Quitters Never Win
On March 15, Devin Tait & The Traitors performed for the second year in a row at Mile 5 of the LA Marathon, in front of Echo Park Lake. It was definitely different this time around, now that we knew what we were doing, or so we thought.
I woke up right when my alarm went off at 3:00 a.m. and hopped in the shower. Jarod arrived shortly after I finished getting ready and we packed up the Kia and headed down Santa Monica Blvd. to the 101, exiting at Glendale Blvd. (wow, I really sound like "The Californians" from SLN now). Brandon arrived right after we did, and we began dropping off and setting up equipment, with Myles getting there really early too.
We had everything set up and ready to run well before 5:45. It was actually strange how dead it was when we arrived, and then there would be a person, a police car, a couple more people, until we finally saw the recumbent bikes coming and then a trickle of elite runners followed by a nearly two-hour onslaught of runners of every color, shape, size, etc., and many with amazing outfits or accessories!
We wanted to keep the set upbeat and fun for the runners and with good tempos to keep them energized. As we had already been sort of working up an all-80's set, we decided to work up a couple new ones to add them. One was "Material Girl" which Liana sang, and it was her personal choice of a cover. The second one, Myles' choice, was "Just Can't Get Enough" which was super fun!
I also really want to finish our first full-length album as a band soon so I figured, what better motivation to get the songs worked up then to add some of them to the set! So we debuted "Mindframe," which is the Traitor's take on a Ska song; "Someone" which apparently was influenced by Tegan & Sara's last album "Heartthrob" (although I didn't consciously realize it until Brandon pointed it out), which we had performed once as a trio without the rhythm section at Headphone. And the other new song was "Quitters Never Win," which I thought was really appropriate for the race. It was actually inspired by my friend Robin who is a personal trainer and boot camp instructor. I had done his boot camp several times and I wish I could afford to have him as my personal trainer all the time because he's such a positive force and a brilliant motivator. Working out with him in the mornings made me feel like I could accomplish anything, and I wanted other people to feel that way.
Unfortunately, we had a bit of technical difficulties early on in the set. Having already dropped my phone, shattering the screen, a few song after Marc, Dylan and Angela had arrived, our left speaker went out. The marathon doesn't provide us with any equipment so Brandon brought his own speaker and amp/mixer and I brought my pieces of the PA system, but the speakers are really new and great quality from a well-respected brand so it was very frustrating, especially for Brandon. Myles jammed for a bit while we (mainly Brandon) tried to figure out what happened and whether it could be fixed but ultimately we decided to proceed with just the right speaker. It really did end up being OK. We aren't some loud metal band, we want to play at an appropriate volume, and having only one speaker didn't prevent us from sounding pretty good in my opinion! But I knew Brandon wouldn't be able to enjoy it as much and I felt bad for him.
It seemed to go by so much faster this year. Maybe I was also concentrating more on the songs, if that's possible, because so many were new this time and I didn't feel like I had rehearsed as much as I would have wanted to. Although I must thank Jarod for coming over and rehearsing with me several times just so we could really run through everything together since he's out of his comfort zone on the keyboards and I'm convincing him that he really can play them. The rehearsals in the apartment are really needed so that I'm not wasting the rest of the band's time in the rehearsal studio.
Liana did a great job pumping up the crowd and singing her heart out while playing tambourine. She actually suffered quite an injured leg from hitting it too much with the tambourine! Musicians bleed!
I know Myles and Brandon rehearsed a lot on their own too. Everyone really did a great job and I was proud of The Traitors and myself. And, of course the runners. I can't even imagine. I've just barely worked up to almost being able to do a 10k.
I also need to thank Chris and Tony at Siren Studios, and Marc and Viktor at InkTee. Siren donated our generator rental this year, which was a godsend since last year I had to drive over an hour there and back twice to pick up and return a generator I paid over $100 to rent. Marc and Viktor made our fun "Devin Tait & The Traitor's (hearts) the LA Marathon" t-shirts.
We had just enough time to play the whole set list twice before almost all of the runners had past us. Here was the set:
1. Alien Nation
2. Quickie
3. To Be Young & On Downers
4. Sunglasses at Night / Sweet Dreams
5. Mindframe (brand new song)
6. Someone (first time performed as a 5-piece, previously debuted at Headphone by Devin, Jarod and Liana)
7. I Ran (Flock of Seagulls cover)
8. Now I Know What I Want
9. Until the Break of Dawn
10. Quitters Never Win (brand new song)
11. Material Girl (Madonna cover)
12. "Just Can't Get Enough" (Depeche Mode cover)
See how dark it still was when we arrived?
I woke up right when my alarm went off at 3:00 a.m. and hopped in the shower. Jarod arrived shortly after I finished getting ready and we packed up the Kia and headed down Santa Monica Blvd. to the 101, exiting at Glendale Blvd. (wow, I really sound like "The Californians" from SLN now). Brandon arrived right after we did, and we began dropping off and setting up equipment, with Myles getting there really early too.
Myles getting ready to rock!
We had everything set up and ready to run well before 5:45. It was actually strange how dead it was when we arrived, and then there would be a person, a police car, a couple more people, until we finally saw the recumbent bikes coming and then a trickle of elite runners followed by a nearly two-hour onslaught of runners of every color, shape, size, etc., and many with amazing outfits or accessories!
Jarod snaps a selfie during the marathon.
We wanted to keep the set upbeat and fun for the runners and with good tempos to keep them energized. As we had already been sort of working up an all-80's set, we decided to work up a couple new ones to add them. One was "Material Girl" which Liana sang, and it was her personal choice of a cover. The second one, Myles' choice, was "Just Can't Get Enough" which was super fun!
The whole band in action.
I also really want to finish our first full-length album as a band soon so I figured, what better motivation to get the songs worked up then to add some of them to the set! So we debuted "Mindframe," which is the Traitor's take on a Ska song; "Someone" which apparently was influenced by Tegan & Sara's last album "Heartthrob" (although I didn't consciously realize it until Brandon pointed it out), which we had performed once as a trio without the rhythm section at Headphone. And the other new song was "Quitters Never Win," which I thought was really appropriate for the race. It was actually inspired by my friend Robin who is a personal trainer and boot camp instructor. I had done his boot camp several times and I wish I could afford to have him as my personal trainer all the time because he's such a positive force and a brilliant motivator. Working out with him in the mornings made me feel like I could accomplish anything, and I wanted other people to feel that way.
A behind-the-scenes shot.
Unfortunately, we had a bit of technical difficulties early on in the set. Having already dropped my phone, shattering the screen, a few song after Marc, Dylan and Angela had arrived, our left speaker went out. The marathon doesn't provide us with any equipment so Brandon brought his own speaker and amp/mixer and I brought my pieces of the PA system, but the speakers are really new and great quality from a well-respected brand so it was very frustrating, especially for Brandon. Myles jammed for a bit while we (mainly Brandon) tried to figure out what happened and whether it could be fixed but ultimately we decided to proceed with just the right speaker. It really did end up being OK. We aren't some loud metal band, we want to play at an appropriate volume, and having only one speaker didn't prevent us from sounding pretty good in my opinion! But I knew Brandon wouldn't be able to enjoy it as much and I felt bad for him.
It seemed to go by so much faster this year. Maybe I was also concentrating more on the songs, if that's possible, because so many were new this time and I didn't feel like I had rehearsed as much as I would have wanted to. Although I must thank Jarod for coming over and rehearsing with me several times just so we could really run through everything together since he's out of his comfort zone on the keyboards and I'm convincing him that he really can play them. The rehearsals in the apartment are really needed so that I'm not wasting the rest of the band's time in the rehearsal studio.
Liana did a great job pumping up the crowd and singing her heart out while playing tambourine. She actually suffered quite an injured leg from hitting it too much with the tambourine! Musicians bleed!
Liana's tambourine-induced injuries.
I also need to thank Chris and Tony at Siren Studios, and Marc and Viktor at InkTee. Siren donated our generator rental this year, which was a godsend since last year I had to drive over an hour there and back twice to pick up and return a generator I paid over $100 to rent. Marc and Viktor made our fun "Devin Tait & The Traitor's (hearts) the LA Marathon" t-shirts.
Our annual 'picture after the marathon'.
We had just enough time to play the whole set list twice before almost all of the runners had past us. Here was the set:
1. Alien Nation
2. Quickie
3. To Be Young & On Downers
4. Sunglasses at Night / Sweet Dreams
5. Mindframe (brand new song)
6. Someone (first time performed as a 5-piece, previously debuted at Headphone by Devin, Jarod and Liana)
7. I Ran (Flock of Seagulls cover)
8. Now I Know What I Want
9. Until the Break of Dawn
10. Quitters Never Win (brand new song)
11. Material Girl (Madonna cover)
12. "Just Can't Get Enough" (Depeche Mode cover)
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