October 12, 2007. The Lion and Rose, San Antonio, TX.
This gig totally destroyed my idea of myself and my music.
For years I have shied away from playing music in bars that are loud or have sports on t.v. How horrible, to be gently crooning away in the corner to the general indifference of everybody in the place. Well, Friday night found us, for all intents and purposes, in a frat bar.
Instead of getting intimidated or discouraged by the scene, we took it in stride. We upped the tempo of all of the tunes, and I think I had my best night of the tour, vocally speaking. I just sort of decided to rock 'em a bit. And it worked! Dudes on their way to the can actually stopped to listen to a song or two, giving a thumbs up before traveling back to their buddies and beer. Other clusters of people chose the booths in front of us, eschewing the demands of the t.v. screens for the welcome sight of live music.
So... gone is the idea that I can only play a certain kind of venue for a certain kind of crowd. And gone are the conclusions that if I don't have a guitar, I can't rock the place. Sometimes it takes a change of scenery to create the change in the artist. I wonder if I could open for a grindcore band?
This gig totally destroyed my idea of myself and my music.
For years I have shied away from playing music in bars that are loud or have sports on t.v. How horrible, to be gently crooning away in the corner to the general indifference of everybody in the place. Well, Friday night found us, for all intents and purposes, in a frat bar.
Instead of getting intimidated or discouraged by the scene, we took it in stride. We upped the tempo of all of the tunes, and I think I had my best night of the tour, vocally speaking. I just sort of decided to rock 'em a bit. And it worked! Dudes on their way to the can actually stopped to listen to a song or two, giving a thumbs up before traveling back to their buddies and beer. Other clusters of people chose the booths in front of us, eschewing the demands of the t.v. screens for the welcome sight of live music.
So... gone is the idea that I can only play a certain kind of venue for a certain kind of crowd. And gone are the conclusions that if I don't have a guitar, I can't rock the place. Sometimes it takes a change of scenery to create the change in the artist. I wonder if I could open for a grindcore band?
