Saturday 17 November 2012
Gig 7, Secret Romance (Headlining), DQ, Sheffield
Entry Six
It's been a while since my last post, I apologise!
There is a reason that this is entry six and gig 7, and that's because our last gig wasn't worth a whole entry to itself, so I waited 'til this one, and I'll write briefly what happened at gig six.
Gig 6, The Ocean's Eyes, Corporation, Sheffield
After how well the last gig went at Corporation, supporting Room 94, our hopes were all way too high for this gig. I was at college throughout this day, meaning I couldn't get to Corporation until about an hour before we played, which meant me packing my things the night before, and getting ready on the journey there.
The R94 gig really hyped us all up, and set our future gig expectations really high, and so this one really dragged us back down to earth from the high that the last gig, over a month ago, was still producing for us.
I got to Corporation and finally got all of my equipment inside. This time, we didn't just have the stinked-out room as a backstage, but the main-stage dressing rooms were available to us, so it was nice to finally see them and use them. They were almost as good as the O2 Academy dressing rooms, except there was no free beer. It was nice to think of the amount of successful bands that will have walked them corridors; Anthrax in particular, apparently.
We got ready a little bit more, a few shots, tuning guitars, me doing my nail polish, and then headed back to the stinked-out room ready to go on stage. We looked through the door to see what the turnout was like.
Ok, so we were prepared for a low turnout, as it was Tuesday evening, but there were about thirteen people stood about the floor.
Thirteen people.
We sold about 18 tickets between us, not to mention the tickets the other bands had sold. The funny thing is, the crowd got thinner further towards the end, so we pretty much had the biggest crowd of the evening.
We got on stage, and I thought, "Well, OK, there's a few, but maybe they will be energetic and enthusiastic!"
We asked them about five times throughout the evening to come to the front/middle, and they just looked at us. At least there were a few claps and "Woos" at the end of every song. But when I play, I usually feed off the crowd's enthusiasm, and amplify it back at them, so as you can probably imagine, I struggled to look like I was having fun. In every solo, I thought "What's the point?" It was the wrong attitude, and I know we'll have more like this, but as I say, the last time we played that stage, the room was full and the ends of our songs were followed by screams and cheers, not quiet clapping.
Afterwards I was in a bad mood, but eventually cheered up as I went and got to know the whole of the audience, which was rather productive in the end.
---
Gig 7, Secret Romance's first Headline Gig
For this gig, we were meant to have had about three new songs to play, but due to time being shorter than expected, (not as many practices as we anticipated), we had no new songs that were ready to play, (one is close to completion, and I have a full song to show them (again)), so just brought back Teenage Kicks and Song 2.
Originally, I wasn't particularly keen on the idea of headlining. We've done 6 gigs, and our small (albeit good!) following are scattered around the country, and Wales. So I said I would be surprised if 15 people turned up.
However, I was proven wrong, as we sold about 80 tickets, plus the other bands sold quite a lot of tickets! So we estimated a turnout of about 100 people. That's a good feeling.
I decided to invite my best friend, Keegan, to this gig. I wanted him to come backstage to see what it's like and everything, and so he agreed to become my roadie. If he enjoyed it, he could be full time. We had to be there for 3. So, I got ready at home, and arrived there at about 3:10.
There was a lot of jungle-like scenery from the night before, as it was a club night, and the DJ wasn't aware that he had to tidy up for a band the next night, so he took about an hour and a half to tidy up, so we were a little bit worried about not getting time to get the sound right. I personally wanted to keep the scenery, but the DJ had to take it and leave, so we didn't have it.
Andy Hudson (our lead vocalist) has recently started bringing cameras to gigs, so not only do we have a written diary of the gigs, but a cool video is made for them now too, our "debut" video being based on the last gig, with our single, "Holy Oath", playing over the top. It is a funny video, and I think this one could be even funnier due to the better enthusiasm.
Soundcheck
We were first to soundcheck, of course, being the headlining band and all. Cameron Murray had to set up his drums, and we all set up our equipment as usual. When I was asked to play, I did my usual showing off, but the sound sounded really clear, and so I sounded even better than usual, receiving a few claps from the bands sat around the venue. I love that my soundchecking is equivalent to a performance, it's almost like my proof that I am worthy of being on stage amongst the other bands.
The problem with DQ however has always been the sound, and though we were told it would be better this time, it wasn't much of an improvement. No, we didn't have to stop half way through our set to sort it out again, but I was quiet again throughout the show. Thankfully, the sound desk has been moved off the stage, so we had more space on the stage to move about, and it was just less messy. So I sounded loud and clear (or, clarion...) for soundcheck, and we sounded good together when we played Just A Boy and Teenage Kicks for soundcheck, so we looked forward to having a good gig with good sound.
So now, instead of preparing to play almost immediately after soundcheck, we went back to our seating area, and started the wait.
The crowd started to enter through the doors, and quite quickly, the venue was getting quite full. I started drinking, and my friends I had invited turned up. I could tell it was going to be a fun evening.
The first act was some guy with an acoustic guitar. He was really good, it was a nice acoustic set to ease everybody into the loud night ahead. He did many covers from bands like Guns N' Roses, Green Day and The Killers. He had a good voice, and the crowd seemed to like him, many loud claps and cheers and singing along.
He walked off, and more people started to enter the building. The next band took too long to come on for my liking, at least 30 minutes, and there didn't seem to be an apparent reason for why they took so long. The funny thing was, this band is the band our old bassist left to join, so he was there. He seems to have held a grudge against all of us, I used to consider him a good friend, but he clearly didn't want to talk to me, so I just stayed out of his way and looked forward to watching his band The Filthy Cavaliers. They played thrash metal/old-school metal, my favourite genre of music, so of course I was looking forward to watching them.
The frontman, (rhythm guitar-not a bad guitarist, and singer, classic metal frontman), had a really good voice, went quite high pitched. Overall the band were enjoyable to watch, amazing bass playing and vocals too!
After...
The next two bands I didn't watch, I was restless now and quite frankly bored. I wanted to be on stage. When I saw that a few people were leaving, and the crowd was slowly thinning away, I got worried.
I had one more drink, and started speaking to more people in the crowd to pass time. They were nice people and it was fun, but I suddenly got a painful stomach ache, and so I didn't enjoy it as much. I didn't think it was nerves, because I didn't feel nervous. I was ready to play, but it was probably concealed nerves mixed with hunger. (I hadn't eaten since about 1pm, it was now 9:30pm.)
Finally, it was time to take to the stage.
I hugged all my friends who all wished me luck, and they went to stand on the dancefloor, forming a large chunk of the crowd.
As I set up my guitar, I looked at the crowd and my heart slightly sank that our crowd wasn't as big as it was for our support acts. It was later than we expected, around 10:15, and so many people had to leave to catch last buses home, or because they had lifts that were planned earlier than we played. (I had been telling people we would be playing at about 9, so I was clearly very wrong. There were too many support acts.)
However, I didn't let this get to me, I was still happy with the 30 people around the room, and aimed to give it everything I had.
We started playing, and got people clapping along and stuff like that, and it was good fun.
Unfortunately, I couldn't hear myself, or see my guitar very well due to the dim (but effective) lighting. Therefore, I felt a little bit like my efforts were being wasted in my solos. The crowd apparently couldn't hear me very well, or see me, (which is part of what I do, I move my fingers extremely fast, and people like that, but if they can't see it very well, it's a bit disappointing), and I even walked off the stage a little to put my head against the speaker to see if I was loud. The sound panel was at full volume, and my amp was full volume, so again, there was no way up, so I had to deal with it.
Now it was time for the halfway point of our set, where we switch to our Drop D guitars. However, as planned, and as I was extremely excited for, I got a solo to myself. It was meant to fill in the time for Kriss Stainton and Adam Elliot to switch their guitars, and so Andy didn't have to speak to the crowd (he had felt ill all week, so wasn't particularly ready for the evening, and it affected his voice a bit too, but still a good performance considering this). However, being me, I didn't just want to be a filler. I wanted it to count. I wanted every note, (all 547 of them, or something), to count. So every night that week, I had practiced...
I've always had a warm up routine, where I would pretend I'm playing in front of 100,000 people at Donington (as most guitarists do, right?) and I use my Wah-Pedal to play a riff I made, and then play an E Chord, switch off the Wah-Pedal, and start shredding. It's always improvised at home, but for the gig, I decided to have a little bit of structure, just in case I had an off day and didn't have much inspiration for playing. The majority is improvisation, but I at least had structure so it didn't get lost or boring.
Thankfully, I was on top form that night, and played it really well, holding my guitar into the air when I played the last chord, and Cameron even slowly brushed the cymbals to add a nice effect to the ending.
I call the solo The First, because it is my composition, it's 2 minutes long, and so it deserves a name. My friend/roadie Keegan filmed it for me, and though it's dark, the sound quality is still good. Check it out below. (If that fails to work, which it seems to be, just click the Facebook link).
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10151243528936941
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There was a funny drunk guy in the crowd who kept high fiving me after every song, saying how good I was, letting me drink his beer, and I remember before I played The First, he said "you should have a right big solo on your own it'd be right good!" The rest of the band hated him, but I loved him!
We started playing the last half of our set, and we played really well. Everyone sang along to Fight For Your Right by the Beastie Boys, and a group of girls were dancing along, so I walked off the stage and danced with them whilst playing. That felt quite good, dancing to the music me and my band were producing.
It got to our last song, Last Stand. We were playing it well, but what annoyed us was that the lights came up halfway through. Yes, we were on later than expected and the DQ were ready to close up, but they could have had the courtesy of letting us finish. We made them a lot of money, it's called manners. Quite ridiculous really, but oh well, we had fun.
We received a few compliments, but the audience quickly disappeared ready to catch their lifts home, so not as many compliments as usual. There was me hoping for an after-party, the DQ is a nightclub, so I presumed they just shut late. I guess they have beddy-byes themselves.
Overall, we all had a great night, and we had a fantastic first headlining gig, promising the chance of more in the future!
Thanks for reading,
Take care,
Adam 'ARK' Walton
Tuesday 14 August 2012
Gig 5, Room 94, Corporation, Sheffield.
Entry Five
Foreword (Sounds fancy, huh?)
Hello to my readers! (Yes, that includes you!) I would like to start off with something that might surprise, annoy, disappoint, or enlighten you, depending how much of these things you've read.
I shan't be writing anything negative about this gig, simply because there is nothing negative to say about it!
Many people tell me, or message me, they like my blogs because of how I always have something bad to say about something, and they laugh at my negativity and bitterness. But anyway, this should be a pleasant read. (I've also added a bit of colour for emphasis, I think it makes it look nicer!) Feel free to leave feedback, (@ARKWalton, Adam Robert Kurt Walton, or just on the comments below). Enjoy!
The Corporation, Sheffield, 12th August 2012
This was Secret Romance's 5th gig. We supported Room 94. Other acts included "Burn So Bright", "The Famous Class", and "Disclosure".
So, I had a really busy weekend. I started to really look forward to the gig on Thursday, I think, but then very much so on Saturday night. I had a really tiring Saturday, which involved catching a wrong bus into a scary place with scary people, and practically begging Adam Elliot (Rhythm Guitarist) to pick me up, (due to the wrong bus, I was going to be late to our pre-gig practice).
We arrived at band practice in Sheffield, and to be quite honest, I felt as if I was too tired to even pick up my guitar. However, playing music is very energizing, so within 5 minutes I was practically bouncing around. We have two new songs to our set list, and had to sacrifice two covers, (my two favourite covers we play), Teenage Kicks, and Song 2. One of the new songs, written by Kriss Stainton (Bassist/Backing Vocals), was to be our new opener, due to its fantastic energy. The second song, written by Adam Elliot, is a slower, sadder song, called "Just A Boy". They wrote these while I was on holiday, and very kindly left spaces in the songs for guitar solos! (I actually put 3 in the opener. That's why I love it so.) We went through the set about 3 times, the third time we stopped halfway through due to Cameron's hands (drummer) hurting, and we were all tired, and so we decided to save the energy for the gig. My ears were buzzing that night.
Anyway, this time, we only had to be at the venue for 4:30, an hour and a half before the doors opened. (We were due on at 6:10) This is good, because, as you've (hopefully) read in my previous entries, the 3+ hour waits get very restless at times.
I restringed my V guitar (successfully, for once!) and one string of my Eclipse guitar. (Using Ernie Ball "Skinny Top, Heavy Bottoms", awesome for shredding on.) I wore my Download 2012 shirt, (sleeves rolled up so it passed as a vest,) black skinny jeans, my custom "ARK Converse", (sounds fancy also, huh?) 4 necklaces, 5 "punky" bracelets, and my crazy spiked up hair!
I got to the venue, and there were people already queuing up outside, (about 20), so I thought "wow! We might actually be playing in front of some people!" (Okay, one little thing, I suppose; we were put first on the line-up, after selling lots of tickets; we were lead to believe we'd be further up the line-up, usually meaning a bigger audience, but this is pre-gig negativity! That's the last of it, promise.)
I took my equipment, (which included my new amp, (literally new, about 5 days old), which reaches 120 watts. (Sure beats my old 15 watts!) I have had many sound/volume issues at past gigs, so I figured a louder... MUCH louder amp would put a stop to that,) inside, and greeted my band mates. Adam Elliot had brough a box of cider, so I took one, (which later he complained to us for not bringing our own), and just relaxed. Took my guitar everywhere with me, claiming "it's part of me, like a limb!" No one argued.
We received our very cool "VIP" necklaces, and walked around a bit, checked outside to make sure our "crowd" hadn't disappeared.
And guess what we got this time...?
A proper sound check! Woo!
It was a really fun one too! I really couldn't wait to play some loud music, so the sound check was like a "small dosage" for me! We did a line check first, (playing individually).
I personally love the line check. Why? Because I get a few minutes to show off in front of the other bands! Kriss played a bass line, then sung into a microphone. Then Adam Elliot played chords for 2-3 minutes.
"Other guitar!"
So I turned my volume up, and just shredded for about two minutes.
When I stopped, my band were laughing at me and called me a show off. Me? A show-off?
Then we played through our opening song, and wow, don't want to sound arrogant, but it was the best song in the world.
Haha, not quite, but it was so energetic, it was a great warm up for when we were due on stage in 30 minutes time!
The sound guy, (who I complained about in my blog about our first Corporation gig), was really good. He asked us who we wanted to hear out of which monitors. I asked to hear myself, vocals, and drums. I kept saying "a liiiiitle louder, please!" For my guitar. My band were laughing at me, saying I was too picky. But I just want to finally be able to hear myself and what I'm playing, and the sound levels were eventually perfect, (for us and the crowd, I later found out!)
We went backstage again, (which didn't smell too bad this time, which is good!) and just relaxed a little more, and then it was time to take to the stage! The crowd had entered, and there were about 150-200 people, barely a single male! My dad quickly handed me my bracelets that I left at home, and I walked up the stairs to the stage, quickly put them on, plugged in, and looked at our crowd. "Woah." I could tell it was going to be fun!
The new song opens with Kriss on the bass, followed by a beat from Cameron, then Adam Elliot on the guitar, and then a big build up, where I join in with the loud main riff!
The crowd, at first sight seemed to just be looking at us as if thinking "Who are these jokers?" But I carried on, we were getting energized, and jumping about a lot. I played my solos really well, (I ran to the front of the stage to play these, for every song, my guitar almost in reaching distance from the audience.) We finished the song, and to my, or our, surprise, the room erupted with screams and cheers! It was almost deafening!
Psychoville time! Again, we performed with the same energy, fast solo, everyone clapping along, loved it!
(I'll not mention some songs, due to not having much to write about them except "We played it really well, lots of jumping, craziness, fast soloing," )
It got to "Just A Boy", and at practices, this is usually my favourite song to solo to. I usually have about 40 seconds to play over these "emotional" chords, and I play it with feeling! Unfortunately, Cameron finished my solo with a drum fill, and Adam was already playing the next bit, earlier than usual. But I still made up for that time at the end on the last chorus, soloing over Andy's vocals.
(Andy's vocals have improved greatly, apparently, too, which is really good, because he always had a unique voice, and now he can control it better; we can rule this world!)
So, what's next? So much happened, I'm still buzzing from it!
Oh yes, time to switch to my V guitar! Plugged it in, turned it up a little, (technical reasons, not because I'm stubborn.) Viva La Revolution time.
Now, this was weird, but awesome. I don't know if it was a coincidence, or if some Greater Power was with us that night...
The song goes, basically, Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Outro. At the end of Chorus 2, it sounds like we've finished the song, we finish on the G chord. The crowd cheered, but then what we do, is play "F" then start a fast "palm-muting" riff, on D. (Think "One", by Metallica, the "heavy riff".) (In English; for none-musicians, it's fast, dirty, and heavy.)
Anyway, this is what I still can't grasp.
After everyone cheered, and we then started the next part of the song, the lights changed from (I don't know, let's say red, none-flashing), to flashy, white lights. They flashed to the beat, as fast as Cameron's double bass drum, perfectly!
H...How? It was bloody cool!
Anyway, then we played Vanity. On the solo I dropped my pick, which was actually really funny. The girls in front of me were laughing at me, and I was laughing too, playing the solo with my fingers, whilst bending down looking for the pick.
Fight For Your Right was next, our only cover of the evening. Played it really well, but what came next was really cool.
The song, technically, finished. However, I was so full of adrenaline, I carried on shredding! Like at line-check, I just carried on for about 20 seconds. My band, again, were laughing at me, the crowd staring at me, then I finished with a chord, and everyone screamed! Best feeling in the world!
Adam Elliot then joked in his microphone; "he likes playing guitar a bit, doesn't he? I'm better though!" People were laughing, I was saying; "Yeah, he really is!"
Whilst at the microphone, and buzzing with energy, I decided to do what I've always wanted to do.
"HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE EVER BEEN IN A CIRCLE PIT?!"
Everyone I could see put their hands up and screamed.
"THEN I WANT ONE, RIGHT THERE! RIGHT NOW!"
To my complete surprise, a big circle of empty space formed!
I had a 'pit'!
I laughed, and started the last song "Last Stand", and at the most we had about 4-5 girls in the circle pit, which isn't many at all, but it was still a really cool moment for me. (And for the rest of the band, I think/hope!)
We finished, and I just wanted to play another song, but we couldn't, so we thanked the fantastic audience, and packed up. I went backstage to put my stuff down. A guitarist from another band (The Famous Class) was telling me "how good I was" and stuff like that. He was a really nice guy, I really appreciated it.
I went back into the audience, and people started talking to me! Lots of people! It was really cool, and I loved every minute of it.
Some girls wanted photos with me, and some asked me to sign their arms! A night of small fame, and hopefully many more to follow!
Burn So Bright
These had a female singer, and they were really good. Good melodies, played a Paramore cover, and the crowd seemed to enjoy them. The girl was really nice, too, I spoke to her after for a minute, telling her she did well.
The Famous Class
I wanted to listen to these, mainly, because of their lead guitarist, who complimented me earlier. At first, the band started with simple chords, very pop-punky. Then the guitarist did a solo, and I was amazed, he was fantastic. Sweep picking, tapping, all the complex stuff. These are a great band!
Disclosure
These have their own tour bus, which is cool. They also have a female singer, who wore leather trousers. They were good, and I even joined a mini-circle pit during their set!
Room 94
I was restless by this point, I just wanted to talk to everyone in the entire room. However, I watched most of their set, clapped along etc. Afterall, they gave us this fantastic opportunity. The girls absolutely love these guys! Screaming very loud, singing along, reaching for the band members, trying to catch guitar picks. They are quite a popular band, and I think they'll go further!
I stayed for an hour after the show had finished. All the girls who stayed went round asking for photos with all band members, and for hugs, and signings. It was fun!
So, an end to a pretty perfect night. I'd like to thank everyone who came, and a big thanks to Room 94 and the other bands!
I would also like to thank:
Lexy Hulme: It was Lexy's birthday, I even gave her a birthday shoutout on stage. She brought a poster with "Secret Romance" on it. Thanks for being our first, and best, dedicated fan!
Laura Sullivan: Laura brought Lexy, and she was a very cool girl. Glad to have met her! All the way from Hull!
Robynn Gilder: "Exotic and hot!" (She forced me to call her this, honest.) Robynn was our first ever Circle Pit Veteran. A very cool rock n' roll fan, her friends telling me she "fancied" me, how childish?! Haha! All the way from Wales; glad to have met you! "I'll try to be positive, but I doubt it'll work!" -Made me laugh so hard!
Jessica Bedda: Spoke to Jessica a bit after the show, and during one of the bands, I got her doing the Maccarena with me! Thanks for coming!
Megan Lindop: Friends with Jessica, also did the Maccarena, at speed, to one of the bands! Very cool! Thanks for coming Megan!
And to anyone who enjoyed our show, and everyone who complimented my guitar playing skills! It's appreciated greatly!
(Photos to follow later, all of them are already on my Facebook.)
Thanks for reading!
Hope to see you at our next gig!
Adam Walton.
ADDITION :
Hello again, a few professional pictures taken from Malcom White Photography on the link below of the gig. Enjoy! http://www.mrwhitephoto.co.uk/s/?album=21&gallery=173
(I saw him at the side of the stage pointing a camera at me, and I felt so rock 'n roll holding up my rock hands and pulling a face at him, to pose for a photo, and it's up there now!)
Foreword (Sounds fancy, huh?)
Hello to my readers! (Yes, that includes you!) I would like to start off with something that might surprise, annoy, disappoint, or enlighten you, depending how much of these things you've read.
I shan't be writing anything negative about this gig, simply because there is nothing negative to say about it!
Many people tell me, or message me, they like my blogs because of how I always have something bad to say about something, and they laugh at my negativity and bitterness. But anyway, this should be a pleasant read. (I've also added a bit of colour for emphasis, I think it makes it look nicer!) Feel free to leave feedback, (@ARKWalton, Adam Robert Kurt Walton, or just on the comments below). Enjoy!
The Corporation, Sheffield, 12th August 2012
This was Secret Romance's 5th gig. We supported Room 94. Other acts included "Burn So Bright", "The Famous Class", and "Disclosure".
So, I had a really busy weekend. I started to really look forward to the gig on Thursday, I think, but then very much so on Saturday night. I had a really tiring Saturday, which involved catching a wrong bus into a scary place with scary people, and practically begging Adam Elliot (Rhythm Guitarist) to pick me up, (due to the wrong bus, I was going to be late to our pre-gig practice).
We arrived at band practice in Sheffield, and to be quite honest, I felt as if I was too tired to even pick up my guitar. However, playing music is very energizing, so within 5 minutes I was practically bouncing around. We have two new songs to our set list, and had to sacrifice two covers, (my two favourite covers we play), Teenage Kicks, and Song 2. One of the new songs, written by Kriss Stainton (Bassist/Backing Vocals), was to be our new opener, due to its fantastic energy. The second song, written by Adam Elliot, is a slower, sadder song, called "Just A Boy". They wrote these while I was on holiday, and very kindly left spaces in the songs for guitar solos! (I actually put 3 in the opener. That's why I love it so.) We went through the set about 3 times, the third time we stopped halfway through due to Cameron's hands (drummer) hurting, and we were all tired, and so we decided to save the energy for the gig. My ears were buzzing that night.
Anyway, this time, we only had to be at the venue for 4:30, an hour and a half before the doors opened. (We were due on at 6:10) This is good, because, as you've (hopefully) read in my previous entries, the 3+ hour waits get very restless at times.
I restringed my V guitar (successfully, for once!) and one string of my Eclipse guitar. (Using Ernie Ball "Skinny Top, Heavy Bottoms", awesome for shredding on.) I wore my Download 2012 shirt, (sleeves rolled up so it passed as a vest,) black skinny jeans, my custom "ARK Converse", (sounds fancy also, huh?) 4 necklaces, 5 "punky" bracelets, and my crazy spiked up hair!
I got to the venue, and there were people already queuing up outside, (about 20), so I thought "wow! We might actually be playing in front of some people!" (Okay, one little thing, I suppose; we were put first on the line-up, after selling lots of tickets; we were lead to believe we'd be further up the line-up, usually meaning a bigger audience, but this is pre-gig negativity! That's the last of it, promise.)
I took my equipment, (which included my new amp, (literally new, about 5 days old), which reaches 120 watts. (Sure beats my old 15 watts!) I have had many sound/volume issues at past gigs, so I figured a louder... MUCH louder amp would put a stop to that,) inside, and greeted my band mates. Adam Elliot had brough a box of cider, so I took one, (which later he complained to us for not bringing our own), and just relaxed. Took my guitar everywhere with me, claiming "it's part of me, like a limb!" No one argued.
We received our very cool "VIP" necklaces, and walked around a bit, checked outside to make sure our "crowd" hadn't disappeared.
And guess what we got this time...?
A proper sound check! Woo!
It was a really fun one too! I really couldn't wait to play some loud music, so the sound check was like a "small dosage" for me! We did a line check first, (playing individually).
I personally love the line check. Why? Because I get a few minutes to show off in front of the other bands! Kriss played a bass line, then sung into a microphone. Then Adam Elliot played chords for 2-3 minutes.
"Other guitar!"
So I turned my volume up, and just shredded for about two minutes.
When I stopped, my band were laughing at me and called me a show off. Me? A show-off?
Then we played through our opening song, and wow, don't want to sound arrogant, but it was the best song in the world.
Haha, not quite, but it was so energetic, it was a great warm up for when we were due on stage in 30 minutes time!
The sound guy, (who I complained about in my blog about our first Corporation gig), was really good. He asked us who we wanted to hear out of which monitors. I asked to hear myself, vocals, and drums. I kept saying "a liiiiitle louder, please!" For my guitar. My band were laughing at me, saying I was too picky. But I just want to finally be able to hear myself and what I'm playing, and the sound levels were eventually perfect, (for us and the crowd, I later found out!)
We went backstage again, (which didn't smell too bad this time, which is good!) and just relaxed a little more, and then it was time to take to the stage! The crowd had entered, and there were about 150-200 people, barely a single male! My dad quickly handed me my bracelets that I left at home, and I walked up the stairs to the stage, quickly put them on, plugged in, and looked at our crowd. "Woah." I could tell it was going to be fun!
The new song opens with Kriss on the bass, followed by a beat from Cameron, then Adam Elliot on the guitar, and then a big build up, where I join in with the loud main riff!
The crowd, at first sight seemed to just be looking at us as if thinking "Who are these jokers?" But I carried on, we were getting energized, and jumping about a lot. I played my solos really well, (I ran to the front of the stage to play these, for every song, my guitar almost in reaching distance from the audience.) We finished the song, and to my, or our, surprise, the room erupted with screams and cheers! It was almost deafening!
Psychoville time! Again, we performed with the same energy, fast solo, everyone clapping along, loved it!
(I'll not mention some songs, due to not having much to write about them except "We played it really well, lots of jumping, craziness, fast soloing," )
It got to "Just A Boy", and at practices, this is usually my favourite song to solo to. I usually have about 40 seconds to play over these "emotional" chords, and I play it with feeling! Unfortunately, Cameron finished my solo with a drum fill, and Adam was already playing the next bit, earlier than usual. But I still made up for that time at the end on the last chorus, soloing over Andy's vocals.
(Andy's vocals have improved greatly, apparently, too, which is really good, because he always had a unique voice, and now he can control it better; we can rule this world!)
So, what's next? So much happened, I'm still buzzing from it!
Oh yes, time to switch to my V guitar! Plugged it in, turned it up a little, (technical reasons, not because I'm stubborn.) Viva La Revolution time.
Now, this was weird, but awesome. I don't know if it was a coincidence, or if some Greater Power was with us that night...
The song goes, basically, Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Outro. At the end of Chorus 2, it sounds like we've finished the song, we finish on the G chord. The crowd cheered, but then what we do, is play "F" then start a fast "palm-muting" riff, on D. (Think "One", by Metallica, the "heavy riff".) (In English; for none-musicians, it's fast, dirty, and heavy.)
Anyway, this is what I still can't grasp.
After everyone cheered, and we then started the next part of the song, the lights changed from (I don't know, let's say red, none-flashing), to flashy, white lights. They flashed to the beat, as fast as Cameron's double bass drum, perfectly!
H...How? It was bloody cool!
Anyway, then we played Vanity. On the solo I dropped my pick, which was actually really funny. The girls in front of me were laughing at me, and I was laughing too, playing the solo with my fingers, whilst bending down looking for the pick.
Fight For Your Right was next, our only cover of the evening. Played it really well, but what came next was really cool.
The song, technically, finished. However, I was so full of adrenaline, I carried on shredding! Like at line-check, I just carried on for about 20 seconds. My band, again, were laughing at me, the crowd staring at me, then I finished with a chord, and everyone screamed! Best feeling in the world!
Adam Elliot then joked in his microphone; "he likes playing guitar a bit, doesn't he? I'm better though!" People were laughing, I was saying; "Yeah, he really is!"
Whilst at the microphone, and buzzing with energy, I decided to do what I've always wanted to do.
"HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE EVER BEEN IN A CIRCLE PIT?!"
Everyone I could see put their hands up and screamed.
"THEN I WANT ONE, RIGHT THERE! RIGHT NOW!"
To my complete surprise, a big circle of empty space formed!
I had a 'pit'!
I laughed, and started the last song "Last Stand", and at the most we had about 4-5 girls in the circle pit, which isn't many at all, but it was still a really cool moment for me. (And for the rest of the band, I think/hope!)
We finished, and I just wanted to play another song, but we couldn't, so we thanked the fantastic audience, and packed up. I went backstage to put my stuff down. A guitarist from another band (The Famous Class) was telling me "how good I was" and stuff like that. He was a really nice guy, I really appreciated it.
I went back into the audience, and people started talking to me! Lots of people! It was really cool, and I loved every minute of it.
Some girls wanted photos with me, and some asked me to sign their arms! A night of small fame, and hopefully many more to follow!
Burn So Bright
These had a female singer, and they were really good. Good melodies, played a Paramore cover, and the crowd seemed to enjoy them. The girl was really nice, too, I spoke to her after for a minute, telling her she did well.
The Famous Class
I wanted to listen to these, mainly, because of their lead guitarist, who complimented me earlier. At first, the band started with simple chords, very pop-punky. Then the guitarist did a solo, and I was amazed, he was fantastic. Sweep picking, tapping, all the complex stuff. These are a great band!
Disclosure
These have their own tour bus, which is cool. They also have a female singer, who wore leather trousers. They were good, and I even joined a mini-circle pit during their set!
Room 94
I was restless by this point, I just wanted to talk to everyone in the entire room. However, I watched most of their set, clapped along etc. Afterall, they gave us this fantastic opportunity. The girls absolutely love these guys! Screaming very loud, singing along, reaching for the band members, trying to catch guitar picks. They are quite a popular band, and I think they'll go further!
I stayed for an hour after the show had finished. All the girls who stayed went round asking for photos with all band members, and for hugs, and signings. It was fun!
So, an end to a pretty perfect night. I'd like to thank everyone who came, and a big thanks to Room 94 and the other bands!
I would also like to thank:
Lexy Hulme: It was Lexy's birthday, I even gave her a birthday shoutout on stage. She brought a poster with "Secret Romance" on it. Thanks for being our first, and best, dedicated fan!
Laura Sullivan: Laura brought Lexy, and she was a very cool girl. Glad to have met her! All the way from Hull!
Robynn Gilder: "Exotic and hot!" (She forced me to call her this, honest.) Robynn was our first ever Circle Pit Veteran. A very cool rock n' roll fan, her friends telling me she "fancied" me, how childish?! Haha! All the way from Wales; glad to have met you! "I'll try to be positive, but I doubt it'll work!" -Made me laugh so hard!
Jessica Bedda: Spoke to Jessica a bit after the show, and during one of the bands, I got her doing the Maccarena with me! Thanks for coming!
Megan Lindop: Friends with Jessica, also did the Maccarena, at speed, to one of the bands! Very cool! Thanks for coming Megan!
And to anyone who enjoyed our show, and everyone who complimented my guitar playing skills! It's appreciated greatly!
(Photos to follow later, all of them are already on my Facebook.)
Thanks for reading!
Hope to see you at our next gig!
Adam Walton.
ADDITION :
Hello again, a few professional pictures taken from Malcom White Photography on the link below of the gig. Enjoy! http://www.mrwhitephoto.co.uk/s/?album=21&gallery=173
(I saw him at the side of the stage pointing a camera at me, and I felt so rock 'n roll holding up my rock hands and pulling a face at him, to pose for a photo, and it's up there now!)
Wednesday 27 June 2012
Gig 4, Without Our Crowns, The DQ, Sheffield.
Entry 4
The DQ, Sheffield, 23rd June 2012
This was Secret Romance's 4th gig. We supported Without Our Crowns. Other bands included Volumezero, Find Me On Broadway, Reaching New Heights and Permission On Standby.
Well, I'll start from before I got to the gig. Because THAT was fun... (That sarcasm was intended to be that sharp it cuts your throat.)
So, "arrive there at 3" I was told. OK cool, no problem.
Listened to Billy Idol and Megadeth all day, relaxing basically. I also went to teach a guitar lesson at 12, skipping half of my dinner expecting it to be preserved for when I returned.
It got to about 1:30, so I decided it was probably time to get ready. I wanted to restring my ESP LTD V200 guitar, (mainly because the E string was still snapped from the O2 gig, and I hadn't used it since. (Which astonishingly, I've just realised, means that the last time I had played with Secret Romance was at the last gig. No practices in between.)) (I also planned to change the B string of my ESP LTD EC-1000 Deluxe due to it being a bit... Weak, as if prepared to face is imminent death anytime soon, probably on stage I thought.) Practice-wise, one of the band members (not naming names) kept organising practices during my working hours (yes, I work now. Oh what fun.) And got angry when I didn't turn up. Oh well, I still played perfectly well. As expected. *Arrogance - Off.*
(Technical Guitar Stuff, it will get more interesting further down.)
So yes, I was to leave getting ready "image" wise until about 5 minutes before we set off, and spend most of the time cleaning my guitars. I noticed, before restringing the V, that the Bridge pickup was far down, and therefore a screw was missing. I decided to take a screw out of the Neck pickup (as I don't use the neck pickup much/at all) and put it in the missing slot for the bridge, expecting this to solve the problem and hurrah I can move on!
BUT NO.
Look; it makes me uncomfortable thinking of the stress this guitar put me through that day, so I'm going to skip the details about the pickup thing for your benefit and mine. Basically, an hour and a half was wasted and nothing good came of it. The pickup was in the same position as I started trying to change, I lost a screw so the neck pickup is now wonky too. Those who can do maths/tell the time, you will realise that it was then 3 o'clock and I was meant to be there. I texted and apologised to the band that I was to be late, and tried to remain calm (Billy Idol helped me here).
Then I tried to restring the V, got to the highest string, the one that actually snapped, and basically used 3 different strings on it, (One from my Schecter Damien FR, one from my sisters guitar, and a B string (thus meaning I didn't restring the EC-1000). They all snapped. I had to resort to leaving it at home to go dusty.
Ha. Serves it right.
So yes; I just used one guitar for the gig. I was worried about this, as my EC-1000 is harder to tune, it requires allen keys as well as fingers, so to do this on stage seemed impractical. But, as I'll explain, it worked really well.
Anyway. I wanted to go for a 70's/80's punk look. (Think Billy Idol early-days (yes, I have a new obssession,) or Spike from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer,) so I got all of my old studded bracelets out. (At this point, my mother was rushing me as she wanted to go out herself, I apologised for being late, but tried to explain it wasn't my fault. Loud voices were used.) I recently had my hair cut short, so I spiked it all up, threw a bit of foundation on; (stage make up. Nothing against transvestites, just pointing out I am not one.) Would've actually liked a bit of eyeliner and black nail polish but unfortunately, I had 2 minutes to get ready. Got my leather jacket, Megadeth shirt, skinny jeans, and surprisingly looked very punky to say I got ready in a few minutes.
I was very hungry, if you remember I hadn't eaten my dinner due to being a dedicated guitar teacher, I went to look for my dinner in the kitchen and it had been thrown out. I was very annoyed. I could've grabbed a rifle and hunted for food. I could've quickly made a sandwich. Maybe take some fruit.
But no: I took a packet of Jammie Dodgers, and some Hula Hoops. That was my dinner for the day.
So, I'll skip to "I arrived at the DQ for the second time in my life, and my equipment was taken upstairs into the venue.".
Today was the first day I met our new bassist, Kriss Stainton. Our original bassist, as you can probably tell by me mentioning "new bassist", was removed for "certain reasons" I shall not write in words.
He was wearing a shirt and tie, so at a first glance I was like; "Oh."
Two words to describe him after five minutes of conversation, (Coincidentally about Megadeth);
"Bloody awesome."
This guy, (he's 22, and I thought he was about 17! HE HAS ID!) really is a nice person, he had that confidence about him when he spoke, he knew what he was talking about, and it wasn't awkward at all for a "first meeting". Especially when I had missed 3 practices in which I was to meet him, where my band probably called me many bad things for not being there; (again, not my fault), (I'm actually a negative, paranoid person. If that wasn't obvious. In my head I picture them telling him "Oh, he couldn't be arsed to get here, he's not dedicated enough. Let's vote him out, OK?")
But he did seem really cool, and we spoke for a while, he bought me a drink. (Coca-Cola and nothing else in the drink to make it alcoholic). I still hadn't heard him play. "He'd better be better than our original bassist" I thought.
Anyway, we waited for hours, like you do before a gig. Get told to be there for 3 for a sound check. Obviously we now go there expecting not to have a sound check.
We didn't have a sound check.
Cameron turned up about 6, when doors opened. (Our drummer).
(It's time for a new format I think here, let's see how it goes- I try and keep all my entries to a similar style to the previous, this is something I'll try out.)
(Review is here, from my O2 gig. "Good solo work on guitar for Last Stand". *Holds head high, like a Lion who has just slain his victim to feed his two children for the next day.* http://www.thesheffieldscenester.co.uk/#/sbsquared-presents-12512/4565212666 )
Find Me On Broadway
This band had a female singer, as well as a guitarist who did some vocals too.
The sound was so bad that night; until the last song or something, you couldn't hear the vocals. Just the loud drums, bass, and guitar. When we could finally hear the vocals, they were out of tune. I don't say this to insult the vocalists, I say this to blame the sound. When you can't hear yourself, it's very hard to sing in tune. I'm sure they're perfectly good singers, but that night, the sound didn't help.
Secret Romance
So... The moment we waited for, for about 5 hours. We set up in front of about 50 people. Some girls stood near me at the front; this always encourages me to play my best. *Lead Guitarist Mode: On.*
Basically, this was our sound check. Our opening was our soundcheck.
OUR OPENING WAS OUR SOUND CHECK.
Thanks, cover band. Thanks a lot.
So, we played Teenage Kicks. My guitar was actually loud, I could hear i- wait, nope, can't hear it ag- Oh! I can hea- Nope gone...
That was my mind for the first two songs.
It was turned up and down, and I was looking at the sound guy/the organiser Matt Crowder, (who I have great respect for; he got us our first gig, and this gig, and goes through all this hard work and stress for us, but this doesn't mean I wasn't mad at the time at him.) and was trying to get him to keep my volume up.
We got to Song 2 (our third song, the song is actually called Song 2; if this is my first entry that you've read, O' Glorious Readers,) and we had to stop... to sort the sound out.
WE HAD TO STOP TO SORT THE SOUND OUT.
Wow, we were pretty mad. In the end, it turned out there wasn't enough power to keep us all as loud as we liked, so when mine was loud, someone else had gotten quieter. I then was mad at the power, not Matt Crowder. (Apologies again for being mad at him, (I didn't take it out verbally or anything. Just a mental thing.)
I eventually plugged into someone elses louder amp, and that amp was standalone, it was that loud. Didn't need mic-ing up.
So, we finished "I Can See You", (this is a link to us "debuting" this song at the O2 Academy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwY-5D9prQ ).
It was now time to rapidly Drop-D tune my guitar. First time I've had to do this on stage. First time I'd Drop tuned that guitar. Nervous.
I did it in about 10 seconds; it was beautiful. I managed to get into the mood of playing again, after my anger about the sound. I enjoyed playing; got very hot and sweaty. It was a shame about the sound, because I was really enthusiastic about playing that night, and that would've been the best we played.
Kriss Stainton was excellent. He didn't stand there looking like he had "peed" his pants, and he didn't just play single notes/wrong notes. He actually played proper basslines and added his own thing to our songs. He was enthusiastic on stage, and seemed hyped about it afterwards too. He was only meant to be temporary, (I was told afterwards) but we all want to keep him. "Please mommy can we keep him?"
To be confirmed, I believe.
No strings snapped.
No drinks spilled.
Awesome. We finished, packed up, talked to some girls for a bit (you know you're a rockstar when you're talking to girls after a gig...! All in good time...)
Then I went home! Had a curry, played Guitar Hero, you don't care about that stuff. Sorry I cannot review or say how the other bands were. One of my colleagues inform me that they all sounded the same to him. So I guess they did OK.
Thanks for reading, a big gig coming up in August supporting Room 94 again at the Corporation. They have a music video now. Come and check us out 12th August 2012 Sheffield Corporation!
(The new format was actually giving bands a title to themselves).
Smallprint
(I do not hunt. Not for fun, not for sustenance.)
(The drink Kriss bought me was Coca-Cola. I couldn't buy it myself due to a lorry parked between where I was sat and the bar. Kriss is immune to lorries and HGVs.)
(Any opinions expressed by the individuals are that of the individuals and not of the Adam Walton Company.)
(I do not slit people's throats with my sarcasm. This was a metaphor.)
(I do not slay victims in order to feed the two children I pretend I have.)
(All of this small-print is because of how strict the government are on blogs nowadays.)
Yours truly,
Adam Walton.
The DQ, Sheffield, 23rd June 2012
This was Secret Romance's 4th gig. We supported Without Our Crowns. Other bands included Volumezero, Find Me On Broadway, Reaching New Heights and Permission On Standby.
Well, I'll start from before I got to the gig. Because THAT was fun... (That sarcasm was intended to be that sharp it cuts your throat.)
So, "arrive there at 3" I was told. OK cool, no problem.
Listened to Billy Idol and Megadeth all day, relaxing basically. I also went to teach a guitar lesson at 12, skipping half of my dinner expecting it to be preserved for when I returned.
It got to about 1:30, so I decided it was probably time to get ready. I wanted to restring my ESP LTD V200 guitar, (mainly because the E string was still snapped from the O2 gig, and I hadn't used it since. (Which astonishingly, I've just realised, means that the last time I had played with Secret Romance was at the last gig. No practices in between.)) (I also planned to change the B string of my ESP LTD EC-1000 Deluxe due to it being a bit... Weak, as if prepared to face is imminent death anytime soon, probably on stage I thought.) Practice-wise, one of the band members (not naming names) kept organising practices during my working hours (yes, I work now. Oh what fun.) And got angry when I didn't turn up. Oh well, I still played perfectly well. As expected. *Arrogance - Off.*
(Technical Guitar Stuff, it will get more interesting further down.)
So yes, I was to leave getting ready "image" wise until about 5 minutes before we set off, and spend most of the time cleaning my guitars. I noticed, before restringing the V, that the Bridge pickup was far down, and therefore a screw was missing. I decided to take a screw out of the Neck pickup (as I don't use the neck pickup much/at all) and put it in the missing slot for the bridge, expecting this to solve the problem and hurrah I can move on!
BUT NO.
Look; it makes me uncomfortable thinking of the stress this guitar put me through that day, so I'm going to skip the details about the pickup thing for your benefit and mine. Basically, an hour and a half was wasted and nothing good came of it. The pickup was in the same position as I started trying to change, I lost a screw so the neck pickup is now wonky too. Those who can do maths/tell the time, you will realise that it was then 3 o'clock and I was meant to be there. I texted and apologised to the band that I was to be late, and tried to remain calm (Billy Idol helped me here).
Then I tried to restring the V, got to the highest string, the one that actually snapped, and basically used 3 different strings on it, (One from my Schecter Damien FR, one from my sisters guitar, and a B string (thus meaning I didn't restring the EC-1000). They all snapped. I had to resort to leaving it at home to go dusty.
Ha. Serves it right.
So yes; I just used one guitar for the gig. I was worried about this, as my EC-1000 is harder to tune, it requires allen keys as well as fingers, so to do this on stage seemed impractical. But, as I'll explain, it worked really well.
Anyway. I wanted to go for a 70's/80's punk look. (Think Billy Idol early-days (yes, I have a new obssession,) or Spike from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer,) so I got all of my old studded bracelets out. (At this point, my mother was rushing me as she wanted to go out herself, I apologised for being late, but tried to explain it wasn't my fault. Loud voices were used.) I recently had my hair cut short, so I spiked it all up, threw a bit of foundation on; (stage make up. Nothing against transvestites, just pointing out I am not one.) Would've actually liked a bit of eyeliner and black nail polish but unfortunately, I had 2 minutes to get ready. Got my leather jacket, Megadeth shirt, skinny jeans, and surprisingly looked very punky to say I got ready in a few minutes.
I was very hungry, if you remember I hadn't eaten my dinner due to being a dedicated guitar teacher, I went to look for my dinner in the kitchen and it had been thrown out. I was very annoyed. I could've grabbed a rifle and hunted for food. I could've quickly made a sandwich. Maybe take some fruit.
But no: I took a packet of Jammie Dodgers, and some Hula Hoops. That was my dinner for the day.
So, I'll skip to "I arrived at the DQ for the second time in my life, and my equipment was taken upstairs into the venue.".
Today was the first day I met our new bassist, Kriss Stainton. Our original bassist, as you can probably tell by me mentioning "new bassist", was removed for "certain reasons" I shall not write in words.
He was wearing a shirt and tie, so at a first glance I was like; "Oh."
Two words to describe him after five minutes of conversation, (Coincidentally about Megadeth);
"Bloody awesome."
This guy, (he's 22, and I thought he was about 17! HE HAS ID!) really is a nice person, he had that confidence about him when he spoke, he knew what he was talking about, and it wasn't awkward at all for a "first meeting". Especially when I had missed 3 practices in which I was to meet him, where my band probably called me many bad things for not being there; (again, not my fault), (I'm actually a negative, paranoid person. If that wasn't obvious. In my head I picture them telling him "Oh, he couldn't be arsed to get here, he's not dedicated enough. Let's vote him out, OK?")
But he did seem really cool, and we spoke for a while, he bought me a drink. (Coca-Cola and nothing else in the drink to make it alcoholic). I still hadn't heard him play. "He'd better be better than our original bassist" I thought.
Anyway, we waited for hours, like you do before a gig. Get told to be there for 3 for a sound check. Obviously we now go there expecting not to have a sound check.
We didn't have a sound check.
Cameron turned up about 6, when doors opened. (Our drummer).
(It's time for a new format I think here, let's see how it goes- I try and keep all my entries to a similar style to the previous, this is something I'll try out.)
(Review is here, from my O2 gig. "Good solo work on guitar for Last Stand". *Holds head high, like a Lion who has just slain his victim to feed his two children for the next day.* http://www.thesheffieldscenester.co.uk/#/sbsquared-presents-12512/4565212666 )
Find Me On Broadway
This band had a female singer, as well as a guitarist who did some vocals too.
The sound was so bad that night; until the last song or something, you couldn't hear the vocals. Just the loud drums, bass, and guitar. When we could finally hear the vocals, they were out of tune. I don't say this to insult the vocalists, I say this to blame the sound. When you can't hear yourself, it's very hard to sing in tune. I'm sure they're perfectly good singers, but that night, the sound didn't help.
Secret Romance
So... The moment we waited for, for about 5 hours. We set up in front of about 50 people. Some girls stood near me at the front; this always encourages me to play my best. *Lead Guitarist Mode: On.*
Basically, this was our sound check. Our opening was our soundcheck.
OUR OPENING WAS OUR SOUND CHECK.
Thanks, cover band. Thanks a lot.
So, we played Teenage Kicks. My guitar was actually loud, I could hear i- wait, nope, can't hear it ag- Oh! I can hea- Nope gone...
That was my mind for the first two songs.
It was turned up and down, and I was looking at the sound guy/the organiser Matt Crowder, (who I have great respect for; he got us our first gig, and this gig, and goes through all this hard work and stress for us, but this doesn't mean I wasn't mad at the time at him.) and was trying to get him to keep my volume up.
We got to Song 2 (our third song, the song is actually called Song 2; if this is my first entry that you've read, O' Glorious Readers,) and we had to stop... to sort the sound out.
WE HAD TO STOP TO SORT THE SOUND OUT.
Wow, we were pretty mad. In the end, it turned out there wasn't enough power to keep us all as loud as we liked, so when mine was loud, someone else had gotten quieter. I then was mad at the power, not Matt Crowder. (Apologies again for being mad at him, (I didn't take it out verbally or anything. Just a mental thing.)
I eventually plugged into someone elses louder amp, and that amp was standalone, it was that loud. Didn't need mic-ing up.
So, we finished "I Can See You", (this is a link to us "debuting" this song at the O2 Academy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwY-5D9prQ ).
It was now time to rapidly Drop-D tune my guitar. First time I've had to do this on stage. First time I'd Drop tuned that guitar. Nervous.
I did it in about 10 seconds; it was beautiful. I managed to get into the mood of playing again, after my anger about the sound. I enjoyed playing; got very hot and sweaty. It was a shame about the sound, because I was really enthusiastic about playing that night, and that would've been the best we played.
Kriss Stainton was excellent. He didn't stand there looking like he had "peed" his pants, and he didn't just play single notes/wrong notes. He actually played proper basslines and added his own thing to our songs. He was enthusiastic on stage, and seemed hyped about it afterwards too. He was only meant to be temporary, (I was told afterwards) but we all want to keep him. "Please mommy can we keep him?"
To be confirmed, I believe.
No strings snapped.
No drinks spilled.
Awesome. We finished, packed up, talked to some girls for a bit (you know you're a rockstar when you're talking to girls after a gig...! All in good time...)
Then I went home! Had a curry, played Guitar Hero, you don't care about that stuff. Sorry I cannot review or say how the other bands were. One of my colleagues inform me that they all sounded the same to him. So I guess they did OK.
Thanks for reading, a big gig coming up in August supporting Room 94 again at the Corporation. They have a music video now. Come and check us out 12th August 2012 Sheffield Corporation!
***
(The new format was actually giving bands a title to themselves).
Smallprint
(I do not hunt. Not for fun, not for sustenance.)
(The drink Kriss bought me was Coca-Cola. I couldn't buy it myself due to a lorry parked between where I was sat and the bar. Kriss is immune to lorries and HGVs.)
(Any opinions expressed by the individuals are that of the individuals and not of the Adam Walton Company.)
(I do not slit people's throats with my sarcasm. This was a metaphor.)
(I do not slay victims in order to feed the two children I pretend I have.)
(All of this small-print is because of how strict the government are on blogs nowadays.)
Yours truly,
Adam Walton.
Monday 14 May 2012
Gig 3, Planet 9, O2 Academy, Sheffield.
Entry 3
O2 Academy, Sheffield, 12th May 2012
This was Secret Romance's third gig. We supported Planet 9. Other bands included; Undercurrent, Revelations, and Sleep Athena. Undercurrent and Revelations were good, from what I can remember. I'll speak about the other two later, in more detail.
So, as at previous gigs, we arrived early-ish. It was 3:30 and I was dropped off on a lay-by outside the O2 Academy. I grabbed both guitars, my amp and the rest of my stuff and walked in the front door of the huge building, asking the woman at the desk; "Where do people in the bands go?"
She took me upstairs to the stage we would be playing, and I left my equipment in a corner. A band was already rehearsing/sound-checking. (I think it was Planet 9). Josh Kubon (bassist) arrived and we spoke a bit, and we found out we had dressing rooms upstairs.
Now, from past experience, when someone has told me "awesome dressing rooms to ourselves!" we actually got a room which stank of urine, we shared with 4 other bands, and which had no lighting. (See my previous entry.) So naturally, I have learnt to not get my hopes up at all when someone tells me something exciting.
Well, I was speechless. There were two doors in this well-lit corridor. The first door had "Undercurrent, Revelations, Sleep Athena" on it. The second door said "Planet 9, Secret Romance". I opened the door and Adam Elliot was there, and I laughed.
It was amazing! (Well, amazing compared to what I've had in the past and what I was expecting that day). An actual dressing table with a mirror, a table with a kettle and tea-bags/coffee. We had our own toilet and shower, and also our own fridge! Straight away I put my Relentless energy drink into the fridge. Adam and I spoke of how amazing it was. It turned out Planet 9 chose us to share that room with them, so we felt honoured. The rest of the band entered and shared the same "Oh my God!"-ness as we did, before we each slumped onto our leather sofas. Adam Elliot had a bit of Sourz Apple in his bag, so he poured us each a shot into some plastic cups. Now THAT is how you start off a gig day!
We tuned up the guitars, and spoke. Taking pictures of the room, and ourselves. (To add to the epic feeling of having such a cool room, I recently heard Generation X played here. I am a Billy Idol fan, so there is a chance he was in this very room. If not, certainly that building. Over-excited about a room, perhaps. But it's cool.)
Anyway, our sound check was due soon, and suddenly, something went wrong. Very wrong.
Cameron went into the ensuite bathroom and locked the door. A few minutes later he went to unlock it. He pulled the door open. The last sentence was part-true; except, the door didn't open. He tried pulling it harder, rattling the handle, turning the lock on and off. Still, he was locked in.
We decided to use this time effectively, by laughing at him. Adam even fed some tea-bags through the crack of the door stating "There, make some tea for yourself!" I tried to kick the door down, but had to stop for two reasons; one, because "we'll be billed for it if it does break", and two; because my leg doesn't have the power of a hammer. A big hammer, anyway.
It was time to sound check, and we were still drummer-less, so we went anyway, saying our goodbyes to Cameron, who was VERY mad, and shouting. (We were still laughing).
Anyway, we were on stage line-checking when he came downstairs to the stage to our applause. We ran through Teenage Kicks twice, and eventually the sound was sorted, and my solos were actually hearable this time.
We went back upstairs, and decided it was "party time". The bands next door were listening to loud music and getting drunk. So we decided we wanted to buy alcohol with Planet 9 and have our own party.
On the way downstairs, to head out to the shops, our "supervisor" crossed us. He was pulling one of those sort of trailers; used to carry things.
"Things" in this case was a few crates of lager!
So, that cut our journey short. We went back upstairs, and we had about 30 cans between us.
(I actually on had a total of about 1.5 cans. There were so many cans laying about, no one actually knew which can was which. I had a party the night before so didn't want anything else to drink anyway.
We went outside and offered two cans for free to two lucky girls. There were 10 to choose from. (The two we chose actually came to us after the gig when we were going to our vehicles and asked what our band was called because they enjoyed it.)
Nothing else particularly memorable happened before the music. We basically took all the equipment to the balcony overlooking the main stage. (We were playing the smaller stage).
The audience entered the building, there were about 100 people at a rough guess.
The first band played, and the second band played. Can't remember much of them. They were good from what I do remember.
Then it was us. We walked onstage to a few cheers and claps, set up the stuff. We had two rows of people actually stood at the barriers. The rest were not that visible due to the lack of lighting.
We opened up as usual to Teenage Kicks. We played it very well with lots of energy. Andy's voice was good today.
Then Psychoville.
Then Song 2.
And then, yes, that's right! One of our new songs. As Andy said; (He spoke to the crowd more confidently too), "This is one of our new songs! Well, it's an old song, but it's our newest old song!" It is called "I Can See You" and it is very Nirvana-inspired. The song consisted of 3 chords. The introduction is open chorded (for example, in the pattern of Nirvana's intro. to Rape Me), then the verse I play it more stabby. (Now I think about it, that's similar to Rape Me's verse.) So yes, I Can See You is Rape Me, with different chords, and a guitar solo.
Then we switched guitars, to the Drop D guitars. (I took a while; I took off my long shirt due to feeling hot; so now my Megadeth shirt was visible. (Product placement.) Also, I had to take my strap off of the Eclipse and put it onto my V. Adam Elliot, whilst everyone was waiting for me, said "Look, it's Kurt Cobain" again. I said; "where?!"
The back of the crowd, the crowd we couldn't see, (I've been told to say this as nice as possible) weren't as enthusiastic as our previous 2 gigs. They didn't clap along or cheer. Maybe we played crap. But we were told by the other bands we were very good, including by a few new "fans" who stood at the front with some of our regular "fans". And I think we sounded a lot better than usual, too.
We played Viva La Revolution.
Then Fight For Your Right to Party, (I was going to say R.I.P MCA, due to the rapper, MCA, from the Beastie Boys passing away the previous week, but the majority of the crowd didn't appear to be listening, anyway).
Then another new "old" one, Vanity. (By "old" I mean, we had them ages ago, but not completed, we only just got round to finishing them off and added them to our Set List.) In this one I have a nice, melodic, slightly lengthy solo in G Minor. Unfortunately, the pickups in my V guitar are apparently not as picky-uppy as my Eclipse, so my solos weren't as hearable as the first 4 songs, so my finger energy was pretty much wasted. They looked fancy though.
Finally, Last Stand. At this point, I had lost the will to live. (Not like that, I am exaggerating). I wasn't enjoying the set that much, because the majority of the crowd didn't seem to enjoy us as much as before, so I felt I was doing something wrong, playing out of tune, or something. So I wasn't playing as enthusiastically as normal. Headbanged a lot, but didn't move much.
It got to the solo, my favourite one, the only one I don't improvise and already pre-made for that song, and half way through it, my high-E string snapped. I was like "Oh... crap."
In hindsight, if any had to break, that would have been my 2nd choice. (The B string would have been my first.) I finish off the solo with that one string exclusively, tapping down it, so yes, the ending of the solo had to be improvised and sounded bad to me as I like the original one I made for it so much. But otherwise, the rest of the song doesn't use it, so therefore, it wasn't a complete disaster.
We finished, packed up, went back upstairs. Most of us felt miserable, thought we had done something wrong. But I'll stop talking about that here. We were grateful for the people that joined in and enjoyed us. So thanks to those people.
My mum's friend, Laura, was in the crowd to watch me play. She used to go to all the gigs in the 90s. Nirvana included. She said "Wow you guys were amazing! I was expecting you to be crap, but I'm so proud! Great band, **** name though."
Haha. Agreed.
Sleep Athena went onstage, and wow, they are amazing. I went downstairs after hearing the "next band" were playing.
I could hear vocals, but could only see musicians onstage, with no one's mouth moving. I noticed a large crowd had gathered on the floor, and there he was, stood in the middle of the crowd, screaming away aggressive vocals. I'm not usually into that sort of stuff, (with the acception of Children of Bodom, Machine Head and Slipknot), but the atmosphere was incredible. He said before the last song; "I don't know if you've heard the rule, "No Clit in the Pit", but we don't believe in that ****, so now, we want it to be entirely a Clit Pit! All you girls, in the middle, show us what you've got!" They started their last song, and wow. There are some aggressive girls out there! About 20 girls flailing arms at each other. It was incredible.
To finish the night, Planet 9 came on. I stood at the front and showed my enthusiasm, clapping along, jumping, dancing, whatever. They then did a cover of "Down" by Jason Derulo, a popular song on the radio at the moment. I loved it. I started jumping a bit more, not quite daring to jump into a pit. Suddenly, Josh Kubon came and pushed me, playfully, I pushed back, and I just went for it, dived straight into the pit. Instantly, my head was crushed by two people's bodies. I pushed around, got pushed etc. The bassist, at the end of their set, jumped into us, and I held his leg as the crowd moved him about. He was getting squashed against the roof! 'Twas fun.
So I finished the night off with a high. They show us support, we showed ours, and I loved them. 3 gigs, and 2 of them have had them headlining. So; thanks to Planet 9.
We left the building, and went home.
Overall it was a great day. Thanks to everyone who came, and thanks to all the bands.
A. Walton.
Entry 3
O2 Academy, Sheffield, 12th May 2012
This was Secret Romance's third gig. We supported Planet 9. Other bands included; Undercurrent, Revelations, and Sleep Athena. Undercurrent and Revelations were good, from what I can remember. I'll speak about the other two later, in more detail.
So, as at previous gigs, we arrived early-ish. It was 3:30 and I was dropped off on a lay-by outside the O2 Academy. I grabbed both guitars, my amp and the rest of my stuff and walked in the front door of the huge building, asking the woman at the desk; "Where do people in the bands go?"
She took me upstairs to the stage we would be playing, and I left my equipment in a corner. A band was already rehearsing/sound-checking. (I think it was Planet 9). Josh Kubon (bassist) arrived and we spoke a bit, and we found out we had dressing rooms upstairs.
Now, from past experience, when someone has told me "awesome dressing rooms to ourselves!" we actually got a room which stank of urine, we shared with 4 other bands, and which had no lighting. (See my previous entry.) So naturally, I have learnt to not get my hopes up at all when someone tells me something exciting.
Well, I was speechless. There were two doors in this well-lit corridor. The first door had "Undercurrent, Revelations, Sleep Athena" on it. The second door said "Planet 9, Secret Romance". I opened the door and Adam Elliot was there, and I laughed.
It was amazing! (Well, amazing compared to what I've had in the past and what I was expecting that day). An actual dressing table with a mirror, a table with a kettle and tea-bags/coffee. We had our own toilet and shower, and also our own fridge! Straight away I put my Relentless energy drink into the fridge. Adam and I spoke of how amazing it was. It turned out Planet 9 chose us to share that room with them, so we felt honoured. The rest of the band entered and shared the same "Oh my God!"-ness as we did, before we each slumped onto our leather sofas. Adam Elliot had a bit of Sourz Apple in his bag, so he poured us each a shot into some plastic cups. Now THAT is how you start off a gig day!
We tuned up the guitars, and spoke. Taking pictures of the room, and ourselves. (To add to the epic feeling of having such a cool room, I recently heard Generation X played here. I am a Billy Idol fan, so there is a chance he was in this very room. If not, certainly that building. Over-excited about a room, perhaps. But it's cool.)
Anyway, our sound check was due soon, and suddenly, something went wrong. Very wrong.
Cameron went into the ensuite bathroom and locked the door. A few minutes later he went to unlock it. He pulled the door open. The last sentence was part-true; except, the door didn't open. He tried pulling it harder, rattling the handle, turning the lock on and off. Still, he was locked in.
We decided to use this time effectively, by laughing at him. Adam even fed some tea-bags through the crack of the door stating "There, make some tea for yourself!" I tried to kick the door down, but had to stop for two reasons; one, because "we'll be billed for it if it does break", and two; because my leg doesn't have the power of a hammer. A big hammer, anyway.
It was time to sound check, and we were still drummer-less, so we went anyway, saying our goodbyes to Cameron, who was VERY mad, and shouting. (We were still laughing).
Anyway, we were on stage line-checking when he came downstairs to the stage to our applause. We ran through Teenage Kicks twice, and eventually the sound was sorted, and my solos were actually hearable this time.
We went back upstairs, and decided it was "party time". The bands next door were listening to loud music and getting drunk. So we decided we wanted to buy alcohol with Planet 9 and have our own party.
On the way downstairs, to head out to the shops, our "supervisor" crossed us. He was pulling one of those sort of trailers; used to carry things.
"Things" in this case was a few crates of lager!
So, that cut our journey short. We went back upstairs, and we had about 30 cans between us.
(I actually on had a total of about 1.5 cans. There were so many cans laying about, no one actually knew which can was which. I had a party the night before so didn't want anything else to drink anyway.
We went outside and offered two cans for free to two lucky girls. There were 10 to choose from. (The two we chose actually came to us after the gig when we were going to our vehicles and asked what our band was called because they enjoyed it.)
Nothing else particularly memorable happened before the music. We basically took all the equipment to the balcony overlooking the main stage. (We were playing the smaller stage).
The audience entered the building, there were about 100 people at a rough guess.
The first band played, and the second band played. Can't remember much of them. They were good from what I do remember.
Then it was us. We walked onstage to a few cheers and claps, set up the stuff. We had two rows of people actually stood at the barriers. The rest were not that visible due to the lack of lighting.
We opened up as usual to Teenage Kicks. We played it very well with lots of energy. Andy's voice was good today.
Then Psychoville.
Then Song 2.
And then, yes, that's right! One of our new songs. As Andy said; (He spoke to the crowd more confidently too), "This is one of our new songs! Well, it's an old song, but it's our newest old song!" It is called "I Can See You" and it is very Nirvana-inspired. The song consisted of 3 chords. The introduction is open chorded (for example, in the pattern of Nirvana's intro. to Rape Me), then the verse I play it more stabby. (Now I think about it, that's similar to Rape Me's verse.) So yes, I Can See You is Rape Me, with different chords, and a guitar solo.
Then we switched guitars, to the Drop D guitars. (I took a while; I took off my long shirt due to feeling hot; so now my Megadeth shirt was visible. (Product placement.) Also, I had to take my strap off of the Eclipse and put it onto my V. Adam Elliot, whilst everyone was waiting for me, said "Look, it's Kurt Cobain" again. I said; "where?!"
The back of the crowd, the crowd we couldn't see, (I've been told to say this as nice as possible) weren't as enthusiastic as our previous 2 gigs. They didn't clap along or cheer. Maybe we played crap. But we were told by the other bands we were very good, including by a few new "fans" who stood at the front with some of our regular "fans". And I think we sounded a lot better than usual, too.
We played Viva La Revolution.
Then Fight For Your Right to Party, (I was going to say R.I.P MCA, due to the rapper, MCA, from the Beastie Boys passing away the previous week, but the majority of the crowd didn't appear to be listening, anyway).
Then another new "old" one, Vanity. (By "old" I mean, we had them ages ago, but not completed, we only just got round to finishing them off and added them to our Set List.) In this one I have a nice, melodic, slightly lengthy solo in G Minor. Unfortunately, the pickups in my V guitar are apparently not as picky-uppy as my Eclipse, so my solos weren't as hearable as the first 4 songs, so my finger energy was pretty much wasted. They looked fancy though.
Finally, Last Stand. At this point, I had lost the will to live. (Not like that, I am exaggerating). I wasn't enjoying the set that much, because the majority of the crowd didn't seem to enjoy us as much as before, so I felt I was doing something wrong, playing out of tune, or something. So I wasn't playing as enthusiastically as normal. Headbanged a lot, but didn't move much.
It got to the solo, my favourite one, the only one I don't improvise and already pre-made for that song, and half way through it, my high-E string snapped. I was like "Oh... crap."
In hindsight, if any had to break, that would have been my 2nd choice. (The B string would have been my first.) I finish off the solo with that one string exclusively, tapping down it, so yes, the ending of the solo had to be improvised and sounded bad to me as I like the original one I made for it so much. But otherwise, the rest of the song doesn't use it, so therefore, it wasn't a complete disaster.
We finished, packed up, went back upstairs. Most of us felt miserable, thought we had done something wrong. But I'll stop talking about that here. We were grateful for the people that joined in and enjoyed us. So thanks to those people.
My mum's friend, Laura, was in the crowd to watch me play. She used to go to all the gigs in the 90s. Nirvana included. She said "Wow you guys were amazing! I was expecting you to be crap, but I'm so proud! Great band, **** name though."
Haha. Agreed.
Sleep Athena went onstage, and wow, they are amazing. I went downstairs after hearing the "next band" were playing.
I could hear vocals, but could only see musicians onstage, with no one's mouth moving. I noticed a large crowd had gathered on the floor, and there he was, stood in the middle of the crowd, screaming away aggressive vocals. I'm not usually into that sort of stuff, (with the acception of Children of Bodom, Machine Head and Slipknot), but the atmosphere was incredible. He said before the last song; "I don't know if you've heard the rule, "No Clit in the Pit", but we don't believe in that ****, so now, we want it to be entirely a Clit Pit! All you girls, in the middle, show us what you've got!" They started their last song, and wow. There are some aggressive girls out there! About 20 girls flailing arms at each other. It was incredible.
To finish the night, Planet 9 came on. I stood at the front and showed my enthusiasm, clapping along, jumping, dancing, whatever. They then did a cover of "Down" by Jason Derulo, a popular song on the radio at the moment. I loved it. I started jumping a bit more, not quite daring to jump into a pit. Suddenly, Josh Kubon came and pushed me, playfully, I pushed back, and I just went for it, dived straight into the pit. Instantly, my head was crushed by two people's bodies. I pushed around, got pushed etc. The bassist, at the end of their set, jumped into us, and I held his leg as the crowd moved him about. He was getting squashed against the roof! 'Twas fun.
So I finished the night off with a high. They show us support, we showed ours, and I loved them. 3 gigs, and 2 of them have had them headlining. So; thanks to Planet 9.
We left the building, and went home.
Overall it was a great day. Thanks to everyone who came, and thanks to all the bands.
A. Walton.
Monday 26 March 2012
Gig Two- "Woohoo." Room 94, Corporation
Entry Two
Sheffield Corporation, Sunday 25th March 2012
Our, Secret Romance's, 2nd gig. We supported Room 94. Amongst the other bands were Destine, (as big as Mcfly are in England, but in Holland, as one of the backstage workers informed us). They were very good, great stage presence and frontman had a great voice. Then us, then The Ocean's Eyes, (they were cool, they mentioned us and everyone cheered. Awesome). Then 8th Time Lucky played before the headliners- Room 94.
So, I'll begin The Olde Tale from the beginning. Obviously.
And then I went home! What a night!
Oh.
Again, Sunday morning, I wasn't nervous for the gig. I was slightly looking forward to it, but the clocks had changed, so I was tired, and my dad (hello) had kindly scheduled a walk for the day that was (apparently) only 7 miles. (It was actually 10)
"Ok, as long as I get to Corporation on time", I quote.
So we set off on the walk at 8:30, to the Peak District. It was a beautiful day.
Until I was informed that I wouldn't be back whilst 5. Bearing in mind the gig started at 6... Well, you do the maths.
Adam Elliot (Rhythm Guitarist) kindly informed me the night before (at 11) that we had to be there for 3:30 and that he'd confirm it in the morning. The 8 hours' notice, and the fact that he didn't confirm it the following morning, didn't help matters. Luckily, I managed to get home for 3:30-4. Adam rang me and tried having a go at me for being late, and "don't my parents realise how important this is? We have to sound check". Fair enough I guess, but a longer notice would've helped. And besides, there was no sound check, which I'll kindly comment on later on.
So, I got home, rapidly brought down all my equipment for my Dad to put in the car (I even have a checklist so as to not forget anything to avoid panic). I then threw myself in the shower (yes I exaggerate a lot for effect. OK, I stepped into the shower at a quick pace), and washed my hair. Ran the towel through it for about 30 seconds as fast as possible and just left it how it was, "placed" my clothes on quickly and we drove. I rung Cameron (drummer) to explain I was on my way.
We got there, (after trying to find the place through lots of one-way streets), and the guys helped me take my gear inside to our "backstage". I quote backstage, because for one, the word may give you the impression that it was behind the stage. So that I don't cause an uproar, I will quote the word and explain it was in front of the stage and to the right through some doors, next to the audience.
To say I was informed of a "free bar" and "our own room" you will understand my disappointment. (Also of wireless guitar leads, which I didn't get either).
We shared a slightly large room, that was painted black with poor lighting, with all the other bands. The room stank awful. Not of anything particular, but it was horrible. But I got over it, and accepted that I was lucky to have somewhere to put my equipment safely, and somewhere to talk. This is where we were introduced to Destine. They were awesome people, again, from Holland. They shook our hands and we spoke a bit. Adam Elliot tried asking for vodka that they had, to which their keyboard player replied; "One thing you should know about the Dutch; we don't share our alcohol." We were pretty disappointed but it was funny.
We were then given backstage passes which we wore around our necks. This made us feel slightly more important, and, as Adam put it, "our sexiness has gone up by about 10 points".
10 points, as there is no known scoring system related to sex appeal, that I know of, is probably quite a large amount of points. (Later on when I left for fresh air, as the room was, as I said, horrible, I was asked for my ticket to re-enter, to which I flashed my backstage pass and he told me I could go in. I felt very cool.)
Then, as we did at Gig 1, we just walked around pointlessly. I was armed with my guitar and playing things to warm up my fingers, until told I should probably put it down so as to not snap a string. We listened to Destine sound check, and we were impressed.
Then we went outside for a bit after been told "There's girls lining up outside".
Now I began to get nervous. Not about playing, but about the fact we didn't have a soundcheck, and because I hate setting my equipment up on stage in front of people.
"No soundcheck? What?"
"Oh don't worry, you'll get a line check, so you just play for 10 seconds and we sort the mix out."
"Ah, ok that's not too bad".
(A sound check usually consists of playing one or two songs, in case you were unaware of the difference.)
"When do we line check?"
"In your set."
Wonderful. So we basically were mixed whilst playing our first song to the audience; but I trusted the sound guys new what they were doing and that we would be balanced very evenly. Ha, that went well. (I'll come to it later).
The doors were opened and girls started to come in. There were about forty to start off with, about ten minutes before Destine played. I was very nervous, and started to tune my V guitar after realising it was badly out of tune. I greeted two girls I invited, and also my parents. (And grandparents, who kindly decided to come.) I stood with the two girls for a bit, nervously chatting. They informed me my hair looked like Kurt Cobain. I always take this as a compliment, and here it every so often. But I was called it throughout the night. I was far from insulted.
So, after running backstage and back into the audience a lot, undecidedly, because I was restless, it was time. I picked up my two guitars and headed up the stairs that lead to the stage. This time, we actually had a high stage, not just a step.
I awkwardly stood with two guitars, waiting for the keyboard that was in my spot to be moved so I could place them. I set up my amp- putting it atop a massive amp, and placed my KH Wah pedal in the desired spot.
I noticed the crowd. I couldn't see a single male, with the acception of my step-father and grandad. And there were about 100-150 people. That's a lot of girls.
I plugged in my guitar, and played a bit, turning my volume to full on the amp. Now the volume was in the sound-crews' hands. I wonder if they even had hands...
And now, it was time to play to all these girls, my two friends, the bands that were listening, and my family.
We played the same set list as we did the DQ, (we will have more songs at our next gig, yay.) So I began Teenage Kicks and we played it really well, the crowd singing along to it quite loudly so we could actually here. However, my solo wasn't loud and even I could hardly hear it! (The people I spoke to afterwards said they could hear it, but only slightly.)
Next up was Psychoville, we played that fine.
Then Song 2, which I actually have something interesting to add. We played it really well, the crowd even sung the "Woohoo" bit, and I could hear them. This must mean loads of them sung it, because to sing "Woohoo" you have to use a falsetto voice- male or female- which is a lot quieter than one's ordinary voice. It got to my solo and as I stepped on my Wah pedal, my guitar strap came off at the bottom of the guitar. I was very annoyed, and embarassed. But still, the song went on, and I played an improvised solo as usual, and even managed to do it with speed, whilst trying to balance the guitar on my right leg. I felt, and looked awkward, but managed to finish the song well!
I took my strap off and switched guitars. The strap played up a bit more, but I managed to keep it in position. I also went to the amps to make sure my volume was at its highest. Unfortunately it was, so I couldn't go any louder. Whilst doing all this, and the band/crowd waited for me, Adam said down the microphone "Hey guys, it's Kurt Cobain!" People cheered and I felt happy, and laughed. Plugged in my guitar and finished Viva La Revolution next to my amp, getting wonderful feedback. (On purpose, I even pressed my guitar into the amp.) People sung along to Fight For Your Right, and then we just had Last Stand to play.
I played it all well, and then it got to the end of the bridge, the bit before the final chorus, where we have a quick drink for effect. As my can was in my hand, I took a swig, but as I did this, Cameron-unaware that I was drinking- counted in to the last chorus. So I missed the first chord. I had to look cool and not panic, so I continued to drink whilst he counted, sacrificing the first chord and then threw the drink onto the floor.
We had a large round of applause and cheers, and we began to pack up. All of my stuff put in the backstage, I then went to go and talk to my family and two friends. Apparently Andy (vocals) was a bit out on some songs, but his voice was perfect in Teenage Kicks. Also, apparently Josh Kubon (Bass) looked terrified throughout the whole set. Haha, he was terrified, but he's getting more confident, and he's a great guy.
My stuff was taken to my mum's car, as was my grandparents and the two girls, and I was left with my Step Dad. He was quite drunk, but he bought me beer and let me talk to people for half an hour before we had to go.
In this half an hour, I felt like a "rockstar".
I wore my hat (briefly, people kept putting it on their own heads and passing it around- I even put it on people's heads. It was like pass the parcel,) which meant people recognised me, if they didn't recognise me by my "Kurt Cobain" hair already. I had girls saying "hi" to me, and Josh introduced me to his girlfriend and her two friends. I spent the rest of this time mainly with them, drinking beer, and sitting on the floor next to the bar with a girl (I won't mention names). Others joined us, but they felt awkward and in the way of people trying to buy drinks and so left. Me and the girl didn't care and just sat there, talking to people who just stood next to us. We couldn't talk much due to the loud music, but when the band stopped we talked a bit.
8th Time Lucky came on, and Cameron shouted, (5 minutes before I had to go annoyingly) "Adam, that girl wants your pants off!" (I'm sure he didn't mean literally, but I got it.) "Good one!" "No seriously, she said!" So I was like... Wow, I'm actually liked here!" (In the gigging scene, not just Corporation) (At school I'm not the most popular kid, so this is a big contrast of course). Apologies to the girl if the girl is reading it that I mentioned what Cameron said, I don't know if it's true of course. But I haven't named names so no harm done.
Then I had to go, I was really sad, but optimistic and bloody excited for our next gig (May 12th O2 Academy Sheffield).
We each got paid £10 for doing the gig, and also Room 94 were wondering if we wanted to support them on their UK tour in August, (TBC).
Life's good. This life is, anyway.
So yeah.
And then I went home. What a night!
ARK. W.
\M/
Sheffield Corporation, Sunday 25th March 2012
Our, Secret Romance's, 2nd gig. We supported Room 94. Amongst the other bands were Destine, (as big as Mcfly are in England, but in Holland, as one of the backstage workers informed us). They were very good, great stage presence and frontman had a great voice. Then us, then The Ocean's Eyes, (they were cool, they mentioned us and everyone cheered. Awesome). Then 8th Time Lucky played before the headliners- Room 94.
So, I'll begin The Olde Tale from the beginning. Obviously.
And then I went home! What a night!
Oh.
Again, Sunday morning, I wasn't nervous for the gig. I was slightly looking forward to it, but the clocks had changed, so I was tired, and my dad (hello) had kindly scheduled a walk for the day that was (apparently) only 7 miles. (It was actually 10)
"Ok, as long as I get to Corporation on time", I quote.
So we set off on the walk at 8:30, to the Peak District. It was a beautiful day.
Until I was informed that I wouldn't be back whilst 5. Bearing in mind the gig started at 6... Well, you do the maths.
Adam Elliot (Rhythm Guitarist) kindly informed me the night before (at 11) that we had to be there for 3:30 and that he'd confirm it in the morning. The 8 hours' notice, and the fact that he didn't confirm it the following morning, didn't help matters. Luckily, I managed to get home for 3:30-4. Adam rang me and tried having a go at me for being late, and "don't my parents realise how important this is? We have to sound check". Fair enough I guess, but a longer notice would've helped. And besides, there was no sound check, which I'll kindly comment on later on.
So, I got home, rapidly brought down all my equipment for my Dad to put in the car (I even have a checklist so as to not forget anything to avoid panic). I then threw myself in the shower (yes I exaggerate a lot for effect. OK, I stepped into the shower at a quick pace), and washed my hair. Ran the towel through it for about 30 seconds as fast as possible and just left it how it was, "placed" my clothes on quickly and we drove. I rung Cameron (drummer) to explain I was on my way.
We got there, (after trying to find the place through lots of one-way streets), and the guys helped me take my gear inside to our "backstage". I quote backstage, because for one, the word may give you the impression that it was behind the stage. So that I don't cause an uproar, I will quote the word and explain it was in front of the stage and to the right through some doors, next to the audience.
To say I was informed of a "free bar" and "our own room" you will understand my disappointment. (Also of wireless guitar leads, which I didn't get either).
We shared a slightly large room, that was painted black with poor lighting, with all the other bands. The room stank awful. Not of anything particular, but it was horrible. But I got over it, and accepted that I was lucky to have somewhere to put my equipment safely, and somewhere to talk. This is where we were introduced to Destine. They were awesome people, again, from Holland. They shook our hands and we spoke a bit. Adam Elliot tried asking for vodka that they had, to which their keyboard player replied; "One thing you should know about the Dutch; we don't share our alcohol." We were pretty disappointed but it was funny.
We were then given backstage passes which we wore around our necks. This made us feel slightly more important, and, as Adam put it, "our sexiness has gone up by about 10 points".
10 points, as there is no known scoring system related to sex appeal, that I know of, is probably quite a large amount of points. (Later on when I left for fresh air, as the room was, as I said, horrible, I was asked for my ticket to re-enter, to which I flashed my backstage pass and he told me I could go in. I felt very cool.)
Then, as we did at Gig 1, we just walked around pointlessly. I was armed with my guitar and playing things to warm up my fingers, until told I should probably put it down so as to not snap a string. We listened to Destine sound check, and we were impressed.
Then we went outside for a bit after been told "There's girls lining up outside".
Now I began to get nervous. Not about playing, but about the fact we didn't have a soundcheck, and because I hate setting my equipment up on stage in front of people.
"No soundcheck? What?"
"Oh don't worry, you'll get a line check, so you just play for 10 seconds and we sort the mix out."
"Ah, ok that's not too bad".
(A sound check usually consists of playing one or two songs, in case you were unaware of the difference.)
"When do we line check?"
"In your set."
Wonderful. So we basically were mixed whilst playing our first song to the audience; but I trusted the sound guys new what they were doing and that we would be balanced very evenly. Ha, that went well. (I'll come to it later).
The doors were opened and girls started to come in. There were about forty to start off with, about ten minutes before Destine played. I was very nervous, and started to tune my V guitar after realising it was badly out of tune. I greeted two girls I invited, and also my parents. (And grandparents, who kindly decided to come.) I stood with the two girls for a bit, nervously chatting. They informed me my hair looked like Kurt Cobain. I always take this as a compliment, and here it every so often. But I was called it throughout the night. I was far from insulted.
So, after running backstage and back into the audience a lot, undecidedly, because I was restless, it was time. I picked up my two guitars and headed up the stairs that lead to the stage. This time, we actually had a high stage, not just a step.
I awkwardly stood with two guitars, waiting for the keyboard that was in my spot to be moved so I could place them. I set up my amp- putting it atop a massive amp, and placed my KH Wah pedal in the desired spot.
I noticed the crowd. I couldn't see a single male, with the acception of my step-father and grandad. And there were about 100-150 people. That's a lot of girls.
I plugged in my guitar, and played a bit, turning my volume to full on the amp. Now the volume was in the sound-crews' hands. I wonder if they even had hands...
And now, it was time to play to all these girls, my two friends, the bands that were listening, and my family.
We played the same set list as we did the DQ, (we will have more songs at our next gig, yay.) So I began Teenage Kicks and we played it really well, the crowd singing along to it quite loudly so we could actually here. However, my solo wasn't loud and even I could hardly hear it! (The people I spoke to afterwards said they could hear it, but only slightly.)
Next up was Psychoville, we played that fine.
Then Song 2, which I actually have something interesting to add. We played it really well, the crowd even sung the "Woohoo" bit, and I could hear them. This must mean loads of them sung it, because to sing "Woohoo" you have to use a falsetto voice- male or female- which is a lot quieter than one's ordinary voice. It got to my solo and as I stepped on my Wah pedal, my guitar strap came off at the bottom of the guitar. I was very annoyed, and embarassed. But still, the song went on, and I played an improvised solo as usual, and even managed to do it with speed, whilst trying to balance the guitar on my right leg. I felt, and looked awkward, but managed to finish the song well!
I took my strap off and switched guitars. The strap played up a bit more, but I managed to keep it in position. I also went to the amps to make sure my volume was at its highest. Unfortunately it was, so I couldn't go any louder. Whilst doing all this, and the band/crowd waited for me, Adam said down the microphone "Hey guys, it's Kurt Cobain!" People cheered and I felt happy, and laughed. Plugged in my guitar and finished Viva La Revolution next to my amp, getting wonderful feedback. (On purpose, I even pressed my guitar into the amp.) People sung along to Fight For Your Right, and then we just had Last Stand to play.
I played it all well, and then it got to the end of the bridge, the bit before the final chorus, where we have a quick drink for effect. As my can was in my hand, I took a swig, but as I did this, Cameron-unaware that I was drinking- counted in to the last chorus. So I missed the first chord. I had to look cool and not panic, so I continued to drink whilst he counted, sacrificing the first chord and then threw the drink onto the floor.
We had a large round of applause and cheers, and we began to pack up. All of my stuff put in the backstage, I then went to go and talk to my family and two friends. Apparently Andy (vocals) was a bit out on some songs, but his voice was perfect in Teenage Kicks. Also, apparently Josh Kubon (Bass) looked terrified throughout the whole set. Haha, he was terrified, but he's getting more confident, and he's a great guy.
My stuff was taken to my mum's car, as was my grandparents and the two girls, and I was left with my Step Dad. He was quite drunk, but he bought me beer and let me talk to people for half an hour before we had to go.
In this half an hour, I felt like a "rockstar".
I wore my hat (briefly, people kept putting it on their own heads and passing it around- I even put it on people's heads. It was like pass the parcel,) which meant people recognised me, if they didn't recognise me by my "Kurt Cobain" hair already. I had girls saying "hi" to me, and Josh introduced me to his girlfriend and her two friends. I spent the rest of this time mainly with them, drinking beer, and sitting on the floor next to the bar with a girl (I won't mention names). Others joined us, but they felt awkward and in the way of people trying to buy drinks and so left. Me and the girl didn't care and just sat there, talking to people who just stood next to us. We couldn't talk much due to the loud music, but when the band stopped we talked a bit.
8th Time Lucky came on, and Cameron shouted, (5 minutes before I had to go annoyingly) "Adam, that girl wants your pants off!" (I'm sure he didn't mean literally, but I got it.) "Good one!" "No seriously, she said!" So I was like... Wow, I'm actually liked here!" (In the gigging scene, not just Corporation) (At school I'm not the most popular kid, so this is a big contrast of course). Apologies to the girl if the girl is reading it that I mentioned what Cameron said, I don't know if it's true of course. But I haven't named names so no harm done.
Then I had to go, I was really sad, but optimistic and bloody excited for our next gig (May 12th O2 Academy Sheffield).
We each got paid £10 for doing the gig, and also Room 94 were wondering if we wanted to support them on their UK tour in August, (TBC).
Life's good. This life is, anyway.
So yeah.
And then I went home. What a night!
ARK. W.
\M/
 |
| Josh Kubon with two girls- notice my hat? |
 |
| The only picture of me and a girl that was taken on my phone. |
Wednesday 21 March 2012
First Ever Secret Romance Gig- DQ Sheffield
Entry One
DQ Sheffield, 17th March 2012
This was my, and Secret Romance's, first proper gig. The DQ is a nightclub in Sheffield, with quite a small dancefloor, a big bar, and quite a lot of extra open space. We were asked to support Planet 9. Amongst the bands were Epitaph and Glacier. Personally, Epitaph were my favourite. Being a massive Metallica/Thrash Metal fan myself, why wouldn't I like Epitaph more? They played Seek and Destroy and Enter Sandman brilliantly. The frontman had a superb voice.
I only started to get nervous about an hour before we were due on. We arrived 4-5 hours before the gig was due to start. Planet 9 got the first sound check, and then the plan was that the band before them were to be next, and then Epitaph and then us, so in reverse order basically so that we were set up straight away to kick the night off.
Of course, nothing goes to plan.
Planet 9 took about 2 hours to sound check due to some technical fault. We grew worried that perhaps we wouldn't be able to even get a sound check. We weren't scared of screwing any songs up, but our last practice was the week before and everyone can make mistakes.
Then the drummer from Planet 9 kindly informed us that we weren't going to get a run through a set before the gig. Great.
So, hours passed, and we started to get restless and bored. Excitement, fear, and caffeine from my Monster Energy Drink created a strange mix leaving me in a strange but hyper active mood. I walked around with my guitar for two hours, randomly playing songs. To try and calm down, I sat in the little Lounge Area with my earphones in and played to some Megadeth. Me and Josh Kubon (Secret Romance's bassist) jammed a little bit unplugged, (therefore we went out of time and looked at each other confused a lot as if to say "What bit are you on in this song?!") to bits of our set list.
Finally, it was time to take to the stage!
We set our amps up, mine was micced up and stacked above some other band's amp (partly for the image, partly so the mic could reach it) and my Kirk Hammett Signature Crybaby Wah-Wah pedal was put on the front of the "stage". (I quote the word "stage" because it was actually just a step above the dancefloor, and then more room for us.) I placed my ESP LTD V200 (Signed by Children of Bodom (Alexi Laiho is, in my opinion, one of the best guitarists alive)) at the back of the stage, ready to pick up midway through the set to play our Drop-D songs. I plugged in my ESP LTD EC-1000 FR Deluxe in See-Thru black, and was asked to just make a noise so that the sound could be changed acoordingly. I nodded, and looked over to Epitaph.
"Hmm, I wanna show off to them. They're all wearing Metallica shirts..."
So I played some Metallica solo (One, I believe) before halfway through I realised I was been asked to stop playing. Yes, I am known for going too far!
OK, so, the gig is due to start in about thirty minutes. We were allowed to play one song to warm up and to check that the sound was the correct balance. So naturally we just played the first song from our set-list which was actually the first song I ever played with the band when I joined back in Autumn/Winter last year- Teenage Kicks.
We actually created our own little intro which consisted of me strumming the D chord a few times whilst Adam Elliot (Rhythm Guitarist) begins to palm mute D quickly in time to Cameron Murray's hi-hat. We tore through the song, and then we were done.
Fifteen minutes.
I kept my Eclipse with me as I went to stand with my Dad who had just arrived with my sister. There was no crowd yet, so I just went and talked a bit, still nervously strumming random chords.
I was beginning to get nervous, not because we were due to play our first ever gig and because I wanted to make a big impression to an audience, but simply because I was afraid there was not going to be an audience to make an impression with!
There was literally about thirty people stood around the edges of the place. Twenty of them people being the other bands. Come on people... The doors opened thirty minutes ago!
Two minutes to get on stage...
Finally! A few more people came through the door and stood near the dancefloor. Someone told me at some point there were going to be 400 people there. I could see about forty, all of them stood in different places, scattered around the nightclub.
We got on stage, I plugged in my guitar and we were all smiling at each other. Andy Hudson (Lead Vocals) was clearly nervous, as was Josh Kubon. Me, Adam and Cameron seemed fine though. All eyes were now on us. The guys nodded at me, and I turned my volume up and strummed the open D chord.
Let the fun begin!
Andy sung it really well, and there were no mistakes. There has been little greater pleasures for me than standing on my Wah pedal for the first time in front of a proper paying audience and improvising a solo to an upbeat song such as Teenage Kicks. I loved it, and I think it sounded pretty awesome. (Hey, Lead Guitarists are known to compliment their own work. Shush.)
Next up, pretty much instantly from the ending of the first song is Psychoville. This was the third song I ever played with the band on the first day I went to audition. I think this was the song that got me the spot as lead guitarist. They basically told me the lyrics, and the key of the song, but didn't really know how the guitar part went as their original guitarist left. So naturally I just made it my own. The introduction I thought of straight away, inspired by Megadeth. (Whether you think it sounds anything like Dave Mustaine or not, he was in mind when I said "What about something like this?") The verse I made just to be quick and energetic, and the chorus was slightly (apparently) similar to the original chorus that was meant for that song. The solo is improvised every time, but I have my own routine. (Start off Phrygian, end up Pentatonic, play as fast as possible.)
Again, I think we played this really well. We've probably played it better before at practice, but nonetheless, it didn't suck. The crowd (mainly girls, which I'm not complaining about) clapped along to the introduction. (This made me feel excellent. Girls, about thirty of them, clapping in rhythm to a tune I wrote? Yes please.) Adam also yelled down the microphone asking everyone if they would kindly step into the middle of the dancefloor. This made more of an audience out of them, they were no longer scattered around but now actually in front of us, participating.
Then we played Song 2, by Blur. This has a drum introduction, which (I suggested, but I don't know if it was because of this he did it) Andy introduced us to. Then I come in with the riff, with my guitar turned down slightly, before we all shout "Woohoo!" and my guitar is then full volume as we all blast out the song. Again, another improvised solo using my Wah-pedal.
Now we were halfway through our short set, and we went to switch guitars. This was really awkward. It was dark, and there were wires EVERYWHERE. If I tripped over or knocked something over, I feel that life would just end. (I am of course kidding, but I would still be embarassed nonetheless).
I picked up my V, plugged in again, and then we began Viva La Revolution- Adam Elliot's song. (To say he likes McFly, this is actually an awesome tune. I love playing it, despite the lack of a guitar solo. The break down (similar to One by Metallica) is epic.) Throughout this whole set I wore my "stage hat" as I call it. The reason I decided to play the guitar was because of Slash, so it was natural that I wanted a hat for the stage too. The first time I played on stage and everytime after I wore a similar hat, so I thought that traditionally, I should for my first proper gig. This is the song however, where the hat comes off. As soon as the "Break-down" kicks in, the hair HAS to be released, so I throw down my hat when we rapidly palm-mute the low D string, and let the hair out, so to speak.
Next up was our final cover of the evening- (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) by the Beastie Boys. It's fun to play. In this song, I remember, I couldn't really hear my own guitar for some reason. But I still played. It came to my solo, and I like to add harmonics to the start of the solo, so I literally ran my finger up and down all the strings without pressing down so as to create a weird harmonic solo before shredding in G-Minor. Fun!
Then, Andy addresses the crowd as if sad, to announce that "This is our last song, this is Last Stand!"
I LOVE this song. It's our own. I didn't write the main riff, it was actually Cameron's riff and chords. But this is the only song where I actually sat down and created a fixed solo. And again to compliment my own work, I love it. It even looks good! (Watching it back on YouTube, you can actually see my fingers moving really fast, and I don't often see myself playing guitar from any other position than looking down on my fingers, so it's great to watch). The heavy riff that follows was created purely by accident.
It was at a practice once, we were working on the song and I said "I want a long solo for this, the chords are awesome to jam to." I didn't get the length I wanted for it, but still, I am happy with the outcome. Anyway, I finished the solo (back when I improvised it still) and then we looked at each other as the D chord just rang in the background and we didn't know what was next, so I slid down the strings and just improvised that exact riff that we still use. I remember Cameron laughing at how he liked it, and so it just stuck. Andy improvised the vocals too; "You won't take me alive..." When i do backing vocals for that part, I like to put what I call my Dave Mustaine voice on. Whether it sounds anything like him or not, it does in my head, so I use it.
We finished the song, Cameron hit the drum kit as quick as possible and I just shredded as quick as possible (dedicated to the girls in the crowd) until we finished. The end was slightly sloppy as you can see on the recorded video, simply because I could've happily hit more notes for longer, but Cameron ended the set quicker than I hoped, so I just looked at him and awkwardly hit the D chord.
And then we were done. We packed up our stuff, got off the stage, and let Epitaph thrash on.
It was a great night, I enjoyed it.
Yes, I seemed to have written a lot, but afterall, first gig, lots of memories. I want to keep the memories for future years. The future blogs may be shorter due to the fact that I won't be explaining where songs we made came from etc. and maybe because the excitement about writing about the gigs may evaporate from my being. But yes, our next gig is Sunday 25th March at the Corporation. To me as I write this, that's in four days. I look forward to it.
Now I will sign off. Freezing cold hands, and World of Warcraft to get back to. I mean, um, something cool. Nevermind.
Thanks for reading, if you did.
AW (hmm, or ARK. Whichever's coolest).
DQ Sheffield, 17th March 2012
This was my, and Secret Romance's, first proper gig. The DQ is a nightclub in Sheffield, with quite a small dancefloor, a big bar, and quite a lot of extra open space. We were asked to support Planet 9. Amongst the bands were Epitaph and Glacier. Personally, Epitaph were my favourite. Being a massive Metallica/Thrash Metal fan myself, why wouldn't I like Epitaph more? They played Seek and Destroy and Enter Sandman brilliantly. The frontman had a superb voice.
I only started to get nervous about an hour before we were due on. We arrived 4-5 hours before the gig was due to start. Planet 9 got the first sound check, and then the plan was that the band before them were to be next, and then Epitaph and then us, so in reverse order basically so that we were set up straight away to kick the night off.
Of course, nothing goes to plan.
Planet 9 took about 2 hours to sound check due to some technical fault. We grew worried that perhaps we wouldn't be able to even get a sound check. We weren't scared of screwing any songs up, but our last practice was the week before and everyone can make mistakes.
Then the drummer from Planet 9 kindly informed us that we weren't going to get a run through a set before the gig. Great.
So, hours passed, and we started to get restless and bored. Excitement, fear, and caffeine from my Monster Energy Drink created a strange mix leaving me in a strange but hyper active mood. I walked around with my guitar for two hours, randomly playing songs. To try and calm down, I sat in the little Lounge Area with my earphones in and played to some Megadeth. Me and Josh Kubon (Secret Romance's bassist) jammed a little bit unplugged, (therefore we went out of time and looked at each other confused a lot as if to say "What bit are you on in this song?!") to bits of our set list.
Finally, it was time to take to the stage!
We set our amps up, mine was micced up and stacked above some other band's amp (partly for the image, partly so the mic could reach it) and my Kirk Hammett Signature Crybaby Wah-Wah pedal was put on the front of the "stage". (I quote the word "stage" because it was actually just a step above the dancefloor, and then more room for us.) I placed my ESP LTD V200 (Signed by Children of Bodom (Alexi Laiho is, in my opinion, one of the best guitarists alive)) at the back of the stage, ready to pick up midway through the set to play our Drop-D songs. I plugged in my ESP LTD EC-1000 FR Deluxe in See-Thru black, and was asked to just make a noise so that the sound could be changed acoordingly. I nodded, and looked over to Epitaph.
"Hmm, I wanna show off to them. They're all wearing Metallica shirts..."
So I played some Metallica solo (One, I believe) before halfway through I realised I was been asked to stop playing. Yes, I am known for going too far!
OK, so, the gig is due to start in about thirty minutes. We were allowed to play one song to warm up and to check that the sound was the correct balance. So naturally we just played the first song from our set-list which was actually the first song I ever played with the band when I joined back in Autumn/Winter last year- Teenage Kicks.
We actually created our own little intro which consisted of me strumming the D chord a few times whilst Adam Elliot (Rhythm Guitarist) begins to palm mute D quickly in time to Cameron Murray's hi-hat. We tore through the song, and then we were done.
Fifteen minutes.
I kept my Eclipse with me as I went to stand with my Dad who had just arrived with my sister. There was no crowd yet, so I just went and talked a bit, still nervously strumming random chords.
I was beginning to get nervous, not because we were due to play our first ever gig and because I wanted to make a big impression to an audience, but simply because I was afraid there was not going to be an audience to make an impression with!
There was literally about thirty people stood around the edges of the place. Twenty of them people being the other bands. Come on people... The doors opened thirty minutes ago!
Two minutes to get on stage...
Finally! A few more people came through the door and stood near the dancefloor. Someone told me at some point there were going to be 400 people there. I could see about forty, all of them stood in different places, scattered around the nightclub.
We got on stage, I plugged in my guitar and we were all smiling at each other. Andy Hudson (Lead Vocals) was clearly nervous, as was Josh Kubon. Me, Adam and Cameron seemed fine though. All eyes were now on us. The guys nodded at me, and I turned my volume up and strummed the open D chord.
Let the fun begin!
Andy sung it really well, and there were no mistakes. There has been little greater pleasures for me than standing on my Wah pedal for the first time in front of a proper paying audience and improvising a solo to an upbeat song such as Teenage Kicks. I loved it, and I think it sounded pretty awesome. (Hey, Lead Guitarists are known to compliment their own work. Shush.)
Next up, pretty much instantly from the ending of the first song is Psychoville. This was the third song I ever played with the band on the first day I went to audition. I think this was the song that got me the spot as lead guitarist. They basically told me the lyrics, and the key of the song, but didn't really know how the guitar part went as their original guitarist left. So naturally I just made it my own. The introduction I thought of straight away, inspired by Megadeth. (Whether you think it sounds anything like Dave Mustaine or not, he was in mind when I said "What about something like this?") The verse I made just to be quick and energetic, and the chorus was slightly (apparently) similar to the original chorus that was meant for that song. The solo is improvised every time, but I have my own routine. (Start off Phrygian, end up Pentatonic, play as fast as possible.)
Again, I think we played this really well. We've probably played it better before at practice, but nonetheless, it didn't suck. The crowd (mainly girls, which I'm not complaining about) clapped along to the introduction. (This made me feel excellent. Girls, about thirty of them, clapping in rhythm to a tune I wrote? Yes please.) Adam also yelled down the microphone asking everyone if they would kindly step into the middle of the dancefloor. This made more of an audience out of them, they were no longer scattered around but now actually in front of us, participating.
Then we played Song 2, by Blur. This has a drum introduction, which (I suggested, but I don't know if it was because of this he did it) Andy introduced us to. Then I come in with the riff, with my guitar turned down slightly, before we all shout "Woohoo!" and my guitar is then full volume as we all blast out the song. Again, another improvised solo using my Wah-pedal.
Now we were halfway through our short set, and we went to switch guitars. This was really awkward. It was dark, and there were wires EVERYWHERE. If I tripped over or knocked something over, I feel that life would just end. (I am of course kidding, but I would still be embarassed nonetheless).
I picked up my V, plugged in again, and then we began Viva La Revolution- Adam Elliot's song. (To say he likes McFly, this is actually an awesome tune. I love playing it, despite the lack of a guitar solo. The break down (similar to One by Metallica) is epic.) Throughout this whole set I wore my "stage hat" as I call it. The reason I decided to play the guitar was because of Slash, so it was natural that I wanted a hat for the stage too. The first time I played on stage and everytime after I wore a similar hat, so I thought that traditionally, I should for my first proper gig. This is the song however, where the hat comes off. As soon as the "Break-down" kicks in, the hair HAS to be released, so I throw down my hat when we rapidly palm-mute the low D string, and let the hair out, so to speak.
Next up was our final cover of the evening- (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) by the Beastie Boys. It's fun to play. In this song, I remember, I couldn't really hear my own guitar for some reason. But I still played. It came to my solo, and I like to add harmonics to the start of the solo, so I literally ran my finger up and down all the strings without pressing down so as to create a weird harmonic solo before shredding in G-Minor. Fun!
Then, Andy addresses the crowd as if sad, to announce that "This is our last song, this is Last Stand!"
I LOVE this song. It's our own. I didn't write the main riff, it was actually Cameron's riff and chords. But this is the only song where I actually sat down and created a fixed solo. And again to compliment my own work, I love it. It even looks good! (Watching it back on YouTube, you can actually see my fingers moving really fast, and I don't often see myself playing guitar from any other position than looking down on my fingers, so it's great to watch). The heavy riff that follows was created purely by accident.
It was at a practice once, we were working on the song and I said "I want a long solo for this, the chords are awesome to jam to." I didn't get the length I wanted for it, but still, I am happy with the outcome. Anyway, I finished the solo (back when I improvised it still) and then we looked at each other as the D chord just rang in the background and we didn't know what was next, so I slid down the strings and just improvised that exact riff that we still use. I remember Cameron laughing at how he liked it, and so it just stuck. Andy improvised the vocals too; "You won't take me alive..." When i do backing vocals for that part, I like to put what I call my Dave Mustaine voice on. Whether it sounds anything like him or not, it does in my head, so I use it.
We finished the song, Cameron hit the drum kit as quick as possible and I just shredded as quick as possible (dedicated to the girls in the crowd) until we finished. The end was slightly sloppy as you can see on the recorded video, simply because I could've happily hit more notes for longer, but Cameron ended the set quicker than I hoped, so I just looked at him and awkwardly hit the D chord.
And then we were done. We packed up our stuff, got off the stage, and let Epitaph thrash on.
It was a great night, I enjoyed it.
Yes, I seemed to have written a lot, but afterall, first gig, lots of memories. I want to keep the memories for future years. The future blogs may be shorter due to the fact that I won't be explaining where songs we made came from etc. and maybe because the excitement about writing about the gigs may evaporate from my being. But yes, our next gig is Sunday 25th March at the Corporation. To me as I write this, that's in four days. I look forward to it.
Now I will sign off. Freezing cold hands, and World of Warcraft to get back to. I mean, um, something cool. Nevermind.
Thanks for reading, if you did.
AW (hmm, or ARK. Whichever's coolest).
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