Battle of the Bands week 4 WINNAH
Saturday, 24 February 2007 23:51![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fatrockstarYou know, I'm still exhausted from the whole thing, and it's almost a full 24 hours later.
Load time was 7, and we arranged to load around 7:15. The show was not scheduled to begin until 9. It did not start until 10. The cafe did not serve food but was happy to serve beer and liquor. Lucky for us there were plenty of places to eat nearby. Too bad I didn't take advantage of any of them.
See, this was the first gig where I'd be using my personal sound monitor (PSM), and I was paranoid that if I left my equipment unattended it would get stolen. I'm sure there's an unwritten band/bar code that keeps that to a minimum, but I'm not aware of it. I called Garret and asked him to bring me food because I wasn't really thinking straight, being starving and all. I should have trusted my bandmates to bring me something to eat (god knows they offered), because Garret showed up empty-handed with no good excuse. If I hadn't brought a couple of protein bars from home I would have collapsed onstage. I was in that cafe for hours with only 400 calories to sustain me. Lucky for me and the 'Fakers I was running on adrenaline most of the night.
The biggest complaint from everyone was that we were there for such a long time and ended up playing very late. If the first band was to play a 45 minute set at 9 with a 20-30 minute teardown/setup time that would put us onstage around 10:15. This did not happen. In a way I did not expect it to. Last week's show with UCA ran just as late with the same unexpected twists.
But enough complaining -- it was an experience not to be forgotten anytime soon.
The battle was broadcast over the internet -- where that was we were not told -- so there was the online streaming setup that needed to be done. Also, the label hosting the competition was recording every performance, so every instrument in every band was mic'd for an optimal mix. Where was this being recorded? In a converted Streamline camper parked outside the cafe. Add to this your usual PA shenanigans and you've got a LOT of wiring, mic-ing, and general setting up to do. I really wish I had been given the streaming URL -- it was a great show!
I digress. *ahem*
The first band, The Freetown, was a 6-piece from the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. They were all underage, but tight. Their fanbase was inside the cafe (parents) and out front (classmates). You could tell these kids had been well-schooled in their instruments and practiced often. Unfortunately, their set was subdued by technical problems in their mics. This turned out to not matter, as they performed mostly long instrumentals.
My friend JLove came to see us, and we tried to enjoy their sound. It was difficult. Online, The Freetown has some fantastic tracks. Live... eh. We occupied ourselves by watching their bass player, who was the only one actually moving onstage. When their set was over they tore down slowly, then they and their parents exeunt omnes as quickly as possible.
During all this people are arriving to support us. My MIL and Laura arrive with Laura's latest arm candy in tow (she always has such lovely ones, too. They're just so young, and I'm married... tsk tsk), which surprised me because I wasn't expecting my SIL to show at all due to recent events. Garret arrives with JLove, who offered to drive so she wouldn't have to be in Pioneer Square alone on a Friday night. Some of Ethan's friends show, then some of Ed's. We had a healthy turnout, which was cool.
The Freetown's teardown wasn't nearly as time-consuming as our setup. At The Workshop we'd be up in 15 minutes with a minimal soundcheck. This was different. The instrument part was easy, it was getting all the mics set up that was hard. Of course the drums are tough to mic no matter what, but Glenn the sound guy also had me and my PSM to deal with, which presented a new kink in the setup: There weren't enough ports on the sound board to plug my PSM *and* both the floor monitors. We'd have to sacrifice one. We left the monitor behind Laurel's drumset intact.
Once we got everything onstage there was a comic. He had a few good funnies, but didn't do so well with sex jokes. I guess it just wasn't that kind of crowd. He was good, though. I took the time to eat one of the protein bars I brought with me. By the time he finished we were just wanting to get on and go.
We still had a sound check to do! Argh! A quick run through one of our lesser-loved songs (a little jazz improv number not on the set list) and we were okay. After that I don't think anyone in the audience or on the internet was prepared to hear the sound that came out of us next.
I dressed up for this gig. My hair was a fresh SE Blood Red, my makeup took half an hour to apply, and I was wearing a red retro June Cleaver faux-wrap dress I found at Lame Giant. I styled my hair in the only way it would go, which looked very 1940's. Everyone else wore black. Would we have made the same impact without the costume? I'm not sure. You'd have to ask someone who was there.
We opened with Cloudkicker and blew everyone away. I got all hardcore rockstar with the mic stand and milked every bit of rockin' out of the crowd. More applause from the crowd than I expected. Through the lights I noticed that we were starting to attract people into the cafe from the street. We nailed endings that we'd been struggling with in rehearsals. What banter we did end up doing between songs was entertaining and nobody broke a string.
The set went well. Later Laurel told us that the monitor behind her was pretty much dead. She didn't hear much of what the rest of us were doing at all, and relied almost completely on Ethan's signals and residual noise for sound cues. That, my friends, is skill. We are T-I-G-H-T tight.
I was exhausted at the end. So was everyone who came specifically to see us. They all left right after telling us "good show" and paying their tabs. By this time it was already almost 1:30 a.m. and last call so I don't blame them one bit. While we were tearing down we got all kinds of great reviews from the staff and audience. Did I mention it was a great show? It was a great show.
I learned from one of the audience members that came to shake my hand that cover songs are an automatic 6 point deduction in scoring for this competition. This was good to know. We did one cover song at the end and our song "Everything" borrows a verse from The Vapors' "Turning Japanese." I wonder if that counted as two covers or one and a half. This information explains why UCA didn't win their battle. Half their set were covers! The Freetown played two covers that I recognized. This week I will call BotB's organizers and get a copy of the rules.
Needless to say, we won the battle. Before he announced the winner the EmCee asked the crowd for applause to rate each band. Not that it mattered, but applause was clearly in our favor without any Freetown supporters there. Immediately after that he announced us as the winners! Yayayayayayayyyyyy!
I thanked Glenn the sound guy profusely for putting up with me and my diva-like sound demands (PSM, mic stand, microphone) and he was a sweetheart about it. This is a man who knows his craft. I also thanked the label's co-founders and chatted a little bit about what to expect next. Overall we came across as a Rockabilly band, a description I didn't think fit all our songs. Oh well. If we're Rockabilly or Pop, that's just a reflection of all of us.
There was video footage taken of us before the set (an interview!) and during the set. I have no idea when we'll see any of it, but the cameraman thought we were hilarious. It's good to make friends with the cameraman. I forgot my camera, so I don't have any photos of the night. I am KICKING THE SHIT OUT OF MYSELF FOR THIS. Except for Ed's girlfriend Melody's camera we have no personal footage of this show. Hopefully her photos will be framed well enough I can edit them into shape.
Ed & Ethan had to be up early on Saturday, so Laurel and I went to Denny's for food. I didn't get to bed until about 4. I did a little shopping today when I should have been napping. Tomorrow I shall spa. Life is good.
Load time was 7, and we arranged to load around 7:15. The show was not scheduled to begin until 9. It did not start until 10. The cafe did not serve food but was happy to serve beer and liquor. Lucky for us there were plenty of places to eat nearby. Too bad I didn't take advantage of any of them.
See, this was the first gig where I'd be using my personal sound monitor (PSM), and I was paranoid that if I left my equipment unattended it would get stolen. I'm sure there's an unwritten band/bar code that keeps that to a minimum, but I'm not aware of it. I called Garret and asked him to bring me food because I wasn't really thinking straight, being starving and all. I should have trusted my bandmates to bring me something to eat (god knows they offered), because Garret showed up empty-handed with no good excuse. If I hadn't brought a couple of protein bars from home I would have collapsed onstage. I was in that cafe for hours with only 400 calories to sustain me. Lucky for me and the 'Fakers I was running on adrenaline most of the night.
The biggest complaint from everyone was that we were there for such a long time and ended up playing very late. If the first band was to play a 45 minute set at 9 with a 20-30 minute teardown/setup time that would put us onstage around 10:15. This did not happen. In a way I did not expect it to. Last week's show with UCA ran just as late with the same unexpected twists.
But enough complaining -- it was an experience not to be forgotten anytime soon.
The battle was broadcast over the internet -- where that was we were not told -- so there was the online streaming setup that needed to be done. Also, the label hosting the competition was recording every performance, so every instrument in every band was mic'd for an optimal mix. Where was this being recorded? In a converted Streamline camper parked outside the cafe. Add to this your usual PA shenanigans and you've got a LOT of wiring, mic-ing, and general setting up to do. I really wish I had been given the streaming URL -- it was a great show!
I digress. *ahem*
The first band, The Freetown, was a 6-piece from the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. They were all underage, but tight. Their fanbase was inside the cafe (parents) and out front (classmates). You could tell these kids had been well-schooled in their instruments and practiced often. Unfortunately, their set was subdued by technical problems in their mics. This turned out to not matter, as they performed mostly long instrumentals.
My friend JLove came to see us, and we tried to enjoy their sound. It was difficult. Online, The Freetown has some fantastic tracks. Live... eh. We occupied ourselves by watching their bass player, who was the only one actually moving onstage. When their set was over they tore down slowly, then they and their parents exeunt omnes as quickly as possible.
During all this people are arriving to support us. My MIL and Laura arrive with Laura's latest arm candy in tow (she always has such lovely ones, too. They're just so young, and I'm married... tsk tsk), which surprised me because I wasn't expecting my SIL to show at all due to recent events. Garret arrives with JLove, who offered to drive so she wouldn't have to be in Pioneer Square alone on a Friday night. Some of Ethan's friends show, then some of Ed's. We had a healthy turnout, which was cool.
The Freetown's teardown wasn't nearly as time-consuming as our setup. At The Workshop we'd be up in 15 minutes with a minimal soundcheck. This was different. The instrument part was easy, it was getting all the mics set up that was hard. Of course the drums are tough to mic no matter what, but Glenn the sound guy also had me and my PSM to deal with, which presented a new kink in the setup: There weren't enough ports on the sound board to plug my PSM *and* both the floor monitors. We'd have to sacrifice one. We left the monitor behind Laurel's drumset intact.
Once we got everything onstage there was a comic. He had a few good funnies, but didn't do so well with sex jokes. I guess it just wasn't that kind of crowd. He was good, though. I took the time to eat one of the protein bars I brought with me. By the time he finished we were just wanting to get on and go.
We still had a sound check to do! Argh! A quick run through one of our lesser-loved songs (a little jazz improv number not on the set list) and we were okay. After that I don't think anyone in the audience or on the internet was prepared to hear the sound that came out of us next.
I dressed up for this gig. My hair was a fresh SE Blood Red, my makeup took half an hour to apply, and I was wearing a red retro June Cleaver faux-wrap dress I found at Lame Giant. I styled my hair in the only way it would go, which looked very 1940's. Everyone else wore black. Would we have made the same impact without the costume? I'm not sure. You'd have to ask someone who was there.
We opened with Cloudkicker and blew everyone away. I got all hardcore rockstar with the mic stand and milked every bit of rockin' out of the crowd. More applause from the crowd than I expected. Through the lights I noticed that we were starting to attract people into the cafe from the street. We nailed endings that we'd been struggling with in rehearsals. What banter we did end up doing between songs was entertaining and nobody broke a string.
The set went well. Later Laurel told us that the monitor behind her was pretty much dead. She didn't hear much of what the rest of us were doing at all, and relied almost completely on Ethan's signals and residual noise for sound cues. That, my friends, is skill. We are T-I-G-H-T tight.
I was exhausted at the end. So was everyone who came specifically to see us. They all left right after telling us "good show" and paying their tabs. By this time it was already almost 1:30 a.m. and last call so I don't blame them one bit. While we were tearing down we got all kinds of great reviews from the staff and audience. Did I mention it was a great show? It was a great show.
I learned from one of the audience members that came to shake my hand that cover songs are an automatic 6 point deduction in scoring for this competition. This was good to know. We did one cover song at the end and our song "Everything" borrows a verse from The Vapors' "Turning Japanese." I wonder if that counted as two covers or one and a half. This information explains why UCA didn't win their battle. Half their set were covers! The Freetown played two covers that I recognized. This week I will call BotB's organizers and get a copy of the rules.
Needless to say, we won the battle. Before he announced the winner the EmCee asked the crowd for applause to rate each band. Not that it mattered, but applause was clearly in our favor without any Freetown supporters there. Immediately after that he announced us as the winners! Yayayayayayayyyyyy!
I thanked Glenn the sound guy profusely for putting up with me and my diva-like sound demands (PSM, mic stand, microphone) and he was a sweetheart about it. This is a man who knows his craft. I also thanked the label's co-founders and chatted a little bit about what to expect next. Overall we came across as a Rockabilly band, a description I didn't think fit all our songs. Oh well. If we're Rockabilly or Pop, that's just a reflection of all of us.
There was video footage taken of us before the set (an interview!) and during the set. I have no idea when we'll see any of it, but the cameraman thought we were hilarious. It's good to make friends with the cameraman. I forgot my camera, so I don't have any photos of the night. I am KICKING THE SHIT OUT OF MYSELF FOR THIS. Except for Ed's girlfriend Melody's camera we have no personal footage of this show. Hopefully her photos will be framed well enough I can edit them into shape.
Ed & Ethan had to be up early on Saturday, so Laurel and I went to Denny's for food. I didn't get to bed until about 4. I did a little shopping today when I should have been napping. Tomorrow I shall spa. Life is good.
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no subject
25/2/07 12:24 (UTC)You enjoy that spa, sounds like you could use it! ^_^
no subject
28/2/07 03:05 (UTC)no subject
28/2/07 09:11 (UTC)