Well...where to begin...this gig was kind of last minute, we only knew ten days before the gig that it was definitely 100% going to happen...only problem was that The Winston didn’t have another band to play with us...and we couldn’t find anyone either...so we’d be the only band...yikes... and we’d be missing two of the three practises we had before the gig...scary...but to be honest I don’t think any of us were really that nervous this time...our practise the night before the gig started off pretty scary...Chirley was late, nothing out of the ordinary...so I tried to phone her four or five times to no avail... I walked back into the band room and said “Guys, I think we just lost a bassist...” I eventually phoned her mom, who said “Shirley went to get her hair cut” to which I replied “that was at 17h30...do you know if she is coming to practise?” and then her mom said “I don’t know, she didn’t say anything about practise...” Scary sh*t...anyway, we decided that we would continue practise until she arrived...if she ever did...we played our “warm up song” Molly’s Lips (Nirvana)...Chane, Chwarren and I decided on the set list...We have been working on our very own version of Fallen Leaves by Billy Talent, and I was hoping we would skip that song this time...until Chane brought it up...Luckily Chwarren shared my feelings on how well we knew the “new” version...it was then somehow decided upon that we would play it the normal way...interesting considering we hadn’t played that version for quite a while...shortly after this Chirley arrived...very apologetic...the rest of practise went smoothly, we ran through all our songs without any hiccups...the only two songs we really focussed on were Payphone (a new one which we’ve probably only played about 10 times in total) and of course, Fallen Leaves...
Gig day...
I spent almost the whole freaking day walking around with my guitar playing my intro part for The Fallen...since the last gig I have been so nervous about playing that song again...by the time we were ready to pack up and head to sound check my fingers were so sore...I still didn’t feel nervous about the actual gig though...until sound check! During sound check my guitar was feeding back so much...and I had no idea why...we were using all the exact same equipment...Chane and Raymond adjusted settings etc...but it was still hectic...bummer...during sound check there was also this freaking weird hobo freak who seemed quite taken by Chirley, he came up to her and said “ah, you play bass? Will you marry me?” He then continued to bug her a bit before Raymond told him we are busy...
When we returned to The Winston, there was nobody there except for the staff, us and hobo freak...after a while some family members and friends arrived...so now there were about 11 of us there including the band, excluding the staff...we knew everyone by name...F*** Thornfest...ha ha...joking... Belinda (the owner) had told Shane earlier in the evening that they actually weren’t going to open tonight but then when they heard that a band wanted to play they decided to open...they opened just for us to play? Surely it was not worth it to pay all the staff members etc...anyway...Just before we were about to start playing about 4 or 5 more people came in...wow...what a turn out...ha ha..not...anyway, I’m sure this is just what happens when there is a festival on somewhere...I’ve been to the Winston a few years ago over Splashy weekend and it was something similar...due to the size of our massive crowd I think we were all pretty relaxed...it was kind of like a few people came to watch us practise ha ha...
I think all the songs went rather well...Despite my guitar being so feedbacky (I invented this word)...This time we chose to open with Reach Out Quickly because of the cool intro...this song went really well...no issues from what I could tell...
In the intro of the next song, Moonflow, I thought Chane’s guitar sounded a bit weird, but I just assumed it was just because everything sounded very bassy onstage...He later told me that the switch for his pick-ups had been bumped or something because it was on the wrong pick-up so he apparently did this mysterious manoeuvre to get it right during a strum, I wish I saw it...
Our third song was Death Becomes Us. At least the feedback was useful in the intro of this song...we usually battled to get the feedback going right and it just did it itself this time...ha ha...Somewhere around this time hobo freak reappeared and was the only one jumping around in the front...at one point (not sure which song) he went right up to Chirley and slapped the fretboard of her bass guitar with his hand...she was clearly unimpressed...
Next was our first cover, Molly’s Lips, which always goes well, not much to remember...
I Know Ledge was next...went quite well as well...I missed out one of my parts...doubt anyone really noticed or cared...
Before we started play Machine Song I saw Chirley shaking her head and saying something to Chane...Chane shrugged his shoulders...hmmm...what was that about...? During the intro she played the wrong note so I assumed she was like “oh my god what do I play again” or something...ha ha, I was not far off – Chane later told me she was saying she can’t remember the song...at all...well at least the first wrong note triggered her memory because the rest of the song went well...
Payphone was fun and easy to play live...it’s still a very new song...Chane doesn’t even really have any set lyrics for the verses yet...he kind of just makes them up as we go along...
The moment Chirley and I dreaded...Fallen Leaves...I think it went surprisingly well though...I did make more mistakes this time...oh well...over it...
Careless went well except that I screwed up a bit in the beginning...and at the end Chane didn’t put his distortion on when he was supposed to...not sure what happened there...but it went well other than that...
Finally...The Fallen...would I get the intro right this time...? I SO FREAKING NAILED IT! It felt almost as though the whole band let out this sigh of relief when I got to the end...and it was really cool glancing around the stage and seeing my band mates smiling...yay me! But then I messed up a lot of the other parts...guess you can’t get everything you want...sigh...
Chanya
Pure Motive
Chanya
Pure Motive
The winnie does attract some rather strange characters....
ReplyDelete