Jeff and Trisha came out last night to the bar to watch me make a fool of myself. Of course, when we got there Jeff ordered a pitcher of beer and got that “lost” look when they asked for his ID. He left it in Callahan (30 min away). So instead of drinking cokes, he took off to retrieve his ID. By the time he gets back, the house band is set up and ready to go.
They break into a few songs and I suddenly feel like bolting through the door. How did I put myself in this position? How am I going to pull this off? How bad am I going to suck?
After the first set a bass player emerges from the crowd and I assume it’s the guy I’m looking for. Before I can talk to him, a guitarist and another drummer sits in and they start playing. OK, looks like I’m off the hook, I guess they already have someone else to play. So now I feel relieved that I’m not going to play but at the same time, I feel like a chicken. This is something I want to do and no one is going to hand it to me unless I get up there.
The house band goes back on and I go up and introduce myself to the bass player as he comes back through the room. He says that he’s been looking for me and we can play after the next set. We’ll start off with “Tommy The Cat”. Well I was hoping to start off with something a little more mainstream? Out of the possible set-list, why’d we have to start with such a challenging song? Now I’m REALLY worried I’ll look stupid…
The second set comes to a close and up we go. I know I didn’t get as much practice with these songs as I’d have liked. I’m sitting behind this guy’s drum set and I’m actually humming a few bars of “Minuet in G”. Professor Harold Hill’s “Think Method”.
I get a feel for the guy’s set. I roll off and hit the basses. Not bad. I can do this. As soon as I start hitting the drums, I feel like I’m where I need to be. No longer nervous, I’m there to play.
They decided to start out with “Blister In The Sun” by the Violent Femmes. Not a big fan of the song but I’ve been playing it this week because he said we might do this one. I missed a break and also forgot to come down at the right spots but I covered well enough. I don’t even know if they noticed. They were trying to find out where they were too. Some people in the crowd were hollering something about the drummer and they weren’t yelling about anyone else so I assume I was playing to one extreme or the other. Was I being praised or heckled?
Next we went into “Tommy The Cat” by Primus. Same deal, I missed one break but pulled that one off well enough I think. It’s so easy to know where you are in a song when it’s playing in your ear. The same notes cue me up and I know when to break and when to come down. Live and with other amateurs, it’s a whole different game. There’s no cue for me. I just have to know when/where to stop. Freaky….
The house drummer uses such thin sticks, they felt like toothpicks in my hands. Half way through Van Halen’s version of “You Really Got Me”, I dropped a stick. I kept going and reached back to pick up a spare. Not too bad…
They threw one at me I hadn’t played before. “Fight For Your Right” by the Beastie Boys. I said I’d try it but don’t expect anything much… I was going along fine and trying to remember how the song ends. I finally remembered and just in time. I brought the song to an end and discovered I did it too soon. I forgot the whole last chorus. I started back up and played it out but man, it was like a crashing a truck. I totally shanked it.
I hadn’t even heard the next song they wanted to do so I stepped down. Enough people were congratulating me that I guess I did alright. The bass player said he wanted to get together later so I guess I’m not as bad as I thought. We’ll see where we go from here…
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