Performing
in front of a crowd was the absolute best. The thrill is indescribable, the joy
that I had on stage was euphoric, and being able to sing my heart out and be
hoarse by the end of the night for the enjoyment of friends and fans was just
ever so satisfying. I had my own little quirks on stage as well. I usually
liked to wear some kind of jacket over a t-shirt, or a button-up shirt and tie.
I had fun with a jean jacket I bought to wear for shows, and a black one that I
no longer have. But my favorite by far (and I still have this one!) is the tan
leather sport coat that my own father wore for his engagement photos with my
mom. Classic, haha. And still in great condition! I played many shows in that
jacket.
I also preferred to use a straight die-cast mic stand with a round base
that I bought while on a band excursion to Guitar Center one afternoon. It’s
one of my favorite things/mementos from our time playing together, and yes, I
still have it as well. I also loved to dance on stage. It was funny, and
perhaps awkward at times, but everyone I talked to seemed to love it, haha!
Whether they loved it because they thought it was good, or the fact that it
just gave them a good laugh (most likely the latter), I didn’t care. The fact
that people enjoyed it made me keep doing it. Besides, when you don’t have an instrument
in your hand most of the time, you gotta do something, right??? 😊
It has
been my experience that many people tend to think that putting together a band
and becoming decently good musicians doesn’t take a whole lot of effort. I can
tell you that is certainly not the case. Especially if you want to be good at
it. One of those summers together we all decided that we wanted to stay in
Provo mostly to be able to work on our band. I remember going to work in the
morning, maybe going to the pool in the afternoon for fun, and then going to
band practice for at least two hours literally every. single. day.
Except Sundays. We worked very hard because we really did want to give it our
best shot.
And it
really did pay off. We had a ton of friends and family who were all very, very
supportive of us. I can’t thank them all enough for helping us to do what we
did. We really could not have done all the fun things we did as a band without
everyone’s support!! We always had a great turn out at shows, people loved our
Counterfeit Digits shirts, bought our EP’s off iTunes, and heck, we even had
some friends who were a couple whose “song” was one of our songs!! (they did
end up marrying each other and it’s still just crazy to me that one of our
songs could be a song for someone’s relationship) Never thought that would
happen!
Oh yeah!
So, we were fortunate enough to make enough money to be able to record two
EP’s. They were about five or six songs each, and we found a great studio to
help us fulfill our dreams. Dave Zimmerman of Noisebox Studios was so cool, so
kind, so friendly, and had the best input and recommendations for recording our
songs. I can’t say enough about how awesome he was. I’m pretty sure that was in
the early days of him opening his studio in his home, but even then, he was
great at what he did! The tracks sounded superb and we were, and still are, so
happy with the way that they turned out. And I have to say that singing into a
recording mic in a booth was so surreal. I am so thankful for that simple
opportunity. It was truly a highlight and one of the coolest things I have ever
done in my life.
More to come...!
