No Breaks

1. Energy maintenance: sets were put together from the first to the fourth to build and massage the energy of the audience. If you worked for 45 minutes to build and then stepped away, you would have to start over when you got back for the next set. So, once it's up, why not sustain it with continued music. Reading the audience and the room was the primary determiner of such choice

2. Singing Voice vs. Talking Voice. If the main singers did warmups and provided conscious care to keep their voice in tip top shape then all was well. Most band singers did not know much about formal warm ups. They just hit the road runnin'. By the time a set was well into its songs the singer's voice was likely warmed up. It felt good and now had its full range available. Why stop? Skip the break and re-evaluate at the next break point. A more important part of the decision was the level of noise in the room. The louder the audience ambiance was the less likely we were to take a break. Why? Because inevitably people would want to talk with you or you wanted to talk with someone as well. Because of the noise level your spoken word voice was akin to shouting, which is not good at all for the singer. It strains, delivers hoarseness, and can actually damage the vocal cords. If a break was needed we usually made a b-line to the bathroom or outside and simply gave it all a rest. Outside a conversation was at a normal volume. Finally here, on days when we had multiple gigs we had to cognizant of what we needed to fill the contract. Talk less, sing more, for longer and better. Simple choice in the moments that we would often have to make multiple times during a gig.

3. The third reason is one based on personal circumstance. It is no secret that band members get attention from people who want to spend outside time. More often than not, especially at the age we were, we took advantage of the opportunities. Often, as a night went on at a gig, several of the women I had spent some time with showed up. Sure, I wanted to talk and connect, but with which one? Awkward and probably not in the greatest integrity. In these cases the band would get the no break signal and we would extend the sets. I am not proud of these choices but it seemed necessary at the time. In retrospect...I am sorry to anyone who was on the receiving end of this diss... Was it youth, fear, or cold hearted...probably a bit of all of that. Live and learn. Stumble and fumble...keep playin' boys...it's a no break night.

Comments or stories to tell? Email me at markoffice@markstantonwelch.net

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