A reporter's in-depth look into We Are the Lottery League
If you don't want to read my novel below, here is the audio slideshow! Man, this was a bitch to edit. Just saying...
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
I immediately wanted to cover the We Are The Lottery League show the moment I read about it on Facebook. What a great idea. 30 musicians randomly forming bands and making music. Sounds freaking awesome. However, the original game plan was to just cover the show and interview a musician or two afterwards. I never thought I would be allowed to follow everyone through the process, but luck would have it that my friend James would not only agree to an interview but suggest I talked to Johnny, who helped put this event together.
After emailing Johnny, I was given clearance to document the entire process from the initial drawing to the final show. Dude, you have no idea how excited I was when I got that email. I've been wanting to do a story like this for a long time and now it was gonna happen. But there was a problem. I sold my camera because I needed the money to buy my new upgraded camera. So I was camera-less. I borrowed a Canon (which I've never used before) and a voice recorder from the Accent's office for the weekend and off I went.
THE DRAWING
I was instructed to show up at Red 7 at 8 p.m. for the drawing. So I rushed over there so I wouldn't be late and no surprise that I was one of the first three people there. You would think that after working with musicians for the past seven years that I would learn by now that musicians are NEVER on time. Ha. So needless to say, the actual drawing didn't happen until 8:30 after everyone showed up and hung out beforehand.
So one by one, each of the six drummers picked the names of their new bandmates. I was a little disappointed that the drawing only took 15 minutes though. For some reason I had it in my head that it would be more eventful than it actually was. Kinda like the NFL draft with people clapping, speeches made and confetti thrown. However, we all got a laugh whenever someone had trouble deciphering Johnny's hard-to-read handwriting on the slips of paper.
PROMO PHOTOS AND BAND NAMES
So now that the bands were set, everyone hung out some more and got to know one another considering they were going to spend the next 24 hours with these people writing and practicing their new music. While that was going on, my new show buddy Devaki shot promo photos of each band and I walked around getting interviews and taking photos of all the action.
As for band names, a lot of silliness was thrown around such as “MazelTov Cocktail” and “Kung Fu P” but once everything was said and done, the six bands names were Vacation Bible School, Black Mike and the Make a Holes, Boner Patrol, So Long, Judas, Drug Sex, Afrobocop and the Tjöõrd Bjöõrglars.
Dont ask me where those names came from as I am just as dumbfounded as you are. However, I know how hard it is to come up with an original name with the million of named bands already out there so I can see how pulling something out of your ass is the quickest way to get that checked off the "Forming a Band 101" checklist.
It was during this time that James' band Black Mike and the Make a Holes and Clay's (Ideal Soul Mart) straightedge hardcore band Drug Sex both gave me permission to stop by their practice the next day to document it. Fain was teamed up with Eric who just recently quit drumming for the Riverboat Gamblers, Darin from The Dugat Project and David who has this awesome solo project called DFI.
And James got a pretty good luck of the draw by teaming up with two fellow friends his progressive band Consider the Source affliated with in the past, Tyson and Josh as well as teaming up with former Brothers and Sisters, David who's had some of the harder rock experience under his belt. So the genre for that band came naturally.
PRACTICE
The event page on Facebook said that bands would start practicing at 11 a.m. Yeah, that didn't happen. I'm not sure when the other bands started working on material but the band I got to hang out with, Drug Sex started practicing at noon. Clay texted me to come by at two p.m. so I could take photos and sit in during the rehearsal. So I headed towards North Loop where they were practicing.
I found the place pretty easily considering Darin opened the door as soon as I got there. He was going out to get something so that was perfect timing. Clay told me to make myself at home as I was walking in and I immediately noticed the typed up lyric sheets on the music stands. Turns out when David went home the night before, he wrote the straightedge lyrics (as they were a hardcore straightedge band) to all the songs and then typed them up for the band. Now that's organization.
So while I was there, I recorded some of the practice to include in my audio slideshow and then interviewed the guys during their breaks. During one of the interviews, one of the guys made a comment about how they wanted to record these songs. Then one of them asks me "what does (my recorder) record in?" I told them in .wav files and it was like a lightbulb lit up in all their heads. After they asked me if it was cool to use my recorder (of course I was ok with it), then another idea came up. Let's have homemade t-shirts along with the cds. So yeah, Drug Sex was gonna have merch. All in 24 hours. Amazing.
After the songs were written and tightened, I produced Drug Sex's first album. And when I mean I produced, I mean I pushed the record button.
As for the other bands, well I waited for a text from James so I could sit in during their practice but I never got it. Oh well. The recording wouldn't have happened if I left.
BEFORE THE SHOW AND THE LINE UP
I rushed over to get to Red 7 on time so I wouldn't miss the drawing for the line. WTF. I'm early again. Seriously, what am I thinking? Anywho, so I spent my time hanging out with the few band members who actually showed up on time as they shared stories with me about their practices. The overall vibe seemed to be that everyone had a pretty easy time coming up with the direction their music was going as well as pumping out music in time for the show. Then some of the bands were showing me their merch and posters they designed for this event. And here we thought Drug Sex would be the only band with merch that night. Rockstars are so creative.
Johnny arrived and wrote names on slips of paper and picked random people to draw the bands for the line up. When he came to me, he asked me after I grabbed a name which band was I choosing... the fourth band or the headliner? I looked at Devaki hoping she would have an idea, I thought about it and then said, “you know, let's do the headliner” and started opening up the folded paper. I couldn't believe it when I saw that the words "Drug Sex" staring back at me. As I was laughing, I ran over to the guys to tell them the news, but in my amusement, I pretty much mumbled what just happened so the guys didn't comprehend at all what I was trying to say. I think they just heard “I... mumblemumblemumble... picked... mumblemumblemumble... your band... mumblemumblemumble... headliner.” I later talked to Clay and Eric about it which Eric told me that he thought I picked them as the headliner since I hung out with them all day, but once I cleared up that I actually didn't know I had their name in my hand when I said we're picking the headliner, Eric's face lit up in amusement.
THE SHOW
Overall the show was impressive. None of the bands sucked. Seriously. The quality of songs were better than most bands' debut shows and I've been to A LOT of those. And those bands had months, even years, to prepare for their first show. That just showed the quality of musicians that participated in this event.
Anyway, the turnout was pretty small but with Vampire Weekend and Girl Talk also playing in town, there was a tough competition for bodies. But nevertheless, those that did show up laughed, cheered, just overall had a good time.
As a reporter, I have to be fair and unbais so I won't choose a favorite. However, if I HAD to choose my favorite band of the night... Man, I have to say Boner Patrol kind of won me over. Come on! They wrote a song about Johnny and had a self-titled song. That equals win.
Drug Sex definetely ended the showed pretty freaking well with the closing cover "Baba O'Riley." The crowd immediately cheered when they heard the first note and sung along and there was maybe a hint of crowd surfing. Drunk people crowd surfing basically means holding someone half-assed up for like a millisecond.
But all the bands seriously were awesome. Seriously.
AFTERSHOW
So after it was all said and done, I walked around getting last minute interviews, final thoughts, etc. All the musicians that participated all seemed to have a good time and many told me they would do it again. I found it highly amusing and adorable that most of the bands hung out with each other the entire night and added each other on Facebook considering most of them met each other the night before at the drawing. Especially Drug Sex. They're like best friends now. How cute.
As for me, I had a great time. This story went rather smoothly. Everyone was willing to talk to me about the whole process and didn't mind when I took their photos all the time. I wasn't used to the camera so I had to use the flash which can be annoying when it's dark and you have this bright light continuously in your eyes.
So thanks to Johnny for letting me tag along. Thanks to James for pointing me to Johnny's direction. Thanks to Mike for letting me interview you days after the lottery when I discovered that none of your quotes that night were useable. Ha. Thanks to Devaki for hanging out with me when the bands were all doing their thing and showing me what later became my new camera. And thanks everyone who participated, especially Drug Sex (Eric, Clay, David and Darin), for letting me be all up in your business for 24 hours.
We Are the Lottery League photo slideshow from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.
Trying to fit what I saw during the We Are The Lottery League in the allotted 550 words was not enough. A lot of good stuff was sadly left out so I decided to write a more in-depth recap.BACKGROUND INFORMATION
I immediately wanted to cover the We Are The Lottery League show the moment I read about it on Facebook. What a great idea. 30 musicians randomly forming bands and making music. Sounds freaking awesome. However, the original game plan was to just cover the show and interview a musician or two afterwards. I never thought I would be allowed to follow everyone through the process, but luck would have it that my friend James would not only agree to an interview but suggest I talked to Johnny, who helped put this event together.
After emailing Johnny, I was given clearance to document the entire process from the initial drawing to the final show. Dude, you have no idea how excited I was when I got that email. I've been wanting to do a story like this for a long time and now it was gonna happen. But there was a problem. I sold my camera because I needed the money to buy my new upgraded camera. So I was camera-less. I borrowed a Canon (which I've never used before) and a voice recorder from the Accent's office for the weekend and off I went.
THE DRAWING
I was instructed to show up at Red 7 at 8 p.m. for the drawing. So I rushed over there so I wouldn't be late and no surprise that I was one of the first three people there. You would think that after working with musicians for the past seven years that I would learn by now that musicians are NEVER on time. Ha. So needless to say, the actual drawing didn't happen until 8:30 after everyone showed up and hung out beforehand.
So one by one, each of the six drummers picked the names of their new bandmates. I was a little disappointed that the drawing only took 15 minutes though. For some reason I had it in my head that it would be more eventful than it actually was. Kinda like the NFL draft with people clapping, speeches made and confetti thrown. However, we all got a laugh whenever someone had trouble deciphering Johnny's hard-to-read handwriting on the slips of paper.
PROMO PHOTOS AND BAND NAMES
So now that the bands were set, everyone hung out some more and got to know one another considering they were going to spend the next 24 hours with these people writing and practicing their new music. While that was going on, my new show buddy Devaki shot promo photos of each band and I walked around getting interviews and taking photos of all the action.
As for band names, a lot of silliness was thrown around such as “MazelTov Cocktail” and “Kung Fu P” but once everything was said and done, the six bands names were Vacation Bible School, Black Mike and the Make a Holes, Boner Patrol, So Long, Judas, Drug Sex, Afrobocop and the Tjöõrd Bjöõrglars.
Dont ask me where those names came from as I am just as dumbfounded as you are. However, I know how hard it is to come up with an original name with the million of named bands already out there so I can see how pulling something out of your ass is the quickest way to get that checked off the "Forming a Band 101" checklist.
It was during this time that James' band Black Mike and the Make a Holes and Clay's (Ideal Soul Mart) straightedge hardcore band Drug Sex both gave me permission to stop by their practice the next day to document it. Fain was teamed up with Eric who just recently quit drumming for the Riverboat Gamblers, Darin from The Dugat Project and David who has this awesome solo project called DFI.
And James got a pretty good luck of the draw by teaming up with two fellow friends his progressive band Consider the Source affliated with in the past, Tyson and Josh as well as teaming up with former Brothers and Sisters, David who's had some of the harder rock experience under his belt. So the genre for that band came naturally.
PRACTICE
The event page on Facebook said that bands would start practicing at 11 a.m. Yeah, that didn't happen. I'm not sure when the other bands started working on material but the band I got to hang out with, Drug Sex started practicing at noon. Clay texted me to come by at two p.m. so I could take photos and sit in during the rehearsal. So I headed towards North Loop where they were practicing.
I found the place pretty easily considering Darin opened the door as soon as I got there. He was going out to get something so that was perfect timing. Clay told me to make myself at home as I was walking in and I immediately noticed the typed up lyric sheets on the music stands. Turns out when David went home the night before, he wrote the straightedge lyrics (as they were a hardcore straightedge band) to all the songs and then typed them up for the band. Now that's organization.
So while I was there, I recorded some of the practice to include in my audio slideshow and then interviewed the guys during their breaks. During one of the interviews, one of the guys made a comment about how they wanted to record these songs. Then one of them asks me "what does (my recorder) record in?" I told them in .wav files and it was like a lightbulb lit up in all their heads. After they asked me if it was cool to use my recorder (of course I was ok with it), then another idea came up. Let's have homemade t-shirts along with the cds. So yeah, Drug Sex was gonna have merch. All in 24 hours. Amazing.
After the songs were written and tightened, I produced Drug Sex's first album. And when I mean I produced, I mean I pushed the record button.
As for the other bands, well I waited for a text from James so I could sit in during their practice but I never got it. Oh well. The recording wouldn't have happened if I left.
BEFORE THE SHOW AND THE LINE UP
I rushed over to get to Red 7 on time so I wouldn't miss the drawing for the line. WTF. I'm early again. Seriously, what am I thinking? Anywho, so I spent my time hanging out with the few band members who actually showed up on time as they shared stories with me about their practices. The overall vibe seemed to be that everyone had a pretty easy time coming up with the direction their music was going as well as pumping out music in time for the show. Then some of the bands were showing me their merch and posters they designed for this event. And here we thought Drug Sex would be the only band with merch that night. Rockstars are so creative.
Johnny arrived and wrote names on slips of paper and picked random people to draw the bands for the line up. When he came to me, he asked me after I grabbed a name which band was I choosing... the fourth band or the headliner? I looked at Devaki hoping she would have an idea, I thought about it and then said, “you know, let's do the headliner” and started opening up the folded paper. I couldn't believe it when I saw that the words "Drug Sex" staring back at me. As I was laughing, I ran over to the guys to tell them the news, but in my amusement, I pretty much mumbled what just happened so the guys didn't comprehend at all what I was trying to say. I think they just heard “I... mumblemumblemumble... picked... mumblemumblemumble... your band... mumblemumblemumble... headliner.” I later talked to Clay and Eric about it which Eric told me that he thought I picked them as the headliner since I hung out with them all day, but once I cleared up that I actually didn't know I had their name in my hand when I said we're picking the headliner, Eric's face lit up in amusement.
THE SHOW
Overall the show was impressive. None of the bands sucked. Seriously. The quality of songs were better than most bands' debut shows and I've been to A LOT of those. And those bands had months, even years, to prepare for their first show. That just showed the quality of musicians that participated in this event.
Anyway, the turnout was pretty small but with Vampire Weekend and Girl Talk also playing in town, there was a tough competition for bodies. But nevertheless, those that did show up laughed, cheered, just overall had a good time.
As a reporter, I have to be fair and unbais so I won't choose a favorite. However, if I HAD to choose my favorite band of the night... Man, I have to say Boner Patrol kind of won me over. Come on! They wrote a song about Johnny and had a self-titled song. That equals win.
Drug Sex definetely ended the showed pretty freaking well with the closing cover "Baba O'Riley." The crowd immediately cheered when they heard the first note and sung along and there was maybe a hint of crowd surfing. Drunk people crowd surfing basically means holding someone half-assed up for like a millisecond.
But all the bands seriously were awesome. Seriously.
AFTERSHOW
So after it was all said and done, I walked around getting last minute interviews, final thoughts, etc. All the musicians that participated all seemed to have a good time and many told me they would do it again. I found it highly amusing and adorable that most of the bands hung out with each other the entire night and added each other on Facebook considering most of them met each other the night before at the drawing. Especially Drug Sex. They're like best friends now. How cute.
As for me, I had a great time. This story went rather smoothly. Everyone was willing to talk to me about the whole process and didn't mind when I took their photos all the time. I wasn't used to the camera so I had to use the flash which can be annoying when it's dark and you have this bright light continuously in your eyes.
So thanks to Johnny for letting me tag along. Thanks to James for pointing me to Johnny's direction. Thanks to Mike for letting me interview you days after the lottery when I discovered that none of your quotes that night were useable. Ha. Thanks to Devaki for hanging out with me when the bands were all doing their thing and showing me what later became my new camera. And thanks everyone who participated, especially Drug Sex (Eric, Clay, David and Darin), for letting me be all up in your business for 24 hours.
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