card Series #1, Card #3, Dave Lee ****

The loving Euroland,

Dave Rat

IHYIMHAMYL!

**** Extra! Extra! ****

In effort to keep boring, at bay. I bring you the first world wide launch of something, I know most of the humans wake up in the morning missing, their minds, wondering why, another day has passed, yet unfulfilled, till now what has was, only dreamed, enters reality. Yes, you guessed it, today is none other than the world wide micro-launch of something you have never known that you were missing, ladies and gentlemen and the bulk of you whom are neither, welcome please ...Roadie Cards!

First, in a blitz of shameless self roadie promotion I present my very own self depicted in Roadie Card format

And the reverse

Next we have the Honorable Lampi Scott

And on the reverse please notice the icons in the corners indicate the roadie's gig, the white glove refers to his minimal physical work load

More roadie cars to come and soon you can collect and trade your favorite roadie's!

Do ya like 'em? Should I continue onward with the Roadie Card Project? Curious to read your comments and let me know!

**** End Extra Extra ****

So new tour leg brings new things. We got new bus.

For all ye lovers of land ships, feast yer eyes upon these Euro style road schooners

And our own ship will build to strike terror into the hearts of that gaze upon us

While the captains gather and in preparation for for battle

As we do as all roadie pirates must do and gaze about for booty

The loving new adventures,

Dave Rat - Aaarhg!

I don't recall the first time I was overseas on Thanksgiving but I do remember being caught off guard when I realized that the holiday is not celebrated on other continents. I like Thanksgiving and Halloween as they both have an open membership to enjoy without the strings attached feeling that the various religious holiday's do. They are festive without the "hey, lets celebrate some long since dead humans kicking some other long since dead humans' ass" angle. I also remember being quite shocked to find out the Christmas celebrators in Australia and South America enjoy the opposite of a white Christmas as the holiday occurs a few days from the start of summer. Not a lot of pine trees in Australia and you would have to build snowmen out of sand if you want one. The more I think about it, it just seems so strange to have one of a global religion's top billed holiday's so geographically oriented in it's presentation.

All Roadies, regardless of where they are from, also like Thanksgiving a lot. There is a high probability that their fondness for the holiday is somehow related to the food part. This was easily demonstrated, as you can see in the picture below, when all the tour roadies voluntarily gathered at the gig on a day off.

In any other circumstance, heading to the gig on an off-day is considered 'gig-hugging.' When I went to the Roundhouse both two days early and the day before, though tough to admit, I was gig-hugging.

**** Gig Hugger's Anonymous Meeting ****

Me - "Hello my name is Dave Rat and I am a gig-hugger"

Everyone - "Hello Dave"

Me - "Well, I first started gig-hugging when ..."

Roadie in the back interrupts "Hey, your not a gig-hugger, you're an imposter, I have seen you showing up after the trucks dump and even sometimes leave before the band.. "

Me "Uh, oh! Run away!"

**** End Gig Hugger's Anonymous Meeting ****

After the fabulous meal, oh, Upbeat Catering is traveling with us again as they did on the other European tours, hurray for good food and our friends are back. So after the meal we went to do what all roadies do in Hamburg, off to the Reeperbahn of course. The Reeperbahn is a quite famous part of Hamburg, at least amongst roadies and not only does it have the best bars in the city but it is a huge ego booster as well. Women everywhere, very friendly women everywhere and boy, I must have been looking good, Scott too! Because at least a dozen attractive girls and another six pack of not-so-hotties all invited Scott and I upstairs, separately of course. What is upstairs, I wonder? Why are they all dressed like skiers? Why is her hand rubbing my leg? These are all questions that will have remain puzzles of the universe as Scott and I already have plans to do some beer drinking, sorry ladies. Mental note; wear my "I 'heart' Paris shirt, blue jeans and red shoes more often.

And beer drink we did till the likes of 4AM plus and a roadie stagger to a nutritious meal

Left me waking next day a smidgen off of chipper. I am convinced that the donner kabob was spiked with  glue leaving my mouth glued shut in the morning. Scott confirmed that he too woke parched but mentioned that it may have been the beers that caused it.

Back in Germany and cool places and people and all to love about what they call The Fatherland. And german father dude clearly runs the place because there is little doubt that the toilet paper the lady of the country had nothing to do with the toilet paper's design. The little things that change from country to country that get forgotten the day you leave and catch you off guard each time you come. Metric width I can understand but who's idea was it to put high abrasion sandpaper on a roll by the toilet? I guess it is kind of funny, maybe there are little camera in every German bathroom and someday there will be a feature length movie based on shocked faces of foreigners experiencing the sandy surprise.

The very thirsty,

Dave Rat

Today is a new day! And do you want to know what is special about this 'day of new'? Well, today is a day where every single thing I get to use for the rock show is new, Oh Joy! Not new like 'brand new,' new like it came from the rental shop and I get to start from dead scratch building all the audio settings. One of the questions I get asked often by people at shows is "Do you really know what everyone of those knobs do?" Well, actually I don't because there are a few in the middle that I am convinced do not do anything useful but for the most part, "yes, I do."

First order of business, communicate to my FOH assist for the day, who's name is Rabbit, how I want all the gear patched and configured. As you all may well have guessed, I am not much one for the standard configurations. Next, I spend a good chunk of time 'zero-ing' everything out to a starting point followed by a good solid hour or more of knob turning. Not only do I know what every knob does, I have actually have memorized how I want them all set.

As an added bonus, I am in a new venue (for me) with a new PA type that I have neither mixed on nor seen in person before called a 'Butterfly System'. Several weeks ago when I found this out, I could hardly contain my excitement and wrote the following email addressed to our leader roadie Bill, the production manger:

"Oh boy, Oh boy!!! I get to use a new PA. Nothing cheers me up like switching to new rig I have never used with a band that does not sound check in a far away place under much scrutiny! Heck, maybe we should get the band to join in the new gear fun and ask John and Flea if they want new guitar and bass rigs for the gig? Oh and we can switch AK to a new type of mic while we are at it and when was the last time you got a new computer? I hear Linux is great, maybe we can all switch to new laptops for the gig and we can all have good times trying to get work done on our new toys!!

As far as those cardioid stumble bumps with an 18" forward and 15" facing the wrong way, I consider them annoying at best. If they work twice as well as company XXX's attempts and 10 times better than embarrassment that company XXXX calls a cardioid sub, I will just be mildly bummed. I am sure they get loud but so does a jack hammer. Nothing like a pile non-linear one-note-wonders to make my day!

OK, kidding aside, I can deal with the gear, just make sure there are some real subs in there on an aux, 8 dual 18"ers minimum and when I get there I guess I will have some fun and see what that PA is really made of.

All good, real dual 18" subs on an aux = happy rat.

Dave Rat"

As you can see, I was quite excited. I X'ed out the manufacturers names because I did not want one of their competitors to get over-excited and take my comments out of context. Bill of course responded with the all around feel bad response of "Dave, you can have what ever you want for gear, no problem, just let me know." Unfortunately, the only gear I really want is on it's way to Hamburg so I will just have to bring my pirate sword and see if I can maneuver this sound ship through the treacherous round waters.

**** Special Award Celebration ****

I hereby by the powers vested in me award London the "Put rock bands in less than optimum acoustic environment" award. This award was earned by London for it's exceptional and dedicated work done by embracing both Earl's Court and the Roundhouse as musical venues.

Though round sound is not the optimum, the small intimacy of the gig more than made up for it and what makes for a great rock show is a combination of many things. Especially memorable was the super cool ending jam!

Arrrrgh,

Dave Rat

Day 182 - Nov 21 - TV and Stuff

First thing in the morning everyone headed over to the BBC. One thing that is really important about doing TV stuff is to maximize the amount of time that you spend waiting around. Actually this show was pretty tightly run and had a just a short eight hours of time slop plus another two spare hours just in case. The combination of extra helpings of spare time and the fact that my importance was minimal there, with Andrew onboard covering the recorded audio portion, my adventure for the day took me elsewhere and over to tomorrow's gig at the Roundhouse. Anyone want to take a guess at what shape the Roundhouse is?

This recently refurbished historic venue was home to shows by many rock greats like The Doors, Hendrix and the fateful gig where some punter threw Frank Zappa off the stage pretty much breaking the Zappa for a while. Very cool, how excited am I to be back in London doing the acoustical equivalent of the baby sister of Earl's Court? Round House, round, hmmmm? Sound bounces a-round in the merry-go-round of sound. If my mental calculations combined with years of experience serve me correctly, curved surfaced are really good at taking all the sound that hits them and focusing it into a central area. As I learned from Earl's Court, London does have a fondness for embracing acoustical nightmares as rock venues, so there is a good chance that this will be right on track.

Speaking of tracks, take a guess about what the 'Roundhouse' was built for originally. Did you ever have a 'Thomas the Tank Engine' train set? Ever wonder how trains turned around? Well, for the non-locomotively inclined, they used to, maybe still do, build round buildings with a rotating floor that the train would drive into and be spun to travel out on any one of the numerous tracks. These train-engine-spin-buildings were called roundhouses and later could be retrofitted to double as a legendary rock venue.

After waiting as long as I could in hopes of hearing the new sound system, I finally had to move on to the next adventure and off to BBC to meet up with the rest of the crew, hey, check out this car:

We don't have those at home. And a 45 minute cab ride that consisted of about a thousand zigzag turns across the traffic filled city

landing me about 5 minutes shy of perfect timing:

Have you ever looked upwards in a TV studio? Holly crap, ceck out at all that stuff up there!

Look, They put lights on those scissory things that you see with a boxing glove on them in cartoons!

I have been getting requests for more info on roadie Daniel's mysterious monitor world so I will take on that project soon in the form of attempting my first interview. Not sure when, but soon. In the mean time, he can be seen here wielding his sword.

Behind him you can see Manny has been lost to the black side of the berry as he is going through the early stages of crackberry addiction. And as our work day comes to a close, look what I found:

The not overly excited about tomorrow,

Dave Rat

Maybe most recognizable thing about this place is the crosswalk out front where four amazing musicians created history by walking across the street and putting the photo on their album cover. A less known fact, that may interest you, is that there was another band that walked across that same street and also used it for their album cover but this other band did it many years earlier and was fully clothed rather than just wearing socks on their cocks and was known as the Beatles.

I am not sure whether I am thrilled or bored. On one hand I am sitting inside the legendary Abbey Road studios where so many timeless recordings were created that I wont even begin to mention them. On the other hand, I am having a clear deja-vu of why I took up live sound rather than the recording world and the slow motion tedium of watching molasses drip would be a bump up from sitting here in a recording studio. I am just a crazy live audio guy, like a fish out of water, sitting in one of the earth's most legendary studios surrounded by a bunch of amazing recording humans with the some of the best toys on the planet.

Hey, lets go take a wander but first let me warn you, some of what you are about to see may cause anxiety in and is the equivalent of hard core pornography to audiophiles. The first thing that jumps out as unusual is either roadie Manny has taken the small pill and shrunk to Alice in Wonderland size or that is one huge Plasma TV. It says something about 103" inches on the back.

And turing to our left is a pile of what looks to be speakers pushed off to the side. I believe they are Bowers & Wilkins 800 series. Did he said they were only $ 20,000 or so a pair including the power amp?. Notice the little fluffy white ears on the speaker on the left that someone has stuffed in to stop it from rattling.

As we keep heading around the studio I carefully circumvent a hazardous rubbish pile of mics. For you microphone buffs, they are just a heap of AKG C12's, some U49's U89's, U87's and pile of other assorted near perfect condition original release "valve" mics. I figure another $ 100,000 in hardware is just laying around.

The studio's control room has another piece of historic audio in the form of a tiny Neve console. I guesstimate that it is about 72 channels wide and I will bet it costs many many tens of dollars.

**** Highlight of the Day ****

Lampi Scott and I persuaded a personal tour of the Abbey Road mic collection from Lester who has been there since 1970! What we got to see made the utility mics in the studio look a bit boring. Wow! For you shoe loving ladies out there, this was the equivalent of touring an archive of the footwear worn by every legendary Hollywood actress over the past 60 years. "And these were the shoes that Marilyn Monroe wore when she met President Kennedy and over here the shoes Lana Turner wore when her daughter allegedly murdered Johnny Stompanato, see the blood spot." Each mic is a work of art as these are the best of the best ever created and hundreds and hundreds of them. I was pulling them off of shelves, each had a history and story, amazing! Plus Scott video taped the whole adventure and I even attempted a few Ali G style stabs at humor by repeatedly asking which of the mics were best for recording underwater. Thank you Lester!

But that was earlier and this is now and now I sit on a comfy couch two naps into the day. Andrew Scheps is the man who heads this world up from the recording side while roadie Daniel and Manny have their hands full with a complete monitor setup. I get the privilege of getting to sit and watch what to me is the equivalent eight hours of moving the rhododendrons around the house after redecorating. My presence is that of "just in case" and a a bit of consulting-ish words that never materialize.

**** End Highlight of the Day ****

**** Begin Sound Nerd Speak ****

Gating Drums - Tip of the Day

If you have the spare inputs available, "Y" the drums that you want to gate into two channels each. Then insert gates on one set and not on the other. Assign one VCA to the gated drum channels and another VCA to the non-gated channels. Now you have full control over whether your drums are fully gated, non-gated or anywhere in between with the slide of the VCA's.

This is handy thing if your band plays soft songs that don't fire all the gates but you want tight gates for the loud songs. Also, by setting a 50/50 mix of gated and non-gated, it acts like and expander with soft hits extra soft and loud hits that jump out.

On a side note, do you remember way back on Day 125/126 when I got distracted into rock show thermodynamics? Well, soon afterwards I polished those thoughts up a bit and sent them into a magazine for a column I write called "Rat Tales" and they just published it in the November issue.

**** End Sound Nerd Speak ****

For the final adventure of the studio day, Peter takes Scott and I for a quick look at Studio 2, the room that the Beatles actually recorded in, for a listen to the acoustics and a cool memory.

Everyone there was wonderful to meet and watch work. What I will remember most is the way that there was a certain awe and appreciation that radiated from the sound people employed there. There workplace is a museum of infinite audio significance, and they know it and love it.

The still missing the excitement and heart pounding thrill of a live show,

Dave Rat