Play … Rewind … Paused (At The First Show)

The Ford Expedition, a beast of a car, more like a tour bus, drove away with the last eight of our fans from Jammin Java …..

Three hours before, we were waiting in the wings excited and aching to go on stage.

You know that feeling you get when you are waiting in line to pee, and you are one person away, and you think you can’t hold it in anymore, and every second feels like an hour. That’s what it’s like to watch the band before you perform. Well, except for the fact that you don’t want a crowd to watch you pee!

A crash and a cheer later…….. we were on stage. The crowd was ready since the vast majority was there to see Bad Krohma. Some of them had been waiting for a couple of hours now. We were ready for them. We had been waiting for a couple of years ……. 5 booming minutes later we had just ended our first song 2009, and we actually heard them cheering for us. The show was on. Our first gig was a reality!

I stared real hard but I couldn’t make out any of the faces. But music is all about the sounds right? The sounds were beautiful. The sounds were happy. I was supposed to play the guitar behind my back, I didn’t remember to; I was supposed to play the guitar on my knees; didn’t remember that either … All I remember were the notes we played, and notes they cheered.

I’ve been on some sort of stage at least a thousand times now. But, this was special.  Why? After 23 years of playing guitar, and having several people ask for and cheer while I played a song written by one of my idols, here we were playing an hour of our own songs to the same excited response, if not better! Well, throwing in a five-minute medley of Sweet Child O’Mine and Crazy train didn’t hurt either!

Artists sometimes project that it’s all about the art to them. But it’s not. If it were, we wouldn’t leave our basements. But we do. Because it’s all about the audience, the friends, the fans! They came out on a Monday night to see us.  They gobbled up tickets, and won us the headlining slot and an hour show instead of 30 mins. They screamed, they cheered, they congratulated us. We were there too but it was all about the fans.

Their congratulations felt like watching a motorcade of the best cars in the world zoom by. Each one thrills you but your head’s spinning and you can’t focus, you’re just happy to see each one of them, just happy to be there!

The fans are at home now and …… I am still waiting in the wings, excited and aching to go up on stage and play our first show ….

Our first show

The countdown has begun. Four days away from our first big show at Jammin’ Java, a well-known DC music venue. A lot of work has gone into this day. Twelve months of jamming, practicing, song-writing, cutting our teeth on the recording process, learning the ropes of the music business and it comes down to this. The home stretch. The final showdown.

But of course this is only a beginning. If our music had its origins in spontaneous basement jams, then this is where our journey as a band really starts. Connecting with other people, sharing our music with them. Watching faces light up. Hearing an approving roar. All in a day’s work.

Playing live has always been one of my passions. The feeling’s quite unlike anything I’ve experienced. When you plug in your guitar and let the music do the talking, everything slows down to a standstill. The world takes a backseat. The moment becomes a blur and you become one with your true self. The heady excitement, the adrenaline rush, the pulsing beats, the raucous crowds all come rushing in to overwhelm, overpower. Then it’s all over and you’re left teetering on the edge of the void.

I’m sure this time will be no different. Here’s to a great show!