Warning: I’m long winded. And in spite of all my whining I did have fun.
After studiously examining my course on Google Maps Wednesday night, my actual traveling began at the un-holy hour of 8am Thursday. Currently, the only bad thing about living on Central time is that all of our shows are in an earlier time zone. This means that it takes me an hour longer than everyone else to get where I’m going (think about that one for a little while). Bump #1 in my road started during my commute through Atlanta. I passed a sign for I-20 to Augusta/Birmingham and thought to myself, “Hmmm. I sure thought the interstate into Columbia was I-20. But that can’t be right because the interstate that goes into Columbia starts in Macon.” Anyone who knows the roads of the southeast knows that those thoughts, especially after STUDYING A MAP, makes me a full-blooded moron. During the phone call to “double check” what I was still convinced was the correct route through Macon, there was a lot of cursing followed by inadvisable breaking of the speed limit. This means that upon my arrival my 6 and a half hour trip (according to Google) had come to 8.5 hours (+1 hr. for time zone and +1 hr. for idiocy).
Route that I should have taken
Route that I actually took
It may not look like an hour detour but trust me, it was.
Since we (Stevo and myself) were late we had to boogie to downtown Columbia where we were late for our radio appearance on WUSC.
Eric, our friendly student DJ, was very welcoming and wasted no time in sitting us down in their studio. We admitted to Eric that we were total radio noobs but, that in mind, I was still a little surprised at what happened.
The following is paraphrased…
ERIC: (In reference to the SM58 in the bottom right corner of the pic) You wanna check that mic for your guitar?
ME: Sure.
I play a little guitar and Stevo plays the drum he brought. Eric checks our levels and adjusts some knobs and faders. I wait for the request to check the vocal mic in front of me (looks like it has a smiley face on it in the pic). Eric pushes a button.
ERIC: Alright, we’re here in the studio with Collin Derrick’s Band …
And that was our first experience on the air. Eric knew what he was doing though because the people who were listening said that it sounded really good. The vocals “took a back seat” to the rest of the music but the melody and song came through well. We really appreciated the help from the station though in getting some great exposure.
Bump #2 came later that evening. As with any performance, you invariably end up with some technical problems. You can minimize these by being super prepared but you can’t prevent them. There’s a story there which you should ask me about some time but, suffice it to say, we didn’t sound our best and it was frustrating.
That night I drove back to Anderson and stayed at Casa de Ramey. And yes, their couches are everything the claim them to be. Friday was a great time of catching up with old friends. Such a great time, in fact, that it psuedo-caused Bump #3: traffic/rain. The congestion around Atlanta was a nightmare. We’ve all experienced it before but I still hate it just as much as I ever did. The rain was also terrible. Anything that causes your fellow drivers to slow to approximately half the speed limit can be considered a torrential downpour.
All things considered, I did enjoy my trip. I was on the radio for the first time, got to play a rock show with some of my best friends, and spend some time with people I miss. It was good. Can’t wait to do it again next weekend. Speaking of, come see us play at Ground Zero in Spartanburg, SC next Saturday (September 1). It will be equally awesome, I promise.
