so ya... this last month has been extraordinary... Intense.... busy....
it all started at the end of June when my band found out about a contest that needed us to be nominated for the shortlist for Aerosmith... so with a few emails sent we were good to start excepting votes... all of the band memebers got on that with facebook and messageboards and myspace and just plane ear to ear communication with friends and family... everyone pulled together on this and it shows... cause we won... after about 3 weeks of voting the band made it through to be the opening act at Blast At The Beach Featuring Aerosmith...
This was the biggest event ever on PEI and i had no idea how awesome it would be... I remember saying back in Febuary that the only way i was going is if i was playing... and it is true if i didn't get the rockstar treatment that i got i wouldn't have enjoyed the experience there at all... 35000 people seemed to like it but i don't know how...
since the contest started we rebumped out rehearsal schedule up to 2 times a week with 4 hours per session... but since it was summer some people had to go away on certain days so we really didn't maximize our rehearsal time as much as most bands wuold have it... but we have been rehearsing and writing lots and with 4 shows under our belts a minimal set list for a show like this wasn't all that hard to get tight and right in such a short time... it's amazing what 5 guys can do with a musical idea...
on Wednesday we got word about a radio interview with CBC... so that happened Thursday then we got word about 3 more interviews... 1 at 8am on magic 93... the station that hosted the contest... then another one around 11am with Krock... then another one back at CBC but this time it was for the 6 oclock TV news... and yet another one came out for the national news CBC's News Hour i think it's called...
so we had a short rehearsal Friday July 20 as everyone was exhausted with work and music and the other everyday chores and errands.. we packed it in and went home for some well deserved rest altho knowing we were all to wired and excited to sleep...
I got up at 7:50am and made some calls... went and picked up my good friend Woody who was needed in more then one way... and then we went and picked up Brett my Lead Guitar player... then we came back to my place to load all the gear minus drums... then we headed to the venue... once we arrived we headed to whoever had the "ALL ACCESS" passes... then we went to our dressing room where we sat and took in the first few minutes of rock n roll living... at 9 am we were rocknroll living... wow... after that we had some time to eat as thing were a bit behind schedule with the stage set up and we had extra time to get it together...
The Breakfest Buffest was amazing... as good as the delta and even movie set catering... i was really impressed... a big plate of eggs... bacon... sausage... that was payment enough... even just a dressing room was payment enough... after that we headed back to the dressing room and let that moment absorb as well as the food...
Nedt it was time to head to the stage area to see when we were needed... it was going to be a while... and it started to rain... so we sat in our rigs for a little bit... and then i saw Tony Dawe... my music trivia team mate and local friend who is hear studing photography at Holland Collage... he was getting wet and asked me if i had a plastic bag he could make into a rain coat... as he was press passed to take pics at the very front of the stage .. very cool... as we approached my van everyone from the band came our way... it was time to load and play... which is pretty much what we did... in record time we were set up and waiting for mics on our gear... as soon as that happened we were introduced to 6000 people by the same guy who interviewed us the day before at 8am on the radio... and away we went... check out the video...
after that was awesome too... we had lunch which wasn't as great as breakfest but still... free food is cool.... then we were back in the dressing room and back behind the stage and in the crowd and stuff like that repeating for a couple of hours...
54 40 was definately a highlight for me... we went back stage for a while... me and woody... and say in my van and listened ... it sounded so awesome... i've never heard music that clean and loud... we stood on the back of the stage for a while and watched... then tried from out frount but there was to many people... we went back to the dressing room but no one was there... so we hit the supper buffet... we were seated right next to 54 40 ... i was star struck... i didn't say anything to them... duh...
supper was awesome... i didn't even get to the mashed potatoes or mussels... but i did manage to have 3 different slices of cheesecake... wow...
after digesting and the sugar trails subsided we went back to the dressing room.... our gear was dry and i wanted to load it in my van before the crowd got to big...plus cheap trick was performing... the last band that we were allowed to actually stand on stage with which we did... around their second last song they kicked us off the stage.. so we went and hung out with my van... which was behind the stage next to the fence around the track the contained the venue... and outta now where... JOE FRIGGIN PERRY... looking right at me... draped in rockstar clothes and scarves and a hat... his people came outta no where and shoved him into a van and took him back to his dressing room... after seeing joe we knew we had a chance to see these guys close up... so we were gonna try and not do anything that wuold get us kicked outta the concert back stage area...
patiently stayed there... and then bang... 5 nice Cadillacs come driving by from outta no where ... we know it's them... and they drove to the other side of the stage... and all of a sudden the video screen lights up on stage... and we can see everything from behind the stage... awesome... there was an intro for the band so it was gonna be a few mins of that before they took the stage...
and i see christa bordens back up singer coming through the gate... but she is stopped by this one guy who security and asking to see her black pass... she didn't have one... so he was holding her arm really tight... and she was trying to convince him that she was a performer and that she was allowed backstage... but it wasn't working so she gave a shrug and bolted for the stage... he chased after her and caught up to her to bring her back to the gate again... but they were interupted from another stage guy... who i think told the security guy that she was ok... at witch point she made another break for the stage... and was successful ... by the time the security guy realized she was gone she was already on the back of the stage... and by the time he started running she was on the main stage... long story short... i don't know if she was on the stage with the band or if she got intercepted by the security... but after they dragged her back to the gate she almost got away... but since she did that they made sure she was escorted off the premises... ... was exciting...
so we watched the whole aerosmmith show from backstage... sat in my van outta the rain.. kicked back... put my feet up... there's no better way to have it i'm sure...
once they were done the drove by us again and then we made our way through the crowd... which was overly easy... people got outta the way no problems... home in 10 mins...
what a day... don't you wish you were hot like me?
