As a prolific singer-songwriter (140 songs to date, baby), as much as making music was and always will be rewarding, I did fall into the comfort of writing in my bedroom and then recording in a studio. Which, don’t get me wrong has served me well – I can pick n’ mix as many songs I like! However, having said that, the whole process of bedroom to studio is like being a fashion designer with tonnes of dresses but hanging them in a closet instead of showing them off on a catwalk in front of an audience. As scary as taking the first plunge can be, nothing beats the excitement, anticipation, adrenaline rush, and high of SHOWTIME! It’s a smorgasbord of different emotions rolled into a half hour slot. Small gigs, big gigs, crummy gigs, great gigs all amount to the experience.
Here’s my experience of a typical gig: “I wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy”. Actually, I wish I could share the same experience as Ke$ha, but on the morning of a gig, I wake up with a pessimistic train of thought and a dash of nerves. I think, what if I trip on one of the cable wires and fall flat on my face, what if I forget my lyrics, what if a fly flies into my mouth while I’m singing, what if one of my band members is late and misses the gig, what if we all get electrocuted and die (music trivia: Les Harvey guitarist/singer in rock band Stone the Crows, died from electrocution by handling an ungrounded microphone with wet hands during a gig in Swansea, 1972), etc??? Before you think I’m crazy, the build up is pretty intense but once I reach the limit, I just say, “f*** it, everything will be fine”. And I’m done with the bad thoughts; it’s a cathartic experience. It’s like the bit in Home Alone, when he’s in the basement and the evil furnace goes, “blah, blah, moohaaa” and Kevin triumphantly says, “shut up” and the furnace simply shuts up.
I then make my power smoothie with the Rockie theme tune in my head, (1 whole banana, handful of blueberries, tsp of honey, tsp of tahini paste and 1 cup of milk – try it, it’s nice) and I “chillax” by watching some ridiculously bad reality TV show until I have to get ready for sound-check. Wardrobe, obviously, has already been decided. I’m a girl, and therefore, I know the stresses of deciding what to wear, so I would never leave that to the day of the gig. Like, oh my God, duh… Later, I do my make-up (I’ll definitely do a blog on this as I’m a make-up junkie) and I do vocal warm-ups. I once heard Cliff Richard (don’t ask me why) eats apples to help with his vocals. I tried that once and strangely enough it had an adverse effect on me. I prefer satsumas.
Once I arrive at the venue, if I’m early, I sneak in on other band’s sound-check to weigh up the competition. In the world of music, bands always act like they’re happy tree friends, but truth be told, it’s one big competition. “Moohahaha”, I’m putting on the evil Home Alone furnace voice… When it’s time for my sound-check, I find my throat goes super dry and the bottle of water I religiously carry around with me (like an extension of my hand) to use for the actual performance is nearly always empty. After the “testing, one, two”, plucking away of guitar and bass strings and drummer sorting out cymbals, etc, we play. If the sound engineer is nice, we play 2 songs and if he’s a saint, we play 3. Usually, they’re nice.
The waiting/loitering after sound-check is a killer. You have two options, A) deal with it or B) get completed wasted. I stick with option A because alcohol dries my throat and, most importantly, me + alcohol on stage would = a lethal combination. During this waiting period, I refill my bottle of water (I know, how very rock n’ roll of me). If I ever have a drink, it’s off stage, after the show. I’ve seen some bands drink beer after beer, and it’s fine if you can handle your drink but nearly 8/10 can’t. I think the reason some people drink (or even worse, resort to illegal substances) is to numb down their stage fright. But if they don’t face their fears head on, it will spiral out of control. OK, I’ll stop with the preaching transgression…
Anyways, after the waiting and waiting and waiting, weirdly enough the last ten minutes before the show always seem to go by in a wink of the eye . Once we’re up, lights on us, eyes on us, count in and we’re ready go. There’s no time to think, I just sing and get the songs out there. The first two songs break the ice and that’s when you can suss your audience out. So far the reception has been good and by the third, fourth, fifth song, we’re all getting into the groove and I’m doing a lot of fringe shaking with my guitarist. The final song is the best experience in the world! Traditionally, we’ve been ending every gig with a song called “Lust Won’t Suffice”, which is a big bang up tempo song and gets the crowd going. Ah, really can’t stress how good the last song feeling is. It makes it all worthwhile.
So far all has been good.
Stay tuned for more jiiiig stories…
DeeDee x

Interesting fact: All of my THROB and SOB movie star idols’ names rhyme with CappuccinO. (Sorry for the obligatory smoking shots. Smoking is bad, kids.):
LeonardO DiCapriO

Marlon BrandO

Al PacinO

James FrancO