Blog for Chance Gardner Band

You're not a Blues band if:

2014-06-24T10:26:26-04:00

1. You don't actually play the Blues. If you do covers and you sing "Lean on Me"...it's not a Blues song, it's a pop song by a pop/soul artist..
2. Gospel is not Blues, it's Gospel.
3. Of course we all know now that R&B is not Rhythm and Blues anymore it's bad pop/hip hop or some other dance oriented song made with a drum machine and singers showing how well they can miss a note over and over with arabic yodeling. BTW that yodeling started with a machine called Antares Auto-Tune meant to fix out of tune vocals. Cher, an excellent real singer used that machine on a song as a gimmick and eventually young singers copied the hiccup the machine made when it coudn't fix the bad note fast enough. That is now called a "singing style".
4. If you actually listen or study the Blues you would know the difference. In the simplest of terms it would be a direct derivative of 1,4,5 or even 1,5,1,4 etc.
5. You think you sound like Susan Tedeschi when you sound like coldplay.
6. You have no idea of the history of the Blues. Yes, there were Blues artists before Robert Johnson (oh, and crossroads by Cream is not Blues but Rock. Blues roots creating a "new" sound is just that.)
7. You think that Jazz is the same as Blues.
8. And, finally, You're not a Blues Band if you don't respect the honesty of the genre. Educate yourself.

Money for Nothin and the Chicks are Free

2012-10-11T21:26:14-04:00

Thank you so much for being part of our show last night at the Bank and Blues Club. For

whatever reason the end of a piece of history will be Wednesday Oct 31st for Blues Night at the

Bank and Blues Club. It is very sad mostly because there is no comparison to the years the

Bank has hosted Wednesday night blues in Florida and, in my opinion, nurtured many blues

artists coming up in the ranks. “The Blues are the roots, the rest are the fruits” ~ Willie Dixon.

The Daytona Beach music scene is full of, so called 'Classic Rock bands' that spew out the

same 80 songs over an over. The last bastion of roots music and ORIGINAL music in a perfect

music hall venue has succumbed to a period of blues history. On the sign-up sheet to jam at the

bank it reads: We're here for you (the mature player) to teach you (the youngbloods) the ropes.

And that includes not only performing professionally but looking like one. Dress up and show

respect. Respect given, respect returned."
It has been many, many years ago since club owners would nurture new talent while booking

great talent. Since DJ's came into the scene and, what I call, 'weekend warriors (not

professional performers that make a living at it) doing their jobs at half the price or more, the

music scene Nationally has suffered. Audiences are in charge and can make a difference if they

care. If they just come to a bar and drink and could care less to discover the new John Lee

Hooker or Bob Dylan then so be it. You're the audience, you are the reason we honed our craft

for years striving to be the best at what we do. If you would rather listen to a DJ (where's the

talent? put the CD in and press play, hmmn) or a bad cover band made up of people with day

jobs that underprice themselves to be rock stars for the night then you should be happy. I'm

not, I am very sad and will repeat something I say often: 'The classic music/favorite songs that

you love wouldn't exist without fans and clubs that would propel their career'. I'll mention a

couple: Allman Brothers/Tom Petty(help me out and mention more). So make a difference, let

your voice be heard.

Let's look at how much musicians make on the local level. In 1970 the minimum wage was 1.60/hour and musicians on the local level made $100 per man/woman per gig. In 2012 the minimum wage is 7.25/hour and local musicians still make $100 per man/woman per gig if they're lucky. Gasoline was .90 and in 2012 lets average this year so far at 3.81. So that is a times four increase in the price of gas to get to the venue, and more than 6 times the rate of minimum wage.Yet the musician's pay on the local level remains the same. Blame this on many factors including DJ's that still make a $100 or more that are booked instead of full bands (saving the club at least $200, Or the weekend warrior that doesn't care what he makes cause he already has a job.

It's always magic !

2012-03-08T20:41:07-05:00

Last night at the Bank & Blues Club I'm ready to go onstage and start the ninety minute set with my band when Selwyn Birchwood is coming in the back door. He's dropping off his amp because he is playing 6-10PM there Thursday through Sunday for bike week. After we say hello I just say "Hey Selwyn you're here, your amp is here how about coming up and playing with us? What can I say, Selwyn is a very talented young Bluesman and I introduced him as such about 4 songs into the show. The crowd went wild as Selwyn and I kept trading riffs back and forth building up the excitement and then 'bringin it down' to a whisper only to start the roller coaster ride again. I kept adding more players slowly and the whole night was magical. It is a different animal when you 'jam' instead of play rehearsed songs, there's a surprise in every note because you don't know what's gonna happen next. Bob Perrone joined in on the keys and also Rudy Felton on saxophone, Hillel on trumpet and the powerful sultry voice of Jessica Flood (happy birthday Jessica) all backed by my rhythm section of Franklin Williams on bass (from the original Drifters) and Toby Fletcher on drums. There was much, much more after ten when the actual jam was supposed to start with talent like Reggie Upshur and Courtney Girlie on drums, Dr. P on keys and new faces like Lady J (great voice) and more....It happens every Wednesday nite, the magic that is.

Benefit New Years Day for Michelle Parker

2011-12-29T14:44:34-05:00

Hang on to your Holiday spirit a little longer. Michelle Parker, the Missing Mom from Orlando, has still not been found. Her family is raising more money to help find her and to help take care of Michelle's 2 children. More informaion here:
http://www.facebook.com/michelleparkermissingperson?sk=wall
Please join me for a good cause and great music and free Bar-B-Q at Dirty Harry's on Main Street Daytona Beach from 12 noon to 6PM. Highlights on the outdoor stage are Dan Lawson Band on at 12:45 and Chance Gardner at 2:30.

The Coolest club in Ormond Beach

2011-12-24T17:11:49-05:00

Had a blast playing at Caffeine's last night. Absolutely the classiest club for many, many miles around. Whichever way you turn there's fantastic art on the walls, a giant deck through the back door with Tiki's adorning the steps up to the deck. Top of the line chef prepares delectable meals...STOP Chance, I'm not a Dining Magazine. The crowd last night was a mix of young and younger music lovers. More than one comment I got was that it was such a delight to be entertained at a volume level where you can actually talk to the person next to you and still be loud enought to make you wanna dance!!! Woohoo, that's what I'm talking about. He explained there were many times loud alternative bands played there at a deafening tone. And hey, I'm not a music snob, I was known as Boston's Rock Impresario in the 80's and 90's. As a music television producer I exposed the area to everything from Country to Metal to Trash and helped many talents along the way while promoting the myriad of live venues in Boston. What I'm trying to say here is that loud gets in the way of expressing your message except, of course, in punk where you need the power to cover up adolescent talent. I remember when I first moved to Boston I was at a punk club backstage and met the Classic Ruins. We talked about their goals and they wanted me to manage them. So they're onstage, I'm next to the sound engineer at the back of the club and he knew them and said they're actually good but the guitars play so loud that he can't mix in the singer. So I go up front between songs and make that suggestion: that if you turn down the guitars volume, not the tone, they can actually sound like a band. They said that is their sound....so I said why bother writing songs with lyrics?
On a better note at another club I saw The Dream, a band of talented young'uns that sounded like early Stones and that night they couldnt afford to hire a sound engineer (you get the hints local clubs? Put in a good sound system with a sound booth at the back of the club as opposed to letting bands bring in their own for no money, which usually equals crappy sound, and your audience might stick around).. oh, where was I? Anyway they had their roadie trying to run sound and I was commenting that you couldn't hear the snare drum. I quickly gave him a lesson on mixing, he was very appreciative, and the band played a great set. By the way, the band later changed their name to Extreme (ex dream?) and had some national hits like 'More Than Words'.
Support Local Music, not local DJ's, there's enough Karaoke to please any drunk.

BLUE CHRISTMAS PARTY-WHAT A BLAST!

2011-12-22T16:57:15-05:00

First, a big thank you to all for being there for a great "Blue Christmas" party last night at the Bank and Blues Club in Daytona Beach. It was our Jammer and Audience appreciation party with free food, Secret Santa and Christmas Blues songs from J W Gilmore fronting the Bank's All-Star Band with Franklin Williams, Toby Fletcher, Bob Perrone and yours truly Chance Gardner. Also want to thanks the jammers at 10 PM after the concert including Brandon Wilson (happy birthday Brandon!), Joe C from Philly (fronting the jam band with soulful singing and great guitar), Reggie Upshur on drums, Stan on bass, EJ on bass, Hillel on the trumpet and Chris Lowrie on guitar.

Blue Christmas at the Bank

2011-12-16T16:57:06-05:00

Don't forget next Wednesday December 21st is BLUE CHRISTMAS AT THE BANK AND BLUES CLUB, Main Street Daytona Beach!!! Free Food, a 90 minute concert from JW Gillmore (winner World Harmonica blowout 2008 and 2011) and the Blues Authority featuring Chance Gardner on guitar and a pro Blues Jam afterwards. Even Santa is gonna show up (bring a Secret Santa Gift marked for male or female-under $20 gift please), woohoo!
A quick note on last week's event: "STEPHEN KAMPA DAY" was celebrated at the Bank and Blues with great harmonica and vocals from Stephen backed by Chance Gardner and the All-Star Band. Shoulda been there. Don't Miss out on next weeks extravaganza!!!

The Blues is a Torch you can't extinguish

2011-05-03T12:21:38-04:00

Hello everyone!
Last week at the Bank and Blues the James Crouch Band delivered! We're talking a blistering 90 minute concert of originals and classic blues standards including a soulful "Brother, can you loan me a Dime". His powerful 3-piece band featuring Tom Curiale of Rick Derringer on drums and Todd Taylor on bass had the dance floor full from the first song. Guest appearance from singer Dian Marshall and keyboard talents of Bob Perrone on select songs propelled it to the next level as the crowd cheered, whistled and even screamed! what a show.

This coming Wednesday Bird Dog Bobby Band will be our featured artist in concert and, of course, the longest running Blues jam in the area.
See ya then,
Chance Gardner