It's Saturday night and I'm back before midnight... Well, I guess tonight would be "the ugly."
What a night! I'm somewhat obsessive about checking and double checking, then checking again to make sure I've got everything before I leave. Today, my stomach's been bothering me, not feeling 100%. Guess I wasn't all there, mentally. I probably should have known it was going to be one of those nights when, half way to the show, I realized my capo was still on the mic stand in the studio where I practice. Ok, I only use it on 3 songs, I'll improvise and we'll get through it. Right? Right.
So, I show up to the place around 6:30. I go in to see where we're to set up. Small place, but the bartenders are friendly enough. It'll be fine.
Next sign of the evening - Heath shows up and had just received a speeding ticket! There goes his profit for the night. Oops! Ok, so Heath's nerves are a little rattled as well now.
So, like I said, we set everything up and start our sound check. We get about two songs into it and the bartender comes over and needs to talk to us. I figured it was the "turn it down" speech. Nope... it was the "we were under the impression that you were a classic rock or classic country band" speech. Seriously? Did you not listen to our demo before you booked us? Anyway, the manager was "off duty" but, was sending this poor girl over to tell us that it wasn't going to work. She said the manager said they were already getting complaints about the style of music. Really? There were on about 6 people there while we were checking the sound. Plus, we didn't even play the full songs, we were just getting levels on the sequencing. We explained we did a few classic country covers in our set, but mostly play originals. Should we just try and see how it goes, etc? "Oh, you can't do originals at all. We just want covers. Classic country or classic rock."
Here's the deal about bands that use a lot of electronics and sequencing - we can't just "play" whatever we want on the spot. We play what we programmed for the set. We have some extras programmed in case we get in a mood or whatever, but if it's not programmed, we can't do it unless it's acoustic... and you know how I feel about acoustic LOL.
Anyway, so we're discussing between ourselves, trying to figure out a way to make it work. Our sound is country enough, that we were pretty sure we wouldn't run anyone off, just a matter of restructuring the set list to ease them into us. She comes back again and, you can tell, she's still getting an earful from her "off duty" manager who won't speak to us. So, we asked if we should we just pack up and go? "Yeah, I think that's what she's wanting. She (the manager) thinks you're going to run off the crowd."
So, after an hour drive and an hour setup and running sound, we tore it right back down and packed it up. We never even played a full song. And no, we weren't paid either. "The manager" told her the contract was void because we weren't a cover band that played classic rock or classic country. So, in addition to wasting time, we wasted quite a bit of gas. Oh, and Cisco had turned down another gig the same night. So, he really lost out .
And the icing on the cake... after we're done packing things up, we're standing outside catching our breath and talking for a few minutes - 10 or 15 minutes, somewhere around there - and up pulls a cop. He had received a call that there were some people out drinking in the parking lot. Again, seriously? You cancel our show, then you call the cops on us? The police officer was very nice. We were drinking water, it was all fine. He went in the bar, we talked a few more minutes then left. Fair to say, we won't be back there to play... or to spend money. I don't like to bad talk a place. I really don't, but we kind of got screwed tonight. Generally, if a venue cancels, you at least get half the pay. Not here. If you're in another band and are thinking of playing there, I hope you are a cover band. If not, you might want to re-think.
So, now it's 11:43, I'm on the laptop and we move on forward. Being in a band that does original music is a challenge. We knew it would be and that's ok. We just didn't think a place would book us without listening to us or exploring what we're about. Looking forward to the next show to get the bad taste out of my mouth... and, as Heath said in the parking lot, "Someday we're going to look back on this and laugh."
Stay gold Ponyboys and Ponygirls,
RH
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