Club Transmission

[realexplodingcat]

Another addition to my diary of posts about playing with the band Silent Muse. Stuff I'd like to remember. But this night was so much more than just my band. We played at a new venue. A big show to benefit The Dawning, the currently homeless club night where we got our start. Much to say.

Last night was the benefit for The Dawning (local goth/industrial club and home to several local bands) as well as a trial run for using a particular space as a potentially permanent location for a new music venue. I was downright impressed. I'm so proud of my friend xiane. She has a vision and an unquenchable desire to fulfill that vision. This was a large step in the right direction. Of course, she couldn't have done it without the amazing generosity and support of local music fans, whose cooperation and dedication to the event was also impressive. I contributed through a Silent Muse performance. Time and energy permitting, maybe someday I can do more. But until then I'm happy to quietly lurk and listen in on any planning meetings to which I'm invited because I'm absolutely intrigued by the potential of Xiane's vision and I wish to watch it grow.

If I wasn't paying attention to details and didn't know about all the behind-the-scenes effort going into this event, I could have mistaken it for an already established club night. From my observations the location seemed perfect--from the courtyard outside, to the built-in ticket booth, to the large empty room painted black and garnished with a few choice graffiti pictures, to the green room (that's actually painted green), to all the nooks and cranies and closets and dark corners I could find to explore. It's all there, before we even showed up. Xiane and crew dressed it up with a handcrafted stage, PA system, stage lights, and a bar. Add nearly 200 dark music lovers, including two dj's and four bands, and you've got the most exciting moment (in my opinion) in Charlottesville's local music scene since I moved here.

Silent Muse had the opening spot, playing around 10pm. I need to mention again about how nervous I was NOT. This still continues to surprise me. After only three performances, it just keeps getting easier to get up there and play. We did a short set, due to the number of bands following us. I'm pleased to note that I played entirely without referencing sheet music. I finally have all the toughest parts of a certain song memorized. So, lights were not an issue for me. I didn't need to see well enough to read. The lighting was quite sufficient. I didn't play perfectly, of course, but I think I recovered gracefully. I'm also pleased to note that I didn't trip over anything and destroy the equipment on stage. With four bands playing, there was a ton of stuff sitting on stage. I didn't have a lot of room to work with and found myself surrounded by speakers, pedals, other keyboards, and wires that were sometimes stretched and hanging an inch or more above the stage near my feet. A necessary evil of being an opening band, I suppose. solieri added some additional color to the show by asking our man with the guitar, nothingoth, to marry him...offering his own grandmother's engagement ring during a quiet part in the middle of the first song. Nothingoth responded with a guitar solo. For a joke that probably can't quite be explained...you had to be there...the opening sequence of the song Solieri was interrupted with a few bars of "Age of Aquarius," which also came back to haunt us as I finished a piano solo on the last song. While we received a good amount of praise and people genuinely appeared to enjoy the show (we even made some contacts that could lead to out-of-town gigs), I did get a small number of honest opinions about the sound. Apparently, it didn't sound as good as previous shows. Wasn't mixed quite right. I'll talk about that later. While it didn't feel like our best show, overall I enjoyed playing this show most of the three in which I've performed. The special event made it all the more...special. And it was very cool to play with so many other bands.

Other bands included Heretics in the Lab (from Virginia Beach), Terminal Ready, and In Tenebris. I had several opportunities to hang out and talk with some of the guys I know from Cville. I remained rather shy with the Heretics because I don't really know them, but I frequently did exchange words with the roadie/va-beach-promoter that tours with them (I met him last week at another Heretics show).

Terminal Ready played second. I had been on my feet since I arrived for soundcheck around 6pm. So, by the time my set was over around 10:30 I needed a place to sit. The make-shift club was a bit short on seating. So, I crashed in a dark corner off to the side of the stage. I probably looked like some tortured artist who can only muster enough courage to be around people when he uses the stage to bare his soul. Not true. I was just tired and the floor was looking comfortable. Terminal Ready rocked. It occurred to me what it is I like about them. Sinister grooves. They have sinister grooves. Those are the two words that come to mind to capture what I think is unique about them. briskpepper was amusing, as always. He's got a wonderful gift for between-song banter. I think he was drunk.

Heretics in the Lab brought the noise in their usual style. They can be tough on the ears, but I like them. They have a very professional feel. They always sound good. It looks like they put thought and effort into creating a total package for their art. The look, the music, the clothes (or lack thereof), the smoke, the stage decorations, the writhing around on the floor and shrieking. I like them for the same reason I had to leave the room halfway through their set. They're brutal, harsh, and intense. I respect that kind of bold usage of noise and ugly. But after playing my own set and sitting through Terminal Ready, I needed to give my head a break.

In Tenebris was excellent. I have seen them several times before, but last night was the best performance which I have attended. They sounded great, significantly better than when I saw them a week ago. The lovely Christina looked quite stunning in her sparkling dress and her singing sounded better this time. Usually, there are only a few In Tenebris songs that have vocal melodic hooks that really appeal to me. However, I was hearing beautiful melodies in all the vocal parts last night. I don't know, maybe I was just paying better attention. Maybe it was that dress. rozzgoth and xzar also played well. The details of their playing really seemed to stand out to me, too...but they weren't wearing dresses. So, maybe I should thank a superior sound mix for enabling me to catch all the nuances. Either that or the shot of Jägermeister I did with briskpepper was giving me the aural equivalent of beer-goggles. Either way, In Tenebris was great. They were quite worthy of having top billing.

I thought the show was very successful. I certainly hope there is more in store for The Dawning's future.

** A note about the live sound of Silent Muse for those inclined to read about it. I want to mention this as a note to myself and a reminder to bring it up to discuss with a few people. One thing odd about last night was that the guitar was going through a different amp than usual. Nothingoth seemed a bit unsure of how best to use this borrowed amp...a quite powerful amp, I should say. However, overall, I'm starting to suspect that I could be part of the problem, too. Consider what we've got. Vocals are going through a vocal processor. I need to confirm with Nothingoth, but the guitar has effects applied to it that I suspect include some compression to even out the dynamics. The pre-recorded sequence is pre-mixed and plays at a fairly consistent volume. Then there's me...I'm sending the raw signal from two keyboards. You might actually consider me to be playing half a dozen or more instruments because I use different sounds for different songs. The volumes are sometimes dramatically different. I try to adjust the volume on my side to keep things consistent, but I'm not confident I can do it perfectly. Even more of a problem, keyboards are touch sensitive electronic instruments based on the piano. Full name of the piano? Piano-Forte. In English, that's Soft-Loud. You can play it as light as the falling snow in the higher notes, or as loud as thunder in the lower frequencies. The piano is one of the most versatile and dynamic instruments ever created. And I love to play it dynamically. I'm very happy that some of our songs provide me with the opportunity to play more than just holding down one or two notes for four beats at a time to add background texture. I get to play a lot of notes sometimes. And we expect our poor sound guy to keep on top of the raw signal of me playing multiple sounds off of two keyboards throughout a show? So, I did a little research, and I'm thinking it might improve the balance of our sound if I send my keyboard output through a compressor/limiter. Since I'm not playing solo and I'm not a computer, I think we may need some help taking the edge off the dynamic volume of my pianoforte-like instruments. They would probably be a lot easier to fit into the mix if the sound engineer could expect a consistent output. Although my research has nearly convinced me, I've got several people I want to bounce this idea off of and see if this makes sense, because I'm still fairly new at this live sound thing.

Comments

[xiane.livejournal.com]

First... you make me blush. Thank you for all the support. I don't see myself as having vision so much as determination. That's the spot for us. We need a new space. We're going to get it, or I'll fuss and fight until we get our way. :D

I think you're dead-on with one of the sound issues. I know from that abortive attempt I had at running your sound at The Rose, I had a bitch of a time getting the keyboards flush with the rest of the sound. I'd talk to someone with more experience than I, but that seems like a correct assessment to me.

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Glad to hear you're determined to get that space. That place felt great.

Yes, that soundcheck and it's problems are still fresh in my mind. I remember hitting those low notes and suddenly my piano was the loudest thing in the room. Later, during the show, I even adjusted what I was playing, avoiding the low notes. But there's only so much control I can have over that instrument before the mechanics of controlling its dynamics for playing with a group become a hindrance to my performance. I have list of folks I want to talk to about it. But I'm pretty sure adding the effects unit would make things easier.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

I think he was drunk.

HTML should have an understatement tag.

[joecarnahan.livejournal.com]

briskpepper was amusing, as always. He's got a wonderful gift for between-song banter. I think he was drunk.

Say, do you think that there might be a connection here? ;-)

In Stu's defense, he actually appeared to be less drunk on stage than he was at TR's last Dawning show. But regardless, if fueling up on Jager is what he's got to do to give a good show, then more power to him.

[brokenme85.livejournal.com]

YAY JAGER!!!!!!!! :D

ps: im adding you... its meredith

[joecarnahan.livejournal.com]

Hello! *waves*

Consider yourself added as well. :-)

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

His intoxication was contagious. Although not usually a drinker, I did do a shot of Jager with him. I still believe that stuff tastes like NyQuil, but I don't mind a shot with friends every now and then.

[joecarnahan.livejournal.com]

Hey, NyQuil is good shit, man... Well, OK, not the taste, but the effect's about the same as Jager, so I guess the comparison works after all.

I'd have been over there doing a shot as well, except I'd already had more beers than someone who was eventually going to drive home later probably should have had, and so I was trying to lay off the alcohol at that point...