Redneck Olympics 2013 and Tina Kelly in Buxton-- 1 night!

A few weeks ago (sorry about the late blog) I had a day of "fun" with UnCharted and The Tina Kelly Band playing two separate gigs (separate by an hour and a mood).

UnCharted was the first band on Saturday to play at the Redneck "Blank" (Olympics https://www.facebook.com/pages/Redneck-olympicspig-roast-and-music-festival/111251762300128). This was our 3rd year at this event in Hebron, but now under a different name (remember that we were MaineStream). I didn't look forward to bad parking, dirt on my car and equipment, and a potentially hostile audience, but I had to go along with it.

After a few parking attempts, I was able to unload some of my equipment. My car was packed for two shows, so this was not easy. Before I make it to the stage, Brandi (our lead singer) tells me that "things have changed"-- this seems to always happen at every show. There is a wedding going on before we play, and then we need to play a few wedding songs for the couple.

The wedding itself is done as a "redneck" wedding-- chickens on the stage, donkeys close by, the couple pulls up in a mud-runner truck, and an Elvis impersonator sings for them.

With the wedding over, we take the stage to setup and wipe away chicken feed. Our old sound production manager (who doesn't like us) is there to shake my hand and give me a grin. We get our equipment set, do an individual monitor check, and then we have to start playing without a full sound check. Once again my keyboards (run in mono) sound like tin cans, and I cannot hear the bass enough. I look to the mixing board and no one is there. After a set of feedback issues and intermittent changes to the set mid-way through, we got off the stage as fast as we could while another band literally setup on top of us.

I was told afterwards that the sound producer (remember that guy mentioned earlier?) was laughing with his wife on the side of his box truck when there was feedback. It was his job to fix that while it was happening!

But, no time to complain or collect-- I left with the drummer for our next gig in Buxton!

I made it to Buxton 30 minutes after the gig started (they played a few acoustic songs-- basically my favorite ones). I am always ready to play-- if money is at stake, I have to always go with it! With a few mixing issues taken care of, the Tina Kelly Band played until past midnight and then we collectively tore everything down and packed it up. The day was a whirlwind of cables and sound levels for me-- nothing seemed to be mixed properly.

If I got anything out of this experience, it is to find your own personal monitoring system (in ear) to make sure that you feel good about what you are playing. The mix that the house (audience) hears is important to other people (and should be taken care of by a dedicated listener), but if you don't like your mix, the gig will not go well. Imagine playing for 3 hours and fighting your sound every step of the way. Don't do that!

Also, don't be afraid of chickens. They will not peck you when they have feed around.

Take care!