Walk The Prank IV

Welcome to yet another psychotic episode of Walk the Prank. Unlike previous posts, this one features the band leader/guitar player as instigator.

Set up: It's important to acknowledge your fellow musicians. It's normally done before a song or during a laid back vamp in the intro of a song with maybe a quick solo for each member as they're introduced. This is usually done towards the end of the show.

But on this night the gitfiddlist is a wee bit annoyed with the drummer.

Fun part: With this act we started the 3rd set with a double time, double kick drum, snare shuffling beat, (think 'Hot for Teacher' mated with 'Radar Love'.)

So the band leader/guitar player decides he's going to introduce the band ... and tell the audience how much he appreciates them ... and what his childhood was like ... what his favorite colors are ... etc, etc, etc.

You've heard of people dying on stage? I swear I thought the drummer was going to stroke out. If it had been Spinal Tap he would have burst into flames at the 5 minute mark. But he made it to almost 15 before he finally collapsed from exhaustion.

The band leader turned around and shot him a 'think you can f**k my girlfriend' look and segued into a keyboard intro ballad.

Ahh, good times, good times.

Walk The Prank III

Greetings, and welcome to yet another (psychotic) episode of Walk The Prank. This one's a bit esoteric but I think the musicians and crew in the audience will get it.

I hope everyone else will enjoy it ... and I'm certain that you'll have more fun than the guitar player involved.

Set up: The lead guitar player was also the lead singer. He used an Atlas mic stand with a boom for his vocals. His FX pedal was next to the mic stand base. Over the course of the our house gig I'd noticed that when he came off of solos he would punch off the sustain and then hunt for and step on the mic stand base with the same foot to orient himself for the next verse, (i.e. locate mic stand base, know where the mic is for singing.)

Atlas mic stands have a heavy, cast iron, disk shaped base with 3 rubber feet spaced equidistant on the bottom. So, in a conspiracy between me and Animal, (the guitar tech/stage manager), I removed one rubber foot and my partner in crime placed that side toward the guitarist.

Fun part: Everytime he ended a solo and tapped the uneven mic stand base with his foot and the 58 would rocket into his lips just as he started the next verse.

Extra fun part: The guitar player never caught on. When he came off stage that night he complained about the uneven stage and asked for a windscreen for future gigs.

p.s. Danny, if you're out there, just remember, we only hurt the ones we love;-)
And hey, it could have been worse, you could have been Ray starting off the 3rd set with 'Desperado' after hoovering an inordinate amount of ... that Animal and I just happened to have a 'line' on.;-)