FAMOUS FRIENDS
Michael and Pat both play the guitar. Their roles are clear.
Pat accompanies and Michael plays the solos, with a smile on his
face, even gloating. Pat can't resist: "But I have
the best guitar!" A fantastic gift from David Crosby.
Pat learned his first chords on an old ukulele. The whole
family would play it. After he started playing a Gibson
Kalamazoo, he kept using the bottom four strings only. It
took some time before he used all six strings. "I taught
myself everything. Every once in a while, I met real guitar
players who showed me a couple of chords.
"These days, Michael does all that. He is the arranger for both vocals and instruments. He can even prompt a drummer or change a composition to suit the style of a particular drummer. Drummer Scott Crago, for example, played for The Eagles and Bob Seger, and you will know Matt Laug from Alanis Morissette and Christina Aguilera. Paul Mirkovich made a name for himself as a keyboard player for Meatloaf. Tonight, pay attention to Mark Harris bass playing. We always have different musicians playing with us, and in rehearsals for a tour, Michael always knows how to customize the repertoire for every musician."
THE SOUND OF VENICE
Michael gets the acoustic sound from a Godin Acousticaster. On
this, he plays almost everything Spanish style. At home
and for albums, he sometimes likes to choose DAGDAD. For
an electric guitar, he prefers the ultimate combination of a Fender
Stratocaster with a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop. The Goldtop
is a re-issue from 1984. These models had been launched
in 1983, equipped with two P-100 Humbuckers. At first sight,
these humbuckers, with their white caps, look like old P-90 models.
Only these are two stacked single coils, linked together
to form humbuckers.
For effects, Michael has a compact set-up. Pete has compiled his effect panel out of two removable segments. The top part is coupled with the Godin, the bottom to the Strat and the Les Paul. For the acoustic sound, he only uses a Boss digital delay and a Boss dynamic filter. In the electric part, we see a Danelectro chorus, a Boss vibrato, an Ibanez tube screamer and a Boss compressor. Both panels have been equipped with a Boss chromatic pedal tuner.
UNKNOWN SOUND
EXPLOSIONS
It is half past eight. The lights go out. Background
music by The Byrds and The Eagles fades out in the back.
Jan Douwe Kroeske is announced and enters the stage receiving
a loud applause. You would think he was the main act. However,
without him, nobody in Holland would know about Venice. For
this last concert, he took the time to change the setting of his
villa in Het Gooi for a cold drive to Mauritshof to introduce
the band.
When Venice takes the stage, the hall explodes with ecstatic screaming. You would expect this enthusiasm for Michael Jackson or Madonna. For the fans, it is exactly the same. They adore Venice. The audience is a mix of young (way below ten) and old. Even a fifty-something sporting a Hells Angel jacket sings the opening song 'When I Get Over You' word for word. When Pat talks about this, he chokes a little. "If you see an audience like that, all you can do is enjoy it. During the slow songs you see tears on peoples' cheeks sometimes. And on the faster tracks they all dance along. When Kipp plays his harmonica, everybody claps along on the rhythm. But what makes the biggest impression on me is when everybody sings along every word on 'Starting Here Again,' full of emotion."
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