NLA highlights 6/13

The band I play in, No Longer Atlas, played out first show together last Friday night -- we opened for THE ENGLISH BEAT at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. (It actually wasn't our first first show... we played last month down in San Diego, but have changed our drummer, bassist, and lead guitarist since that time. So it was pretty much a whole new band.) I'll just keep it fairly short & sweet, and leave it at WOW THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN! It had been at least 4 or 5 years since I'd played in a big venue (Coconuts in Victorville, WOOT!) -- it was such a rush to plug in with almost 500 people watching, getting scorched by the stage lights, and watching people enjoy our music. Really makes me want to play more, which is good. Also makes me want to buy more stuff, which is not necessarily good. ("Pace yourself, Frank!") Some highlights from the evening:

1) The opening-opening act that night was a local OC thrash-ska band called "Not A Chance." I thought they sounded decent, but given that 80% of the audience was there to see THE BEAT (think cheerful upbeat 80's style dance music)... the crowd just wasn't digging these guys. It worked out well for us, since we were way more mellow (even with most of our songs fully overdriven) -- I think people were relieved that we weren't streaming obscenities and ranting against how church sucks. (Not kidding. These guys sounded upset.) While we were upstairs warming up during their set, I got about 7 text messages to the effect of "you should see your mom... she's covering her ears and her face is all contorted." Classic.

2) The text of the night came from none other than Cub Campbell: "can their drummer beat up ur drummer?" I literally almost blew chips & salsa all over the place when I read that... but you had to be there. Our drummer (who is AWESOME) is a 19 year old dude who weighs maybe a buck-twenty dripping wet, and is probably the nicest guy in the world. Their drummer was a gal who weighed roughly twice that, and she looked pissed. I've got nothing against bigger gals, and she held her own on-stage... but the comparison was hilarious.

3) THE BEAT totally rocked. I was studying everything they did: the way they played, their mix, their setup, their audience interaction. I pretty much felt totally inadequate until they mentioned that they'd been performing together for 29 years. Wow. Definitely something to shoot for. I'll just take this opportunity to thank them again for a great show, and The Coach House for letting us play. I'll take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to support us too -- we really appreciate it. I hope you had a good time.

4) I have to say that I'm pretty stoked on the group of guys that I'm playing with... aside from being great musicians, they're good guys and fun to hang out with. That includes Knutson (our sound guy/coach) and Muro (our manager). It was pretty awesome to be able to pray together before going on, and to meet afterwards to talk about how we're going to use our music to glorify God in the future. I'm pretty lucky right now, and whatever happens with NLA... WOW THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!

5) Next show: Friday July 11th, 2008
Benefit concert for Acres of Love
Tyrone Wells headlining
At Coast Hills church in Aliso Viejo
More details to come!!