Hey everybody. I was the lead singer of the houseband, or the if I were gay band if you prefer and I am a soon to be senior at St Albans. I thought that this show was totally kick ass. Ive known Ham since he was in high school with my bro and it was unbelivable to get to open for him. they are some of the coolest guys I have ever met, and it was awesome that I got to sit and chill with them backstage before the show. I understand where you are coming from on the acoustics of the old gym. we all complained about it. I especially did because I had to play. but if you saw the old gym without all the lights and everything you would be impressed. I think we should get before and after pictures.
I didnt only play in the show I was one of techies setting up and keeping things rolling. we also would have done stuff alot different if we had been able to run everything but Ham's mom insisted on taking the reigns and putting up this concert, something which she had never done before. we were a tad annoyed, take it that we had more experiance at 16, 17, and 18 in running a show than she did. we would have had crowd barriers up close to the stage and we did have bouncers and more muscley event staff who already committed to volunteer there time for the concert. but, Ham's Mom said no way. we also prob would have changed around the order of the bands, having the teachers go first and than warming up. we made dew with what we had and I thought it was good.
I think another thing about this venue was just the concept in itself. If you havent noticed all the walkmen's gear is old......really old. we are talking amps from 1964 which almost didnt work that night a half dead beaten up piano, and a chipped up 1956 fender jazz master guitar. the walkmen have embrassed that vintage sound. they went as far as recording songs on anolog tape instead of digitally because in there words, it just sounds warmer. what cooler place for a band like the walkmen to play in than a falling apart brickhouse gym thats been around since almost as long as the school (over 100 years). I thought it was the perfect venue. also the thought of coming back to your highschool and rocking it out is pretty sweet too. I thought the venue just added to the concert. I do agree alot of people in the crowd were being extremely stupid, I do apoligize for that but I did the same thing you did betty. went to the side of the stage and it was all good.
One more thing and im done. with all due respect to the outsiders who came, we did decide to open the tickets up to the public which we didnt have to do. I enjoyed having everyone there but you guys gotta realize that we turned that place into a venue in less than a week. also please don't complain about too many kids. it was held at a highschool for christsake what did you expect. we arent the 930 club or the black cat. those places are built for concerts. we're a small private school that was lucky enough to have some great guys come back and play there songs. but dont knock the student bands. Im telling you as hard as it is to believe the walkmen did the same crap that we did back when they were recoy and jonathan fire eater. we didnt want to give up our regular battle of the bands so we decided to open for the headliners. It was one of the coolest experiances of my life and I will never forget it. thanks to everyone who came out. it was for a great cause
