LIVE BRAINS

Now that the Brain Shivers record, "Santiago Love Songs," is in the final mastering stages, I've started thinking about the next step.

Of course, that's packaging, which we've talked about a bit below.

So I guess I'm thinking about the next next step, which is playing this stuff live.

I haven't been in a regular band since Mister Littlejeans/Bob, who hung up their guitars a few years ago after a couple of gigs. Before that it was Happy Boy, which was the first band I regularly gigged with in New York, and which was as much a learning experience as something you'd want to see live.

Last night George and I got to talking about how to present Brain Shivers live. It's kind of difficult, since many (but not all) of the tunes have synth parts, and a few of them are heavily reliant on cello. I don't know if we'll be able to find a cellist who's willing to deal with live gigs (especially if we end up in shitty bars, which is likely), so we may need to rely on synths even more.

I'm not very keen on having a 6 piece band anyhow... rehearsing would be a pain in the ass and it's far too much gear to lug around. Plus we'd constantly be buying cello strings, and I don't even know where to get them.

George suggested that I play keys, leaving him on guitar, Ted on guitar, Machold on drums, and a bassist TBD. That's already five people... crowded rehearsals, to be sure. But a bigger issue is that I'm not much of a live keyboardist; my comfort level, especially when I'm singing, is a lot higher on guitar. Plus I'd have to give up my solos... well, some of them.

I thought about playing guitar and synths, kind of an Alex Lifeson deal, which would be more complicated than singing and playing keys live. Plus I'm not even Canadian. I suggested to George that we have several synth setups that could be used by any one of us. Also complex.

There's the option of ditching the synth and cello parts entirely, and just playing the songs with a few guitars and drums. Certainly simple, but not really an accurate representation of the Brain Shivers sound.

So that's where my brain is in terms of the Brain. I guess the easiest thing to do is just to put on a CD and lip synch.