Moose308
Well-known member
Well, I played my first gig. Wow, what an experience.
As I mentioned in a previous post OT - I finally got a real amp I just received a new MarkBass SA450 and a Bergantino HS210. Around the same time, our company was organizing the annual summer picnic. That is when they realised that several of us at work have a Jam Club. We were "volunteered" to play at the company picnic.
So about two weeks ago, 4 of us (the only 4 that actually had the time to do it) got together and started figuring out what to play. Our set list was entirely dictated by our singer's ability to actually sing the songs. So we settled upon 8 songs, all of which I didn't know at all.
So we set up a Jam Space in a conference room and got together about every second weekday after work. We would play through the setlist for about an hour. It was embarrassing, and humbling, since I don't play all that well, and I didn't know the material very well. But, after two weeks, we improved tremendously. By the last practice, we were hitting every mark, and just worrying about little details, like how to start or stop songs.
Well, come Saturday morning, we got the company van, loaded up all our gear, and dragged it off to the picnic. I got to play roadie, soundman, gaffer, equipment tech, and talent! What was supposed to be a 1 hour set-up and soundcheck turned into three hours. How did I see that coming.
The most interesting thing was that the stage was the back of an old antique flatbed truck. If it was 8'x12' that would be pushing it. Try getting a full drum kit, a mixing board, 3 amps, mics, wedges, and 4 guys on the back of that. It was...cozy.
As it turns out, there were 4 different acts that day. My MarkBass/Bergantino served very well as the backline for the day. It held up, all 300 watts, fairly well against a full PA system.
All I can say is that I was very nervous, and excited, and anxious, as I boarded the truck for our set. What seemed so easy and fluid in practice seemed so awkward and unsure when you are standing in front of 400 people, and every one of them staring right at you. So I squeezed into the back, somewhat happy to be shielded from view by the singer. All 4 of us were hesitant, and unsure, and after a few nods of assurance got the drums to lead us off into our first song. It was rough at first, but after a few bars, it smoothed right out. Just like practice.
Our set list was,
-Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochrane version)
-Born To Be Wild
-The Cat Came Back (mixed with Stray Cat Strut)
-Should I Stay Or Should I Go
-Get It On (T.Rex)
-Folsom Prison Blues
-Roadhouse Blues
-I Wanna Be Sedated
Everything was going great. Very small things, like the ability to mute to tune (a feature lacking on the MB), became very obvious during the set. My biggest challenge was the surprisingly bad sound on stage. Since I didn't have a proper monitor, I hade a very hard time hearing the cues I was hoping for to follow the changes. I almost screwed up a few times, but somehow managed to make good guesses and kept in time.
The only time I really screwed up was not really my fault. Our singer made a "last minute" change in the way he was going to sing Roadhouse Blues. During the part "I woke up this morning, and got myself a beer" he decided he was going to be cute (since it was a family picnic) and change it to "I woke up this morning, and got myself a rootbeer. At this point he holds up a bottle of rootbeer and shows the crowd. We just kept playing as he chants this line several times. His plan was to shake the bottle, open it, and spray the rootbeer into the crowd. Well, it didn't work. He didn't get it open, so he just tossed it behind himself. I was standing behind himself. I got nailed, almost in the balls, by this bottle of rootbeer. Needless to say it threw me off. I kept playing my pattern as I watched this soda assailant roll around the stage. I don't know if he ever sang the line "The future is uncertain, and the end is always near", which was my cue to do that change. But as I recover from my rootbeer mugging, I notice the band is already into that next part, and my fingers go all hyper and wobbly, trying to get into that groove. I screwed up a couple bars, before finding the groove for another few bars, and then the song ends. That little miscue sort of marred an otherwise terrifying and electrifying experience.
The crowd seemed to respond very well to our set, though how much of that was polite cheering for coworks on stage making fools of themselves is had to say. EBMM was well represented by my Desert Gold Bongo 5 HH. I even had a teenage kid rush the stage after the show and start asking me about what kind of bass it was. I let him try it out for a minute. He was slapping and popping for all it was worth. He was thrilled. Perhaps a Musicman convert? I suppose I should take that as approval of my performance. If I had sucked, he wouldn't have been so eager to check out my bass I would suspect.
Afterwards came the long teardown of all the gear. Packing up all the stuff you just spent hours unpacking. The worst thing about it all was that I didn't even get to have a proper picnic. I was busy the whole time setting up the stage, running cables, doing soundchecks, worrying about my set, and so on, that I didn't get to partake in any of the other picnic activities, or even get the free lunch!
All in all, it was great fun, despite a few minor set backs. I am already looking forward to doing another gig sometime.
As I mentioned in a previous post OT - I finally got a real amp I just received a new MarkBass SA450 and a Bergantino HS210. Around the same time, our company was organizing the annual summer picnic. That is when they realised that several of us at work have a Jam Club. We were "volunteered" to play at the company picnic.
So about two weeks ago, 4 of us (the only 4 that actually had the time to do it) got together and started figuring out what to play. Our set list was entirely dictated by our singer's ability to actually sing the songs. So we settled upon 8 songs, all of which I didn't know at all.
So we set up a Jam Space in a conference room and got together about every second weekday after work. We would play through the setlist for about an hour. It was embarrassing, and humbling, since I don't play all that well, and I didn't know the material very well. But, after two weeks, we improved tremendously. By the last practice, we were hitting every mark, and just worrying about little details, like how to start or stop songs.
Well, come Saturday morning, we got the company van, loaded up all our gear, and dragged it off to the picnic. I got to play roadie, soundman, gaffer, equipment tech, and talent! What was supposed to be a 1 hour set-up and soundcheck turned into three hours. How did I see that coming.
The most interesting thing was that the stage was the back of an old antique flatbed truck. If it was 8'x12' that would be pushing it. Try getting a full drum kit, a mixing board, 3 amps, mics, wedges, and 4 guys on the back of that. It was...cozy.
As it turns out, there were 4 different acts that day. My MarkBass/Bergantino served very well as the backline for the day. It held up, all 300 watts, fairly well against a full PA system.
All I can say is that I was very nervous, and excited, and anxious, as I boarded the truck for our set. What seemed so easy and fluid in practice seemed so awkward and unsure when you are standing in front of 400 people, and every one of them staring right at you. So I squeezed into the back, somewhat happy to be shielded from view by the singer. All 4 of us were hesitant, and unsure, and after a few nods of assurance got the drums to lead us off into our first song. It was rough at first, but after a few bars, it smoothed right out. Just like practice.
Our set list was,
-Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochrane version)
-Born To Be Wild
-The Cat Came Back (mixed with Stray Cat Strut)
-Should I Stay Or Should I Go
-Get It On (T.Rex)
-Folsom Prison Blues
-Roadhouse Blues
-I Wanna Be Sedated
Everything was going great. Very small things, like the ability to mute to tune (a feature lacking on the MB), became very obvious during the set. My biggest challenge was the surprisingly bad sound on stage. Since I didn't have a proper monitor, I hade a very hard time hearing the cues I was hoping for to follow the changes. I almost screwed up a few times, but somehow managed to make good guesses and kept in time.
The only time I really screwed up was not really my fault. Our singer made a "last minute" change in the way he was going to sing Roadhouse Blues. During the part "I woke up this morning, and got myself a beer" he decided he was going to be cute (since it was a family picnic) and change it to "I woke up this morning, and got myself a rootbeer. At this point he holds up a bottle of rootbeer and shows the crowd. We just kept playing as he chants this line several times. His plan was to shake the bottle, open it, and spray the rootbeer into the crowd. Well, it didn't work. He didn't get it open, so he just tossed it behind himself. I was standing behind himself. I got nailed, almost in the balls, by this bottle of rootbeer. Needless to say it threw me off. I kept playing my pattern as I watched this soda assailant roll around the stage. I don't know if he ever sang the line "The future is uncertain, and the end is always near", which was my cue to do that change. But as I recover from my rootbeer mugging, I notice the band is already into that next part, and my fingers go all hyper and wobbly, trying to get into that groove. I screwed up a couple bars, before finding the groove for another few bars, and then the song ends. That little miscue sort of marred an otherwise terrifying and electrifying experience.
The crowd seemed to respond very well to our set, though how much of that was polite cheering for coworks on stage making fools of themselves is had to say. EBMM was well represented by my Desert Gold Bongo 5 HH. I even had a teenage kid rush the stage after the show and start asking me about what kind of bass it was. I let him try it out for a minute. He was slapping and popping for all it was worth. He was thrilled. Perhaps a Musicman convert? I suppose I should take that as approval of my performance. If I had sucked, he wouldn't have been so eager to check out my bass I would suspect.
Afterwards came the long teardown of all the gear. Packing up all the stuff you just spent hours unpacking. The worst thing about it all was that I didn't even get to have a proper picnic. I was busy the whole time setting up the stage, running cables, doing soundchecks, worrying about my set, and so on, that I didn't get to partake in any of the other picnic activities, or even get the free lunch!
All in all, it was great fun, despite a few minor set backs. I am already looking forward to doing another gig sometime.
