We started the evening by parking the cars, unloading
them, then parking again. It was at this time that
Paul gained his new title of "Lift Operator," because
we were messing around with the loading dock lift and
service elevator to get our gear up to the second
floor ballroom. Once we got all the stuff up there,
we waited, and waited, and waited, then learned there
was going to be no soundcheck's prior to the show,
which meant we had to wait around even longer.
But that's OK, because that's kind of what you expect
at a battle of the bands. So some of the bands start
playing and we start wondering if we're the oldest
band there (which is weird because we're not that old,
but some of the bands looked and sounded like high
school bands that needed a little more garage time).
Our fans start rolling in, in various states (some
bored, some excited, some angry at "The Man,"
some...well, use your imagination, and some looking to
get the inside info. about the songs we're playing.
So we divulge that info. only to Superfan, pretty much
so he won't make a scene.
Fast-forward: Ryan, Stein, Connealy and Superfan leave
during the third band and go walk around downtown
Lincoln because we were the second to last to play.
Connealy and Superfan go back to the ballroom to see
if we're supposed to be playing. Ryan and Taylor go
further away from where they're supposed to be.
Rewind: Paul has no idea where his band is, or what's
going on.
Fast-forward, fast-forward: Everyone is back in the
ballroom waiting for our turn in line, we catch Emery
Park (who rocked with an 11-year-old bass player who
must be a genius if he's in a college rock band) and
then something happens right before we go on. The
band before us, Last One Standing, pulls out the
biggest, lamest, faux pas that you can do at a battle
of the bands...they play a cover song. And not just
any cover song, but "Since You've Been Gone" by Kelly
Clarkson...a goddam American Idol winner. And the
crowd (not our fans), and judges, love it. And we're
like WTF, man.
So we get on stage, planning on not playing any gay
covers, and rock out for five kickin' songs. The
crowd was great, our regular fans were great, and Take
Me Back was rocked to new levels with Stein throwing
his hat, his sticks, and his cymbals at the end.
Hooray for us, right? We win the day, no?
No. We didn't win the day. We didn't even place. In
fact, we lost not because of our music, or because we
went over our time limit (because our set ran 18:36),
but because they were pissed that our own flyers were
posted all over campus two days before the show.
Whatever. We break rules and we don't care. We're
rock and f'in roll. Deal with it.
(At least that's what we tell people.)
