As the old saying goes: “The Show Must Go On”. Cliches are cliches for a reason. And in this case, sometimes you just gotta do it (no Nike pun intended). We played a show on 3/30 with The Richlands and stand up comedian opener Dan Finegold. I (Nelson) met the Richlands while running sound at our old home away from home Cobra Club (where I also run freelance sound). Their manager and owner/operator of SourGrapesProductions Genny Yosco organized the show a few months back. Life happened and Nelson had to drum AND sing (yup, 3rd person just happened).
I have tried practicing (really just fuckin around) drumming and singing at the same time for awhile now (for those that don't know I've been drumming for over 20+yrs). Mainly just to see if I could do it. But I have never wanted to do it with mybeautifuleyez. Just never wanted to do it with the project (always wanted to just sing). And it helps that N’Kosi is a helluva drummer and been with us since the beginning. But a few days before the 3/30 show, I got the call to the big leagues (Kos couldn’t make the show, and it was too short notice to try and get someone else up to speed, so I said “fuck it, I’ll drum”). I then spent the next 3 days figuring out and learning how to drum and sing our set. Here’s what I learned in the process:
1) First things first: Sit up straight. Posture is key. Every time I fucked up, whether it be missed singing into the mic, ran outa breath on a note, or even missed drum hits; I noticed my posture was shit. And every time I consciously sat up straight, everything got easier.
2) Keep extra sticks by you. For the first time in my drumming/performing career, I lost a stick mid song on stage (I also broke a stick on stage for the first time too, but I didn’t notice until the end of the set, so that’s besides the point). When I lost the stick, my mind was focusing on singing through a fill and trying to pay attention to the band to sync up a transition from one section of a song to another. (Specifically transitioning from the 2nd chorus to the 2nd verse on ‘In My Groove’). I hit the bottom of the ride cymbal going from the floor tom to the rack tom, and I watched the stick go flying in the air in slow motion. I panicked. Thought to myself in rapid fire “What do I do?”. “Do I just keep singing?”. “Help!”. “Will someone hand me my stick back?? No that’s stupid.” “Do I get up and get the stick?? No that’s stupid too”. Then I remembered, “Oh Shit! I have more sticks in my bag! Where’s my bag?? Behind Me! Grab a stick! Do I keep singing?? Fuck it, yeah, keep singing”. So I did. I kept singing (not into the mic at all of course), grabbed another stick from my bag, and went right back into the song like nothing happened. (And, of course, breathed a quick sigh of relief in my head). Doing multiple things pulls your attention in multiple directions. It’s honestly an interesting brain exercise. You can almost feel your synapses firing in ways they’re not used to firing. Parts of your brain working together that aren’t used to doing so. And when that happens things might get a little messy and variance increases. Technical difficulties are always bound to happen when performing. When you’re stretching your brain and mental bandwidth, they are harder to navigate. So be prepared. Keep some extra sticks handy.
3) Performing/Music is just confidence. Put out doubt in your mind and just believe in the practice, work, and ability to show up in the moment (and you’ll probably be surprised at how well it works out). This revelation honestly came from a post practice session. It was the day before the show and I spent like 2+ hours just trying to drill in the parts and figure out where I was fucking up (where do/did I tend to make my mistakes). After 2+ hours of finding one's mistakes the day before the show, I was officially nervous. “Was I gonna make all these mistakes on stage?? Did I officially bite off more than I can chew and now I’m gonna just show everyone that I can’t do this on stage?!??”. On my train ride home from the studio after practice, I put on my “Super Duper Jams” playlist to calm my nerves and think about something else besides the show. One of the first songs that came on was “Super Bad” by James Brown. I fucking love that song (and James Brown in general). I immediately started rocking and even started dancing a little to the music on the subway. And then it just hit me. Like a slap in the face. The Art of Performance is just Confidence. James Brown being the epitome of that. James Brown is/was probably the most confident man ever. And in my humble opinion, probably one of the main reasons he was so great. That’s what you gotta have when you perform. Irrational confidence is key. So that was/became my plan. Just go up on stage and perform with the intention that I was gonna fuckin' crush it! Knock it out the park. Like I was James Motherfuckin' Brown. And yeah. Did we/I play every song at at least 15bpm faster than normal? Yup! Did I miss some lyrics, transitions, endings, hits and fills? Yup! Did I lose a stick, have the mic (XLR to the mic) come out and took me way longer to plug it back in than I should’ve (a whole verse)? Yup! But I went up. Had fun. And at the end of the day, we fucking rocked it!
From “mybeautifuleyez blog” 2025