I had drank night before and wasn't in the mood to drink...so I didn't at all even though beer was free. Didn't get good sleep night beforehand. Ate a good dinner around 5pm. Tried to nap and failed. Had a little bit of a headache and upset stomach upon arrival, but Pepto and Advil cured it. There was a rumor that they were to feed us free too...but no one else seemed interested so I let it go. I would have liked a fish taco or fries, though. I drank two iced teas before the set and half a glass of water during. Dosed up on Rescue Relief right before set started. Took a hit of Singer's Saving Grace in middle of set. I was yelling lyrics a bit cause couldn't hear my vocals well, which made throat feel worse than normal. I wore jeans, Keen's, and a t-shirt. It was warm, but I only sweated a bit.
Summing up renumeration...the show was free to public, but I guess we're getting paid (beyond beer/food). Don't know how much yet. There was a third band upstairs that night too.
Used The Drain's PA, which had a vocal monitor for drummer...except the actual drum vocals couldn't be turned up into the monitor without feeding back. So I could hear everyone else's vocals, but not mine. Which was a little weird. I could hear them in the house (far away) but not well. Especially weird during harmonizing, cause I could hear them but not me. But I managed. Feedback situation went over the top when JG did his feedback during Boscobel Breakout. The vocal monitor went nuts. Piercing noise in my head. Actually had reflexive moment of dropping everything and covering my ears...then though "oh shit, I stopped playing" and I recovered.
That said, the sound was actually pretty good. Not too loud in the house and well balanced. I could hear everything well except my vocals and the bass drum, which was a 24 inch drum and unmic'ed.
I used The Drain's kit with my own snare, snare stand, and throne. I'm beginning to think that, though it requires bringing stuff, that this is the safest way to go short of bringing my own whole kit. He had a Gretsch Catalina...like I said with a 24 inch bass and pretty big toms. The setup was ok. He had crappy ZHT cymbals that didn't sound very good. Washy and too loud for my taste. I like a quick decay. And the ride sounded the same as the crashes to me. His high hat was a little low, but I left it like that, which only tripped me up a couple of times, like when I was cross sticking. I didn't like the bass pedal. Might be worth bringing my own pedal too. It was okay, but the response was different from what I'm used to, which was disconcerting. It seemed like it had a half second delay. Since I couldn't hear the bass drum well it was hard to tell if this was really happening, or just my perception. His toms were on a pretty severe angle (mounted on big bass drum, so they had to be), but it wasn't a problem. I remember hitting my first round the kit fill mid-set and thinking "that went ok." His crashes were set high...one on each side...but it wasn't a problem. Ride was a little further right than I like, but I made it work ok.
Rough setup...not sure on sizes other than bass.
All that said, I played pretty well. Rolls and fills were decent. Bass was pretty good given the limitations of the pedal and not being able to hear. Coordination and consistency were ok. tempos were kind of all over the place. Not sure if this was my fault or someone else's. Started Fucked Up and Wasted too fast and tried to slow it down mid-song, but never quite got confortable. Suspect Device was a little fast too...but that could have been RS's fault since he starts the song. The Way I Love You went better than it has for some time. I think RS purposely started it a little slower to prevent disaster.
There was some cases of realizing that I was missing a component I needed...had to make choices/corrections on the fly...but these went pretty well for most part.
We haven't played some of these songs much lately, which made me forget how they go a bit. This particularly for Fable.
Our next show isn't until April 24th, which is a nice break after three months of show's every two weeks. A slate of new songs will be worked up starting next week. Couple that I'm to sing. Hate that, but gotta spread the vocal strain around. Was thinking last night that, even though I still make mistakes, the current set is pretty well learned...nearly played out. Almost too easy. I can play it without thinking at all. Usually thinking about it too much is when I mess up. It's a good place to be...but right on the edge of boredom/lameness.
Update: We brought down $25 a person for the show...which I think came straight from Great Dane.
Set list:
1. DON'T GIVE ME NO LIP CHILD
2. WE ARE THE ONE
3. TEENAGE KICKS
4. YOU STUPID FUCKING LIBERALS
5. THE WAY I LOVE YOU
6. THIS SIDE OF PARADISE
7. HELICOPTER
8. DANCE (4X) TO THE RADIO
9. BOSCOBEL BREAKOUT
10. FABLE
11. WARSAW
12. New Rose
13. MANIAC
14. SUSPECT DEVICE
15. FUCKED UP AND WASTED
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