Champ's drunken gig

[Champ]

I got SO hammered last night at my show. I was running all over the place, into the crowd, hitting wrong notes, but it was fun. The worst part about it was when my drummer drove me home, I got in the house and when I was in my room getting myself ready for bed, I lost my balance and fell into the bureau lol. I went to get up and I fell on to the floor next lol. My father came out of his room and was like, what the hell is going on? I was like, the rug slipped underneath me and I fell into the bureau. So he repeated me and said, da ruh sliied an you fell unner da bura, because that's actually what it really sounded like.

Now I have to go play again at 5pm! Yay! I'm going to be such a puddle of diarrhea for this gig. It's acoustic(different material, same singer, just me and him on guitar and no one else in the band), so at least I have the option of sitting down and playing. It's going to be much more mellow than last night. My mother still has to drive me to my drummers house to get my car. He wouldn't let me drive home and for a split second I thought he was wrong until I said, "nah doo, I can rive ome(translation, nah dude, I can drive home). When I realized I couldn't even say "I can drive home", I instantly agreed to let him drop me off at home. I say I'll be in bad shape for this gig but once I get there and have ONE beer(that's fuckin it today!), the one beer will straighten me out. My father taught me that say, "take a hair of the dog that bit you and you'll feel better". He's right.

The funny thing is I'm a puker. Last night was the most drunk I've been since KOAG's wedding 2 years ago. Other nights in between I wasn't so hammered but I would still sometimes get sick from drinking. Ironically, last night and KOAG's wedding I didn't get sick at all. I almost got sick the morning after his wedding but I'm fine after last night! I'm just really shot and in desperate need of coffee because I just woke up a half hour ago after getting to sleep at 5am.

As for the acoustic material, that's a side project my singer and I started up with material we used to play before we started writing the heavy shit with the drummer and guitarist we recruited in Karascene. This stuff is still a little rocked out though. Some of it is panty wetting stuff too. My singer basically shows a different side to his vocals and I get to play guitar again! So now I have the best of both worlds. I still don't have set parts written for these songs. I kind of remember how they go. We only had two rehearsals after over a year not playing them and I was playing them on bass then. I think we'll be fine for the most part but I'm definitely not prepared.

After the gig, we're going to the studio to start mixing the album. I guess this is the life of a musician and if I want to make it, I have to start dealing with the hectic schedule now. The gigs we're playing right now are gigs my singer booked so we're not getting paid for those. But the ones we're adding in between are the ones our manager is getting for us. The way things are working out it could actually turn into a career even if we don't make it big

[KOAG]

Don't get ahead of yourself, the booze and drugs should come after you really hit it big. When you're on the road you can get crazy. But till then, you should concentrate on getting the band tight and out-there.

[Champ]

I don't know if you've ever noticed at my shows but I NEVER get hammered when I play. I used to drink a little in excess back in the day like right after I turned 21 but I usually have a 2 - 3 beer max limit before I go on stage. If I'm nervous, I drink 3. If I'm just loosening up I drink 2. The only reason that happened last night is because I got there 3 hours before we went on, the owner gave me a shitload of drink tickets, and was buying us shots. Plus it was Pete's birthday. It was just a huge drinking crowd and a drinking night. I didn't plan on it. But don't worry about drugs and alcohol getting the way of this. Trust me dude, that's the last thing anyone needs to worry about with me. That was just a fluke incident. I don't like when I get that fucked up, period, let alone at a show.
Tonight's gig, I just drank seltzer


SPEAKING OF TONIGHT! LONG CHAMP STORY BUT A GOOD ONE!

the rudest fuckin thing happened to me and my singer. It may have been the blatantly most disrespectful thing that's ever happened to me in my adult years. Anyway, there were these biker dudes, black, Irish, Spanish, just very culturally mixed(mostly black) but seemingly harmless at the bar and I think some sort of cancer benefit in the back of the bar. Before we started our first song, one guy came up to us from the biker group and told us they were all hanging out there because their buddy just got killed last week on his bike and they just came from the funeral home. He said his late friend and his boys there appreciate original material so it was going to be cool hearing an original band for this occasion. So we decided to dedicate our first song to their friend. The guy hit a guardrail and got run over by three trucks after he flew off. It was a horrible story. We played the song and they thanked us and they all pointed up and said their friend's name. It was really humbling seeing that and knowing we were helping these guys deal with a hard time in their lives with our entertainment. Then during the second and third song, they were screaming and laughing instead and it was kind of distracting because we were just doing acoustic, so we weren't loud enough to over power them screaming and blowing off steam. So after our 3rd or 4th song, the same guy from the group walks up to us and says, listen guys we're really sorry, we're being loud and you guys are up here doing your thing and playing great originals and we love it. We're just not in the right frame of minds tonight and we're acting a little crazy but we're loving what you're doing right now. So I said, dude don't mention it. I completely understand. So after a while these guys start walking over one by one back and forth and they're really getting into the music. Most of them were big black dudes too but the were saying stuff like, "seriously this is heartfelt, I love and respect what you guys do. You sound great." They were giving us handshakes and hugs. They just turned out to be such really nice respectful human beings. So far the respect this evening is awesome. Then we said, ok we're going to play another one for your friend. The song was called "Say Goodbye" ironically but it's a nice song. They went to go smoke cigarettes by the door but they were still listening. So as soon as the walked away about 3 quarters of the way into the song all of a sudden these 2 old bitter cunt rags from the cancer benefit walk up to us and start screaming, will you lower your music! Abruptly stopped us in the middle of this song! Completely stopped our set. It was so embarrassing. I wanted to actually punch these women in the heads I was so mad. My singer handled it well though. He said, "I'm sorry you feel that way, but don't you think this is something you can address in between songs if it bothers you that much. We're in the middle of a performance." People are listening to him on the mike telling them this. Then he said, I'm also not in control of the sound. This guy over here is on the board. So the other woman goes, listen we respect that you play your own music but it's just too loud!(two acoustics and 1 vocal, go figure) I just said "respect?" That's all I had because I was speechless. So they are talking to the sound guy now about lowering us and the sound guy said, I'll lower them a little but this is THEIR time and THEIR spot and it's not fair at all to do that to them especially when they have people listening. The sound guy was pissed too. So finally, my singer goes, listen I'll do my best to keep it down. I'm sorry MUSIC is bothering you at a MUSIC show. There were still 2 other bands going on that were definitely going to be louder than us too! I left right after so I don't know how they reacted to that. So they walked away and we sat there for a minute and just stared at eachother and the soundguy. The soundguy was like, I'm so sorry guys. I don't know what to tell you. Then a couple of the black guys came over and were like, what the fuck is up with that? So we just decided, let's move on to the next song and we started playing it, I'm strumming lower and my singer is practically whispering and one of the women walks up to the sound guy again basically trying to get us off stage because it's too loud! So we finished that song and I finally just said, this is very disrespectful! You don't do that during a performance! Then my mother, who was in the audience, never fights with anyone and she goes, "how dare you do that to them?! That is so rude and disrespectful! Then the woman waves my mother off like "fuck you". So now my singer and I are pissed and we can't even remember the set and we screwed up the next song completely but got through it. Then one of the black bikers came up to us and turned around to my mother who was about 20 feet in front of the old cunts and he just yelled, don't worry, they can't help it that they old pregnant doges lol. So we started laughing and it helped get us through because it lightened us up. Then for our last song we just played chords and the black guy that told us about his friend and said the old pregnant dog comment sang a song for his friend to our chords and he had a great voice. When the song ended, I strummed my guitar as hard as I could for 5 seconds to piss off those old fucks. The guy was in tears after singing the song. We shook hands and hugged him and his friends. I almost wanted to cry for them. It would have been such an awesome, humbling event if these two old cuntrags didn't ruin it for us. We almost wanted to leave after they did that but we finished the set for the people that were listening to us because it's the right thing to do. But what fuckin nerve of those cunts.

[MasterSnit]

Yeah, I really cannot relate to people as obnoxious as that. I think my brain simply doesn't work on such a level of PRICK. Even if I was irritated enough by something like that, I might have politely asked to keep the noise down, but storming up and screaming at people is something I would never do.

Champ, your long stories are cool, but it would be better if you spaced them out a little instead of one long line of sentences. I think I read the same line about 3 times reading through that.

And those biker guys sounded cool, too.

[Champ]

Yeah,I really cannot relate to people as obnoxious as that. I think my brain simply doesn't work on such a level of PRICK. Even if I was irritated enough by something like that, I might have politely asked to keep the noise down, but storming up and screaming at people is something I would never do.

That's what I'm saying! Here's a perfect example. The gig we played the night before, the band that was on before us was SO boring and SO long and SO drawn out. We were all drinking, laughing, and getting restless and bored and ready to kill ourselves because the music was so depressing. But if I saw someone go up to those guys, abruptly stop their set, and say,
"you guys aren't aggressive enough! You're putting people to sleep!",
I personally would have 100% stuck up for that boring band and told the person how disrespectful they were for doing that. Those guys were still my piers that night, whether I liked their shit or not. You just don't do that! I still can't believe it! Like you said MS, there's a level of obnoxiousness and then there's down right PRICK or ASSHOLE. Those women could have easily said,
"may we speak to a bartender or a manager? These guys are too loud is there any way they can be lowered?" I still would have thought that was rude since we were booked to play anyway, but to come right up to the stage and scream at us left me speechless. One woman says, "we respect that you have your music". Are you fuckin kidding me! You just disrespected us, the sound guy, the biker dudes listening for their friend, basically the whole bar! But you respect our music? FUCK OFF you old piece of shit. Die in dirt. It wasn't even about the music at that point

The sickest part about that is we were the first band on that night and we were going to be the LOWEST in volume! We were just 2 acoustics and 1 vocal! I almost want to call the club and ask, what happened when the other bands went on? Did those old whores try calling the cops? I would have waited to see how they reacted to the other bands but I was so pissed I just went home.

If they weren't doing a cancer benefit in the back and it was a real club, they would have been thrown right the fuck out!

Champ, your long stories are cool, but it would be better if you spaced them out a little instead of one long line of sentences. I think I read the same line about 3 times reading through that.

I just tried to do that above lol. I tend to ramble on a 5 line sentence like the Ultimate Warrior. It's a bad habit

And those biker guys sounded cool, too.

Awesome dudes! They were the kind of guys that just from meeting them that night and hanging out with them, I already feel like I could trust everyone of those guys with my life if I saw them again. They were such a brotherhood and just looked out for eachother and took care of eachother and they loved us to top it off.

[MasterSnit]

I think groups of people like bikers probably get an unfair reputation. Sure, there will be some of them that are horrible people, but most of them are probably decent guys like you met at your gig.
I wouldn't mind maybe getting a hog one day.

[Champ]

The last party that occurred before my job closed down was about 2000 bikers, 90% black and listening to hip hop. I never made it because the night before was when I killed my back. Out of all the bullshit shows and parties we've had, some drunken assholes got in eachothers faces most of the time. Out of these 2000 bikers there was not ONE fight at all! They all behaved themselves and had a good time. Bikers are brotherhoods man. they're almost like a mafia of nice guys that only take care of people if they really truly need to. Other than that they take care of eachother and the piers around them that aren't even apart of their group. That's why they're awesome

[Naitch]

Theres a biker bar by my old apartment in Colorado Springs and it was awesome as long as you knew enough to show respect (even if that meant just not talking to them). Many a fight night I had with the Booze Fighters.