Memepunks at the Garage
Lots to catch up on from the week that was.
Wednesday the Memepunks opened for Abney Park at the Garage. It was the biggest venue we'd ever played. We arrived at 4pm because both Abney Park and Cauda Pavonis had said they needed to borrow our bass amp. It turned out that Cauda Pavonis arrived an hour late, and neither band needed the amp. We had a late and rushed sound check but the venue opened nearly on time.
We went on stage and it was that eerie experience of looking out into a room already fairly full of strangers. Abney Park are big on the steampunk circuit and it was impressive that so many people were out by 7:30pm and looking very well dressed. We launched into Gadget Cats, a great choice of opener as it's familiar. Normally it takes about 3-4 songs for me to relax and enjoy the gig instead of worrying, but this time I was in the zone from song one. By the third track the crowd were in on the joke and singing along, particularly to the 90s tracks. Somehow the work of the last four years clicked together and we were completely on form, in spite of Paul being ill. Our comedy goggles got noticed, even the two new songs were smooth and we easily recovered from our tiny missteps, and I felt no sense of impostor syndrome whatsoever, other than when I sang. Afterwards we sold three T-shirts, several people were asking for CDs, and I think it's safe to say we have some new fans! Cauda Pavonis's bass player gushingly offered to book us in Bristol, but their singer later confided that he was drunk and they didn't actually know of any viable venues in Bristol. A guy I don't know bought a ticket from the Memepunks and took video, so hopefully he'll e-mail a link soon. Sadly I forgot to ask Abney Park to put in a word for us with the Whitby organisers. And both Frank Flag and the Memepunks got paid, woo!
Setlist:
Gadget Cats
Wanted/Firefly
The Final Tango
Taint Yourself
Fly Girl From Ipanema
Bad Moon Dance
Poison Mashenger
Magic Safety Dance
Wednesday the Memepunks opened for Abney Park at the Garage. It was the biggest venue we'd ever played. We arrived at 4pm because both Abney Park and Cauda Pavonis had said they needed to borrow our bass amp. It turned out that Cauda Pavonis arrived an hour late, and neither band needed the amp. We had a late and rushed sound check but the venue opened nearly on time.
We went on stage and it was that eerie experience of looking out into a room already fairly full of strangers. Abney Park are big on the steampunk circuit and it was impressive that so many people were out by 7:30pm and looking very well dressed. We launched into Gadget Cats, a great choice of opener as it's familiar. Normally it takes about 3-4 songs for me to relax and enjoy the gig instead of worrying, but this time I was in the zone from song one. By the third track the crowd were in on the joke and singing along, particularly to the 90s tracks. Somehow the work of the last four years clicked together and we were completely on form, in spite of Paul being ill. Our comedy goggles got noticed, even the two new songs were smooth and we easily recovered from our tiny missteps, and I felt no sense of impostor syndrome whatsoever, other than when I sang. Afterwards we sold three T-shirts, several people were asking for CDs, and I think it's safe to say we have some new fans! Cauda Pavonis's bass player gushingly offered to book us in Bristol, but their singer later confided that he was drunk and they didn't actually know of any viable venues in Bristol. A guy I don't know bought a ticket from the Memepunks and took video, so hopefully he'll e-mail a link soon. Sadly I forgot to ask Abney Park to put in a word for us with the Whitby organisers. And both Frank Flag and the Memepunks got paid, woo!
Setlist:
Gadget Cats
Wanted/Firefly
The Final Tango
Taint Yourself
Fly Girl From Ipanema
Bad Moon Dance
Poison Mashenger
Magic Safety Dance