Motorhead350
10-28-2014, 03:47 PM
Here are the highlights of our major tour for those that keep asking me.
Our first show was our own in Ohio. We have a bit of a following out there so we had a crowd. It was in a place that usually has pin up girls instead of bands. So we played, I used a wireless kit and jumped all over the place. We tested our police lights and they worked. Great 1st show. Plus after we played the pin up girls showed up.... with fire. Kinda exciting, only because of the fire, but the others were a lot more interested.
Our Misfits shows went way better than expected. We got there hours early and hung out with The band, the crew, the locals,, chatting, eating and doing whatever we wanted. Dez from Black Flag told me about a local record store as he picked up 2 LPs. We discussed OFF! (the band) and the usual stuff.
When showtime came it was a little nerve wrecking. We were the band before The Misfits and everyone came to see The Misfits, NOT us, so a few people were yelling at us as we were setting up when they saw another band was before The Misfits. Soon as we walked up to our intro people were excited before we even hit the first A# note. 30 minutes was our set time and we tore it up. My singer even jumped into the crowd during the last song and won even more people over. I think I dropped a pick and when that happens I never try to cover it up, I humor the situation by hitting the guitar by the fretboard or slapping it like you were slapping a huge.... pumpkin.
After the show I head to the merch table and meet with our manager to sell our stuff. Still sweaty and with a heart thumping like a inline 6 engine going uphill. You sell a good amount of stuff right after, but it's after The Misfits that you really cash in, literally. So many people stopped by to buy our stuff we had a line. At one point our line was bigger than The Misfits, but only briefly. At other shows people went so crazy over us they wanted us to sign their tickets, shirts, shoes and even 3 cell phones! :bows: I am thinking wow, you do really wanna think of my band every time you get a call? Ok then.
The next shows were even bigger. We could use our banners, police lights and everything we had. I broke the wireless the first day, so I had to use a cable the rest of the tour so I was locked into staying on stage, which was fine with me. When we were walking onto the stage to our intro people were cheering us on as we were walking on stage... like they knew us or assumed it was going to be good already.
People were moshing to our songs. Every night we played, we were the first to get people jumping around. It was really funny to see people moshing to one song we have with a Bo Diddley beat. It was epic. Before we covered Long Tall Sally by Little Richard, our singer goes... "Welllllll" and the crowd said it back to the shock of all of us. So we said "Well" and "Wooo" a few times with the crowd yell it back before se started the song. When we did, people went ape shhhhiiiiitttt. I dropped to my knees for the guitar solo and did a duck walk on my knees, it better have looked cool because they hurt all the way home!
Even when the played originals (10 our of 11 of our songs) people were singing by the 2nd chorus. Our singer pulled a 9 year old on stage in the middle of a song to sing it with us and it went great! We have it on video too. During another song, a random girl made out with my singer mid song, while he was playing his bass. The girl was well past 18. I didn't care, but if it was a G.G. Allen stage show, I might have gotten a little jealous... know what I mean? haha.
Not everything went well as you might have imagined. So here are the highlights for the haters and people who wanna know everything. Our van started leaking transmission fluid, pretty bad. We were going up hill and it down shifted 2 years instead of 1. I lost Top Gear for a mile and finally got it back. The van drank 6 quarts of trans fluid at the next service station. I was super worried about getting around. The boys kept telling me to calm down, but none of them work on cars or know how bad things could get, so I remained the paranoid wreck for the next day. I kept topping it off and it worked all the way home. In NYC our own gig got pushed back very late due to CMJ, but we got interviewed by someone who works for a newspaper and we will have story possibly this week. The low point was when everyone was having fun in NYC and I wasn't. The others in the band love comic books, I do not like them at all. So they had comic shops to go to, buildings to see from Ghostbusters and really liked everything. When my turn for what to do came around I could not think of anything. 1 because I could not spend a dollar on anything 2 because everything I wanted to see was gone. There was no street corner Doo Wop harmony and all of the Punk sites were gone. They asked me "Do you wanna see where CBGB's WAS?" "No. It's gone. Maxes is gone, The Ramones are dead, Johnny Thunders is dead, The Cramps are dead. All that I love is dead." I even broke down crying, envious that they could have their own little escape with comics and my escapes were in the grave. :bigcry: On top of that, the vans back right brake really started locking up as to a point where it was smoking. Let it rest for an hour and it's good again.
Things went great though. I met someone who works for Top Gear U.K. and said he would help us when we come over and even provide transportation. The guy is a total Petrolhead and we connected when he saw the van and how I modified it. The Misfits were really impressed with us warming up the crowd. Jerry the singer called me up saying an "Important friend" was in the audience and really impressed with us and we should be on more of the tour. It was nice getting saying that. I am working on getting on more of the tour, even the remainder of this one. Things can work out that way. We sold a ton of shirts and CDs, upped our social media and did not lose money. Thats a big deal, but of course the money has to go back to the investors and fixing the van. That's were our business is at the moment, but we know our product sells!
Finally, the few times the band and crew had issues with the local staff saying they were total "dicccks". I went up to these people with a good attitude and got done what needed to be done. I can get along with jerks all day long, makes me question myself... hmmmm. The people that were rude to my band were just fine with me, the trick is to give it back to them, the bandmates do not understand that yet. Or at least have a respectful first impression instead of "I am in the band get out of my way." That's what sets off F.O.H and L.D. people, respect is all it takes. I will teach my boys respect and learning everyones name. It works a lot better!
Another tour done and it's been great. I will see if I can get on any more dates. It's been great.
Our first show was our own in Ohio. We have a bit of a following out there so we had a crowd. It was in a place that usually has pin up girls instead of bands. So we played, I used a wireless kit and jumped all over the place. We tested our police lights and they worked. Great 1st show. Plus after we played the pin up girls showed up.... with fire. Kinda exciting, only because of the fire, but the others were a lot more interested.
Our Misfits shows went way better than expected. We got there hours early and hung out with The band, the crew, the locals,, chatting, eating and doing whatever we wanted. Dez from Black Flag told me about a local record store as he picked up 2 LPs. We discussed OFF! (the band) and the usual stuff.
When showtime came it was a little nerve wrecking. We were the band before The Misfits and everyone came to see The Misfits, NOT us, so a few people were yelling at us as we were setting up when they saw another band was before The Misfits. Soon as we walked up to our intro people were excited before we even hit the first A# note. 30 minutes was our set time and we tore it up. My singer even jumped into the crowd during the last song and won even more people over. I think I dropped a pick and when that happens I never try to cover it up, I humor the situation by hitting the guitar by the fretboard or slapping it like you were slapping a huge.... pumpkin.
After the show I head to the merch table and meet with our manager to sell our stuff. Still sweaty and with a heart thumping like a inline 6 engine going uphill. You sell a good amount of stuff right after, but it's after The Misfits that you really cash in, literally. So many people stopped by to buy our stuff we had a line. At one point our line was bigger than The Misfits, but only briefly. At other shows people went so crazy over us they wanted us to sign their tickets, shirts, shoes and even 3 cell phones! :bows: I am thinking wow, you do really wanna think of my band every time you get a call? Ok then.
The next shows were even bigger. We could use our banners, police lights and everything we had. I broke the wireless the first day, so I had to use a cable the rest of the tour so I was locked into staying on stage, which was fine with me. When we were walking onto the stage to our intro people were cheering us on as we were walking on stage... like they knew us or assumed it was going to be good already.
People were moshing to our songs. Every night we played, we were the first to get people jumping around. It was really funny to see people moshing to one song we have with a Bo Diddley beat. It was epic. Before we covered Long Tall Sally by Little Richard, our singer goes... "Welllllll" and the crowd said it back to the shock of all of us. So we said "Well" and "Wooo" a few times with the crowd yell it back before se started the song. When we did, people went ape shhhhiiiiitttt. I dropped to my knees for the guitar solo and did a duck walk on my knees, it better have looked cool because they hurt all the way home!
Even when the played originals (10 our of 11 of our songs) people were singing by the 2nd chorus. Our singer pulled a 9 year old on stage in the middle of a song to sing it with us and it went great! We have it on video too. During another song, a random girl made out with my singer mid song, while he was playing his bass. The girl was well past 18. I didn't care, but if it was a G.G. Allen stage show, I might have gotten a little jealous... know what I mean? haha.
Not everything went well as you might have imagined. So here are the highlights for the haters and people who wanna know everything. Our van started leaking transmission fluid, pretty bad. We were going up hill and it down shifted 2 years instead of 1. I lost Top Gear for a mile and finally got it back. The van drank 6 quarts of trans fluid at the next service station. I was super worried about getting around. The boys kept telling me to calm down, but none of them work on cars or know how bad things could get, so I remained the paranoid wreck for the next day. I kept topping it off and it worked all the way home. In NYC our own gig got pushed back very late due to CMJ, but we got interviewed by someone who works for a newspaper and we will have story possibly this week. The low point was when everyone was having fun in NYC and I wasn't. The others in the band love comic books, I do not like them at all. So they had comic shops to go to, buildings to see from Ghostbusters and really liked everything. When my turn for what to do came around I could not think of anything. 1 because I could not spend a dollar on anything 2 because everything I wanted to see was gone. There was no street corner Doo Wop harmony and all of the Punk sites were gone. They asked me "Do you wanna see where CBGB's WAS?" "No. It's gone. Maxes is gone, The Ramones are dead, Johnny Thunders is dead, The Cramps are dead. All that I love is dead." I even broke down crying, envious that they could have their own little escape with comics and my escapes were in the grave. :bigcry: On top of that, the vans back right brake really started locking up as to a point where it was smoking. Let it rest for an hour and it's good again.
Things went great though. I met someone who works for Top Gear U.K. and said he would help us when we come over and even provide transportation. The guy is a total Petrolhead and we connected when he saw the van and how I modified it. The Misfits were really impressed with us warming up the crowd. Jerry the singer called me up saying an "Important friend" was in the audience and really impressed with us and we should be on more of the tour. It was nice getting saying that. I am working on getting on more of the tour, even the remainder of this one. Things can work out that way. We sold a ton of shirts and CDs, upped our social media and did not lose money. Thats a big deal, but of course the money has to go back to the investors and fixing the van. That's were our business is at the moment, but we know our product sells!
Finally, the few times the band and crew had issues with the local staff saying they were total "dicccks". I went up to these people with a good attitude and got done what needed to be done. I can get along with jerks all day long, makes me question myself... hmmmm. The people that were rude to my band were just fine with me, the trick is to give it back to them, the bandmates do not understand that yet. Or at least have a respectful first impression instead of "I am in the band get out of my way." That's what sets off F.O.H and L.D. people, respect is all it takes. I will teach my boys respect and learning everyones name. It works a lot better!
Another tour done and it's been great. I will see if I can get on any more dates. It's been great.