Brianfest Day 2

So there's Brian Doerksen (he sings and plays acoustic guitar and writes all the songs), Brian T (electric guitar), Phil (keys and vocals and programming), Peter (bass), Eran (drums), James (oboe, duduk, whistles etc.) and the sound guy, Terry. He's a genius.

And special guest on vocals, Asha Groves, our worship intern!

Terry totally rewired our sound system this afternoon, and made it sound absolutely phenomenal for this evening's service. Some kind of aural metaphysics I think. We don't have any subs in our system, and so he boosted some of the harmonic frequencies that could be heard at certain points on the sound waves, and the brain fills in the blanks, so you think you're hearing bass that isn't actually there! Amazing.

Eran, the drummer, got really ill at sound check time. Probably a combination of heatstroke (from this morning's obligatory trip to the pyramids) and stomach bug. He's really not doing well, and certainly was in no fit state to play tonight, so we had to find a stand in to play drums. And we couldn't find a decent drummer, so I played.

Not having touched a drum kit for several months, I found it a challenge! First of all I couldn't get to grips with their in-ear monitoring system, so ended up playing with a huge pair of studio headphones clamped over my ears. Then the kit wasn't set up right for me, so I didn't feel comfortable, and then I had to learn to play with a click track, which was an extra layer of concentration. I dropped a stick in the second song, and all the band members kept giving me encouraging smiles, but I wasn't really enjoying it. I found it especially tricky to play two songs I'd never even heard before, and we didn't rehearse them before the service.

Still, by the last two songs I'd found my groove and I started to enjoy it. It was an immense privilege, but I'm probably the worst drummer Brian's ever worked with, and I'm really praying that Eran is better in the morning. I'm secretly hoping for another chance though :-)