w e s e t s a i l

Tonight, I was pottering around the jam room when I saw a confused looking dude peering through the glass door at the front of the shed. Thinking it was one of the neighbours coming to complain again, I hesitantly sent the roller door up to see what he wanted.

The guy appears to be a 30 something year old with the appearance, build, complexion and clothing of a surfer, but he looks quite well dressed even in a truckers cap. I say hey and he asks me if I know who practices here. I tell him there are a couple of bands that rehearse here but that I know them. 

He goes on to tell me that on a Monday night two weeks ago, he was up in Brisbane on a trip from Byron to attend a course after work in town. Later that night he was walking to Guzman Y Gomez when he stumbled upon our rehearsal space and overheard us practicing.

At first I wasn’t sure which band it was that he overheard but after some loose description on his part and a process of deduction I realise it was We Set Sail that he overheard.

He goes on to tell me how absolutely stoked he was about what he heard. He says he was too timid at the time to knock on the door and see who it was, but that after realising he couldn’t get, in he spent about half an hour doing laps of the building to find the best vantage point to listen from, after which time he sat and drank two beers on the footpath outside the shed while listening to us practice.

“I thought, how the fuck am I going to figure out who this band is”, he says, laughing. “So I was in Brisbane again tonight and thought i’d come past again on the off chance you might be practicing.”

We kept talking for what seemed like about 20 minutes. He told me that we sounded like Midget and a bunch of his other favourite bands from the 90’s. He told me about his old band, Earthworm, and a heap of other rad Australian bands like Front End Loader, Frenzal Rhomb, Blueline Medic and the Nation Blue that they used to play with.

Before leaving he exclaimed how happy he was that he was able to find out who we were. I was bummed that I had nothing I could give him to listen to, but promised him that our new album would be out soon.

His appreciation was genuine and heartfelt and I could do nothing but feel humbled, I didn’t really know how to show the gratitude I felt but I really stoked I was able to help him out.

It certainly was a refreshing change from having the police show up or have some prick park his Porsche across our driveway. And it was definitely one of those “I’m glad i’m doing this” moments, even if we are a bunch of cynical bastards the rest of the time.

All I could keep thinking was about how awesome it was that we were jamming in this derelict building, which isn’t soundproofed in the slightest (especially if you don’t count all the soiled mattresses) and that because of that, people were hearing our music.

I hope I meet him again in the future so I have another chance to say thanks and maybe have a beer.

-Ben.