New Years just gone i had the priviledge of playing at Crown Casino's New Years Eve bash. An event exclusively for guests of Crown - all laid on no expense spared. I was part of Matt Dwyer's Little Big Band which was the house band for the night. We had to support Natalie Bassingthwaite, Katie Underwood and Tim Campbell. Now to put it mildly i was "shitting" myself as i had not really done anything like this before. My wife Kim said she hadn't seen me this distracted in a long time. It was a big night and the thought of stuffing up really made me nervous. Can you picture it? - Natalie comes out and does the opening number to a 1000+ crowd and the drummer goofs and it's all downhill from there. Well this is where lot's of listening and repetitive practice comes in. 

There is the commonly held belief that we humans are creatures of habit/repitition and that's exactly what i did. Listened over and over again to the songs and made notes for each song and while not knowing it at the time, i was embedding those songs into my brain for recall. Strangely on the night i was nervous, but a good type of nervous - i was looking forward to the challenge now, it was a new frontier for me and i was up to testing myself and seeing how i'd react.

1 2 3 4 then the first 2 bars of "Be My Baby" and we were away - Natalie sang beautifully and before i knew it we were off stage having completed her two opening numbers- i was pumped - the night was off to a flyer and the nerves were settled - now it was time to make some music and help these guests party and dance. To this aim we achieved our goal. So practice, practice and the sub conscious brain will pleasantly surprise.

A brief footnote - beginning of the second Matt Dwyer set i got a little confident and started to think of the next song and as the end of "Rock Around The Clock" approached i completely forgot how it ended and fluffed it a bit - although i still made sure i hit the last note with the rest of the band. As they say as long as you start together and end together - all the stuff in the middle is purely open to interpretation.

Jump out of your comfort zone - i certainly did 31/12/2009

Cheers Steve

Katie Underwood And Steve

Natalie Basingthwaite And Steve

Lifetime Mate And Keyboard Player

Alex Nettelbeck