Your first Dance /Talent show / Battle gig memories

[sturoc]

Back in the way early 70s I went to one of our schools many "Dances" in the gymnasium. No stage and a group had to play extremely loud in order for the room to sound any semblance of decent! Being all of newly turned teenager, My mission was two-fold at these friday nite scenes: ck out the band and the girls.

At one dance the band had more gear than i had ever seen. Small cabs, big cabs, Separate heads stacked up 2-3 high, Combo amps. All types of Horns even the old round types arrayed on top of Altec Voice o the Theatre cabs. Their upstage backline was like a history of amplification lined up all the way across from SL to SR.
A huge group, they had 3 horn players, 3 guitarists, Full Keys:B3 Rhodes etc, Bassist & Drummer.

But the most notable thing was the bass player using a Dan Armstrong Lucite bass. It was the coolest thing I had seen at that point and as he was playing I asked where he got it from.He replied without skipping a note, " Rondo Music, man !" Nodding his head up and down with the song. Wow was all I could think of.
Since he talked to me, a lowly 8th grader, I figured I was in with the band now and proceeded to hang out behind the bass rig cabs and watch from there the girls jigglin. After it was over I even helped them load out and some girls still hangin out were like : "hey your with the band?" ..I nodded 'yes' with the coolest look i could give them while humping a heavy amp out the door.......... and that pretty much set the future right there !

Later that year my own 3 piece power trio played the school's talent show -the first stepping stone to becoming "famous" in town. All the better groups had always started with this show which was put on during school hours guaranteeing a full house auditorium ! We practiced 3 songs : the just released Smoke on the Water, Fortune an original instrumental that the guitar player wrote which I thought suspiciously sounded like CCR's Travelin Band, and last Three Dog Nite's Joy to the World. Hey, ya gotta play the hits man !
So we start right off with Smoke and it was goin good loud and tight. then the drummer ( our vocalist) starts singin, 'We all came down to Munferd ' and i turn round in shock mouthing "what ???" he sang on : " On a fake believer shoreline "
At this point our guitarist turns to me and then him looking like a pale ghost ! We're doomed i thought if he keeps forgetting the words. It was a mumbling fest coming out of his mouth and I was hoping our loud volume would cover it somewhat.
Well we got thru it and there even was applause ! We did the instrumental and then Joy to the World came up. I am cringing as he starts to sing but he nailed it -probably cause we played it a gazillion times already.

We didn't win that day BUT we didn't lose either cause our peers, students loved it. They said afterwards finally a band that rocks and writes their own stuff too. From that moment on we were inaugurated into the local band scene.

WHAT'S YOUR STORY ?

[DblG]

Not getting the words right probably happens more often than most casual listeners know! As long as it sounds kinda like it most people dont know the difference, and the ones that do most likely laugh at it. haha

Cool story...and you got to play Smoke on the Water before it became cliché!

[pgolliher]

In 1986 my band, "the squids" played our 8th grade talent show. We played the scorpions "big city nights". We were so crazy nervous that the two guitar players had to wear sunglasses. My fender squire bullet bass looks huge next to my tight motley Crüe shirt. We played fast, but pretty good and when we finished the crowd absolutely erupted. We were so stoked when the curtain closed- we were hooked for life. Now I am like a crackhead chasing that first high. Afterward the show our parents took us out to pizza- it was a great night. I still have it on VHS

[Johnny Crab]

High school about 1969 or 1970 IIRC, East Jefferson High School had a "Rock Music Club" sponsored by a very attractive younger female teacher. We played the equivalent of one class period and the entire school was herded into the auditorium. As mentioned above, that was one of those "I'm hooked" moments.

[busmandan]

My first gig was something out of Footloose. Yes, the local Church Of Christ put out flyers and newsletters the week before our gig at the volunteer fire department station saying what a bad influence we would be on the youth (of which I was card-carrying member - I was all of 16 at the time). Naturally, all it did was bring in twice as many people just to see what all the fuss was about.

Since that was almost 40 years ago, I don't remember what we played or how we sounded. I still have the bass I played the show with, though.

[Sixpack324]

My first gig was in 1986 at my drummer's high school Battle of the Bands (our drummer lived 3 towns away, so I knew NO ONE at the show). I was 14.

We played:
Ride the Lightning
A.I.R.
and 2 Originals

I remember being backstage before the show. We realized that we didn't have a band name. Someone was eating a bag of Dorito's and we came up Sotirods......Dorito's spelled backwards.

I do not remember playing the show at all...(partially due to jitters, but mostly probably due to a self-imposed chemical imbalance)

Then I remember being backstage after the show. We were a huge hit and I, like one of the previous posters, was hooked for life.

Crappy gear, questionable vocals, shoe-gazing stage presence, DRI/Dead Kennedy's/Metallica T-shirts and ripped jeans, White Hi-Tops sneakers, long hair and puberty mustaches, leather jackets..........God I miss my "Sweet romantic teenage nights.."

That band (with a new, typically metal name) actually went on to a national tour when we were older (early 20's). We drank and partied our way out of that in no time flat (6 months). We made the headlining acts look like alter boys with our stupidity.

BUT, I miss the s^!t outta those guys and the experiences we had. We were such a tight group, tripping our way together through adolescence and the late 80's metal scene.

I don't regret removing them from my life in the early 90's. I've changed dramatically (for the better) since then and most of them didn't. 1 guy has passed away, 1 has been in jail since 1992 (gets out next year), 1 lives with his sister because sever alcoholism has taken away his ability to function without a caregiver and I eventually lost touch with the singer when he moved to California 18 years ago.

As I said earlier, though.....I miss the time we spent together as kids and as a band. When we were playing our music, we were truly greater than the sum of our parts. We had a bond that transcended the music....We were brothers. I'm glad the trainwreck of situations that most of them encountered missed me, but I wouldn't trade the time I spent with them for anything.

Long Live Nostalgia!!

[PimasterPearson]

In 9th grade, the two rock bands at my high school decided to form a "supergroup" for the talent show. Neither of them had a bass player, so I jumped in on bass (only having played guitar for a year and not knowing any notes past the 5th fret). We played the Guns & Roses version of Knocking on Heaven's Door. Afterwards my dad straight-up told me that we sounded pretty bad, but he was happy that I enjoyed it.

There's nothing like trying to play awesome rock music in a school gym to a seated crowd of quiet parents who would rather be somewhere else.

[erigod23]

In 9th grade we played a variety show, 1990 IIRC. It was organised by the drama club and they insisted that everyone wear stage make-up. She (the drama teacher) said we needed the make-up to look normal under the stage lights. It was pretty fun, though. We played "Revolution" by The Cult and "Van Diemen's Land" by U2. Pretty interesting song choices by today's standards. We were called The Young Offenders

[sturoc]

Great stories Love it !
Funny how after the first show your band plays, your now "known" in school.
We always kept a low profile within our group and our close friends.
But after we played that talent show, the next day the girls had a different look in their eyes.
Funny, had I not been so shy I could have started my sex life a little bit earlier Lol.
and with that I could've had like 3 kids by different girls- left school to work a job- never played again or
toured round the world and never have a myriad host of other life experiences !!!
Whew !