The good side of stage fright

Just before we went up to close the show, I could not feel my legs. Everything was spinning. I could feel the nausea rising up from my belly, for the first 20 odd seconds of that performance, I stood stiff. I could not move my hands. I had perspired so much, it could have filled buckets. ILLUSTRATION |

What you need to know:

  • I was so scared  when I pulled on the intro lick but when I saw everyone move to where I was as I began the shred, my confidence soared and suddenly it was all about me and my guitar.
  • This was one of the best shows we ever did.
  • Stage fright is good because it keeps you grounded. Sometimes, you go into something so self-assured that you forget that you still have to get the job done.

The year was 2010. I had just broken onto the Kenyan rock scene with 'Lust of a Dying Breed' after being enamoured of rock music throughout my primary and high school years.

The band was just about a month old when I was snapped up by Martin Kanja, the vocalist. I was — and still am —a really good acoustic guitar player but I had never ventured into the unchartered waters of heavy metal.

It was going to be a great challenge, but one that I relished. There was a huge show scheduled for the end of August 2010 called Hot Wave.

This was anticipated to be the band’s breakout performance, and nobody in the band wanted to be the reason we might be catcalled off stage.

Of course there was a lot of hype out there about us and the fact that this hot, new band was about to break out onto the scene.

Practice sessions took us into the wee hours of the morning as we strived to get our set list right.

SWEATING BUCKETS

For anyone who has played the variations of guitar before, it is quite a big shift to move from playing simple chords to learning scales and progressions.

This took a major toll on all of us, but we managed to get some good songs together and were ready to play.

The club was rocking that night. I can still remember finding all sorts of people in the hallways,  including the drunk and disorderly.

The deejay was getting everybody hyped up and kept making a special shout-out to us and our maiden show. We were going to be the main act.

All I could feel were butterflies in my stomach and the sporadic nauseous attacks every time I thought about getting up on stage.

So I sat in a corner and tuned up my guitar about a thousand and one times, playing the riffs over and over.

Just before we went up to close the show, I could not feel my legs. Everything was spinning. I could feel the nausea rising up from my belly.

I connected my guitar onto the amplifier and did the first open string chug. The sound system was phenomenal that night, I remember.

Then Lewis Ong’wen, the lead guitar player, played the first riff, kicking off the show and for the first 20 odd seconds of that performance, I stood stiff. I could not move my hands.

I had perspired so much, it could have filled buckets. The crowd was so into what the rest of the  band was playing and I was just standing there, looking like a lost orang-utans.

STAYING GROUNDED

I knew I had to play something or get off the stage so I slowly tried to play the open chugs when the breakdowns came in and bobbed my head a little bit.

Then came the part when I had to play the 17-second solo in one of our songs.

I was so scared  when I pulled on the intro lick but when I saw everyone move to where I was as I began the shred, my confidence soared and suddenly it was all about me and my guitar.

This was one of the best shows we ever did.

Stage fright is good because it keeps you grounded. Sometimes, you go into something so self-assured that you forget that you still have to get the job done.

Being a little uncertain is always going to keep you upbeat as a rocker.

It should not be a reason not to go on playing your instrument. Just look at how far Lust of a Dying Breed has come all from a night when their star guitar player had stage fright?