Show report by Vyan

Our first show of the new year!

And this time we were performing with a group we'd never shared a stage with before - After the Silence, a group that features one of our best friends and most loyal fans, Devin on drums.

Having had a chance to hear their CD some months previous, I was looking forward to seeing this band live. Besides our pal Devin, ATS's singer also happens to be the brother of Systematic vocalist Tim Narducci. Rumor (and their website) had it that until fairly recently Systemic had been associated with Elektra records.

For this performance we were up first, but in addition to your basic performance jitters was an additional worry.

Because I'd been forced to move recently, all five members of GliTCHeD hadn't performed a single note together since our last show on Halloween, three months previous. Would we remember all the parts? Would I forget the words? And just to make things even more tense, we were going to perform a brand new song which wasn't completely written yet. It didn't have a title, it didn't have words and it didn't completely have a melody. So of course we thought - "No sweat!"

Yeah, sure we did - not!

Because there were only two bands playing, we decided to take advantage and play a good long set. All totaled we did 12 songs, and were onstage for just over an hour. Not exactly what you'd expect from an opening band, but we really needed to go over all our material because we planned to enter the studio for recording in the next couple weeks (More on this later), and the Town Pump was cool to let us have the time.

As it turned out - everything was fine. For myself, once the music started I was pleasantly surprised to be on "automatic pilot". The words came to me as needed, instead of having to struggle to remember what the next line should be. We've done enough reheasals and performances that these songs have started to become part of my programming, like firmware on an Eprom chip. (Ok ok, I know that's pretty much techno geek-speak, but I have to throw that in every once in a while with a band named - GliTCHeD!) The songs just flowed. Even the White Zombie cover of "Thunderkiss 1965" we sometimes do came off without a hitch. Usually the nonesensical lyrics of that tune give me a migrane, but not this time.

Despite all my worries, It went great. Whew

In our first few performances as a band last year I was still deciding on melody lines, still trying to remember words - but now, it's all just there where I need it, when I need it. That gave me freedom, and allowed me to be more attentive to what the audience was doing, and to what the rest of the band was doing. I noticed Elias (Bass) bouncing around with a lot more energy than I'm used to seeing - we even collided a couple times. Dave (Lead Guitar) and I practically started moshing on stage at one point.

But not that everything went perfectly.

Toward the end of our song "Irrelevant" my microphone went out. While I tried to fix or replace it, the band went into the Iron Maiden song "The Trooper" which we've done before when we needed to kill time - but this time was part of the plan. We were already going to do the Trooper (it was number 7 of the 12) as a special treat for Devin, and Jay was already planning to sing it instead of me. It wasn't until halfway thru the song that I retreived a replacement mic and join in with the "Oh Ooooh oh!!" parts. The entire thing seemed like quick thinking, but it wasn't.

It was luck. Pure luck.

Eventually we reached the end of our set without any other mishaps, finishing up with Jay's favorite song, "Ponder". The overall resonse to our set was good - long though it was - and most of our friends came out. Still, this was really an "After the Silence" show and the bulk of the crowd this time out was there for them.

Just before midnight, After the Silence took the stage with confidence, jumping right into their own brand of grooving alternative hard rock. Devin held down a set of boucy 8th note accented beats, while the bassist and guitarists filled the space with whole-note powerchords and the singer (who also played guitar) belted with a strong melodic voice. They reminded me quite of bit of Systematic (who I think are great), but still had a distinctive sound. Tim, Systematics singer was even at the show, handling the soundboard for his brothers band. I only had a chance to speak to him briefly, since he was busy.

Unlike our set which tended to be more jumpy, going from style to style, ATS had a far more consistent and structured sound to most of their songs - with the exception of one tune that used an octave-jump guitar riff reminscent of Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". Overall, they put on a great show, and I was glad to be a part of it.

Immediately following this show, Mark's drums and Elias bass gear was taken to our brand new studio to begin setting them up for recording our upcoming Debut CD. We plan to start recording next weekend - so stay tuned to our News section for further updates as recording progresses.

For now - Hasta La Rocka!

Vyan