oh man...

Go take a look at Little Big Towns video on "Boondocks". Can be seen on their website. Link on the right here.
Again, terrific song, everything brilliantly put together. But. But. Butt. Where did that all go, when it came to making a video. Good looking women, hansome men in the band and a blaster hit song...

... and they manage to turn it into goddamn SWAMP-ABBA!

J!F!C!

SaM

bandana, mullet or a cowboy hat - or all of them?

Once these little issues of getting the music sound decent are sorted, comes another major dilemma: What to wear, how to look on stage? Now, the strength of the north-American culture behind country music is surely convincing. Think of the leading artists capability to look horrible - wearing just insane clothes - and still stay utterly popular.
The idea of growing a mullet & thick moustache and topping that with a cowboy hat sounds rather... eh... suspicious by any urban European standards. Not to even mention the decorated shirts, bolos, belt buckles and all that shit...
The fact stays that somewhere there is a country music crowd of hundreds of thousands and more. In order to fit in, should one go for the "dress code" as well?

Scairy thought.

SaM

Trying to google these things with keywords like "bolo" or "country and western clothing" leads to some rather unexpected results. How many of us knew that an organisation called IAGLCWDC exists? Of course it does, one just did not come to think about it as the first thing in the morning. It is the The International Association of Gay/Lesbian Country Western Dance Clubs. No offense to the g/l communities, just the visual idea of 20 huge leathermen grunting away some high-spirited up-tempo line-dancing is... slightly amusing.

about the band, part 2

During autumn '05 the group has been gathering with a limited line-up in order to get the 3- or 4 -part vocal harmonies right. Quite a lot of work there still to do. But if everything goes according to the plans, the whole bunch will be regularly rehearsing in a secret hide-out in northern Helsinki before the first snow falls.

WHO WE ARE (for the time being)

All-U - electric guitars, backing vocals, overall artistic responsibility
(which shows on his face & eyebrows, can be also heard in the form of deep sighs)
T-Rox - lead vocals, fierce presence and general overall "haeroeily" *
AaHiiJ - acoustic guitar, backing vocals, vocal arrangements, general overall "repeily" **
Ruff-E - electric bass, being big, representing the Swedish speaking language minority ***
SaM - backing vocals, go-go, additional noise and such, and general overall "haeroeily" *

(the characters are copyrighted. however, the names are subject to change)

YET TO BE REVEALED

J. Doe - drums, percussion
J. Doe II - keys
J. Doe III - something else, banjo, mandolin or a fiddle - perhaps

AND FEAT.

Er... No! - lead vocals on "Sharp Dressed Man" (t.b.c.)

*) haeroeily (Finn.): irresponsible & childish behavior with no bad intentions. goes with apalling sense of humor. mostly fun.
**) repeily (Finn.): being unable to hold back the overwhelming bursts of laughter caused mostly by haeroeily
***) Finland has some 300 000 people who speak Swedish as their mother tongue. They have their own culture, slightly diffrent from the majority. Usually they are very nice, polite, easy-going and entertaining. So is our specimen. Every band should have one. =)

To be continued... with some more pictures - I hope.

Peace,

SaM

about the band, part 1

Country & Westerinen is a band project with no deadlines. It operates - for the time being - with cover material created by such artists as Travis Tritt, Brad Paisley, Buddy Jewell and Anthony Smith, just to mention some. Please note the links ->

C & W consists of people from different musical backgrounds. Some of us are professional musicians, some semi-pros - the rest being enthusiastic amateurs.
The approach towards the material varies accordingly. Some of us are true believers when it comes to country music. Some of us are interested in the surprising talent, skill, good taste and complexity that the best artists in the genre reflect in their music. And the rest of us are there for the fun of it.

Rehearsing these things is ever so enjoyable, even though very challenging.
Getting these songs to work is not quite easy, if you are not
a) born in the culture
b) musically very talented

But trying to get there sure is FUN! And yes, we are going to perform these things in public, but only when we think we can... =)

name competition

hi! please find the almost final version of the C&W -logo below....eh... somewhere around this message.

now the lovely character here is yet to be named. most likely it is a he. or on the other hand it might be a she as well.

but to name him / her properly, we do declare a competition, closing 31st Dec 05. the winner will get almost free tickets for 2 to the first ever Country & Westerinen gig in Finland (t.b.a).

ahwoo and all that sort of things!