Hi Everyone,
It’s Thursday and I’m in a diner / coffee shop in Oakland, CA as I write this. I played last night in Yoshi’s, essentially a jazz club. A very nice place. It was a good crowd turnout and the band put on a good show. I played a shorter set but added two songs for an encore…ninety minutes in total.
I’m trying to pace myself these days on stage. That’s difficult for me to do because I get a tad too enthusiastic most times! I don’t want to be on automatic pilot on stage but you want to feel well rehearsed and comfortable. That’s where I’m at right now. I still enjoy performing but the main issue these days is making sure I’m staying healthy on the road. The music seems to take care of itself but the eating, sleeping and exercising part is difficult. On the road I take a pill to help me adjust to time changes and such and I drink too much coffee…and I eat road food. When in Rome…
The new album City Night, will be released in a month and I’ll be interested to hear and see what people and critics think of it. I’ve played two songs from the album live and folks seem to like them. The sound on “City Night” is different from “Witchy Feeling” the last studio release. I think more aggressive. I used my Les Paul through an old Marshall coupled with a Fender DeVille. The recording was done fast with a lot of first takes accepted. Things are very intense that way but there’s no over thinking. I don’t like laboring things. The new song “Walking On Hot Stones” is available to listen to on Spotify and a second song is swimming around the Internet somewhere.
In order to not stall and get writers block, I’m already writing songs for next years release. I actually have a good start. It’s one of the reasons that I’ve stalled with writing my book (though it’s mostly all done). I’m writing lyrics for songs everyday and that eats up that creative side of my brain. Writing the autobiography, sometimes I can hardly believe my own story. On Instagram I posted an old advertisement from the Marquee club in London from 1967. I was nineteen and promoting the first album “Shakedown”. Seeing the newspaper clipping made me realize, “it did happen”! That was my life!
We change so much (well, not intrinsically) that it’s hard to imagine yourself or events from the past as being real. It all becomes some kind of blurred dream. At the same time a lot of inconsequential events stay in your mind…they remind you of your follies! I do deal with that well these days…the present moment is the most important time. Enjoy the instant you’re living in. Don’t worry about the future or fret about the past. How do you do that? I pray a lot!
My second cup of coffee has appeared care of a very nice waitress. I’m waiting for bass player Pat and drummer Garnet to join me for breakfast. Then the conversation will be based on the show last night. How we played, the people we met and what worked and didn’t work. We’ll also talk of politics, state of the world and plans for the day. It’s a good relationship and the chemistry between the three of us extends from the stage and the music we play together. We’re able to talk together and find common ground. My dad always said don’t criticize another mans politics, religion or choice of partner….or you’ll lose a friend!
Talk to you again..sooner,
Kim Simmonds
Oakland, CA