Update on the gig in Phoenix last night
Hey everybody.
Well, we just finished unloading our gear at the house after our performance in Phoenix at the Counter Culture Cafe's "Black Coffee" night. It's 5:45 in the morning and we are dead tired, but still very energetic after what was a very successful show.
Yes, you read that right. A good show :).
The fun began long before we got there. Ian headed up to the show with the gear in my car and I followed in my S.O.'s Mini Cooper. Quite an adventure, let me tell you, as we drove straight into a rather intense sandstorm about 60 miles outside Phoenix. Visibility dropped to maybe 100 feet and tumbleweeds the size of our car were blowing across the freeway. I saw quite a few of them explode in dead-weed shards underneath my car. Very intense and thrilling. All I could think was "We SO have to pull over and shoot a video in this." Sadistic I am.
We reached the venue around 6:00 and checked it with Thom (who got us our first gig in Phoenix) and Nelson (DJ Aeternium from the AZGoth list, the guy who got us this show) and hooked up with the members of Reliquary, the band we would be opening for. Incredibly nice people.
This time, contrary to previous performances, we specifically requested in our rider that we get an actual sound-check. We did. The dynamics between headphones (which we rehearse through) and a club P.A. system are quite different. We spent about 20 minutes ringing out our sound and got it pretty damned well on the mark. Not quite up to the standard that WE want, but pretty damned good.
On with the show, we hit the stage at 8:30. That is..if you can call it much of a "stage". It was about 8 feet by 8 feet square. We were crunched! It was worse for Reliquary, though. They had to put four people up there. I couldn't tell you how many people were there (I think the final count at the end of the night was 100 or something....beats me) but a few familiar faces were there, namely Allison who has been a diehard supporter of our material for some years.
I used my headset monitors this time and had a very easy time following what was going on. We got a really strong response from the audience and had an excellent time. This was a real thrill for us and got lots of compliments. We're getting there :).
Anyway, for those interested, here was the set list.
Intro - Newsong (improvisation). Yes, this is "Newsong" from "Drawing Down The Moon" very much rearranged and played only with bass, guitar, and vocals.
Tantalus
Sekhmet & Osiris
Starsong
Faithless
Murrain
Amber
Sunless (b-side non-album track from "Awake In Semuta")
Coldlight
November (this got a really good response, I was surprised considering what a somber piece it is)
The Gate (tossed out of the set due to time constraints)
Aftermath (this got the strongest response of the night)
Cry In The Wind (Clan Of Xymox cover, really got it right)
Now, here's the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful part about the show. We didn't have one single tiny squeak of feedback the whole night and I even managed to get a small amount of vocal effecting in. Woo hoo!
An 'orgasmic hypnotist' came on next. Claimed he could hypnotize people into having an orgasm. Very interesting. Some girl participated and....wow. No nudity or anything, but interesting nontheless.
Reliquary took the stage around 10:30 and were simply stunning. I could only dream of sounding that crisp and clear. They were amazing. We spent most of the evening hanging out with Jay, the lead vocalist for Acidica who is currently providing some keyboard and guitar work for Reliquary. Awesome guy with buckets of stories and interesting information. Good to add a new friend to the collection. Phoenix has some pretty amazing people in it.
This was an incredible show, hopefully with more to follow. Phoenix has been very kind to us and we hope we've shown sufficient gratitude for it. We'll come back anytime.
Anyway, off to bed before I fall over. Thanks for listening. Pictures from the gig are forthcoming.
xxx,
david & ian
Well, we just finished unloading our gear at the house after our performance in Phoenix at the Counter Culture Cafe's "Black Coffee" night. It's 5:45 in the morning and we are dead tired, but still very energetic after what was a very successful show.
Yes, you read that right. A good show :).
The fun began long before we got there. Ian headed up to the show with the gear in my car and I followed in my S.O.'s Mini Cooper. Quite an adventure, let me tell you, as we drove straight into a rather intense sandstorm about 60 miles outside Phoenix. Visibility dropped to maybe 100 feet and tumbleweeds the size of our car were blowing across the freeway. I saw quite a few of them explode in dead-weed shards underneath my car. Very intense and thrilling. All I could think was "We SO have to pull over and shoot a video in this." Sadistic I am.
We reached the venue around 6:00 and checked it with Thom (who got us our first gig in Phoenix) and Nelson (DJ Aeternium from the AZGoth list, the guy who got us this show) and hooked up with the members of Reliquary, the band we would be opening for. Incredibly nice people.
This time, contrary to previous performances, we specifically requested in our rider that we get an actual sound-check. We did. The dynamics between headphones (which we rehearse through) and a club P.A. system are quite different. We spent about 20 minutes ringing out our sound and got it pretty damned well on the mark. Not quite up to the standard that WE want, but pretty damned good.
On with the show, we hit the stage at 8:30. That is..if you can call it much of a "stage". It was about 8 feet by 8 feet square. We were crunched! It was worse for Reliquary, though. They had to put four people up there. I couldn't tell you how many people were there (I think the final count at the end of the night was 100 or something....beats me) but a few familiar faces were there, namely Allison who has been a diehard supporter of our material for some years.
I used my headset monitors this time and had a very easy time following what was going on. We got a really strong response from the audience and had an excellent time. This was a real thrill for us and got lots of compliments. We're getting there :).
Anyway, for those interested, here was the set list.
Intro - Newsong (improvisation). Yes, this is "Newsong" from "Drawing Down The Moon" very much rearranged and played only with bass, guitar, and vocals.
Tantalus
Sekhmet & Osiris
Starsong
Faithless
Murrain
Amber
Sunless (b-side non-album track from "Awake In Semuta")
Coldlight
November (this got a really good response, I was surprised considering what a somber piece it is)
The Gate (tossed out of the set due to time constraints)
Aftermath (this got the strongest response of the night)
Cry In The Wind (Clan Of Xymox cover, really got it right)
Now, here's the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful part about the show. We didn't have one single tiny squeak of feedback the whole night and I even managed to get a small amount of vocal effecting in. Woo hoo!
An 'orgasmic hypnotist' came on next. Claimed he could hypnotize people into having an orgasm. Very interesting. Some girl participated and....wow. No nudity or anything, but interesting nontheless.
Reliquary took the stage around 10:30 and were simply stunning. I could only dream of sounding that crisp and clear. They were amazing. We spent most of the evening hanging out with Jay, the lead vocalist for Acidica who is currently providing some keyboard and guitar work for Reliquary. Awesome guy with buckets of stories and interesting information. Good to add a new friend to the collection. Phoenix has some pretty amazing people in it.
This was an incredible show, hopefully with more to follow. Phoenix has been very kind to us and we hope we've shown sufficient gratitude for it. We'll come back anytime.
Anyway, off to bed before I fall over. Thanks for listening. Pictures from the gig are forthcoming.
xxx,
david & ian