Gig Recap: The Garage

Last night, we did a tripleheader at the Garage Bar in Moorhead. This was our first time at the Garage as a headliner - and actually, our first time as "Rule 17". For those who haven't been there, it's been completely remodeled since back when it was Pistol Pete's. New stage, new PA, new lights, etc. It's nice in there. They cater to a combination of original bands and cover bands, which I would imagine makes for a pretty interesting dynamic night to night, but the flexibility of venues that host original bands is part of what makes multiple band shows like this doable.

First up was Sex Knuckle, who should be familiar to rock fans in the F/M area by now. We've done a few shows with them by this point and will undoubtedly be doing more in the future.  This was probably the best I've heard them collectively play - they were great.

Next up was Phoenix Rising. I've heard the album tracks and the demos, and was pretty impressed, but I had never heard them play live. If you get the chance to see these guys, take it. Hopefully, they can get a few more things set up here on the south side of the state.

We got started some time before midnight, and played around an hour and a half. I obviously can't give an audience level view of it, but everything seemed to go as usual with one difference...
...we had dancers.

I've been in bands where people would come up and dance, and none of them did a Testament cover. In this instance, it was during "Waste Away" - which has to be the hardest thing we do to dance to. It's a gauntlet of tempo changes. It reminds me of a time back when we were known as 7th Seal that a couple danced for about 5 of the 10 minutes that the song "7th Seal" lasted. I guess people love a challenge - and I have to admit the strong urge to chuckle every time I say "thank you dancers".

So, that's the end of Rule 17's headlining gigs through the end of 2012. I'd especially like to thank all of our friends/fans who come out and support us, tell their friends about us and really help us bring people out. In a world where people are increasingly inundated with information, the value of word-of-mouth keeps getting higher, and so for those of you who help us out we'd like to give a big "thank you".  

About the Song: Beyond

Last night, I uploaded a new tune for the first time since 2009. Those of you who have seen us playing over the past year are well aware that we have quite a bit more than 3 songs, but we just hadn’t gotten around to recording them...until September...and that was accidental (kind of).

I’ve mentioned in previous posts about how we used to do the equivalent of “boombox” recordings to get arrangements right. We have a little more accurate system now, which we tested back in Sept. Throw mics on the drums, take lines out of the amps, and there you have it - recording with decent enough quality so you can get a decent grasp of how a tune is. This is something that we intend to work into more of our rehearsals, so we should be able to get a little more sample music out there before we settle in and go for a full-length.

So, without further ado, here’s “Beyond”.

I originally wrote this song back in 1999 or so - it was part of the “lost album” that I’ve mentioned before. I had been thinking back on that period, and figure that of all the tunes, this one fit in best with what we’re playing now. The opening riff was reworked. The chorus and middle section were entirely rewritten. The lyrics are completely different, as are the vocal melody lines. The solo section goes back and forth between Troy and me. As always, it will be interesting to see how these sections develop as we keep working with it live.

Lyrically, the song is about...something. I’m actually not totally clear on what this tune is about. I’ve always dug the lyrics to “Hang ‘em High” by Van Halen, and kind of tried to cop a bit of that vibe on this one.

Some are born in fortune's hand, 

but that was not his fate. 

Everything he has, he had to take

All he owns is on his back.

His hands are leather-hard

This man with nothing has everything in his power. 

Night falls quickly. The dark clouds push the light away. 

Face the cold wind, push on through to day. 

Beyond the dark horizon

Beyond these barren plains

Beyond these fields of lies and empty nights

The world waits a lifetime away

He gazes 'cross the blackened sky

beyond the windswept plain, 

steps outside his shelter into the rain.

A little step to infinity

Another step towards death

He won't avert his eyes or hold his breath

If you figure out what it’s about please let me know. 

November 17th - Maddock People at the Garage Bar

The time has come to start working on promoting our November 17th show at the Garage Bar. This is a pretty easy/fun task this time around, because we actually get to present a little something that we've talked about for a long time.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, bassist Dave Stensland and I (Travis Woyen) grew up in the same area and graduated from Maddock Public School. As one might imagine, we're not the only musicians to come out of there.

Phoenix Rising has really gotten rolling over the past couple years, playing mostly north of here. They've released a debut album, "Revelations", and if I do say so myself there are some pretty great tunes on there. Former Valhalla singer Warren Weston is handling the vocals. Tony Brandvold and Zach Eyl, both of Maddock, handle lead guitar and drums.

You may have heard Sex Knuckle with us at Rick's, or at a lot of other places around town. As I've mentioned before, Chris Ellingson is from Maddock, and singer Samantha Bennefeld is from just down the road (New Rockford). It's also a little-known fact that drummer TR is an honorary member of Rule 17.

So, come on out to the Garage Bar on Saturday, November 17th. You won't be disappointed.

Weekend Recap

Whew!
This past Friday and Saturday at Rick's were a blast. Between my coughing and Chris' bleeding, we were like a lost episode of ER. Either way, a good time was had by all.

First off, we'd like to thank Sex Knuckle for opening for us. They got a chance to debut some of their original material, which I thought was really cool.

It was pretty fun playing with these guys. It's somewhat known that Dave and I are from the same home town. Sex Knuckle guitarist Chris Ellingson is also from there, and singer Samantha Bennefeld is from a ways down the road. So both nights wound up being a bit of a central North Dakota old home week.


We had the opportunity to debut a couple of new tracks, Beyond and Inversion. They both went over well. Beyond will stay as-is. Inversion suffers the fate of many tunes that I've written, where a lyric idea gets about half done and then runs completely out of steam. So, "Inversion" gets a new name to match the new chorus.

The playing itself went well. I was nursing my way through the tail end of a cold, but all in all it was a good time.

So, from here we get ready for our next show, which is October 20th at the Nestor Tavern in Fargo with Chaos in Question. That'll be a fun one as well, and we haven't played the Nestor in a long time. Keep your ears open for new tunes - looking at a couple that we haven't done before for that show. We're also looking at getting a few basement demos done during our rehearsals, so if stuff comes out decent, we might just throw it out there for public consumption.
Later - Travis

Rick's - two full nights and new songs!

It's been a while since I did a blog update, but I wanted to address our upcoming show at Rick's Bar in Fargo.

The show at Rick's on Sept 21 and 22 are a bit of a milestone for us...not even a bit of a milestone, but a big milestone. This will be our first time since 2006 playing two one-hour sets (which is what we call a "full night"). This will be the first times since 2006 that our band name will be listed by whatever happens to be on the menu for the day.

So, for the occasion, we're introducing 2 new tunes; "Beyond" and "Inversion". Okay, "Beyond" was played at the Shoreham Block Party, but I'd imagine that most who were there won't be at Rick's. Either way, they're new to you and new to us.

It's nice not having the limitation of time, even though we have the 2 hours and JUST the 2 hours. Every show since we started playing again has involved deciding which songs not to play, so it'll be fun to have some of this stuff hit the light of day again.

We're also really excited to have Sex Knuckle doing a special opening set for us. They've been doing really well in the area, and certainly have no need to be doing openers, but they're doing it for us and I think that's pretty cool. They hit the stage at 9:30.

So, come on out to Rick's! It'll be a good time, I promise.

Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary

Happy Birthday to our very own Troy Salonen.

Shoreham Block Party

Hey everybody,
If you get a chance next Saturday, head on out to the Shoreham block party right by Lake Melissa. There'll be food and entertainment starting at 2pm. Rule 17 starts at 7pm, followed by Relevant (Chris Fritz's other band) and Back For More (my second to last show with them) to close out the night.

The location is right here:

View Larger Map

Basically, take Highway 10 out to Audobon. On the east side of Audobon, turn south on Co. Hwy 15, and take that as far as Randy's Bar on Lake Eunice. Hang left, and follow Co Rd 22 straight to Shoreham.

If you get a chance, head on out. It's obviously a BYOB event, and a donation to help cover the bands and PA always helps too (sound by Hat, so you know it's quality production). There should be space to pitch a tent if you need to stay over.