Here's a diary of what happens when you let a bunch of Notts lads, the band Kingsize Operator, loose in Hollywood
We had been recommended by our LA MySpace friends that The Rainbow was the place to be. Best described as a dingy, badly lit, two storey wooden barn, laid out like a rabbit warren with rooms everywhere. The place was rammed with LA’s elite rock crowd. To be more precise the outdoor area was full of people due to LA’s smoking ban. Wide-eyed and very excitable we must have looked like lambs to the slaughter.
The following morning we got up early, had the clichéd American Breakfast at a diner next door and then headed out for a busy day. Our first port of call was a meeting with Carolyn Fox at KHZ Radio LA at 10am. We introduced ourselves to this overly excitable lady, recorded an interview. About an hour later we got back in the jeep and headed off to get the gear. Five guys stuck in a jeep for four hours in 100 degree heat is not recommended.
The Gig, also in Hollywood, was on the way back so we popped in. The talent booker was a lady called Marsha. Things were going well until Simon asked Marsha what equipment we needed to bring with us. To our horror we were introduced to a major difference between gigging in Notts and LA. Anyone who is in or has been in a band will know that generally the headline act brings the drum kit, bass amp and will usually allow the other bands to run through their guitar amps. The logic for this is a quick turnaround. In LA every single band brings every single piece of equipment, plays their show then takes everything down. We therefore had a serious problem. We had no way of making any noise.
The following journey to the CD duplication company seemed to take an age. Having a thousand professionally printed CD’s with sleeves was an excellent mood improver. We hit The Rainbow with bags full of CD’s and went on a mission to spread the word of Kingsize Operator’s arrival to an unsuspecting LA public. Everyone in LA is there for a reason. Whether you are an aspiring actor, singer, dancer, band, producer or just want to be famous, no-one dares be rude to anyone in case they inadvertently insult someone who could further their career. Kingsize Operator however had a secret weapon The sales pitch began as follows:
“Hi, we’re English, we’re in a band called Kingsize Operator and we are playing at… Would you like a free CD?” This was followed closely by “Would you like to buy a ticket?” The resulting response would almost always be enthusiastic, though you wouldn’t believe how many people actually thought Nottingham was in London.
That night Simon went into The Rainbow to use the bathroom. On his way in he spotted Kiefer Sutherland and with beer-fuelled confidence went straight over, barged past his entourage and introduced himself with a handful of CD’s. They proceeded to have a conversation about music and film. Series six of 24 has just gone into pre production. Just as Simon was wrapping up the conversation Dean came bounding over like an enthusiastic child and also shoving everyone out of the way proclaimed: ‘Mr Sutherland, I understand you have an amazing Gibson guitar collection...’
The look on Kiefer’s face was an absolute picture. Clearly no-one had ever broken the ice with a statement like that before. They shook hands with Kiefer, came back out to find the rest of us, then proceeded to recount their story over and over again like a couple of star struck excitable kids.
Having finally sorted out the equipment crisis by throwing money at it to hire drums and amps we were set for our first gig at The Derby. The Americans pronounce it deeeeerbi. Very annoying! The venue was amazing. The stage was massive. We headlined to a packed house, went down really well and came away from the gig with a lot of confidence. The tour had officially started!
The following night we were at it again for our show at The Gig. The feelings of excitement and adrenalin were intense. Once again the stage was huge and about four feet from normal floor level. The roar as we started was unbelievable. The place was full and we just went for it.
The gig at the world-famous Whisky a Go Go was intense. The venue started getting really busy at about 7pm. For its reputation the Whisky is not a massive place, about the size of the Rescue Rooms. It is, however, steeped in history and has an ambience that is almost mystical. The place was heaving and once again we just went for it. For forty minutes we played and performed our songs to a fired up crowd of over 300 on the same stage where the Doors got spotted forty years earlier. What an honour! What a night. We couldn’t get out of the building with the amount of people coming over after our show ended.
The gig at the Roxy Theatre came round very quickly. Although it was not a full crowd the atmosphere was superb, a load of guys from the rainbow showed up and we had a lot of fun. As always, we hit The Rainbow after the show. Steve-O from Jackass was on the table next to us. Ben took serious dissuading from challenging him to some crazy stunt. He still regrets that we talked him out of making a fool of himself.
It was our last day and we had one show left. We got to Universal City for our sound check at 5pm. We had sold our quota of tickets for the show so we were looking to go out with a bang. When we got to the venue we were told that the Headline band Katcha Fire were stuck in Australia so the concert was not going to be shown live on US National TV. It was a real shame, because that would have been the icing on the cake. We were a little deflated by the news. However, as the venue started filling up it became clear that this was going to be a good show. BB’s has a real touch of class. It has three balconies running the entire length of the stage, creating a real intimacy. We were the first band on, starting our performance at about 8pm. We played a half hour set, then two encores.
It was an emotional and drunken goodbye late on Wednesday night. Two weeks of partying, intense gigging, nearly a thousand CD’s handed out and relentless self promotion had taken it out of us. Despite the stress of living in each others’ pockets for two weeks, our desire to pursue music had strengthened to a new level. If you get a chance to play in LA, do it. It will change your life.
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