Ah yes, Club Soda. My hang was the Wayside, Front Door, Silver Moon and Bowsers. I won't mention Pepper's.
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Do you remember your first gig?
- Thread starter Drop1
- Start date
edwinhurwitz
Supporting Member
Mine was at the Boston equivalent. The Rat (Rathskeller). Spring of 1979 with my all original band from high school: Orange Scream. I remember the guitarist from the Nervous Eaters chopping up lines in the green room with a guitar pick telling us how he was going to get us all hooked up with a record label and similar nonsense. It was epic for an 18 year old.
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I was 25, a SGT. In the Army, and stationed in Germany. Our unit had A Christmas party at our newly built NCO Club that year (1987), and my first band played it. Rock and Roll classic top 40 type music. The place was packed. People clapped, cheered, and danced. I had only understood how to tune my bass and what the notes on the neck were only two months prior. I was hooked, a goner. Still love the Bass like everyone here. Someone brought a video camera and filmed most of it. Which in '87 was quite rare.
My first gig was a student dance in 1966 at the Hume Hall dorm at the University of Florida. At that time I was the singer in the band “The Odds Against”. 6 months and 4 or so gigs later, the guitar player flunked out of school, the bass player took over guitar duties and I started playing bass. I had never played anything before that.
Basement of my drummers church 1969. Day dance gig. Knew about a dozen songs so we played through them three times.
True confessions: Wasn't a paying gig, but was a lot of fun. Afterwards roamed around the church and found the big cathedral part of it. Went to the alter and in back was a collection plate with money on it, so took it. Maybe it WAS a paying gig. Went down to Artic Circle afterwards and bought a cheese burger and onion rings. If I'm going to h-e-double toothpicks for being a douche in 8th grade, so mote it be, I guess. ☮︎
True confessions: Wasn't a paying gig, but was a lot of fun. Afterwards roamed around the church and found the big cathedral part of it. Went to the alter and in back was a collection plate with money on it, so took it. Maybe it WAS a paying gig. Went down to Artic Circle afterwards and bought a cheese burger and onion rings. If I'm going to h-e-double toothpicks for being a douche in 8th grade, so mote it be, I guess. ☮︎
I was playing with some university students and they got a gig there. Our "roadie", another friend , had built a stage by pushing all the tables in the room together at one end. We played and the crowd danced. I remember we did The boys are back in town, La Grange, That smell, etc. The crowd loved us.
After the gig our singer and lead guitarist had a big argument and our singer left the band. Short and sweet.
After the gig our singer and lead guitarist had a big argument and our singer left the band. Short and sweet.
Shew. Almost 41 years ago! My HS director bribed me not to quit concert band by offering to teach me how to play his upright. Within 6 months I put a Cort Model X on layaway at the local guitar shop, and a week later got a call from a local band looking for a bassist—they were tipped off by the proprietor. I had no idea bass players were in such demand.
I joined as soon as I got the bass purchased. The band was named Silver Saw, and had two guitarists (who both sang) and a drummer. Our first gig was at my HS band marathon—we played “Rock & Roll Music” by the Beatles. I went on to play proms and dances with them for a couple years. One guitarist left and we picked up a new kid who rehearsed 4-8 hours a day and was pretty amazing. Pete went on to play with Zakk Wylde; he’s my earliest claim to a brush with fame.
I still keep in touch with those guys on social media.
Good memories. Thanks, OP!
I joined as soon as I got the bass purchased. The band was named Silver Saw, and had two guitarists (who both sang) and a drummer. Our first gig was at my HS band marathon—we played “Rock & Roll Music” by the Beatles. I went on to play proms and dances with them for a couple years. One guitarist left and we picked up a new kid who rehearsed 4-8 hours a day and was pretty amazing. Pete went on to play with Zakk Wylde; he’s my earliest claim to a brush with fame.
I still keep in touch with those guys on social media.
Good memories. Thanks, OP!
Fall of 1973, I was 17, we played the homecoming dance for a small high school in SE Louisiana. I played an EB-0 with a pick, into my Carvin 100w head/2x15 cab (which was BARELY loud enough to keep up with the guitarists). Pretty sure our first two songs were "American Band" and "Ramblin' Man". Here's a pic of the group a few months later. The keyboard guy was not part of the original lineup. We couldn't afford a snake or longer mic cables, so the PA guy sat up front - that was pretty dorky of us.
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Wow, it's time to fire myself: I just realized that I made my stage debut as a PERCUSSIONIST. I was a very fledgling bass player at the time (probably late-74 or early 1975) and for reasons unknown I was asked to sit in with a group led by a faint acquaintance of mine (whose name escapes me). It was a quintet playing pop songs of the day (I distinctly remember a couple of Elton John numbers) and it was about an hour-long set in a pretty big hall of some kind. I recall that it was night time, and the place was full (200+ I think) and it was a lot of fun sitting in the back with the drummer (I was tastefully wailing on a set of bongos for the most part)
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I remember I was in grad school, but I can't remember if the first one was a house party or a cultural fair. Those were the first two, at any rate.
We played German pop/rock/punk stuff. I most likely had my amp cranked way too much - Marshall Valvestate 100w hybrid combo amp. I was so loud at the cultural fair that I could feel the sound bouncing off a building that was about 30 yards away.
While we might have been a little softer at the house party, I'm surprised we didn't all get hearing damage, because it was really an apartment. It was so tightly packed that I had to be careful not to hit anyone with my guitar.
We played German pop/rock/punk stuff. I most likely had my amp cranked way too much - Marshall Valvestate 100w hybrid combo amp. I was so loud at the cultural fair that I could feel the sound bouncing off a building that was about 30 yards away.
While we might have been a little softer at the house party, I'm surprised we didn't all get hearing damage, because it was really an apartment. It was so tightly packed that I had to be careful not to hit anyone with my guitar.
Texas beer joint. A then-new Gibson Ripper into a Peavey BASS Mk2 head (the chrome knobs and the included FUZZ circuit) on top of a 215BW. Loved every minute of it, felt like I was supposed to be there and doin' it, made the gig. And just like that first one, I've never had stage fright once in my life.
It was like stepping off into warm water.
It was like stepping off into warm water.
Yes! It was the high school talent show. We put together a band to play it, called EW3000. There were 17 people in the band hahaha!
My cousin's band filling in for his bassist who quit unexpectedly. Big high school mixer in 1970. I was just coming out of two years of playing upright exclusively and didn't own an electric bass, so he loaned me the use of his 68 JB. I had two weeks to get comfortable with a bass guitar. No problem there. I found the transition quite easy thanks to having frets to work with. A bigger challenge was crash learning three hours worth of music. Fortunately, I was already familiar with all the songs (gotta love the 70s!) and he provided me with lead sheets and tapes to listen to. I did four back to back nights of rehearsals with the band just before the gig and it went really well. I was hooked on bass guitar from that point forward, although I did continue with upright for several more years too.
Made $50 for the night which was good money back then. Minimum wage was $1.45/hr in 1970 if I recall correctly. That'd be about $400 worth of buying power today. My mom was a secretary and only making about $150 per week in those days. That went a long way towards my parents being ok with me being in a "hippy" band.
Made $50 for the night which was good money back then. Minimum wage was $1.45/hr in 1970 if I recall correctly. That'd be about $400 worth of buying power today. My mom was a secretary and only making about $150 per week in those days. That went a long way towards my parents being ok with me being in a "hippy" band.
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I haven't had ti deal with a lot of drama thankfully. The most drama I experienced was a band leader bringing in a foh guy to record the live performance. The only problem was he didn't bother telling any of the band members their money for that night would be going to the sound guy. The guitarist and drummer were upset. It wasn't much money. Like $50 each but they were expecting it. They quit the band. That blew cause the whole lot was super talented. That band could have went places, even if it was just doing covers. Thats about the extent of my music drama.
1990, a church youth group band. Drums, keys & me on bass. The drummer was a proficient jazz drummer. The keyboard player was at the conservatorium of music (and went on to record stuff for Hillsong) & I knew almost nothing.
I'd won a bass equalizer at a local guitar store, so I set it up with everything at the lowest level. That way, when I lost my place I just hit the pedal to mute the bass; so at least I looked like I was still doing something. Then I'd tap volume back on when I worked out what I was supposed to be playing.
I'd won a bass equalizer at a local guitar store, so I set it up with everything at the lowest level. That way, when I lost my place I just hit the pedal to mute the bass; so at least I looked like I was still doing something. Then I'd tap volume back on when I worked out what I was supposed to be playing.
