Flushing Plush

Last Friday night LTA and Afterfall played Plush Cafe in downtown Fullerton. Unfortunately, it was one of those gigs where Murphy's Law was in full effect. It seemed like everything that could go wrong, did.

LTA took the stage after a great 30-minute set by a band named Bril. After setting up on the tiny stage (all our band members couldn't even fit) I turned my pedal board on, flipped the switch to my amps and, to my dismay, was greated by a huge buzz emanating from my amps. After what seemed like an eternity (there's nothing like being the center of attention on a stage when something really bad is happening), Bob Hartry and I finally isolated the problem (my Rotosphere pedal) and removed it from the system, although that would not be the end of my battle with the evil equipment gremlins.

Slightly rattled (but mostly relieved), we opened the set with our cover of The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows and proceeded directly into Nothing Can Separate Us. We found out shortly thereafter that the house P.A. hadn't been turned on, so all that could be heard was stage flow (i.e. amps, drums) and the (virtually useless) monitor, which meant that the vocals were basically non-existent. Eventually someone in the crowd who had experience with sound systems kindly turned the P.A. on for us. I struggled without the Rotosphere because it is a significant part of the vibe that creates the LTA sound. I tried other modulated delays and vibes on the fly, but nothing was quite the same. Then my Line6 delay started to cut out randomly.

I wasn't the only one that had equipment malfunctions. Bob Hartry had a problem with his system during a song in which he hardly played at all. It was completely random. Also, during the AF set Dale, the bass player, broke his 'D' string, which I have never seen happen in nearly 25 years of playing. It was a crazy night.

I was really bummed out about the LTA set, but was glad for the opportunity to redeem myself during AF's set. Darren did a great job calling audibles from the set list and interacting with the crowd. It lightened up the mood a lot and ended up being fun. He introduced a new song entitled More, which I think went over really well. We played tight.

Wade (our drummer) told me that the bartender that works there said the three bands that played that night were in the top 5 that he's seen at Plush Cafe. Talking to people afterward, I realized that most people didn't even see the struggles we were having. So, those things made me feel better. I was mostly disappointed because we work so hard to write songs from our hearts, practice them to near perfection, and play them before an audience with the sincere hope of connecting with them. Then equipment malfunctions occur, which steal a bit of that momentum. But, that's part of the unpredictability of playing live, which makes it all the more exciting.