Have you ever had a really strange dream? The kind of dream where you maybe ate a bit too much potato salad, and that night you're in some sort of bizarre situation with a very random cast of characters? I have those kinds of dreams all the time.
Here's one for you: I had to rush from work to get all of my guitar gear into a tent in a parking lot. There was snow on the ground. There had been a blizzard the week before; that's why all the snow was there. We were apparently opening for Bret Michaels at a cigar bar. But we couldn't smoke cigars at the bar, or within 20 feet of the door, because North Dakota had changed their laws. So there we are, opening for Bret Michaels, and my buddy Jon shows up and says "Hey, let's play 'Lights Out' by UFO." So we play the UFO song, and Daisy Duke circa 1980 walks in. I look over at Daisy and realize that I don't remember the words to Lights Out. Then, I try to step on the footswitch for my amp, and can't do it. A very short clown is sitting on it, trying to steal my shoelaces. I'm wearing slip-on shoes, so I try to convince the clown that his mission is in vain, but he persists. Then I wake up and go "wow, that's a WEIRD dream".
Subtract the clown and Daisy Duke, and the rest is all true.
Those in the know, which pretty much includes 90% of the people who will bother to read this blog post, know that Rule 17 plays original metal in Fargo, ND. They also know that it's a relatively small scene. I consider it kind of a comfortable room. Playing metal in Fargo is as rewarding or unrewarding as you let it be. Cover bands generally get higher profile gigs, but we generally have more hardcore fans. There are Rule 17 fans who have seen nearly every show we've played since we were known as 7th Seal, which takes it back to 2005. But sometimes, it's good to step outside your comfort zone.
I've known Jon Stensland since we were kids. He's the one who recommended Dave for 7th Seal back in fall of 2004. It's well known that he works for Bret Michaels, particularly since he's on stage with him every show. Jon got us the in. It was textbook nepotism, which is fine by me.
We hit the stage at 6pm, not really knowing what the crowd was going to be like. We've never played that early. In our world, we generally don't do a soundcheck before 10 pm, often 11 pm. We got our gear there, got it set up, did a pretty comprehensive sound check, and let 'er rip.
I don't think the crowd necessarily knew what they were in for. There were people camped out in the non-VIP area. The only familiar faces were members of Dave's family, the bar staff, and a handful of others. We played Act of Defiance, Troy had trouble with his pedal board, we finished the song and...people cheered. Huh. So we played Awake. No technical problems, and it actually went over relatively well considering its thrash metal pedigree. Oh, there were a few duds in there. We had picked "Dusk" from the 7th Seal album as a "friendly" tune, and that died like a doe on Highway 2. "In the Wake of Fear" suffered a similar fate, but that was okay because it's just a terribly fun song to play. Jon joined us for our final run through "Lights Out" by UFO - it was one of two covers that we did (Children of the Sea was the other). It was a lot of fun, although it wound up being a little improvisational since the 5 of us had never actually rehearsed it together. We ended with "Waste Away", which went over pretty well again.
After our set, I ran over to the bar and grabbed some grub. JT's has a restaurant in the old smoking area, so I had a burger and some seasoned fries. Pretty good stuff. After that, I caught the last bit of Face for Radio's set and helped get Fritz's drums off the stage.
Bret came out and played to a very receptive crowd. His band was really solid, the set was tight, and he did what he does very well. "Bret Michaels knows his crowd" was the thought that ran through my head as I watched the whole thing. Seriously, he knows how to work his crowd, which is a talent all its own.
Overall, I had a LOT of fun playing. It was a big stage with a really good monitor mix. I always enjoy working with a professional crew and Bret's crew is very good. The JTs staff was helpful and accommodating. The crowd response was mixed, but the net result was positive.
Big thanks go out to Jon "King" Stensland for really making this happen, JT Cigarro management and staff for being very flexible in working with us, the Bret Michaels crew for being super pros, and finally to Bret himself for letting us play in front of his crowd and for thanking us at the end of his set.
Here's a little clip of "Beyond". Big PA meant big clipping on the camera with every kick hit.
http://youtu.be/gNVWfES-yfU
Here's one for you: I had to rush from work to get all of my guitar gear into a tent in a parking lot. There was snow on the ground. There had been a blizzard the week before; that's why all the snow was there. We were apparently opening for Bret Michaels at a cigar bar. But we couldn't smoke cigars at the bar, or within 20 feet of the door, because North Dakota had changed their laws. So there we are, opening for Bret Michaels, and my buddy Jon shows up and says "Hey, let's play 'Lights Out' by UFO." So we play the UFO song, and Daisy Duke circa 1980 walks in. I look over at Daisy and realize that I don't remember the words to Lights Out. Then, I try to step on the footswitch for my amp, and can't do it. A very short clown is sitting on it, trying to steal my shoelaces. I'm wearing slip-on shoes, so I try to convince the clown that his mission is in vain, but he persists. Then I wake up and go "wow, that's a WEIRD dream".
Subtract the clown and Daisy Duke, and the rest is all true.
Those in the know, which pretty much includes 90% of the people who will bother to read this blog post, know that Rule 17 plays original metal in Fargo, ND. They also know that it's a relatively small scene. I consider it kind of a comfortable room. Playing metal in Fargo is as rewarding or unrewarding as you let it be. Cover bands generally get higher profile gigs, but we generally have more hardcore fans. There are Rule 17 fans who have seen nearly every show we've played since we were known as 7th Seal, which takes it back to 2005. But sometimes, it's good to step outside your comfort zone.
I've known Jon Stensland since we were kids. He's the one who recommended Dave for 7th Seal back in fall of 2004. It's well known that he works for Bret Michaels, particularly since he's on stage with him every show. Jon got us the in. It was textbook nepotism, which is fine by me.
We hit the stage at 6pm, not really knowing what the crowd was going to be like. We've never played that early. In our world, we generally don't do a soundcheck before 10 pm, often 11 pm. We got our gear there, got it set up, did a pretty comprehensive sound check, and let 'er rip.
I don't think the crowd necessarily knew what they were in for. There were people camped out in the non-VIP area. The only familiar faces were members of Dave's family, the bar staff, and a handful of others. We played Act of Defiance, Troy had trouble with his pedal board, we finished the song and...people cheered. Huh. So we played Awake. No technical problems, and it actually went over relatively well considering its thrash metal pedigree. Oh, there were a few duds in there. We had picked "Dusk" from the 7th Seal album as a "friendly" tune, and that died like a doe on Highway 2. "In the Wake of Fear" suffered a similar fate, but that was okay because it's just a terribly fun song to play. Jon joined us for our final run through "Lights Out" by UFO - it was one of two covers that we did (Children of the Sea was the other). It was a lot of fun, although it wound up being a little improvisational since the 5 of us had never actually rehearsed it together. We ended with "Waste Away", which went over pretty well again.
After our set, I ran over to the bar and grabbed some grub. JT's has a restaurant in the old smoking area, so I had a burger and some seasoned fries. Pretty good stuff. After that, I caught the last bit of Face for Radio's set and helped get Fritz's drums off the stage.
Bret came out and played to a very receptive crowd. His band was really solid, the set was tight, and he did what he does very well. "Bret Michaels knows his crowd" was the thought that ran through my head as I watched the whole thing. Seriously, he knows how to work his crowd, which is a talent all its own.
Overall, I had a LOT of fun playing. It was a big stage with a really good monitor mix. I always enjoy working with a professional crew and Bret's crew is very good. The JTs staff was helpful and accommodating. The crowd response was mixed, but the net result was positive.
Big thanks go out to Jon "King" Stensland for really making this happen, JT Cigarro management and staff for being very flexible in working with us, the Bret Michaels crew for being super pros, and finally to Bret himself for letting us play in front of his crowd and for thanking us at the end of his set.
Here's a little clip of "Beyond". Big PA meant big clipping on the camera with every kick hit.
http://youtu.be/gNVWfES-yfU
