hammer
April 19th, 2006, 06:03 PM
The story goes like this...
About 6 months ago we got a gig at a bar that had a rep for being a bit wild. Anyway we played there and the gig just went off. The place was packed people were shouting out how much they loved the guitar and our vocalist. They wanted to hear extended guitar solos and there was a lot of interaction. Heaps of people were dancing and every time we took a break people wanted to buy us drinks and talk about anything... it was great...
Then we were invited back a month or so later... things were very different. There were a handfull of people there. They just basicly wanted to sit there and look at us... they even asked us to turn down... ouch! Anyway, we wern't playing bad, there was just nooooo atmosphere at all and it was very hard work. The vocalists efforts to get them to respond were not that successful. I got so peeved and disapointed I decided to see if I could get them activated somehow. We had nothing to loose. So I said I'd do a song, I normaly just play guitar, I'm no vocalist. So I got the mic and launched into "Get up Offa that Thing" by James Brown. I put every thing I had into it. It must have looked crazy, with a white guy doing this song with all his heart but it worked. I was getting them to sing along with the signature James Brown grunts and squeals and they were responding with smiles on their faces. They even got up and danced. The night still sucked big time but at least we had some fun. I proved to myself that people respond to you when you give your all and don't take yourself too seriously. I'd hate to see it on video though.
Does any one have a similar story?
About 6 months ago we got a gig at a bar that had a rep for being a bit wild. Anyway we played there and the gig just went off. The place was packed people were shouting out how much they loved the guitar and our vocalist. They wanted to hear extended guitar solos and there was a lot of interaction. Heaps of people were dancing and every time we took a break people wanted to buy us drinks and talk about anything... it was great...
Then we were invited back a month or so later... things were very different. There were a handfull of people there. They just basicly wanted to sit there and look at us... they even asked us to turn down... ouch! Anyway, we wern't playing bad, there was just nooooo atmosphere at all and it was very hard work. The vocalists efforts to get them to respond were not that successful. I got so peeved and disapointed I decided to see if I could get them activated somehow. We had nothing to loose. So I said I'd do a song, I normaly just play guitar, I'm no vocalist. So I got the mic and launched into "Get up Offa that Thing" by James Brown. I put every thing I had into it. It must have looked crazy, with a white guy doing this song with all his heart but it worked. I was getting them to sing along with the signature James Brown grunts and squeals and they were responding with smiles on their faces. They even got up and danced. The night still sucked big time but at least we had some fun. I proved to myself that people respond to you when you give your all and don't take yourself too seriously. I'd hate to see it on video though.
Does any one have a similar story?