Friday, December 22, 2017

Behind The Songs - Jump Gig

Many of the songs that make up Third World Sun’s first CD took a circuitous route to get to where they are today. Indeed most of them even continue to evolve since we recorded them as we continue to play them live. Because of this, I wanted to document how these songs came about before I forget and it all just becomes a blur. - Carhart 

Stream "Jump Gig" from Soundcloud 

Jump Gig (Johnson, Driml, Carhart)

Sometimes there’s just an idea that so good, you gotta make it into a song. Mike came up with the term Jump Gig. The term is meant to be used for when a band comes in and plays another band’s gig for them without their knowledge and/or consent. For example, “Hey, let’s go down to The Blacklight and see if we can jump someone’s gig.” It may or may not entail also high jacking the other band’s gear for said gig and, in real life, would probably result in someone getting punched in the face. Naturally, WE would never do such a thing. But we found the concept to be quite humorous. Right around the time Mike was toying with this term, we recorded a down and dirty band practice that started out with this jam that we improvised on the fly. I led the way through (which Scott also does just as frequently as I do). The whole thing was complete. The verse, even the chord progression for the chorus. I felt like it was a song. There were enough changes. It was strong enough. It just needed some words and a melody. And Mike’s Jump Gig concept was at top of mind. Next practice, I showed up with lyrics and a melody to Jump Gig that meshed with what we had jammed the previous practice. And since we had the bad recording, we were able to remember what we had played. And then, because the whole thing had been Mike’s idea, we put a drum solo in it. And to really shake things up and fake people out, we put it right about where the first verse should start. Typically, we vacate the stage during the solo to give Mike the spotlight for once. We’ve even been known to re-fill a drink during Mike’s time in the limelight. We would love it if the term Jump Gig took off and became part of the rock and roll vernacular. And you can bet we’ll do everything we can to make it so.

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