Avola
SPB: What stood out to you the most the first time you performed as a solo musician?
Avola: My first solo performance was in 2009. It was a Sunday afternoon. I remember a lot of anxiety. I no longer had a band of hairy folks and too many amps to distract people with. Just me hunching over my table of gear. I knew if I botched something I had better be quick to recover because I had no one to blame. I remember reminding myself how cathartic playing live had been in the past despite minor stage fright and how at the end of the set I would likely have shed some layer of pent up bad stuff through high volume noise.
At the end I pulled it off, and the support was amazing. All these years later, I still have the same worries and anxieties I did that first time, but ultimately getting loud and weird with friends and strangers around, is fun and exciting. I look forward to many more years.