Memories,
like the cobwebs of my mind
smokey road-coked fuzzy memories
of the way we played...
Splattered pilsner
on the cords we left behind
Smiles we gave to some one's girlfriend
before closing time
Got any good gig stories, or just want to reminisce?
Please do!
Well, I don't count this one, but my mother forced me to go with her to see Manilow in '77....
But the first REAL concert I went to was:
Molly Hatchet - Allegheny College, Meadville, PA - 31OCT81
Eat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee Roth
Originally Posted by Va Beach VH Fan
Yeah, um... VA
I think he means YOUR first gig
Mine was a high school talent show, like many others.
First paid gig was a frat party on the UW campus.
First club gig was the famous Astor Park in downtown Seattle where U2 played, that no longer exists.
Barry Manilow..
While I have great difficulty recalling what was my first proper gig, I certainly remember my last one. This is a story involving some self realization, and pretty much sums up why I quit the business for the 25th time.
Somewhere in the uneasy climate of early 2002, our band had managed to get a booking for a today well-known (yet at the time anonymous) Led Zeppelin cover band. Opening for us were to be two punk bands. OK, I'd better explain the situation. The evening was broken into two segments: First an all-ages show featuring the two punk groups, and intermission and then an "adults-only" offering featuring us and the already mentioned "zeppelinists". It was assumed that this would be a good career move for us. It certainly was...something.
The way the club was set up, there was no rear load in, you literally carried your gear in/out through the front door. The parking lot was a narrow strip running the length of the block. So the drummer and I arrived with the band's gear in our pick up trucks and parked out front. Just as we arrived in tandem, from inside the club came the somewhat unsettling sound of teenagers screaming and the ever-comforting noise of furniture breaking. Moments later the front doors swung open and out into the parking lot poured a melee, in full force. (Who in the hell knows how these things start with kids, yet later it was explained that apparently it began with one group of fans debating the qualities and merits of the other's band.)
As this sea of battling humanity crashed in apparently unending waves of profanity and teenaged spirit across the lot, the drummer and I resorted to standing on our respective tailgates armed with only a baseball bat and (yup, you guessed it) a three wood golf club. Fortunately we had back-up, as the local police found it prudent to dispatch one officer to deal with things. Fortunately one of the combatants flashed a knife and was then eagerly chased down by the entire mob and presumably beaten within an inch of his life.
Order was restored, the under aged crowd sent on their way and a clean up operation that would last nearly three hours began. During this time the carpet was shampooed and vacuumed to remove any evidence of blood, furniture was righted/repaired as well as several teeth were collected.
I spent much of this time speaking with the quite charming members of the Zep cover band, who informed me that until recently, they too had been performing originals for people that did not wish to hear them and going broke in the process, just like us. Upon switching to covers, they'd not stopped playing and being well paid for their efforts. Having (at the time) recently reached my forties, this had quite a profound effect on me, along with the somewhat disturbing tendency of the lead singer to remain in the character of Robert Plant as he explained it all to me.
In any event, we played the gig, albeit with no sound-check and a curtailed performance of roughly 30 minutes (or less). For our efforts, we were paid the somewhat questionable amount of forty-five dollars, split between five band members.
Taking in the evening's events as I drove home to get about two and a half hours sleep before reporting for work the next morning, I came to a decision. After reading this far, I'm fairly confident that you'll be able to easily grasp what it eventually entailed.
Last edited by chefcraig; 02-27-2009 at 11:22 AM.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”― Stephen Hawking
Never go to a gig without a 9-iron?
My first performance in front of people was at Ft. Lewis, WA in the spring of 1978. I had gotten to know several musicians on base, and the Recreational Services Division announced a Battle Of The Bands. So myself, another guitarist, and a drummer got onstage and played 2 'jams' we had come up with. No vocals, no bass.
Needless to say we did not win.
But another band in the competition were friends, and I wound up in that band.
My first gig was a recital for a group of kids the local music store put in different bands. We played Rocky Mountain Way. I had to tune all the guitars for the entire show because the others didn't know how to use a strobe tuner. I think this was about 77 or 78 so I was 9 or 10.. So long ago. My first paid gig was in 81 at the Community Teen Center & Roller Rink. I think we made $10 each or something.
I'm really glad I make more money per show now, but I wish I wouldn't take it so seriously at times.
Pretty much, as I sure as shit can't hit anything with a driver.Never go to a gig without a 9-iron?
Except every sand trap and body of water within reach.Pretty much, as I sure as shit can't hit anything with a driver.
First public performance was @ a blues jam,
with a guitar playin' friend of mine.
They put us on last, with this drunk-as-a-skunk moron in shorts and a white Navy shirt
(the kind with that flap on the back that looks like a hood)
He was playing House Of The Rising Sun, worse than anything in the universe...
speeding up, slowing down, very noticably.....
singing outta key and sometimes shouting the words...
(I was on drums)
just fucking horrible.
About halfway through the song,
the keyboard player sneaks off stage 'cause he just can't take it...
then the horn player goes....
then the bass player goes...
This dude didn't even realize that by now it was just my friend and I up there with him....he was soooo wasted.....
So I looked at my bro, we just shrugged our shoulders at each other,
and left the stage too...
I swear to christ dude didn't even know he was now alone onstage...
it was much funnier when I was sitting in front of him watching,
as opposed too behind him on the drums......
Ever since then, it's almost like post-traumatic-stress-syndrome....
I have to leave the stage if someone plays that song or I get all bent outta shape....
I wish I could hit a sandtrap. So do the people in the condos whose BBQ grills and back-porch furnishings I've managed to nail, dent or destroy over the years.Except every sand trap and body of water within reach.
Hey asshole, I played the caracas during Copacobana on that tour....
Yeah, um... VA
I think he means YOUR first gig
Mine was a high school talent show, like many others.
First paid gig was a frat party on the UW campus.
First club gig was the famous Astor Park in downtown Seattle where U2 played, that no longer exists.
Barry Manilow..
By the way, it should be in the fookin' Geetar forum then.... :tongue0011:
Hey asshole, I played the caracas during Copacobana on that tour....
Is that what mommy told you to call them?
and then in late 1985, VA went on to play cowbell with Blue Oyster Cult on the Casino Circuit
LOL, honestly, the only thing I remember about that night was that for the encore, Manilow came out in a Bradshaw jersey, that made my night...
as if barry had ever watched football in his life....LMAO
Stage Manager: Barry, put this on.
BM: WTF is this? I'm supposed to change into my Carmen Miranda Outfit now.
Stage Manager: Guys will think it's hot, especially the little kid in row 6 with his mom.
BM: Okay!!!
Theater, art, music, writing or film?
My first was painting for theater.
My first film that I remember was a patient for a documentary.
One of my most memorable was my first original music gig. We took the stage and a huge freak wind storm happened and literally blew us off stage.
first writing gig was an article for a jerk that had academy voting and the fucker still gave me bad heat. He had asked me "out" and I said no. May his dick require medication. Amen.
Did I miss something? Oh well, I forget.
Do I have to?Got any good gig stories, or just want to reminisce?
Please do!
Ok, ok...
First gig, with a band, was at the local youth hall almost a decade ago.
It was one of those places which had a bigger ground level area, with a decent stage, and a tiny upstairs cafe-type area.
For some reason, the organizer had decided to put us upstairs, while running a "disco" downstairs. So we had to cram our stuff in one little corner.
Drums, amps... and a shitty little portable "house PA-system".
Our bassplayer at the time had gotten the idea to dress up exactly like his older brother, circa 10 years earlier. Biker jacket, black Levi's... and white shoes that were quite visibly too small for him. He took the shoes off halfway through the set...
Gets better, though. The organizer had set up some tables in front of us, to place the PA upon. Only problem was that the kids misunderstood the idea of this as being some sort of area they shouldn't get too close to.
(Ok, so we also played loud... Big deal.)
Played the set, got enough money to get a twelve-pack for celebration, got drunk later on.
Good times...
Why settle for something you have, if it's not as good as something you're out to get?
It's like putting up a YouTube of Bach and playing Chopstix on your Bontempi...
That is fuckin' hilarious!
You're from south Fla., and you didn't take Clapton's advice?
when your day is done, and you wanna run.. you know the rest...
I take it Mr. Furnier was fairly generous?
:tongue0011:
My first gig was at a party and I was quite drunk at the time. I was basically singing some random shit since it was just a jam, all I know is that I did this Halford-style scream so fuckin loud that you couldn't hear the guitars.
I can relate to that...although I never played in any talent shows while I was still in, I met about 3 damn good musicians while I was still in...
I got a late start...I was always a perfectionist...I didn't really have the confidence to get up in front of people until I thought I was ready.
So when I got out, the barband scene was still popping, and by Dec. '91, I was working with a great drummer, who was looking to jam. He'd been out in LA playing with a band who decided to fire him because of his lack of "dedication", which meant he wasn't willing to throw down a ton of cash for the bands new P.A. system....the guitar player was on heroin most of the time.
So he came back to Ohio, we met, we jammmed, then another guy comes back from Cali that he knew. He played lead....he was great IMO...I think he's still out there somewhere.
Anyway, we work up a songlist, find a douche of a singer, and get our first paying gig...at a house party.
Long story short, there was a fight, someone was stabbed, the police came, I was holding an 8-ball, and climbed up on the roof of this 3 story house and hid from the law until the coast was clear.
We were in the middle of "Wasted" when the shit hit the fan....
My first gig.
Oh, and we did it without a bassplayer.
We put this band together from all the best players in high school.........none of us had played together in one band but we all had been in different bands together at one point......we had a week to rehearse and get ready to play in front of the entire school for an assembly, it was senior skip day and to placate the other grades they had this assembly.
To add to the shear panic of playing songs in front of 800 or so kids.......literally, 30 seconds before we started playing the a teacher came up to one of the guitarist and said something........the rest of the band huddled around.......they broke the huddle and looked at me.......The bass player came up to me, leaning over the drum kit(pictured above from that gig) "Hey dude, they want us to play for an extra 5 mins and since we don't know any other songs, do a drum solo, now" Holy shit! I turned to a buddy of mine, behind my drums and said, "tell me when 5 mins are up starting now" What do you do when all eyes are on you? You guessed it! Start cranking those double bass drums and hope for the best.......I put that kit together with everything I owned, was trying to rip off Neil Peart at that point of my 17 years on the planet earth, I played every fucking one of those drums and got a standing ovation! More because I beat the shit out of those fuckers, out of shear panic!
Anyways, I ran across this picture from that day..........We played; Run To The Hills, Talk Dirty To Me, School's Out, Shake Me, one guitarist did The Star Spangled Banner, the other one did Eruption and we ended with You Really Got me........the singer blew his voice out during Run To the Hills
That was my first real time playing in front of a ton of people!
E- Jesus . Playing both sides because he didnt understand the argument in the first place
hahaha!
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