General Music Chat

Alot of you guys here possess alot of professional knowledge , Just as much as the big dogs. Which reminds me of the best experience I have ever had, playing a show. I want to ask you guys if anyone has ever felt the same. I worked out, situps, running, breathing exercises, etc. A couple of times, when doing a show, I was sweating, connecting with the crowd, perfect vocals. Simply had a great show. You know,.... [I knew that I was just as good as any of the professional entertainers out there, maybe better than some. I think that is the greatest experience that a small time musician [Like me] could ever ask for. To know that you are just as good as anyone. [The big dogs]. I dont mean to sound conceited, Im not. I am just saying, that there is no better feeling & satisfaction a musicisian could ask for, playing music.] If you are good & you know it. Say it. You can let other musicisians know you are good at what you do. Because they will know you are, by watching & performing with you on stage. There are some very talented musicians at this site. And they have alot more knowledge on theroy, etc. Than I do. You know who you are ! Peace.

You are right...there is a certain moment, hard to ay how long it lasts, when you perform that you are at the top. You are connected with everything around you and you are leading that parade. It's an amazing feeling; it's what I think many of us shed the blood sweat and tears for.

I've had so many that are encapsulated in my mind, like little gems. One that comes to mind was an outdoor show I did with an electronic band called On Beyond Zebra. It was summer, sun just set - the crowd was large (several thousand), the night was warm and clear, the lights and sound system operated perfectly. It was like I couldn't hit a wrong note if I tried. The sound was pumping all around me, through me, out in these tendrils to the audience and reflected back to me. And then in a sudden moment that almost took my breath away, a full moon rose from behind the farthest reaches of the audience, hitting us all right in the face. It was like we all plugged into something with the first rays of the moon, kicked up the music even ten more notches.

Those moments are golden and it reminds me why I do all this.

once i played a gig on a pretty ruff side of milw. blues club that I had no biz being in. Had some freinds come down to see... they were scared. You could cut the tension with a knife when the crowd saw me come in. The silence was deffening. now, you should know, my wife has color(insert pollitically correct term of your choice here), my fav nephew has color, and some very close freinds of mine were/are (insert pollitically correct term of your choice here)... with that in mind... I was one of three 'white folks' in the bar at this time... the other two were my two freinds.
You go in a bar like that -on the north side of milw, and set up to play blues... you better bring it. I sat down to play -ready to be pelted by bottles comeing from all sides... but they never came. Just applause. Those folks were very kind to me... and I'll never forget that.

I unfortunately don't have any wonderful stories like this to share at this point yet, but I CAN NOT WAIT TO BE ABLE TO SHARE MINE!!!

I can honestly say though that one time at karaoke, something happened to the system when I went to a friend of mines karaoke show. The words appeared but no music. He motioned for me to go ahead and sing anyway and it was at a small bar maybe 50 people, so I did, thinking he was going to work it out or stop me. The response was amazing!! I was singing a capella and could not believe that everyone was getting into it. So I got into it. Ignoring what else was going on with the system. Everyone start clapping and singing with me. That was the closest I have ever gotten to performing for an audience. I went back to my seat to a great applause and my dad made fun of me. LOL! Oh well. I was lost in the song and the atmosphere.

In addition to this, I just wanted to say V&B EXACTLY! Shout it!
Irminsul, you are so verbally eloquent. Do you write stories as well?
MMV that had to be so nerve racking and I am sure that you felt a tremendous amount of triumph when it was all over and confirmation!!
Not because of who you were playing for, what part of town you were in, but because you played in an establishment that recognized talent and you rocked it!!

oh, yeah, def goes on the list of best performances ever. just goes to show you... in both directions: don't judge a book by it's cover. I didn't think they would like me, and I'm sure they didn't think they would like me... good thing we were both wrong.

Absolutely!

Everytime I ever played out I've had that feeling !

That's one of the reasons why I do it!!
Everytime we'd play a gig...I'd be a little nervous, wondering how many ppl would walk out the door once you begin playing... but, that would never happen!! In fact every place we played was pretty much a packed room....and it didn't matter what town we were in, we ended up with a handleful or more of ppl that would follow us where ever we were playing!! Alot of it had to do with the diversity of our music, because we'd try to play things that would please ppl of all ages, with classic rock, alternative, and blues tunes and always learned current songs to keep up with the pace!!

One gig I must say that sticks out in my mind more than any other was when we played "Tip Up Town" in Houghton Lake, MI!!
For those of you that don't know what "Tip Up Town" is..... there's like a week in February when Houghton Lake, MI has this event and snowmobilers from all over come to enjoy, & compete in activities!!

Anyway..... I can't remember the name of the lounge we we're playing in... it was in a huge motel/hotel that was booked solid with sledders! Anyway, the room we had to play in was about the size of an average bar, it probably seated a 100 ppl or so, maybe a little more.... and right in the room next to us they had a DJ..... I suppose it was so ppl had a choice, to check out a live band, or dance to a DJ......
The DJ was already goin in the next room, and there were quite a few ppl in there and our rm had a few ppl but, not as many as what the DJ had.... We had a rough start... on our first song, before we even got to the chorus.... We blew a fuse in the whole place !! But, after getting the juice back up & runnin, by the time we started our second song, The motel had to shut the DJ down because all the ppl wanted to rock out with our band...(which was called - Miss Behavin') - and what happened was, we didn't know it at the time, but these two rooms weren't seperate rooms with a solid wall, they were only seperated by a divider wall.... Once we started our second song, they opened up the dividers and HOLY COW!!!!!! I think as far as bar/lounge/clubs go.... this was the biggest crowd we'd ever played for... there must of been 300-400+ ppl in there.....but it looked like thousands!! It was solid ppl from just off the dance floor to the back wall!! Packed like sardines in there!!
Our band as well as the ppl we we're playing for had a great time!! And it was the best feeling to know that we we're preferred over the DJ!! Kinda felt bad that we rocked him out of a job.......NOT!!
But, I would have to say that that gig was the most memorable...... we definitely felt like we were on top of the world after that!!

ROCK ON!!

I had an experience sort of like MikeV's. Our drummer landed a gig at a Niles CA backyard party at this bar. We were getting paid $500.00 and we told him to go ahead and book it for us.

Well that Saturday comes and the lead vocalist and I are going down the street where this party is held at. As the address is getting closer we look further down the street and here is this bar surrounded by about 60 Harley choppers all lined up and sure enough, that's the place.

We sat there in our pickup just staring at the place wondering if we should just keep driving. Just then the drummer starts waving from the entrance and we knew there was no turning back. We parked as close as we could and began unloading our stuff. Man, talk about being intimidated walking through these large tough guys with their mama's by their side.

We finally got set up and went over our song list. We then picked up our guitars, did a short sound check with all their eyes on us. We looked at eachother with a "here goes nothing" look and started.

We opened with "Boys Are Back In Town" and from the very first power chord came the smiles and the yells. Some began dancing and the rounds started flying. When we finished the tune many of them came up to welcome us and made us feel like part of their club. It was awesome.

By the end of the night the whole band was pretty buzzed from all the beer bought for us. I think we played Boys are Back and Born to be Wild at least 6 times each due to the requests and it didn't matter if any of us screwed up, we were part of the gang.

Yeah, definitely one of the best party gigs I ever played. It made me understand the brotherhood that bikers have, really cool.

One of my favorite gigs was around 90/91 when I was playing with an orginal prog band named "Threshold".

Anyway we opened for Eric Johnson. The place was packed and we kicked ass and we went over great. Eric and Kyle Brock came out and caught several songs.

Eric Johnson is a very humble guy.

Cheers,
Matt