AllTheseThingsIveDone.com

Last Friday I was up at the YWAM base in Harpenden, Hertfordshire (15 miles North of Watford), to work for CCM band onehundredhours. This is the first time I’ve caught up with them since our initial meeting in July! I was there to prove myself in the glamourous world of the back line tech.

I drove up Thursday evening and after a huge queue on the M25 I made the base without getting at all lost thanks to tom-tom which took me pretty much to the door of their studio. The rest of Thursday evening was spent getting equipment into place at the Chapel and then visiting a gig down in Watford…after that…well…a few of us headed into the TV/Xbox room and spent 90 minutes shooting each other at Halo 2. At least the others did; I was pretty rubbish. When we left it was 2am…oops.

So Friday, got up at 9am and made my way to the Kitchen to find The Knipper up and having breakfast. This being a Christian camp absolutely no one drinks instant coffee so we put on a cafetiere of Fair Trade Kenyan coffee. That’s the best way to start the day. Time passed, more band members appeared sat down and ate and drank with us. At about 11 it was time for work.

My guitar world consisted of Gretsch’s, Fenders, Gibson and Avalon and put together probably cost more than my car! This was a big job. Never before have I been in charge of such valued items. I’ve assisted d:’s tech Lee before but actually doing it is really different. Three main tunings were used: Standard (EADGBE), DADGAD and DADGAE. With sound check and a complete run through done it was time to  relax before the gig.

It was only when lead singer, Tre, started to tell me the nightmare stories of previous tech and now band member, Johnny’s, first gig that I started to worry. And was definitely something I didn’t want to repeat.

Gig time. Hand the boys guitars and let things work themselves out. Enjoy the night and only really freak out at one tuning. Retuning a custom Avalon from DADGAD to Standard while a rock song was going on. Not the easiest.

Gig over. Pack up. Say hellos to some, like the traveling Littlehampton contingency. Say some goodbyes, like departing drummer Paul “Pablo” Baker. Head on my way for home. Get home 1:30am Saturday morning.