A face in the crowd

Chainfall – Summer

Monday, May 30th, 2011
By: Brandon Bailor

The summer is proving to be good to Chainfall.  We added a second guitar player so we can open ourselves up musically, we had a great show on the lake last Saturday, we have our first headliner this saturday, we open again for our friends Stygian on June 25th, and the one I am most excited for … Whiskey Tango on July 12th. 

Gary Rumpff is our newest member.  Adding him on guitar will greatly open what songs we can cover, plus since we have enough music under our belts to play a full show, we are switching gears towards originals.  Gary will certainly add some flavor to the writing process.  I look forward to seeing what Chris Gary Ed and Matt can come up with.  This could lead to some really fun times!

Now to talk about our shows.  June 4th is our first headlining show … we will play a full 3 sets.  No opening band … just us, all night!  This will be a good workout for us … plus it will give us a chance to see what kind of turnout we can generate.  It is early for us … I know Chainfall has been around since 2007, but this new lineup is pretty new.  After the 4th, we open for Stygian on the 25th.  Stygian is an original Metal band … so we will just come up with a short set of our harder material.  This will be a fun Rock-Out session … and hopefully put us in front of some new faces … generate more interest.  Then the big one is July 12th.  Whiskey Tango is one of the premier venues for Philly local music.  If we can prove ourselves there on a Tuesday night, then we earn ourselves a chance to play there on a weekend.  Possibly open up the opportunity for us to open for our good friends in Release. 

So the summer is turning out to be a good summer for Chainfall … hopefully we can continue the momentum.

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First show with Chainfall = win!

Sunday, November 7th, 2010
By: Brandon Bailor

We had our first show with the new lineup last night (meaning me as the new drummer).  I gotta tell you … I didn’t realize how much I missed playing.  I can’t express how much fun I had!  It was awesome to be able to play live music again.  I have to give a huge Thank You to the guys in Chainfall for taking me in and giving me a chance.  Plus a big Thanks to Stygian for asking us to open for them!  Thanks guys you rock!  And it sounds like we got really positive feedback.  Everyone seemed pleased with the performance as a whole, and everyone seemed to think I am a really good fit for the guys.  It feels really great to be included and accepted in such an endeavor so close to my heart.  Music really is part of my soul. 

As far as the music itself last ngiht, it started off a little shaky, and we had a couple hiccups throughout, but this was our first show together.  And what few flubs we did have … we pushed through them and hopefully they were not too noticeable … unless you were really familiar with the song.  And at one point, I broke a stick … I started to feel it break, so I was trying to pick a good spot to swap it out with a new one … I ran out of time, and it went whirling towards Chris (guitar player) barely missing his head LOL!  But other than the flying wood … I don’t think anybody could tell I had to switch sticks … didn’t miss a beat! 

We will get better as a band, tighter, better trained, etc.  I can’t wait to play more!  We might even have another show as early as this Friday … time will tell, but there will be many more shows!

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Chainfall – Sat Nov 6th – Sweeneys

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
By: Brandon Bailor

So, Sat Nov 6th will be my first show with Chainfall!  The show will be at Sweeneys Saloon on Philmont Ave in Philly @ 9pm.  We open for some friends in a band called Stygian.  Since we open, we will only be doing one set … about 14-15 songs.  I am really excited, I figured it out … it’s been about 17 years since I have been on stage.  We had a good practice last night, chose the set list.  This is going to be a fun show!  The music is starting to get really tight.  I am so glad I got back into music, and I am really glad I found Chainfall.  I am really grateful that they they allowed me to join.  They are great guys, and we really seem to be a good musical fit. 

So … those of you who can make it, I would be really happy to see you!  And if not … hopefully you can make it to a future show.  We have nothing lined up just yet, but we are still trying to expand our musical library.  Soon we will have enough music to be able to play a few sets.  That should buy us more flexibility for bookings.

I will try to keep everyone posted via this blog as well as my FaceBook page.  Wish me luck!

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Chainfall

Friday, September 24th, 2010
By: Brandon Bailor

Well, I just realized that I haven’t posted in a while, and I haven’t posted that my Sunday audition (Sept 19th) with Chainfall resulted in me joining a band!  After jamming to the 5 or 6 songs they asked me to learn for the tryout, the guys were generous enough to offer me the spot! For me, after hearing the talent these guys have live, then jamming with them, I was genuinely excited about the opportunity to work with these guys, so I accepted!  If you are a friend of mine on FaceBook, you may have seen that I posted the news there.  The music is progressing well. We have had two practices now (including the tryout) and we have 7 to 9 covers that are just about stage ready. Our styles, and commitment really seem to mesh well, the music is just kind of coming comfortably and naturally.  Cool!  Tuesday will be our next practice, and I will be ready for about 7 more songs. Not too shabby for just dusting my chops off! 

After joining the band and learning a little more about them, I offered to set up a website for them (well … us). Here is the site: http://chainfallband.com.  This will be changing rapidly as we collectively decide as a band what we want our image to be.  We haven’t had any chance to discuss this, so I don’t mean to speak out of turn, but I believe we will use this site as a method to let everyone know when and where we are going to play, as well as post photos of shows, possibly sound bytes, and/or video clips. We shall see what my web host allows … if need be, I can always upgrade my hosting account.  Anyway … I encourage all to check it out often 🙂

On a personal level, I can’t believe how quickly all of this has come together.  I have been itching to play again for a couple years now.  A good friend of mine also has a blog … here is a post of his called “I wish I would” . Along these lines, I did what I needed to do … a few weeks ago I bought a drum set and answered some ads … then BOOM!  I am in a really cool band! Not sure what you call it … but it seems that I kind of projected to the world what I wanted, and I reached for it.  Not only did I reach, but the world listened, and coincidence or not … it all seems to be falling into place. SWEET!  Rock on!!

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Drummer Audition(s)

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
By: Brandon Bailor

Well, it’s been a week since I went on the audition with Winston’s Dog. The audition was for me to sit in at their studio and play three of their originals. I ended up missing a couple changes, but overall, I think I played pretty well. It felt like they liked me, and they seemed to like the feel I had with the band. Hopefully, if they saw any rough edges, they can realize that it was because I have been out of it for a while, and that it will not take long for me to polish myself off and get back into the full swing of it. The next day, they sent a thank you email, and let me know that they discussed my audition, and were generally pleased. But they have a long road ahead of them (understandably) to choose a new drummer. So I will sit tight. Hopefully things will work out, but if not, then I wish them the best.

Getting the chance to sit behind a drum kit and actually jam at volume with real musicians again was a real treat! I brought a friend of mine over who didn’t even know that I played the drums. She seemed surprised. She told me that I was really good, and sounded really good with them. She told me at one point, she looked over at me and I was just in my own world … smile from ear to ear. She was right. I was comfortable again … arms flailing around like a madman, feet stomping … I was back in my zone, my happy place, my world. And for three songs, all was right with my world again.

Winston’s Dog will actually be performing this Friday (Sept 10, 2010) at Ringers in Shwenksville PA (9:00pm). I will be going to check it out. See how they play out live, get the feel for it. Not to mention, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to show my face, and let them know that I am still interested. I will be sure to report my findings here on this site this weekend 🙂

I have a second audition also set up with a band called Chainfall. They seem to be more of a Metal cover band. They have chosen about a half a dozen songs for me to come over and jam out with them. This will be on Sunday Sept 19, 2010. I will post results of that audition as well.

Overall, I think getting back into this will be a good thing for me. Pool was fun, and I met some really cool people, but I think music is where I belong.

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