Neophyte Drummer, that is I!

A few weeks ago, my band, ClapAmp (version 2), performed for the first time at a houseparty. We were the headliners of the evening. The first group, Buttersmooth, had their shit the most together of any of the bands that played. I enjoyed their set completely but they could not have any been more different than us even if they had made a conscious effort to be. Their music was quiet, folky and acoustic, while our’s was loud, experimental and electronic. They all had tattoo’s while none of us have ever been penetrated. They all hailed from the southeastern US, all of us are north/westerners. The list goes on… The only similarity between us that I could detect, besides being friendly, was that they were also “virgin” performers that night.

I’m pleased to say that our set was a success, epecially considering the difficulties we encountered. A success to us, specifically, was that few heads were bobbing and people were polite enough to clap. Jane said she liked it, and not just in a supportive, dependent partner way either.

Pat, our “frontman” had a hell of a time! His guitar stopped outputing a signal, for whatever reason, right in the beginning of the first song so he had to do the rest of our set on his alternate guitar that was only tuned for half of the songs. Man, the rock gods were not with him; he hasn’t been making enough sacrifices (i.e. smashing guitars) I suppose! Solid troopster, he was, and he did his best with the other guitar while his vocals and effects control remained strong. He bravely pressed on to the end of the set without losing enthusiasm.

Matt, our keyboardist, is a rock (thank god) and seemed to enjoy the experience thoroughly. He is definately one of those people who are fortunate enough to shine when he knows that the attention is on him. For his appraisal of the event check out: PERFORMANCE

I, myself, was quite nervous and I didn’t realize how hard I was pounding the drums until my hand started cramping up (luckily near the end of the set). My nervousness did impair my drumming ability, but only slightly. I couldn’t stay as relaxed as I needed to be. ClapAmp’s songs are quite fast, (that’s just how we do it up in this piece…) and the set was (and continues to be) a workout for me. During our performance I fatigued much earlier than I usually do during practice; my anxiety induced from my self-consciousness I attribute to be the cause. Playing out for the first time taught me not to attempt what I do during practice, during shows. While I cannot honestly have called my first performance playing the kit ‘fun’, I did get a charge from it, corny as it sounds, and look forward to playing out again.