I had a previous thread asking for advice since I was playing the Music As A Weapon tour, and here is an update.
It will be long, but informative.
We played with Suicide Silence on the Thursday before. They were nice guys and were playing shows on off dates to help make extra money. Nice dudes, they let us know the stage was a free stage for anyone who wanted to come, and was outdoors. Super legit, and I think a great way to give us, the smaller bands, some exposure.
We had our backline provided to us, so all we needed were our heads and guitars, and our drummer brought his own kit. Again, super legit.
We were told to arrive early, and find Rob the 2nd stage manager. We were lucky, our drummer's grandpa owned a 35 foot RV bus, which we took. Super legit. Parked with all the touring bands, again super legit. We looked like pros.
We were the first band to arrive, which meant we were the last of the locals, i.e. playing right before the touring bands. Super nice, we received 5 passes granting us backstage access to the second stage and entrance to and from the show. We were given 2 more for being early, which weant to our roadie and our drummer's dad.
Waiting sucked, but we went and got lunch, and then chilled out. Watched the first band, Dude Wheres My Corpse. They were from Jacksonville, and I felt bad for them. Its always hard to warm up the crowd.
Then came Nu Metal-ish band looking, speed metal sounding, Skin Dustry. They didn't listen and were kicked off before the last song they played for cussing on stage. Several times they were told not to, but refused to listen and had the mics cut. This is a Florida rule that can result in you being fined and taken to jail, not MAWIV rule, sucks I know.
Then it was our chance, we came, set up our gear and soundchecked. I actually wasn't nervous, even though I thought I would be. The sound techs were super nice guys that really helped out with making things sound great on both ends. We played to somewhere between 700 and 1000 people, which was huge to us. Big energy from both us and the crowd, which was amazing.
Leaving the stage was hard, as it was hot, and I was out of breath. I packed up my gear and took it side stage where people kept asking for autographs as we loaded out. So weird to me, but nice. We mingled as our drummer tore down and packed up his set, and we loaded back into our bus.
We watched the rest of the bands who gave us compliments and apparently the drummer of Disturbed said we had a lot going for us. That is cool, even if I am not down with the sickness.
We watched the rest of the bands and the show in the arena. Killswitch was amazing and then left for the drive back to Jacksonville.
Experience was an A+.
Any questions, comments, or concerns will be fielded here.
My bands' myspace is"
Link Removed
It will be long, but informative.
We played with Suicide Silence on the Thursday before. They were nice guys and were playing shows on off dates to help make extra money. Nice dudes, they let us know the stage was a free stage for anyone who wanted to come, and was outdoors. Super legit, and I think a great way to give us, the smaller bands, some exposure.
We had our backline provided to us, so all we needed were our heads and guitars, and our drummer brought his own kit. Again, super legit.
We were told to arrive early, and find Rob the 2nd stage manager. We were lucky, our drummer's grandpa owned a 35 foot RV bus, which we took. Super legit. Parked with all the touring bands, again super legit. We looked like pros.
We were the first band to arrive, which meant we were the last of the locals, i.e. playing right before the touring bands. Super nice, we received 5 passes granting us backstage access to the second stage and entrance to and from the show. We were given 2 more for being early, which weant to our roadie and our drummer's dad.
Waiting sucked, but we went and got lunch, and then chilled out. Watched the first band, Dude Wheres My Corpse. They were from Jacksonville, and I felt bad for them. Its always hard to warm up the crowd.
Then came Nu Metal-ish band looking, speed metal sounding, Skin Dustry. They didn't listen and were kicked off before the last song they played for cussing on stage. Several times they were told not to, but refused to listen and had the mics cut. This is a Florida rule that can result in you being fined and taken to jail, not MAWIV rule, sucks I know.
Then it was our chance, we came, set up our gear and soundchecked. I actually wasn't nervous, even though I thought I would be. The sound techs were super nice guys that really helped out with making things sound great on both ends. We played to somewhere between 700 and 1000 people, which was huge to us. Big energy from both us and the crowd, which was amazing.
Leaving the stage was hard, as it was hot, and I was out of breath. I packed up my gear and took it side stage where people kept asking for autographs as we loaded out. So weird to me, but nice. We mingled as our drummer tore down and packed up his set, and we loaded back into our bus.
We watched the rest of the bands who gave us compliments and apparently the drummer of Disturbed said we had a lot going for us. That is cool, even if I am not down with the sickness.
We watched the rest of the bands and the show in the arena. Killswitch was amazing and then left for the drive back to Jacksonville.
Experience was an A+.
Any questions, comments, or concerns will be fielded here.
My bands' myspace is"
Link Removed
