Getting on stage to perform in front of an audience can be extremely nerve-racking. Some people thrive in the spotlight while others tend to shy away from it, and this feeling can be amplified when doing something for the first time. I can remember back to my first gig with Fun DMC. A summer night at The Curve Inn after having a few practices with the band, two months of listening to nothing but the songs in the set list and too much time spent at home constantly worrying about how it was going to go. I had been playing drums, a real drum kit, not Rock Band drums, for about three years at this point. My only experience playing in front of people was at Central Baptist Church on Sundays and one memorable night filled with sushi and Bob Dylan, yet this was different. This was a professional event. There was real money involved and a band’s reputation was going to be effected. A bit over dramatic maybe, but nonetheless my head was spinning. Fortunately, mainly thanks to selective memory, the night went well… minus a nerve-riddled “attempt” at doing a drum fill into Semi-Charmed Life. I try not to think about that.

Well, all of that has now been eclipsed. As has been mentioned on social media and this very blog, Fun DMC was on the news the other day to talk about our resident dentist/rock star Albert Capati’s brilliant dental parody of The Weeknd’s Can’t Feel my Face. As most everyone knows, I play drums in Fun DMC. I don’t think that’s a secret at this point. Others may notice that I do sing along to the songs back behind the safety of my kit, without a mic in front of my face. As far as singing publicly on a mic in front of anyone, haven’t done it in some time. Haven’t wanted to do it. I may have done some choir stints back in middle school, but since then I have not made many more attempts to sing in public minus one not so great karaoke of Linkin Park’s In The End at college. Singing has never really been my gift to share with the world, and yet that would not stop the train that is Fun DMC.

When talking with the news channel about what kind of performance they would want to have us do, a few ideas were thrown around. One was to have us do a full performance of the song, another was to have a couple guitars and a cajon to do an acoustic performance, and one last option was to sing along to a track. Pros and cons to all of them, and ultimately it was decided that singing to a track was going to be the best option taking into account all of the variables. It was great! Practically no set up time, don’t have to set any instruments up, it’s going to be really good… but something popped into my head. What am I going to do? Without my drum kit, I am kind of out of things to hit with sticks. “Hey guys, what should I be doing for the performance?” “You can sing the chorus.” “Hmm….”

An interesting dynamic to this song, it being a dental parody, is that the chorus was sung as a person whose mouth was numbed for a dental procedure. Again, first time singing in public in a LONG time, first time singing with Fun DMC as a singer, and singing as if my mouth is numb… this should be great. I had my reservations doing this and my nerves were revving into high gear. I spent a good portion of the morning psyching myself up to do this while trying not to vo… (gross, they don’t need all the details) … uhh… trying not to get sick. I spent the drive to the news station debating if it would be that bad if I took a couple courage drinks to loosen up (I didn’t). Honestly up until I started actually singing I felt completely on edge. This is the most out of my comfort zone I could be without actually being the only one on stage singing. My safety kit is gone, I am mic’d up, I am on TV, the part I am singing has me worried… you know just a few things running through my head….

All in all, though, it didn’t go too bad. Some of us were unsure what to do without our instruments, which led to some awkwardness, but we sang it well, Albert, Robert and Katey did well in the interview leading up the performance, and many laughs were had amongst the band in the Green Room. As I have said before and will surely say again, I couldn’t ask to do this with a better group of people. Thanks for pushing me outside of my comfort zone. Next up… the Star-Spangled Banner….

Want to share any stories of your first time performing? Have any questions you want to ask the band? Shoot me an email at plustalonholmes@fundmc.net or leave a message on the band’s Facebook page. Peace out!