Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Free Beer On Stage

The crowd was restless. The atmosphere electric...wait, no it wasn't but the tatoo fairy had been busy. It was nearing midnight as I gathered myself to the stage at the House Of Blues to perform. Several beers had already passed me by and I was feeling good. I chose to sing INXS' "New Sensation." Why? Well, in truth, the band really doesn't have a big list of songs they could do (about 120) but I knew energy was important. Ballads are for when places just open, when they are about to close or when you have someone giving you doe eyes all night. In a packed house that can fit 400 people, it's not a place to test out new material. This was my first time going up on stage with a band since my own broke up in 1997. I'd like to believe I did great. The people danced as if it was the last song. I heard it sounded great but... I couldn't hear myself sing. Usually they put monitors on the stage to help the performers keep pace and adjust to the music but that luxury wasn't available. I'll find out. My friend Mike filmed a few seconds of it with his camera. So, a few more beers later, I'm at home and thinking that I could have done a better job on "Proud Mary" or "Just Like Heaven." Oh well! Need sleep.

6 comments:

RT said...

I'm sure you did just fine, An80snut. But next time, have someone tape the entire show so we can hear what you sound like!

Lily said...

At first I thought you were talking about karaoke, I didn't realize you actually sang sang. I was a big fan of INXS back in the day.

LoraLoo said...

Wooohooo you go, Martin! I think I can speak for everyone when I say we want to see the proof. Video. And yes, with sound!

You have always had the balls to do just about anything in front of a bunch of strangers. :)

Jenn Doll said...

"Turns out I have a thing for musician's." - Jenn

I'm sure you did fine. I really wanted to go to the House Of Blues while I was out there, but time didn't permit. Boo! Do you play an instrument or you the front man?

Martin said...

Lora - That does worry me. There's a lot I haven't done in front of a bunch of strangers. I've said a lot in front of them though. B) I'll work on the video part soon.

Jenn - It actually is karaoke to an extent. The band play to the beat of their drummer who has a click track (ok, a lot of bands have drummers who do that.) Yup, you missed it. I used to play keyboards with my old band Fak'-shen but haven't touched them in quite a while.

Lily - If I could have, I would have tried out for that new reality series Rockstar: INXS where they will try to find the band's next lead singer. I'd have died to do that. One of my top 20 bands also.

RT - I'll figure out a way how to get someone to tape the whole thing first. B) Might be awhile as I feel like after one night, I need rehab. hahaha

Unknown said...

Martin-Cool glad to hear you got up onstage and did the singing thing-you should try out for rockstar-why not.

Loraloo-there you go talking about Martin's balls... ; )