Late last year, after completing, launching and promoting Mileage 51’s “Stone Unturned” CD, I thought about setting new musical goals for 2016. The first was completing my next CD project with Monks on the Moon “When Worlds Collide” which has just wrapped recording and is in post (editing/mixing..more on that in a future post). The other goal was satisfying a long-time desire to do serious live gigs in good venues.

For the purposes of this blog I want to focus on the latter. First I guess it’s important to state that I have done a reasonable amount of performing…last year my good friend (and Mileage 51 lead guitarist) Doug Bernie and I must have done about 10 live performances at Jazz@Pizza Express…just 3-4 songs at a time playing with the house band on open mic nights. These were very last minute, quite casual and enjoyable…but both of us wanted to kick things up a notch.

With that in mind I decided to take on the responsibility to try to get us organized to play more gigs. Now let's be clear I have zero experience in the role, but wanted to take it on as a personal challenge. The first thing I wanted to address was our sound. For any of you reading this who may have heard our CD (if not please go to www.mileage51.com and check out our sample tracks) the songs feature multiple guitars, keyboards and harmonies. So we needed to change the composition of our band to achieve a bigger sound in order to play our original tunes well. Additionally, given all of our band members have day jobs, scheduling rehearsals and gigs can be a fricking nightmare. So we also needed some flexibility. The solution to both was adding new players. As it turned out, one of the communications consultants I work with, Olly Ephgrave, wasn’t only a talented writer but was a fantastic guitar player/vocalist who plays in another band “Kicksound” (more metal/new rock focused) and was interested in a blues gig. To get the keyboard sound addressed, we moved our multi-talented drummer and producer Roy Bolwede to keys and brought in a new drummer Gilbert Haddad who had played in the past with Olly in a rock band and can really hit the skins. Solle Svan is our man on the bass and keeps us on time. So job done…we had a full complement and some versatility to play as a 5 piece or a 6 piece with keys and still have a full sound.

Second, it was clear we had (and still have) to find a niche in the market. In the UAE there are a few bluesy bands floating around but there don't appear to be any dominant, full-on blues/rock specialists in the market. So we had to come up with a set list that amplified our strengths, differentiated and filled a gap. As tempting as it is, when putting together a set list you can’t flood it with originals. Our strategy was to showcase a few originals that play well live, and develop a list of covers that weren’t overdone … but were fantastic tunes that are not played widely in Dubai if at all. And you’d be surprised at how big that list is…everyone does the obvious “Mustang Sally”, “Sweet Home Chicago” and "Hoochie Koochie Man" etc (in fact we’ve done them live ourselves) so our task was to avoid those like the plague and come up with a more original list. The litmus test was, “what songs would I want to hear if I walked into a bar??”

The answers were pretty clear. Stevie Ray Vaughn was a must….so we now cover “Cold Shot”, “Pride & Joy” and “Crossfire”. We also have delved into playlist of one of my absolute favourite artists … the late great Jeff Healey with “Think I love you too much”, “Can you see the light” and his version of “Guitar Gently Weeps”.

We do a cool version of Johnny Cash’s “Folsum Prison Blues”. Jimi Hendrix “Hey Joe” and “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream are also on the list. Colin James and Robert Cray covers are in the making as well. And we continue to expand our list…if you have any suggestions please let me know!!!

The third thing we have to do is find a way to showcase our act and build some brand in the local market. It is a very competitive landscape with a lot of talented bands…some professional, others, like Mileage 51, comprised of part time musicians. Word of mouth is important. Here’s where connections help. Given our repeated performances at Pizza Express (which is a very well-known and popular local club for live music) I knew the music manager there Rachel Calladine (who is also a killer jazz artist) and asked her to give Mileage 51 a guest band slot. Our first gig was in February…we only had a week’s notice and got in about one and half rehearsals…it went well enough but we weren’t overly pleased. The second one was just this week on March 29. This time we had adequate notice and managed to get in three rehearsals...it made a world of difference.

As was the case the first time, we invited as many friends and family as we could understanding there is a natural no-show factor for mid-week performances. The thinking here is that a supportive nucleus has a knock-on effect on overall crowd reaction and, importantly, on food and beverage sales. We had a decent turn out for the first gig (10-15 people) but on the second we had about 25-30 of our own show up in addition to the 100 or so who were already there of their own accord. So we played to a relatively full house and kept them visibly engaged for much of our one hour set. After we were done, the place all but cleared out. Doug, who is a veteran performer, made note of that afterward…”I love when that happens man…it means we filled the place and kept it full…so they will want us back.”

As an added bonus, after our set, I was approached by a booking agent who wants to pitch us to play at another venue. Might not turn into anything but it did show us that our product seems to be something of interest.

In any case, it remains a work in progress. On the music side, we will continue to build our list to have about 30 songs ready by summer. We will play as many live gigs as our schedules allow…hopefully 1 or 2 per month. And we will try to build our brand in the market. The way I see it, if you’re going to do something, you might as well try to do it as well as you can and as circumstances allow. I’ve committed to doing this with music. My wife El is incredibly supportive...I always am sure to mention her name at our gigs (this last time during sound check). So all is good in my Dubai hood!

As usual thanks for taking the time to read!

Until next time, stay safe and be well!

Cheers
Lorne