Not long ago I happened to be surfing the internet for any reference to my old band, Big Feeling. We played in Spokane from, roughly, 1990 to 1994. Amazingly, I found this obscure reference (check out #5 in this guy's list): http://shotgunprose.blogspot.com/2007/01/top-ten-club-shows-i-can-remember.html.
Anyhow, I was the one who played "Stayin' Alive". We often played what we jokingly called "acoustic interludes" whenever our guitarist, Tod Nelson, had to change a broken guitar string. These interludes could be anything: rockabilly tunes, Scottish ballads, children's songs, or just the odd pop tune unplugged (ergo, "Staying Alive").
The band played both original tunes and covers (The Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, Dream Syndicate, Mudhoney, Cheap Trick, The Who, The Yardbirds, The Kinks). Although we did a fair amount of studio and live recording, we released only one recording—a cassette called simply “Big Feeling”—in 1991. Big Feeling was a hard-working group, playing often in Spokane’s nightclub circuit and at colleges and all-ages venues. The band’s original line-up consisted of Tod Nelson on lead guitar, me on vocals and occasionally acoustic guitar, Cameron Smith on drums, and Barb Jeske on bass (the latter two being the only all female rhythm section in Spokane at the time). Later, the drums were taken over by, first, Jamie Nebel (formerly of the Young Brians and now of The Makers), and then Kurt Sterzelbach (sp?). During the latter portion of the band’s career, a fiddler, Christine Traxler, joined the group, cementing our flirtations with Celtic music into a real relationship. We evolved into an amalgamation of Celtic rock, punk, and neo-psychedelic power-pop. Someone called us “death folk”. I think that’s a little heavy, but I like it.
Rock on...er...folk-rock on...or death-folk-rock on...or some kind of on...
JBF
Anyhow, I was the one who played "Stayin' Alive". We often played what we jokingly called "acoustic interludes" whenever our guitarist, Tod Nelson, had to change a broken guitar string. These interludes could be anything: rockabilly tunes, Scottish ballads, children's songs, or just the odd pop tune unplugged (ergo, "Staying Alive").
The band played both original tunes and covers (The Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, Dream Syndicate, Mudhoney, Cheap Trick, The Who, The Yardbirds, The Kinks). Although we did a fair amount of studio and live recording, we released only one recording—a cassette called simply “Big Feeling”—in 1991. Big Feeling was a hard-working group, playing often in Spokane’s nightclub circuit and at colleges and all-ages venues. The band’s original line-up consisted of Tod Nelson on lead guitar, me on vocals and occasionally acoustic guitar, Cameron Smith on drums, and Barb Jeske on bass (the latter two being the only all female rhythm section in Spokane at the time). Later, the drums were taken over by, first, Jamie Nebel (formerly of the Young Brians and now of The Makers), and then Kurt Sterzelbach (sp?). During the latter portion of the band’s career, a fiddler, Christine Traxler, joined the group, cementing our flirtations with Celtic music into a real relationship. We evolved into an amalgamation of Celtic rock, punk, and neo-psychedelic power-pop. Someone called us “death folk”. I think that’s a little heavy, but I like it.
Rock on...er...folk-rock on...or death-folk-rock on...or some kind of on...
JBF
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