For this project I will be performing a 20 minute set with my band which consists of 2 vocalists, 4 guitarists (3 electric 1 acoustic), 1 bassist and 1 drummer. The setlist is a mix of chilled, slower songs and upbeat songs to create a diverse sound. Throughout the past few months we have figured out what sounds work best with the musicians in our band and have clear communication when it comes to musical choices. Three of the songs for our 20 minute setlist at the Mash House we have already performed for our second assessment so we are all very comfortable with them and already have the knowledge of our parts and roles within them; these songs are: Her, The American Dawn / I’d Love to Change the World, The American Dawn / Easy Way to Cry, Sunburst (Our bands Original). When choosing which songs to add to our setlist we made sure to choose varying songs that still had cohesivity in a setlist and we settled on: Hard times, Paramore / The Night we Met, Lord Huron / Mama Said, Cat Clyde. All these songs fit a similar genre to our first 3 songs, especially Mama Said and The Night we Met. We want to create a set list that conveys emotion and a range of skill while also making it fun for the band and audience and musically varied.   

As we go throughout the process leading up to the performance there is bound to be changes and musical challenges, but we combat issues like that as a band and vote and changes, making sure nobody is unhappy with what we are doing. As a band we’re aiming to create an effective and enjoyable set that incorporates useful musical elements in the short period of time we have before the gig.  

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Location: Guthrie Street - Edinburgh (Close to Legends, Sneaky Pete's, Three Sisters)

Capacity: 350 - club show, 230 - live show

What kind of bands play there?: A wide range of bands, from Indie Rock and Punk to Alternative and Electronic music

Setlist:

• The Night We Met - Lord Huron (Indie Rock)

  We chose this song as it is a perfect introduction to our bands' style. It is also a very well known song, making it a perfect opener.

• Mama Said - Cat Clyde (Country/Folk)

  This Cat Clyde song is simple but beautiful - a perfect follow up to The Night We Met. The chord progression remains the same throughout, with pretty layers of guitar and vocal harmonies to keep it interesting.

• Her - The American Dawn (Indie)

  This chilled song is a great blend between our two previous songs, and the ones that follow. Despite the relaxed feel of the song, the bounce of the bass and drums makes it a bit more punchy.

• Original Song ("Easy Way to Cry") (Indie Rock)

  This song was based off of a guitar loop our guitarist made, with pretty layers of melodies and chords, allowing for our many instruments to all play a unique part. The blend of indie with a more heavy rock feel at the end makes it a perfect bridge between "Her," and "I'd Love to Change the World."

• I'd Love to Change the World - Ten Years After (Soft Rock)

  This old rock song from 1973 has the perfect blend of dynamics for our bands' style, starting with simple, pretty acoustic guitar, then later building into a powerful guitar solo at its climax.

• Hard Times - Paramore (Rock)

  This popular song is the ideal finish to our bands' performance - Paramore are a well known, famous band, and the energy changes and dynamics make this a great song to end the set with, especially since many people will know the words, potentially leading to some fun crowd interaction.

The process of deciding was fairly simple as everyone in the band is easy to work with, and there aren't many powerful personalities.

We decided to keep a couple of songs that we played at our second college performance in the auditorium: "I'd Love to Change the World", and our original song "Easy Way to Cry." These perfectly fit the vibe we are going for, with a nice mix of indie, rock, and even some metal touches.

Our final setlist based off of this week is as follows:

• The Night We Met - Lord Huron

• Mama Said - Cat Clyde

• Her - The American Dawn

• Easy Way to Cry - Sunburst

• I'd Love to Change the World - Ten Years After

• Hard Times - Paramore

The songs we spent the most time on were "The Night We Met," "Mama Said," and "Hard Times." This rehearsal went very well, with everyone pulling their weight.

I have began working on the vocal harmonies for The Night We Met with our other singer Jacob.

One of our guitarists had bought a new guitar, and the lack of tuning stability led to a few issues when trying to play as a full band. This was helped by Ni, who had no problem pointing out the issues we were facing, meaning the problem was resolved quickly.

This week we decided to drop one of the songs from our setlist, "Her" by the American Dawn. After counting the length of our setlist, keeping this song in made things a little too tight

However, I had a cough this week, making it tricky to perform a couple of the songs, specifically "Hard Times," and "The Night We Met."

I tried my best to take it easy this week, as I didn't want to strain my voice and lead to further problems down the line, especially so close to the final performance.

We also had a couple issues with timing this week, with our drummer and bassist struggling to keep the tempo, especially with the pace of our original song. However, advice from our lecturer Nigel helped our drummer maintain her stamina during the buildup of the song.

We focused on "Hard Times," as a few of our band members were struggling with the timing and syncopation of the main riff. Nigel came and sat in while we played our full setlist, providing feedback at the end on any areas we could improve on.

This week we also had our bands' music box session. This was a live recording of us performing our original song, "Easy Way to Cry." The session did not go great, for a number of reasons. Some people did not understand the importance of tuning their instrument, and other band members were incapable of listening to the instructions provided to us.

Our instrumentalists spent time ensuring all gear was working as planned.

After a few hours of getting more comfortable, we all went to The Mash House to perform a soundcheck. Nerves were high, but after the soundcheck, and having seen the venue, nerves turned to excitement and we were all keen to get up on stage and play.

The performance went really well, with very few mistakes, and everyone had a great time.

This is especially important as a vocalist, as I will be in the front of the stage, where there is nowhere to hide, and any awkwardness will be very apparent.

After a pre-chorus and chorus, the song changes vibe entirely, with a cool, syncopated guitar riff. The rest of the band follows the riff, building up into a final powerful guitar solo to close out the song.

Despite some shakiness in the band, we all gave our best on the night, and I am very proud of how everyone performed.

For "The Night We Met," I was very nervous as it was our first song, and starts off on a very difficult high note. Due to this, I felt that I didn't deliver the song as well as I had in rehearsal, but by the second song the nerves had worn off and my performance improved. I felt that I strained myself a little too hard in the previous songs as by the time we got to the last song in our setlist, which is the most vocally difficult song on our setlist, my voice wasn't at it's best. Despite this, I know that I tried my best and gave it my all on the night.

I've found that the best way to overcome stage anxiety and face my fear is to "fake it till you make it," or by acting like someone who is confident. This video has also helped, with the idea that your nerves and anxiety is actually just excitement, and if you can convince yourself of that, it becomes so much easier to do what you need to do.

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Our bands' session did not go entirely to plan. The lack of listening skills and communication made the process far more arduous than it needed to be, and as a result we were only able to get one decent take.

We chose to do our original song, "Easy Way to Cry." I feel that this was a poor decision, and that we should've chosen an easier song that we were all more comfortable with, like "Mama Said." Many of the band insisted that the original would be a better showcase of our skills, but in the end we came out of it looking less professional than we desired.

I was quite frustrated by this, and it's made me realise that I should've taken on more of a leadership role within the band.

I was initially excited to perform and rehearse with new people, and experience what it's like to be part of a band. I was also very keen to get into the music scene, and spend more time around people that share my passion for music.

One thing I wish I'd done differently during the process is: being more involved in the composing of our original song. I would have enjoyed having my own lyrics and story told. I also think the melodic direction we went with the lyrics could have been more intricate, and it could have been a more sonically interesting song, especially in regard to the vocals. In addition, the chorus of the song was quite boring, and we definitely could have done more with it.

I also spent a good portion of time focusing on vocal warm ups and exercises, to maintain my singing ability and stamina in the build up to the performance.

My vocal coach also provided a lot of support and feedback that massively helped my skill and confidence.