On Sunday the 19th of February, we played our first proper gig at a venue called the Cat & Fiddle. It was an afternoon gig and we were the headlining act. I was a bit concerned we wouldn’t have an audience but as it transpired, my concerns were for nothing.
About 60 to 80 people gathered in the small bar to watch us perform. We played a really energetic show and the audience loved it. But the biggest bonus came after we finished the set, when the bar staff congratulated us over and over again. They kept saying they wanted to see more of us and asking when we were booked to play next. Of course, we couldn’t give them any answers, except to say we would be making more bookings for sure.
While I was on vacation, we took our CD to a local community radio station, the largest in Sydney, and gave a number of copies to their program director. A week later, he got back to us to say we’d be added to 4 different programs and that there was a good chance we’d also be added to their general program list as well. This was fantastic news and bodes well for the future; given this is the only radio station we’ve approached so far.
We also just did our first festival and our first road trip to an interstate event, held in my old hometown of Canberra. The festival ran from midday on the Saturday to 4pm the following morning, so for the organisers, it was a long day indeed. We spent the afternoon checking out some of the acts on the outdoor stage before meeting up for a great band-bonding dinner. Then it was on to the show.
We hung downstairs at the venue for a while, chatting to some of the locals and to the event organisers. The night was going very well and there seemed to be a never ending stream of people flowing into the venue. By the time we had to load our gear in, the place was standing room only, which meant about 300 people were watching us. The band on before us, a live 8 piece hip hop act, were brilliant and obviously local favourites. Their energetic stage show made them a really hard act to follow. We stalled a bit when we first got on stage, but we soon had the audience won over. By the end of the set, and despite some technical glitches, the crowd was responding well, although not as well as the previous act. There is something to be said for the hometown advantage. Still, they (the previous band) loved our set and we’re looking at trying to get some shows together.
We also have another two shows booked in the next couple of weeks and are looking to book more. So far we are very pleased with the response we’ve had to both the live shows and our recordings. Our website has been updated and is looking very good now. If you haven’t checked it out, go to www.jcronikal.com. For those of you who’ve not heard any of our music and would like to, let me know and I’ll send you some MP3s.