[UPDATE: The other band on the bill this night was Prabir And The Substitutes. Quite good!]
First things first: This wasn’t a Zapruder Point show at all. I was merely sitting in with Goner for the last three songs of their set on a Thursday night at Irish Pub Tir Na Nog. Still, I learned a lot just dipping a toe into a “proper rock” milieu…
I got into town the night before, and I attended Goner practice. Their practice space is mostly occupied by heavy metal acts, as half of the building doubles as a metal club by night. There was a poster for an upcoming Three Inches of Blood show that was particularly creepy. I stared at that thing while Goner ran through their “normal” set, getting well-spooked. We ran through the trio of songs I’d play and sing on — my own “The Next Thing You Know,” their “The Winter Pageant,” and a cover of Billy Bragg’s “Accident Waiting to Happen,” prepared special for the birthday of the Bragg-fan pub owner, which fell on the night of the gig.
I’d been practicing “Accident” alone for weeks, feeling like I was “strangling” its lone bar chord (a B-Minor). In my own music, with few exceptions, if I’m not playing just the lowest two strings, I’m usually just playing “cowboy chords.” I think these are also called “open chords,” but I’m not sure. Either way, they don’t require you to “bar” the whole fret with your first finger. Anyway, when I did so for the B-Minor in “Accident,” it sounded out of tune, and I attributed it to me being a sucky guitar player, who wasn’t accustomed to “the bar.”
Well, the cruddy-sounding quality cropped up during the Goner practice, and Scott immediately suggested it was my cheap-ass GUITAR causing the problem, not me. They handed me a Fender Stratocaster that belonged to one of the bands sharing the practice space…and it was amazing. Playing the B-Minor was easy AND it sounded just fine. Not strangled, not out of tune. This is one of those “no duh” moments greater musicians might’ve had before my ripe old age…but better late than never. To Larry and Aselin and all the sane, reasonable fellow musicians who have begged me to cut the $150 guitar nonsense…I hear you, finally. I will invest in a “proper” guitar and relegate my current Les Paul knockoff to “strictly two-string” status…
As for the show itself, well. I maintained my policy of not drinking beforehand, and I must say that I like that policy the more I employ it. Thing is, you’re really going to feel nervous either way, so why add fogginess into the mix? I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t catch the name of the first band, but they were hella catchy, kinda power-pop, proper bass lines and sweet singing. Goner brought it in the usual fashion they do, full-force rocking. Especially enjoyable was a reworking of a song of theirs called “Disappearing Sparks.” The harder they rocked, the more I feared my presence would spoil the soup. Did I mention how disorienting it is to check your instruments in a proper rock club? With the sound guy blasting whatever CD he has, and a (small, but big for me) crowd jostling a matter of inches from your tuning pedal? A tuning pedal whose battery decided to die right then and there? Whew…
Well, for all that, it went off well. I still blanked on some of the chords for “Accident,” which prompted me to promise myself a second musicianly promise: ALWAYS use chord cheat-sheets, if you’re doing a newish song. Afterward, I met some drunk dudes, of course. I’m just not used to rock shows, I must say. I enjoyed a Guinness, I talked with the fellas, and I got to know Katrina, head of Superfan Records (The Monologue Bombs, Starmount), who was as energetic, cool and funny as her label name would suggest.
We loaded and unloaded, laughing like in my old rock-band days. I went home with Scott, and we were asleep with a quickness. You can still give people the business and get a decent, non-passing-out night’s sleep, and Goner is proof positive of that. Thanks guys!
