Armistice Live

[Armistice]

So if you remember the "got videoed for work" thing I was on about a few months back. Well the upshot of that was being asked, along with some other work musicians, to do a little set at a work function. Absolute last thing I felt like doing especially given how much renovating I have going on with gear stashed all over the place and managing to continually hit my fingers with things. Plus the whole work / music divide. Who wants, after a hard day's work at an "offsite", to listen to my uncheerfu original tunes that they've never heard before? I wouldn't. They want to drink, and natter about shit... and listen to something familiar and happy.

I have been quite crystal clear I'm not a covers guitarist. "Great!" said the organiser, "We want to hear YOUR stuff." Well she and the GM might, not so sure about everyone else.

But while I was building up the "no" argument, the other musicians cheerfully gave in and said "yes" - which I was OK with, sort of, if the venue had a PA. Which it doesn't. And neither do they. But I do. THANKS GUYS. So that means I have to lug my PA into the heart of the city and do a brief set about 5.30 this evening. As a kicker, it's open air and it looks like I'm going to be staring into the setting sun at that time. Awesome.

Wish me luck!

And on the assumption that some people will take photos / videos, I'll post some up here over the next day or so.

[rayc]

Ah the days of bringing the PA! I remember it well. Good luck with it.

[Bubba]

Playing live is what it's all about - I wish I could be there to give you some support!

[Armistice]

Playing live is what it's all about - I wish I could be there to give you some support!

Thanks Bubba and [mention]rayc[/mention]

Well I lived - it went pretty much exactly as I expected it to and I played the first song looking right in the sun which I realised wasn't going to work, and did some adjusting for the rest of the set. Played well, sang well, didn't make any major errors or forget any words and have lots of new cred amongst the colleagues. But it was always going to be a tough ask to play at that sort of crowd after people have been shut in a room all day. Anyway, lots of individuals sought me out after and congratulated me and by the end of the set I had a bit of rapport going. Plus the GM was seriously impressed.

But jeez, so much work to play 7 songs seeing I had to supply the PA for me and the guys following, set it up, liaise with the bar owner re position and volume, gaffer fucking leads everywhere, then at the end of the night, pull it all down again, shepherd up a new roadie seeing my main guy had buggered off, take it out to the car, take it home, unload it, take it up the lift, put it away.

There were probably about 100 people there. I have a photo on my phone of the before set up - obviously as I'm playing, I don't have any pictures of myself. I'll put in in another post, and try to hunt some people down who took actual photos and/or videos at work tomorrow.

When I went to leave the carpark the damn ticket machine wouldn't take either credit card. Lucky I had cash but now I have to get reimbursed without a receipt. Should hit them up for a roll of gaffer tape as well.

[Armistice]

20191022_162733.jpg

Before the "gig"

[musicturtle]

Nice Armi.

Set up was always my least favorite part of gigging. Glad you survived!

[Lt. Bob]

But jeez, so much work to play 7 songs seeing I had to supply the PA for me and the guys following, set it up, liaise with the bar owner re position and volume, gaffer fucking leads everywhere, then at the end of the night, pull it all down again, shepherd up a new roadie seeing my main guy had buggered off, take it out to the car, take it home, unload it, take it up the lift, put it away.

all that stuff is fun!!!

[vomitHatSteve]

So this was a work event right? And they didn't pay you for performance or PA rental? That's kinda weak.

[Armistice]

So this was a work event right? And they didn't pay you for performance or PA rental? That's kinda weak.

Yeah - as I said elsewhere, I was furiously trying to get out of it, but the other guys, who don't have a PA, said "Sure!" behind my back and sort of sealed my fate. The organiser of the event, unused to live music, had no real idea what was involved with the PA thing. The other two guys just rocked up an hour after I got there and wrangled it into place.

There are other considerations in a large corporate like I work for, my relationship with the GM, 3 levels up from me, is at an all time high, due to this and a presentation earlier in the day which my team nailed and which was way better than any of the other business units had done.

Plus it was good to know I can still do it. I've only ever done a handful of gigs solo - and it doesn't get much tougher than with your work colleagues, staring into the blinding sun. Worst part was that for the first time in a very long time that the business was shouting drinks, I couldn't really have many as I had to drive home, and I had to act early with my "roadies" before they got plastered and/or disappeared - I'd already lost one - I couldn't leave gear in a small car in an underground car park a couple of hundred metres away out of sight. So I was home by 8.30.

Ah well, 'tis done and I no longer have a PA sitting in the lounge room.

[Armistice]

But jeez, so much work to play 7 songs seeing I had to supply the PA for me and the guys following, set it up, liaise with the bar owner re position and volume, gaffer fucking leads everywhere, then at the end of the night, pull it all down again, shepherd up a new roadie seeing my main guy had buggered off, take it out to the car, take it home, unload it, take it up the lift, put it away.

all that stuff is fun!!!

I don't so much mind the lugging and all that - I'm just not really set up to do it properly in terms of infrastructure - small car, small trolley - and as I don't advertise what I do within the apartment block where I live, getting it in and out without running into people is always an aim - which means moving very quickly and hoping. Be a bit more relaxed about it if I had a house at ground level.

[rayc]

It's behind you now - yes, gaffer tape is expensive - put it on the expenses list.

[Armistice]

It's behind you now - yes, gaffer tape is expensive - put it on the expenses list.

In the end, seeing none of three had parking receipts as the machine wasn't issuing them, the decision was to give us each a $100 gift voucher - that being the denomination they come in - and the organiser joked about the extra $11 being for the set. At $1.57 a song, I've been paid less, I guess.

I do feel like the other two should give me their extra $11s as PA rental... or some of it. High finance here....

So far I've only got a couple of 5 second .mov files from which I've extracted this single image...

ArmisticeLive1.PNG

I believe there's some better stuff, from a millenial in my team who presumably is au fait with the zoom on his phone camera on Instagram, which I'll have to hunt down. This was the second song once I'd swung the mic a bit to get out of the sun - but you can see the problem, I'm sure.

[Lt. Bob]

all that stuff is fun!!!

I don't so much mind the lugging and all that - I'm just not really set up to do it properly in terms of infrastructure - small car, small trolley - and as I don't advertise what I do within the apartment block where I live, getting it in and out without running into people is always an aim - which means moving very quickly and hoping. Be a bit more relaxed about it if I had a house at ground level.

I gotcha ..... I'm like that myself.
I don't like anyone in the neighborhood to know I own stuff.

Yet another reason I've never lived in an apt .... not once ..... never.

[WhiskeyJack]

Hey good stuff Armi. Looks like it went over pretty well. I gues the bigger question is did you have fun despite all the shit and work that went into it? Going to do it all again soon.

I hope to see that your spotify plays go up a bit and word get spread around for you.

[rayc]

If the other performers don't offer then you know what sort of folk they are.

[Armistice]

If the other performers don't offer then you know what sort of folk they are.

Ha ha, I was kidding ray. We all earn a healthy salary - I'm not worried about $11 x 2.

I spoke to the GM today when I got my $100 gift voucher from her assistant - she did get that I did a hell of a lot of work that day - far more than anyone else, as I was also sound guy for the other two... it's all good. And she's a fan of Gravity, as most people who hear it tend to be. And people are randomly telling me they enjoyed it - perhaps they're lying as they feel they have to say something, but it doesn't matter.

As I said earlier, there was a presentation on at the actual offsite and I was one of the team of 4 that had to do it - first one of the day - and there were four other teams throughout the day as well. I missed the last two as I was off getting gear, but I'm reliably informed that our team killed it, and me in particular - essentially it was better executed than everyone else's and way, way funnier - despite having a serious purpose.

So between the two things, people no longer wonder what the hell I'm good for, if that's what they were doing...

I've never understood the fear of public speaking which cripples so many people - I love it - especially if I can crack jokes as I go.. Pretty sure there's a correlation there between that and having to perform on stages in bands from a relatively early age.

[rayc]

If the other performers don't offer then you know what sort of folk they are.

Ha ha, I was kidding ray. We all earn a healthy salary - I'm not worried about $11 x 2.

Yeah, I sussed that you weren't narked but I have strong memories about doing gigs with other bands playing support for us and almost every time they'd bolt straight after playing so as to avoid paying their share of the PA hire so I've a deeply logged bug about it. Our band "leader" was too much of a wimp to ask them for their $10 or so before the gig - then again he always seemed to bolt when the PA pack down and lug was in process too - he was Sydney Septic.

[einstein magoo]

Good on you for taking one for team and lugging the PA!

It had to be fun anyway, it is always worth it to get the opportunity to perform.

and kudos on the kudos!