The Hospital where I work had a Rock genre themed Christmas Party and yours trully performed live on stage. This is the first time after many years that I stepped on a staged and performed as a drummer.
Our boss informed us (our department) that we had an entry in the Christmas Party's "Battle of the Bands". We are all shocked because not all of us can play musical instruments and have the courage or too shy to perform live. And it was all said to us just a few weeks before the party and there's no time to back down. Because 99% of us can't perform so I, the remaining 1%, had to compromise and think of a plan. The plan is that I will perform alone on stage playing drums while listening to music tracks.
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| Drum set revived |
Since we only have a few days left to practice so I took this one alone and got home early from work, went to our storage, picked and set up my old drum kit and cymbals and I even re-oiled or greased my squeaky double bass pedals. I practiced on my usual favorite music tracks from the 2 bands that I like.
Stress, other life commitments and the cold season made my immune system weaker and got sick. I had flu for 3 days before the party. I was feeling a bit better (no fever but still with sore throat, cough and colds) on the day of our party. If I got a fever and body pains, I cannot perform live so thankfully those went away.
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| Let's do this! |
It's party time and it's my turn. The other departments performed really well but they took a lot of time singing and dancing on stage I think they had 8 to 10 songs that it got boring in the end in my opinion.
I was the third one to perform. and here's my song line-up:
1. Juneau - Funeral For a Friend
2. This Year's Most Open Heart Break - Funeral For a Friend
3. The Darkest Nights - As I Lay Dying
4. Anger and Apathy - As I Lay Dying (for Encore)
Yep, three to four songs is enough. Just like the old times when me and my old band were having gigs at night during college.
I'm setting up the drums on stage. Come to think of it, this is the very first time that I will use all the cymbals that I bought and play them live. I just got my additional cymbals after our band broke up and went on different paths. Anyway, the additional cymbals and drum hardware and mounts took a lot of time to set up and I can't set the five piece drum kit acording to my own layout at home because it will take more time and the owner of the kit might have a hard time to put the kit back on its original layout.
All set, it's time to perform! I was so nervous and excited at the same time. And what's weird is that I will perform alone on stage, without any support or backup. The only support that I'm getting are the cheers from my co-workers and that's good enough for me. I only got to play three songs. I didn't play Anger and Apathy because of the technical issues that I'm having on stage, like the bass drum going forward because it didn't have a capret underneath and I also lack one crucial equipment.
Playing drums again live is really sweet, fun and thrilling but I messed up my performance. Because I don't have those in ear monitors, I can't hear the music tracks so I end up going too fast and slow. Well, I don't aim for 1st place, I just want to represent our department and get this over with and have some glory that I felt back in the old days.
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| It's lonely when I view my performance on this angle. |
When I think about my performcance, I get hilariously cringy. But I got to show my drumming skills live and it was better than expected given that I only got two days to practice and get the feel of hitting real drums and cymbals once again.
I got sick again (cough got worse) after the party so I had a checkup at the hospital where I was working. But first I have to stop by our department to put down my stuff and pick up some gifts from my co-workers. Them congratulating me, made my day. On my way to the clinics, I received a lot of compliments from the staff there. Even the doctor who I went to was surprised at my performance. Probably because they don't know that I can play drums and I'm absolutely sure because they also didn't know the music tracks that I'm playing. So I thanked them and I said is that because I had a band years ago. After those compliments, the cringiness went away and I felt better.
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| There was a drumset here... but it's gone now... |
Now that I have my meds, I'm on my road to recovery before Christmas. Feeling much better, I have enough strength to cleanup the living room and put the drumset back in the storage. It's a little sad that I'm storing the kit again after setting it up in just a few days. Still, I plan to put it back up once we settled on the final layout of our living room.
Wow, this post got long. Probably because I had fun writing my experience performing live on stage with the odds stacked against me during our Christmas Party. Thanks to my boss and co-worker for sharing the videos of my performance. I have the videos, but it's kinda embarassing to share it here because of the mess I've made, I only shared the screen caps LOL! If I got a chance to perform again, I will prepare more and have the right equipment that will help me play drums better on stage.
Cheers! and...
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
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