The way to get out of hyperdrive is to rely on Glenn’s drumming and the rest of the band. After all, when timing is left to me, it goes to pieces. Anybody who watches my foot knows that it is not keeping any semblance of a steady beat. Isn’t that why a band has a rhythm section?Undoubtedly, we needed to run through our Battle of the Surf Bands set as a band. On an intellectual level, I knew that with some rearranging we were between 9:48 -- my hyperdrive version -- and 12 minutes.
The Nagging Little Voice, however, reminded me that with some drum breaks and bass embellishments we still could be in jeopardy of exceeding 12 minutes. Or a senior moment of trying to remember the name of a song or some meandering babble into the mic could push us over our allotted time.
Band practice had to be both banter and playing. From “thank you” at the beginning of the set to “thank you” at the end. We had to rehearse like we were on stage and somebody announced, “And now, the Lava Pups!”
Despite the goal of staying out of hyperdrive, I downed on a cup of coffee while waiting for everybody to show up at the Doghouse. This old dog is not about to learn new habits.
Once everybody was plugged in, adjusted, tuned, and in place, I said, “Thank you!” And we started. The first time through was a bit dicey. “What are we playing?” “Weren’t we doing [blank]?” “What order are we playing the songs?” Of course, thinking about not forgetting meant I forgot the name of the first song. As we were building up to our big ending, I looked over at Robert and his coat was caught in the strings between the bridge and pickup on the Pup bass. He was trying to free himself from his instrument.
“How long?” Becky looked up from her Kindle, did something to her iPhone, and responded, “12:01.” That meant that we were fine. Even with a couple of glitches, we were right on time -- okay, a second over. Nobody will be able to get the hook out that fast. I felt relieved.
“Let’s do it again.” No glitches this time. 11:41. That meant we could shift into the no worry posture. Playing the four songs and saying something to the audience probably was going to be under twelve minutes. We had time to spare was confirmed by a couple of more runs through the set -- range 11:36 to 11:45. The relief was real -- exhale.
Let’s take a break. The time had come to savor a moment when we were a step closer -- and one worry fewer -- to being ready for the KFJC Battle of the Surf Bands. Oh, yeah, time to savor a Downtown Brown!