I, David Prater, do
solemnly testify that the following accounts are accurate so help me God!
As you read the following
narrative, please bear in mind that during the weather event described below I
was elevated 20 feet in the air within the main stage mixing tower getting
ready to mix Lita Fords’ first proper show after a 15 year sabbatical. As a result, myself and three other
technicians witnessed the following episode firsthand.
On Saturday, June 12, 2008,
at approximately 6:00 p.m. CST, during the final moments of a performance of
Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” by Trixter, a storm cell accompanied by heavy
rain ripped through the main staging area of Rocklahoma producing a “wet
microburst” with “straight-line winds” in excess of 70 mph. The highest recorded wind speed of such an
atmospheric phenomenon is well over 150 mph.
A storm of this type is often times mistaken for a tornado and can in
fact be equally if not more destructive.
Within the mixing tower itself, the wind was so strong that I personally
saw it very nearly rip the sheet metal from the rivets holding it onto the
steel reinforcement columns. Although it
seemed much longer, this dramatic event lasted for only 15-20 minutes. Nevertheless, as a result, it caused the
complete collapse and utter destruction of the North and South “side” stages. It’s worth noting that both stages’
construction was rated as capable of withstanding sustained winds up to 75 mph.
Miraculously, there were no
fatalities nor serious injuries reported.
Musicians should be aware that
Rocklahoma had graciously filled these stages to overflowing with high-end
guitar and bass amplifiers (Crank, Dual Rectifier, Marshall JCM 900, Ampeg SVT,
etc.) as well as premium quality drums (Drum Workshop, Zildjian, Sabian,
Paiste, etc.) and various musical instruments.
The bulk of this “back-line” had been provided as an alternative to
groups having to lug into the festival grounds massive truck loads of equipment
far too impractical to use. Virtually
all the performers were delighted that such quality gear had been
provided. They could then use their own
guitars, effects pedals, cymbals, foot pedals, etc. to supplement their
performances.
Well…most all of it was
ruined. As with all the stage lightning,
sound reinforcement and other various technologies, the back-line gear stayed
uncovered in the rain for more than 24 hours during which time it was almost
always raining. Yellow law enforcement
tape designated the area as strictly off limits. The sight of that much ruined gear literally
made me sick to my stomach. It’s an
ominous sight to see “flown” P.A. enclosures lying in the mud with the trusses
that held all the stage lighting resting on top of them. The heavy duty aluminum
used in their construction was bent like salt water taffy. The wind force that did this must have been
biblical in nature.
Not taking into account
additional claims from other vendors and festival concessionaires, conservative
estimates by professionals familiar with filing claims for such “acts of God”
valued the damage at over $2,000,000 per stage.
The main stage, however, was almost completely undamaged due to the
strength of the industrial-grade steel and sheet metal structure that
completely housed it on all 5 sides when fully retracted.
During lunch the following
afternoon, I sat with the team of Michael and Becky Orange from “Event Weather”
(www.eventweather.net) and discussed
all that had happened. They’re in the
business of providing a multitude of onsite weather services for various
outdoor functions. After having finished our meal, Becky turned to me and said,
“Hey…you gotta check this out.” She
pulled out her cell phone and showed me a jpeg of the storm cells’ topographic
display as it passed over Rocklahoma.
She shot the picture right off the weather screen the night before. As God as my witness…the image was in the
shape of the holy cross. You can view
the entire time-stamped high-resolution file at the address below. It wasn’t altered by Final Cut Pro nor
Photoshop. Earlier today, I even went so
far as to call Becky and verify the images’ integrity. She swears it is absolutely genuine.
The event owner then walked up, viewed the image and immediately downloaded it into his cell phone. As he began to walk the grounds and show it to associates, the news of the oddity quickly spread. From then on, for most of us working the show the festival took on a hallowed glow. In fact, looking back I dare say the entire event represents something spiritually significant for many of us in attendance that week.
I
arrived at the festival on Tuesday afternoon, July 8th and would be there for the next 6 days. I was
attending Rocklahoma as a business partner with Brad White, the events’ talent
coordinator and booking agent. We are
responsible for all affairs relating to “The Texas Hippie Coalition”
(www.myspace.com/texashippiecoalition). Brad
and I had produced their CD/DVD package and I was going to mix their 2 shows on
Wednesday and Sunday. As it turned out,
I was commissioned to mix an additional 6 acts on various stages over the
duration I was there. The most notable
of these was Lita Ford on Saturday Night.
Her normal soundman was in Europe on assignment.
Following
Jackyls’ “chainsaw” massacre on the main stage, I mixed a rowdy set for The
Texas Hippie Coalition on the North Stage at 10:00 p.m. Wednesday July 9th. It seemed our show was an unqualified success
and really buoyed my enthusiasm for mixing the rest of my clients throughout
the week. Both the North and South
stages featured Midas mixing consoles that sounded warm and smooth even at loud
volumes.
Ratt
followed our set on the main stage. It
was nice to see Steve Pearcy in good form with the band sounding
competent. I had produced an Arcade
album for him in 1992 but this was the first time I had seen him since. There would be a several more acts I had
similar experiences with as the week progressed.
It
had rained earlier that day and in places the festival grounds started to
become very muddy. The next day,
Thursday July 10th, once again saw some annoying precipitation that
added to the mud from the day before. By
evening, especially in the reserved VIP RV camping area, the festival grounds
had devolved into a quagmire of deep mud containing beer, various forms of
alcohol, urine, vomit and God knows what else.
The weird thing was that even without the presence of any livestock you
smelled cowdung everywhere. It was explained
to me that when the festival grounds become this wet and are stirred up this much
by pedestrian and vehicular traffic, the underlying soil containing 200 hundred
years of inert cowdung becomes rather pungent to say the least.
However,
none of this had any effect on the crowd in attendance for the most completely
over the top stage show I’ve ever seen.
EROCKTICA!!!
OMFG! Just go to their website…you’ll get the
idea. They were QUINTUPLE
X-RATED!!! Full nudity, Bondage,
simulated male ejaculations, girl on girl sex, audience sexual participation,
etc. All the while the performers were
swizzling a huge bottle of Jim Beam and passing it back and forth through the
crowd. Some of the songs were
interesting too! The main stage
performer, Pink Snow, was hysterically funny.
At one point she got behind the drums and hit harder than the real
drummer. She was actually very good!
One
of the things I remember most about Rocklahoma was seeing her in the crowd for
the 2nd THC show at the makeshift tent on Sunday night, the
festivals’ closing evening. It seemed
all the THC guys knew her and all her girls knew the THC guys. Go figure.
Too much information.
Friday
the 11th turned out to be hot, dry and windy. As a consequence, 70% of the previous days’
mud had dried significantly and the entire area as a whole was markedly easier
to navigate both by foot and transport cart.
I mixed 4 shows that day. The
performers I mixed on the South Stage Friday were as follows;
·
Minoli (from
Italy)-12:30 p.m.
·
Gods of
Kansas-1:55 p.m.
·
Lipstick
Magazine-5:15 p.m.
·
Krucible
(featuring Lance King)-10:15 p.m.
All 4 acts acquitted themselves well, however, 2 in particular
stood out. Lipstick Magazine and
Krucible featuring Lance King.
When I was prepping the stage plot for Lipstick Magazine, I
couldn’t helped but feel that they were an odd-looking assortment of people
from completely different walks of life.
For one, they didn’t look like Rocklahoma hellraisers in the least. Secondly, they had keyboards which were sort
of faux pas for Rocklahoma in general.
Thirdly, they played out of what appeared to be solid-state
Marshall amps and just about all the band went wireless with their instruments
and voices. It just looked strange…THAT
IS UNTIL THEY STARTED PLAYING!
Holy Shit!
They had a female singer that sang great. The rhythm section had two lead guitarists,
one of whom was bald, black and wore glasses. They switched on and off for
solos AND as it turns out, the black dude was without a doubt one of the
finest soloists at all of Rocklahoma!
Who knew? You can’t judge a book
by its cover, right? The bass and drums
were really solid and the keyboardist played with some nice sounding Hammond
Organ sounding patches. The songs were
melodic, heartfelt, driving anthems with some immaculate 3-part harmonies (in
tune I might add!). I laughed my ass off
at my misperception and got them sounding awesome! When a band plays that good, mixing them is a
breeze.
Then comes Lance King. I
met him the day before and he seemed like a completely grounded, down to earth
guy, however, I didn’t know he sang. He
is a tall, dark and handsome fucker but rather unassuming. My friend introduced him to me as a small
label owner and that was it. He asked me
to mix some shows for him with his band, Krucible, being one of them. Later, when someone asked me who I was
mixing, I said “Lance King…is he any good?”
The guy looked at me like I had 3 nostrils and said…”Lance is probably
the underground rock scenes’ greatest living singer!” “Hmmm…this I gotta see” I thought.
Well…yep…the guy was right.
Lance was remarkable as was his band and the material. OMG, the songs were awesome!!! Heavy, progressive, melodic, anthem-like,
etc. Why Krucible and he aren’t
household names is beyond me. Geoff Tate
has nothing on this guy. The funniest
thing about their set list was that they were to end it with a cover of Dream
Theaters’ “Pull Me Under”…another record I produced. So…I knew there was at least one song I might
mix right. They played 5-6 songs and
right before they were to play “Pull Me Under”…THE STAGE MANAGER PULLED THE
PLUG!!! Their set ran too long. It seemed Extremes’ set ran slightly over and
as a result everybodys’ set got cut about five minutes. Damn!
I wanted to hear them cover DT!
Hands down, Lance King was the finest metal voice I heard at Rocklahoma.
I was hoping the following day, Saturday the 12th, would be hot, dry and windy again like
Friday. One more day of that would dry
this place out completely. Instead I
woke up Saturday morning to the sound of heavy rain hitting the skylight of the
camper Rocklahoma provided for me. I
thought…”Oh shit! You gotta be kidding
me!” I was due at the South Stage at
2:00 p.m. to get the stage ready for a band called Order of Nine and I was
hoping that at least the rain would stop before then.
It did. I missed an
interview THC was doing for Rolling Stone at 2:30 but I had to supervise the
stage plot for Order of Nine. They were
scheduled to perform at 2:30 and it takes around 30 minutes to go through all
the checklists during a changeover. Troubleshooting while the show is going on
isn’t the best time to check mike cables for a short.
Order of Nine gave a strong performance and their show went off
without a hitch. Finally I could relax
for a while before I had to mix Lita Ford at 9:55. By now it was around 3:30 so I walked over to
production headquarters to see if there was any change in plans, time slot,
etc. for her show.
Then I ran into Brad White.
He was barely responsive due to an extreme lack of sleep but
seemed nonetheless really perturbed about something. He was trying to get all the festival stage
managers to acknowledge his prompt from his 2-way radio but they seemed
aloof. This was the festivals’ 4th
day and everyone was completely exhausted.
Then he looked at me and said…”Event Weather told me they had been tipped
off about a nasty looking group of cells coming our way. I gotta get the stage managers to double
check all their shit because they’re saying this storm could bring high winds.”
I couldn’t believe it.
The sky looked clear from what I could tell but I immediately made my
way over to the elevated main stage mix tower to see if I could get a better
look. Sure enough, Tom Sweeney, the main
stage sound company’s mix supervisor was looking at his I-phone monitoring a
streaming weather forecast. It looked
like a solid orange blob. “FUCK!!!” Tom started gathering massive plastic tarps
he had for such occurrences and began to unfurl them to get everything sorted
if the worst hits us.
I looked out to the northeast and saw a low level front moving
in. For a long while it looked like it would miss us. Then it got closer and closer, all the while
looking seriously pissed off about something.
I could see violent air-to-ground lightning bolts firing at a rapid
clip. It was identical to the lightning
in Steven Spielberg’s movie “War of the Worlds.” In between songs from the main stage I could
softly hear what sounded like distant thunder getting louder and louder. The front was closing in.
Trixter was by now finishing their set on the main stage. Like other groups at Rocklahoma, I had
produced them as well. Back in 1989 I
recorded the 1st studio version of their later hit “One in a
Million”. As fate would have it, they
were obsessed with the production on Def Lepards’ “Hysteria” and wouldn’t
settle for anyone less than Mutt Lange producing them. Needless to say, that
never materialized.
Since most people are unfamiliar with Trixter’s music outside
of their 1st record, like many bands at Rocklahoma they began
playing some high energy covers in order to keep the crowd engaged.
Then it began to rain.
Most people don’t realize it, but, if performers use wireless
technology with their instruments and microphones, they aren’t connected to
anything that would complete a circuit and ground them. Therefore, they usually
can continue without fear of electrocution.
I saw the Rolling Stones play in a downpour at Shea Stadium in the late
eighties and the band played better after it began to rain.
The crowd was really into Trixter’s set and the mix was quite
good as I recall. However, when they
started Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City”, a river began to pour from the sky. Undeterred, Trixter’s frontline taunted the
weather and appeared determined to play through it. The crowd was emboldened by
Trixter’s defiance and seemed determined to ride it out with the band.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
In a space of about 5 seconds, from seemingly nowhere a vicious
wind from hell combined with the already heavy rain to create what felt to me
like an instant hurricane. The conditions
were worse than those I experienced in a typhoon while touring Japan with Sam
& Dave. People began to scream and
yell, all the while running for cover.
Trixter’s instruments began to short out because the mikes and guitar
pickups took in so much water they could no longer function. I could see the stage hands furiously trying
to lower the lighting trusses on the main stage so they could then close the
structures’ huge sheet metal door. It’s
built like a massive military airplane hanger.
Then the storm got serious.
The wind doubled in velocity and seemed to start picking up
speed. I was watching the rain against a
black backdrop and could see the raindrops falling completely horizontal,
almost to the point of raining upwards.
The storms’ wind, however, wasn’t rotating. I thought, “How weird? This isn’t a tornado?”
By now the lightning was literally right on top of the mixing
tower. The thunderclaps were so loud it
scared me off my feet. I was blinded by
the brightness of the lightning bolts so close and low to the ground. The storm clouds couldn’t have been more than
a couple of hundred feet above us and I was in a metal tower with a shitload of
electricity running through it.
This was the real meaning of “shock and awe”.
I wasn’t an official crew member for the sound and light
company but that didn’t matter now. It
was all hands on deck. We managed to get
the digital sound and lighting consoles covered and then we each hunkered down,
the whole while the storm getting progressively worse. By now the main stage seating area was
completely empty and all the screams seemed far away.
I tried to look around the corner in the direction of the storm
but it felt like I was getting sprayed with buckshot. It was actually painful. The sheet metal enclosing our tower was
flapping like a goose that couldn’t fly.
I could see the ground in between the spaces where it was pulling away
from the rivets securing them.
Then, after what seemed a small eternity, the wind stopped as
suddenly as it began. Now it was just a
steady rain. And it was quiet. Eerily quite.
Right about then Tracey and a couple of stage hands from the
North Stage ran into our tower. He said he literally started to become airborne
when he tried to hold down the awning over the soundboard. That’s when he hauled ass to our tower. He was as white as a ghost.
There was an older fella’ with the lighting company who looked
out the tower and said…”Holy shit! They
lost the North Stage.” Then he turned
south and said, “My God! They lost both
of them!”
The whole thing didn’t last more than 15-20 minutes. But it was 15-20 minutes of abject
terror. It scared the living shit out of
me but I must say that it was exciting and really fun!
By now the 1st responders were out in force. They did a fantastic job of maintaining
order. They marked off the stages like
it was CSI Miami to prevent assholes from stealing equipment that may have survived. There were sirens going off everywhere and
like most people at that time I had only one thought.
“Dear God I hope no one was injured.”
After 4-5 minutes I began to walk to the massive main dining
tent. This thing is H…U…G…E…! With maybe 2-3 inches here and there, it was
largely flooded but not a disaster. I
must have looked like hell because everyone that saw me walk in looked at me
incredulously. They must have sensed
that I had been in the thick of it. I
felt like I had been in a firefight with the Taliban.
I immediately went into survival mode and thought to myself…”If
there’s any food to be eaten eat it now!
That may be the last food you eat for a quite a while.” I grabbed a plate and filled it up. A few minutes later, sure enough, they
started to take all the food away.
I went outside to the production offices but it was in full
crisis mode. Everyone had a phone
pressed to their ear with a walkie talkie squawking in the background. I went to my camper and changed clothes. Unbelievably, it was still there and the
power was on. The air-conditioner had
tripped a circuit but I reset it and it started right up.
Believe it or not Rocklahoma never lost power.
I sat down and called Lita’s husband, Jim Gillette, and asked
him what he knew. He said Lita’s
manager, Danny Stanton, had told them to pull over, grab a bite to eat and wait
for further instructions. Then Jim said,
“Lita is going to play this show even if she has to play in the parking
lot. She’s on fire!” Then I thought to myself, “Oh shit! What does he mean by that?”
Lita, Jim and I spent an hour together the night before
discussing all facets of her show for tonight and copying setlists. She’s an unbelievably sweet person. You just want to please her the minute you
meet her. Kinda like I feel about my
sisters. I was hell-bent to come through
for her because this was her first “real” show in 15 years but she didn’t have
a soundmixer who knew her music!!! The
last one she used was on assignment in Europe and was unavailable. Still, she was sooooooooooo excited about the
event, the fans, everything. I thought
to myself, “Wow!!! This could really be
good if I can get it right!”
We discussed all the songs with regard to who was going to solo
first or second and how each song began.
Three or four of them started with keyboards. Additionally, everybody in
the band sang backup and they all had great voices. The vocal blend was very important to
her. I had my work cut out for
sure. Then I got the word.
Rocklahoma 2008 was still alive.
I called Danny and he said the show would go on but only on the
main stage with the scheduled headliners.
That meant;
§
Lynch Mob-8:15
§
KIX-9:30
§
Lita Ford-10:45
§
Warrant-12:30
In spite of everything that had occurred, we had only lost
about an hour.
Apparently, everyone would cut their set by 1 or 2 songs to save
as much time as possible. Every
stagehand from the North and South stages was ordered to assist in changing
stage sets between acts. They were
hoping for about 20-30 minute changeovers.
I returned directly to the mix tower. The Lynch Mob was about to go on and I wanted
to see if there were any changes in approach as to how Tom wanted the Pro-Tools
digital mixing console to be set up.
When I got there everything was already up and ready.
The Lynch Mob gave an excellent performance with their namesake
giving a textbook lesson on how full a 3–piece rhythm section with 1 guitar
could sound. George played beautifully.
I asked about who would play next and someone told me KIX had
backed out or words to that effect.
Lita Ford was to be next!
After The Lynch Mob finished their set I immediately began
asking Tom to help set the board up for Lita.
However, when I tried to get people onstage to give me a line check no
one would cooperate. “FUCK!!!” I thought
out loud. Time was running out. I called Jim Gillette and asked him how much
time Lita had. He said, “I don’t know
but she’ll be taking the stage at 10:45.”
I looked at my watch and I thought is said 10:20. Because my watch was soaked and therefore
difficult to read, I mistakenly read the time as an hour later than it
actually was.
That was soon to cause a major FUBAR!!!
After about 10 minutes of trying to get things checked I heard
the drum tech onstage triggering Simmons drum samples! “What!!”…no one told me anything about this
and I had no idea how to route anything through the Pro-Tools live mixing
matrix. Tom was busy so I decided to
physically run to the stage and get some answers.
I was soon to be more humiliated and embarrassed than any time
I can remember.
I introduced my self to all the band members. I hadn’t met any of Lita’s band yet so I
thought this would be a good opportunity.
By the time I got to the drum tech he informed me that the drummer
needed 3 auxiliary channels for his drum triggers. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!!!” I
yelled. I then went up to the bass
player and asked him why he was standing at the mike where Lita was supposed to
be singing. He looked at me quizzically
and said, “Lita? Lita who?” I said Lita Ford god damn it!
He shook his head and said, “Dude we’re KIX. I don’t know shit about Lita!”
I almost had a bowel movement right then. My stomach sank to the floor and I
immediately made a mad dash to the tower to tell Tom I had fucked up and that
KIX was next. It was totally my fault
and I had to try and help.
Right when I got upstairs I started screaming. “This isn’t
Lita! KIX is about to start!” By now the soundman for KIX had arrived and
was trying to get the board situated.
You could cut the tension with a knife.
Tom started screaming and began kicking equipment cases in my
direction. Right about then the
announcer comes over the P.A. and says, “I know you’ve been waiting for a
while, but now your time is here! Ladies
and Gentlemen, get ready for KIX!”
I dashed down the stairs and ran through the crowd to the
nearest exit to look for a rock to crawl under.
In my defense there was so much chaos going on it was hard to
get any answers from anyone and that’s why I got completely turned around. As for Tom’s detesting me, the real fact of
the matter is that have a radically different approach that works for me when
I’m mixing live, however, for some
production managers it appears like I haven’t a fucking clue what I’m doing. The following may help to explain why;
§
I conduct my
sound checks through high-quality headphones so I can actually hear the
fidelity of the sound in question and choose the EQ and compression that is
correct for what I need.
§
I rarely boost
EQ…I instead cut the frequencies I don’t want and boost the line signal coming
in to compensate for the drop in perceived loudness.
§
I actually pan
things discreet left and right if the P.A. is in stereo (this one was).
§
I rarely use
reverb. Mixes are hard enough to get
sounding clear without throwing some more uncertainty into the equation.
§
I set the
digital delay either in triplets or quarter notes to the song’s time signature
and ride its’ return fader if I need it.
§
I’m constantly
moving faders up and down in order to highlight the lead vocal and solos. I’ll even drop instruments out of the mix to
achieve my goal if it’s too loud on stage.
§
I like a snare
drum the same volume as the kick drum and I like all the drums loud in general.
With this Pro-Tools board, I was completely at the mercy of Tom
and now he absolutely hated me. I
couldn’t blame him, however, I didn’t do this intentionally!!! Compounding the problem was that there were
no knobs on the console where you would normally find them and if you needed
anything you really had to ask him for help.
The fact of the matter was I still had a show to mix and I couldn’t let
petty animosities get in my way.
I waited backstage by the production offices and waited for the
sound from the main stage to subside. I
didn’t see KIX perform but heard later they were sensational.
After I got the all clear I scurried to the mix tower and
gently made my presence known to Tom. I
suggested to him, “Look, let’s do this your way. You make all the adjustments and I’ll ride
the levels. Deal?” He seemed ok with that and I began counting
the minutes before Lita was to come on.
Before I knew it, Lita was being announced and I still didn’t
have a clue where everything was. This
is the kind of nightmare that keeps me up at nights. The set started with “Larger Than Life”
accompanied by a LOUD pyrotechnic explosion! It scared the living shit out of me. I had no warning.
Things were incredibly chaotic for the first song and I was
sweating bullets. I pleaded with Tom to
make a few changes to the snare drum EQ and various other instruments. I had trouble getting Lita’s vocals out front
for the 1st song. I found out
later that on a few songs she was apparently backing off from her
microphone. That explained why I had to
ride her vocal fader up and down like a rodeo bull.
Still, all in all the crowd seemed electric with energy at the
sight of seeing Lita for the first time in 15 years. So far no one had told me I was fucking up
the mix so I kept at it. The next song
was “Hungry”. Gradually I got a handle
on the mix and it was starting to sound pleasing and balanced. After “Hungry” she addressed the crowd and
that gave me just enough time to gather my senses. I made a few more requests to Tom and the
music started back up.
I had no idea that Lita plays as well as she does. I mean really well! A lot of the cool shit I thought her 2nd
guitarist, Tom Cavanagh, was playing was in fact played by Lita. The band’s harmonies and unison gang vocals
sounded spot on. I got the keys up for
all the intros. The crowd was
registering strong response now and that gave me a lot of confidence.
Lita’s show had a different aura about it than any of the other
Rocklahoma headliners I had seen up until then.
It wasn’t just me thinking that either.
There seemed to be a casual interest from the crowd for many of the
previous acts but for Lita everybody was on their feet and screaming after each
song.
Everyone that played after the storm played during a steady
rain. The crowd looked like a sea of
umbrellas and people using hefty trashcan liners for improvised rain
suits. At times it was pouring but
thankfully there was no wind!
By the time Lita strapped on her double-necked 12-string guitar
for the intro “Close My Eyes Forever”, she totally owned the crowd. When the quiet choruses for the song came up
the crowd was singing the lyrics so loud she just stepped back from the mike and
let them sing it a cappella. I was a
magical moment.
The set ended with “Kiss Me Deadly”. By then band was pedal to the metal. Throughout the set there had been some
pyrotechnics and special effects but at the end of this song they pulled out
all the stops. From the lighting trusses
a shower of sparks rained to the ground with overwhelming effect. Then the guitars came to the front of the
stage and held a massive power chord. I
said to myself, “Oh yeah? Suck on this
motherfuckers”, and slowly raised the faders to maximum level on the
board. They were now touching the
chassis above them. The screaming and
applause seemed to get louder.
When Lita signaled for the song’s end, there was a deafening
roar. She had done it!!! No one prior to this moment had owned the
Rocklahoma crowd like she did. And to
think it took a 50 year-old broad with 2 kids who hasn’t performed in 15 years
to do it.
Unbelievable.
I was relieved to the point of tears as I walked to the
production offices to check in with Danny Stanton. He seemed genuinely pleased at the way the
show had come off. I felt like the way a
female figure skater at the Olympics must feel after they pull off an unimaginably
difficult double triple axle as the camera closes in for a shot of her crying
in her coaches arms after all 5 judges give her a perfect 10.00.
All odds seemed stacked against me but somehow by divine
providence I stayed the course. The fact
that I was working for one of the nicest people I’ve ever met didn’t
hurt either. When I finally felt that
all my questions with respect to my mix of Lita had been answered, I walked out
into the crowd to watch the triumphant (?) return of Warrant.
All week the the production offices had been abuzz with
anticipation as to which Jani Lane (Warrant’s lead singer) would be in
attendance. The fallout from the Las
Vegas debacle a week earlier hadn’t entirely subsided and all eyes were peeled
for any sighting of the controversy’s antagonist. I decided to walk through the crowd to view
the show from various angles and see how Jani was holding up.
Understandably, it seemed his voice was somewhat ragged from a
lack of preparation. Some notes he went
for didn’t happen while others were simply off-key. Still, under the bright-white light of
scrutiny he did alright all things considered.
Simply put, he could’ve done worse, he could’ve done better. However, he had painted himself into a corner
as a result of his inexcusable behavior leading up to Rocklahoma and nothing
short of an Academy Award performance would put the controversy behind
him. By the time they launched in
“Cherry Pie”, it seemed for a brief moment as if all was forgotten. Once more he had dodged a bullet aimed right
square between his eyes.
I slogged my way through the mud and collapsed in my
trailer. Rocklahoma 2008 had 1 more day
to go and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. However, one thing was for sure. I wasn’t scheduled to mix anyone else and as
far as I was concerned I was going to catch a shuttle to the airport to see if
I could fly standby and get the 1st fucking flight out of here.
Somewhere around 2:00 p.m. I woke up in a fog and gradually
made my way to the crew dining hall.
Everything seemed peaceful enough as I walked through the production
complex. I didn’t want to talk to anyone until I had some food in me.
I grabbed my plate and sat down by a man and woman a couple of
seats away. As it turned out, that
couple was the “Event Weather” team of Michael and Becky Orange. They were part of the on-site weather apparatus
responsible for monitoring the conditions for all 5 days of Rocklahoma. After it sunk in who they were, I began to
talk about my experiences the day before.
I was as interested to hear their recollections as they were to hear
mine. After a spirited conversation, we
finished our meals and were preparing to go our separate ways. Just as I was pulling away from the table
Becky said, “Oh…David, check out this image I took off the screen during the
storm yesterday.” She showed me the
picture on her I-Phone and I couldn’t believe my eyes! “Is this what I think it is?” I said. She then countered, “David, I swear to God I
didn’t do anything to alter this in anyway.
This is exactly what I saw yesterday and Michael was sitting right next
to me.” He nodded his head in agreement
and I looked again. As clear as day, the
topographic image of the storm cells formed a multi-colored display that was
clearly in the unmistakable shape of the Holy Cross!!! I was in suspended disbelief. I looked at her again then looked back at the
screen. “Has anyone else seen this?” I
asked. “Hmmm…just a few of us in the
trailer.” she replied.
At that very instant, one of the owners of the festival walked
up and the same situation occurred with Becky asking him if he had seen
it. His response was the same as mine
but he got out his cell phone and loaded the image into it. Then a few more people walked up to speak
with him and before you knew it the buzz was well on it’s way.
I walked across the backstage lot towards my trailer to begin
collecting my belongings for taking the shuttle to Tulsa International. Then somebody yelled, “Hey! Prater!
You’re just the guy I’m looking for.”
It was Brad. Then he offers a
stunner…”Listen, the hippies (THC) are playing tonight at 10:45 on the new
South Stage and you’re going to mix them.”
Not comprehending what I’d just heard, I answered “WHAT!!!” He continued, “Yeah, after Warrant finished
we all got together and pulled equipment from everywhere we could. We got 3 stages ready to go. Bands are already playing on em’. Listen,
everybody that didn’t play on the side stages after the storm is gonna do their
set plus all the scheduled bands are still on as well” I looked at my
watch and it was past 3:00 in the afternoon.
“You‘re shitting me!?!” I asked.
Brad started laughing and said, “Swear to God Prater.” I said, “If I hadn’t seen you just now I
might have missed this whole deal. I was
about to fly stand-by back to Salado.”
I was ecstatic about the news because THC had to cut their set
on Wednesday, the festivals’ opening night, due to a miscalculation involving
the running time of their show. As a
result the high point of their set, the anthem “Pissed Odd and Mad About It”,
had to be left out. This never sat well
with any of us. Now we had a chance to
redeem ourselves and we were stoked.
In a sincere gesture of goodwill, the band had let the South
Stage use their equipment throughout the entire day as a way to help simplify
set changes for the 9 bands scheduled to perform. As a result everything went much smoother
than it would have and all the bands seemed really appreciative.
Except for one.
That would soon become a highly regrettable lapse in judgment
that very nearly resulted in grievous bodily injury for those responsible.
The Texas Hippie Coalition was to play directly after Tesla and
before Queensryche, the final act of Rocklahoma 2008. I spent the next several hours that day
strolling between the side stages, observing all the different bands and
reflecting on what a unique experience the whole week had been. I had a lot of mixed feelings. How could I not have? All in all, for me it had been a hugely positive event.
Tesla gave what to me was the most impressive performance of
all the main stage headliners. They
sounded as if they had played together as a band 6 days a week for the last 18
years. The singer was phenomenal and the
overall mix fantastic. Their harmonies
sounded like they had been structured so that everyone was comfortable singing
a part that was in their natural range.
The guitars were thick and luscious without sounding muddy. And, for a change, all the musicians seemed
to play with a sense of restraint that gave their music a very mature
feel. The stage was gradually being set
for what many were hoping would be the festivals climax. Queensryche was to close Rocklahoma 2008 with
a full production of Operation Mindcrime.
I conducted the soundcheck for THC and felt that given an
enthusiastic crowd, our set could be well indeed be a vulgar display of power.
Word had spread throughout the festival for the previous 5 days
that THC was a band that needed to be watched.
The crowd that was on hand as they began their set was bordering on
rabid. There were all sorts of
concertgoers in various stages of undress, some wearing next to nothing due to
the heat and humidity from the blazing sun that heated the grounds at 100
degrees Fahrenheit for what seemed like an eternity.
By the end of the 1st song, Cocked and Loaded, the
applause inside the South Stage tent was deafening. The Texas Hippie Coalition’s two guitar
assault package played as if it was 1 massive guitar that weighed 90 pounds and
took 2 people with 4 hands to play.
Using a foot pedal processing scheme similar to the one Jimi Hendrix performed
with ala Band of Gypsys circa 1970, each solo Randy Cooper played sounded like
his Marshall JCM900 had been wired by someone on magic mushrooms.
In a strange role reversal, after each song I mixed I literally
had to cover my ears immediately to avoid unbearable pain from people
whistling, clapping, screaming and shouting so close to the mixing
console. I have never had that happen in
all my years of being in and around music.
Usually, it’s the audience who covers their ears when a band plays. By the end of the last song it sounded like a
crowd at a Las Vegas UFC title fight that ended in a knockout.
Due to time constraints, it was impossible for any of the
artists at Rocklahoma to perform encores.
It actually turned out to be a much nicer way to enjoy a festival than
having to sit through some of the self-indulgent bullshit I’ve seen some bands
drag an audience through. Especially
when it’s a shit cover of “Your Mama Don’t Dance and Your Daddy Don’t Rock N’Roll”. Anybody listening?
So…now it was up to Queensryche to bring home the bacon and
from what I could gather they certainly must have. After a week of the
pressures and anxieties I had endured, I simply wasn’t up to the task of
sitting through their set with paper and pencil. However, from what I heard and viewed on the
2 massive jumbotrons flanking the stage, Geoff Tate sounded and looked as
impressive as you would come to expect from such a world class singer and
musician. The Operation Mindcrime film
archive running in tandem with the bands’ live performance gave the entire
production a sinister punctuation. At
the shows’ conclusion, a fireworks display mounted on top of the main stage
rooftop was a fitting end to an event that at times seemed more like a war than
a music festival.
It was now about 12:30 a.m. and there were still more than a
few concertgoers willing to party like it was 1999. On the South Stage, coming on directly after
Queensryche were the Bullet Boys.
I was somewhat familiar with them from their song “Smooth Up In
Ya” and thought they were far more compelling than many of their late
80’scounterparts. Ted Templeman of Van
Halen fame had done a marvelous job of producing them and in doing so created a
monstrous drum sound as impressive as any of the day.
Like all of those performing before them on the south stage,
the Bullet Boys were to use the equipment THC had provided. As the band prepared to take the stage, it
was then that one of the most pathetic displays of arrogance perpetrated by a
washed up wannabe 20 years past his prime was committed.
In an appalling act of stupidity, the bands’ lead vocalist/lead
guitarist, Marq Torien, took it upon himself to announce to anyone within
earshot of the stage that he was going to destroy the gear THC had provided
because he didn’t approve of it for reasons he never made entirely clear. Apparently, he was none too happy about his
band having to play a side stage when he thought the main stage was far more
suitable. To make matters even worse, he
did so in the presence of some of the THC band members and crew. After a brief attempt by cooler heads to
redress the misunderstanding, Torien refused to tone down his rhetoric and
actually began taunting the THC band members and crew. A heated exchange took place and it began to
look as if a physical confrontation was inevitable.
In a situation where an artist finds them self at risk of being
physically harmed, it is incumbent on their manager or legal representative to
mitigate the situation by identifying themselves as such and seek a passive
alternative. Under no uncertain terms is
it ever advisable for a manager to pass them self off as an expert on law as a
way of discouraging a violent confrontation.
Well…that’s exactly what happened with Toriens’ mindless pseudo
executive. To make matters worse, this
imbecile did so while begging for an audience with Brad White and Max Baker,
the two primary individuals responsible for the Bullet Boy even being allowed
to play Rocklahoma in the first place.
While this was unfolding, a crew member bravely took it upon
himself to run the quarter of a mile back to the trailer backstage and alert
the posse. When he word spread of the
insurrection at the South Stage, all hell broke loose. In what may qualify in the Guiness World Book
of Records as the most ridiculous use of a golf cart by a rock band, the entire
band and entourage of THC bravely attempted to negotiate the impenetrable mud
canals of Rocklahoma in hopes of thwarting an uprising by the Bullet Boys...or
rather I should say Bullet Boy.
By the time this pack of wild dogs finally reached the South
Stage the standoff was at fever pitch.
Not only had the full assemblage of THC appeared from out of nowhere,
stage hands from all over the festival grounds came to their aid in a show of strength. What started as a few of the Bullet Boys and
THC soon became a teeming mass of THC sympathizers numbering well in excess of
50-60 strong.
All of them there to quell the threat of extreme violence from
a 5’9”, 150 pound, 4th string “never-been” acting without any regard
for the well-being of his bandmates and crew.
As it turned out, the band members minus Torien were totally
embarrassed by his boneheaded antics.
They didn’t want any part of his agenda and made their feelings as such
known but by then it was way too late.
It’s too bad because they were really nice guys as it turns out.
The Rocklahoma security detail and the county sheriff’s
department were called in shortly thereafter and restored order before things
got out of hand. After the band finished
their set it was pointless to stick around so everyone packed onto the same
silly golf cart and drove back to the trailer as if nothing happened.
That’s when things got really stupid.
As it turned out, the Bullet Boy was never extended the courtesy
of his own trailer after the show because he didn’t play the main stage. The only reason THC were allowed to hang out
in one was because
§
They had been
there for 7 days
§
Are managed by
Brad White
§
Performed all
sorts of additional chores when asked to do so by the Rocklahoma staff.
§
They genuinely
tried to make themselves useful.
To everyone’s dismay, 20 minutes after the Bullet Boy left the
stage, he shows up in the trailer next to us acting like he owned the
place. However, after 5-10 minutes, the
festival security guards showed up and forcibly evicted the band from the
festival grounds. A taxi had been called
to transport them to wherever they were staying but there wasn’t room for them
and their instruments.
In a final insult to this, they’ll be playing an additional festival in Houston called “Rock the Bayou” later in August. THC is also scheduled to appear.