Played a Yamaha Multipad 12 while riding a pedal wagon

Lee-Bro

Senior Member
So my band played in the Blink Cincinnati Parade on Thursday evening. (event link: https://blink2019.com) We partnered with the Cincinnati Rollergirls to do a joint float entry which would have included a truck pulling a trailer, modified for the band. But organizers told us that motorized vehicles weren't allowed. The pedal wagon company had an entry so we reached out to them and they donated a wagon. We decorated it w/ our dance lights and some inexpensive LED tape and I strapped on four Behringer powered 12" mains/monitors. The guitar, bass, and keys all went to a mini mixer via DI and we used a Mi-T-M 3KW generator to power everything w/o any issues. It had a decibel rating of the mid 50s and we couldn't hear it once the parade started.

We're normally an 8 piece band but were 7 piece this night. Vocalists, bass, and sax were all wireless. We were going to mount a fog machine to the front of the wagon but scrapped that due to space and configuration issues. I used a Yamaha KP65 w/ the DTX M12 and it worked flawlessly (other than my playing issues). It was the first time I've ever used it in a live setting or as a drumset. My Yamaha HH controller pedal isn't working so I didn't take that. Nonetheless, for what we were doing and the songs we played, I was very pleased. Because of the space limitations of the pedal wagon, the guys teased me afterward that I looked like a T-Rex playing drums. As a side note, I played traditional grip nearly the whole time due to the angle of attack and reduced reach. First time doing that at a gig too. And yes, I ran sound on the fly while playing.

Below is a photo of the wagon and a short video clip one of the pedal wagon "cyclists" shot while we were doing a sound check and getting into position. The parade was very short in comparison to other through-the-city type parades and we ended up playing about 10 or so songs (12 max) not including sound check. Right up until the parade started I thought perhaps this was going to be a bad idea. It was an amazing event and I hope to do it again, one of the most unique experiences I've ever had playing.

Video link of soundcheck: The Everyday People Band soundcheck at BLINK Parade


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