Love & Pain by Ben Gillies & Chris Joannou

Author:Ben Gillies & Chris Joannou [Gillies, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Published: 2023-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

TOGETHER, BACKSTAGE, AT THE START, IN THE MIDDLE AND TOWARDS THE END

We have a pre-show ritual. An hour before we step on stage, we kick everyone out of the band room so we can prep. Dan warms up his vocals, Chris gets in the zone, and Ben does his drumming exercises. We all do our own thing, but we do it together, as a band. There are dozens of people who work behind the scenes at gigs: the tour manager, venue manager, sound techs, roadie, lighting techs, bass tech, drum tech, guitar tech, etc etc. But in the lead-up to the show, it’s only us.

Our ritual evolves. Chris starts carrying around a silver briefcase. It’s the ‘vibe case’. He brings the vibes. Inside there’s a Discman and a set of speakers so we can play music to pump ourselves up.

Our ritual evolves. Later, we start to play a specific James Brown song just before we walk on stage. It’s called ‘Brother Rapp’ and it’s fucking funky. We take that energy and bring it with us.

At some point in time, at a venue in a city we can’t remember, we start to have a pre-show drink. We didn’t used to do that. We’d drink after a gig, but never before. We need to be sharp, switched on, tight. One beer isn’t going to hurt, though, is it? Neither is a shot of bourbon. Better make it a double.

Our rider grows. We start to order slabs of beer, bottles of vodka, gin and bourbon. We call the bourbon bottle a ‘brick’, because, well, it looks like a brick. And, also, it’ll knock you out.

Every night is the same: the same ritual and the same rider. We always play the James Brown song and we always finish our rider. There’s nothing left. We drink it all. Every night. Then we do it all over again the next night. And the one after that.

Nothing goes to waste. Except later – much later – for us.

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