My last four nights at Peppermill Resort Spa Casino have been one of the most incredible learning experiences of my life! I wasn't sure I could survive four consecutive 4-hour nights of singing my ass off but I did it...here's the honest truth of how I prepared for the whole thing:First was the booking. I had been wanting to break into a place like Peppermill for a while now...play an amazing stage and get my name out there for an entirely different crowd than I was used to. Jules, their entertainment director, had reached out to me over a year ago when I was making a big ruckus about my Indiegogo campaign. She was interested to see what I could do, so we talked about booking a single night trial run to see how I would do. Unfortunately there was a schedule mix up, and I never had the chance to play in November of 2013. It was probably for the best. I wasn't ready.
Fast forward a year later I went to go watch my good buddy Kyle Williams (songwriter from Chico, CA) play at Peppermill, and he introduced me to Jules...except now I'm meeting her in person! She and I both recalled our email contact a year prior, and she had been following me locally with the Reno For Nikos fundraiser and CD release for The Key To Happiness back in June. With a great re-introduction from Kyle, she was willing to sign me on to play four nights in January. Boom. Just like that!I had already started booking a January/February tour at this point, but I knew January 11-14 would fit in just nicely as a tour kickoff. The term we use in the industry for this kind of a show is an anchor show, meaning we use it to help financially anchor the tour so that I know I can come out making a little bit of money on top of the food, lodging, and general travel expenses incurred while touring. These shows were going to be huge for me, so I knew I had to prepare for this more than any other show ever...I had FOUR (4) HOURS of material that I needed to cover BY MYSELF!!! Not an easy task for a solo guy so I really got after it.
Starting just after Christmas, I was playing my guitar 4-6 hours per day - no excuses. I knew I had to get my voice used to singing for that long of a period at a time, so I made it a priority. I know you may be wondering what else I might do as a musician if I'm not already playing my music at least 4-6 hours every day. The short answer is booking/promoting shows and the long answer will be in another blog another day.
Basically I started pulling out every cover song I've learned over the years to help supplement my own original music repertoire, and tried to build from there. These cover songs ranged from Matchbox 20's "3am," to Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," to Mumford & Sons "Little Lion Man." The trick I was taught for this kind of show is to mix at least 50% cover songs into the set in order to pique their interest so that when I play my own original stuff, so that they feel inclined to leave a tip and maybe even buy a CD.After hours and hours of rehearsal, showtime came. I was worried I may have sung too much in recent weeks getting ready, but that was just not the case...my voice sounded just fine and lasted night after night! The end of night three was a little rough (I really left it all on the stage that night) and so was the first set back on night four. But I pushed through and once I warmed up again I had a blast! Intuitively I already knew that I needed to start warming up my voice before shows, yet up to this point I seemed to pretend it didn't apply to me. The voice is a muscle and needs to be warmed up, stretched right, and worked out regularly to keep it in the best shape possible.
One final thing I learned is always give credit where credit is due! My overall response at the end of a show went up dramatically when I made sure to thank the room for listening in, thank the management for the opportunity to play, and thank the bartenders with genuine words and a cash tip, ESPECIALLY IF THE DRINKS ARE FREE!My four nights at Reno's Peppermill were an incredible experience, but it took me a few nights to really know how to make it even better next time. I have no doubts that it will be...and hopefully I'll see you there!!!
~Liam