Battle of the bands!!

I played a battle of the bands last night with 8 other acts at Molly Malones, unfortunately I didn't make the top three & go through to the final but it was a fun night & I'm not too disappointed. I didn't really feel like I belonged there so I don't mind not to get through. One of the young solo guys did make it through & just seeing the shock on his face when his name was called out was worth missing out for.
I played Kia tatari mou, Trouble & Hear the train a comin'. With only 20 minutes and three songs each I figured I should try to make my songs as distinctive & memorable as possible & each of those songs has a unique factor. Kia tatari mou becomes more enjoyable to play as I'm getting used to the phrasing in te reo. I'm starting to understand the dynamics of the song and so am able to turn it up or dial it back as the song dictates whereas before I was just trying to get the words out & the actual song suffered. I also switched to english for the final verse & chorus which worked a treat. Trouble was good, I tried to slow it down a bit & not rush so much as I've done in the past. I found the rhythm of the song at moments but it never really took off like I know it can, but that'll come. Hear the train a comin' I wasn't happy with, the guitar sounded tinny to me & I couldn't find the individual strings to accentuate each note. When you're playing slide quickly the challenge is to not just smash two or three strings and turn the whole thing into a mashed up mess. To be able to pick the single string you're after is the skill in playing an upbeat song & last night I just couldn't find the songs mojo. It's there & the more I play the song the better it'll sound but last night to my ears it just sounded like a mashed up mess. What's worse is I forgot the structure of the song so got lost & had to improvise an ending. Lack of practice!
Still, everytime you play you learn & there were plenty of postives:

1. I made a couple of contacts, one of the boys there (who did a really nice loop effect a la KT Tunstill) asked if I'd be keen to do a gig with him & Leigh bought a friend who's keen to try-out as a drummer for us.
2. I had some good feedback, particularly for Trouble. The uniqeness of an acapella song seems to really intrigue people.
3. I can't really afford not to practice before a show, even if it is only three songs long.
4. I was happy with my voice even though it's been a couple of months since I sang. It feels like my voice is just itching to be used more & once I'm gigging regularly it's really going to develop & come on.

So that was that, a good fun night & definately worth the effort.

Next up, finish my parts on the record & have a jam with the new drummer.