Becoming a band in London (7/12): Metronomes and Automatons
Recording ‘Routine Mission’, frustrating as it was, did reinvigorate us. We used this new found enthusiasm to start rehearsing our set and get ready for a couple of gigs we managed to book in London. Rehearsals were heavily influenced by what had happened at the Water Rats gig, in the sense that we started paying close attention to ‘insignificant’ issues such as timing and pitch. Andrei practiced playing guitar and singing concomitantly until he was blue in the face, everyone polished and reworked their parts so that the songs could better translate from produced demo to exposed live version, and we added a life-saver member of the band in the guise of a metronome (the Korg Beatlab). Initially, Cat was the only one who used it, as it took a while for us to figure out how we could have it sent to everyone’s monitors (but more on that in a future installment). We rehearsed relentlessly, both individually and as a group, and were ready to hit the stage again.
Playing with machines
The phrase above acquired a completely new meaning for us in November 2015. We were set to play at Spitalfields near Liverpool Street in London. The venue had a nice live room underground, and we were one of the bands on a bill whose headlining act brought in many people. The place was be packed. But we had a serious problem: Cat was struck by a severe case of tonsillitis. So severe, in fact, that he couldn’t leave the house. We couldn’t cancel the gig on the day of the event and we had no chance of actually performing without a drummer. Rock and hard place.
Thankfully, Cat came with a saving solution. He would send the isolated drum tracks from the demos we’d been working on and we would play along to those on the night. It was crazy and audacious enough it could actually work! We got the tracks and he went to bed to sleep for 24 hours. In the meantime, Horia and Andrei got to the venue and told the promoter and sound engineer what the situation was. They were met with extreme disbelief. However, they put on such a confident facade that they went onstage and did a great soundcheck. All of the rehearsal time had paid off. Cat’s stems were exactly what he played during our sessions, so it was just a matter of being able to hear them properly through the monitors and getting them to sit right in the audience mix. Thankfully, the engineer on the night was fantastic, so we had no troubles during the gig. We hit play on the laptop we had the tracks on and hit the ground running. It was a good gig, all things considered. Good enough that the promoter asked us to perform at another event! (But more on that later.)
Playing to automatons
We were pumped for our next gig, in December, at The Comedy Pub, near Piccadilly Square. Cat was back in tip top shape and we had even more rehearsals under our belt. We were ready for our best gig ever. And, to some extent, it was. We really did put on a great show, especially musically. We didn’t miss a beat and everything sounded tight. We were, again, headlining (last time we did that mistake, we promise!), which meant that most bands were already snug in their beds (it was a Tuesday slot…). However, this gig was special.
The engineer had one of the easiest jobs on the planet, given that only the vocals and kick drum were actually miced up, everything else coming straight through amps or the drums themselves (whose kick drum was padded with blankets, by the way). Once he finished balancing everything, he left the room and went upstairs for the entirety of our set! While, given the complexity of the setup, he wasn’t necessarily needed, it was extremely unprofessional to leave you post like that, to say the least. We ended up playing to 7 people (could’ve been 8!), 5 of whom were our friends (and who are superstars for showing up!). Hey, still better than the Surya gig, right? The engineer came back down well after we finished our set and offered us a Saturday slot. Needless to say, we didn’t jump on the occasion.
The bizarre experience left us somewhat confused, as we started to question why we’re doing this. It wasn’t a serious thought, but inception had happened. Nonetheless, we were still in the game. We decided, again repeating our established pattern, to work on songs. But this time it would be different. We would go into a professional recording studio, with a pro engineer, have artwork done for the record, and give it a real release, with all of the bells and whistles such an endeavor ensues.
To be continued next Saturday. In the meantime, you can follow our journey on Instagram and Twitter @electrictuxedo. Thanks for reading!
