Saturday, December 30, 2017

2017 Retrospective

2017 Retrospective



We had a busy year in 2017. Here are some of our high points:

Year in recap:

  • We played 15 shows
  • We released our debut LP, into the desert
  • We released our debut music video, "No One Like You".
  • We did a livestream video concert where we played some of our favorite covers at Rock Canyon Studios.
  • We lost Nate. But we now have the talented Dean.
  • We started offering lighting at our mobile party gigs
  • We have had two professional photo shoots.
  • We auditioned and became part of the Club 90 rotation
  • We reintroduced keys into our set.
  • We've come a long way since we started in 2013, and it's been fun every step of the way. We put out a lot of media at the beginning of the year, but we were devastated once we lost Nate. It took a bit to get the wheels turning again with our new guitarist Dean, but now we're better than ever, ready to tackle 2018.


What's on the horizon?

We've dedicated the past year and a half to compiling a great cover set-list, and to building our brand as a top notch cover band. While we're going to continue learning more covers, we're going to focus on writing more original content, and defining our sound. We are also going to be focusing on increasing keyboard presence and back up vocals. Expect great things!


 


Thursday, December 21, 2017

YPO Gold Christmas party at Outfitter's Cabin in Park City



One of Mark's pictures
We were approached by Howard a few months ago to play at his annual YPO Gold Christmas party. We've played a few events for him, so we were eager to play another one.

This was a formal event, where the participants were wearing tuxedos. We were told to wear formal/casual. We decided to be matching, so we all wore black shirts, black pants, black shoes, and red ties. Aaron joked that we looked like the mafia. I countered that black is sleek, white shirts would make us look like we're going to church, and red is a Christmas color.

A picture I took while I had a break
This cabin was kind of hard to find on GPS, but we all made it up there. It was an elegant and charming cabin that sat on top of a big valley, with a beautiful view. We were also fortunate enough not to have any snow while driving there.

This was our third time playing live with Dean, and the first time we played a lot of these songs. We were hired to play for 5 hours, so we practiced all of our material, just in case. In the past, we've mostly been ambiance/background music for Howard's parties, but this time, we had people dancing, so we mostly stuck with our dance songs, and mostly oldies and 80's stuff.

We were fed dinner, and it was fantastic! Several types of gourmet salads, fish, steak, potatoes, and delicious deserts!

One of the GoPro sills
I'm really glad that we started doing lighting at our shows, because we were on the porch, and there were only a couple of dim lanterns out there. I was excited because I had purchased a third light stand, to try and get a "halo" effect by placing it behind us. I wasn't expecting there to be a dance floor, so I didn't bring my derby disco lights.

For the past 40 shows, we've made it a priority to have at least one photo from each show. This night was tricky, because usually we have friends or family come and take pictures of us. I set up my GoPro to get stills, and Mark and I took some photos while we had large breaks on songs.

Overall, it was a great event and we had a lot of fun.