Come join us on Friday Nov. 11th around 9:30-ish for a special night at BassLine Pub & Eatery (2557 Baseline Road). In light of Remembrance Day, we’ll be raising money for the Canadian Forces Personnel Assistance Fund. All money collected at the door will be donated to the fund, which provides financial assistance to serving and former members of the Canadian Forces (CF) and their immediate families.

In order to fulfill its mission, the CFPAF partially relies on donations. To make a tax-deductible donation to the CFPAF, please visit the SISIP FS website. We have already confirmed generous donations from the Union of National Defence Employees Union, (UNDE) Local 70603 and the Public Servants Alliance of Canada (PSAC) on behalf of all the Public Servants for the National Capitol Region (NCR). Public servants…is there anything they can’t do?

I’m blown away by the generosity displayed by the folks in the Public Service and Canadian Forces. Public servants work tirelessly every day in service of Canadians and to see the solidarity between the public service and the Canadian Forces is very awesome!

This is our first show after a short hiatus from playing, so we SO ready to rock BassLine ’till the wee hours!

Let’s do this!

As the handful of visitors of this site are well aware, I’ve had a huge crush on the Epiphone Thunderbird Pro IV for a couple of years now. The day finally came this past September where the stars aligned (as well as my finances) and I finally got my grubby paws on the elusive T-Bird Pro.

I took it home, lovingly wiped it down with a lint-free cloth, grabbed a cup of coffee and plugged into my Crate BT220.

*BBBZZAAARRRRZZZZZZ-HMMMMMMHHHMMMMM-BZZZZZAAAAABBBZZZZUUUUZZZ*

WHAT THE HELL!! The bass buzzed and hummed like a nest of angry bees when I turned up the treble control the slightest little touch. I was heartbroken! My shiny new T-Bird was less than perfection; WHY GOD, WHY?!? *drops to knees, arms skyward*

So, after 3 rounds of unsuccessful repairs at Steve’s Music, I officially pulled the plug and gave the T-Bird Pro its last rites this morning. What to do now? I sold my first T-Bird, which was serving me quite well up until the day I let it go, and all I had now was my crappy Yamaha backup bass. With gigs looming on the horizon, I needed to get a main guitar tout de suite!

Off I set to Ottawa’s various music stores, which are conveniently sprawled across the entire city. I went from downtown to west end, uptown to the south side. After nearly 4 hours of shopping, I had a moment of clarity…

Why the hell don’t I get another Thunderbird IV?

Not a T-Bird Pro, as they’ve proven to be steaming piles of crap, but another T-Bird IV…just like I had before. I already had the $100 case that nothing else fits into, so I hit up Long & McQuade, where I bought my first T-Bird.

The New Thunderbird IV

And there it was, hanging on the same wall as 5 years ago…the T-Bird IV. MY T-Bird. It was like meeting up with an old friend for a beer and talking about the old days:

“Hey, remember that gig we played in Limoges where the cops showed up?

“Sure do, Ger. That was a kickass gig, man.”

“Good times.”

“Good times, indeed.”

So, essentially, I sit here where I left off a month or so ago. The T-Bird IV is in the stand and I find myself looking at it sometimes and feeling a little bit like a rock star. Throw around whatever cliche you want; the grass isn’t always greener…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…whatever.

All I can tell you is that I’m kinda glad I followed the dream of having the T-Bird Pro. If I hadn’t experienced its immense suckitude, I wouldn’t have realized how much I appreciated the old standard T-Bird IV.

I’m so ready to melt your face off with this bass. Get ready.

Ger

I’ll give a full review once I’ve put a few hours into playing. Initial reaction: Awe-inspiring. Stay tuned!!

We haven’t been posting to the website as much as usual because, well, it’s Summer dag nabbit! Get outside and catch some rays, you pasty white freaks!

We’re taking it easy this Summer and gearing up for, hopefully, a busy Fall. Some exciting opportunities have presented themselves recently, so if/when they come to fruition, you’ll be the first to know.

Ger, Areeb, and Frank will be playing an all acoustic corporate gig in August, which will be a big departure from our usual live show. Jer’s chained up in a Government building in downtown Ottawa somewhere, but maybe if we can break him out A-Team style, he can join us with his djembe and fill in the backbeat. If not, I guess it’ll be up to some lucky audience member to tap along on the tambourine or some hippy mojo like that.

Stay tuned, Rocketeers!

PS – which is better, “Loungers” or “Rocketeers”? We should have a contest…

Mark your calendar, call your babysitter, save your money, and break the bad news to your liver! We’re bringing a scorching new set list to Bass Line on Saturday April 30th @ 9:30PM. We’ll be be breaking out a ton of Rocket Lounge faves and some new little surprises.

It’s only $5 at the door…what a bargain for over 3 hours of the music you love played live and loud! Well, it’s not THAT loud, Ger’s a bit of a prude like that, but loud enough!

We’ll be playing well after midnight, so to quote a wise man, “Hey, hey, it’s the first of May! Outdoor drinkin’ starts today!” Well, “drinking” might not be the correct verb, but it’s a family show, people!

Hope to see you there!

The Brass Monkey has a sweet setup for live music and we’re pumped to rumble the place. Tix are only $5 at the door, which is ridiculously cheap for a Saturday night out!

So, swing by, shoot some stick, and rock out with Rocket Lounge! The fun starts at 9:30. See you there! \m/

Blow At High Dough

Anyway, we’re beyond stoked for this Friday night’s gig during the Ottawa Senators vs. Montreal Canadiens game!  We’ll be rocking Bert’s Bar during the intermissions and then closing the place down until the Red Coats tell us to get the hell out!

The fun starts when the game does, 7:30PM EST.  Come hang with the band, watch the Sens stomp the arch rival Habs, and rock the Bank to its foundation! You don’t need a ticket to the game to get into Bert’s, but get there early because the place is gonna be blocked to the doors! Parking ain’t free, but hey, it’s a night out, ya cheap buggers!

We’d love to see you there and GO SENS GO!  Feel free to razz Areeb who will no doubt be wearing his Habs jersey.  BOOO!!

Well, we came, we saw, we roasted the doors off of Bass Line Station one last time for 2010!  The crowd was in fine form, the drinks were flowing and the boys in the band were tight…who could ask for anything more, really!?  This closes yet another calendar of Rocket Lounge shows with many more to come in 2011.  One of these days, I’ll count how many shows we’ve actually done…that would be cool to know!

~~~~~~~~~

We would like to thank our dedicated fans and families for sticking with us once again this year.  Your continued love, support and understanding mean the world to us.  We really couldn’t do it without you.

On the chop-block for 2011; We will continue the recording process that will eventually become RL’s 2nd studio release.  With the first five tunes in the bag, another weekend of three or four more will do it and we can launch the sucker!  We have a few gigs lined up with the first being a debut performance, January 21st at Bert’s bar in Scotiabank Place.  We will be taking a live recording of this show and releasing it in some form or fashion…I don’t know, ROCKET LOUNGE LIVE FROM SCOTIABANK PLACE has a wonderful ring to it…

There will no doubt be tons of crazy things that come up throughout the year to tickle butt cheeks and tweek nipples, so stay tuned to RL on Facebook, Twitter and right here on WordPress.

The boys in Rocket Lounge wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season

Cheers  ~ RL

Enjoy!!