Winston Marsh and fellow bandmate Gary Finch pull up, both wearing shades and decked out in trenchcoats. The car they drive is a clunker and as they exit, no one takes notice of them.

Winston: Gary, remind me why the hell we're doing this again.

Gary: Because, we're just about done recording Steadfast Kids. We need to scout out bands for our new tour and E.P.

Winston: You didn't tell me any of this before we got here...why?

Gary: Well....fuck I don't know.

With that, they enter the building.

Cassie: Aww if only I could come, but I'm on tour right now.

Cassie: Yes! I'm so glad to hear that. I'm going to make it out to the next one, I promise.

Part 2

Sammy smiles as the audience is cheering for him after the first song; it looks as though they quickly forgave him for the minor cock-up at the start.  Playing the wrong song… Stupid mistake there… Good job he has a good crowd tonight!

“So, you all enjoying yourselves tonight?” the response is overwhelming.  The whole 220 people in the audience scream and cheer and just generally make as much noise as possible!  A massive grin grows across his face as he hears the response.  He is again reminded of why he does music – moments like these.

He stands at the front of the stage for a moment or two just making sure his guitar is tuned correctly and then continues; “So, this is something I like to do whenever I have a new song that I’m gonna play.  This track is called Please Don’t Go.  I actually wrote it on Wednesday night at The Dirty Bastard Hotel & Casino!  So I’m not entirely sure how this will go…” a couple of people laugh in the audience; Sammy smiles, “I want you to put your hands up if you like it and keep them down if you don’t; you get me?”  A sound of agreement radiates from the audience; so Sammy gets on with the song.



It starts with a single strum of the guitar, and then Sammy grabs the microphone in both hands.  His voice is so powerful and strong that it makes a few people in the audience jump.



Half way through the verse he lets go of the microphone and starts to pluck away at his guitar; upping the pace of the verse.  The second half of the verse feels a lot faster as it now has a fast catchy tune to it.



On the last line of the verse he stops playing again and makes full on eye contact with someone in the audience.  The passion in his voice radiates through the building, giving a few people chills.  He immediately goes on to sing the chorus, which consists of two lines which are repeated once.



The oxymoronic nature of the last line of the chorus gives a sense of confusion and sadness.  Now he starts to play the guitar even more quickly as he leads up to the rapped verse of the song.  He takes a deep breath and can see a few people brace themselves for the obvious upcoming rap.



He raps the first 8 lines of the verse on what likes like one breath, he then inhales deeply as he prepares to continue with his rap.  The rhythm of the song now changes though, it seems slower and almost jumpier than before.



As he raps the last line of the verse he plucks at a high note on his guitar in order to try and replicate the sound of chiming.  Now the chorus has come back around and some of the audience seem to be trying to sing along, but not many of them have caught the chorus properly.  Sammy has a quick glance around the room and sees well over half of the crowd have got their hands in the air, showing their appreciation for this new track.
Now Sammy slows the music right down and is only playing very quietly as he sings the breakdown.



After this he hits a massive note which gives many of the audience Goosebumps.  Sammy then speeds up the guitar again as he heads into a final chorus.  The song finishes and the audience cheers – a large proportion of the audience has their hands up, suggesting that the song is a hit as far as they are concerned.

Pre-show
Hours before the venue even opens, Aaron Marks is casually sitting outside the venue wearing an old Suburban Sunrise t-shirt, some skinny jeans and some red nike dunks, talking and getting pictures taken with the fans that showed up extremely early. This was the best part of playing shows thought Aaron as he signed t-shirts, and pulled faces during pictures with different groups of people for at least and hour before having to go to sound check to prepare for the last time before playing in front of the sold out crowd of only 220 people (the tickets themselves sold out within 30 minutes of going on sale however, showing that Aaron already has some sort of popularity within London at least).


Hours after this, Aaron watches Sammy perform in front of the crowd, who are giving him the support and encouragement that he truly deserves. Aaron remembers his setlist in his head, and briefly talks with his live band (featuring Rhys Perrin as lead guitarist/banjoist, Michael Nightingale as bassist, Nial Ainsley as keyboardist/pianist/samples and occasionally violinist, and Derek Baker performing drums, percussion, and backing vocals) about the set and how they would perform with the limited space and number of members of the group on the stage. Shrugging his shoulders, Aaron doesn’t seem bothered by the lack of space, just telling the others to “do what they can” before going outside and having one last cigarette before performing whilst his touring band and crew members get the stage and instruments prepared.

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Show
The stage lights suddenly turn off and a slight layer of smoke fills the stage whilst chants of “Aaron Marks” are repeated by the crowd for well over a minute until the live band fill the stage and cheers and applause from the crowd come flying at them.

Rhys starts the chord for the acoustic guitar, and Nial Ainsley starts the sample that sounds like DJ decks as Aaron walks out onto the stage with his acoustic guitar wearing faded denim skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt with red, black and white checked shirt over the top, some black vans plimsolls and his long mess styled hair, the other band members are dressed similarly. Placing a ukulele beside his microphone, he waves at the crowd, the scream of his teenage fan girls is all that is heard. “Hello, I’m Aaron Marks.” He calmly says, “this song is called Getting Out, sing along if you know the words, if you don’t, learn them!” As Aaron says this he starts playing the chord that Rhys had previously being playing, whilst also singing the long held vocals that open the song. The hip-hop drums then start and he starts to sing in a faster tone with the crowd singing the words in time with him. As the song gets to the chorus the harmonica is used up Michael along with the acoustic guitar and drums, and backing vocals from Derek. There is very little movement from Aaron due to him having to stay near the microphone stand and play his guitar at the same time, but the crowds movement involves swaying arms and jumping up and down in the time with the music.

As the song comes to a close Aaron starts to talk with the crowd again. “So guys, it looks like you know how to have a good time! I’d like you to give it up to my friend Sammy Griffin. Make some noise for him!” applause and shouting his heard in support of Aaron’s request, as Aaron talks over the top of it “these next two songs are ones that no-one will hear until my EP is released. This ones called Perfect!”

Aaron picks up his ukulele and starts to play a simple but upbeat chord, and sings in a similar voice to the introduction of Getting Out. The bass drum is used as the song progresses, and Aaron signals for the crowd to clap in time with his, creating a different but good effect as Aaron continues to sing. The chorus causes the drums to suddenly stop but the clapping of the crowd keeps the beat going as Aaron changes the chord structure that he’s playing slightly and sings the chorus with Derek adding more emphasis onto the end of each line by repeating it, before going into the same structure as before with drums being used. The song gets towards the outro, before progressing into the next song of the set titled Extra Credit.

Rhys plays a guitar chord whilst Aaron swaps his ukulele for his acoustic guitar then plays a high chord whilst singing in a sharp high-tone with speed. The song is fairly simple, and there is little change in the chord structure. The song builds up into an acoustic guitar solo from Rhys, and Aaron takes the chance to get involved with the crowd, which he does by putting down his guitar and jumping into the crowd, crowd surfing around for a bit, before being pushed back to the stage as the song comes to a close.



“How many people just tried to touch my hair? and more importantly who did?!” Aaron asks the crowd who laugh and the fan girls responsible put their hands up as Aaron looks at them and winks, before wiping the sweat from his face and preparing himself for the next song. “That last song was called Extra Credit, my next song is again from my EP. It’s called Hello, Not Goodbye”

The song starts with a heavy bass line, and a simple yet fast drum beat. A whistling sample is also used throughout the majority of the verses. Aaron sings using more his accent and with a quieter tone, trying to represent a distanced effect. During the chorus he uses held out vocals with clapping samples being added at random points in the chorus. Towards the end of the song Aaron picks up his acoustic guitar and starts to play a fast chord as the bass stops and he uses a slight grime based vocal ending to finish the song with cheers from the crowd assisting in the ending of the song.

“For anyone who knows me, they‘ll understand how much playing at this venue means to me, so thanks for being here!” explains Aaron before swiftly moving on, “I hope you enjoy this cover of one of my favourite artists of all time. This will be my attempt at covering Love, Selfish Love by Patrick Stump!”

The drums and keyboard sample start as Aaron announces the song, whilst Aaron sings in an attempt to replicate the diverse voice of Patrick Stump. There is a gradual use of bass guitar as the use of drums increases and the vocals are used less. There is a blues based guitar that replaces the keyboard loop briefly before the chorus which features the blues guitar and held vocals from Aaron. After the chorus the song speeds up, and the same line of “I’ve got nothing to confess” is repeated by Aaron and the crowd. Before going back to the same structure as before the chorus. The song finishes with the repeated use of “I’ve got nothing to confess”, but this time it is done without Aaron and by the chants of the crowd.

At the end of the song Aaron says with a joking tone of voice and a grin on his face “I’d like to take this chance to say sorry to Mr Stump for ruining his song, it won’t happen again.” with laughs heard from the crowd. “I’ve got a few more songs for you guys before I’m done, this song is called Going Downtown!”

Starting with a soft acoustic guitar riff that features throughout the majority of the song, Aaron Marks shows his rougher vocal tones within this song. There is a clicking sample added to keep the pace of the vocals and acoustic guitar, on the main notes of the vocals Derek adds his backing vocals to try and create the harmonised effect live. As the song progresses more instruments are added, a simple drum beat replaces the clicking sound, a violin is performed by Nial and the tempo of the song increases along with the speed of Aaron’s vocals. As the song finishes the third verse, there is an Aaron uses his ukulele, whilst Rhys quickly swaps his guitar for a banjo and Michael plays the harmonica. The instruments stop suddenly at the end of the song and Aaron sings “I’m going downtown alone tonight” with the word “tonight” being one held note as the song finishes with the crowd also singing this final note and applauding Aaron and his live band.

“This song will be my last one of the night guys!” Aaron explains to the crowd, “so go mad for me and enjoy it the best you can! This is Loose Change!”

The song starts with a soft acoustic guitar riff, and an equally soft use of vocals from Aaron, before the jazz based drums, along with a heavy use of the bass guitar cause an increase in the speed and tone of Aarons vocals. This beat stays the same for the majority of the song, with a slight use of piano during the chorus to match the bass. The speed of Aaron’s vocals stays relatively fast throughout the verses of the song, and become more held out notes during the chorus of the song. At the end of the song the acoustic guitars are replaced with electric guitars with a slight distortion effect added and the drums change into more of a hip-hop beat with the vocals staying the same. At the end of the song crashing symbols are used as Aaron bows and thanks the crowd, blowing kisses and waving whilst walking off the stage along with the members of his live band who all wave once before leaving. They never had the appeal of the spotlight.

Chants from the crowd for an encore for minutes eventually cause Aaron to walk back onto the stage with the live band following, causing cheers and screams from the crowd. “So you guys wanted more aye?” Aaron asks, “Well I’ll play one more song, then that’ll be it I’m afraid. This is a cover of Radar Detector by Darwin Deez!”

The distorted guitar and clapping samples start the song, whilst Aarons vocals provided a different effect to the song than normal, it however sounds equally as good as the original, with Aarons higher vocals contrasting with the lower vocals of the original. The song follows a similar musical pattern throughout the song, with Aaron getting the whole crowd to sing the repeated line of “you are a radar detector” whilst clapping along in time with his whilst the guitar plays without the drums, which then feature again after 30 seconds of the repeated guitar chord. There is a slight musical outro as the song has been shortened without the gradual decrease in instruments and instead just uses a held note of the guitar distortion as Aaron says his final goodbyes to the crowd and wishes them a safe trip home before leaving the stage empty, whilst the members of the audience all mummer amongst one another on the way out talking about the personal favourites of the night, some choosing to buy merchandise whilst others worry about catching the last train home.

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Setlist
Getting Out
Perfect
Extra Credit
Hello (Not Goodbye)
Love, Selfish Love (Patrick Stump cover)
Going Downtown
Loose Change

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Radar Detector (Darwin Deez cover)

Edited by user 12 August 2011 10:07:06(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks mate! :)

Thanks dude! So was yours! I'd be up for doing something like this again in the future for sure!!

To both Aaron and Sammy, you did an amazing job. Live acts seem to be growing all the more incredible recently, and you two are no exception. The next time Infinite go on tour, I think it'd be cool if you guys came along.

-Eric Quillington

Aaron: It means a lot to me when artists at your level compliment me, thank you. I'd love to tour with you as long as it doesn't clash with my tour supporting Kaite Coyle.

Edited by user 19 June 2011 20:43:22(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified