QWales
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 751
- Location
- S. Wales, UK
I’ve been playing quite a few years now and would say I am at intermediate level. I can make some decent noises and like to think that I have occasional moments of greatness. A bit like when you play golf with a 20 handicap and occasionally make a shot that the best in the world couldn’t improve on. Anyway, I digress.. The One Show Team got in touch with the company I work for and challenged us to take on another local company in a “Battle of the Bands”.
“The “battle” will be recorded(flimed) by the BBC as part of “Office Rocks” – A pilot project to reveal hidden talents in the business community. Our chance to be in the spotlight and your chance to do something different and become a rock star for the day”
Sounded like car crash tv to me, I know we have one guy in my department who leads a Green Day tribute band so he would be useful but how was everyone going to come together and put something decent out in just a couple of days. Also what were we supposed to play and when etc etc???
Even though I only really play Jazz and Blues, for a bit of fun I thought I'd put my name down on the short list. My thinking was that, it probably wouldn’t really be Rock anyway and maybe I could put together a growling solo to create a moment even if it was.
I applied last Thursday and Monday morning we were emailed a breakdown of the day, which would be in two days, on Wednesday.
9.00 am Presenter auditions potential band members (from short list) in office – looking for vocals, drums, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, backing vocalists… etc
10.30 am Select band
11.00 am Acoustic rehearsal (1 hour) with band and presenter in EDR room
Song chosen from list of clearable songs.
Presenter gives guidance to band as they get to grips with chosen song.
12.00 pm Taxis take both bands from offices to Music Box rehearsal studio on Penarth Rd
12.30 pm At Music Box, bands rehearse song at gig volume (2 hours), un-filmed, with full PA, backline and drums.
Whilst we film office focus group deciding on a name for their band
1.00 pm Food!
PA gets in to my company foyer and sets up ready for battle
1.30 pm Taxi takes presenter and crew from other company office to our office
2.00 pm Both presenters meet outside my company to film opening PTC
2.30 pm Taxis take bands from Music Box (rec studio) to my company.
Whilst coach picks up 50 staff from other company and brings them to our office
Plus sound check of PA in foyer
3.00 pm Film pre-battle vox pops with staff and bands
other band sets up on stage
3.15 pm Other company band introduced by their presenter, and performs song.
My company band sets up on stage
3.30 pm My company band introduced by their presenter and performs song.
Film presenters’ and Bullet For My Valentine’s reaction after song
Film my company staff reaction after song
3.45 pm Winner is announced
Film reaction from both bands
Film reaction from both company staff
4.15/4.30pm Coach takes other company staff back to their office
PA de-rigged etc.
We are sent a list of what we can play late Tuesday afternoon, most of us saw this on Wednesday morning. I’m feeling a tad nervous now because, if I’m chosen, it looks like we are going to have only a couple of hours at most to put the whole thing together.
Wednesday morning, about 9:30, I see the camera crew have arrived and are wandering around the ground floor Atrium. I head up to the EDR meeting room with a couple of the others as previously requested. A few of the guys decided AC/DC’s Highway to Hell would be a good option because it was easy to play and one of our group was in decent an AC/DC tribute band. I had a little speaker with me and pulled it up on YouTube so everyone could start to get a feel for it. I put my Sax together but was having difficulty getting anything decent out, then I realised I’d managed to put the metal loop on the wrong side of the Octave pin. I haven’t done that in years. Just as I’ve corrected my error we are asked to go back to our desks as the film crew would be coming around to interview us. 10 minutes later one of our group is 20ft away from me with guitar in hand and singing away with a crew and cameras all around him. This is when I realise that we would actually be auditioning at our desks, something that was briefly mentioned the previous day but I brushed off without a thought other than we would obviously be playing instruments in a room somewhere. My second mistake(song choice) was already prepared, although I can now play about 25 tunes with 97+% efficiency, I went with my old go to, comfort tune of Summertime, I can do it without thinking and it will allow me to show them that I can play and now with the added bonus of ensuring it wouldn’t make me look too much of an ass in-front of my work colleagues. This of course is not a Rock tune but I didn’t know any anyway and at this point, didn’t they just want to know if I could play or not?
Well they came, I played, they listened and filmed, Carrie Grant sat at the edge of my desk and she said I had a lovely tone, then they went. 10 minutes tops. A couple of hours later I was told they couldn’t see how they could fit the sax in with the Rock song. Throughout the process I didn’t think I really cared or expected anything to happen but it turns out that I did. I spent a lot of time over the next 24hrs thinking that I had totally blown this by not coming out with a line like, “that’s the sort of music I usually play but I guess for a Rock song I would have to roughen things up a bit”, followed by a demo of a bit of extreme growling, which I can do quite well at times but am not well practiced at. I think that would probably have made the difference though. I felt a little let down that they didn’t try to find out if I had it in me but I guess it was for me to show them, it was an audition after all. It all just felt so weird doing this in a big open plan office surrounded by people I work with every day.
Our guys did brilliantly in the afternoon and won the day with Living on a Prayer. It was excellent other than the I felt it was missing something...
“The “battle” will be recorded(flimed) by the BBC as part of “Office Rocks” – A pilot project to reveal hidden talents in the business community. Our chance to be in the spotlight and your chance to do something different and become a rock star for the day”
Sounded like car crash tv to me, I know we have one guy in my department who leads a Green Day tribute band so he would be useful but how was everyone going to come together and put something decent out in just a couple of days. Also what were we supposed to play and when etc etc???
Even though I only really play Jazz and Blues, for a bit of fun I thought I'd put my name down on the short list. My thinking was that, it probably wouldn’t really be Rock anyway and maybe I could put together a growling solo to create a moment even if it was.
I applied last Thursday and Monday morning we were emailed a breakdown of the day, which would be in two days, on Wednesday.
9.00 am Presenter auditions potential band members (from short list) in office – looking for vocals, drums, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, backing vocalists… etc
10.30 am Select band
11.00 am Acoustic rehearsal (1 hour) with band and presenter in EDR room
Song chosen from list of clearable songs.
Presenter gives guidance to band as they get to grips with chosen song.
12.00 pm Taxis take both bands from offices to Music Box rehearsal studio on Penarth Rd
12.30 pm At Music Box, bands rehearse song at gig volume (2 hours), un-filmed, with full PA, backline and drums.
Whilst we film office focus group deciding on a name for their band
1.00 pm Food!
PA gets in to my company foyer and sets up ready for battle
1.30 pm Taxi takes presenter and crew from other company office to our office
2.00 pm Both presenters meet outside my company to film opening PTC
2.30 pm Taxis take bands from Music Box (rec studio) to my company.
Whilst coach picks up 50 staff from other company and brings them to our office
Plus sound check of PA in foyer
3.00 pm Film pre-battle vox pops with staff and bands
other band sets up on stage
3.15 pm Other company band introduced by their presenter, and performs song.
My company band sets up on stage
3.30 pm My company band introduced by their presenter and performs song.
Film presenters’ and Bullet For My Valentine’s reaction after song
Film my company staff reaction after song
3.45 pm Winner is announced
Film reaction from both bands
Film reaction from both company staff
4.15/4.30pm Coach takes other company staff back to their office
PA de-rigged etc.
We are sent a list of what we can play late Tuesday afternoon, most of us saw this on Wednesday morning. I’m feeling a tad nervous now because, if I’m chosen, it looks like we are going to have only a couple of hours at most to put the whole thing together.
Wednesday morning, about 9:30, I see the camera crew have arrived and are wandering around the ground floor Atrium. I head up to the EDR meeting room with a couple of the others as previously requested. A few of the guys decided AC/DC’s Highway to Hell would be a good option because it was easy to play and one of our group was in decent an AC/DC tribute band. I had a little speaker with me and pulled it up on YouTube so everyone could start to get a feel for it. I put my Sax together but was having difficulty getting anything decent out, then I realised I’d managed to put the metal loop on the wrong side of the Octave pin. I haven’t done that in years. Just as I’ve corrected my error we are asked to go back to our desks as the film crew would be coming around to interview us. 10 minutes later one of our group is 20ft away from me with guitar in hand and singing away with a crew and cameras all around him. This is when I realise that we would actually be auditioning at our desks, something that was briefly mentioned the previous day but I brushed off without a thought other than we would obviously be playing instruments in a room somewhere. My second mistake(song choice) was already prepared, although I can now play about 25 tunes with 97+% efficiency, I went with my old go to, comfort tune of Summertime, I can do it without thinking and it will allow me to show them that I can play and now with the added bonus of ensuring it wouldn’t make me look too much of an ass in-front of my work colleagues. This of course is not a Rock tune but I didn’t know any anyway and at this point, didn’t they just want to know if I could play or not?
Well they came, I played, they listened and filmed, Carrie Grant sat at the edge of my desk and she said I had a lovely tone, then they went. 10 minutes tops. A couple of hours later I was told they couldn’t see how they could fit the sax in with the Rock song. Throughout the process I didn’t think I really cared or expected anything to happen but it turns out that I did. I spent a lot of time over the next 24hrs thinking that I had totally blown this by not coming out with a line like, “that’s the sort of music I usually play but I guess for a Rock song I would have to roughen things up a bit”, followed by a demo of a bit of extreme growling, which I can do quite well at times but am not well practiced at. I think that would probably have made the difference though. I felt a little let down that they didn’t try to find out if I had it in me but I guess it was for me to show them, it was an audition after all. It all just felt so weird doing this in a big open plan office surrounded by people I work with every day.
Our guys did brilliantly in the afternoon and won the day with Living on a Prayer. It was excellent other than the I felt it was missing something...
