Hardpan Road Notes How to begin to write liner notes from this far distance? Hardpan played their last show together Oct. 22nd, 2002 in Leiden, Holland and it's now June, 2003 as I write this. The band is currently scattered to the 4 corners of the western world with Chris (Red) in Tucson, Todd (Salvatore) in Boston, Joseph (Houston) in Philadelphia and me (Steel Trap) in Concarneau, France. Of course, that's how it was when we first met in Tucson that September day in 2001 to make our record. It was just going to be a chance to come together as musicians and put our musical thoughts to tape. I think there were vague ideas about touring but I don't remember any of us taking that part too seriously. Mostly it was just about getting together and making some music together we could release as a CD. Everything else would come later. That is until we heard the final mix. Wow, it was good........ This is the sh*t! Well, now we had to at least try and clear calendar time, make the effort and take the next step towards a tour. Encouragement from friends and Blue Rose Records made us feel we could make a tour happen. What you’re holding here is the result of 3 days of rehearsals and 4 weeks of touring. This particular show was our 13th out of the 23 that we did. Heilbronn is near where Blue Rose is located and Edgar Heckmann arranged to have a remote unit set up for a live recording. I remember it was a great crowd, but I wasn't sure it was particularly our best show. We were such a ‘young’ band that every show was better than the last. We were fueling our performances with Tequila each night (thank you audiences!) to get over the nervousness and hesitation, yet it was also our ‘band’ drink so we let it work for us. We were so raggedy anyway this juice just kinda pushed us into not worrying about that side of it and just helped us go for it. Usually worked too, although there were some nights..... In the same spirit that we recorded the CD (i.e. just get in and do it) we all met in Norderstedt in the basement of Wolfgang Sedlatschek’ record store. He had kindly offered us this place for rehearsal (small stage and PA system included) and beds in his large nearby home. The only thing he asked was that we play our first show there, which we gladly did. When we arrived we had the 13 songs that we had previously recorded and 3 days in which to learn some new songs. Our first show would be right there, and then Hardpan was committed to 4 weeks of touring Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands. Initially, we even wanted to go to Scandinavia but it wasn’t in the stars. So to learn all the new songs, each one of us would start playing something. The other guys would grab whatever instrument was handy (drum, bass, harmonica or guitar) and off we would fly. We each contributed 3 songs or so and then we had a set of 25 songs (more or less, although some of you may recall…). Again, what you’re holding is the result of those efforts. All original compositions except ‘It Makes No Difference’ written by Robbie Robertson of The Band. The live shows were quite fun. What you can’t see on the CD is that after each song was finished, one or more of us would be switching instruments, so there was quite a lot of shuffling going on. At the beginning of the tour it was quite a mess, what with tangled chords, who played what, where do I go, un-tuned guitars and the rest – and especially after the Tequila. But by the end we were a well oiled (sic) machine. Still a lot of action, but well oiled! We were loose and funky and having fun. Definitely not Las Vegas. Not only for the audience was it a fun show but for each of us as well. We only sang a quarter of the songs (not counting background vocals) instead of every song like we usually do as leaders of our own bands so it generally was more relaxing. We could drink more that’s for sure. No matter how tired we were, how difficult soundchecks were or whatever problems were happening, once we started playing the music the fun began. And I’m pretty sure that it translated into the audience having a good time. We were there to entertain and we enjoyed the ride. Memorable moments All of Italy: With our good friend Stefano Dainese taking over the tour managing duties we REALLY relaxed. We also had a couple of days off and with an Italian who loved to eat and drink good food even more than we did, AND was quite happy to share the pleasures. Well, you can imagine the fine time we had every night. Plus Chris had the good fortune to have his birthday while in Italy and so of course we had to have a REALLY special dinner for that and Sienna was the lucky city (at Stefano’s recommendation, of course) and WE were the lucky guys that got to tag along. Not only was Sienna lucky but Rome, Padova (we’ll tell you about the hat store story another time!) and Castiglion Fiorentino. The many adventures with sound: Hardpan was a difficult band to mix on a good day and that was with someone who knew the instrumentation and songs. But without a soundperson to mix the 3 acoustic guitars, a Dobro, a box named Jim for a drum, an electric guitar and bass it was an adventure each and every night (we used no amps on stage). PLUS each instrument was in the course of the show usually played by someone else with a different touch and volume. I guess we were pretty damn lucky to sound as good as we usually did and here we all earnestly THANK the many engineers who worked their asses off to get us sounding good! There were some nights though when it was a disaster and tested the limits of everyone’s patience and endurance. I remember one show where, for everyone’s sake, we un-plugged and jumped down into the audience to play the show. And a questionable night turned into a great show. That was the spirit of the band. Parking garage follies: We had a rule that there was always supposed to be a co-pilot. In other words, someone to help the driver with directions, staying awake or whatever. One night after the show in Frankfurt, we had taken the van to a parking garage and I was co-pilot with Todd at the wheel. The garage was just around the corner from the hotel and we were VERY tired so we were lucky it was so close. Except, of course, that the garage was just made for cars and the van was 2 meters tall with the height restriction of the garage also at 2 meters! But I thought “hey, they gotta have a little bit of extra for fools like us”. Anyway, Todd drove slow, I walked ahead and we JUST got the van inside the garage and found a space. Maybe two centimeters to spare overhead! Yeah, sleep! The next morning, to get out of the place, it was the same story except at the exit we (ok, I say ‘we’ when really it was my fault because I was the guide and said “go for it”) got the van stuck and had to scrape our way out of the door. Net result? 300 Euro paint job in Beverungen, thankfully set up through some friends of Glitterhouse Records. Ouch ! Other memories: Solingen – Fritz, the man!, Lahr – great evening, Tübingen – Hardpan at it's finest, see the Blue Rose website video, Langenau – Houston, what were you on?, Bonn – So cool, so fun!, Wredenhagen – Ooh la la, what a night…, Zurich – Great spot, and hey, let's play a show and then drive all night through the Alps to Rome…, Bolzano – Sound? What sound - au natural, Austria (day off) – What nice bowling shoes you have., Landstuhl – Awesome!, Frankfurt – Ah yes, so this is what we sound like? We can fit in the van in there, no problem…, Höxter – Incredible!!, Beverungen (day off) – Got our hats handed to us by the Glitterhouse Gang in Füsball. I want a rematch, dammit!, Wesel – Fun show and the Nederland clan, Leiden – Bitter sweet goodbyes! The End and The Future: All in all we had a great time and I think we made a lot of people happy with our songs. We hope that you can hear the spirit of that joy and the pleasure of playing music in this CD. The whole trip was good for each of us, I do believe. As for the future, and just like the future, no one can say what is going to happen with Hardpan. We are all excited and thankful that Blue Rose documented the tour with this CD (and also included some ‘interesting’ video for you to witness our Hardpan Tucson Sky moments). If it is to happen, I am confident that the next time around will be even better. It was a lucky mix of individuals that made this record and did the tour. Luck rode lightly and easily with us from the beginning in Tucson all the way until our last show in Leiden. We hope you enjoy this musical snapshot! Peace, Terry Lee Hale Joseph Parsons June 23, 2003 July 1, 2003 Concarneau, France Philadelphia, USA