“Gemini:

After the untimely departure of Ron, I was asked to fill in the bass spot for Division as they searched for for a new bassist.  I was immediately struck by the lack of bassists in this region, but eventually was quite flattered that Division thought of me to fill in, and that they actually believed that I could learn Ron’s parts.  (Or at least fake them good enough.)  Division and Iris Divine has always had a good working relationship, having collaborated to perform a night of classic metal, mixing up our members in a great night of music last Fall.  After thinking for a bit, I agreed to at least give Ron’s bass parts a serious try.  I had heard him play live, and knew that it would not be an easy task, as Ron is an incredibly active player.  Where most bassists would settle for the easy part, or say something is good enough, Ron throws in that extra lick or riff or fill wherever he can; he always keeps it interesting.  Knowing that it would make me a better bassist, I couldn’t pass it up.

I started by immersing my self in the music, playing ‘Trinity’ and ‘Control Issues’ non-stop at work.  I was in the middle of moving, and right after starting to learn the parts, I had some work done on my shoulder which prevented me from raising my left hand above my waist for a few weeks.  So practicing the required hours a night was really not an option.  You really get a better appreciation for music when you play it instead of just listening, and this case was no exception.  Division’s songs were easy to learn, but hard to play, if that makes any sense.

Compositionally, they are laid out very intuitively, and have a great flow. (To learn Iris Divine songs, I generally need a graphing calculator and a Gatorade.)  I was never bored, as the licks, easy or hard, we catchy as hell.

We only got two rehearsals in, and the band was very supportive and cool, once they got past the ‘I hope this guy doesn’t suck’ phase, which only took ~80% of the first rehersal.  In fact, I did so good at the first practice, for the second, we skipped the music, and jumped straight to the crack whores and meth.

I’d like to say that I did an adequate job on the night of the show, but, an anyone who’s been to a Divison show knows, the guitars we so loud I wet myself and couldn’t remember my name, let alone pick out bass parts.

So a big Thank You to Division for this opportunity.  It was a blast.

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