Emily Hill is lead guitarist in the band Stand Up. She is completing her final year at Wilbur Middle School in Wichita. Stand Up is working on its first EP. Here, Hill recalls the band’s first public gig.
“We played formal at our school. That was a big deal for us. That was the first gig that we ever played. We were just used to playing in our garage for my mom. We got to play in front of all of our grade.
We were all really nervous in the weeks before, when we had practices and were getting ready. But right before we played it was totally fine. None of us were nervous. We were just all super sweaty because it was super-hot in there.
The DJ that was hired announced us and none of us were onstage. We literally ran to the stage when he announced us. We were like, ‘OK. We weren’t ready for that.’ But the show was fine. It was cool. We had a kid crowd surfing.
We didn’t get paid. We actually had to buy dance tickets too. I think the administrator regretted not paying us after, though. He thought it was really cool.”
