realexplodingcat | (no subject)

My second show with the band, and my second show ever. Again, we had a questionable sound check. Apparently, this is not uncommon and it's often hard to predict how the show will actually sound without the variable amount of people that will be in the room.

solieri battled feedback while trying to sing. His brother, our sound technician for the show, did his best to balance the sound and eliminate the feedback. Another frightening moment was our test of the song "Sound Decision." Our pre-recorded sequence for that song is very heavy on bass. I'm not sure I've ever felt anything quite like it. I think we may have nearly discovered the "brown noise" as the few people sitting in on the sound check quickly fled from the direct path of the speakers, actually feeling physically ill. The vibrations were so strong and unnerving that I couldn't function well enough to play the song and had a hard time convincing myself that screaming and running would not be part of my performance.

I'm not certain if the mix changed, or all the people in the room helped absorb the sound, but the bass was not nearly as painful to me during the show. Likewise, the feedback didn't seem quite as bad as during sound check. While I did hear some awful noises on stage while playing (that were unintentional), I heard from some audience members that they didn't notice as many problems as I thought I heard. Solieri's brother is good with the sound (he does the final mix of our sequences), so I'm looking forward to hearing a recording of the show because it always sounds different on stage than it does on the floor. I'm particularly curious about the sound of my voice on the few songs to which I added vocals. This was the first time I've ever done any public singing, especially with so much amplification. And I threw in my little Public Enemy, "Bring The Noise" rap into the first song. Totally inappropriate, but it was fun and we don't take ourselves too seriously. I love it when bands surprise an audience with little unexpected moments like that (and we fill our show with stuff like that). Besides, I'm sure

nothingoth would never be satisfied until I did it.

I can confidently say the show was a success. I believe the total count was 141 people in the building. That's nearly a sell out crowd for the Tokyo Rose. Of course, I suspect the reason the crowd was so large was not directly because of us, but because last night was the final live band event before the club night closes. But I think we gave them something to remember. Reporters and a photographer for local city papers were there covering the event. Three local papers (the daily and two weeklies) are covering the end The Dawning, the end of goth/industrial music at the Tokyo Rose. Because we ended up being the last live act, Silent Muse is also receiving attention in all these articles. We even had a photographer taking an appropriately moody picture of us for publication.

I am typically very humble and don't get overly excited about my performance in anything, but I finished that show with the distinct feeling that something important just happened. That

solieri,

nothingoth, and I really pulled off a stunning show. I doubt everybody loved us, but I heard enough praise and congratulations immediately after the show (and later in live journal) to support my feeling of accomplishment. Honestly, I was surprised by the enthusiastic reactions. Since I'm part of the show, I can't really stand outside myself and watch the show. I can't get a sense of that entity called Silent Muse that is a thing greater than the sum of its parts, since I am one of those parts.

Once again, I'm surprised how calm I am before a show. Not very nervous at all. It feels so natural. I get a little jumpy in that last hour before show time, but I've always hated to wait for anything. For those keeping score at home, I only needed sheet music for three songs. To help with the darkness problem, I brought a string of christmas lights. That was not nearly a subtle as I'd liked. The string was a little long, a little too bright, and hung rather haphazardly, as if a spider high on LSD had designed it. But it was a relief to not have to fumble in darkness while switching sounds on the lower keyboard and reading sheet music on those three songs. Hopefully, by the next show I'll have all the songs in memory.

Will there be a next show? Yes. When? Who knows. Now that our home club is going away, we'll have to search around for other venues. In time, perhaps even The Dawning will be revived in another location. In the meantime, I hope we can devote some time to recording some songs and putting out at least an EP album.