"Take Five" Q&A with Christian Sands!

We asked Christian your top five questions.  Here are his answers...

Q1: What's the best music gear or app purchase you've made recently?

The best music gear I’ve gotten will have to be my piano pickups. I never leave home without my Yamahiko pickups, whether inside at a club or concert hall, to outside at a festival, they always help project the piano’s best sound! 

Q2: What's your funniest or worst gig story? 

One of the funniest gig experiences i’ve had happened when i was in high school. I was a sophomore but was performing with a college university band. We had a gala performance away from the school so we had to take transportation. Luckily, the school had offered to take us so they rented a bus. Upon arrival to the pickup spot, I noticed that this was no ordinary bus, not even one of those busses that the church rents to go on their casino trip, types of buses, no no, this was some type of 1970’s party bus. It had blue, yellow and red decals with the name the Butterfly Express Machine written in script., disco ball inside, stripper poles, the works. So the door of the bus swings open, and this heavy set guy walks down the steps wearing a white three piece suit and a blue open shirt (the collar was HUGE) and a really really dry afro. He says to us, “You ready to take this party to the next level?” which is when we replied, “I think you may have the wrong pickup, we’re here waiting on a bus to pick us up for the XYXsu gig.” He then replies, “Yeah, that’s me!” Anyway, this is a long story and i still haven’t gotten to the gig section so i’ll have to finish the details in a memoir one of these days. 

So we get to the gala, warm up, begin, etc. As we’re in the middle of our fourth song, a man walks on the stage, drink in hand, and says to the band leader drunkenly, “I want to sing a blues!” The band leader was pretty young and a nice kid so he reluctantly agreed and we changed our song into a blues. The drunk man starts singing hard into the mic, distorting every word, hiccups in the middle of each phrase and at first everything is “relatively” smooth, until the next chorus. He then gets real, (we’ll say), passionate and starts singing about his wife, and calling her all types of names. She appears in front of the stage and tells him to get down and they start arguing. “I can’t believe you would leave me for Bob, he doesn’t even have teeth,” etc etc… it was absolutely crazy. So the two eventually get escorted out and we finish the show. As we walked out of the event, we took the elevator and the doors open up to the couple “heavily petting” in the corner of the elevator. Because we were carrying instruments and equipment (me with a keyboard and amp), we reluctantly had to take the elevator with them. After they finish their “session” which also felt like the LONGEST elevator ride ever, the drunk man says to us, “You guys were so awesome, i would love to have you play at my wedding,” His wife says, “Don’t mind him we’re already married,” which he then replies, “Not after tonight!” 

Q3: What's one concert you've attended that has had a lasting impact on your life?

One of the most memorable concerts I went to was when I was in college, studying with Jason Moran. He took a few of his students to see Keith Jarrett solo at Carnegie Hall. Absolutely mind blowing, thank you Jason. 

Q4: What's a specific skill/exercise/technique that has taken your playing to the next level?

Practicing with a metronome. Timing is everything. 

Q5: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self entering the music scene?

I would say to my younger self and to younger musicians, keep working hard and push forward, everything will pay off with all the work that you do, so keep grinding.