Battle Of The Bands
Yesterday we began our quest to win two battles in two weeks by winning the inaugural Northside College Prep (which none of us go to)'s Battle Of The Bands. With that illustrious honor we also pocketed $300 in American Express Gift Cards, which I've realized--after telling everyone that was our prize--sounds nowhere near as cool as saying 300 cash. Meh, money's money, can't argue with it.
I was very impressed by the crowd last night. The people at Northside were very welcoming, even though none of them had heard our music before, for the most part. When we came onstage, we were greeted with polite applause from the crowd and the judges (all Northside College Prep teachers), which was nice; I think if a band from outside of Payton came to play at our Battle of the Bands they would not be greeted so well. After we played Foxboy, the crowd was fairly loud, after Oceantide, we got a good roar. As we were pulling our stuff off stage all the other bands came up to us and said they thought we were going to win. I was happy with our set, but it could've gone better, I opted to just wait and see.
During intermission, we tried to pull our stuff from off the stage and load it into Clayton's car, because we felt it would be better to do it then than to wait until the end when everyone was filtering out. All of the people running the event came up and told us to wait, as the band that won would have an opportunity to play an encore. This was highly amusing, as it gave validity in my opinion to the thought that we could win. Going in, I thought if everything went well we should win, and nobody who played before us was able to change my opinion, but the band who played directly after us was very impressive. They worried me, as did the fact that Cameron had said "happy 4/20" at the end of our set. As the judges were teachers, I didn't think that they would particularly appreciate the reference.
I waited around through intermission and the final three bands backstage, eating incredibly greasy pizza and downing Cokes like there was no tomorrow. I think me drinking a lot of soda is a nervous habit, as I definitely am anxious before we play, which is when I normally go through them. With $300 on the line, I had a lot to be worried about. Thankfully, the last three bands--though talented--did not put on a show that I thought was better than what we had done. The entire situation was out of my hands now, I just had to wait.
After the last band, all the bands got called out onto stage so that the crowd could acknowledge them one more time before the results were given. The MC announced all the bands, and each band stepped forward and tried to rev up the crowd as a last ditch appeal to the judges. The noise we got was among the loudest, which as I mentioned before impressed me, as we had brought virtually no one to the event.
At the last the MC got the results and, taking as long as humanly possible, read off our name. That time between the results being handed to him and him reading them out felt like an eternity. No matter what I had done, how hard I had worked, that didn't matter. All that mattered was the opinion of three people I didn't know, had no idea who they were, and that quite frankly frightens me. What I love so much about music is the personal touch I'm able to add to a song, I can pick it up and make it mine. I could play the same notes as someone else playing the exact same song, but it could come out much differently depending on the personality of the musician.
But, we did it, and I was so happy we won. Since we were the band playing everyone cleared the stage, which made me sad. I don't have a mic during the shows, because I don't do any of the back-up singing or really worry about talking to the crowd, but I decided to grab a mic and do some talking. I waited until Clayton was done thanking everyone for coming, being supportive, etc., I grabbed Cameron's mic and said "screw this, I'm not doing an encore unless all the other bands get back on stage. All of the bands were great, get up here." I just felt that, while it was our moment to play again, all of them should be recognized. Of course, Cameron topped me by declaring an open stage and inviting the crowd onstage.
For our encore, we decided to play an arrangement of one of our songs, Remember, June, that is designed to give Keith some more light, as he's normally relegated to the back drumming. The song begins with a drum solo, which we have him extend (although he seems to hate extending it for some reason) and then, during the middle of the song, we give him another solo. This one is a little different, as Cameron puts down his guitar and picks up Keith's tom, carrying it around stage. During this, Keith continues playing, following Keith around like a little drummer boy. It reminds me a lot of the drummers in the Chinese New Year parades, which is where we got part of the idea. Keith combined that with a band, Rahim Rahim, who added an extra tom and cymbal to their normal drum set, and this idea was born. After we come out of Keith's second solo, Clayton is supposed to take an extended solo.
Of course, nothing this elaborate goes exactly as planned. The first half of the song went well, except for the fact that my glasses slipped off my face (which is why I normally don't play with glasses on). As demonstrated in that crazy picture we got, there were conga lines going on, as well as extra musicians being "helpful" by leading the crowd in waving using different percussive instruments. When Cameron picked up Keith's tom, he was dodging in and out of the conga lines and around the other musicians, and eventually he dropped the tom. Amusingly, Keith managed to keep on playing, and we made it into Clayton's solo...somewhat.
Normally when we give Clayton extra time to do a solo, we know we're asking for it, but this time it was just crazy. In this arrangement of the song, there is no definitive end, we normally play it by ear/Clayton will play a part in his solo to signal us. Of course, Clayton decided not to play the part for quite a while, only giving in when he ran out of ideas in his solo. Sadly, this took about five minutes, and Keith, Cameron, and I were dead by the end of the song. To add insult to injury, someone stepped on my glasses.
Today, we are $300 richer and very tired. I'm still jittery from last night, either from the 3 Cokes and two milkshakes I downed or the fact we won. I got my glasses replaced, thankfully, but now all I'm thinking about...how will we do next week?
I was very impressed by the crowd last night. The people at Northside were very welcoming, even though none of them had heard our music before, for the most part. When we came onstage, we were greeted with polite applause from the crowd and the judges (all Northside College Prep teachers), which was nice; I think if a band from outside of Payton came to play at our Battle of the Bands they would not be greeted so well. After we played Foxboy, the crowd was fairly loud, after Oceantide, we got a good roar. As we were pulling our stuff off stage all the other bands came up to us and said they thought we were going to win. I was happy with our set, but it could've gone better, I opted to just wait and see.
During intermission, we tried to pull our stuff from off the stage and load it into Clayton's car, because we felt it would be better to do it then than to wait until the end when everyone was filtering out. All of the people running the event came up and told us to wait, as the band that won would have an opportunity to play an encore. This was highly amusing, as it gave validity in my opinion to the thought that we could win. Going in, I thought if everything went well we should win, and nobody who played before us was able to change my opinion, but the band who played directly after us was very impressive. They worried me, as did the fact that Cameron had said "happy 4/20" at the end of our set. As the judges were teachers, I didn't think that they would particularly appreciate the reference.
I waited around through intermission and the final three bands backstage, eating incredibly greasy pizza and downing Cokes like there was no tomorrow. I think me drinking a lot of soda is a nervous habit, as I definitely am anxious before we play, which is when I normally go through them. With $300 on the line, I had a lot to be worried about. Thankfully, the last three bands--though talented--did not put on a show that I thought was better than what we had done. The entire situation was out of my hands now, I just had to wait.
After the last band, all the bands got called out onto stage so that the crowd could acknowledge them one more time before the results were given. The MC announced all the bands, and each band stepped forward and tried to rev up the crowd as a last ditch appeal to the judges. The noise we got was among the loudest, which as I mentioned before impressed me, as we had brought virtually no one to the event.
At the last the MC got the results and, taking as long as humanly possible, read off our name. That time between the results being handed to him and him reading them out felt like an eternity. No matter what I had done, how hard I had worked, that didn't matter. All that mattered was the opinion of three people I didn't know, had no idea who they were, and that quite frankly frightens me. What I love so much about music is the personal touch I'm able to add to a song, I can pick it up and make it mine. I could play the same notes as someone else playing the exact same song, but it could come out much differently depending on the personality of the musician.
But, we did it, and I was so happy we won. Since we were the band playing everyone cleared the stage, which made me sad. I don't have a mic during the shows, because I don't do any of the back-up singing or really worry about talking to the crowd, but I decided to grab a mic and do some talking. I waited until Clayton was done thanking everyone for coming, being supportive, etc., I grabbed Cameron's mic and said "screw this, I'm not doing an encore unless all the other bands get back on stage. All of the bands were great, get up here." I just felt that, while it was our moment to play again, all of them should be recognized. Of course, Cameron topped me by declaring an open stage and inviting the crowd onstage.
For our encore, we decided to play an arrangement of one of our songs, Remember, June, that is designed to give Keith some more light, as he's normally relegated to the back drumming. The song begins with a drum solo, which we have him extend (although he seems to hate extending it for some reason) and then, during the middle of the song, we give him another solo. This one is a little different, as Cameron puts down his guitar and picks up Keith's tom, carrying it around stage. During this, Keith continues playing, following Keith around like a little drummer boy. It reminds me a lot of the drummers in the Chinese New Year parades, which is where we got part of the idea. Keith combined that with a band, Rahim Rahim, who added an extra tom and cymbal to their normal drum set, and this idea was born. After we come out of Keith's second solo, Clayton is supposed to take an extended solo.
Of course, nothing this elaborate goes exactly as planned. The first half of the song went well, except for the fact that my glasses slipped off my face (which is why I normally don't play with glasses on). As demonstrated in that crazy picture we got, there were conga lines going on, as well as extra musicians being "helpful" by leading the crowd in waving using different percussive instruments. When Cameron picked up Keith's tom, he was dodging in and out of the conga lines and around the other musicians, and eventually he dropped the tom. Amusingly, Keith managed to keep on playing, and we made it into Clayton's solo...somewhat.
Normally when we give Clayton extra time to do a solo, we know we're asking for it, but this time it was just crazy. In this arrangement of the song, there is no definitive end, we normally play it by ear/Clayton will play a part in his solo to signal us. Of course, Clayton decided not to play the part for quite a while, only giving in when he ran out of ideas in his solo. Sadly, this took about five minutes, and Keith, Cameron, and I were dead by the end of the song. To add insult to injury, someone stepped on my glasses.
Today, we are $300 richer and very tired. I'm still jittery from last night, either from the 3 Cokes and two milkshakes I downed or the fact we won. I got my glasses replaced, thankfully, but now all I'm thinking about...how will we do next week?