hiram.k.hackenbacker

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1429941300' post='2756489'] Ziggy Stardust has to be in there. [/quote] It is. You have to love a set that has such an easy home straight. I kind of have to pay attention during The Jean Genie to get the nail the gaps as it's the same riff over and over, but Ziggy is so easy to play and such a fun line that I'll never get bored with it. Same goes for Suffragette City. Simple, brilliant and effective. Can't wait :-)

Well, gig day is here and the set remains the same as the March 15th post. The songs that we have been agreed to work on next are.... Heroes John, I'm Only Dancing (sax version) Jump They Say (Rock Mix) New Killer Star Scary Monsters Definitely time to break out the 5 string!

[quote name='lonestar' timestamp='1426447229' post='2718152'] Great stuff it sounds a great gig. Will you be posting the setlist here ? Intrigued to see what you went with. [/quote] Sure, what the hell. At the moment it looks like this.... The Stars (Are Out Tonight) Starman The Jean Genie Rebel, Rebel All The Young Dudes The Man Who Sold The World Changes Let's Dance China Girl Sound and Vision Dead Man Walking Ashes to Ashes I'm Afraid of Americans Stay Rock & Roll Suicide Ziggy Stardust Suffragette City Panic In Detroit and New Killer Star are being worked on at the moment.

Update.... Our first gig has now been booked for April 25th @ The Ship in Leigh-On-Sea, Essex. It's a small venue, but sold out within three days of being announced on FB. So, six weeks to go and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm becoming obsessed by everything Bowie and I'm loving it. It's the most alive I have ever felt from a musical standpoint. Just started work on Panic In Detroit and New Killer Star. Won't be ready for The Ship, but time well spent.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1422448517' post='2672743'] Slightly off topic but does anyone else think it a bit odd that the recent 3 disk 'best of' compilation doesn't include either Suffragette City or John, I'm Only Dancing? I know we all have our faves and it's not listed as a 'greatest hits' but if I didn't have any Bowie on CD and was looking for a fairly definitive collection then this one would fail for me just by those omissions. Unless I've misread the track list, only just glanced over it I admit. [/quote] That's the problem with compilations. Something always gets left out. As good as the two tracks are that you have mentioned, there is a ton of stuff in there that is just as good, if not better, but that's just my opinion. That's where compilations fall down. I love the name of it though. Typical Bowie to turn it on its head. Should be Everything Has Changed :-)

[quote name='lonestar' timestamp='1422380595' post='2671948'] I've played quite a few on that list plus China girl and heroes Hiram - I'm waiting by the phone�� It sounds a great gig. Keep us posted when you're playing locally. I'm surprised not to have heard of more Bowie tribute bands [/quote] The first gig could well be at The Ship in Leigh sometime in March hopefully.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1422379362' post='2671923'] For me that pretty much sums up everything that is wrong with Bowie post "Lets Dance". The arrangements are almost as important as the songs themselves, and to loose that in order to give all the musicians something to do lessens the impact of the song IMO. Every superfluous muss twiddle in that arrangement distracts from the pure simplicity of the original riff. Nasty. [/quote] I hear what you're saying, but he hasn't messed with it that much. It does give it a different feel, but I can still put most of the run variations in. There are two different bridge type sections one of which is quite laid back compared to the other one and this version only gives the opportunity to play one of them, so I went for the busier line. It's all good to my ears, but accept it may not be to yours.

[quote name='lonestar' timestamp='1422377823' post='2671888'] Excellent If you ever need a dep... [/quote] You're the first on my list [quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1422377840' post='2671889'] HA!!! good luck with that one [/quote] I don't hear that much to be concerned about there.... [url="http://youtu.be/-ef_D-Et7c8"]http://youtu.be/-ef_D-Et7c8[/url]

[quote name='merello' timestamp='1422376361' post='2671864'] Look on YT for him live at the BBC or a modern gig. [/quote] A lot of the arrangements we are doing are from the BBC gig in 2000 (i.e. Ashes, I'm Afraid of Americans, The Man Who Sold The World). It also helps vocally working from these recordings as he dropped the key of quite a few of songs. I spent a little while nailing the structure and subtle differences in the run downs to Rebel Rebel to be told we were doing this version which I think is terrific. [url="http://youtu.be/7HyWXftUiWc"]http://youtu.be/7HyWXftUiWc[/url]

So, after a call this morning, we're now up to fifteen.... 1. China Girl 2. Let's Dance 3. The Jean Genie 4. Rebel Rebel 5. Starman 6. Changes 7. Suffragette City 8. Rock & Roll Suicide 9. All The Young Dudes 10. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) 11. The Man Who Sold The World 12. I'm Afraid of Americans 13. Ziggy Stardust 14. Sound and Vision 15. Ashes to Ashes Best I get off the computer and learn some songs then....

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1422360283' post='2671526'] Shouldn't that really be in the Mott The Hoople set, anyway? [/quote] Probably, but since he wrote it and did it live, I think we can get away with it

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1422356769' post='2671469'] How about a leftfield choice, "All the Young Dudes"? [/quote] Er, that's in the first ten already.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1422355247' post='2671446'] Here's the set list of the band that Roland Rock used to be in; [url="http://www.rebelrebelband.co.uk/Set%20List%20&%20Tracks.htm"]http://www.rebelrebe...0&%20Tracks.htm[/url] And since it came up on google here's the list from a USA based tribute of the same name!; [url="http://www.rebelrebeltribute.com/set-list.php"]http://www.rebelrebe...om/set-list.php[/url] Might give you some idea of what's doable and is accepted by the public in a working band. [/quote] Thanks for that. I'll have a look later.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1422354733' post='2671437'] Unless your singer is actually David Bowie.... Of course if you really want to be eclectic in your choices you need to play at least one Tin Machine track! [/quote] Well, funny you should mention that, 'cos here he is back in the day.... [url="http://youtu.be/jp7ZqJg3NWM"]http://youtu.be/jp7ZqJg3NWM[/url] We WILL be doing Under The God at some point!

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1422349567' post='2671359'] Certainly while you are building up a following, you'll need to play things that the non-Bowie fans will be familiar with. That probably means including stuff like Dancing In The Street. How good are your vocalists? I'd love to have a crack at Under Pressure, but we don't have anyone who can sing the Bowie part. [/quote] I refuse to play Dancing In The Street as I'm completely sick of it. I think it's been in the set of just about every band I've been in. Just can't do it anymore. We did Under Pressure at the aforementioned charity gig, so that will make an appearance at some point. We had other vocalists in to assist when we did it, so it may take some re-jigging.

[quote name='vsmith1' timestamp='1422348608' post='2671343'] Hmm...Gail Ann Dorsey lays down some mean bass for Bowie - I hope it goes well for you. [/quote] She sure does. Absolutely love her playing. I swapped from playing my Jazz, which I used at the 1st rehearsal, to my Stingray which I used last night and it's going to have to be the Stingray from now on. It's just got that sound!

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1422342670' post='2671289'] I was in a Bowie tribute for a few years before my current band - great fun. The Ziggy album is an entity in itself; there are many people who only go to see the Ziggy stuff. As such, we ended up playing a few gigs where the first set was the Ziggy album in its entirety. This was a huge hit for those particular fans, who knew every word and every note which came next. Other ones which went down really well were Life on Mars, Let's Dance, Modern Love, Heroes etc. Funny that you all knew China Girl - i didn't know it and never warmed to it :-( My personal favourites to play were Hang on to Yourself, Fame and Boys Keep Swinging Good memories, and some great gigs [/quote] We learnt China Girl last year for a charity gig which is where we the seeds of all this were born. The studio version is a little antiseptic, but we're playing more along the lines of this version.... [url="http://youtu.be/NEl6BBLwSa0"]http://youtu.be/NEl6BBLwSa0[/url] I think the singer has done the whole of Ziggy before. I'm not saying never, but that could be a little way off yet. Strange you should say Modern Love as I don't think that ever came over very well when Bowie did it live. Love the song though. I wouldn't mind having a crack at Cat People as well.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1422320972' post='2671240'] There's nothing from Station to Station, Low, Heroes or Lodger - that's quite a big ommission. [/quote] Just made a new page on the spreadsheet in our Dropbox showing a chart of the spread of songs. Six of the ten we have are from Diamond Dogs or older. Nothing between Diamond Dogs and Let's Dance (6 albums) and nothing between Let's Dance and The Next Day (8 albums). [quote name='KK Jale' timestamp='1422325291' post='2671253'] Currently springing to mind: Sorrow, Lady Grinning Soul, Teenage Wildlife... [/quote] Now there's an interesting trio of songs.

[quote name='Mr Arkadin' timestamp='1422319048' post='2671232'] Nice you're doing one slightly newer track, but there's nothing after Diamond Dogs all the way to Scary Monsters. Some of my fave albums are in there, although I would find it hard to pick tracks as I prefer the lesser known tracks, like I would do Beauty and the Beast rather than "Heroes" but how many people even know that track? [/quote] Mmm, I had to be quite strong about getting Stars in there. I wasn't particularly bothered that it was that track, but I wanted something from The Next Day in there as I thought it would be different bearing in mind Bowie himself hasn't toured it. [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1422319291' post='2671233'] Moonage Daydream Sound And Vision Ziggy Stardust TVC15 Fashion Golden Years [/quote] Moonage Daydream is quite high up the list of to do's, but I love your other choices as well. [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1422319447' post='2671234'] The list could be very long, but I'll just put in a vote for 'Space Oddity'. [/quote] Yes, the list of stuff we want to do is huge, but I think we need to get a nice balance with this truncated set. Love Space Oddity though. [quote name='peteb' timestamp='1422319522' post='2671235'] More songs from Hunky Dory! [/quote] That's another issue, even if we did one song from every album we would still have to miss some albums out for the first gig. At least Hunky Dory is represented already. [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1422320972' post='2671240'] There's nothing from Station to Station, Low, Heroes or Lodger - that's quite a big ommission. [/quote] As above really. The guitarist is working on Station to Station (the song), but that's going to be a work in progress I think. Stay has been mentioned quite early on. Golden Years will almost certainly get done at some stage as will Wild Is The Wind. I'm not sure about the other two though. I almost don't want to do Heroes (the song) as it's just too obvious. Is that wrong? There is some great stuff on Lodger and that will come soon enough. Everything seems to draw us back towards Ziggy. Three songs from that album are already in. Moonage Daydream has been mentioned more than once between us and the drummer is fairly insistent on doing Five Years. What to do!

I've just returned from rehearsal #2 which went just as well as the first. The band came to an agreement that we would like to start playing live as soon as possible, even if it means playing a shorter set for a support slot of some kind. To that end we moved on to discuss set content for such a gig. The songs below are pretty much good to go and we're looking to expand them by another eight in preparation for our first outing. The Bowie catalogue is so huge and packed with such classics we're spolit for choice. We would like to maintain a balance between early and late material. With this in mind, are there any particular songs that a hardcore Bowie fan would expect a tribute band to play and would be disappointed if they weren't? Here's what we have so far: 1. China Girl (this went in because it was one everyone already knew) 2. Let's Dance (as above) 3. The Jean Genie 4. Rebel Rebel 5. Starman 6. Changes 7. Suffragette City 8. Rock & Roll Suicide 9. All The Young Dudes 10. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) Already in for next time are I'm Afraid of Americans and The Man Who Sold The World.