I know! I've been slacking in my gig diaries for a couple months now, so I'm gonna try and get back on track with these and hopefully in the future try to start incorporating some pics and whatnot as well, so I can document these shows in some more detail for ya's.
So Kenny's has become one of my favorite venues to play at as of late. The atmosphere there is always a rockin' one, the crowds are usually pretty good, and their stage and lights and sound are stellar. The sound man there Jason Sutton has always been great to both Carnival and Rock Inc. every time we've played there and made sure we were taken care of sound wise. This time was no exception! Set up and sound check were a breeze and we were ready to go in pretty short order.
Not to complain but just to document, I have to add that I was playing under some duress that night and the next one, as I'd been dealing with a cold/sinus infection for several days, and it's just a drag because it completely saps me of energy . The last thing I wanna do when in that condition is pushing around equipment lol! But, this wasn't the first time, nor I'm sure the last. So over the years I've had to learn to just push through those type of situations as best I can and carry on with the show. I've always prided myself on giving the best physical and emotional shows that I'm capable of, and let's face it, I love what I do so that always gives me energy to push through whatever's going on.
The band was in good form that night, and I still enjoyed myself nonetheless. One of the recent highlights that Carnival of Sins added to it's shows is that during Soundgarden's “Spoonman”, our singer Brittney Allen has been accompanying with a set of spoons very similar to the ones used by the real Spoonman in their video. We've also recently added “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence which I know is especially dear to Brittney , and “Gasoline” by Seether, a definite banger for sure! Guitarist Tim Gray came wandering over to my side of the stage a couple times throughout the night to share in some riffs together which is cool cause we don't always get to do that depending on where we're playing, and it helped to spur me on energy wise during the course of the performance.
Over the last few months, I've gotten to incorporate a new bass into my performances with them. I was gifted a Ibanez “micro” bass by a friend a few months back which I nicknamed “The Jolly Roger”. While Jolly make look a little beat up and worn in, I'll tell ya I continued to be surprised though at how well this little “mini bass” has held up through those performances, and damn does that thing have some THUMP! It's worked out perfectly for laying down the bottom end on alot of the heavier tunes that band incorporates.
So by the end of the night I was definitely exhausted, but we made it through, and it made me feel just a little better in general being able to get up on a great stage and get my rox off for awhile!