Poagao's Journal

Absolutely Not Your Monkey

Nov 07 2007

The Album Party

CD release party!Our self-titled album is now officially out, and we had a party/show last Saturday night to celebrate at the Huashan Culture Park on Zhongxiao East Road. Sandman, who started drinking early to keep up with his usual pre-show nerves, and I got there around 3pm, though we were supposed to get there at 2 to start setting up. I busied myself putting up pictures (oddly enough we’d run out of posters; I had to draw a sign for the door downstairs) while Robyn directed the entire operation with exceptional speed and efficiency. After a while we did what we could during the sound check to make the harsh acoustics of the place a tad more acceptable to the human ear.

Before we knew it, it was 6:30, and guests began arriving. We’d been featured in the newspapers and other media, and the place, an elegant hall on the second floor, filled up quickly. Almost as quickly, the food provided by Alleycats and Sababa vanished. It was a strange situation for me, socially speaking, as there were so many people in the room that, under normal circumstances, I could have chatted with any of them individually all night, but instead I had to keep excusing myself and doing more mingling. The replacement pizza smelled wonderful, but it was for guests, not the band, and we’d feasted on biandangs earlier anyway.

Slim takes a breakSoon it was almost time to go on, so we all made our way back to the green room, where there was a nice smoking balcony attached, and got ready to go on. Upon The Appointed Hour, David opened the door to the stage, and we all hesitated, staring at the open door, and the stage and people beyond. I think we could all feel what it meant, those few steps. Sandman was the first through the door, and I followed, the rest of the band behind me. The crowd erupted as we strode onto the stage, with a degree of emotion that I’d never encountered before in my career as a Rambler. There were there to see us, and we were there to make them happy.

“I’ve been wanting to say this for the longest time,” David announced to the audience. “This is the first song from our NEW ALBUM!” We began playing through the songs of the album, in the same order, more or less. Hundreds of people were stuffed into the room, and most of them ended up dancing, and many whooping as well. Several little kids banged on their small plastic chairs to the music just below the stage. At one point there was a minor confusion over the key of a certain song, but the crowd didn’t seem to notice.

Thumper's picture of me and Sandman at the album release showSeventeen songs went by in a flash, and it was over. We put our instruments away and chatted with people before they left, all of us high from the show and just being able to hold the album in our hands, the finished product of so many months of effort. It was almost sad in a way, being the end of an exciting, fun and rewarding period for all of us, even though it was also a beginning of sorts.

Later on we piled everything into cabs and went over to Bobwundaye to continue the celebration, which lasted into the wee hours of Sunday morning. I accompanied Jason Green for a few tunes on Charles’ surprisingly sweet Jupiter trumpet, which he got for a song, and didn’t have too much to drink.

One by one, the band left. Thumper disappeared, Sandman and Jojo went home, and David exited to cheers. Eventually, Slim and I also bade Conor and the others farewell and hopped in a taxi back to Xindian, our work done, at least for now.

posted by Poagao at 6:52 am  

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