Wednesday 27th February 2013
Entry 9
I realised I enjoyed writing my last post, as I wrote it as sarcastic as I did months ago. Looking back, the others got a little too serious for my liking, and I'd rather capture the fun and humorous side to gigging than the serious side. My girlfriend called me "Flippant and sarcastic", after reading my whole blog, (I had to use a dictionary for flippant, and then the dictionary again for a word it used to describe flippant, before realising what she meant.) I pretended to defend myself, (By throwing her in a river with bricks tied to her feet,) but I knew she was completely right. So, I decided to honour this, and maintain this flippant sarcasm.
Anyway, this gig was a whole bundle of fun. (No, I'm actually not being sarcastic.) We all kind of thought it'd be awful, as we're proper rockstars, playing stages and stuff like that; so to play in the drama studio of my college, it seemed a large step down. The sound probably wouldn't be great, and the turnout would no doubt be awful. Two of the bands dropped out so that it was just us and then George Thompson from the band Planet 9 doing an acoustic set. Who'd want to see just us and an acoustic set?
Well, it turned out about 30 people, which was a really nice, cosy turnout, so again I was proven wrong.
As TRC is my territory, (well, compared to the rest of Secret Romance anyway, as they'd never been before, and I go everyday,) I felt confident and at home, (Wow, that makes a change,) and walked around like a lion that claimed it's territory with urine and scattered corpses. They all stated at seperate times, (as does every single person who sees my college,) "Wow, it's like Hogwarts!"
We were the first and last to soundcheck, as George Thompson didn't need to soundcheck. We had about 6 large black cubes/boxes in front of the "stage", which we could jump onto if we so desired. (Being me, I was the only one to use these, and I used them for the guitar solos so people at the back could see me play.) Our drummer, again, couldn't show up on time due to work, so my friend Matt Wootton eagerly offered to play with us to soundcheck. The room didn't have great acoustics, but in the end we got a decent sound out of our set.
I attempted to play the drums for a song that Matt didn't know, but due to the fact the guitars were too quiet for me to hear, and due to the fact I'm not a drummer, I failed miserably.
Me and Matt then went to Tescos to buy donuts and energy drinks. (We're too rock n' roll for this business.)
The doors opened, and in walked about 30 people who sat around the room chatting. I jammed a few acoustic improvisations, before we were given the OK to start.
The room was actually great, we didn't actually need microphones to speak to the audience. In fact, it would've seemed a tad patronising to. It'd be like getting on a bus, sitting behind someone, and taking out a megaphone to engage in phatic conversation. Because of this, I did a lot of the talking, as I didn't have a microphone anyway. My voice was still louder than Andy's, who had a microphone, which is worrying. A lot of what I said was sarcastic humour. As I was very relaxed/chilled, I was confident and careless of what I said, which adds an edge to whatever you say, rather than if you were shaking and nervous that what you're saying is rubbish so that you end up mumbling and get the reaction you were dreading anyway. (The Barbra Streisand Effect. Google it.)
It reminded me a lot of Nirvana's MTV Unplugged, in the sense that I'm Kurt Cobain.
No.
It reminded me of Nirvana's MTV Unplugged because it was so relaxed; polite claps and cheers after songs, conversation with the crowd, me saying stuff to my friends who stood at the front, while I was playing. In fact, I even tried asking for candles and flowers, but that didn't happen. Cups of teas would've been nice too, in hindsight.
I had a minute-long solo before the last song of the set, which I thought was awful really, I hadn't prepared anything. I was just so laid back I almost forgot how to play the guitar.
The crowd were overall fantastic, we loved playing there. It is certainly up there as one of my favourite shows.
My next entry marks my last official gig with the band Secret Romance. As a preview, I can say it was the best show I've ever played in my life.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy my blog. If you have any suggestions, feedback or compliments, don't bother.
No, I'm kidding. Just add me on Facebook, "Adam Robert Kurt Walton", and/or follow me on Twitter: "@ARKWalton".
Thanks again, and take care.
Adam Walton
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