This Week in S1D Darketst Hour/Powerman 5000 Part 1 of 2

This Week in S1D Darketst Hour/Powerman 5000 Part 1 of 2

We had 2 relatively large shows this past week. We opened for Powerman 5000 at the Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale (Long Island) NY and Darkest Hour/Veil of Maya/Periphery/Revocation at Crocodile Rock in Allentown PA. I want to give a recap of the events and some feelings about what I witnessed for those of you who missed the shows, would have loved to come or share similar feelings about the Metal scene.
Starting in chronological order, was the Powerman 5000 show at the Crazy Donkey. So we pull up to the venue in my car with a trailer attached to it. I drive a dodge charger (HEMI of course) with a (5x10) trailer attached to the back of it. So we have to pull in next to Powerman 5000's tour bus. Well if you see a tour bus and a dodge charger with a trailer attached to it you know that my car looks ridiculous next to this thing. I find it kind of funny, anyways we get there and start setting up. We brought a cooler with us with a bottle of Jager and a 30 pack. So I had about 3 shots and 3 beers before I went on stage. For the most part I was relatively sober. So we set up outside and it was definitely like 40 something degrees that night and it was definitely cold. The place has no back-stage so we have to set up right outside this kitchen-like area in the cold. SO there I am setting up my guitars and warming up in freezing whether next to a sink, an ice machine and the garbage cans outside very close to the dumpsters. I swear everyday we are getting closer and closer to Rock-Star amenities. Anyways, we go on at around 7 PM and in my opinion a little too early, but that's material for another conversation.
We start playing and I felt pretty good about the set and how we played. After watching the videos, I have to say we really killed it. My solo in "The Payback" was flawless. The people there were very receptive and I saw a lot of people singing along so, there was a definite connection there. However, what I do not understand is how terrible it sounded on stage. There was basically no monitors, soo I had to kind of stay in one spot the whole time, because it was the only spot on stage that I could here drums, vocals, bass and myself. Talk about professional club. You know it is so ridiculous. If these clubs would start doing the simple things like making it a little more professional for the bands, then the bands would play better and feel better about the venue and then in turn these bands would get more people to come and the club would make more money by more people coming. But the truth is, the place sucks, sound sucks now I have no reason to play there again hence now that's another band that is not gonna bring a decent following to that club.
So we get off stage after a very good performance and slowly start packing our stuff up. Since we had that cooler there that is when things started to really take off. You see I did something simple and it turned out really good for us. I went to the store bought a 30 pack and a bottle of Jager and offered it to all the people that were back-stage with us. ANd you know what, people were appreciative of it and we made some new friends with a simple act of sharing. We gave out our demos to people and some people actually told us that we had an awesome set. Of course I had to take it a step further and bust out the Beer Funnel. You see I thought it was a good idea to sell Slam One Down Beer Funnels. We have been successful at selling them but more successful at using them. So we started handing out funnels outside in the cold, in front of our trailer next to Powerman 5000 tour bus. I have to say our party outside was better than anything else going on that night. According to some sources, my friend Tim and I did like 6 funnels each. I ended up holding on to a friend to keep from falling on the ground, during the Powerman set. I passed out on the ride home. I woke up the next day and was like, "what the hell happened. I was like "Oh no, I blacked out... But I didn't wake up with that feeling like I did something bad to someone or something. SO I right away called Bobby and was like what happened. He was like "Well, you got a little too Drunk, you definitely where the life of the party, but you might want to limit yourself to giving out Funnels instead of doing them yourself." I then proceeded to my computer to find out through Facebook that a lot of people had a good time. We win again!!!
So Heavy Metal Road rule is: Start with an act of kindness and buy beer/cocktails to share with new and old friends at the event. Make sure after you play your gig, you thank people for listening and participating by offering them a beer/cocktail. Never pack up and leave after the event. And most importantly throw a party. I have to say our group of people had more fun then the national act did. So we kicked ass on stage, sold some T-shirts, had a killer party, made new friends and woke up with a solid Hangover.