Which advice am I referring to? The advice that we really need to (1) decide on a logo/branding for the band, (2) define a band image, and (3) figure out a wardrobe that both unified us as a band yet allowed us to be individuals at the same time.
Believe me when I say that we spent hours and hours working on these together. Goodnight Annabelle is unique in that band business doesn't just take place when we're all together in one place, but never really stops. Throughout the week, we send out dozens of different emails to each other, going over branding ideas, creating and deciding on logo and other image designs, writing lyrics, and cover loads of other topics. We even record and upload music that we write while by ourselves so that the band can listen and add to it so that we can incorporate the ideas during our normal jam sessions.
Over the past few weeks we have accumulated dozens of different logo designs, and after going over all of our options, we finally decided on a couple of variations.
This goal coincided with another project that Byron and I were working on, together with Adam Boyd (my old band Formerly So's sound technician and a very talented graphics designer), to build a sound-activated LED system into the kick drum that would correspond with our music during live sets. This idea spawned from my cousin Ty Jensen's drum set, which had a white strobe light that flashed according to the bass hits, back when he was in the band New Holland. He now films music videos for a living in LA, and actually directed my old band's music video.
Many hours were spent researching how best to go about this and a lot of time was wasted in custom wiring jobs before we were able to get it right, but in the end it turned out perfect. Adam even took a simplified version of our logo and created for us a custom vinyl decal to place on the drum head for the light to shine through. Also, being the stud that he is, Adam also crafted several similar decals for us to give to fans, and also gave me a decal that I was able to place on my bass amp which matches the drums.
For those of you who may think the name Adam Boyd sounds familiar, this is because it is the same Adam Boyd who recently designed a custom bass guitar for me, which I am in the process of completing by adding electronics, a fretboard, etc. I hope to get it up and running soon so that I can start using it in performances.
The drum head project turned out so well that, as we deliberated together on how to best unify our appearance, we decided that it would be awesome if we actually used a color-themed image. We decided to take three neon colors and use those to define the band image, both on stage and in our web presence.
In terms of show apparel, we decided that we would all wear mostly blacks and/or grays, but each with an emphasized article using the color that we had chosen for that day, as we hoped to have shows in which we have different colors at the forefront. For example, one show would be a "green" show where we would all wear green, another would be a "pink" show, and so forth.
We decided that the Provo Block Party II show with Allred would be our moment to put to the test our little concept. The number of emails back and forth flared up again as we all scrounged to find the clothing and other items that we needed before the show. But we also decided to add another piece to the puzzle: Team GnA
The support that we receive from our fans is simply astounding. That was one of the first things I noticed when I joined the band, was how dedicated the fanbase was. So we decided that it was finally time that GnA got its own street team. First, a Facebook group was created called Friends of GnA, in which anyone could be invited that wanted to. We posed the question to them of whether or not they wanted to actively help us to promote our shows and help us in developing our band ideas and were shocked at how many instantly wanted to take part.
We had so many requests to play part that Sam was forced to create somewhat of an application form so that we could divide the participation into different tiers: One overall team, broken down into smaller geographical teams, and the Friends of GnA group for those that wanted to help but didn't have the means to really take an active role as much as the others.
Team GnA was a huge success and continues to be. As we prepared for the Block Party show, we tried to involve the team as much as possible, and they really stepped up to the plate and exceeded every one of our expectations. They helped us promote and get people excited for the show, they collaborated with one another, and they even helped hand out swag during the show itself.
The day of the show was pretty exhausting, but was extremely fun. I work up at EMC in Draper and my shift ends at 5pm, which meant that I put the "rush" in "rush hour" to get to Sam's house by 5:30, giving us enough time to run through our set and pack our gear before leaving for the show. And then it started to rain....hard.
Hoping for the best, we loaded up our gear--which was a lot easier than past shows because Jason was able to borrow his in-laws' large van to haul our equipment without getting it all wet--and drove to Provo. I admit that I began to panic slightly when I saw that the Alpine Village courtyard, where the show was to take place, was empty. However, we soon found out that the show had been moved inside of Me Crepes, where they had a mid-sized venue.
I actually preferred the show being inside, mainly because the acoustics of the room helped us to hear ourselves a bit better, but also because we would be able to play more to our lighting effects. Before we went onstage, members of Team GnA handed out neon green glowstick bracelets, and we switched the lighting in the drum head to be a matching green. As soon as our first song of the night, entitled "How to Control Me," began to play, the lighting was switched to change according to the music.
Overall it was an extremely fun show to play. The room was filled with energetic fans that sang along to our songs and danced to the music, and we were even able to perform a song that we had written only days before entitled "Dare to Dream," which was such a hit that we plan on playing it at the semi-finals of the Rock the River competition.
We did have our share of snags as well that night, but it still worked out great, all things considered. We realized when we arrived that the venue did not provide enough cables nor sufficient AC jacks for our instruments, but we were able to eventually get things sorted and ready to go. Also, most probably don't know this, but Mike--our lead guitarist--was actually very ill the night of our show, and yet he didn't let it show at all during the performance, which makes him a hero in my book.
So, long story short, the Provo Block Party II show was insanely fun to play, and I think our fans had almost as much fun as we did that night. I am so excited to hit our next show, and even more excited to get into the recording studio in a couple of months to lay down our new tracks so that we can release our new music by the end of the year.
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