Another Show for the Innominate Band

    So, shortly after we played our last show at the Raintree, Brett (he's the bald singer) sent out a text saying he'd been asked to have us play at a ward activity for the Orem College Singles Ward. With this new goal, we went back to practicing, worked on some new songs (not any new songs written by us, of course), and brushed up our stage presentation. 

    After a number of weeks and several practice sessions, the night of "Show Numero Dos" came. I was quite impressed my bandmates' ability to fit the drums, speakers, microphone stands, guitars, and other equipment into their cars. When we got everything set up, we did a couple runs through The Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" to set levels and to make sure we had the song down. Brett decided that he wanted us to play that one only a few days before the show. I, of course, wholeheartedly agreed. By the time we were finishing the song for the second time, people were starting to come in for the ward dinner before the show. 

    I had that weird feeling in my stomach that usually happens before a show, so I didn't feel like eating anything. I sat at a table and talked with Todd, our drummer, who was feeling the same way I was. 

    Anyway, lemme get to the music. Dinner ended, a few more people showed up to hear us play, Brett and Kyle (Brett's younger brother who is our bass player) played "Storm" by Lifehouse acoustic, and then the official show started. We started, and this was my idea, by playing the theme song from The Office. When I hit the last note on the piano, Kyle and Todd started up with the intro to "Starlight" by Muse, which we happened to be playing in the same key as the Office song (G). It was a pretty sweet transition. During the first few songs, "Starlight," "Good" by Better Than Ezra, and "Run To" by Emerson Hart, the crowd was a little quiet. Mostly, they just sat and listened from their seats at the tables quite far away from the stage. We also played Brett's song, "Mr. Lightning" or "Any Last Words" and had a guest singer, Sam Strong, come up and sing "Breathe" by Anna Nalick. Then, we tried to get the crowd into things with "Song 2" by Blur (that's the woo-hoo one). Kyle sang, Austin (normally a guitarist) played bass,  and I played a very messy distorted guitar. By the time we had started "Open Your Eyes" by Snow Patrol, some people had started to come up and sit right in front of the stage. I was playing rhythm guitar on this one, a fairly simple part. As I was strumming away at the three chords, I had a great idea. At the climax of the song, I was going to jump off the stage down to where the crowd was. I checked my wires as the song went on to make sure that when I jumped I wouldn't knock a mic stand into the back of Brett's head or anything. I moved over next to where Kyle was playing and where my cord wouldn't get caught on anything. More people had come to sit close to the stage during the song. Brett sang "Tell me that you'll open your eyes" for the last time before the bridge and I jumped. From where I was on the floor, I couldn't hear the monitors or the mains, so I didn't really even know what I was playing, but I tried to make it look cool. I think we must have repeated the bridge a few times before I was able to hop back up on stage and finish the song. Now we had the crowd into the show. It was the perfect time to play "All These Things That I've Done." I had the electric guitar on my back and started on the piano for this one. I had a little bit of trouble coming in with the opening lead guitar riff after playing the piano, but hopefully nobody noticed. Everybody was on their feet and singing along. I got to sing backup on this song as well, which was a thrill for me. Right when we got to the part where everything drops out except for the guitar, we heard a pop from the amp behind me and the sound from the electric guitar was gone. We scrambled and had Todd play a solo while we tried to figure things out. The amp was blown and I ended up just grabbing the acoustic guitar. Our momentum hadn't entirely died out, and Brett had a little sing along with the audience on the 'I got soul but I'm not a soldier's. When the song was over, the audience wanted more. I pointed out that the amp was blown, but that didn't stop them from loudly requesting an encore. We decided to play our old prom theme song, "Always" semi-acoustic with me on the piano. After that Brett and Kyle did some more acoustic numbers. 

   As I've said before, "What's a show without some mishaps?" They definitely seem to be a theme in our shows. In spite of that, I thought the show was a success and certainly a lot of fun. There might be some videos and photos on Facebook for those of you who missed it.