SHOWDOWN!
Brendan Geyer

There I was, sitting behind my drum kit on a hot afternoon, hitting the skins with precision and passion - rehearsing for our bands first show. New Era was ready, we were practicing our audition song "Word Up" and by the time we finished the first hour of practice, we started the second hour - there is no substitute for hard work.

The moment our band, New Era, entered the St. Mary's Battle of the Bands competition we knew we would have to work hard from the very beginning if we wanted a chance to perform alongside some of the greatest school bands in the country. Donovan, my twin brother and lead guitarist, informed us that we will be auditioning in only 3 days time - we could not contain our excitement. We departed Southdowns immediately after the last school bell rang. We managed to fit 20 people into a 15 sweater mini van - yes that's right, South Africans in transit. The trip was surprisingly quiet, the only noise in the bus was the sound of my drum sticks rebounding off the seat In front of me and the humming of some of the band members, humming the audition song to themselves over and over again to ensure perfection.

When we had finally arrived the band was full of energy, we could not contain our excitement! We stepped onto the stage, performed our hearts out and received a standing ovation from the audience - not bad if you ask me. The results of the qualifying bands would only be posted online in three days time, we were sure we had already qualified but as Mr. Sheldon would always say, "Stay humble guys - don't grow wings!". A few days passed, nothing. We were starting to get nervous, "Surely they would of posted them by now?" I thought to myself. I could not concentrate in class - my mind was set on leading my band to the top, to greatness, to victory! Then as soon as our hopes were depleted, the word came, "We made it through to the finals!" screamed our ecstatic bassist, Una. The room lit up and we celebrated together - we were in, but with this victory awaited new obstacles to climb.

We started rehearsing our new song, "Welcome to Paradise" , it was one of the songs that inspired this band to come together and create music. It had passion and victory written all over it. Blood, sweat and tears. Never has this 3 word motivator been more appropriate. My hands were covered with blisters, the guitarists fingers were bleeding and some of the vocalists were giving in to the stress of learning so many lyrics in such little time. As much as we were physically and mentally exhausted, we never lost sight of where we were going. We managed to pull it all together and perfect the song.

Showtime! We arrived at the venue and were shown to our band waiting room. We sat down and took a moment to clear our thoughts and spend time in prayer, thanking The Lord for blessing us with such an amazing opportunity to do what we love. We were no longer worried about the outcome - our new goal was to have as much fun as possible and perform to our greatest ability. Then we were called, we could hear the crowds applause and as soon as I stepped onto the stage my musical alter ego took control. After an amazing performance we placed 4th out of the 10 bands, but in our hearts we knew we had achieved greatness.