On the road again II

Well, hello there!

So what’s new with you?

I am fine.

Yeah, so actually, I’m really busy. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks music wise. Let’s run down the insanity:

So last week I was due to audition with a band. Long story short, I put a lot of time into learning some songs, and then the audition got postponed due to a sudden emergency. So that’s on hold.

THEN, last Saturday I had a gig with My 2 Sense at the Zurich (Ontario) Beanfest. Those of you who pay especially close attention to my musical exploits (uh, which I guess is me) will know that I played Beanfest two years ago with Monica Joy, the highlight of which was the septic truck coming in and emptying the portapotties mid-set to the delight of no one.

This year was different: the septic tank showed up while we were soundchecking, to the relief everyone. This truck was not to be outdone, however, and managed to run over the cabling and disconnect all power to the stage. As a result we went on SUPER late and only got to play about half of our songs. The set itself went very well, though. I got to have a really cool conversation with a cancer victim who was really struck by the song “Destiny Rides” which is about a girl dying of cancer (who likes to ride horses and is named Destiny, hence the title).

Perhaps my favourite part of the day was interacting with the “headlining” band. This was some local C&W band with an obscenely long name who were playing three sets throughout the day. We had been told that we could use their drummer’s kit in order to minimize stage setup. Thursday before that he was getting “itchy” and would rather I bring my own kit. Hauling a drumkit 2 hours across the province isn’t high on my list of favourite things to do, so I already have an intense dislike for this guy, but am resolved to be professional.

So I get there and am glad I brought my kit ‘cause his was AWFUL. Must have been around 20 y/o, with a warped 24” x 12” kick (yes, the kick was half as long as it was around). All the toms had only batter heads (no resonant heads to make them sound like anything other than tarps over cooking pots) and the bass pedal had a strap instead of a chain. Oh, and he had ROTOTOMS!!!!! Yikes.

The drummer himself was this 40+ guy with a feathered blond dye-job and grey roots. He was wearing a button down shirt with nothing underneath wide open and it was one of those crazy print-style button downs that you always see kids wearing with Spider-Man, except this one had Snoop Dogg on the back. I so wish I was making this up. He told me he wasn’t “interested” in moving his kit, so I would have to set mine up at the side of the stage. You have to understand that this stage is basically an open side-view of a trailer, so there’s barely room for one kit, let alone two.

The funny thing is, I had visions of this exact same thing happening while I was driving up and I had all these grand ideas about how I would just start grabbing his kit and taking it offstage, all rebel-like. But by this point I had already been in the sun for an hour and saw that there was a crown of 20 pensioners and a couple of families. In short, it really didn’t seem worth it to kick up a fuss. I hope Feather-Haired-Snoop-Dogg-Country-Drummer has a long and successful career as a Rototom solo artist.

Sunday I made the trek to Hamilton to lead worship with Jeremiah’s Big Day Out at Philpott church. It was a lot of fun. A LOT of fun. There’s something to be said about playing with people you’ve been playing with for five years. Everything was smooth bordering on precognitive: I can anticipate where Graham’s going now to the point that he turned around to call a structure change mid-song and I said it at the same time as he did. Doesn’t make a great story, but it makes me happy to be playing, so that’s the main thing,

Have a good week! I’ll check in Friday.