Our first show ever!
Kicking Daisies had been doing well. We had enough songs to play a full set of music which meant there was one obvious thing to do; book a show! That became the main focus over the next couple of months as we headed into Spring. We were so busy with writing sessions, recording at Mike’s studio, and meeting with important people in NYC that my parents agreed to let us become homeschooled. I was elated! I had been struggling with my work since this all started back in November. We agreed that come the New Year, I could drop out. It felt unreal. This meant leaving behind school, my music program, and my friends, but I didn’t care since it meant my dream was coming true. There was so much promise with Kicking Daisies that school just seemed secondary.
On my last day, it was one of those funky scheduling days where lunch split English class in two, but since I had my music program after lunch, it meant I wouldn’t be returning to English class for the second half. Word got out that I was dropping out and many of my peers asked me questions as we waited for class to begin. I felt really cool. My dream of being in a famous band was coming true so I had nothing to worry about. The teacher quieted the class and began teaching. I told everyone I wasn’t coming back after lunch and that this would be the last time to say goodbye, but as the bell rang for the break, everyone raced out of the room with hungry stomachs and seemed to forget. I felt a little hurt, but I was ready to leave. I went to my locker for the last time, grabbed my stack of papers, notebooks, and the rest of the junk stuffed into the blue-coded locker, and tossed it all in the trash. I walked out like a rockstar and never went back.
The following months were filled with preparations for our first show. March 1, 2009, at FTC in Fairfield, CT. Since we hadn’t released any music yet, we relied on word of mouth to get people to come. It seemed that everyone was eager to see what Kicking Daisies was all about. My Aunt Gina began seeing us at her house on Tuesdays and Thursdays to homeschool us (my younger cousin was born with a few complications that caused my aunt to leave her teaching job for a few years at the time) which we were all excited about. Gina, or as I like to call her “Gi-g-Mc-Gi-gers” or just “Gigi” is the funniest, most creative teacher I’ve ever had. She found ways to make our education worth it, and I have her to thank for getting my GED a few years later and getting into college, and graduating with a BFA. Those days at Gigi’s kitchen table were packed with lessons both educationally and life learned. We read books, assessed the writing, wrote our own stories, did Science projects, figured out complicated math problems, and ate a lot, a lot of food. Following the school day, Rich would pick us up and bring us to my house to practice. The days were jam-packed but it was all starting to come together.
One of our more unique assignments where we assessed a typical “fan” of Kicking Daisies
One day in February, it snowed like crazy and the schools around town all closed. My boyfriend, Matt called me and asked if we could hang out. I had nothing to do that day so I excitedly agreed just as my phone line rang on the other end. It was Rich. He said we were able to get access to FTC’s stage and sound system for the day and that we were going to be rehearsing full show run-throughs for our first official show. I clicked the line back over to Matt who had been waiting on the other line. I told him there had been a change of plans. He sounded disappointed but I assured him that this was all part of what it takes and that music had to come first.
We piled my drum set into the back of my dad’s car and headed down the snowy highway to FTC. At rehearsal, we went over the set again and again trying to make it perfect. We rehearsed what to say in between each song and Mike kept telling us ways we needed to perform to make it more entertaining. Duran used the stage naturally, he sang as if there was a crowd there already, whipping his long, blonde hair back and forth for hours. I felt tired and a little sad that I had to miss the chance to see Matt, but music came first. I focused my energy on the set as we played the songs over and over again.
A week or so later, it was March 1st, the day of our first-ever show. Since I had only really ever played local bars before and a few other performances for a mostly older crowd, I was super nervous to play for a crowd of screaming kids my age. We had our sound check earlier on and I looked at the empty theater. It was a bit intimidating because the stage was a square that was located in the center of the room. There were multiple levels of seating that surrounded the stage on 3 of the 4 sides which meant people were going to be to my left, my right, and in front of me. Backstage, our family and close friends gathered in excitement to hear our music. I could hear the crowd bustle and I started getting butterflies. It was almost time to hit the stage so we said some last-minute things to pump each other up before heading out.
The lights went dark and the crowd murmured in anticipation. I nervously took my seat behind the drums and plugged my Skull Candy headphones into the headphone jack of my homemade “Playback Rig” that we built out of an iPod touch and a small headphone amp. I was mostly playing to a click track these days and the rest of the band was following me as I kept time. The lights flickered to get the crowd excited and I clicked my sticks to start the first song. Bam! The lights went on, and the place was absolutely packed! I couldn’t believe my eyes! All these people came out to see us play even though they had never even heard our music before. I looked out around me and saw homemade signs “We LOVE Kicking Daisies!” There were kids wearing homemade t-shirts with our band name written out next to hearts and hand-drawn daisies. We had fans! They were screaming so loud, I had to lean over and turn up the volume on my headphone amp. Throughout the show, I struggled to keep my Skull Candy headphones from falling out, but it didn’t matter. We were a real band playing a real show! Between Ben’s shredding guitar solos, Duran’s charismatic performance, Carly’s inspiring look a bass skills after only been playing bass for a few months, and my drumming, we had captured the hearts of everyone in the room.
After the show, we ran backstage and within a few minutes, our family and close friends piled into the room in excitement. Everyone was raving about the show. It was obvious that we were meant to be a band. Mike was satisfied, Rich was elated and all of our parents were so impressed. Our siblings all gathered around us. We were more than a band, we were a family. We knew this was the first of many shows to come.
