- TwentyOneRest, Don't Hit Your Sister, The Defects, Pivit -
It all begins with the bad vibes from people.. to me.. but no worries whatsoever. I just hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, that’s all that really matters. God bless. But, I had seventy tickets, the band had thirty amongst themselves – Aaron with twenty, and Brant with ten. Don’t give Aaron tickets to sell, it’s just a bad idea. Anywhoo.. I was late to leaving to go downtown for Jill was late in getting to my house, she was out shopping at North County Fair with Jackie. I told them to drive really fast, and they did, but they had to get gas.. Losers.
Jill and myself made it to Cane’s at around 6:30, and I went on my usual way in selling tickets, but Cane’s was empty. Understandable, considering it was the day after Christmas, but it slowed ticket sales. I only ended up selling about fifty of the hundred considering Aaron didn’t sell any and ended up giving them to me when he showed up later. Thanks.. ahem. No worries though, you learn from your mistakes.
Danni and Justin showed up and that was fun. It was really cold and I was drinking the fourth of my Red Bull (tradition), and Danni was yelling at me about how it wasn’t a good thing to do. Yea, yea, yea. Doesn’t matter, I don’t sleep anyway, so I might as well be REALLY awake instead of just a little awake. I’ll tell a little more about that later.. I saw Brant, he didn’t say much. I saw Sean and Aaron, and Aaron gave me the tickets. Sean was all way happy and waving like a loon, he make me laugh, and Weston just said a simple hello.. Yea.. No ‘thanks’, that was nice too.
Don’t Hit Your Sister went on, but we were all still outside, selling tickets in the cold, so we didn’t hear them. It sounded pretty good, not too ‘lame’ if you catch my drift, but I can’t say much more than that about them. They’ve got an interesting band name though, I will say that much. The Defects went on after that, and they were really loud. Which is a good thing I suppose, but that didn’t necessarily make them good – just loud. We ended up going inside because no one else was really showing up, so there was no one else to sell tickets to, and it was really cold.
My hands were numb, and we were all freezing, but I just sucked it up and got over it. Danni said that The Defects reminded her of Ladwig, because all they sang about was ‘pussy’ and ‘fucking’, literally. Except the lead singer of The Defects was practically whining, it was kinda annoying, but everyone has their own preference. As Danni kept on looking down, she thought she had on dress shoes because her shoes were all black, (my mother bought her and me monochrome converse), it was funny. And, in the process of her staring at her shoes, some guy spit on the bassist from the crowd.. Weird people come out at night.
The Defects finished and we decided to make our way up to the stage. Danni decided that if TwentyOneRest played ‘First Summer’, she would give them $5, but if they didn’t play it then they owed her $5. I was like, “Yea…”, and she said that she would call Lonnie and he’d agree with her. It was random, but funny. As The Defects were dismantling their equipment and such, I noticed they had a Chucky doll on the drums, it was funny.
Brant went wandering onto the stage to set up all by his lonesome. Where was the rest of the band, no one really knew. Poor guy. He proceeded to set up his drums and such, and then all of the sudden Weston and Sean appeared as if they were like “Oh yea, we have a show tonight”, it was random. Aaron walked out of the middle of nowhere and decided to join the setting up fun, and his hair was teal. Interesting. Danni was making comments about how he was all St. Patrick’s Day-ish, and had his holiday’s confused, because he was in his green PGA shirt with his green hair.. It was quite humorous.
The sound guy was having Brant check his drums, and he had this stone-cold expression. Oh well, Weston had dirty blonde hair, Aaron had the flag guitar strap while Sean had the dragon one. All the while, after Brant came Weston in sound-checking, and Danni was going off about how she wanted to go to a London’s Falling show because they that such awesome shows, and she didn’t like TwentyOneRest anymore, or something like that. It was more not good news to be added to the list of the night. Aaron went into his sound-check, and then they decided to start the show.
Oh wait, but before the show started, they were still sound checking and Brant was doing this massive drum solo to test the sound, and it was just really cool. I mean it wasn’t anything amazingly special, but since all of the focus was directly on Brant, you really got to appreciate how talented he is as a drummer. It made me happy. He needs more moments like that. But, after Brant, Aaron’s fly was down, but he fixed that and ‘Eating Tinfoil’ began. The madness arose out of them, but I love that song so it was quite all right. The intro seemed to be two four-counts longer than usual, but that might just be me. Either way it sounded just dandy. Aaron’s eyes were extremely intense, extremely focused. “Trust” sounded awesome, as it always does, and same with “You’re living in a mindset..”. I almost missed Erin yelling “Stop living your life for someone else” at me, but then again I didn’t..
In lieu of Aaron’s hair being ‘green’, there was a hinting suspicion between Danni and myself that possibly he quit his job? They did play ‘She Said’ tonight, so.. you never know. The second stanza was beautifully enunciated, and Jill, Danni and myself were doing our little.. eh.. ‘dance’ or ‘signs’ to the chorus. It was quite entertaining, considering we were doing it through the entire song. However, somewhere in the midst of ‘She Said’, Aaron and Weston had a collision on stage, and that’s where the pieces began to fall.
Jill likes Sean’s hair, she wanted him to know that. I agree. Aaron and Weston were tuning their guitars before ‘We All Want’, which ensued after that, and it quite possibly was the greatest it has ever been. Aaron was all over the stage with mic in hand, literally almost falling over at times, but he didn’t, he held on. “You and I are more than this” was so beautiful. “We all want something that is real”.. I’d scream if it weren’t so early right now, but honestly the way Aaron came across with “real” was intense. He throws his voice, and it sounds almost like an echo, but it’s not, but it is, but it’s not.. It’s intense. As the song began to end, he went into “We’ve got to grow” and the emphasis and emotion on “grow” was extreme. Some girl to my right jumped out of shock, but it’s ok. That only means that it was good. Speaking of good, Brant and his pro-skill of drumming. It was awesome. Every time he’d hit both cymbals, or the bass drum really hard, it would create this wind and it kept on making me flinch. I think some people thought I had turret’s, but it’s ok, because it was an awesome effect. And, speaking of effects, Aaron and Weston sounded SO good on “But you and I decided to waste it”, it was cool. They actually had Weston’s mic up enough, so that the true harmonies could be heard. Much good times.
Danielle, not my friend Danni, but Sean’s Danielle yelled to him after the song “You’re so hott Sean!” It was sweet. He smiled. Aaron and Weston went back to tuning their guitars.. They were quite messed up, and then Sean got in on tuning and he and Weston were both kneeled listening to their instruments and it was all in sync.. It looked cool, even though it wasn’t necessarily a good moment. You see, during Aaron and Weston’s collision in ‘She Said’ Aaron’s guitar got way messed up.. So did Weston’s, but Aaron’s more than Weston’s. So, Weston threw a general plea to the crowd, or really to the other bands, to borrow a guitar for Aaron, considering his was jacked.
Now, randomness of cool things were beginning to happen, even though the show was generally kinda shitty after this. Brant was literally the focal point of the show. The lineup wasn’t Don’t Hit Your Sister, The Defects, TwentyOneRest, and then Pivit.. No, no, no. There wasn’t really any TwentyOneRest.. It was more Brant The Amazing Drummer Boy.. pa rum pum pum pum.. LoL. See, it all started at church this previous Sunday, because Brant went, and we sang ‘Little Drummer Boy’ because of the whole Christmas holiday and all. LoL. It was like a premonition, or a sign.. Anyway. While Aaron was finding himself a different guitar to play, Brant and Sean went on to create a little.. eh.. interlude music. It was actually really good considering it was immensely on the spot. Weston eventually finished tuning his guitar and he part-took in the nice little song. It was great, and Brant finally smiled. Much rejoicing.
So, Aaron finally gets another guitar. I didn’t really pay attention to what it was, but it was covered with random pictures of who knows what.. Pretty much everything. All the while, Ally wandered up to me to say thanks for her Christmas present. She was much happy. It was sweet. She was the only one who said thanks, besides Nick (he called a week ago on Friday), Marissa (she e-mailed me last Monday), and Evan (he called last Thursday). It was nice.. Especially from Evan, because he's the last person in the world that I would've thought to call me. So, yay.
Now, the new guitar had a different sound to it, but it worked. ‘Lightshow’ followed up the ‘Brant, Sean and Weston Wasting Time Interlude Song’. The original lyrics in the chorus of ‘Lightshow’ go: “I want to paint a picture/I’ve got goose bumps and chills/Living it up on this weak end/Feels so good, I could die/Lets do this again. Hit the sky”, but it didn’t go that way. It went something like: “I want to paint a picture/I’ve got a story to tell…”, which is weird because a few weeks ago I had a dream that was how it went. Now either, it was that way the whole time, the band changed it, or somehow or another Aaron and I are on some peculiar wavelength of dreams and visions. It’s a nice little unsolved mystery. But, things continued to change through the course of the song. The original lyrics of the chorus go: “Run to the edge and spread my wings out/I want to see if I can soar this way/Run to the edge and pour yourself out/I’ve got to learn that my mind is a terrible thing we choose to waste”. Now, tonight, the general lyrics stayed the same, but never did they say “Run to the edge and spread your wings out”, as opposed it was always “Run to the edge and pour yourself out”.. which yet again, was in my dream. I don’t understand. It works, but it’s kinda creepy. Maybe I just hallucinated the entire song tonight to my own liking, I don’t know.
The four “Run to the edge and pour yourself out” were awesome, beautiful sound, beautiful feeling. The “I don’t deserve to pray” line had so much feeling, and thus fell nicely hand in hand with the final “Lights!” It was very cool. ‘Sorry’ decided to walk up behind ‘Lightshow’, and it went a little better than I thought it would. The intro seemed a little different, but it might just be me. Yet, the line “I’m sorry for adding up to nothing because it felt like something”.. I don’t know.. Aaron just seemed to mean it. It wasn’t just a lyric tonight, it was almost a confession. He just drew you in. Brant’s cymbals continued to make that nifty little wind effect, so I got to have my turret’s again from twitching due to wind in my eyes. It was fun. The third “..For adding up to nothing” with the harmony between Aaron and Weston sounded beautiful even though somebody was throwing trash onto the stage.. Bah. Considering the guitars were.. eh.. a little sketchy.. “Tell me when I look in your eyes” was immaculate.
After that, Aaron was like “We suck!” and they all laughed. I’ll agree, in a humorous rather than literal sense. It was pretty bad tonight. They decided they were going to play ‘Puddles’ and Brant cheered, for who knows what reason. Random kid. :) Aaron said that it was to Heather, wherever she may be. ‘Puddles’ went a little better than I thought it was going to. No, it wasn’t great, but it worked enough for people who maybe had never seen it before. Remember how I used to drill Aaron on how he needed to find his stage-presence..? Well tonight was the indefectible display of him rubbing it in my face to say that he found it, because I swear it was quite possibly the most riveting display of emotions, gestures, and expressions you’ve ever seen. Sure, the guitars were sounding crappy, the PA (yes the new one) was acting up, and everyone was just having peculiar little problems, but somehow or another Aaron found his stage presence, and that alone held together the show.. At least through ‘Puddles’. It was extreme. You literally couldn’t take your eyes off of him.
Have you ever seen Brant play drums? Yes. I’m sure you have. Many people have. Have you ever seen him really PLAY drums though? Feel them out.. Capture the essence of ancient sound in every fleeting moment, in every flailing hand and crack of the wrist..? Tonight was that night. Why exactly, I don’t know. There was some sort of pent up emotion burrowed deep within him, to which I could be wrong, but either way it was powerful. Aaron and his ravaging the stage with his presence, and then Brant assaulting the drums with this inescapable passion, it was all worth it for that moment. Everything was worth it, just for that one moment.
Sean had a peculiar smirk across his face during the second chorus, and the softer drum parts sounded cool in the middle of the song.. I think there are three of them. Aaron’s inflection on “Here we have a life, one life”, and his eyes, much feeling, much intensity. Especially during the last “Away”.. There was so much sensation, so much sentiment, so much feeling. It left you with a lasting impression as Aaron and Weston synchronized. The song ended, and the feeling seemed to fade for they all became distracted with their faults.. Human nature, I do it too. Aaron was saying how the show reminded him of the old days, and Weston said that it was because of the holidays (the lack of people), and Aaron was like “After opening the presents, it all sucks”. It was kinda sad, but it was kinda true at the same time.
They debated for a while on the stage, and then you heard this loud “Are you serious?!” from each of them, and they fell into ‘Moon-Calf Friend'. Oh dear. They didn’t practice this week because of the holidays, did I mention that yet? Yea. It caused some problems. LoL. Aaron and Weston kept on laughing at each other, and then Sean was laughing at Brant, and Aaron’s fly was down again as they all crammed themselves on stage left to make this arrangement going from Brant to Aaron to Sean to Weston. The entire song was a little peculiar. Aaron did hit all of his notes though, and held “Again” beautifully, but started laughing in the midst of it. He was mouthing “I need to breathe” randomly, due to the high notes. It was funny, but it was bad, all at the same time. And, the instant the song ended Brant yelled out, “I’m sorry for fucking it up”. It’s ok Brant, we forgive you, you weren’t the only one who had something go wrong tonight.
Speaking of things going wrong, don’t you hate it when something you start off thinking is funny becomes less and less funny as you start vocalizing it? Yea, that was Aaron. He was saying how the band, or himself (I don’t know), was like a “Camel without water”, and then he was like “That was lame”. Brant yelled out “Lame”, and Aaron tried to explain it by saying it was a “Flat-backed camel”. Weston started busting up laughing, and everyone who actually heard Aaron in the audience was just laughing and shaking their heads. It was quite interesting. They went on to say that when you don’t practice, it’s hard to play. Yea.. That happens.. Ahem.
Aaron’s pick decided to vanish or break or whatever, either way, it was gone. Yea. Thus, meaning that if Aaron was to play guitar, he was going to only be finger plucking.. Yea. Well, for some reason they felt that they were going to play ‘Burn Purple’, but they knew that it wasn’t going to work. So, in the beginning Aaron apologized before “Put your mind at ease” even began. I have a huge attachment to the feeling that radiates from this song, and so it was almost painstaking to watch, or listen to it be this horrible, but it was quite side-splitting in how humorous it became before it ended. It sounded beautiful for one line, “..Use my heart to see”, but then it got all fucked up. Weston was the only one who was playing guitar, since Aaron couldn’t, so during that teeny-tiny little guitar solo-deal-thingy, it was just him.. and it was ok, but then it got funny because Aaron couldn’t stop laughing, and Sean started busting up, and then Brant, and then everyone else, and then Weston, and it was.. They did finish the song though. I have to give them great applause and much congrats, because it’s hard to finish a song when it’s radioactive self is wallowing in a drainage pipe. It’s hard. And, the fact that they finished it, really finished it, not just cutting it short, that’s a GRAND achievement. No sarcasm, I’m serious. You guys did it, and that’s hard. But, as Freddie Mercury said as he dangled from the end of his thread, “The show must go on”.
Weston joked about how they should play a make-up show, since this one royally sucked monkey butts, but it’s ok. They finished it, and it was done. Danni and Justin left, and Jill and I were going to leave, but I wanted to talk to Ally. However, I couldn’t find her, so we wandered outside so I could give Weston the remaining tickets and the money. It was freezing cold and I was circling around Jill who was crouched trying to keep warm – it was like duck duck goose with only one person to duck or to goose. It was funny. Aaron, Sean, and Weston wandered out of the parking lot, and Sean was almost sad that I was leaving. Aaron just walked by, and Weston was sad that I didn’t sell more tickets than what I did. Sorry. We talked for a few about not much in particular. Weston was telling me to sleep, but he doesn’t seem to understand, like how everyone doesn’t understand, that I can only sleep when I feel safe, and that’s a very rare thing in itself.
So, despite the not too hott guitar performances, they’re beginning to realize that there are other things that can hold together a show. Aaron found his stage presence, Brant is definitely becoming the centerpiece (and not just literally) to the shows. Sean continues to frolic, and though Weston has much emotion, he needs more expression. I’m glad everyone’s Christmas’ went well, thanks for asking how mine was, it was good. Your welcome to all of you, and if you ever want to know why I do it, it’s because I’m hoping that somehow or someway it will make a difference at four in the morning today, tomorrow, in a week, a month, a year, twenty years.. Sometime.. it’ll be remembered instead of forgotten.. sometime..