I would have been 15 or 16 and there is no doubt we were all under the influence of one thing or another. The previous weekend there was a metal band ( Remember this would have been about 1984) who was kind enough to allow us to sit in during their break. We played a blues song that my guitar player and I had written a few days earlier. After our song the bar owner approached us and asked us to play the following weekend. The band who let us sit in had been scheduled for that weekend too and they were not real happy about it, but we were young, violent punks and they decided to let it alone. Anyway, the following weekend we were booked for Friday and Saturday night. Friday night rolls around and we had everyone we knew there. The place was at capacity with a parking lot full of minors partying. They were expecting a blues band only we weren't a blues band. We opened up with War Pigs and continued on with stuff like "Make it last, Got to Choose, Over the Hills and Far Away, Snowblind, Gimme Back My Bullets, etc. By the end of the night they were telling us to turn it down or we wouldn't be paid, which we did. The pay was $200/night plus free beer. First night went off fine, but by the end of the night Saturday they were insisting that we drank more beer then what we were being paid and they refused to pay. The problem for them was that Archie ( The owner, now dead of HIV from sharing needles) was a guy that hung in the same circles we did. Bottom line, 2 days later we got our pay and Archie voluntarily quit hanging around in the aforementioned circles.
Ah, the bad ol' days.
Anyway, congrats on breaking the ice. The nerve thing only gets easier from here, however, the gas and endless tweaking of the tone, the PA, the show,etc. only gets worse.
