january 16, 2025
after the october show, asher had texted me revealing that they'd be back in albany to kick off their tour with renesans. as a fan, i was just delighted to be privy to this early announcement - firstly, they're on tour, secondly, day one is my city, thirdly, i'm allowed to know this early?! i felt insane! as a person with a decent position of power in my radio station, i was excited for the potential this had for collaboration. after months of discussion, the band decided that they would come to my city a day early the weekend following my birthday to play a late-night set over the air. i was ecstatic.
the day of the actual set was immensely busy. a good number of my friends were coming back to town and wanted to see me, it was the first hardcore gig of the year, and right as plans started going into action, it started to snow outside! i was a nervous wreck for most of the day, but i still had a lovely time going out with my buddies. the show was the first show for new local band take steps - they absolutely killed it on stage. i didn't get to stay much later than their set due to the weather getting scary and not wanting to be late to the station, but the videos i saw of the rest of the gig looked like a lovely time.
when i got to the station, it was just me and the production director untangling wires. after 10 or so minutes, the chief engineer arrived with coffee and the parts for his camera setup. after another 15-ish minutes, i got a phone call from asher - i looked out the third-floor window of the on-air studio and could see the band's car parked right in front of the building. i scrambled downstairs, propping open any doors i had to go through on my way, and met with the band outside. i chatted with joel about his cat (as he'd sent me a picture of her when wishing me a happy birthday) while helping bring equipment into the building. once none of the stuff was out in the cold, asher and jake split off to park the cars while the rest of us brought the gear upstairs. we exchanged travel stories up until we entered the station, during when i let the band focus on what they needed to do. some of my other friends came into the station while the band set up, and it was very much appreciated to have a separate outlet to freak out rather than bottling up all of my fangirling in front of the boys. after setup, soundcheck, and such were done, it was time to go on the air.
their sample machine didn't want to connect to our production system, so we opted to straight up play their intro sample before they would start. our first go on the air, our production director accidentally let the sample autoplay into cerebellum, and being in the room for that was terrifying and hilarious. i scrapped the blooper from the broadcast and after everyone had stopped laughing, we took it from the top - from then onwards, the set was beautiful. i watched them perform from behind jake, in the on-air room. i highly implore that you watch their set yourself! after their performance, i brought the boys into the on-air room for a 10-minute interview. this portion isn't available online, but i am hoping to get my mp3 copy up somewhere eventually for the sake of archive.
once the work was done, i got to show them more properly around the station! asher and my friend who did the videography chatted cameras while production showed off their mix of the set, and i got to show off some of our physical media collection. once everyone's equipment was back in bags, some of the band sifted through the free cd bin by our front door. before we fully parted ways, my friend used a camera asher had thrifted on the way to albany to get a picture of me and the band :)
after the band was on their way to bed, my friends who came to the station to see them play decided to go out to denny's (the only restaurant still open in the area after 2 am)! i'm not super fond of denny's, to be honest - the only time i haven't gotten a stomachache from their food was when i smuggled in ihop syrup to use on their pancakes to try minimizing the amount of grease on my plate. their milkshakes, however, are lovely. my friend who filmed the session stayed in the station a bit later than the rest of us to make sure that the production crew was comfortably packed up. he arrived around when my other friends got their food .. followed by a police car. apparently, they decided that his car sliding on the snowy roads counted as him running a red light, and running a red light warranted a full search of his car. though he wasn't able to order until most of the table had finished their plates, we waited until he was finished to head home.
january 17, 2025
i slept in pretty late the following morning, as i hadn't stayed up that late in a long while. i was woken by an alert from my phone - joel accidentally had left his microphone in the station, so asher was texting me asking if it'd be possible for me to pick it up. i immediately sprung out of bed, but he clarified that they'd be fine waiting until the doors opened to everyone to get the mic. once i'd settled myself down from anxious-wired to a normal amount of awake, i got back to my regular morning routine. after i showered, dressed, ate my breakfast, one of my hometown friends had made it up to my city to visit. i hadn't seen him since door daze, and i missed him a ton. it was lovely being able to show him around my place, and the microphone was honestly a perfect accident since i got to show him around the radio station afterwards. once we'd had our playtime and i retrieved joel's mic, we headed out to the venue.
i don't think there was a second after i entered the doors that i wasn't talking to someone (besides during a set, of course). asher had apparently told everyone in the venue during setup about the in studio, and i will admit, it was the most ego-inflating experience of my life so far to have so many people chatting business with me.