Steve says: Roger's party, That was the biggest / bestest coming out Party! I'm gonna miss that place. It was the best sounding Drum Room I ever had. Glad we could initiate my new Kit there. 

Krys says: Winter Work, Wow, what a great winter work out. I couldn’t believe how quickly the two months went by and all the songs that Tricks learned. The CD’s with all the work songs on them were passed out at the end of 08. I was kind of cold about some of the songs until we dug into them and to my surprise the ones I was least excited about are the ones I love the most... Making it to practice was a challenge on the slippery roads this winter, but it was all worth it. Slow rides to practice gave us time to rehearse in the car, slow rides home let us jam out to our listening faves. Roger's party: Huge fun, great food, the best friends, and I was proud of my band! Thank you to Roger for all the support for the past 4 years. We will never forget our great  practices and parties at the “big house”. An era that will live in our Tricks hearts forever. 

BassBeast says: Winter rehearsals at Rogers were really cool. We're going to miss the convienient space and atmosphere of Rogers great big home now that he is moving on to other interests and adventures. When we rehearse, we are disciplined but for the most part, relaxed. Disagreements may arise but when you have the privacy and the space we were afforded at Rog's "Big ol' House" as opposed to being crammed into a smaller setting, it really helps the process. The Winter rehearsal pace was delayed a bit for Paula's Birthday party at the Legion. A great time was had by all and it also helped to keep the engine tuned up a bit.

Wayland Hotel (March) -

Steve says: The Hotel, Thank Heavens for the Hotel. Mary Kay's place ranks right up there with the icons of Tricks' all-time legendary Clubs such as- Stan's, Royal Knight, Lena Lou, Danny J's. So many memorable nights in Wayland and so many to come!

Krys says:  Always the perfect place to kick off the new songs for the new year. Mary Kay got new carpet for the stage and I didn’t have to worry about tripping. The crowds were great and we got some new comers thanks to tricksband.com  Scary fun with the new songs getting them tweaked in, but the crowds reassured us that our picks fit. Love playing there because I get my fix of sweet potato fries on set up night!

BassBeast says: The Hotel Bar in Wayland brought me back to the scene of the crime. It was our first gig after the winter rehearsals last year and we squeezed St. Patty's day in there as well on both 08' and 09'. The Hotel is like Home Sweet Home away from home in a lot of respects. Most of us go there to eat regularly even when we aren't playing there. You can see by the photos posted that even though we had 24 new songs we needed to incorporate, we were still having a Rockin' good time at the Hotel along with some really great crowds!

Sue's Sidetrack (April) -

Steve says: Dave & I have a long drive to the Sidetrack, so it was with some hesitation that we booked heavily for 2009 at this big out-of-the-way place. If the first two weekends of the year there are anything to go by though, the many upcoming weeks at Sue's will be the highlights of our year. The odd slow Friday night never happened and the place really rocked Easter weekend.

Krys says: So happy to play the Sidetrack!  Close to home, and all my Allegan, Fennville, South Haven and Holland friends can come and party with the band. And so they did! The crowds of friends that came out to Sidetrack were outstanding. I love this bar and the staff. They are like family and it’s a great family to dance your ass off with! Looking forward to the summer gigs, Halloween and New Years Eve at Sue’s Sidetrack in 2009!

BassBeast says: Sue's Sidetrack followed the Hotel and again, Tricks had a great time as well as great crowds to play for. The Bar was at full capacity on both of the Saturday's we played and it was a helluva' lot of fun getting reacquainted with the staff and regulars after a long cold winter. The new songs really hit hyperdrive over these two weekends.

Steve says: Hilliards. I've gotta admit I was nervous going in here for our first weekend because Eric the owner had been hearing about us since he bought the place last year, and he booked us with high expectations. He was very happy with the turn out. I did spend way too much nervous energy the first set, which made for a low level energy performance for the first time this year. It's hard to connect with the dancers when I’m crammed way up in that corner, but I need you folks to get in my face during some songs. Or at least get in Rick's face and he'll "give me some of that."

Krys says:  I remember coming to this bar in the 80’s to dance to Tricks. Now I’m in Tricks. Wow, it’s kind of weird viewing the bar from stage opposed to viewing the band from the dance floor. I guess I never realized how big this place really is. I have tons of room on stage to dance and bang my head, so if you see me slacking, there is no excuse. Eric the owner is so accommodating and genuine. I really hope that this relationship continues in this win-win scenario. I had the chicken quesadia at set up and it was AWESOME. If that is a reflection of how the rest of the food is, I’m thinking you’re safe to come early for dinner ;)

BassBeast says: Hilliards Corner Bar was next after Sue's place. I had never played this club even though I did spend a lot of time there watching other bands over the years. We switched the set lsts up a bit for this gig and a lot of the combinations Rick chose worked really well. All in all it was a wild couple of weekends but with no casualties to report!!!

 • The New Songs for 2009 -

Steve says: The new set list, Having fun with a lot of these songs and my new drums. Most of the songs are a good fit for a Classic Rock band that has been around so long that it's hard to turn on the radio and not hear a current or past Tricks song. We admittedly have some surprising variety in the sets that makes some folks wonder what we were thinking. You gotta love how everyone gets so verbal about what songs we should do. Music brings out strong opinions like nothing else I know. That's why I keep doing this. Never a dull moment.

Krys says:  Love it!  I am hoping that some of my new favorites rub off on the fans. My favorite new song to sing is Sass Jordon “If You’re Gonna Love Me”. My favorite new song the band does is “Bad Bad Girlfriend” . . . naughty, but so freakin’ fun to dance to. Sorry the light show suffers on this song, because I can’t keep from dancing to it! My favorite new slow song is Lady. “I Need a Lover” by John Mellencamp is my biggest surprise song. I wasn’t sure I would like it, but it’s in my top 5 favorite new song for Tricks. My other favorite song is the new AC/DC... " Runaway Train". Dave rocks this song and it’s a dance floor packer! For the most part, the fans are digging the new sets. Pretty soon, it will be an actual “Dual-Quad” set list (no repeats from Friday to Saturday) bringing back some of the favorites from last year. Cool beans baby!

BassBeast says:  The new lists are getting tighter and tighter all the time. Of the 24 or so new songs we put in over the Winter break, several stand out as favorites and big challenges both vocally and instrumentally. I love the new Blues tunes we're doing as well.ricks Rock-Solid Fan Base -

Tricks 2009 Summer Schedule