Without you. Four eyes from the absence (Mara Torres)

You may remember a few months ago I put up a video in which I auditioned for a new TV show that will air on Sky Arts called Guitar Star. Those who follow me on Facebook will know that I got through the video audition round and was invited to London on May 4th to perform in front of an audience including three judges and presenter Edith Bowman.

I arrived in Watford, after around a four and a half hour drive, on Sunday night around midnight with guitar, fiancée and mother in tow. We had about five hours sleep in a travel lodge before waking at around half six and trying to find our way into London, and then around London on the tube (which is a real ball-ache by the way!) to finally arrive at the Southbank Centre for just after nine AM. There I was greeted by the Sky Arts team and the other contestants.

It was a long morning of shooting interviews, promotional footage, meeting the other contestants etc. Everyone involved was awesome, a real mix of ages and musical styles. The afternoon was the audition process. I was last (of course, its a bit of a running joke, Im ALWAYS last with things like this) so I had the privilege of watching all of the other interviews alongside an audience of around two hundred people of all ages, races and ethnicities in front of an awesome stage rig set up by some guys from Orange amps earlier in the day.

I watched some real talent in front of me from perfect classical players, to groovy jazz players, both modern and old school blues, some ‘slappy-tappy’ acoustic players (who blew me away!) and the raw, rock-infused natural talent of several young players aged around twelve. I had to sit through around fifteen other auditions, the nerves building as I saw the phenomenal players in front of me, I had a lot to live up to!

Finally my time came and I was called to the side of the stage. I had a quick chat with presenter Edith Bowman (who is really nice by the way, very comforting and put me straight at ease) before going on stage to sound-check and set up. All I had with me was the Ibanez as I did not want to lug a load of gear around London. On the stage was an Orange amp Rockerverb Twin I believe, the whole day is a bit of a blur of nerves and excitement so specifics are hard to remember. This is an amp I have NO experience with but I know the basic sound. The tech from Orange was on stage and asked me what I wanted. ‘Fairly high gain mate, crank the mids and a little bit of reverb, just for comfort.’ The amp sounded great, really thick and chewy, would love to have a bit of time to play with one.

And that was it, the cameras rolled and Edith came on stage to do a very quick interview. She left the stage and all eyes were on me. I’m not normally one who gets nervous but standing there in front of the judges, in unfamiliar surroundings after seeing more than a dozen awesome payers please the crowd before me was really something. I played a couple of licks to calm the nerves and then I was ready.

The piece I played was the first three mins or so of Dream Theater’s ‘The Looking Glass’ (with added sweep picking, tapping and hot licks of course!) and the crowd seemed to love it along with the judges. I made a couple of mistakes but I suppose it is to be expected. I put my all into the performance and the crowd were cheering and I heard really good things from the crowd and judges afterwards.

And that was it. The six hour journey home begins again.

I was honoured and privileged to play on that stage alongside some seriously talented guys and girls and if this is where the story ends for me I will hold my head up high having made it this far however, I am far from ready for this to end and I will find out Thursday if I have made the cut, wish me luck brothers!

– Adam.