It wasn't very long ago that I was lamenting the fact that there was very little band news right now due to CV-19 shutting everything down. Well, the Covid curse has taken things to the next level. Unfortunately, just as the San Antonio area is beginning to pry open the lock-down bit by bit, CV-19 risk has rendered two of the RXS band members unable to play. Prudence requires that both Zach (bass) and Eric (vocals) exit high-risk activities such as playing in a band. We understand and support their position even as we keenly miss their musicianship.
As a result, we're having to retool our lineup. That will delay us from gigging while we break in new people. Of course, that also means a change in our repertoire to some degree and it will take time to get comfortable with the changes. All things considered, I'm estimating at least a 60-day hiatus while we get our act together again.
We've been extremely fortunate to quickly find a professional caliber replacement to fill the empty positions. I expect, therefore, that while we will unavoidably sound different, our fundamental musical direction will remain unchanged as will the quality of our performance. I'm quite certain that if you liked RXS before, you will like the new lineup.
So, exactly what will RXS Mark II look like? As luck would have it, we've been able to combine the roles of lead singer and bass player into a single individual. That individual is Stephen Mitchell. Steve and I have done fill-in gigs together on several occasions, but this is the first time we've been full members in the same band. Both Rob and I are very excited to see what sort of synergy will result from this combination.
Steve's vocal quality and range are both excellent and his prowess on the bass guitar is inarguable. This means that RXS has gone from being a four-piece band to a trio while experiencing almost no impact on the type of material we can perform.
Of course, we will need to update all the visual material on the web site so, as soon as we can, we will get some new band pictures made. Replacing the videos will take a little longer since we will need to play a few places to get some recordings. Audio recordings should be a little easier and we'll see if we can't get a few things together in the studio to give you an idea of what the Mark II lineup sounds like.
Stay tuned.