Thursday 8th September, 2022

I left it a bit, didn’t I?

I WONDER WHY…

That’s right, if you have been anywhere, & I do mean here, or near me in any way, you’ll know that I released my debut album!!! The project: Start of Something Blue has with it another release, my first ever film!!! This is, of course, Learning Curve: the Circus musical. Releasing both on the same night… & putting on a huge release night… & on one of the years biggest music weekends was a terrible idea… but it was MY terrible idea. I did it primarily for personal reasons. *my birthday was the day after…

So what was the show like for me? Did I get excited?

This weeks post is going to be a long one I reckon… a combination of the show from my perspective, & some of the practical things I had to consider or take on. Strap in, keep your tea close, & enjoy a 5am mess from inside an airport. (I’m going on holiday after 3 years…)

A lot of people, if not everyone I spoke to in the lead up to the show kept asking if “I was excited for the release & performance.” There’s the surface level answer of ‘yes’. Simple, to the point, unchallenging. There’s a deeper level answer which was mine: ‘Oh there’s so much to focus on that I won’t have the time or capacity to be excited until after the show.’ I said this so much & it was kind of true. There were so many moving parts… & so many responsibilities to attend to that I felt like any excitement might derail something. This I still standby post show. There was a notable moment in the room, during the soundcheck. I let out a large & semi-surprised ‘oh!’. When everyone looked my way, I explained that I had JUST gotten really excited about the show. The load in had to happen first before I could focus on the performance & get into the mood. (then the load out had to happen… but that was post-show Nathan’s problem… kind of)

When it comes to the night of the show, if you’re a show producer / a promoter, & the artist, there are two things you need to focus on. Performing the show to the best of your ability, & everything else in the entire world. It might sound like one is much more work than the other, but that’s not always the case… & if the artist isn’t working as hard or harder than the crew then that’s an orange flag. (not a red one, somedays people aren’t at their full, even artists on show day.) Knowing when you have to let go of the production of the night, & switch over to the ‘warm up, sound check, outfit check, etc…’ that’s a ‘play it by ear thing’. For me, I switched over when we sound checked (why I let out a little ‘oh’ of excitement during it, into the microphone for everyone to hear.) From that point on I passed the entire night over to the great Laura. :) I hired her for the night to oversee everything. She made sure everything happened from tickets, to merch, through to testing the projector, film, music, & lights. She also leapt up to MC the night, publicly speaking for me, & guiding people through the night brilliantly.

Of all the separate components, there was someone who knew a lot about that particular piece of the show. We had a projectionist & the film director. We had an audio engineer, & a particularly talented lighting engineer. There were photographer, videographers, merch sellers, ticket checkers, & a whole bunch of other ‘ers’ to make everything run smoothly. They were, or will, all be paid. Maybe not much, but something. I can’t stress enough how important it is to pay everyone you work with, when/if you can. (if you can’t that’s a different story & we can talk about doing everything without money someday, but for now… focus!) When everyone is paid, they not only carry your expectation with them more intently… but they invest themselves in the work. They are more likely to invest themselves in you. They feel like this is an equal team where everyone is benefitting, not just the artist. It’ll also shift your mindset into a sustainable business one… but again, focus!

It might take time, & an extensive network of friends in a capital city… but finding people you trust is so important for you to clear your mind & focus on the truly important job that you have: perform. It is half of all work that goes into a night like this. I’m including the work you’ve done writing, arranging, producing, rehearsing, & executing. It’s no joke… the work is INTENSE! Like an athlete, you need to train for the match. Most of your work goes into running the performance again, & again, & again, until you can do it with people clapping, lights in your eyes, adrenalin in your veins, & sweat all over.

That’s what saved me so many times up there. REHEARSALS!!! We didn’t just practice the songs, we practiced the in between parts, & the extra parts within them. I kinda practiced the speaking parts, at least the gist of them, & we rehearsed the circus parts too! We even planned for what we could do if my 5 ball juggling attempt failed miserably! (but thankfully that didn’t happen.) I remember being up there, halfway through a song, terrified that I’d forgotten the next moment. Then I stepped to one side of the stage, delivering a line to one side of the room, & it just clicked. I had been in this physical position before in rehearsals… the next step came rushing back to me like I’d unlocked the memory physically. So rehearse & stage… being ‘natural’ & ‘improvised’ on stage takes a lot more work than a practiced repeated action. (don’t be one of those lazy performers who excuses their lack of work with ‘feeling it’.) After the show was over I realised that all but one or two moments that I had planned, rehearsed, & performed, went perfectly. It’s what I attribute so much of our success to on the night. Then of course, there was Grim! (the most wonderful drummer) So important was he to the performance, that someone lovingly interrupted the show, JUST to make the point heard. I’m glad they did… that man deserves far more praise than he might have received, being tucked away behind me & my big name. Grim… you are almost perfect. ;)

There was one moment that I was extremely curious about. We have a breakdown/middle 8 in the song Rewrite. (the “tear out these pages bit”) I knew it was going to hit hard. That my vocals would need to be pushed, that my physicality needed to be pushed, & that the lighting needed to be just right. It ALL came together brilliantly. once again, Sara (the wonderful lighting engie) had anticipated that moment. She’d listened through the songs & flagged it as a significant part. great minds think alike ya’know? When I asked people for what parts of the show they remembered & loved the most, that was one of them. Others focused mostly around the extra theatrical parts of the night… my sister revealing herself halfway through a song, my attempt at juggling 5 balls, the piano balancing on my face… etc. These little moments are very ‘Nathan’ apparently… which is a good sign that I’ve stayed true to myself long enough to become somewhat predictable. (which is a good thing btw… we can do a whole other entry on expectations too) I was very careful when planning each of these moments, to factor in the scaleability of these parts. I can juggle alone, same with the piano balance. I don’t need a troupe of 6 trained acrobats to pull off a moment… for costs, at this stage, that’s kinda important. In the future we’ll bring in the acrobats.

So I underestimated how distracted I’d be on the journey to Germany. I’m now fully arrived in Hamburg… so I’m gonna cut it short here. All complaints on a postcard pleases… & I’ll catch you next week for another edition of: ‘What’s in Nathan’s noggin today, or this week, or however long it’s been since he last wrote.’

Okay love you bye byeeee…..

Nathan