Last night the World Racketeering Squad made its open mic debut at Austin's Green Muse Cafe!
Expecting a short slot, we decided on a couple of songs to perform, to show up and find out the Green Muse gives each artist 20 minutes to play! We revised our set list to include our original party set of three, plus two newer tunes.
The venue itself is a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, with a simple unassuming stage setup. The host, Jules, was very cool, and he played a set with a small band about midway through the night. We went on later, to a small but enthusiastic audience.
Our set list:
Sylvia
Potential
Can't Keep Track (of Anything These Days)
Panic
Heartbreaker
After "Panic", we were ready to step down but John, one of the hosts, insisted we play another, so we pulled out "Heartbreaker" and rocked out!
The show was what you'd expect from a first open-mic show--lots of warts, but a whole lot of fun. I played electric guitar, which is new for me on stage, and Reed busted out the tambourine for select numbers!
The venue only had two mics, and we have two vocalists plus my acoustic guitar (no pickups), so we signed up, went home and got my Epiphone Les Paul and my little Kustom amp. I've been practicing mostly with acoustic for a long time, and was REALLY green on the electric!
Most of our songs right now are strummed, folk style, and I kept flipping the pickup selector switch with my strums! Also pulled the cord out from the amp during our last number! But we plugged it in and kept going :) It was a huge learning experience--I learned that I need to practice on electric a LOT more!
It was definitely a great experience--the audience made us feel very welcome, everybody we met was very cool, and we're excited to do more. We're playing at Conan's in South Austin at their open mic on Monday night, and at Trophy's on Tuesday, so we'd love to see some friendly faces in the crowd!
Jeff
Sounds great! The first gig is the hardest.
Did you happen to notice if their mix board could accept an extra mic or two? If yes, then bringing your own mic and stand might be a good idea in the future.
PS: I'll check out the comix later...
I bet their sound setup would allow another mic--I have a pretty old one, but I'm not sure how good it is, i haven't used it in years. That's a great thought, though, we might try that next time.
Main thing I want to do is get in more practice on the electric. I hadn't realized how much trickier it would be to play live.
Jeff
P.S. Thanks :)
