Just a singer in a rock and roll band...

All of those months of playing Rock Band 2 have apparently paid off. After some silliness on Facebook last Friday, I was asked if I wanted to sing Seether's version of "Careless Whisper" with a band called Throwing Goat at their next show. The band is a fixed group, and they get volunteer singers for each of the songs in their set. "Careless Whisper" was the one remaining song in the setlist, and since I know ALL the words to the song, the only thing I had to do was learn the new melody on the verses.

Oh, that and get over my intense fear of public performance. :)

The latter part is somewhat amusing. I did theater in high school and goofed around with it in college. I taught for 2 1/2 years while I got my master's degree. And I did a community theater show 4 years ago. But I am TERRIFIED of public performance. Even getting up to sing on Rock Band in front of my friends is nervewracking.

Needless to say, band practice last night was a bit terrifying. My supervisor at work (the one who roped me into all of this) is in the band, but she's out of town right now. I get along well with her husband, and practice was at their house, but I didn't know anyone else in the band till I was introduced to them last night. I dragged Jeremy along with me for moral support, of course, so there were two people there who I know.

The practice went relatively well. I know the song. That part was easy. But Jeremy told me afterwards that he could tell just how tense I was almost the whole time I was singing. I felt like I relaxed a bit after the first few run throughs, but I was still nervous. (I also had never used a mic that wasn't connected to a game system before last night. Apparently I was barely audible for most of the practice, till they told me that I really did have to be right on top of the mic.)

Now bear in mind, this was with 5 people I don't know. In July, I will be singing in front of a crowd of probably 100+ people. EEK!

Jeremy and I did come up with a plan, though, that involves me finally doing karaoke later this month. We may even go tomorrow night if we can get our errands done quickly. I don't know that it will necessarily make me more relaxed initially, but at least it will prove that I can sing in front of more people and not die from it. Beer may also help, but I'm not inclined toward that option.

Mostly, I think it's just practice, practice, practice, and hope that the stage fright thing gets a little better as time goes on.