Schrodinger's Cat

debrief

That was one of the weirder nights I’ve had – the first time I’d played in front of my parents for a start. I told them they should come see the show in March when it’s all together, but they decided to come over for this one. They brought earplugs luckily. It definitely wasn't their thing, but they were able to acknowledge that it had structure & dynamics and took a lot of work to create.

The music was great, not perfect but pretty damn shit hot. We’re onto something, and it’s not just an imitation of what Jeff Henderson, Campbell Kneale et al have been doing so well for years. Ascension Band’s the next generation, partly hence the name, and we have a different approach and an original sound.

So nothing to worry about there - we proved to ourselves that we can play genuinely new & important music and get it pretty together. On the other hand everything else was a bit rusty. The musical centrepiece was all there but the whole thing needs work to come together as a show. Last night felt like a dress rehearsal. That’s OK, one of the main intentions behind last night was as an opportunity to make as many mistakes as we could so we don’t have to make them again at Fringe time. Quick list:

a) Still setting up at the nominal showtime of 7.30. Need to get there earlier – 6pm rather than 6.30, since of course some of us were actually arriving at 6.50.

b) Unable to soundcheck beforehand because of a group having a meeting in the next room – make sure we don’t clash with anyone else, since we do put out a fair bit of volume.

c) Stage lights too bright – bring gels.

d) Drunken Japanese vocalist – give him clear instructions not to drink beforehand. Atsushi’s been great at the practices, but he was just too loud this time (I had to turn him down on the amp eventually) and didn’t fit in all the way, and missed a couple of Nigel’s cues. And was it really necessary to get naked at the end? I don’t think anyone was offended, or if they were too bad, but it just seemed a bit tacky. Stripping off in the heat of a performance in a bar setting while the band are fully rocking out could be great, but doing it as an afterthought (or encore?) while we’re packing up’s not the same. Alcohol’s a social drug; a solo drunk is just embarrassing. There was an interesting awkward comedy moment at the end when Atsushi tried to talk to my mum about music – she said she likes ‘easy listening’. Which Ascension Band isn’t…

e) Other band members (myself included) going out the back to smoke pot before playing – probably glaringly obvious to the audience what was happening. If it helps the music then I don’t see anything wrong with it, so long as it’s not a crutch or an everyday indulgence; the legal situation is purely arbitrary. But we could be a bit subtler about it.

f) The opening acts need to flow better. The plan was to start with Nigel playing piano while people enter, but the piano was away for maintenance. It should be back when we do it again. I got Craig Ireson in to do a couple of poems, so he did a quick preview of his own Fringe Show and seemed a little rusty. Early days though, no biggie. Then I did a solo acoustic rendition of ‘Summer Skin’ off Loose Autumn Moans – and stumbled through. A pity since the previous night at Photospace I’d nailed it. My guitar playing’s always been my Achilles Heel – I’m fine at free improvising, but when I have to play a chord progression or melody my shortcomings become apparent.

g) Nigel forgot to bring the microphone for his minidisk recorder. Recordings of the shows are essential, since there’s a brilliant album in there which the international music underground should recognise even if the locals let it all go past. I got a Dictaphone recording of this one, but I’d imagine it’s just a big roaring noise in mono with no bass and a lot of tape hiss – certainly nothing of releasable quality. In a way it’s ok since this show was a practice – means we have to keep going and see it through.

h) $35 door take, or seven people paying – need way more people to come. This could be the hard part. Once we subtract the cost of posters and the hall hire, we made about an $8 loss. The single biggest expense is the $140 Fringe registration, and then when we do the show again we’re going to have to absolutely promote the hell out of it. I haven’t done this before so I don’t know at what point it becomes worth paying for advertising, because an alternative is to keep it low key – the overheads aren’t that bad so we could get away with modest promotion & small audiences. It will be a challenge just to break even though. There’s the melancholy awareness that with this kind of music, no matter how good we get it’ll never draw a huge crowd. At least I’m improving from the Thistle Hall show I organised last year which lost $60 (and went unrecorded). I’d never let lack of money prevent me from doing what has to be done artistically, but it would be nice to not be the one paying for it always.

It’s an odd feeling having the shows for this month out of the way – I’m actually kind of relieved. The all-consuming attention the music requires can really mess with the rest of my life. I’ve barely been looking for a job since finishing the course and my bank balance is drying up. The Fringe Festival is going to be an even bigger commitment, but I’ve got the first stage out of the way and assembled the above list. For the Fringe it’ll be a matter of timetabling – I should have a job, and it’ll be one of those intense but manageable times that are so stimulating.

The rest of the evening after the show was a bit of a letdown, maybe something to do with the weather. The after-party didn’t happen. I was dropping off Miles and his drumkit and met a woman wandering around the street. She asked if I had any spare shoes as hers had broken, and was walking barefoot. Being an unusual request I decided she could have my old sneakers that I never wear and gave her a lift up to my flat. She had more requests – socks, cigarettes, alcohol, painkillers, a jersey, a ride (except she wouldn’t say where to). It was a cold night so I loaned her a jersey that I probably won’t see again. I drew the line at buying her cigarettes or booze but offered a cup of tea which she declined. I don’t know if she was expecting me to try and have sex with her, but I wasn’t going to make any moves. I gave her a lift, except without directions it turned into a circuit round the block. I offered to let her stay the night but she declined and we went separate ways.

I went into town to meet Nigel at Indigo and see a metal band. Metal’s like a foreign language to me. I could see what the band were doing, but it didn’t touch me. I also went to Good Luck bar where there were a range of beautiful & unreachable women. I danced for a bit but it was just the usual nightclub pop song crap they play every other night, and my heart wasn’t in it. I was probably giving off pheromones that said so. And then there was the band at Matterhorn doing an offensively bland & inoffensive 12-bar shuffle - Mum probably would have enjoyed it. I got bored and went home, and the rain was pissing down along the way.

So back to my flat, and ‘the womanless bed’ in George Orwell’s perfect phrase. I don’t feel any interest in casual sex these days, could be a sign of getting older. Wish I had a girlfriend to snuggle up to though…

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Posted by fiffdimension at December 19, 2004 10:29 AM | TrackBack