Date: August 9th, 2008
Series: “DISBAND” episode performance
Venue: MuchMusic
Today was Judgement Day. This show was to be the climax of our summer ever since we were given a spot on MuchMusic’s new upcoming reality series called “DISBAND,” to be aired late August/early September (see “MuchMusic (yes, THE MuchMusic)” blog – July 8th, 2008). Today, we were going to be under fire from a panel of music industry professionals who were collectively going to determine if we had what it took to make it in this hairy business – based on our performance of a revised version of our lead single “Impossible,” these judges were either going to tell us straight up that we have what it takes to make it, or they were going to advise us not to quit our day jobs and to just disband (hence the name of show... clever, right? Wrong.) because we are absolute balls. All of this – performance and verdict – would be aired on MuchMusic, a Canada-wide, extensively-watched television network. This was about as much as Soul Plane has ever had at stake.
There we were, ready to unload at 10 30am outside the MuchMusic building. We weren’t going to be performing until 1pm, but I guess this was how long they needed to get us sounding good by then. We had everything planned out – right down to who was allowed to take a piss and when they were allowed to take it. We had done so much promoting for this performance it would make your head spin like a b-boy – I swear I have a tumour in my brain from all the calls I made to people I hadn’t spoken to for months and years, begging them to come out and make it look like Soul Plane had a fanbase rooting for us on national television cameras.
Even at soundcheck, the promotion for the show didn’t stop: outside on Queen St., I saw two gorgeous blonde girls coming to a stop together in front of the Much building, and one of them was taking a picture of the MuchMusic sign. I casually leaned over as she was steadying her hand and said, “You know, if you come back at noon the view will be much nicer.” She looked at me quizzically and asked what I meant. I told her Soul Plane would be performing live here at 1pm sharp, and that if her and her pretty friend went to go do some shopping and came back to line up by 12, I’d find a way to get them on MuchMusic as part of the studio audience. I explained most of the show’s premise to them and how Soul Plane got on it and they were unusually happy and excited for us, and promised earnestly that they would return after another hour or so of shopping on Queen. Their over-eagerness made me suspect something was up. They then told me they were from Halifax and that seeing a band play live at MuchMusic (something they only get to see on TV normally) was definitely an experience to look forward to. Suspicions confirmed – I knew it couldn’t have been me.
As noon started to creep up, I was getting reports from Conor and Shain (who were constantly making rounds in and out of the building) that our fans were still non-existent. Shit – I had told most of my friends to be there at around 11 30am in case there was a line-up, and now, almost 12pm, I saw neither friends nor line-ups. This was no good to me. Simply put, we could not afford to have a sparse backdrop; this would make us look unbelievably weak on national television. I started to worry – Mel had warned me that some of her friends bailed out on supporting our cause last-minute. Despite our 130-some-odd confirmations on Facebook, I had little faith that even 60% of the confirmed would show (as is usually the case for things of this nature). I even doubted the support of some of my own friends, not questioning their loyalty but knowing that things always come up, and that circumstances sometimes require urgent attention over a MuchMusic concert. As if this wasn’t enough, it was pouring rain outside – this is enough to make some people flat-out refuse to get out of bed.
Imagine my surprise when the gates finally opened around 1pm and the fans started filtering in through the back door. Throngs of people came oozing into the room in purple and white Soul Plane t-shirts. Apparently Harrison and Shain had been handing them out to everyone in line, along with copies of the demo. I swear Harrison is the best connection I’ve made since I started doing this music thing – he immediately sized up the situation and recognized the big picture – we needed our fans to wear these shirts for the cameras more than Harrison needed to make money off the manufacture of these shirts. So, in a gesture that can only be described as gallantly benevolent, he gave them out for free, out of his pocket, along with several copies of the demo (the manufacture of which he was also responsible for). Thanks, homie, we could never have come this far without you.
Fortunately, Harrison’s efforts and investments were not at all in vain – group after group after group of fans, friends, and family stumbled into the studio adorned in Soul Plane merchandise – the crowd size just kept getting larger by the second. The volume of the riff-raff and the chatter our fans were making became increasingly louder. Some of our most dedicated fans were holding signs with our band’s name and logo on them in huge, shiny lettering. People I had not expected to come through showed up – most notably, the two girls from Halifax were back wearing t-shirts and standing front and center, cheering like they invented it. In fact, I’m fairly certain you’ll be able to identify them when the episode airs, based solely on the amount of noise they were making. Pretty soon there were just over a hundred people (max capacity) packing themselves like sardines into MuchMusic’s environment. MuchMusic staff then had Soul Plane return to the green room so that they could bring the judges out.
These judges were supposed to be music industry professionals – we were filled in on them briefly: one would be an A&R/talent scout from EMI whose claim to fame was signing the band Billy Talent, another would be an established Canadian hip hop artist, a third would be a rep from a big booking agency, still another was going to be the lead singer of well-known Canadian band and the host of MuchMoreMusic, and lastly (but certainly not least), a MuchMusic VJ who had interviewed us once over the course of our month-long shoot with Much. These were some serious people, and we were about to either impress them or make them wish they had never showed up. We hoped to God it would be the former.
In the green room we were interviewed as a band regarding what we would do, how we would react, if we were told that we didn’t have what it takes, what we would do if we were ordered to disband. When the idea that Soul Plane would be featured on MuchMusic came around, we had decided as a band that no matter what the outcome of this performance, we would stick together and keep on making music together simply because we loved what we were doing. However, this wouldn’t stop us from wanting to get feedback as to why they came to their verdict about us, positive or not. It remains that we would still have liked to come away with a learning experience if they hate our guts – we would want to know what we could do to improve. We knew that if we were lacklustre, we were certainly not beyond redemption.
As we came out of the green room and back into the studio my spirits were immediately lifted by the amount of fans screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs in encouragement. Their thunderous roars almost didn’t sound cued. We got right on, picked up our respective instruments, and kicked right into gear. The next three minutes were euphoric – I spent most of it in a trance. There were cameras set up everywhere and the hardest part about the entire performance was deciding which camera to rap into. It was also weird having the loudest audience we’ve ever had... behind us. That’s right – let’s not forget we were play for the judges, all five of them, and for the first time ever, the fans were secondary. The judges were sitting in a row not smiling at us, more than likely waiting for us to flop big time. The only things in our peripherals when facing them were Queen St. behind them and like, 25 cameras all around them. Good thing we’ve had lots of practice playing to nobody.
At the end of our three-minute performance, our crowd exploded. Their cheering was absolutely deafening. We had been instructed by the Much camera crew to just drop our mics (instrumentalists were to un-plug) and walk off the set and back into the green room while the judges conferred and deliberated and formed their verdict on whether or not they thought we had what it takes to make it. As I walked off the environment towards the dressing rooms, I yelled, “WHEN I SAY SOUL...” and both times, the “PLANE” yelled by the audience in response came back at me like a punch in the mouth – I almost fell over the second time around. There was no question about it, our fans thought we had it. Judging based on the crowd reaction alone, Soul Plane definitely blew MuchMusic apart with the best and most solid rendition of “Impossible” we had ever brought to the table as a band, hands down, even by our standards.
But at this point, no one gives a shit about anyone else’s standards other than those of the five people that sat in a line before us. And just what did these music industry professional judges have to say about us? Well, you should’ve been there if you really want to know that badly, you unsupportive bastards. Now you’ll just have to wait until the episode airs, like everyone else across Canada.
Sucks to be you.
TO GET THE FULL VERDICT ON WHETHER OR NOT THE MUSIC INDUSTRY THINKS WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO PENETRATE ONE OF ITS ORIFICES WITHOUT CONSENT, PLEASE TUNE IN TO MUCHMUSIC (yes, THE MuchMusic) END OF AUGUST/EARLY SEPTEMBER. AIR DATE TBA!
