The first gig was a blast. There were at least 30 people there, perhaps 50. And they loved us! There were three bands including us. We played two songs; then the second band played two songs; then the last bad played 6 songs. And towards the end of the six song, someone in the crowed shouted "On veut les Japonais!" Damn straight they want us. We were rockin'!

When I first got there, I was pretty nervous, because the other drummer there (there was only one other drummer, the middle band didn't have a drummer) was obviously much more skilled than me. It was his drumset I would be playing on.

So we did our first rehearsal, and truth be told, it sounded pretty bad. The toms were too high-pitched, the hihat was way more open than I'm used to, and there was only 1 crash cymbal (Haruka Kanata is a 2 crash cymbal song). I asked the drummer if I could change the setup, and he hesitated, but eventually agreed. I think he didn't really want to let me.

Anyway, so I adjusted what I could; I couldn't really do anything about the toms, so I just basically had to try to quickly memorize new roll patterns (though in the actual performance, I screwed up and did the roll pattern I'm used to, so it there was a part that sounded a bit off).

Then it was the other band's turn to rehearse. The other drummer set the drums back the way he wanted it. Then the performance was to begin.

I started putting the drums back to the way I liked them, and then, at 5:30 sharp, a huge crowd just poured in. They looked like college kids; jocks and frats and girls. Lots and lots of girls. I don't think I've ever seen so many girls in one room before; they were sitting on each other's laps, the place was so packed.

Anyway, so we went up. And we rocked hard. Our singer was great. He shouted "Whooooooo!" at the beginning of NGS, our first song, and for whatever reason, that reacted great with the crowd, 'cause they went "YEAAAAAH!" right back, and when the song got underway, they were jumping and shouting. The owner of the house, after our song, had to tell them not to jump so much.

So then we do our second song, Haruka Kanata, and it they loved it too, except it was a bit awkward at the end, 'cause the song ends abruptly, and there was a one or two second pause before they realized the song was over and started clapping.

Then the second band went up, and then the third. The drummer, who's part of the third band, and who's way better than me, forgot to set the drums back to the way he wanted them, so the guitarist and bassist started playing, and then the drummer starts hitting, and realizes everything is all off. I wonder if he was thinking "I'm gonna kill that guy for fucking up my drumset" while he tried to quickly retune everything while the rest of the band kept going.

Someone was filming the event, and he's supposed to burn it on DVD and give it to us. When that happens I'll try to post clips up, or at the least, give out copies of the DVD to those interested.