Like a lot of, then, teenage girls around the globe, I grew up with this TV-show, that I thought was written just for me: One Tree Hill (OTH). Persuading myself that I had a little bit of the three main girl characters in me - Haley, Brooke and Peyton - and not being able to decide which one was predominant, I was yet a-hundred percent sure of one thing: I was definitely in love with the playlist in the show. Gavin DeGraw, Fall Out Boy, Bethany Joy Lenz, Sheryl Crow, etc…and Wakey!Wakey!
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| www.wakeywakeymusic.com |
In the show, the lead singer Mike Grubbs plays a shy, introverted barman, who eventually falls in love for his producer and becomes successful for his music. He has yet one demand as an artist: to play his first show in London. Although it was not the first show of the band, last night Wakey!Wakey! played at Scala, London - and Grubbs is far from being the same shy and introverted barman/singer I expected him to be on stage. Thank God!
Funny, talented, talkative - Grubbs’s show at Scala was halfway between a comic show and a outstanding performance. Between interrupting his performance by talking to the audience and having a drinking game with his supporting act (see below), Grubbs gave his audience the experience of « a different idea for this tour ». This idea? Giving the songs the emphases they deserve. Playing them in the purest way they can possibly be performed and… explaining the lyrics.
That how the audience learnt about the lead singer’s love life, that he met King’s of Leon in a VIP bar in NYC - even though he was not supposed to be there - that he sometimes prefers not to go out in Brooklyn in order to write a song called ‘Brooklyn’ and that when he talks about dancing, he doesn’t really mean dancing. Oh! and that when he goes to LA and see OTH’s cast, they seem to believe he has the word ‘alcoholic’ written on his forehead - which lead to too many shots, a huge hangover after two hours of sleep, but yet again, the creation of an amazing song. So it seems that friends, (ex)lovers, alcohol, and puppies are the keys to successful songwriting.
To support the band, Wakey!Wakey! had one of their friends from NYC: Casey Shea.
Being alone on a stage, in front of people mainly there for the main act only, Shea had not only to prepare the audience for Grubbs’s band, but also to be interesting, different and unforgettable. And believe me he did manage to do so.
Playing around with the audience at first, almost renouncing to play in order to talk to them, Shea impressed more that one person in the room with his guitar talent and his voice. Facing some technical problems (guitar out of tune), he amused his audience with jokes and anecdotes about his past.
Asking them to scream some question mid-show, he was dared to bring all of his audience (about 300 people) to a pizzeria. Debating on rather or not to do so, he ended up announcing that after the next song he will go out of Scala to sing… and did it. Followed by almost a hundred people, Shea, playing his guitar, sang the wonderful and famous The Beatles’s song ‘Let It Be’. Unfortunately, he was stopped by the security guards at the entrance and could not finish his show in the London streets as he wished to.
He came back on stage a bit later to sing a couple of song with Grubbs and announced they were going to finish a bottle of Jack Daniels on stage. Turned out it was the smallest bottle of Jack Daniels you can find, and finishing it meant a shot each. Thank God for saving us from a great awkward moment!
After the show, Grubbs and the rest of the band, and Casey Shea waited for an hour, making sure that everyone willing to have a picture, a signature - and a chat and a drink with Shea - were able to have one.
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| With Casey Shea |
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| With Mike Grubbs |
I was at first doubtful about the show (mainly because I went on my own) but I do not regret a second of it. Please, find below Casey Shea's and Wakey!Wakey!’s twitter accounts; follow them and listen to their songs. You will not regret it.
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• Wakey!Wakey!
Website: wakeywakeymusic.com
Twitter: WakeyWakey
• Casey Shea
Website: caseysheamusic.com
Twitter: CaseyShea
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You can follow me on Twitter: @ EmilieHrrmnn - and on Instagram: @ frenchiefringeblog
