Who doesn’t like fourteen-minute one-chord improvised jams? Okay…probably everyone but the band. Three dudes, in this case. Minor Stars recently started recording our practices with these rough motives in mind:
1. Cool stuff can sometimes happen when we let our guard down and remove the pressure to create something defined (which is usually quickly forgotten if not recorded).
2. Maybe the practice jams can be mined for little gems that might turn into songs.
3. Improvising as a band can be fun and its own reward.
4. It provides some possibly interesting material for the Minor Stars Vault. One reason we started The Vault is to give friends and fans an inside look at the band’s creative process, which can be quite different than a live show, and to get that material out there faster than by the usual means of making and releasing records.
Not always pretty or tight, this jam has its cool moments. It sounds better loud, of course (partly because everything does, and partly due to a rough recording of really loud music all in one tiny room, with minimal mixing effort and no mastering), so turn it up! Maybe put it on in the background and take it in for what it is: a snapshot of fourteen minutes in practice before we actually “got down to business” and played the same songs we’ve practiced countless times before. Jams like this can help ignite a band’s creative spark and hack through the mask of a labored-over studio recording or a well-rehearsed live set.
