The alarm clock went off way too early this morning at 6.15am. I love the way Michael Griffiths (our graphic designer) puts it: getting to bed early is actually much harder than getting up early. S’truth.
I had good reason though. Last night we launched our new album, On The Edge, at Grace Church International. The joy of being able to share this music first and foremost in its entirety with friends and family is something we had planned from the start. The great thing for us is having kids, teenagers, adults, parents and grandparents in the mix of the audience.
Last night was particularly special in that all five of us were able to perform together for the first time in 8 months. It’s something we have to work really hard at (with babysitters for rehearsals and shows, etc), but the benefits when you’re on stage are immense.
Having an audience in front of you changes the band’s performance dramatically. Prior to last night, it’s hour after endless hour of fiddling through chord progressions and all of us trying to remember the darn cues. But last night Jon’s sense of theatrically had us (the band) in stitches, Roberto goes bananas when he’s in front of people, Rudi actually survived standing up front and Tam went at the harmonica and engaged the audience with the camera (by the way, you can view the pics in our photos section).
It’s hugely rewarding to hear that these songs that were first conceptualized and recorded on a cellphone in traffic jams are now on a CD, and that some people actually like it. It’s even more rewarding to perform them live to an audience. Happy listening, and remember – it is a crazy world, but you can choose to look at life from a different angle and make a difference to the world around you.
