A1

60s STYLE GIG

Rehearsal:

For our 60s performance, we had around 4 weeks to pick and practice a cover song for our assessment. My band decided to cover Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival. During rehearsal time our band made it a point to communicate any concerns with each other. Unfortunately, one of our band members had been absent from college so this was one of the first issues we had to overcome. We came to the conclusion that Charlie would be lead guitar, me on rhythm guitar, Harry on drums and Kam on bass. Up until the day of performance Charlie had been doing vocals to keep everyone up to speed in the song. During our rehearsal we slowly worked verse by verse through the song until we had perfected each section. We had noticed that one of our weak points within the song was our dynamics so we made sure to exaggerate our loud and quiet sections during rehearsals to prepare us for our performance. 

Evaluation:

Our performance sounded very tight due to us all keeping to the correct tempo, and using non-verbal communication to signal each other in. The whole band showed good stage presence - moving around stage, bobbing heads and harry showing passion on the drums. Our singer showed confidence and connection to the song even though the original singing wasn't particularly in her style. I think an improvement to the performance would be making sure that Charlies solo is louder and clearer as you couldn't hear him overly well on the day. Another way for our band to improve our stage presence would be to make eye contact and interact with each other more on stage.

FAUX ORIGINAL SONG 1 - im so tired

Rehearsal:

This video is one of the first recordings of our bands song - 'I'm so Tired'. For this song i contributed by creating the chord progressions for the verse and chorus. I wanted it to sound like a typical punk song so I used a 3 chord structure for the verse (only power chords), as well as keeping the chords repetitive throughout the whole song. We lack a lot of dynamics in this song as a band as a whole, so the chorus doesn't pack a punch. The drummer is still unsure of the structure of the song which makes the song sound flat. In this recording we didn't have a bassist which makes the song sound empty. We all keep the tempo well throughout the song. Kams vocals are extremely strong throughout this recording and bring the energy to the song. This song was boring and missing something crucial to add variety and hook the listener in.

Performance evaluation:

In this video (14:13), we are performing Im so tired at redbrick. We have added many more features to this song. This includes having a bassist playing root notes and octaves along with the power chords on guitars. I am also doing backing vocals (screaming) to add more depth and dynamics to the song, and to make the song more specific to its genre. We added a quiet section to the song to make the last chorus hit harder. this consisted of only the drummer and bassist playing for a bar before me and ozzy slowly joined back in. During the second verse i got lost and unfortunately stopped playing but i was able to join back in smoothly. My stage presence has improved significantly since the start of the year, as well as the rest of the band members. We were all interacting on stage and using non-verbal communication to cue eachother in. Kam was able to fully let loose during this performance which reflects the chaotic nature of punk music. Ozzy had a solo during this performance not only to extend the song, but to make it more interesting. Near the end of the song, we all unfortunately slowed down and lost the tempo that we had at the beginning. 

Faux original song 2 - indie freak

Rehearsal: 

This one of our first rehearsals of indie freak. We had to change our original lyrics to something more PG in order to be able to perform this song in college. I created the chord progression, using simple power chords and keeping it completely repetitive throughout the song. The strumming pattern is fast and sloppy to keep to the punk sound. The tempo is quick and the drums are harsh. We do have some dynamics in this rehearsal where the drums stop playing, however its messy and lacks tightness to hold the song together. The vocals are great and strong throughout the song. We are able to keep the temp throughout. However, the song is short and boring and in need of improvement.

Performance evaluation:

In this video (17:54), we are performing Indie freak at redbrick. In this performance we have an extra guitarist to thicken the sound out. I am also on backing vocals (screaming) again to add more dynamics and depth to the song. The drummer now understands the structure of the song and is keeping everyone tight and utilising dynamics to the fullest. We have since added a quieter part to the song, where its just the bassist and drummer playing. This extends the song, makes it more interesting and entices the crowd due to change of energy. We all keep the tempo well and are extremely tight throughout the song, except for a few points where either me or ozzy got lost but were able to save it and join back in. Kams vocals are even stronger in this performance due to her experimenting with both soft and harsh singing. We all have great stage presence and its clear we are all feeling the music, which enables the crowd to match our energy. We all use nonverbal communication to cue each other in, especially when we all come back in after the quiet section. We all manage to time the end of the song at the same time.