After giving it a little thought, it became clear to me that we could easily summarize Soul Plane’s 2007 with one short sentence: We dealt with it.
And it’s true. I mean, let’s be honest here. Just read the blogs… they’ll tell you themselves that as a band, we’ve had some of the longest and thickest shitstreaks of unluckiness to have ever been documented. Fate has been our personal trainer in conditioning our collective characters and livelihoods, teaching us to cope with downfall and disappointment (just like, I’m sure, the music industry’s dog-eat-dog mentality will bring about at one point or another), but giving us just enough return for our efforts so that we actually have a visible goal to work towards and be optimistic about.
Just our luck? I doubt it. No one can eat this many slices of asscake and stay as positive as we do about our future in music. Don’t believe me? Fine. We can take it from the top if you’d like. Let’s have a look at ’07 in all its bittersweet glory:
At our first show ever, Blythe’s mic breaks in half as she’s singing (literally), but despite that, we advance in the Supernova Band on the Run series.
Our second show ever, I meet Aubrey Winfield, owner of Orange Record Label. Originally he liked our music when he came up to shake my hand and congratulate me, and then he realized he didn’t like me so much. In all fairness, I was drunk and might not have been too inclined to take him seriously. Dan and I later drove the nail into the coffin of this prospect by getting high as hell and then yelling obscenities into his answering machine from Conor’s backyard. We advance in the Band on the Run series and release our first demo Countdown to Launch. We now know the benefits of putting off recording until we’re ready.
We meet John Shiltz right around now. It’s funny because Blythe thought everyone at the Smiling Buddha wanted to touch her inappropriately (big male minority members in tuques, Timbs, and baggy jeans often scare her), so she wrapped herself up in everything but the shower curtain before getting on stage. Despite making the fashion statement of the year, we also make a name for ourselves in the
Yes, we played at the Docks. Yes, it was also while the sun was still up. At 2 30pm. For Supernova’s Band on the Run series. Talk about bittershitty.
Remember when we went to practice at Dan’s and the power to his house went out before we got there? And we had a show, like, the next day? We didn’t give up, did we? Never that. Aaron was banging those bongos like they owed him money and everybody just followed his lead… enter Soul Plane’s first ever and only acoustic practice.
Here’s where else we didn’t give up: one time Blythe got sick as shit and couldn’t perform. So we forced Conor to spin on the hooks that Blythe was supposed to sing on. Good thing he’s a better DJ than he is a band manager.
Yes, we played at Wakestock ‘07 at Lee’s Palace. Yes, we opened for Chad Muska and Brassmunk. Yes, it was without Aaron and Gideon because they went to camp. I still remember panicking and going to Conor’s house to program Aaron’s and Gideon’s instrumental/drum lines into a computer. I’m still what-the-fucking about that. Oh yeah, Blythe’s car breaks down and Dan almost kills us all by trying to boost it with faulty cables.
Art Jam… Blythe and I were getting smashed at the bar because… well, do we really need a reason? I don’t remember much else. All I remember is that we had a lot of fun on stage that night… actually, we Babe Ruth’d it right out the park and adjourned back to Conor’s house to retox ourselves. On the side, we also knew that it was Dan’s last show with us…
Dan, out. Patrick (bassist), in. Major changes. With Dan gone, Gideon took over the lead guitar, Kevin stayed on rhythm and dropped the keyboard. Aaron and I stayed put, and now Patrick was on bass. The boy can really play. We also had the opportunity to work with Nickie, an extremely talented singer and a good friend of Blythe’s.
Nickie’s grandmother has a heart attack the day of a scheduled show so now she can’t perform. Blythe is a sitting duck over in
Nickie gets a part-time job and can no longer handle the commitment of playing with a band on top of going to school full-time. We understand, but we are most definitely sad to see her go. She was good. Blythe understands that the pressure’s on, and takes over the reins as Soul Plane’s solo vocalist in as efficient a manner as could be asked of someone who spends eight months out of the year three hours away from Soul Plane headquarters.
We mess up recording at Machinehead Studio by not using a metronome to record with and throw eight hours of work down the drain. No problem, though… the demo is still going to knock your nuts off.
Our first show together with the current Soul Plane roster blows up in my face: for all the work I did to promote the event for SOUL PLANE AT 10 30pm, Supernova fucked right off on us, made us play at midnight and cut us off before our last song, and had the nerve to tell us, “Hey, if they really ARE your fans, they’d stay an hour and a half to see you play! Hyuk!” Fucking idiots.That’s okay, there’s a nice fist-sized hole in a wall on the 2nd floor of the El Mocambo for them to remember me by. I did that when Blythe tried to calm me down (it never works, women usually only manage to piss me off more). Motherfuck a Supernova, we’re going on tour in a few.
We dealt with it. We dealt with it all. So… what will ’08 bring to Soul Plane? Who cares? On December 31st, 2008, I wonder if I’ll look back at the year that is, as of now, to come, and say something different. But maybe not. Who knows? Either way, we’ll deal with it. We always do.
Cheers!
