First time live on stage

[knoxy]

tThought I would share this story with you.

 

I suppose it all started a good few years ago, my friend played in a band and did quite a few gigs here and there on the local circuit and he enjoyed it very much. After some time the bass player left for another band so him and rest just went to the studio and continued to practice ect, I would sometimes come down with them because the rehearsal room they used had a large comfy couch and i would bring a few beers and enjoy watching them play for a while ect. They then turned round and said why don't i buy a 2nd hand bass and and join them and thought hmm yeah why not since i already could play a few chords on a guitar then the transition shouldn't be too hard. But they're band end up dissolving into nothing and that was the end of that.

 

Fast forward a few years and i finished uni there this summer studying manufacture engineering, However getting a job at the end of it has been impossible. Out of the 30 or so firms iv applied I had one interview and the rest sent the usual letter saying we regret inform you blah blah. So i have been forced to take job in a new McDonalds that opened on the 15th of December 2010. To be fair it isn't too bad of a job, the money isn't great by a long shot but at the end of the day it's a job all the same and there are more people work in it because they are in the same position as me, Right now with the state of the British economy its getting very hard to find a job never mind the job i wanted. So I'm working away through the months and me a few of the lads from work have a night out, at the end of the night (am)wee are all heading home and stand in line at the taxi que, at the side of the cue there is a busker playing and my friend i work with in mcds(Chris)by this time really drunk says to the man "I will give you £5 for a shot of your guitar", so the man give him a shot and to me surprise he was really good on it. Later on a found out that he has been playing the guitar for quite some time.

 

About 4 months after this on a Monday night in mcds I'm in the crew room on my break, the manager walks in with this new guy who was starting the night shift. she introduces him to everyone ect and after a while im getting on good with him, I would later find out that he has been in a few bands as the lead singer on the local circuit but they never worked out. Talking to him I told him the story of how my friend was in a band and i was going to learn the bass and play with them, he then goes on to suggest that maybe i should think about doing that again because him and Chris (the guy who took a shot of the buskers guitar) where going to maybe put a band together and have a good time just playing some clubs and pubs ect and i could play the bass at a basic level, So on the very first rehearsal day i go to the local guitar shop and buy the cheapest bass there for £119 and its a Westfield b1000 witch turned out to be total rubbish but was fine for learning on. the first live gig was set for the 9th of September (just last week) and this gave us around 10 odd weeks too learn some songs, so with some other friend joining (drummer and another guitarist) joining wee had a full band. But at the weeks drew in my nerves where uneasy as i had no experience of playing live and even then i had not played a guitar never mind the bass for around 6 years. So a week before the gig i knew that i had to get a new bass as this Westfield was a pile of crap, so i go into the guitar shop and see it................It stood out from all the rest, a stunning Gibson thunderbird, i was in love.......................until i seen the price and my heart sank. My McDonalds wages wouldn't even come close to covering it and i still had to keep money to live on, so the sales guy takes me over and shows me the EPI version at a very nice £219, i bought it straight away and took it right down to the rehearsal studios.

 

But soon as a start playing the set i start missing notes and couldn't wonder why. Once i took it home i comp aired both basses, and the thunderbirds neck is much longer then the Westfield i had..............Great this is all i need with a week to go i thought. So every day down the studio before the gig wee are running through the set and I'm constantly missing notes, by this point I'm shitting it incase i mess up on stage and look like a right idiot. So the big day comes, wee do our sound check and I didn't miss a beat, I asked the sound engineer if he could turn the bass down a little as it was my first time on stage and 10 weeks ago i couldn't even play the thing and was scared incase I screw up it wouldn't be as noticeable, so he was like "ohh yeah sure no bother", that put my worries to rest a little. So the place is filling up and wee sold quite a few tickets and there was around 180 folk there to see us specifically including half of the McDonalds staff.

 

The lead singer was good friends with the venue as he played it many times and knew the management well so asked if wee could get the center slot of 4th up out of 6 acts playing, the first 2 acts up where some acoustic group up and didn't get much attention, by this time I'm getting nervous and the other band members are excited, I notice that the rhythm guitarist of knocking back beers like there is no tommorow and say to him to calm it down as going up live drunk really cant be good lol, the 3rd band are up and and starting to **** it.......................half way through there set the rest of the band getting there stuff ready. I grab the thunderbird and lead and get ready, my heart was going like a train, everyone said as soon as a start playing I will relax and enjoy it lol. So that band finished playing and wee are up, now iv been watching the other acts the hole night and nobody was close to the stage, everyone was sitting down or up at the bar or just standing about enjoying night.

 

I go up onto the stage, turn round and plug my bass into the amp, the guitarist then says to me "how many people are here to see us" and i said "not sure why"?, he replied back saying there was millions of people around the stage, then I turn round and there are tones of people right up close to stage and I'm like "WTF you better be kidding me on", everyone from McDonalds was giving me the thumbs up and cheering the band on. The singer comes up and says to me "you ready" and I'm like "No" lol. So then the song starts and the first thing i notice is that the bass is up loud (The jerk didn't turn it down), my heart is still racing and I'm concentrating so hard on getting the notes that i don't move at all, all the others are jumping about ect having a good time and I'm shitting it haha. The first song finishes and i didn't miss a note and everyone cheers and claps, the 2nd song starts and like a total idiot i run the verse into the chorus but as soon as i realized what i did i changed into the chorus, I soon begin to relax a little and enjoy the set. apart from the mistake on the 2nd song i didn't miss a beat at all, one thing i notice was that during the rehearsals my wrists started to burn and ache a little towards the set but when i was live it didn't hurt at all, probably because of the adrenalin, The set finishes and I'm so happy, everyone was clapping and cheering, i get off stage and all my pals rush over and tell me how good i did, was a pretty good feeling if not scary for me, and the good part is nobody noticed the screw up i made, probably because the sound was up too loud for anyone to hear anything lmao

 

The next gig is on the 16th of November but its a bigger venue with more acts playing so will me more people watching us as well as other acts, I'm sure my heart will racing there too, but I'm looking forward to it, and so is the thunderbird xD

[eggs]

Cool story

[brianh]

I'm diggin' it man, keep the narrative running....

 

Post some pics if you can.

 

[JtheB]

Good anecdote. Keep it coming!

[Kelvinator]

Knoxy: I've been playing for over 40 years, and my heart rate still goes up a bit every time I go on stage; the first time it doesn't, I'll probably be dead!