Finally they had had enough (1980)

I don’t have a lot of outrageous gig stories but I’ve had my share of humorous as well as embarrassing moments in front of an audience. One of the very first gigs I ever played in front of an audience was at one of Buffalo’s American Legion Posts. This would be back around 1980 while I was in high school. My cousin Mike and a school pal Doug had a three-piece “power trio”. Or at least we thought we were! We played the popular classic rock tunes of the day – Boston, REO, AC/DC and we played them loud. Hey, we were teenagers!

A friend got us this weekend show at the Downtown Post 64 that was open to the public. For some reason this meeting hall for old war veterans had a soft spot for teen rock acts and wanted to help them getting out in front of a crowd. That or it was an off night and they were hoping to sell some Visniak soda and Genny Cream Ale. My guess is the later.

My memory is vague on how many people were actually there, but I know my parents were. I remember my Dad making mention of the extreme volume during the first set. Now we're talking one of these wedding reception halls with tile floor and concrete walls. Add a couple Marshall amps and p.a. and you’ve got a twister of sound hammering you from every angle.

I told our friend running sound that I had received a few complaints about the volume, and I know I was concerned because we weren’t the type of band that was purposely out to shock anyone. We just wanted to play. He told me he’d keep an eye (ear) on it, but to our later dismay we found he was gradually increasing the volume after EVERY song! On stage everything sounded great. In the hall however it was like a jackhammer and two lawnmowers were running back and forth, up and down the aisles and between the tables.

I look up from my pounding at one point because I can no longer hear any bass. I see an old codger holding the end of a cord like a limp noodle. He had just pulled it from Doug’s amp and he’s mouthing a few words to him. He then makes his way over to me but smartly realizes he can’t grab a drumstick out of my moving hands. At this point I’m just bashing a crash cymbal in between snare hammers. He makes his way over to my cousin Mike, who I can now see kneeling down in front of his amp, holding his guitar in front of the speaker causing an undulating wail of feedback that was probably making anyone still left in the hall nauseous. “Click” and a short buzz follow as his amp is unplugged and we are unceremoniously kicked off stage from our first gig ever. It hasn’t happened since thankfully. Rock and Roll!