So, I've got this new little band going. Our unofficial name is "Please Love Us". The other name we're thinking of is "We Have Hugely Inflated Egos, But We're Still Better Than You".

The band consists of me on guitar, a singer, a bassist and a drummer. The bassist is actually probably better than me on guitar, but he doesn't need to know that. The drummer is really good, but lacks self-confidence. The singer is alright at singing, but has a lot of energy and a good frontman personality.

So, I'm putting this band together for a battle of the bands type thing happening in February. We've been jamming together for a few months now, and we're reasonably tight, but I'm afraid that the drummer and bassist will be thrown off by playing in front of a live audience, since neither of them have performed live before.

That was the reason why we all trekked out to some smoky bar uptown for their Tuesday night open jam. The house band was super tight, but didn't have a good singer. A couple people went before us, one guy singer who did a couple blues songs; another guy who sang some of my favourite classic rock songs, but didn't have a good voice or any stage presence at all, and was singing way to quietly; a girl who had a wicked voice and did three Aretha Franklin songs; and a drummer who also sang a couple while drumming. These guys all seemed like they do this every Tuesday (well, maybe all except the quiet guy). Also, notice that there have been no full bands yet, and too, that no one has played any real rockers.

So, it was now our turn. A couple things went wrong right away. My drummer wanted to get used to the kit so he starts a beat (which actually sounded pretty good), but one of the house band guys tells him to wait for the rest of us to play. Meanwhile, I'm trying to set up my gear, but the house band guitarist (a real jerk) is rushing me, telling me that I don't need to patch in my own effects, since he has some kind of crappy multi-effects unit that he expects me to figure out in the 30 secs. he's so generously giving me to set up. So, I finally get all my pedals set up (which, actually, was kind of dumb of me, I only really needed distortion and wah, but I panicked) after much fiddling. The house band bassist was really cool, seemed to enjoy our set, and actually helped my bassist tune up.

We did three songs; Peaches by the Presidents of the USA (which we normally go nuts on in practice), Aeroplane by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz.

We pretty much sucked as a band, but individually, we all did our thing OK. The drums were speeding up and slowing down in some parts, probably out of nervousness, but otherwise there were some good fills. The bassist did great (great slap bass solo in Aeroplane). The vocalist did his thing but was way too loud. And then there was me; I was way too quiet which is a little quirk I picked up a while back when I played a talent show type thing and people started walking out since we were too loud. Anyways, I was OK, a little nervous and stressed out by the house band guitarist's rushing me. Too bad no one could hear me, though. I think, given the chance again, I'd probably just patch my wah into his rig and use his distortion. All I had was my MT-2, which sounded awful in Are You Gonna Go My Way.

So, at least we got our first "show" out of the way. A couple more months of practice should make us tight for the real show, and then I think we'll head back to the pub for another go, and maybe I'll get into a brawl with the house band guitarist.

Anyways, just thought I'd vent here! Thanks for listening!