GIG REPORT - Slightly Offensive @ O'Leary's (Midlothian)

This past Saturday night (12/18/10) my band SLIGHTLY OFFENSIVE played @ O'Leary's (Midlothian IL). My previous band Grand Theft Audio played one of their first gigs here back in May 2009 (I wasn't in the band back then) so I asked Mike (GTA drummer) how it was to play there. He said they pulled 30 people & only rec'd (75%) of what they agreed to play for & they accused them of stealing beer from the back room...nice. So, I walked up to the door and someone had either hit the door with their head/fist or threw something at it because the glass was just spider webbed from the impact. I walk in and I see 2 people in the whole place...the owner and the bartender. I announced that I was with the band and asked where I could load in from and then I saw our drummer was just walking in from the back area; he parked in the back alley and was loading in already. He said he played here a couple times before with his “metal bands” but he's never seen it this sparse before. He told the band outside “you have to buy a shot for everyone in the bar when you get in” (nobody). He cracks me up. Whenever I arrive to a new place to play I try to scope out the flyers of upcoming bands to see what type of bar/crowd I should expect. Here, for NYE they're having a SLAYER tribute band, Black Label Society is playing on the juke box and Slipknot on the video screen. Ok, I'm thinking to myself what's going to happen when we break out Taylor Swift & Katy Perry?? With “SLIGHTLY OFFENSIVE” on the marquee I'm sure they're expecting a “heavier” band that's for sure. So we all load in from the alley, Wayne (the bass player) has a lot of friends on the staff (he booked us) so we're all joking that we think its going to be an early night for us. We figure that we'll play (1) set & they'll just send us home due to a lack of interest. At worst it's a practice night right?

Now the bar is set up with us in the back area w/stage & tables, a wall jutting out from the right coming half way across creating (2) defined areas in the bar. Our friends (10) people or so hung out in our area and I think we had (5) people or so that we didn't know in our area too. The rest (40-50 people at the peak of the night) hung out in the back area. We couldn't really see them all but we could hear their applause. :D

We played (3) sets, (the same sets from the week before @ Charley Horse) & we played very well again. A couple of songs into it we were in the middle of Bon Jovi's “Who Says You Can't Go Home” and the bartender said she was going to turn off the house lights. Ok, cool. Lights click off in the back...middle...& then the stage power goes out (whoops??) :shock: , one switch too many. So all you can hear is the drums playing & we just kept playing the song so when all our equipment came back on line (5 sec or so) we were all still playing right on cue. The only thing I missed was the solo because I totally forgot to play it. Mike (guitar) was glad to see that it didn't cause a train wreck for us but with all the practicing we do as a band and together there's not much that we can't play through.

The stage was pretty tight so Cory & Jennie had to stand on the floor and the stage was about 2ft high so that put our speakers right at the back of their heads, albeit 20ft away or so but their ears were RINGING by the end of the night. We didn't mic up the amps which going forward we're going too because they said they could hardly hear themselves through the monitors turned all the way up and we needed our amps up (which were pointed at our butts) to hear over the drums. The bass player (Todd) from Slippery When Wet came out and we had him come up and play (2) songs with us which was cool too. Always good to play/network with other because you never know when your paths may cross in the future again. Overall the crowd was very cool and receptive. Yes, there were people who were used to hearing the “metal” bands who had the WTF attitude and walked out on us but we had the girls singing/dancing and at the end of the night and (2) of the bartenders (both female) came up to us and said we were AWESOME & (1) said she was going to come & check us out at another bar when she's off. We gave them business cards and they said they'd call us to re-book soon...COOL!!! :D

Pics will be up soon on my Facebook page (Tom McLaughlin) & on MySpace (Tommy Gunz) and I'm sure they will be up soon at slightlyoffensiveband.com too. Also check us out on Facebook @ SLIGHTLY OFFENSIVE BAND & on MySpace too!!!

Next Gig 12/31/10 – NYE Bash @ Jack Desmond's (10339 S Ridgeland Ave, Chicago Ridge IL). Fun starts at 9pm $30 from 9pm-1am includes domestic & import bottles & draft, call drinks, party favours & they're open till 3am!!! Never played here before...again, A NEW ROOM FOR US TO ROCK OUT AT!!! :D