SoTight at Chantel's

This is proving the hardest update so far.
Got home to White Rock around 3.30 am this morning following the Bands Performance at Chantel's Lounge in the Boulevard Casino.
And what a performance, this was easily the very best I have seen yet from them, they were absolutley on fire. For those who have only seen SoTight at Rossini's, their best effort there cannot come close to what we witnessed last night and frankly I'm not sure I can do them justice, in fact I know I will fall short.
I also know that my friend Dennis who is as big a fan of SoTight as I am was there both nights and will be adding his perspective and insight to what happened here, 'cos I'm telling you folks, based on this performance they are capable of holding their own on stage in Vegas or anywhere else you can name. Over the Top?? Well you weren't there were you. So what happened? What happened is they put on a SHOW, collectively and individually. For the first time for me I can see that their true name should be The SoTight Show Band, they didn't just play great music last night they Entertained us and boy was it fun to watch.

To start with, the Stage area gave then freedom of movement not possible in Kits, then there is the sound system and way above all of that is the addition of Kent's just superb Trumpet playing.. Kent fits this band like a glove and just like all the others is so damned unassuming. I know i've said it before but it is very difficult to find an "Ego" between them which in this world of "prima donna" entertainers is nothing short of remarkable. There are other perhaps more subtle differences like Rob being able to play on his own drumkit which on its own changes the overall sound.
I am not a technical person when it comes to sound systems but i do know that the clarity of every instrument and voice was top notch (I understand this was not the case the night before) and had a major influence on the overall performance, it helped everyone but I thought it definitely helped bring Cliff's guitar and Peter's keyboards to a new level. In fact Cliff was an absolute star all night, I have never before heard the quality or the intensity of the solos he played and it was obvious to all that the band themselves, new this was something special. There were many highlights too numerous to mention, not the least was Robbie Marr's front and centre solo. What was interesting to me with that ,is that all the people on the dance floor weren't dancing, they were just cheering and applauding. One for the book Robbie. By the way we need you doing a few more vocals Mr Marr, really enjoyed that, band take note.

Now I must get down to Number One, Numero Uno star performer who just had a ball up there allnight and that was Nadine. She COMMANDED the stage throughout, she LOOKED the part, took CONTROL and sang her heartout. Some of her interactions with the band, particularly with Kent on Dr Feelgood were mesmerising. Because she has this unique ability to use her voice as another instrument, the interplay of notes between her and Kent was awesome to hear and they quite obviously raised each others game. Yes, Nadine was in charge right from the word go, never still and looked and sounded like a true star, and why not, SHE IS.

The other thing I personally love is when the The Two Horny's (Blame Nadine not me) play off each other. I wish they would do much more of that, they seem to have such an understanding of each other that transcends just two immensely talented individuals. JT who ALWAYS gives so much of himself, always pushing for more, definitely benefits from Kent's involvement. The practiced riffs they play behind other soloists are good but is when they improvise together that the sparks start to fly. Much more of this please. In fact I would love to see this happen between all of them, sax and guitar,trumpetand keyboards, both horns with bass guitar, bring in the drummer fot interchanges etc etc. The band will get the picture(I hope) Also JT NEVER seems to have any practiced or improvised riffs behind HIS solos and yet all musicians know that this send the soloist to new heights so why is that? Maybe use Nadine more with the instrumentalists when the band is really stretching out, perhaps more 'songs within songs' too.
My only point here is that the Band which has only been together for just over six months and has improved to an amazing degree ,is already at a crossroads of a sort. They can either stay the same and lose out in the long term or get ahead of the game, add new material,maybe some fusion stuff, maybe some more choreography( not SLICK stuff) but a little added group together action.
I want to make it absolutely clear this is in no way any kind of criticism that ain't my job, I just think the POTENTIAL for SoTight is so huge Im just so certain with the calibre of people in the band they have not even touched the surface of what they can achieve musically. I see this blog as not simply inviting comments on the band but COMING UP WITH SUGGESTIONS to help them move forward, GET SOME REQUESTS IN THERE FOLKS. I know from MY playing days we would get complacent and play the same stuff over and over and had problems at practice with one band member suggesting trying so and so and others not being too excited BUT the LIFEBLOOD is always looking for new material and I can tell you when REQUESTS came in we bloody well had to handle them, providing they were not extreme or simply did not fit.
Funny thing about trying new material from requests is the bands ablility to try it out, get some reaction and then expand on the number until its part of the groups repetoire. My own example is when they felt they should look at trying playing Stevie Wonders "Sir Duke" They obviously were not sure and yet they now do a superb version that Mr Wonder would be proud to hear. Not sure why the band is not including that recently but that is THERE right to choose what and what not to play, just bring some suggestions either direcly to the band or through this blog.
Now this blog has been more of a personal rant when I read it, but I am sincere in wanting to help SoTight do some great things for music (and themselves) in this city and need help from YOU in making that happen.
Look this NOT an ordinary run-of-the mill bar band, it is NOT just another TRIBUTE band, it is a band who are JUST BEGINNING to recognise their own potential or should be- possible problem there just maybe because of the lack of ego or frankly a band leader,( I'm in trouble now) they DON"T understand how good they already are but much more importanly how good they COULD be. They are just STARTING to create a style of their very own, an IDENTITY and after seeing just a piece of that on Saturday I WANT MORE because they have it in them (if they indeed want it) to put a lot of smiles on the faces of Vancouverites and wherever they wish to go for a long long time.
Struggled with this folks and hey I might be out to lunch implying what may be construed as interference or criticism but that is NOT ME and I am not doing this blog for some personal ego thing, I just want to put in the effort to hopefully help a group of individuals who give me so much pleasure by the effort THEY put in to entertain us.
More this week on how I believe YOU can help, so if you like what we are trying to do here, TELL ME, if you don't like it TELL ME WHY, just do something.
Keep it Tight, Keep it SOTIGHT.

Richard Winn
White Rock