July 18th, 2012 I traveled to Bristol, Rhode Island to attend a horror writers convention called Necon. About a week before the conference began I received an email from one of the organizers; they were looking for people to put together a "Necon Anthem" song. This is all jokes, mind you. Nothing serious. The anthem would be performed in front of the other attendants.
I decided to slam together a song for the event. It took 15 minutes to write; I practiced it a couple times per day until the convention began. I called it, The Necon Anti-anthem.
When I got in front of my fellow writers to play the song - about 125 people - I was nervous. For the first time in over 20 years, I was nervous about playing live. And it wasn't even a real gig! It's funny... I know it's funny. But being nervous... it gave me a rush that I hadn't felt in a long time. Seconds before I strummed my first chord my nerves were electric. But as soon as I started to sing a strange calm feeling came over my body. It was weird how quickly I became comfortable.
The song went pretty well, all things considered. People liked it. A whole whack of guys I had never talked with before came up to me saying how much they loved it. Words like "Brilliant" were tossed around - and trust me, there was nothing "brilliant" happening. Someone said, "As soon as you started playing I thought, Man... I need to know that guy." That felt nice.
It's interesting how music can bring people together. It's almost magic.
I didn't tell people that I had never sang in front of people before, or that I was nervous about it. Admitting such a thing seemed pointless. Especially since James Roy Daley - the drummer - had played live so many times before.
The song was a highlight of my weekend, and when I arrived home I decided to set up my first gig...
I decided to slam together a song for the event. It took 15 minutes to write; I practiced it a couple times per day until the convention began. I called it, The Necon Anti-anthem.
The song went pretty well, all things considered. People liked it. A whole whack of guys I had never talked with before came up to me saying how much they loved it. Words like "Brilliant" were tossed around - and trust me, there was nothing "brilliant" happening. Someone said, "As soon as you started playing I thought, Man... I need to know that guy." That felt nice.
I didn't tell people that I had never sang in front of people before, or that I was nervous about it. Admitting such a thing seemed pointless. Especially since James Roy Daley - the drummer - had played live so many times before.
The song was a highlight of my weekend, and when I arrived home I decided to set up my first gig...
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