Follow Up with My Friend Court

By Jay Warnick

Last time we heard about Court and the band he is a part of; “Battle Cry,” was playing at the Thursday night edition of Guitars Unplugged. Thursday and Friday are technically auditions for the chance to play the final, Best of Guitars Unplugged show on Saturday night.

I went to the show Saturday not knowing if they had made it or not. To my delight, about half way through the next band was announced: “Battle Cry!”

Court went to Provo, UT that weekend to practice with another group he is involved in: “J.Wride.” He heard early that Saturday morning that they were playing the show that night and that he needed to be back in Rexburg for a meeting at 1:30pm. He left Provo around 8am in order to make it in time for the meeting. Right after the meeting, at 2pm, the group had sound checks which lasted for about an hour. They had to be back at 6pm to prepare for the show.

The Thursday night show crowd numbered about 500 people. The crowd on Saturday was in 4,000 people range. This was the largest group Court, and probably most others, had ever played in front of. Court was nervous, but relaxed as their song went on. At one point during their performance Court simply raised his fist into the air and the crowd exploded into cheering and screaming. Empowered by this, my friend felt at home on stage.

“With all the smoke and lights, you couldn’t really see the crowd,” said Court. This fact helped his nervous feelings fade.

So, what’s next for this newly formed group? “Battle Cry” will continue to play together and work on new songs, and probably record a few in the coming months.

Court is active in his other band in Provo and is soon performing a show at a venue of about 2,000 people. Guitars Unplugged helped him prepare mentally for this event. He was mostly nervous about his stage presence, about how he looked when he played. Now that he’s had some practice he’ll do better, he won’t be as worried and maybe look a little less rigid next time.