Armstrong Metalfest – The Event of the Year
Last weekend we played at Armstrong Metalfest. This was our second year there, and hard to believe but we had even more fun than last year! Such a great crowd, all of the bands that played were super and the crew did an amazing job!
It was a little bit of a stressful beginning for us though. On Friday morning, a couple of hours we were supposed to leave, we got a text message from Duke, our singer and bass player, saying that he injured himself and cannot move or even breath without pain. An hour later, it was definite that he wouldn’t be able to come so we started to think the alternatives. Playing without one instrument is something you have to do from time to time, but missing 2 instruments? And especially missing the front man? Pulling off from the bill could be the sane choice, but we sure didn’t want to do it. Our drummer Allan has been doing our back vocals, but he had never actually sung a whole song. So went over the set list, made some changes, printed out the lyrics and went to the rehearsal spot at 10 am (probably our earliest rehearsal ever) and gave the microphone to Allan. With a couple of tweaks to the songs, we decided to move forward.
It was quite strange, to have the full stage front for 2 guitars only (and it was a big stage to begin with!) but we pulled it off. Allan did a great job, playing drums and singing at the same time, and even looking at the lyrics sheet from time to time We very much appreciate his “I can” attitude, it ended up being “we can”. We did miss Duke though and can’t wait to hit back the stage next week as a full band!