"Tour" Diary

The Instant Band Experiment

(John P. Strohm and Glenn Hicks, Photo by Jeremy Hogan)

My album came out almost a month ago, and since then I’ve visited some of my favorite cities to get the word out. I decided last spring to play full-band shows, but to use a different band for each show with different local players - some I’ve played with many times, and some I’d never met.

The concept is simple: I call a close friend I’ve played music with before. I recruit them to be a “bandleader,” and I ask them to essentially recruit a band. Then I ask the band to learn a set to perform live. We have one 2-hour band practice to dial it in. Then we play a show. I’m sure many other musicians have used this approach to touring; it isn’t innovative. But it’s new to me.

I’m grateful, because it takes a lifetime of music-making to pull this off. I know a lot of musicians, in many vibrant local music scenes. Not only do I know who has the talent, skill, and sensitivity to pull it off, but I also know who has the relaxed positivity and enthusiasm to make it fun. Once you’re not doing it for the money, fun is the main incentive. If it isn’t fun, it absolutely isn’t worth it. Ask any musician, not every job is fun. That means the fun gigs are special. If you put a group of positive, enthusiastic individuals, you’ll have a fun time every time. Even if it’s a disaster.

I know the players who have the unique skillset to find their space in MY music. I’ve played in plenty of bands where it’s OUR music, or someone else’s music. With a solo artist, you start with the artist’s music, then you evolve it into the group’s music. But it starts with the artist’s peculiar aesthetic and understanding what will serve the music. That’s what great musicians do: they research the music, they listen, they read the room, and ultimately they serve the songs. The insane thing I set out to do is to create 5 REAL bands to bring my songs to life, each in a unique way. I handed all that off to a trusted friend, the bandleader, and tasked them with putting it together so that I could saunter in and sound awesome. And that’s exactly what happened.

I’ve listed all the musicians below with a brief description of who they are and what they do, because I want to have a record to easily remember who did what. Several of the talent buyers expressed to me that they’d like to have us back, the unique band that was assembled around a single goal. Bands that will only reassemble in these precise configurations for one thing: to do it again. And I really hope that happens.

I’ll thank the venues, Hook & Ladder Theater in Minneapolis, Eastside Bowl in Madison, TN (near Nashville), Saturn in Birmingham, Space in Evanston, and The Bishop in Bloomington. I’ve played or patronized each of these venues, and they all felt like home. Saturn is particularly special to me, because I helped my dear friend Brian Teasley, who promoted our show, negotiate the deal to create Saturn. I walked the venue as a raw warehouse space, and it fills me with pride to see that it has become one of the greatest music venues in the world. After the devestation that Covid caused in the live music business, it is inspiring to visit a group of venues that are crushing it this hard.

The point of the “tour” wasn’t to make money. I paid the players and more or less broke even. That’s amazing, because it’s worth so much to have such an experience of community around my own music. Reconnecting with longtime collaborators and making music together after all these years is just good for the soul. Connecting with new musicians and forging new connections is satisfying in an entirely different way. Spending time with musicians with a shared feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment around the music-making is something I’ve missed terribly.

My ideology these days is very clear: Creativity is for everyone who longs for creativity. Anyone who thinks there’s an age limit to any of it is an asshole. Building community around creativity is something worth working towards. It takes work, but it’s worth it. And that is what I’m going to keep reminding myself for many years to come.

MINNEAPOLIS BAND (Hook & Ladder SUSSED-TACULAR, tributed to Ed Ackerson, Hook & Ladder Theater, July 16, 2023

Dan Boen: Bandleader. Bassist. Longtime member of Polara. A good friend and fellow lawyer.
Peter Anderson: Drummer. Played drums on my album Vestavia. Longtime member of Polara. Truly one of my favorite drummers I’ve played with.
Sallie Watson: Guitarist and Backing Vocalist. Friend of Ashley Ackerson, member of The Mood Swings. Sallie came out of a sort of musical retirement to do this, and she crushed it.
Karen Grotberg: Keyboards. Longtime member of The Jayhawks. A spectacular player.

NASHVILLE BAND (Eastside Bowl, September 30, 2023)

(I was bandleader for this one)
Jared Shane Reynolds: Bass and backing vocals. Longtime Ben Folds sideman, currently bandleader for Hays Carl. GREAT bassist and BGVs. I used to have a Guided By Voices cover band with Jared, along with Ken Coomer and Bobby Bare, Jr. (who is an actual member of Guided By Voices)
Abigail Rose: Acoustic guitar and vocals. Abigail is going to be a pop star very soon, and it will be hilarious that she was in my band. Seriously not joking. Not only a brilliant singer, but also a rock-solid rhythm guitarist.
Payton Bradford: Drums. I first met Payton as the drummer of my client, the band Futurebirds. More reently we have been law firm colleagues. He’s a terrific drummer and very easy to be around.

BIRMINGHAM BAND (Saturn, October 7, 2023)

Bo Butler: Bandleader. Acoustic guitar and backing vocals. Bo and I have played in several bands together, and we’ve been friends for over 25 years. He’s a joy to be around, and a fine player and singer. Bo convinced me to be an Alabama football fan back when the team was mediocre.
Alex Yaker: Keyboards. An easy call for Bo to make, Alex was my bandmate in Birmingham for several years, and he’s always ready to travel to make music together, which means the world to me. He brought a lot to the new album with his piano playing.
Jesse Suttle: Jesse is a great journeyman drummer in Birmingham who has been the backbone for quite a few significant artists over the years. He’s extremely versitle; but when it’s time to rock, that is his comfort zone.
David Somerall: I hadn’t met David before, but Bo assured me he was the final piece. He was right. Not only did David host us in style for our pre-gig run-through, but he brought a deep groove and command of the material. He glued it all together.

CHICAGO BAND (Space in Evanston, October 22, 2023)

Jake Smith: Bass. Bandleader? Jake was my longtime bandmate, along with Freda, in Antenna. By the way, several of these shows were shared bills with Freda to promote her book, I Quit Everything, along with my album. So this was a family affair. I even had a nice sit-down dinner with Jake, Freda, and their son Jonah. Jake is a tremendous musician, and particularly gifted at bass guitar.
Gerald Dowd: Drums and backing vocals. I question whether Jake took on the bandleader role, because it was Freda who connect me with the immensely talented Gerald Dowd. We didn’t get to rehearse because my flight was delayed, but he didn’t need it. He knew the songs perfectly and brought exactly the right feel. Gerald is a solo artist in his own right, but he has a rare talent for giving life to music as an accompanyist.

BLOOMINGTON BAND (The Bishop, October 29, 2023)

This was the grande finale. It all led up to this show. What a blast it was.
Glenn Hicks: Bandleader, bass, backing vocal. Glenn is one of my closest friends, and a frequent collaborator through the 90s. His band back then, El Nino, absolutely ruled, and his present day band, Griffy, is one of my favorite present-day bands. Glenn’s enthusiasm is off the charts, and he truly brought everything he had for this show.
Dan Fierst: Drums. Member of Griffy. Dan and I go back to middle school, and little league baseball and basement parties. He’s developed into a serious drummer over the years, and his feel suited the occasion. He serves the song, and that’s what we all hope for in a drummer.
Dan Figurelli: Guitar. Dan is the sole guitarist in Griffy, a role that requires him to fill a lot of space. Having to electric guitars is always an arrangement challenge, especially if one (like mine) provides the structure. He showed great restraint and sensitivity, but when the situation called for something explosive, he showed up like you’d hope he would. It made for a very dynamic presentation.
Jeremy Nation: Keyboards. Glenn brought Jeremy in to fill in the parts on the record that felt necessary. It was a great call, and Jeremy showed exuisite taste in what he emphasized. I liked his playing so much, I changed the setlist to feature the piano on Ruins.

I also had two of my dear friends and collaborators from the 90s, Kenny Childers from Velo Deluxe, and Madeline Rivera, my former neighbor who sang on my first solo album Caledonia, sing harmonies. Such a good call in each instance.

The shows got better each time, but it had little to do with the players. All the players showed up, and everyone delivered. The shows got better because I became more confident with each show, and learned better each time how to play my own songs. Ask any songwriting musician, this is a real issue. If you write a song, if you record a song, you can’t necessarily pull it off live. That takes time and expermientation. We didn’t have the luxury of time, so I had to work it out, show-by-show. By the end, it felt effortless. But it wouldn’t have worked if all those players hadn’t put in the time and effort to really learn the material, and to show up prepared. For that, I am just so moved and grateful.

If my friend Ed hadn’t gotten sick and passed away, these songs might sill just be voice memos on my phone. It’s not like the world needs this music, but to create something and then have 5 different really good bands bring the songs to life, 5 different times? That’s a charmed life. I hope we get to do it again, with each of these bands. I’m just so grateful that it’s even possible.

Freda and I closed the tour last night at Moganstern Bookstore in Bloomington. Freda read an excerpt, then we had a conversation with our old friend David Brent Johnson. I closed with a few solo acoustic songs from the album. The bookstore was full of old friends and family. We reconnected with a lot of people from our past, but I loved it when a hip-looking guy in his early 20s approached me. “Hey,” he said. “I came here to buy a book, but I heard the music and it sounded great, I came over to see what it was. He’d never heard of me before, but he said loved my voice and my songs, and he showed me that he’d pulled up my Spotify profile and clicked “follow.” It’s all too new and too fun to take things like that for granted.