If you're going to screw up, you might as well do it properly :(

Andy, it's definitely time for a cigarette!

Bad luck mate. It happens. I've had similar things happen in the middle of a production I was tech on. We had to stop ten minutes in because the band's electricity went down completely. Turns out some tit had plugged in a fan heater on into what was already a very stressed electrical system. Two kilowatts extra. Bang. Got it going again but that was stressful. That was in front of about three hundred people.

I also once had to fix a PA half an hour before a big Classical concert. I was manically unscrewing and re-screwing and adjusting in front of a full orchestral rehearsal. In the end, I just kicked the amp and instructed that nobody should switch it off under any circumstances! It held through.

It's not a fun game when it all kicks off. Inevitably it all happens at once but just don't blame yourself. You're a professional outfit that can really play and every band - even the most famous and professional have problems from time-to-time. It's not a reflection on you.

Incidentally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Go2DK9VtQ


That might cheer you up.
 
Andy, it's definitely time for a cigarette!

You're a professional outfit that can really play and every band - even the most famous and professional have problems from time-to-time. It's not a reflection on you.

Incidentally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Go2DK9VtQ


That might cheer you up.
hahaha, great clip :) That cheered me up, although our problems were a bit more crappy than a busted effects pedal :(


Bummer, Andy. I hate when that kind of thing happens. Maybe a lot of people had their beerphones on and didn't notice the technical problems.
Out of curiosity, did you guys give the bandmember who bailed a good and proper tongue lashing?
Thanks Mikey, but even beer goggles couldn't mask a 10 minute silence .

Tongue lashing will have to wait. Got another festival gig next week, & a packed home gig the week after. A lashing may risk a bailing session :(

For those marginally curious, here's the gig clips I rescued. Note, much to my surprise, audience reaction at the end of the video.


720p http://youtu.be/KOJYg8z0gw0?hd=1

Low def' for Grea's slow connection ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOJYg8z0gw0
 
Tough break Andy, at least there was still a crowd. I had a similar thing happen to me at a gig last year. My band at the time was young and arrogant enough to think that our previously untested backing track system would work without a flaw. Long story short, it didn't. one of the guitarists amps cut out, but he could still hear himself in the monitors (weird) so we played through about two songs before realizing that the only thing the "crowd" could hear was drums and some incredibly distorted vocals (due to clipping). After waiting for about 20 minutes while the sound techs just sat there confused as to why nothing was working, we actually just decided to pack up and leave. Horribly unprofessional on our part, but trust me when I say there was nothing professional about that gig. haha


Great playing as usual Andy! You guys rock out pretty well for a bunch of brits. ;)

-Jonathan
 
Great playing as usual Andy! You guys rock out pretty well for a bunch of brits. ;)

-Jonathan
Thank you Jonathan :) We Brits have been known to produce a few good rock bands over the decades, just a pity we're not one of them ;) Our guitarist's something else though, in an old school vibe way.

Man, your gig experience sounds dreadful. Walking off the gig completely? Whoops, I can appreciate the temptation, but major no no :(
 
Thank you Jonathan :) We Brits have been known to produce a few good rock bands over the decades, just a pity we're not one of them ;) Our guitarist's something else though, in an old school vibe way.

Yeah I guess there's a couple now that I think about it. But Canada has Nickelback and you can't argue with that. ;)

Man, your gig experience sounds dreadful. Walking off the gig completely? Whoops, I can appreciate the temptation, but major no no :(

Looking back now, I realize how incredibly unprofessional that was of us, but a combination of driving for two hours to get there, having everything start over an hour late and the general not-giving-a-damn mentality of the people working there affected our decision pretty heavily. I'm glad we weren't an established band to be honest. I still get all annoyed thinking about it. The next (and sadly the last) show that band did couldn't have gone better though!

-Jonathan
 
Keep blaming the technology, Andy. We believe you :)
Hahaha, right, that's it, you asked for it ;););)

Low def: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80UGxAb9geU&feature=youtu.be

I'll leave this up for a few days only. There's video evidence of the other crap too, but you get the idea. We kept playing through this, & it was fixed by, yes, you guessed it, the drummer!!!! At the end of this song, I removed the bass DI, took the hihat mic & stand, positioned it on the bass cab, & swapped it out on the stage box. Quick thinking eh!

Yeah I guess there's a couple now that I think about it. But Canada has Nickelback and you can't argue with that. ;)
-Jonathan
Yup, got to hand that one to you Jonathan. Difficult to top that ;)

It doesn't come as a surprise to me Sir Simple... you guys nailed it!
We got there eventually Henri, but we lost a lot of audience momentum along the way. We had a very snappy set worked out, with ultra slick song transitions, & all that work was snubbed by tech issues = double bugger!
 
Yes Steve, it was completely your fault! But I forgive you :) :) :)

Agreed Larry, in fact, difficult to imagine it being worse, although I may regret saying that. I do have some video clips I rescued from this event, but I'm hesitant to post them because you've heard it all before ;)

Hahaha, yes Bob, isn't that always the way it goes? Other bands did have a bit of PA bad connection farting to contend with, but nothing like the total fails we had :( BTW, how did that outdoor jazz gig go?

We do tend to over think these things don't we :( Judging by the audience reaction on our video, I think we clawed it back, although we did completely kill momentum with that 10 minute complete stop - dammit!!!!

Chaps, here's a photo taken during our first song. The audience is just coming in at this point. The back of this tent opens up into another one connected to it, & when we eventually got going, that was full as well. Interestingly, our audience stayed to watch us despite Saxon playing the outdoor stage some few hundred feet away :) My video camera is "gaffered" to the third post back, so picking up the front few rows.

Wow. That guy has four keyboards? Why do I always hear that one bad sounding cheesy organ sound? He must have access to at least 2,000 sounds right there! Jeez....
 
If you guys listened to experimental music with an open mind you would have been much more relaxed :) ... cool farts and burps lending an abstract surrealist element to the song (some of the farts in perfect time too).

Otherwise you guys were sounding great - I can see why audiences saw past the tech issues and dug the band.
 
If you guys listened to experimental music with an open mind you would have been much more relaxed :) ...

Lol...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80UGxAb9geU&feature=youtu.be


We got there eventually Henri, but we lost a lot of audience momentum along the way. We had a very snappy set worked out, with ultra slick song transitions, & all that work was snubbed by tech issues = double bugger!

Got you now... yeah, not very good indeed, very annoying when that sort of thing happen, alongside the failed planned slick transitions, the mud up tp the ankle, one of you stopping... it all add up in the end, and on the spur of the moment, it can feel much, much worse than it actually sounded, but from the previous clip, the audience actually liked it, thankfully, all is not lost, in these events, you're at the mercy of the techs and the sound engineers, if they struggle and have issues, it can have huge impact on the bands.
 
Got you now... yeah, not very good indeed, very annoying when that sort of thing happen, alongside the failed planned slick transitions, the mud up tp the ankle, one of you stopping... it all add up in the end, and on the spur of the moment, it can feel much, much worse than it actually sounded, but from the previous clip, the audience actually liked it, thankfully, all is not lost, in these events, you're at the mercy of the techs and the sound engineers, if they struggle and have issues, it can have huge impact on the bands.
Those PA noises were pretty horrendous. I was getting the same noises through my monitors, so I disconnected them. Drummer saved the day on those farting problems though :) If only they were the only problem we had to deal with!

If you guys listened to experimental music with an open mind you would have been much more relaxed :) ... cool farts and burps lending an abstract surrealist element to the song (some of the farts in perfect time too).

Otherwise you guys were sounding great - I can see why audiences saw past the tech issues and dug the band.
I'm sure a greater appreciation of experimental music within the band would help ride such storms, but it's the audience who have to be comfortable with it too. As you can see from the "tech problems" clip, they weren't :( We rescued the gig well enough, but I just know it would have been so much better without the issues, especially the 10 minute gap after the first number. That really was a killer :(

Wow. That guy has four keyboards? Why do I always hear that one bad sounding cheesy organ sound? He must have access to at least 2,000 sounds right there! Jeez....
Haha, yes Bo, I do get your point in general, but if you'd listened to this gig's clip selection, you wouldn't have found any examples of that sound that pains you so :)
 
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