Hamilton Music Scene - Hello Cat Piano Open Jam
Hello Cat Piano - An Awesome Open Jam / Open Mic Night
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| Buckshot Bebee (left) is the host of "Hello Cat Piano" |
I'm a musician who's a recent transplant to the Hamilton area, so I've been really interested in connecting with other local musicians and hopefully getting a band together soon. As any musician will tell you, open mic and open jams are a great place to connect with other musicians and This Ain't Hollywood has a great one with their "Hello Cat Piano" open mic. Even if you are not a musician it's worth coming by just to listen - Read on to find out more about this great Hamilton tradition
The Venue
This Ain't Hollywood is a great rock and roll bar located at 345 James Street North with a reputation for staging some of the best rock shows in Hamilton. It's a truly authentic rock venue soaked in the history of Hamilton Rock from bands like Teenage Head and The Forgotten Rebels, bands from Sonic Onion Records, and probably thousands of touring bands over the years. The bathroom is literally covered with graffiti evidence of past shows.
More recent bands have venerated the venue with their set lists while videos above the bar as well as posters around the venue promote the upcoming shows by local and international artists.
Open mic nights each have their own flavour and there are a bunch of them in Hamilton - I'll be featuring a some of the others in future posts but for any musician that would like to try out some new songs or meet other musicians in Hamilton, Hello Cat Piano is definitely one of the first to check out.
The night is hosted by Buckshot Beebe, aka Patricia Lynn Bebee, a local fashion designer and partner in BlackBird Studios. When she's not creating fashion, she rocks the stage with her band and gives back to the local music scene through Hello Cat Piano.
One thing to be clear about is this is not amateur night by any stretch! Over the past several weeks, the stage has seen performances by the likes of Greg Brisco, Melissa Marchese, Ian Andrews, Andy Griffiths, Matthew David, Frances Locs, Ashley Sloggett, Red Electric, Steve Piper, Gordie Lewis, The Treblemen / Hell Bent Rockers, Jason Lambert and many many more.
Sound is engineered by The Doug Smith (who also takes care of sound engineering for most of the other shows at This Ain't Hollywood).
One of the things I love about Hello Cat Piano is that if you are a singer-songwriter and you'd like someone to sit in on drums, bass or guitar there are always lots of really great musicians that will be happy to oblige.
The backline is all taken care of for you (there are drums, bass amp, guitar amp and mics / di so all you need to do is bring your axe (or piano or ukulele or whatever it is you play) and the rest is taken care of.
Since the night happens on a Tuesday you're probably not gigging anywhere else so there's no excuse - so get off your couch and play some music.
This is the kind of night that has pulled together more than one band in the city and no doubt will continue to be an incubator for even more local talent in Hamilton.
Sign up for Hello Cat Piano starts at 9 and the performances usually go through until about 1am - come early, stay late and make the most of this great resource for Hamilton musicians.
You can find out more about Hello Cat Piano by signing up for the facebook group here
The Jam
For one night a week, every Tuesday, the venue is home to Hello Cat Piano. A really great open mic / open jam.Open mic nights each have their own flavour and there are a bunch of them in Hamilton - I'll be featuring a some of the others in future posts but for any musician that would like to try out some new songs or meet other musicians in Hamilton, Hello Cat Piano is definitely one of the first to check out.
The night is hosted by Buckshot Beebe, aka Patricia Lynn Bebee, a local fashion designer and partner in BlackBird Studios. When she's not creating fashion, she rocks the stage with her band and gives back to the local music scene through Hello Cat Piano.
One thing to be clear about is this is not amateur night by any stretch! Over the past several weeks, the stage has seen performances by the likes of Greg Brisco, Melissa Marchese, Ian Andrews, Andy Griffiths, Matthew David, Frances Locs, Ashley Sloggett, Red Electric, Steve Piper, Gordie Lewis, The Treblemen / Hell Bent Rockers, Jason Lambert and many many more.
Sound is engineered by The Doug Smith (who also takes care of sound engineering for most of the other shows at This Ain't Hollywood).
One of the things I love about Hello Cat Piano is that if you are a singer-songwriter and you'd like someone to sit in on drums, bass or guitar there are always lots of really great musicians that will be happy to oblige.
Since the night happens on a Tuesday you're probably not gigging anywhere else so there's no excuse - so get off your couch and play some music.
This is the kind of night that has pulled together more than one band in the city and no doubt will continue to be an incubator for even more local talent in Hamilton.
Sign up for Hello Cat Piano starts at 9 and the performances usually go through until about 1am - come early, stay late and make the most of this great resource for Hamilton musicians.
You can find out more about Hello Cat Piano by signing up for the facebook group here
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