Yeah yeah ok, so  you have heard me go on and on about Luke Wade. I know this…and well, Im not sorry. I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with him and No Civilians recently and you’re just gonna have to deal with it.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear from Mr. Wade when he called needing a drummer. It was a no brainer to accept the gig. What I didn’t know before accepting it – it was a 2 hour gig with 9 unrecorded songs and a hand full of unique cover songs. Ok..no problem right? Luke was kind enough to meet up with his drummer and record the tracks I didn’t know. It was at this time I realized.. his drummer is damn good! I’ve heard the recordings, clearly the drummer does the typical studio thing and plays back on recordings. That wasn’t the case with the recording I received. That boy good! On top of learning the tunes his drummer just killed…I was given the cover tunes… Its fair to say, I didn’t know any of them…NONE! I learned a valuable lesson though, screw Paul Simon. Better yet, screw Steve Gadd. Come on man, we all know you’re a great drummer. There is no need to make drum parts so difficult that nobody wants to play them. Meh, anyway.

I drove up to Fort Worth a few hours before show time to run through music with Luke. I felt way less nervous after a run through. Then we headed to the venue. This place was so great. From the street, it appears to be 4 separate bars. These separate bars all share one large patio area. It was perfect. Huge stage, great sound, plenty of seating and a great feel. I wasn’t sure what to expect but this exceeded it by far. As I began setting up, the guys in No Civilians started showing up. What a great group of musicians. I joked with Luke after the show about having the best seat for the show. I was literally a fan on stage who just happened to play the drums. This was also the first and only time Ive soloed in a song. I was felling brave! Though I couldn’t really compete with the trumpet/keys player. He played a solo with one hand on the keys while playing the trumpet. He matched the solo note for note with himself. Pretty amazing

The night was a huge success. I had a lot of fun and really hope to get the chance again soon!