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Post by Naitch on Mar 3, 2010 18:03:58 GMT -5
Oh Champ its on now! The night you go on with Kittie is the night I return to stand up! I got invited to the Comedians of Colorado show today! Its a fundraiser for a very talented comedian with some serious hospital bills. Hes a quadriplegic who made audiences cringe every time he went on. I swear every time I saw him perform he was performing just for me. Anyways, the 27th is a big night for us! Bigger for you, you have a chance at success. I got fifteen minutes with so far two new jokes I've made up. One about how Lost will end and the other is about how if we had Twitter through out history.
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Post by Champ on Mar 3, 2010 19:18:26 GMT -5
That's great dude! You seem like you would have a knack for comedy. You have a certain type of delivery with the one liners you throw out on the board where I can tell you have it in you. Good luck man!
Also, I opened up for DRI(I don't know if you remember them) at the Crazy Donkey in Long Island this past Saturday. Dude, not to toot my band's horn but we DESTROYED DRI! We opened up and a good 50 - 75 people were there already. But there were 2 more bands after us palying half hour sets each before DRI. Everyone I talked to after the show told us all the bands should have been opening up for us! That was awesome to hear. It's just crazy to see how packed the place was with over about 400 people for DRI but everyone hanging out earlier in the night really thought we were the best. So hopefully word gets around!
Also that was the BEST place I've ever played!. Sound was sick, stage was huge, and we were like 6 feet above the crowd. It really felt like a concert. They even had us behind a curtain and announced us professionally over a loud speaker and then slid the curtain open as my drummer started the count for the first sound. It was great! It was the first place I've ever played where I got that concert feel. They even had a huge bass cabinet and Amp there for me. So I just had to bring my bass. I've had other clubs where they had the bass amp for me too but these guys actually worked with me on getting the sound I wanted before we started playing too. In other words the sound check was so professional too. Normally my shows I have to carry my amp on stage and play on a floor in front of people. And the palces with stages usually just have us go up and plug in and play.
My old band Heel used to play a place called the Elbow. Room. That was the closest I've played to a place like that. The place with Kittie I have to bring all my gear but I don't care. They're still having my amp go through the PA for a crowd mix anyway.
But hopefully this is the start for good things for you and me dude!
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Post by Naitch on Mar 4, 2010 9:28:24 GMT -5
I had to youtube DRI to figure out who they were. Were you playing at a county fair? ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
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Post by Champ on Mar 7, 2010 15:21:09 GMT -5
You know what's funny dude? I never fuckin heard of DRI either. But, they definitely made some sort of name for themselves because, our previous shows when we were on stage, my singer would say, "come check us out Saturday night February 27th. We'll be opening up for DRI".
After the set, people would be coming up to me and saying things like, "holy shit dude, you're opening up for DRI!?!?! Wow, I haven't heard those guys in years! but that's awesome!"
Like, you, I had to look them up too. But, as far as a county fair, lol it was actually the most professional place I've ever played a show. Then again, I've never played any place that held more than 1,000 people. But, like I mentioned it was a huge stage. We were really high up in the air and it feels good when people are literally looking up to you and moving their heads, getting into it the music. The sound was hot too. My bass sounded fuckin MONSTEROUS! That alone made me get so much more of an adrenaline rush. They had monitors everywhere so I was able to hear everyone in my band perfectly. There was security and a guardrail protecting us(not like we needed it, but that's what I'm talking about with the professionalism).
The best part about it was how people were telling us we should have been the main act and everyone should have been opening up for us. The problem was, every band that night had more of a following than us. But I've been TRYING to fuckin tell my singer, STOP BOOKING FUCKIN GIGS IN MANHATTAN! Manhattan SUCKS!
We played in Manhattan again this past Friday night and we played for like 25 to 30 people. The stage quality sucked and no one in the city gives a shit about rock music anymore. But the people that were there, for whatever reason, gave me some AWESOME compliments after the show. This one guys said, "dude I've been playing bass in bands for 25 to 30 years and I NEVER heard anybody play bass in a rock band like you do". I thought that was so cool. He said I was pulling out fills that he didn't even know was possible to do. Stuff like that makes the bullshit shows worth it.
Meanwhile, when we play in Brooklyn or Long Island, we rarely ever bring a crowd but we gain like 50 to 100 fans because everyone in the place is there to see new bands and good rock music. The reason we have no fuckin following is because we've been playing these shitty manhattan gigs for 2 years. Then as soon as we play one club in long island and one club in brooklyn in the last 2 months, suddenly we're developing a following now. Because of that gig at the crazy donkey, a couple of dudes came out to manhattan from Long Island to see us. You can't build a following in the city. You have to build it in Long Island and Brooklyn. Once you do that, THEN people will follow you to the city.
This past Friday right after I arrived at the club, a dude came up to me, who I never met before, and said, hey you're James right? I was like, uhhh yeah? lol because I didn't know who he was. So he goes, "I gotta tell you man, you sounded AWESOME last week in Long Island." I was like, you were there?! lol But I told him, thank you so much because not a single person knew who I was until we played the Trash Bar in Brooklyn 2 months ago and then the Crazy Donkey in LI last week. Now people are starting to approach me, who I've never met before. But we still played for practically no one because the city turned into faggotville.
So FINALLY, my singer says to me after the Manhattan show 2 days ago, "dude, no more city gigs. After playing Long Island last week and doing this gig now, I realize we definitely shouldn't be playing Manhattan anymore until we get a following from the real rock clubs." I felt like saying NO FUCKIN SHIT! I've only been saying that for 2 years! But I simply said, good! I can't wait to get the fuck out of the city until we develop a following. But the Crazy Donkey show in Long Island revived my spirits and made me see that we can still develop a following. Those city gigs made me so depressed and made me almost want to quit. Thank god for that show last week
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Post by Champ on Mar 27, 2010 14:09:07 GMT -5
Well, I'm on my way out the door to go open up for Kittie and God Forbid. I'm going to try and get my picture taken with the band too. I'll post them here if I'm successful.
I'll post the concert house show results when I get home lol
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Post by Naitch on Mar 27, 2010 15:15:03 GMT -5
Knock em dead! Get the Coyle brothers autographs for me!
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Post by MasterSnit on Mar 27, 2010 17:08:13 GMT -5
Hope it all goes well. Enjoy it.
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Post by Velkontés on Mar 27, 2010 18:02:08 GMT -5
Blah, I'm probably too late to wish you luck. So I hope it went well, Champ.
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Post by Champ on Mar 29, 2010 17:39:23 GMT -5
man it sucked! We got thrown off after 10 minutes because my singer had a fight with Kittie's manager. They bumped our set from 30 minutes to 20 minutes so they can add in another band. So my singer got mad and called them "divas" to his manager.
When we were starting our 4th song, the security guy pulls my guitarists arm off the fret board and says, this is your last one. So he stopped us in the middle of a song. But we started one more and played it anyway. I signed an autograph for one girl and took a pic for another which doesn't happen to to me ever. So that's something good that came out of it.
The worst part about it is we were playing fuckin good too
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Post by Velkontés on Mar 29, 2010 17:59:03 GMT -5
Damn. Sorry to hear that Champ. I was wondering how it went as there hadn't been a triumphant "we rocked" type post.
I guess you can only learn from the experience though. Not to trust the Vince McMahons of the music biz for one.
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Post by Naitch on Mar 29, 2010 19:14:58 GMT -5
I thought you got signed on for the rest of the tour myself. I thought, Finally no more long winded posts out of that ham n egger! ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) Did you get to hang out with God Forbid? They seem like a bunch of fun chums.
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Post by Champ on Mar 29, 2010 22:48:45 GMT -5
God Forbid and Kittie hung out upstairs in the dressing room. We didn't know if it was "appropriate" to go hang out with them because they probably had their own catering and shit.
Funny thing about the black singer from God Forbid. He was sitting in the band's van blasting rap while smoking a cigarette earlier in the night. Then he comes out and belts hardcore lol
We didn't stick around for Kittie. My drummer had a bad day(before the show) and left early. Then, my singer wrapped up our t shirts and cds and left because he was pissed. So I looked at my guitarist and said, fuck this, I'm not going to stand against the wall for another 2 hours just to take band pics with God Forbid and Kitte if half the band is gone already. Plus they probably wouldn't want pics with us at that point. It sucks when you're a victim of circumstance and did nothing wrong all night. I didn't even know why any of it was happening until I packed up my stuff after we finished playing
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Post by Naitch on Mar 29, 2010 23:47:42 GMT -5
Thats rough dude! Hopefully somebody else will come along and give you guys a chance to play with them real soon.
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Post by MasterSnit on Mar 31, 2010 15:10:14 GMT -5
One positive is that you will all have experience of playing a big show now and will have a good idea of what to expect next time.
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Post by Champ on Mar 31, 2010 18:49:45 GMT -5
Well we opened up for DRI in February and it went over really well. The problem with this gig was the place we played at SUCKS. They're unprofessional assholes and this isn't the first time they fucked us.
The first time we played there they totally ruined out stage sound and I played awful because of it. The second time we were supposed to play there the other bands canceled so the club had to cancel us. So they promised us they would make it up to us at the Kittie gig. Yeah, they really kept their word on that one.
My singer is pissed at the manager and the bands. I'm pissed at the club. His problem is he always gets mad at the wrong people. Bottom line, we sold 45 tickets at $15 a piece. So we made them $675. They paid us only $90! Not each, but the whole band! So that's the 3rd time they fucked us. So when they cut us off after 10 minutes and we had a girl pay $150 for 10 tickets, THAT pissed me off more than anything! She and the people that paid to see us got fucked! So I'm pissed at the club
Even though Kittie's manager got his panties in a bunch for a stupid comment that wasn't even said out of anger, the club could have at least said, let them go through the full 20 minutes because it's not fair to the FANS that paid to see the show. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm not mad at Kittie or the manager(he's just a pussbag). Once again, I'm pissed at the club.
So if you guys ever go the "Chance Theater" website in Poughkeepsie, you have my full permission to give them bad reviews. I almost want to sign under annonymously and say, "My friends and I paid $15 a ticket to see Karascene and the club cut them off after 10 minutes for completely unprofessional reasons and I advise anyone never to give the club another damn dime".
My singer wasn't all in the wrong. He shouldn't have called them divas but the club really fucked us anyway. I found out the conversation went like this,
My singer: we made you $675 and people paid $15 a piece for a 30 minute set. Why are we only playing 20 minutes?
Kittes manager(my singer didn't know it was Kittie's manager): because Kittie is scheduled to go on at midnight and they don't want to go on a minute later
My singer: it's only 10 minutes. I don't see why they have to be divas about it
Manager: They're NOT divas!
Then we got cut after 10 minutes
Oh we're still in a good spot! The people that heard the 4 songs we played LOVED it. We got great feedback from the fans and the other bands the opened the night up with us. Also, the Crazy Donkey show with DRI, the club loved us and they're letting us PICK the next national act that comes in to open up for! We got offered and LA Guns gig and my singer asked if we could wait til a band that's more well known and more our style comes in to town. The club had no problem with that. We sold all of our tickets and they pretty much said we were the best band that night. Even better than DRI. So to have the option to pick our National act is very rare for unsigned local bands. So we're still in a good spot!
Also, people know who we are now after the Kittie gig because we're known as the band that "got fucked over". So many people felt bad for us and that's a GOOD thing! There's NO such thing as bad publicity! All that matters is people are starting to know who we are and we're getting even more hits on our website. So it's all good dude! I was just pissed off at the club because I felt bad for the fans, especially that girl that shelled out $150. Man that's just wrong. But at least people are pissed at the club and not us. And hell, if they were pissed at us, like I said, AT LEAST they know who we are now!
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