This definitely wasn't my favourite gig.
Demo Single Release
We were all quite nervous but excited for this gig. We hadn't played a gig in about a month, and since we'd had a single (demo) released on YouTube for Days of Terror, which got mainly positive reviews, but some quite negative ones too.
"This is some piss poor music," - someone who's opinion is fact.
We had a party at Dave's house to celebrate the release. We were featured on big metal news sites such as "Metal Underground" which was then re-posted by 29 other news pages. It reached 560 views, and we were of course buzzing! However, the music was criticised quite badly on the Metal Underground page.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course. However, these guys from America were slating the music so much it hurt. They mainly focused on the drums been out of time, but they also called the riffs "unimaginative". It was a free recording we did at our college. As good as I personally think it is, (especially the currently unreleased version our producer has been working on to boost the production of it,) it's obviously not going to be Metallica quality. We did record to a metronome but listening back our drummer didn't stick to it much. He was tired that day due to working nights so it's forgivable.
The negative reviews dragged us down a bit, but then me and Dave had a two-hour long phonecall to discuss the future of the band. We decided a music video was a bad idea, and arranged a two-day writing session at his house to come up with some metal masterpieces. We admit that Days of Terror (found here: http://youtu.be/Ue6pH_EHP2M ) isn't our best song, at all. We recorded it because it was the shortest of our songs, and a good one for us to start with. However, the song is fantastic live, it has great energy, and is overall a good metal song.
The negative reviews therefore gave us a push in the right direction.
The Gig
We practised on the week of the gig to of course warm up, and to try and make sure our "new" song "Walk Alone" was ready for playing for the first time in this line up live. It was a song in the original Blackened Eyes line up. The only thing we've changed in it is the introduction, and I also changed the solo. The song is fantastic, one of my favourites, and so I couldn't wait to finally show it to everyone at the gig that week.
However, practice that day was awful. We were all messing up at little parts, and Nidge was forgetting parts of our first ever song Forgiven in Death. This is what made us nervous for the gig, will he mess up onstage too?
I arrived in time for the second band, Pravitas, who were the best band there that night. They were a lot like The Faceless (who coincidentally I'm listening to right now), technical death metal. It's one of the most demanding genres (in terms of skill) in the music industry, and they did a fantastic job! They were tight and talented.
Dave and Nidge showed up.
Nidge made it quite clear he didn't want to play Walk Alone. I was really looking forward to playing this, and I'd said on Facebook that we were to play it, to give our "regulars" something new to listen to. We'd practised it for at least three-four months, so the fact he wasn't prepared to play it pissed me off.
I of course kept nagging him to, saying that he gets it right at practice so why not do it onstage, but unfortunately he refused, and apparently I pissed him off by asking him to do, y'know, his role.
We played, and from what I remember, it was pretty embarrassing. Our drummer messed up at least four times. Once or twice is bad enough, and knocks all our confidence, but any more than that is terrible. At the end, when we packed away, we'd usually shake each other's hand and tell each other "well done" etc. This time, we all seemed to pack away quietly and not make eye contact. We were very embarrassed.
The other bands said they enjoyed us, saying we were "like thrash but heavier", but we told them our performance was unnacceptable, and that they were just being polite.
The Drummer Problem
Afterwards, we went to a takeaway, without the drummer, but with Matt Wootton, a friend of mine.
We had all calmed down by this point, and the thought of food certainly cheered us all up. Dave jokingly said to Matt: "Are you a drummer?"
Matt nodded, but I was shaking my head to Dave, remembering that Matt, last year, wasn't a metal drummer.
However, when we got back inside, Nidge and Dave disappeared for a while to Dave's car, so I went to scout out the situation.
I got in the car, and Nidge turned to me and said: "Adam, I'm quitting Blackened Eyes."
It was definitely for the best, for all of us. Nidge is a fantastic guy, and we loved him. He always made us laugh, and he was a good drummer. However, we did need someone our age, and someone who could practice a lot to keep up with the length and complexity of our tracks. Therefore, while I was sad, we all knew it was for the best.
He was kind enough to agree to play our two upcoming shows the week after, which I was grateful for.
The next day, Nidge obviously didn't come to practice because he'd quit, but we didn't want to cancel practice. So, Matt Wootton bought a double bass pedal for £270 and turned up to practice. He knew Days of Terror already due to our single release, and by the end of the 3 hour practice, he'd learned two more of our songs, and so he could perfectly play 3 songs with us in the space of one practice.
Dave and I turned to each other a lot that practice, laughing at how good Matt actually was. His skill was incredible, and the songs were flawless with him. Being young, he can obviously practice a lot, and so Matt was exactly what we needed.
We didn't announce Matt as a member for a few weeks, however, until he played a gig with us. We wanted to be 100% sure, and we also didn't want to hurt our previous drummer's feelings, obviously.
It's not that Nidge was easily replaceable, because he isn't, it was just that we were extremely lucky that a friend of the band was such a good drummer. Despite some negative comments Nidge received about the single, in terms of live performances, he was often complimented.
The Rest of the Evening
Dave and Nidge left soon after Nidge quit the band, and so I stayed to watch the last band, "Back To The Sea".
I know I said I'd not review bands negatively on these blogs due to getting into trouble for it, but their attitude that evening was pretty disgusting. For grown men, which they were, I'd expect better than their attitude that resembled a group of 15 year old's in a 'hardcore' band trying to be cool and rebellious.
They turned up just before their set, set up and started to play without a soundcheck. To me it sounded like a mess, but they refused to soundcheck, claiming to the sound engineer:
"We can't be professional if you try to be professional with us."
They cockily asked the crowd: "Can you hear us alright? Apparently we need a soundcheck, ha ha!" Before continuing with their set.
I said, jokingly, to the sound engineer that I'd just turn all the volume controls down. He did just that, and the same noise was coming from the stage.
Who refuses to soundcheck? Every band in the world soundchecks, and that's what really angered me.
So I left South Sea that night very annoyed. We'd lost our drummer, and the last band's attitude was the cherry atop the Cherry Bakewell of Death and Misery.
Thanks for reading,
Take care,
ARK Walton
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