Transcript of what went on in my brain for the 31 minutes Null Device was on stage last Saturday night

Okay, lots of people, good crowd.
Hey, what’s with the 8-foot DMZ, folks? We’re the locals! C’mon up!
Ratio of people I don’t know to people I know strongly favors the former. I still like that for some reason.
Wha? Backing tracks? That’s weird, I thought Matt was doing intros. I’ll say something witty about it…
“I guess Matt decided we don’t deserve an intro.”
Ah. Yes. Brilliant. Lets leave the banter to the frontman for the rest of this set, eh?
Entry coming up…
[hits first chord]
Holy fuck, I sound like God. What did Adam do to the monitors between soundcheck and now? this kicks ass!
Whoops, where did beat one go?
Damn, where am I?
That’s okay, the keyboards are swoopy and arpeggiated, no one’ll know the difference. Hell, I don’t know the difference. Take a guess…
…ooh, ouch, full beat early. Let it slide under you…there. Ride it out.



disconnected tonight, little stiff, lower the left shoulder, relax

c’mon, let’s breathe here, dude
feeling stiff, don’t go for the scalar bit in the second solo, back off and pull the sleight of hand
that’s good, add the 16th note triplets in these two bars
dammit, missed high C, bend it
arm over, it looks cool
…okay, not too bad, intro hurt, let’s wind up.
whew fuck I need water, chug it
hmmm…there is a significantly larger quantity of people by Chuck and Eric than me. Somehow I feel I’d best not devote too much mental energy to that thought.
…y’gotta love a song with a good wakkachikkawakka in it.


Solo, just pound this
grunt
fuck, it feels like my left leg’s gonna buckle, notch the wah and switch legs, grab a note and shake it to cover…
thank god. damn that hurts, too fat

ow fucking legs fucking wah ow ow ow

easy part, rockstar face! grimace!
“C’mon Madison!! Put your hands together!!”
Oh nice. That’s not cliche as all — holy shit! People are clapping!
Vocals are nice and warm tonight, too. Man these monitors sound good. Adam is god.

Whoop! Song’s done, carry over one bar, quick fade, no one’s the wiser. Where was my cue?




bounce bounce bounce bounce, split, don’t stop the rock, bobby brown move!

keep it in dorian, no tritone, it’s darker.
aaaaannd polish it in phrygian, love that flat second


whew, need more water chug it
big one, bounce bounce bounce
someone’s giggling, can’t blame them bet I look funny
go for the palm muted sixteenths on the back of this intro
bleah, that was a mistake, keep it huge, keep it huge
lower the shoulder, breathe
arm-over mute, keep the hammer-ons loose
man, I know I can cram more notes in here, gotta work on that
32nds, nice and rubbery, emphasize the flat sixth
stiffening up, breathe, fucker
okay, sustained, feels fucking good. give ’em an iron maiden up on the monitor
work the tongue!
well, that sure as hell got a laugh. glad to hear some folks got a good sense of humor out there


whoa. boobies.

right hand’s feeling good, let’s tremolo pick this bit, double it at the end
yeah, fuck yeah. smooth

no time for water, here it comes
punk as fuck leap! dig the 6-inch vert
well, that didn’t go over. felt good to me, though; fuck ’em.


keep this tapping bit smooth, intonation’s been bad on high E lately


someone’s yelling at me, who’s yelling at me? sidestage, probably a photographer needs me out of the way of Eric, I’ll back up
water, sweet sweet water
last one, the big cover

heh. everyone clapped louder for the backing tracks than me and chuck. that’s friggin’ hilarious
Hm. better announce Eric so he can get his due
“And Eric Oehler on vocals and everything else!”
Ah, good, they went nuts. Super cool
Hey! I hit the intro dead on! Keep it smooth, sit back, gotta put this one in the hips.
shit. clean tone spikes like 10dB as usual. back off the right hand


oh ouch, I’m a half-step flat on backups. listen more than you sing, jackass, c’mon, think!

okay, same solo order as beginning


now reverse the solos
bend it right on…
falsetto, keep it tight, keep it tight
E major
large exhalation
god yes. is this what I love? fuck yeah! this is it! this is what I love!