JEW Plays Live shows in C# Tuning?

[Pepol]

Hey all,
New to the board, long time musician (guitar player) and JEW fan here.
Forgive my ignorance, but I just noticed a trend in the way JEW plays live.
I downloaded that live Weenie Roast video, and after watching a bunch of other live videos of theirs I have on my comp, noticed that they play their entire concerts in Drop C# tuning (so its tuned C#, G#, C#, F#, A#, D# from the normal bass E to the treble E) in other words normal drop D tunign but then all strings dropped down a half step.
I wonder why they do this...they record every song in normal drop D tuning (D, A, D, G, B, E) so if you listen to the albums vs. live performances, the album will sound "higher". The only song I can think of that is in this lower tuning is Nothingwrong.
The weird thing is on certain late night shows, they play on the lower tuning, and on some its normal. For example: Sweetness on SNL and Letterman is normal drop D, but Work on Conan is in the dropped another half step tuning.
Anyone other of you guitar players know/notice what Im talking about? Maybe its so Jim doesnt have to hit the super high notes as much! Ha!

[no_sensitivity]

A lot, if not all of the songs in futures are in D#, or drop c#. BA is in drop D, so they capo the first fret, SP is all in standard, so they tune up the C# to D# and then capo 1 again, and clarity I think is a mix between standard and drop d, so they capo 1.

[wantedbravodude]

i think you're right about the singing.
A lot of jim's studio stuff is really high, and if he sang those songs that high every day, he would loose his voice.

I noticed that also on the first song on the weenie roast recording.

[wantedbravodude]

Originally Posted by no_sensitivity

A lot, if not all of the songs in futures are in D#, or drop c#. BA is in drop D, so they capo the first fret, SP is all in standard, so they tune up the C# to D# and then capo 1 again, and clarity I think is a mix between standard and drop d, so they capo 1.

i thought static was all in drop-d.

[no_sensitivity]

Nope, I actually read somewhere the other day from Jim's mouth that it was all in standard. Here, on the interview that was posted somewhere, from 11-8-99.

[00:51] <Question-Taker> [00:05] <chazz> hey jim, i'm trying to figure out how to play your songs (to benefit all of those who have a hard time playing along). i know most of the songs are in drop-D. any other alternate tunings? capo placement?

[00:52] <jimA2000> some capo stuff

[00:52] <jimA2000> we use open e tuning for some stuff too

[00:52] <jimA2000> e-b-e-g#-b-e

[00:52] <jimA2000> only on clarity songs though

[00:52] <jimA2000> everything on static is standard

[lostintheair]

Originally Posted by Pepol

The weird thing is on certain late night shows, they play on the lower tuning, and on some its normal. For example: Sweetness on SNL and Letterman is normal drop D, but Work on Conan is in the dropped another half step tuning.

the answer to this is simple, the sweetness performances, and anything else from the last album were years ago when they still played live in drop D. work on conan was from last year, and while its drop D on the album, live they do everything in drop Db (or C# if you prefer), so that answers that.

Originally Posted by no_sensitivity

A lot, if not all of the songs in futures are in D#, or drop c#. BA is in drop D, so they capo the first fret, SP is all in standard, so they tune up the C# to D# and then capo 1 again, and clarity I think is a mix between standard and drop d, so they capo 1.

im close to positive they dont use the capo for older songs.

so to answer the original question, yes, they play all the old stuff down a half step live, which is usually done by a band to make it easier for the singer. it always kind of annoys me when a band does this cause you hear it one way on the album and then live its way different, but whatever, its understandable.

[wantedbravodude]

Originally Posted by no_sensitivity

Nope, I actually read somewhere the other day from Jim's mouth that it was all in standard. Here, on the interview that was posted somewhere, from 11-8-99.

thanks
that clears up a lot for me.