Gig Archives: 2025
(Disclaimer: this may be incomplete or inaccurate)Sunday, January 5th, 2025 We had a "soft opening" gig at the rehearsal space, not unlike (and at the same location as) the Free Salamander Exhibit soft launch however many years ago. Basically played the whole album for a small gathering of friends and cohorts and family on a Sunday afternoon. It went great! Proof of concept! We can do this! And we will again! And you will like it!
Tuesday, February 4th, 2025 Since we were going to be in LA rehearsing anyway, we booked a show at Zebulon and it ended up being quite the event! Opening the evening was CNTS (haven't seen Mike Crain since the Dead Cross tour!). We played a 90 minute set to the packed house, which included three new numbers. Good fun, and also had some good al pastor tacos in the venue. After we packed up and loaded out we got some more al pastor tacos from Leo's taco truck. When in Rome!
Saturday, February 8th, 2025 Secret Chiefs 3 headled the second night of the Subterranean Dissonance Fest in Philadelphia. So many great bands, and quite the marathon. Great to see several old faces (and meet some new faces). As he has been doing for decades, my old housemate/bandmate Joe drove up from VA to see the show and hang out - wotta guy!! I was in that venue for like 8 hours straight, during which there was some frosty weather outside - perfect timing as it all cleared up by the end of the evening when we walked all the gear back to the hotel around the corner. Flew home the very next morning, and I made my 40 minute connection in Chicago.
Friday, February 28th, 2025 Had a great time playing the Bistro in Hayward yet again. Similar long, crazy sets full of fusion-y and prog-y classics.
Once again I worried at first about the lack of parking, but after circling once I nabbed a spot nearby. Phew!
Similar set as last time.
Saturday, March 22nd, 2025 Our first real formal show! Great turnout, packing the Little Hill Lounge in El Cerrito. Ex-Juncos opened and then we safely landed all 12 tunes from the album, and nothing more since that's all we know! But people were pleased. I think some cheered when I successfully made the "boing" sound during "Magic Bean" (at the soft launch a couple months ago this failed to happen due to midi failure). Anyway.. we're official!
Sunday, March 23rd, 2025 As crazy as it made sound, I've never stepped foot inside the Kilowatt in SF before, much less performed there, before this evening. Ate delicious curries next door after soundcheck. Local heros Low Plateau started the night, then us, then Screen Frogs touring from Seattle. First gig with my Nord Electro, so that's broken in. To mix things up a bit we performed a Morricone theme from Exorcist II.
Saturday, May 3rd, 2025 Tried out a new town: Los Gatos. And a new venue, at least for me: The Cats. It's a barbecue restaurant with live music and we had a pretty good turnout of fusion fans and families eating pork ribs. I myself had a brisket sandwich which I wolfed down just before downbeat. The ol' shovel and play! First time doing the jazz/prog stuff on the Nord. Such a relief bringing a lighter keyboard to these gigs. A bit sleepy due to lingering jet lag (I flew back from England earlier in the week) but I hit all the notes. I did mess up the count for that easy break in "Play With Me" - it's funny when you're so worried about the hard parts that the simplest stuff ends up being the issue.
Saturday, June 21st, 2025 Got added to this ensemble last minute, and I'm glad as I always love working with Dan & Mantra
but as a bonus Jenya was also on the gig on percussion, so it was like a family affair.
Even better: this was for the Garden of Memory annual event at the Chapel of the Chimes, which
is something I've never been asked to do but finally I got to tick that experience box.
Fun ensemble with all the above plus many more going through the various Dan charts or
singing along with Mantra. We were in the corner of the whole complex which mean easy loading
but I worried there would be less foot traffic, but people did appear and watch as they do
during this whole crazy thing. Ran into some other new-musicky I haven't seen in a while.
During out second set the lights went out for some reason in our room (and inexplicably took
forever to come back on) but we had fun and made it work in the meantime until we got photons
flowing again.
Friday, June 27th, 2025 Back in Canada for the first time in about 10 years!
And a big show at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, ON.
First gig of this short week-long run in Canada, and first
of two spots opening up for The Budos Band.
Old stuff, a couple new things, and it was great to
reconnect with our friends here in the Great White North after so long.
Saturday, June 28th, 2025 And now my first time at the Montreal Jazz Festival!
Once again opened up for The Budos Band, and a rather lovely large venue: MTelus.
This time we stuck to the schedule, which was extra special as the show started with
three minutes of technical issues (Trey's guitar pedalboard had a loose power connector).
I watched the clock on my laptop and we literally hit the final note of Brazen at 9:15pm
on the dot (our scheduled stop time).
Another first: the secret debut of two Holy Vehm tunes with Youri a.k.a. "Unhuman"
on vocals. Having a frontperson singer is uncommon territory for us.
Long time fans in the audience were super stoked.
Sunday, June 29th, 2025 Then quickly over to Quebec City for two nights at L'Anti Bar, where we played a rather
long and energetic set - almost 2 hours. Once again with Youri doing the two tunes and
then improvising over Dolorous Stroke. The diehards were quite pleased. We messed up
and didn't get dinner before the show, and the only option afterward was an Indian place
which was slammed and it took 90 minutes for our food to appear after ordering.
Oh yeah for some reason everybody ended Combat for the Angel before I got a chance to solo.
No big deal, it was the last song of the night and I think everybody had had enough.
Monday, June 30th, 2025 Back at L'Anti Bar. Once again we did another long and energetic set. And I got my Combat
solo this time. We shook up the set list a little bit (had a couple tunes we didn't do
last night). Also added Youri singing Happy Birthday as a surpise for birthday boy Jason.
The borrowed snare had the strainer pop off after the third song. But through sheer will
and power Pej powered through and nobody really noticed. We ordered dinner beforehand
this time. Right after the set ended I ran up to the green room and devoured a whole
tofu thai curry entree in less than 60 seconds. Two hours of rockin' uses a lot of calories!
Thursday, July 3rd, 2025 We had two days off an then played the Fest La Noce De Laine (at La Pulperie de Chicoutimi)
in Saguenay, QC. We didn't really know what to expect from this small town in northern Quebec
but it was such an amazing, well attended, well organized event with multiple stages in a
wonderful setting (the ruins of an historic paper mill nestled beside a small river canyon).
The crowd was lovely, with extra excitement seeded by a few fans who came to see us. We were
the odd balls being the only (?) American band during the whole weekend-long event. Ended our
travels with a real positive gig, followed by two days of travel, driving and flying home.
Thursday, July 24th, 2025 Kind of last minute, but we ended up getting to do a set live on KFJC (as part of the
promotional campaign leading up to the Outsound New Music Summit in a couple days).
Super easy, super fun. Plus they live streamed the audio and multi-cam video!
I hadn't been to this campus since JOB performed live on the radio
last century. Ah, college radio. I miss you.
Saturday, July 26th, 2025 We got to play at the Outsound New Music Summit in Berkeley, CA (which took place at the Berkeley Finnish Hall).
We were in the middle slot between Gumby's Junk, Ologist, Tri-Cornered Tent Show, and Modesty.
A lot of crazy and positive energy going on that evening!
Really glad we have in-ear monitors given the boomy room - I could hear everything crystal clear.
I was super hot wearing my clothes under the band jumpsuit uniforms. I should revisit that.
Saturday, August 16th, 2025 Back at Jupiter in downtown Berkeley! We had a large audience - prog fans, fusion fans, venue regulars, and perhaps
university students returning from summer vacation. For me this was a big show as we premiered our new medley
of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer tunes - basically Trilogy and Tarkus. I had sorta learned these pieces before decades
ago, but finally had the opportunity to polish them for real and present my work live. I made it through in one
piece. Great energy, great response, and I'm super lucky to get to play the material with some super talented badasses.
Thursday, August 21st, 2025 original announcement:We headline a wonderful evening at the always fun and hospitable Ivy Room in Albany, CA. Opening the evening
are the incredible Gentleman Surfer from Sacramento and also the always amazing and enjoyable Brian Kenney Fresno.
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