I Got That Feeling Again… April 30
Before this band started, I hadn’t played in a band for about 4 years. Which is a long time to not be playing music seriously. It has been weird adjusting to being in a band again, but gradually the feeling of playing in a band is been coming back to me.
For example, we have started to come together musically. We are really listening to each other, and playing off of each other. Rather than just stand and play our parts, we are starting to mess with things and play off of each other. For example, I am starting to get an idea of what fills Spencer likes to play. This is really when things become exciting. We are starting to form an identity as a band. It is a long process, but it is happening.
In addition, our email back and forth have become increasingly juvenile. This is also an important step towards becoming a band. You have to be comfortable enough with each other to be able to say, and write things, to each other that most people would find shockingly offensive. We are just starting to get there, having Adam in the band helps. All we need now is a real good band fight, and I am thinking of starting one with Aaron just to get it out of the way.
All of these things have started me on the path towards feeling like I am in a band again. The moment that I finally had the “I am in a band” epiphany occurred on Friday at the Brass Monkey. When you play in a small band that is just starting out, you spend a fair amount of time in small bars waiting to play. We happened to have the last slot on Friday night, and given that we are not from Baltimore we didn’t really have anywhere to go. The result is that we spent the 4 hours before we went on just sitting at the bar. You may be saying to yourself; “So, I have spent 4 hours at a bar before. What is the big deal?” Well, the problem when you are playing in a band is that you can’t get too drunk to play. Bars are built to get you drunk, and they are shockingly good at it, and to spend that much time in one and not get drunk seems, and feels, wrong. I had to institute a one beer per hour limit to keep myself honest. But is was then, sitting at the bar with Adam and staring at the clock that I realized that I am in a band again.