We're Jammin'

Picture this.

Downtown Toronto. It’s just after 6 p.m. A steady stream of professional types are letting themselves into a nondescript low-rise building sitting at the corner of Richmond and Church. A good number of them are dressed in business suits. Men and women. Most of them would appear to be in their thirties and forties. Some older.

If you were standing across the street and watching these people, you'd surely be confused about one thing… apart from their briefcases and laptop bags, many are also carrying guitar cases. Or the odd violin case. Or some sort of a wind instrument.

What’s this all about, you wonder.

*****

Well… all of us are members of a club called Downtown Jam.

What it is, is it’s a club for amateur musicians. We members share one thing in common… we’re all musicians who can’t follow music as a career. But we’re all reasonably able musicians, and we still like to rock when we can. Life’s meanderings have left us without the option of being musicians, but Downtown Jam gives us the opportunity to play as often as we like (or can, given busy lives... work, home, kids, school, dogs, etc., etc.).

Started by Andrew Hall—himself an outstanding piano player, drummer and singer—almost 10 years ago, Downtown Jam has about 300 members. Among us we count lawyers, cops, CEOs, drywallers, investment bankers, dentists, interior decorators, professors… you name it. Even an ex-premier of Ontario, who I’m told is a mean piano player.

The club has three fully equipped studios. If you chose not to, you don’t have to bring your own instrument (except drummers, for obvious reasons). It’s all there. Guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, amp, mixers, speakers… everything you need. And pretty good gear in top notch condition. You break a string… there are spares.

Andrew sends out an email each week to all the members stating the session timings, normally two a day at 6:30 and 9:00 p.m. He asks when you’d like to play. After the members pick their times, Andrew matches up people for each session—a singer, guitarist, bassist, keyboard player and drummer. Sometimes, there may be more. I’ve been in a session with nine people… it was a blast!

So you show up for the session you picked, and find out which of the three studios you’ve been assigned to. You’ll see the names of your session mates posted by the door. You may have played with them before or not. It doesn’t matter. You can state your preference for particular musicians, and Andrew’ll try to match you up. But it doesn’t always work out.

It doesn’t matter who you land up with though. I can tell you from going to the club for almost a year now at least two or three times a month, it doesn’t matter. I’ve had huge amounts of fun every time. Sure, sometimes you’ll get a rank amateur who has difficulty keeping up with the rest of the group, but more often than not enthusiasm makes up for such shortcomings.

So, how does it work during the session? We have The Book. Lyrics and chords for 600 songs by everyone from The Everly Brothers to The Rolling Stones, Martha and the Muffins to Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys to U2 and Dire Straits. We take turns calling out songs, and the rest of us flip to that page and play along.

As simple as that.

And how good are these sessions… pretty damned tight, I’d say. Most of the time. Sure, sometimes we have train wrecks. But it doesn’t stop us from picking the next song and rolling right on.

I’ve been at some pretty awesome sessions. Like the one time, the guitar player was late. Which is not cool because people pay to be there and if one is late then time’s a-wasting for everyone. But anyway, this guy walks in about 30 minutes late. Probably about 55. Around these downtown streets, you probably wouldn’t spare him a thought. Dark power suit. Bit of a belly. Greying hair. Brief case. (Though the guitar case strapped to his back on his way in must have given people pause.) Apologises. Takes off his jacket. Loosens his tie. Plugs in his guitar… and fucking lets loose like you would not believe it. Man oh man, could this guy play! He alone pushed the level of the session up to a whole different plane.

And he's not the only one like that in there. Some of the singers who come in are amazing. Like the woman who is raising four young children, and yet makes the time to get away to come and sing.

I don’t know 95% of the songs in the book, but as a drummer (and occasional singer), I have it a little easier than others. I’ve heard a vast majority of the songs people pick, so I have a fair idea of what to play. So as long as I keep up, it’s fine, even if I don’t know the exact breaks and fills.

Why do we do it? For the love of the music. We have no audience except ourselves (though I did take my sons in once). We don't get paid. Instead, we pay to play. Some of us drive pretty long distances to be there. Some of us take time away from our families. For me, it’s therapy. Pure and simple. This is an escape like no other at the end of a hard day at work. Indeed, escape from all the other crap in life. For two-and-a-half hours, all I have to do is play and have as much fun as I can. I must be doing a pretty damned good job of it, because now Andrew has started calling me in for sessions that I didn’t ask for. If I’m free, I go and play and sing my ass off.

No one judges you. No one directs you. You play to the best of your ability. Participate as much as you can. At the end of the session, you shake hands and leave. Till you come back the next time.

And then it’s a whole new rock and roll experience all over again.