Getting The Goat in Shape

Un-tether the old goat. Feed him some Guinness and chicken wings to strengthen him so he can once again make an unholy racket in front of the Buffalo masses. It appears that after a 4 month hiatus, Poor Ould Goat is looking at some late summer performances. This of course means rehearsals begin, so I thought I’d share a bit of the “behind the scenes” of what it takes to get the Celtic machine moving again.

When I first joined two-and-a-half years ago, the others had already been together for almost two years. They gave me a list of 50 or so songs that they did or wanted to do, only two of which I had ever heard before. Our first gig was in a month so I listened, took notes and banged on things wherever I felt banging was needed. If I didn’t get “the look” then I made a mental note – “good banging”. We rehearsed a lot and had plenty of gigs right away (being that it was St. Patrick’s Month), so while it was a lot to remember I did have a lot of preparation. Also these are folk songs. It’s not like I was trying to learn ELP’s “Tarkus”.

Fast forward a couple years and we have 70 + songs at our disposal. Most have been played to death, so getting back together consists of going over some of the trickier reels and polishing up background vocals. Of course that is always the plan. The first practice back usually goes something like this:

6:00 pm – I arrive, head down to the basement and see the sound equipment packed up from our previous show.

6:15 – Joe comes down and begins moving monitors into place and unwinding cords. I stay out of the way.

6:17 – Chris arrives and Joe and I begin to make fun of him for any number of reasons. The teasing stops when he produces a growler of beer and I happily become the butt of jokes now in exchange for beer.

6:20 – Brian arrives with a growler of beer and a bottle of whiskey. Nobody teases Brian.

6:30 – Sound check and discussions of what songs we want to run down.

6:32 - We head upstairs for pint glasses.

7:30 – We head downstairs to discuss what songs we want to run down.

8:30 – We’ve successfully run down two songs and started work on background vocals for a third. We take a break as Robin calls down that she has made nacho’s el’grande.

9:15 – We discuss which shows we might take, possible set lists, when we might practice again and why Bandit never gets tired of chasing these toys around the dining room.

9:40 – Head home to get a good nights sleep.

Lance Armstrong would tell you, it’s all about pacing yourself.