Shaker Maker

We at Candi’s Dog are delighted to be blogging again, but Daniel did have a minor complaint at our last entry…
“Haven’t you already written a blog about your bass? Can you not write about something else?”

I was, I admit, a little put out. The other article was about a different bass, and after all, the bass is surely the backbone of any band. That people might not be interested, especially a fellow musician (well, a drummer), came as a bit of a shock to me. This point was rammed home to me a couple of days later when I watched a repeat of the marvellous game show Pointless, the theme of one particular round being ‘Famous Bass Players’.

The public knoweldge of these vital members of society was woeful with just 80% of people  aware that Paul McCartney was the bass player in ‘most-famous-band-of-all-time’ The Beatles. Predictably enough then, only a minority showed any knowledge of John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, Flea, John Paul Jones etc. Perhaps host Alexander Armstrong summed up the general attitude to bass players and our craft when he said. “You’d miss it if it wasn’t there, but you don’t always notice it”.

So, I thought it was time I devoted a little attention to the instruments of my bandmates, especially as I am not the only member of Candi’s Dog to perform with a homemade instrument. Admittedly Daniel’s shaker wasn’t made in his own home, rather in his brother’s house as toy for his, then 2 year old, nephew. Nevertheless it’s as much a part of the Candi’s Dog sound as any bass instrument providing that percussive, scratchy, rustling sound we all know and love, and very occasionally, when his Daniel’s hands are bit sweaty, flying at unsuspecting front row audience members. You can check it out here, or, if you can wait a couple of days, hear it on our NEW EP titled Trees!

If that inspires you and you want to replicate the shaker, here’s how it was done:

1. Take an empty plastic Cherry Coke bottle.
2. Fill it with around 90g (3oz) of white long grain rice.
3. Put the lid back on.

That’s it; as simple as that. You could say it’s as easy as taking candy from a baby; or stealing a shaker from a two year old.