On the road doing last minute sound setup

[EscapeRocks]

Hey.  
You make use of whatever you for keyboard stands in the hotel

 

[rickzjamm]

Been there done that.  

 

[Konnector]

Ironing board works if you're missing your X stand.

[drawback]

2 minutes ago, Konnector said:

Ironing board works if you're missing your X stand.

But then, where do you iron your cape?

[mate stubb]

I built a synth in my hotel room. One bed for sleeping, one bed for a workbench.

[Moonglow]

26 minutes ago, Konnector said:

Ironing board works if you're missing your X stand.

...as does one of those shiny aluminum stands on which servers/bus personnel place those large trays of food, dishes, etc. Of course, this would require you to sweet-talk said personnel into letting you use one. I’d probably just “borrow” one from some unattended kitchen, banquet room, hallway, etc. Or just order a meal from room-service, lol.

[ShadowMan]

I had an X-stand fail during set-up at a big supper club gig once - and actually did the show with one of my keyboards on an aluminum server stand.  Scary, but it worked!

[AUSSIEKEYS]

2 hours ago, ShadowMan said:

I had an X-stand fail during set-up at a big supper club gig once - and actually did the show with one of my keyboards on an aluminum server stand.  Scary, but it worked!

 

Hee hee. Good score.

 

Closest i got to that was actually forgetting my stand for a New Year's eve gig in a local RSL club (returned services club) my duo was doing.

 

Being reasonably close to home about 15mins on good run (possibly 40 minutes wasted) i mentioned id go back home to pick it up but sensed a possible frowning moment from the club manager if i followed that thought. 

 

So to pretend there was no problem as this RSL in those days was an important score for western suburbs Duos to get a NYEve gig there so instead of looking like a dik i grabbed a small table (the type patrons sit around while drinking) and put my roadcase on top of it to get the height right. I covered the front of table with our backdrop / frontdrop.

 

Infact by coincidence the duo backdrop is in my avatar you see here. (A halloweenish promo shot for some gig we did not a common thing in Australia in those days))

 

Actually it worked out very well as a stand. Rock solid stand and a good looking stage setup. Everything looked splendid.

 

So good we got the audience going so nicely when we came to the song "Hit me with your best shot" a barney (fight) broke loose in the centre seating beyond the dance floor..fists were flying , tables toppling. In typical Aussie Dimboola style. My guess is one bloke asked a mate to "hit me with your best shot" and he did...hee hee keeping in mind this is an upmarket RSL club back then.

 

The show must go on so as the female singer was  singing.. im saying "SECUIRTY SECURITY" in a demure way so as not to erupt the whole dance floor into a mosh pit of fists.

 

They came sat everyone backdown and everyone enjoyed the rest of the good old Aussie New Years eve in the ROOTY HILL RSL CLUB. 

 

I kid you not and the actually hill called Rooty Hill has "carols by candle light" on it at Xmas.

 

Hope you enjoyed tales of Aussie New Years Eve.

[drawback]

I had a stand bust on me once on a setup and the only thing in my truck I could replace it with was a Black & Decker WorkMate. It worked too well, I continued to use that for about a year.

[eric]

On 4/2/2022 at 12:24 PM, Moonglow said:

...as does one of those shiny aluminum stands on which servers/bus personnel place those large trays of food, dishes, etc. Of course, this would require you to sweet-talk said personnel into letting you use one. I’d probably just “borrow” one from some unattended kitchen, banquet room, hallway, etc. Or just order a meal from room-service, lol.

 

Way back in the late '80s or early '90s I managed to acquire one of those shiny serving stands from somewhere - I think it was conveniently located by the stage and I used it for holding my rack gear, then someone just loaded it out into our equipment truck. Used it for years! I don't know what became of it, but that was a nice piece of gear that we used in an unconventional way.

 

On 4/3/2022 at 4:29 AM, AUSSIEKEYS said:

 

Closest i got to that was actually forgetting my stand for a New Year's eve gig in a local RSL club (returned services club) my duo was doing.

 

 

 

One time in about 1989 I forgot my stand for a gig out of town and the only thing I could figure out to use was the guitar player's flight case for his Mesa Boogie amp. I put my Roland JX-8P on top of it and held it in place with duct tape for one gig. Having wheels, I soon decided that I'd need to roll around a bit on stage. The thing was definitely unbalanced and top heavy, though fun! This led me down the path of rolling keyboard stands. Here I am 30+ years later, still doing gigs with rolling stands. The Mesa Boogie case was my gateway into this.

 

I have a picture of it somewhere. I'll try to find it.

[eric]

Found the old picture and uploaded it, apologies that the quality of this ancient picture isn't so great. If memory serves, I actually did a number of gigs with this flight case rig until I started making my own stands. I had a makeshift snake sending audio and MIDI to my offstage rack, which at the time had a Korg M1R, Emu Proformance piano module, and I also had a DX7IIFD off to the side.

 

[MAJUSCULE]

Shorts on stage can work when you're in a ska band.   

[eric]

1 minute ago, MAJUSCULE said:

Shorts on stage can work when you're in a ska band.   

 

LOL, you are correct about that! It was definitely a bouncy ska band and I cringe a little bit now seeing all the old pictures where I was wearing shorts on stage. Nowadays, no chance at all of me doing that, unless it is an outdoor gig in 80+ degree weather in bright sun.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

37 minutes ago, eric said:

 

LOL, you are correct about that! It was definitely a bouncy ska band and I cringe a little bit now seeing all the old pictures where I was wearing shorts on stage. Nowadays, no chance at all of me doing that, unless it is an outdoor gig in 80+ degree weather in bright sun.

 

Hah great shot...they are "big boy shorts".

 

If i wore shorts id probably look like an X stand

 

Dont know if dress matters for ska players outside of england in the day????? Well before early aussie bands actually identified with ska and produced "Ska Bands" that had the Pommy look a fair bit later than us.

 

I wore a very a ripped black jacket over red jeans (jacket had one arm ripped off the rest tattered) and a plastic parrot stappled to the remaining shoulder pad. Not Ska LOOKING BY contempary standards of the time but we did sound/play ska originals.

 

I was in a half ska band in late 70s early 80s. Say half because a lot of my non synth based original songs were ska songs i introduced to the band though the other writers wrote in their styles but with a guitarist who emphasized the ska / reggae style we were ska like in many songs. When he left a new guitarist was rock like and the songs changed style except my ska originals because they were piano based.

 

So my long winded point is i think early ska outside of england was not predictable.

 

Fck sorry its late at night here and i cant sleep so put up with my rambling tomes.

 

 

 

 

[Moonglow]

On 4/4/2022 at 9:11 AM, eric said:

Found the old picture and uploaded it, apologies that the quality of this ancient picture isn't so great. If memory serves, I actually did a number of gigs with this flight case rig until I started making my own stands. I had a makeshift snake sending audio and MIDI to my offstage rack, which at the time had a Korg M1R, Emu Proformance piano module, and I also had a DX7IIFD off to the side.

 

Eric, I never knew that road case was your gateway drug into rolling stands! Actually, I think it looks badass.