Spiderman washing up gloves!
Jun. 9th, 2003 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shermarama(totally irrelevant title; I started typing one that began with the same letter and that popped up via autocomplete. If anyone can think of any reason why, I'll have two pairs, large, please..)
Anyway. It was a long and shitty weekend full of travelling and strained politeness and telling some tales dozens of times whilst being frustrated in the release of others. That's family gatherings for you, though. After a three week hiatus I was steaming towards Essex from Lancashire and I was determined to kick arse. Going via Virgin trains, of course, I arrived half an hour late. Oz arrived at the same time but Yus had set his kit up and so everyone else was ready to go. There was a veritable gaggle of girlfriends and mates and relations sat around rolling up and taking up all the seats, and I had to clear someone out of the way to be able to get to my amp, but gratification was close at hand and its expectation sustained me through a swift and tidy set-up. Microphone, effects box, tuning, amp I know well enough to just put the knobs in the right places, done so much by automation I didn't realise until after the first song that I'd forgotten to take my shades off. Step up to the mike, Oz and Yusuf bring it back down to the right place, and the current set list kicks from noodling into song on a good strong bassline - it starts when I start.
It's such a relief to take off the limiters. I cramp myself up to share busy travelling space amicably, I rein myself in to complimentary or neutral things to say to my family. That one doesn't need a diatribe on how bad her dancing is, her loss is never knowing how good it feels; this one makes those that like her happy and I'm sure always intends well by her own standards so I shall not visibly recoil in horror from the frightsome harpy she looks to me. But now this is a song and the aim of the game is to play this as tight as I can, to sing this as hard as I can. We are actually trying for impact, not reasonable politeness and careful space-sharing. We even manage to be basically musical whilst doing it. Four hours pass with barely a thought outside the moment and the sound as it goes through. We make mistakes, we mess around, but the focus is on immediate and present being and doing your honest best to get hold of it by the throat and throw it around. This, boys and girls, is why it's worth all the travelling and carrying. I'm not saying there's not things still not quite right with this band but one thing that really is right, is the unifying sense of faster, harder, louder, more..
Anyway. It was a long and shitty weekend full of travelling and strained politeness and telling some tales dozens of times whilst being frustrated in the release of others. That's family gatherings for you, though. After a three week hiatus I was steaming towards Essex from Lancashire and I was determined to kick arse. Going via Virgin trains, of course, I arrived half an hour late. Oz arrived at the same time but Yus had set his kit up and so everyone else was ready to go. There was a veritable gaggle of girlfriends and mates and relations sat around rolling up and taking up all the seats, and I had to clear someone out of the way to be able to get to my amp, but gratification was close at hand and its expectation sustained me through a swift and tidy set-up. Microphone, effects box, tuning, amp I know well enough to just put the knobs in the right places, done so much by automation I didn't realise until after the first song that I'd forgotten to take my shades off. Step up to the mike, Oz and Yusuf bring it back down to the right place, and the current set list kicks from noodling into song on a good strong bassline - it starts when I start.
It's such a relief to take off the limiters. I cramp myself up to share busy travelling space amicably, I rein myself in to complimentary or neutral things to say to my family. That one doesn't need a diatribe on how bad her dancing is, her loss is never knowing how good it feels; this one makes those that like her happy and I'm sure always intends well by her own standards so I shall not visibly recoil in horror from the frightsome harpy she looks to me. But now this is a song and the aim of the game is to play this as tight as I can, to sing this as hard as I can. We are actually trying for impact, not reasonable politeness and careful space-sharing. We even manage to be basically musical whilst doing it. Four hours pass with barely a thought outside the moment and the sound as it goes through. We make mistakes, we mess around, but the focus is on immediate and present being and doing your honest best to get hold of it by the throat and throw it around. This, boys and girls, is why it's worth all the travelling and carrying. I'm not saying there's not things still not quite right with this band but one thing that really is right, is the unifying sense of faster, harder, louder, more..