Following the release of their debut album, the band had worked hard to promote it to get airtime at various radio stations – to mixed results. Some local stations around the area had picked up on their tracks and put them on their daily rotation, but the bigger national radio stations were more reluctant. They only got some luck with the SBC (Simbrian Broadcasting) who put them on their B-list on their youth oriented channel SBC-3, as they were the national state owned channel and had a mission to promote up and coming bands.
But
more importantly for the band, they had also directly contacted
several venues to get concerts also out of town and go on their first
mini tour to market and celebrate the release of their first record,
and of course, work as hard as they could to get a bigger audience,
more listeners and sell their record and merchandise...
Picture: Tour map with dates.
It was a tough job and many places either turned them down or gave them deals that would put their budget in the red.. they weren't looking to make a big profit from touring just yet, but if, by the end of the tour they could make their budget balance and end up with a net zero or better they would consider it not to bad....
Picture: Appearing at their apartment in Cyme Ixotic.
Which meant no playing at the biggest and best venues of course, and only cheap motels or even crashing at friends houses for a while, but luckily there exists a community across the country of up and coming folk rock and punk bands willing to help a fellow band out, so finding a place or two to spend the night was never a problem.. as long as they didn't expect to get a five star hotel with its own spa and swimming pool...
You always have to start somewhere, and it's usually at the bottom, but the band had a dream and they weren't willing to let go of it.. They knew it would mean a lot of hard work, but they were sure it would be worth it in the end.. well, not always, there were moments were they all asked themselves if it was worth it, and maybe it would be better for them to go back to their daytime jobs... but then they played a gig and saw the excitement and joy in the audience members eyes, and even if their crowds weren't the biggest, that's when they knew it was worth it after all...
It was the bands first real adventure outside their hometown, and they (mostly..) enjoyed every minute of it.. and it was a great learning experience too..
Thursday September 22nd – Day 1: Waylons Bar, Cyme Ixotic.
The venue was called Waylons bar, and since their first visit after their unfortunate meeting with the record company it had become their favorite drinking spot in the city. They'd already made contact with the owner Gudny Poulsen over a couple of beers and told her they were a struggling up and coming band. They had maintained contact during the recording process and since the release of their album their music had gotten into the rotational playlists of the bar, so getting their first gig here wasn't very hard... but would the people of Cyme Ixotic enjoy the music as much as the bar owner?
Gerda hoped so as she looked upon the stage.. they'd had a few concerts in their hometown of Bewickton, but finally the time had come to take their music across the strait and to the mainland for real...
The band was no doubt nervous before the concert.. if they screwed up something, forgot the lyrics or played a wrong note.. it would be terrible. They wanted to perform as well as they could for this one, as they felt it would set the tone for the entire rest of the tour... if this became a failure, well..
So a sound check was of course vital.. the guitar and the bass had to be tuned perfectly, the volume on the keyboard had to be just right.. there was no room for mistakes!
Gudny
watched them as they rehearsed and she was clearly pleased already.
She was pretty sure this was going to be a good night.. it made the
band feel a little better. Now all they needed was for the bar to
open and an audience to enter...
Then it was time for the concert to begin... half an hour late according to the scheduled time because the bar was still pretty empty. They all got their wish fulfilled of playing a gig, and hoped that the guests would make their way eventually..
Well...
though the band gave it their all, the first half of their set was
played in front of a dance floor as empty as a beer can on a sunday
morning.. the only guest so far was a woman playing shuffle board,
not really paying attention to the band at all.
A little later another man entered. He wasn't a regular as he preferred the more uptown bars and lounges, but he had somehow picked up their record when visiting his favourite record store browsing for rare vinyls to add to his collection to impress his avant-garde friends. His friends unfortunately for him wasn't to impressed, but he ended up loving it. He would have showed up earlier, if it wasn't for him having to sneak away from one of his snobby friends birthday party to enjoy the concert..
The
band may just have earned themselves their first out of town fan
besides the bar owner. He even walked up on stage with them, because
he wanted to dance with Kajsa... The bassist Sam was a little
skeptical of this guy though, and felt a little uncomfortable with
him walking up on stage like that..
The band clearly didn't get the audience they had hoped for, but they had made a promise to the bar owner, so they continued to give it their all throughout the concerts.. three listeners and a bar owner was better than none, and they still had a very slight hope that if these three people enjoyed atleast parts of their concert that word would begin to spread around.. and that next time they would play for atleast double the amount.... maybe...
Gerda
still felt satisfied after the concert was over. She knew of many
bands who started in similar ways and struggled and made it... this
was just the beginning. Soon.. or with time.. the world would know
the name "The Bushweeds" and entire stadiums of
people would chant their name and howl out for more... one day..
maybe...
Their number one fan so far wasn't done partying yet either, as he hopped up on the counter to strut his stuff in front of Kajsa.. but she just walked right by him as she went over to Gudny to collect their check for the gig...
The band got payed 1200 simoleons for the job, and was given a promise by Gudny that she would put in a good word for them, and of course, they also climbed up on the celebrity ranks.. they were all now one star celebrities..
Success! Finally! The pianist Merete was super excited and on a high after their concert! She wanted to take it further and explore a little more of what the city had to offer. She had heard about a bar called "The Sports Zone" and wanted to go their next. It was a little more "high class" then the bars they had preferred up until now, but now that they were on a roll, why not seek out something a little better?
"Are you sure about this?" Sam wondered as they stepped out of the taxi. This place definately looked more upscale than they were used to – in more ways than one.
"I'm absolutely positive!" Merete replied, following just a few steps behind him. "I think it's time we elevate ourselves a little!"
"Yeah... that's what worries me." Sam said, being surprisingly reluctant to enter the building..
"Come on Sam" Merete said "..what's the matter? Haven't you always said that we always hang out at the trashiest places?"
"Yeah,
but.. oh, never mind.. let's go." His voice was flat and
unconvinced as he walked through the front door..
The building
was a little taller than Sam had hoped for... It wasn't going to a
more upscale bar that worried him, after all he was probably the band
member who would enjoy that the most. No, that wasn't it.. for him it
was more the distance going up there would create between him and the
concrete sidewalk down below...
He was the kind to happy to go on tour or travel anywhere by car or train, but not by plane.. Physically he had always been more comfortable with both his feet planted on the ground..
He couldn't let the rest of the band members know he was this scared of heights, so naturally he was the last to walk in to the elevator and the first to walk out. He had felt the same when they had to go up all the way to the 8th floor during their visit to the record company. Anything up to the fourth floor was fine, anything above got more and more problematic the higher it got.. this bar, of course, had to be on the 10th floor.
He swallowed as Kajsa pressed the button and the elevator let out a soft ding and the doors closed.. now he was trapped in this tiny box going up a narrow shaft being pulled up only by a thin steel wire.. He had to really struggle to not envision the bottomless pit he felt he suddenly found himself over...
"Are you alright Sam?" Gerda asked "You look a little pale..."
"I'm.. I'm fine. I'm just.. I'm just happy that w-we just got started..." Sam said while staring at the floor counter as it counted upwards from 3 to 4... It felt like it took ages for it to shift from one number to the next and he could've sworn that it was slowing down, about to come to a halt, before it would begin to count again.. in reverse, much faster and accelerating..
"So am I, but are you sure you're alright? It's the elevator, isn't it?" Gerda said, already knowing the answer to her question. "Look, it's alright Sam, it's gonna be just fine" she tried to console him. "We're already on the 8th... 9th floor. The doors will open any minute and we'll be there."
"I'm not afraid of the elevator!" Sam snapped at her.
"Sam!" Kajsa stepped in. "Calm down! Look, we're already up!" she said as the counter finally stopped on number 10 and the elevator let out another friendly ding before the doors opened to let them out..
"I'm not afraid of the..." Sam began with a muttering voice.
"It's
ok Sam. Really, we're not gonna judge you" Merete said, taking a
step back to let Sam exit first.. "I'm more worried about that
bouncer over there..."
"Oh, the bouncer will be no problem" Sam said with confidence now that he was out of the elevator "Just walk by him like you normally would..."
"See? That was a piece of cake wasn't it? Bouncers are easy..."
"You know guys" Kajsa said after taking a look around "I think before next time we're coming here, we should try to get a gig here next. This place looks way better."
"The
sign by that door over there even says 'Bowling Lane'. Gerda, come
with me, I want to go bowling." Kajsa said, not even stopping to
listen if Gerda really wanted to go bowling... when Kajsa says she
wants to do something, you listen. ;)
"I'd rather try to get past this other bouncer too" Sam said, wanting to prove to his band mates that he was after all a brave man, in spite of them really having no issues accepting his fear of altitude...
..but the bouncer was stern and steadfast, stopping him in his tracks faster than an elevator emergency brake.
Merete, who thought it wasn't necessary for him to think he had to prove himself in anyway tried to call him over to the bar to relax with a drink instead..
Meanwhile Gerda and Kajsa was far into their bowling game in the other room next door that didn't have a bouncer guarding the door..
Sam eventually caved in and headed to the bar to have a few drinks with Merete, but once she had almost reached the bottom of her third glass somehow she had changed her mind and wanted to head over to reason with the bouncer herself...
..but the bouncer was, of course, just as steadfast.. "The Bushwhats? Who do you guys think you are? Only real celebrities get to pass through this door!"
Merete was a little to buzzed to hear that the bouncer purposefully mispronounced their band name, so whatever was behind that door it was probably for the better that she decided to give up and spend some time with Kajsa and Gerda instead..
...but Sam didn't want to give up. Whether it was because he wanted to prove he wasn't a coward or whether it was because he was curious about what really was behind that door remains to be unsaid, but the bouncer was not moving an inch from her position... "Come back when you've made more of a name for yourselves!" she kept telling him...
It was getting really late in the night now, and Kajsa, who was the oldest and perhaps most responsible of all the band members, decided to call it a night and head back to the apartment to get some sleep.. after all they would have a long day of travel ahead of them to reach their next concert destination.. hopefully in due time to get to rehearse a little more and do a proper sound check before the show...
..not that it changed anything for the remaining three... Merete once more went to argue with the bouncer, Gerda hopped onto the counter to shake her booty and Sam, who was still nervous about the elevator, postponed going down for as long as he could, by having a few more drinks and, for some reason, a salad by the bar..
..but you can't postpone the inevitable forever, and when the lights go off and the bar has closed, even an up and coming band has to leave to locate their bedposts and get some sleep.. even though Sam in that moment would rather plead and bargain once more with the bouncer to get to see what was behind that door.. maybe, maybe it had a staircase and not an elevator.. but alas, the door was locked and the bouncer had left her position to chat with the bartender for a while before they would close up shop for the night...
"Come along now Sam.. they've closed, we have to leave.. " Merete said to Sam as she walked out the door "..even though I wouldn't mind giving that bouncer a good beating..."
Sam,
who was more than a little buzzed, wasn't as nervous in the elevator
on the way down as he had dreaded, and once they returned to the
apartment Kajsa was already in bed asleep and Sam and Gerda quickly
followed suit.
It was only Merete who hadn't eaten anything since before the concert who needed a meal before bedtime, and as such was the last of them to crawl between the sheets to make friends with the sandman...
It had certainly been a long day for the band on the first day of their tour... good night.. ;)
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