The Band Plays on at Carnivale
So, my band - Colossal Inertia - played as part of the 'Carnivale' at work. The whole event was very neat - entertainment, games (balloon pop, coin toss, hoop shoot, life-size Operation), food (corn dogs, kettle corn, funnel cakes). We went on 3:30ish.
The stage setup (primarily through the work and design of Aaron Florez) was great. We were playing on a half-circle concrete slab, about 15 foot radius. We populated it with 3-sided pyramids, cardboard painted black - 12 of 'em at 7' tall, another dozen at 3' tall. Then 4 stage risers, wooden, painted black with an orange swirl painted on the platform, skirted with black, and a 2' skull face in the front, with fog machines routed through the mouth. Then costumes - Aaron as a goth reaper, Linda as a pirate, me with a viking helmet, Jimmy the Rabbit. His rabbit getup was wild - an oversized helmet, wrapped in silver duct tape, with glowing eyes, and LEGO ears that clicked and spun, and also a photosensitive theremin for the nose. So, we were ready to play.
It started with a noisy bass solo. I did some slap stuff and tapping up and down each string on the Stick. In retrospect, not a very effective intro - it just didn't grab the attention. Then into an instrumental with noisy accompaniment. Crazy part of the story - after the song, Aaron jumped off the riser and sustained a foot injury (but kept on, rock hero style, more later). Then a vocal song, another with loose backing. Then a switch - we had a plan to incorporate 'bumper music' between the songs I switched instruments on, a repeated riff for a minute or so, and we played movie sound bites on top of it (played by a 'random song generator' Shockwave project Jimmy did). A little rough - I had to start and stop the generator, and sometimes the song didn't go long enough to cover til I was ready to play.
Anyway - third song - I played banjo, it was a Pirate-type shanty. Played in front of a mic, which was a bit awkward as I couldn't move too much. An aside here - this was the first time I had sung into a mic, playing simultaneously. Though my singing was one of the elements I was most nervous about, I think it came off smoothly, though it was awkward for me to keep track of everything going on - singing, listening to my vocals (again, complicated by lack of monitoring), playing accurately without being able to look at my hands, listening to the rest of the band, bantering with the audience, and keeping the whole thing on track. The audience, such as it was - afterward many people said they heard at least some part of the show and enjoyed it (doubtless enhanced by the visual art of it), but as far as I could tell there were only about 4 people at the front of the stage.
Next was a switch to guitar (had my 12/6 doubleneck), we played a heavy metal instrumental, cadenza'ing & crossing right into a vocal ballad (a la "Court of the Crimson King" into "I Talk to the Wind", or "Why Go" into "Black"). Then a punk song where I improv the lyrics, with a shouty chorus and over-hyphy guitar solo. Then a switch back to Stick, into Cave Bear (which I co-opted from my previous band, Ichabod Crane), and finishing with a 'lullaby' with a harpsichord-like ostinato and lyrics inspired by an e.e. cummings poem. I even throw a loop into a phrase sampler, and do a Theremin solo to close it out (though I must admit I screwed up the timing on this loop, and threw the drums off for the last 2 minutes of the song, ugh). La Fini.
Overall - superfun to play, and the stage setup looked supercool, but very difficult to hear each other (no monitors to speak of), and we were spaced out a bit widely - we missed cues, but kept it together and soldiered through for about 40 minutes. Really loved playing with them - Aaron Florez on guitar, Linda Bork on violin, Jimmy Maidens (there's a rock star name) on V-drums and electronics. I wasn't really nervous about performing (usually don't get any 'stage fright', I let the music speak for itself) but I was a little uncertain as it was my lead vocal debut, and as frontman I need to work on my crowd banter. I even practiced, on the commute with the set as an iPod playlist, stopping between songs to talk. Remembered most of my shtick, but I forgot to thank Carol and Chris who helped build the stage, and I forgot to introduce the band! Which would've been useful information - in the costumes, a few people actually didn't know who the playas were! So, great if inauspicious start, and we're planning on playing more! So watch for notices from me about upcoming gigs, and follow our mySpace! Photos soon too.
Oh, in the aftermath - the fall Aaron took jumping off the riser on the 2nd song was pretty serious - he broke his foot and ankle! It was swollen badly after the show, but he said it wasn't very painful, but on Monday he found out the truth. So, he'll be off it for a while, but good luck to him, and kudos for the rock-n-roll spirit!
The stage setup (primarily through the work and design of Aaron Florez) was great. We were playing on a half-circle concrete slab, about 15 foot radius. We populated it with 3-sided pyramids, cardboard painted black - 12 of 'em at 7' tall, another dozen at 3' tall. Then 4 stage risers, wooden, painted black with an orange swirl painted on the platform, skirted with black, and a 2' skull face in the front, with fog machines routed through the mouth. Then costumes - Aaron as a goth reaper, Linda as a pirate, me with a viking helmet, Jimmy the Rabbit. His rabbit getup was wild - an oversized helmet, wrapped in silver duct tape, with glowing eyes, and LEGO ears that clicked and spun, and also a photosensitive theremin for the nose. So, we were ready to play.
It started with a noisy bass solo. I did some slap stuff and tapping up and down each string on the Stick. In retrospect, not a very effective intro - it just didn't grab the attention. Then into an instrumental with noisy accompaniment. Crazy part of the story - after the song, Aaron jumped off the riser and sustained a foot injury (but kept on, rock hero style, more later). Then a vocal song, another with loose backing. Then a switch - we had a plan to incorporate 'bumper music' between the songs I switched instruments on, a repeated riff for a minute or so, and we played movie sound bites on top of it (played by a 'random song generator' Shockwave project Jimmy did). A little rough - I had to start and stop the generator, and sometimes the song didn't go long enough to cover til I was ready to play.
Anyway - third song - I played banjo, it was a Pirate-type shanty. Played in front of a mic, which was a bit awkward as I couldn't move too much. An aside here - this was the first time I had sung into a mic, playing simultaneously. Though my singing was one of the elements I was most nervous about, I think it came off smoothly, though it was awkward for me to keep track of everything going on - singing, listening to my vocals (again, complicated by lack of monitoring), playing accurately without being able to look at my hands, listening to the rest of the band, bantering with the audience, and keeping the whole thing on track. The audience, such as it was - afterward many people said they heard at least some part of the show and enjoyed it (doubtless enhanced by the visual art of it), but as far as I could tell there were only about 4 people at the front of the stage.
Next was a switch to guitar (had my 12/6 doubleneck), we played a heavy metal instrumental, cadenza'ing & crossing right into a vocal ballad (a la "Court of the Crimson King" into "I Talk to the Wind", or "Why Go" into "Black"). Then a punk song where I improv the lyrics, with a shouty chorus and over-hyphy guitar solo. Then a switch back to Stick, into Cave Bear (which I co-opted from my previous band, Ichabod Crane), and finishing with a 'lullaby' with a harpsichord-like ostinato and lyrics inspired by an e.e. cummings poem. I even throw a loop into a phrase sampler, and do a Theremin solo to close it out (though I must admit I screwed up the timing on this loop, and threw the drums off for the last 2 minutes of the song, ugh). La Fini.
Overall - superfun to play, and the stage setup looked supercool, but very difficult to hear each other (no monitors to speak of), and we were spaced out a bit widely - we missed cues, but kept it together and soldiered through for about 40 minutes. Really loved playing with them - Aaron Florez on guitar, Linda Bork on violin, Jimmy Maidens (there's a rock star name) on V-drums and electronics. I wasn't really nervous about performing (usually don't get any 'stage fright', I let the music speak for itself) but I was a little uncertain as it was my lead vocal debut, and as frontman I need to work on my crowd banter. I even practiced, on the commute with the set as an iPod playlist, stopping between songs to talk. Remembered most of my shtick, but I forgot to thank Carol and Chris who helped build the stage, and I forgot to introduce the band! Which would've been useful information - in the costumes, a few people actually didn't know who the playas were! So, great if inauspicious start, and we're planning on playing more! So watch for notices from me about upcoming gigs, and follow our mySpace! Photos soon too.
Oh, in the aftermath - the fall Aaron took jumping off the riser on the 2nd song was pretty serious - he broke his foot and ankle! It was swollen badly after the show, but he said it wasn't very painful, but on Monday he found out the truth. So, he'll be off it for a while, but good luck to him, and kudos for the rock-n-roll spirit!
posted by pegasusgiraffe at 2:48 AM
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