We waited in the wings to go on stage at around 9pm on the Saturday at Whitby Gothic Weekend. People were still arriving and the venue looked very empty.
By the time we were less than 2 minutes into our first track that had all changed, the venue was as busy as it had been for the headline act the previous evening.
We started with a trip hop track called "Alice", eager not to be pigeon-holed or dismissed as just another rock band. It's very important to us to put out all our influences and to show that we have more to offer than a few loud guitars.
Then of course "Alice" ends to applause to be followed by "New Nightmare", a big, heavy, stomping rock/metal track to leave the crown in no doubts as to the fact that we mean business. The contrast with "Alice" works well and as more people pour into the venue the crowd show their appreciation.
A few tracks later and it's time for a new song, the only one in our set not to be featured on our album. "Choke" is fast paced, energetic and instantly catches the crowd's hearts and the whole room starts to jump around.
There is a massive cheer as the song closes and it becomes clear it'll take something special to follow such a popular track, tho we ha no idea what would come next.
The audience started calling out for "The Butterfly", which happened to be our next track, and it's always great to feel that kind of appreciation. Then halfway through "The Butterfly" we look up and notice an army of balloon-animal butterflies bouncing around above the crowd. This is a huge surprise to us and an adorable one at that! With the crowd batting these flighted creatures back and forth and singing along to the trip-hop stylings laid before them it's clear that this is going to be a gig that will be long remembered.
"Teddy" is up next, bringing a bit of Marilyn Manson-esque bouncy-rock to the proceedings and again getting the crowd dancing along, scooby doo noises and spooky toybox lyrics aplenty.
The rock continues through the rest of our set culminating in the legendary waltz-metal track "Ballerina" which so many were calling for throught the set.
After our set we made our way to our merchandise stall where a large crowd had gathered all patiently waiting to get hold of a pre-release copy of our album. They were being sold so thick and fast that we had to give up on trying to even note down each sale in our ledger... We chatted to fans, signed copies of the album, posed for photos almost constantly for the next 3 hours before finally managing to grab a breather and relax.
The gig was fantastic, the fans were amazing, especially the guy that made the balloon butterflies as a surprise for us. That will certainly go down as one of the best nights any of us have had in this band, and we'll remember it for a long time to come.
Thanks to everyone who came and made it so special for us, we love you all.
RBK
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Whitby Setlist:
Alice
New Nightmare
Pretty Dead Doll
Choke
The Butterfly
Teddy
Deadly Yours
Lure Of The Temptress
Ballerina