Yep - we are playing this weekend at a party for the volunteer firefighters in town, which is a pretty big deal since that group is a pretty visible social group for men (a high-risk Junior League, if you will). We could end up with well over 100 people at the restaurant we are playing at…
We have a little more practice time before we play. Thankfully our drummer is a seasoned pro (15 years touring professionally, played Carnegie Hall, the whole bit) so we have a solid anchor, and our bassist is really solid, too. Now I have to hold up my end on guitar and vocals…
We are doing some 70’s stuff (Adam’s Apple by Aerosmith, Rebel Rebel by Bowie), 80’s (Dancing with Myself, Pump it UP, My Sharona - I know, really 70’s but sounds more 80’s), 90’s (Green Day’s Longview) and current (Jimmy Eat World, Stacy’s Mom, Times Like These by the Foo’s). We rock them pretty hard, so I hope people are into it and dance…
Starting to get nervous - its been years since I have played a full gig. At least I feel like we are practicing enough and are giving it our best shot!
if6was9 - funny story about Rebel Rebel: I am playing the guitar riff and singing it, and lemme tell ya, it ain’t easy! Especially during the last bit, where Bowie kinda rants - I really have to go in the zone to keep all the parts moving correctly, y’know? So the song ends basically with Bowie finishing his ranting and just stopping on a dime on a ringing D chord - but I am so caught up in staying in the groove that I can’t signal to the guys that I am getting near the end, and they don’t know the words well enough (and I don’t say them the same way each time - too hard) to know when to stop. Eeesh, what a pain. We are trying to figure out if I can do a “swing the guitar neck” cue to let them know, but that is yet another thing I have to keep track of…
And yeah, heresiarch, My Sharona is really fun - getting it right really rocks. We do Good Girls Don’t, too and it is just as fun, it just doesn’t have that rockin’ lead in the middle, the way Sharona does…
Well, we had the gig and it was a big success. Well over 100 people showed up, which for a Sunday night in a bedroom community isn’t bad.
What was particularly satisfying was:
There weren’t any major screwups - I was able to get the guitar leads for My Sharona and Best Friend’s Girl correct, we did Times Like These by the Foo Fighters in 7/4 and kept it rockin’ and I was able to play and sing Rebel Rebel and Walk This Way - which is a bear since the guitar parts are intricate.
There were a couple of teenage boys (and actually a few men, too) just slack-jawed as they watched us play - they were the type of guys who completely project themselves into the band and feel like they’re part of it (I know, I have done it at shows myself; some people just feed off the energy, some know and love the songs and sing along; and some just lock into the live experience of watching a band play). It was cool watching them lock into us…
The restaurant owner wants to put us in his regular rotation, playing paid gigs on Friday or Saturday nights…
One guy who lives in town owns a recording studio in NYC and has done engineering and producing work for several top bands, like the Cure, Depeche Mode, etc…and he loved us and said we sounded “authentic” in terms of our energy and delivery.
