Text © by Al Walker Original article appeared in the owen sounder. Click photos to enlarge. Advertising for the production started after Christmas and by the time of the show in mid-January you knew that Big Faith was coming to the Roxy! Big Faith was a relatively new Canadian band with ties to established successful bands like Tom Cochran, Chalk Circle and Bruce Cockburn! The newspaper was pasted with ads proclaiming the coming, and for a good cause, to support literacy. Sponsors fell over themselves to be allowed to help pay for the multi-media advertising! Tickets were given away, the road was paved with faith. The local FM station parodied Monty Hall with CD giveaways, "choose between curtain #1 or #2 and win either a Big Faith or Larry Jensen CD". The radio teased us with sound bites of Big Faith, the announcer would add "to be joined by the Larry Jensen band at the renovated Roxy January 14 1995". All of us in the warm-up band were anxious to play the Roxy with full PA and lights and to possibly meet and/or jam with Big Faith. We worked on the material for three weeks. As a musical unit, we came together quickly. As it turned out on the day of the show we hardly seen Big Faith. They had their schedule and we had ours. The twain barely met. As the warm-up band we loaded our equipment on stage after Big Faith had finished their sound check. We experimented briefly with our sound, ran through 2 songs, and before we knew it we were minutes away from the 3:30 matinee. In some situations the sound crew, with orders from the main act or management, would purposely nuke the warm up band and make them sound terrible. They would do this by, 1) turning the main vocals down during the performance 2) turn on only part of the PA system 3) give the warm-up act no monitors 4) refuse to let them change in the only available change rooms 4) glue the guitars to their stands Big Faith of course did none of the above. The technical people at the Roxy did a wonderful job, and the acoustics in the old theatre are great. Lighting was excellent, it made the Jensen band look and sound big time. However outside the shelter of the Roxy, warm-up acts go through their set like sacrificial lambs, checking the sound system for the main act. Like foot soldiers in battle, the warm-up band softens up the crowd. It's a battle within the entertainment battle. Like any rite of passage it must be observed, but like a pinch hitter looking for a fat pitch, the warm up band is always poised to hit it out of the park. Big Faith will be in that battle soon. They may even warm up some of the bands they previously played for! That will be tough, but Big Faith will be poised to crack a homer. It's all part of nature and the music business. The evening show was electric. The limo was late. The promoter flustered. The crowd kept waiting, ten, twenty thirty minutes. Then we got the call. We wound down the back stairs of the theatre. The stage was pitch black. A beam of light struck Dave Middleton the MC. He pitched the band. We held the stage captive and the crowd was on our side. We had warmed them up. In comparing the two bands. Big Faith is on their way to challenging the music wall of noise. Long touring in eastern Canada, western Canada, northern Canada and abroad. Long nights away from family and friends. Management, agencies, record companies good press, bad press, hoping for a break. The Jensen band will in one form or another continue playing the local watering holes, Summerfolk, living rooms, garages and bistro's. They are firmly settled in a wonderful community, with day jobs, family, friends commitments, hoping for a break. The Jensen band was, Larry Jensen, Debra Donovan, Rod Ramsey, Allan Walker, Mike Malone and Shawn Keating. From a series of articles written by guitarist Al Walker, for the owen sounder. HOME
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