Thanks again, gents! Answering a few questions ...
Vocals - As a teen, while Glenn's peers were into rock, he was into the divas - Billie, Nina, Dusty, Betty Everett, Etta James etc. In his 20s he started doing drag shows - actually singing rather than lip synching the old diva classics. He did some pretty big gigs.
Then in 2007 we found ourselves in a garage band after a silly set of circumstances. We played the rock version of SOYL and he was like WOW! THIS IS AMAZING! Hilarious to hear someone getting so excited about a hoary old standard
So he applies the method acting approach that was the stock and trade of the old divas to whatever he sings now. That's where it comes from. I guess the further back your roots go, the closer you get to the core.
Does he sound like Marty Balin or Ethel Merman? Maybe a bit of each but there's probably a closer match out there.
The groove: As above, we played SOYL in the garage band. Then one time at practice our current guitarist broke into it SOYL as a laugh. Glenn went: "I love that song!. Let's do it!".
Hello? Hello? Earth to Glenn? We're a lounge band.
Sticks were always going to be too loud, so I used brushes. But I still wanted Ginger's jungle vibe so I turned off the snares and smacked the backbeat as a rimshot.
Then I thought I'd go for Gadd-style ghosties, since it's easier to do with brushes. If I get the opportunity to even
roughly ape SG, I'll do it
Why wouldn't you? He's perfect.
I didn't want a straight 4/4 backbeat, again, because the song needs the legacy of Ginger's African fixation. I'm also a fan of what I think of as "temple rhythms" ... almost-sinister ostinatos that you'd expect to hear accompanying human sacrifice and suchlike
Still, if I was dancing and prone to throwing my knickers at bands I'd want Andy's band's rock n roll approach. Horses for courses. Andy somehow manages to sound good in that song with a straight backbeat!
Keyboards - not our keyboardist's first instrument. He keeps trying to sound like a "legit" pianist and regularly overstretches and screws everything up (actually he does that on his guitar songs too).
He only simplifies when Glenn blows up after months of frustration, rehearsing songs three times as much as we should need to. Those two will never be best pals haha
But when Col puts his musician ego away he does some very good parts and I really enjoy the spooky atmosphere he gives to this one. It's exactly right.
Guitar - Andy, you're right. That his distortion sound isn't ideal, being one part of a multi function box. He seems pretty attached to that thing, though, I think because some of the clean tones it gets are tasty.
8-Mile, glad you mentioned Glenn's accidental hand dance during the solo - it made me laugh too.
My ass - was once suitably rounded and hot. Alas, it has headed south for some years now to cooler climates
I thought somebody would mention my funny, stiff, arm-based motions, especially after that thread about
Jack White's Drummer. Sometimes I move like one of those clockwork toy soldiers when I play haha