My band, Chiseled Lilies, played at a local open mic this week. We’ve been there a couple times before. From what I can tell, everyone there (not counting general bar patrons) are regulars who show up every week. It’s a small crowd, but they’re always pleasant and seem to enjoy it when we come. Which, frankly, is surprising to me.
Most of the musicians play classic rock. I hear very few songs more recent than the 80s. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I enjoy the music and talent they bring. And it make guys like us stick out like a sore thumb. Whenever we show up we tend to add a little spice and edge to the night with our fast and loud distorted guitars, hard-hitting drums, and sometimes more extreme (we’ll say passionate) vocals.
We know we’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but it doesn’t bother us at all. We play for us first. Despite the occasional plugging of ears, we’re always well received here. Today I woke up to a post on our brand new Facebook page by someone saying they enjoyed it. Maybe it’s because we’re so different from the usual.
This week, we pulled them in early by starting with Big Me by Foo Fighters. The pop tune warmed them up to us. Then we got a little heavier with Fell In Love With A Girl by The White Stripes. After that we debuted our first original song, Antidote. It’s fun punk song that gets hard and in-your-face at the end. I didn’t scream like I do at practice. Not for this crowd. To finish up the set and bring them back around we did a punk rendition of Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac. A sort of compromise between the stuff they usually hear and the stuff we play.
All in all it was a successful, fun night. We got some great genuine compliments on how we played and about the original song. The three of us felt really good about how we played and are looking forward to going back sometime soon, maybe with more originals.
Here’s a mix cut together of the four songs we performed:
Dan Hauk 