OK OK, one last gig for January... no, actually it's because I've got the Fakes practice on Wednesday when Sam's doing the open night in Coven, and I'm going down to Amy's this weekend so I won't be doing much then either; that just leaves Thursday if the Garibaldi's still got it's open night. Plus, I needed some recovery after that last one at the Woodman...
I didn't get off to a flying start as I once again tried Dear Mr Manager and forgot the words. You'd think I'd have learned them by now and to be fair each time I play it it does get better. I think I got away with it tonight because I forgot the words at the last 'coda' section at the end and the vast majority of people in the room that night didn't actually know it was supposed to go on for another two lines when LC started clapping. That was actually a rescue call as I hadn't got a clue what the words were after that, cheers LC!
I then tried The Most Beautiful Woman I Know, the first time I played it at Katies funnily enough. And to be fair.it worked quite well! I played the song without making any significant mistakes (I strummed the first verse when it was supposed to be picked but hey, how would anyone else know I got it wrong?) and it went down OK, not brilliantly but then againg I suppose it's got the combination of being an unfamiliar song and about as MOR as I get with my songwriting. I still think it's a good one, though it will need more time in my set to become familiar enough to have an effect on a full gig.
A valid point that needed to be made - I have been going in and out of Katies for pretty much a year now and in that time I don't think I've ever heard any Irish songs there, bearing in mind it's supposed to be an Irish pub. I decided to change all that with a rare run through The Foggy Dew. Now I know the version I play isn't 'correct' in the sense that I don't use exactly the right chords, but it works for me. With that song though, what I'm doing on guitar is nothing special at all, so it has to be about the delivery and I think in that sense I came through quite well. Hell, I've been listening to that song since I was 10 years old; I know how it's supposed to sound! And get this - it was that song that I was asked about by the people who spoke to me afterwards; that song that appeared to be generating the interest...
Not a usual gig by any stretch of the imagination. I left out my best and more popular songs in favour of some brand new ones that I can barely play, and a cover that I almost never play. But that was never really the point of tonight. I wanted some more live experience for my new songs, and I wanted to have a go with something a little different, to stop myself from going through the motions. In this, at least, I have achieved what I set out to do, so this might set a precedent for how I conduct myself at future gigs. It's an interesting balance; my songs are more likely to go down well if I stick to the familiar and good songs, but I'm certain that I'll put on a far more convincing performance if I do the set I want to do.
Besides, if I stick to what works, where are the new songs going to come from? Even Bitterness was a new song at some point back in April...
Monday 31 January 2011
Saturday 29 January 2011
New Song: One More Show
My my, I'm certainly getting creative this week!
This one came to me as I was taking the dog for a walk, funnily enough, and thinking about where I stand in terms of music, and my ambitions for the future. I've said it before but not for nothing, if you asked me honestly, music is still all I really want to do with my life, and the day that I give up on it entirely will be a very sad day for me indeed. But I've been doing this for 8-10 years now, depending on where you count it from, either way it's a long time to keep telling yourself that it's all going to work out if you just keep trying. Now that I've been doing it for a long time I can look at it all from a reflective point of view, in the past it's always been about the music and I've had a great many ups and downs along the way. But things have changed; I have a girlfriend now, I need my jobs to make money, and I'm looking to move out quite soon, and these things are as important to me as anything else. And while I still love music, I've been wondering for some time now whether things are, or have been, as good for me as they're ever going to get. I remember one of the last times Jack's Legacy played together as a full band at the Lamp Tavern, and even though it was all falling apart by then I still think that's probably the best show I ever did. I'm proud of what the band achieved in the short time we were an awesome live act, but the thought that I was barely 21 when I reached the peak of my musical career is sobering. To be fair, Crashpoint came close with that gig at Loose Lucee's, but fell apart shortly afterwards; you can see the pattern emerging, can't you? These days, I'm doing a lot of acoustic shows, not because I'd rather be doing that than rocking out with a band, but because I find it so difficult to hold it together.
So I need to take stock, really, of what I have, try to remember why I go around different places playing shows, putting bands together, pursuing a dream that in a very pragmatic world I should have woken up from a long time ago. So this song is really about that.
Inspiration has to come from somewhere, and musically, this one came from Boyzone. Yes, Boyzone. Somehow, me and Sam managed to get talking about them when I was at his open night last Thursday, and as a kind of joke I thought I'd learn No Matter What for next time I play there. Now, don't expect to hear me play this any time soon; I probably will at some point but if I'm going to play a song as a joke then I NEED to do it well. But when I listened to the tune to get the chords, I noticed 2 things - one, there's a lot of 7th chords in there which will open up a lot of doors in my guitar playing if I use one or two of them, and two, there's a cheesey key change in there which I HAD to include in my new song.
I'm actually really pleased with how this one came out, and I will be putting it in my live show in the future, though I'm not quite sure where. I would like to put it near the end but it needs to be the right atmosphere for that. I'd get away with it at The Woodman, I'm sure, but not necessarily at the Varsity.
So if you're reading this and wondering whether all this means I've actually given up, well, who knows how long all this is going to last for me? For now, I'll say this: When I've written my last song, played my last show, and put my guitar down for the very last time, then I will have given up. Until then, I'm going to keep trying.
This one came to me as I was taking the dog for a walk, funnily enough, and thinking about where I stand in terms of music, and my ambitions for the future. I've said it before but not for nothing, if you asked me honestly, music is still all I really want to do with my life, and the day that I give up on it entirely will be a very sad day for me indeed. But I've been doing this for 8-10 years now, depending on where you count it from, either way it's a long time to keep telling yourself that it's all going to work out if you just keep trying. Now that I've been doing it for a long time I can look at it all from a reflective point of view, in the past it's always been about the music and I've had a great many ups and downs along the way. But things have changed; I have a girlfriend now, I need my jobs to make money, and I'm looking to move out quite soon, and these things are as important to me as anything else. And while I still love music, I've been wondering for some time now whether things are, or have been, as good for me as they're ever going to get. I remember one of the last times Jack's Legacy played together as a full band at the Lamp Tavern, and even though it was all falling apart by then I still think that's probably the best show I ever did. I'm proud of what the band achieved in the short time we were an awesome live act, but the thought that I was barely 21 when I reached the peak of my musical career is sobering. To be fair, Crashpoint came close with that gig at Loose Lucee's, but fell apart shortly afterwards; you can see the pattern emerging, can't you? These days, I'm doing a lot of acoustic shows, not because I'd rather be doing that than rocking out with a band, but because I find it so difficult to hold it together.
So I need to take stock, really, of what I have, try to remember why I go around different places playing shows, putting bands together, pursuing a dream that in a very pragmatic world I should have woken up from a long time ago. So this song is really about that.
Inspiration has to come from somewhere, and musically, this one came from Boyzone. Yes, Boyzone. Somehow, me and Sam managed to get talking about them when I was at his open night last Thursday, and as a kind of joke I thought I'd learn No Matter What for next time I play there. Now, don't expect to hear me play this any time soon; I probably will at some point but if I'm going to play a song as a joke then I NEED to do it well. But when I listened to the tune to get the chords, I noticed 2 things - one, there's a lot of 7th chords in there which will open up a lot of doors in my guitar playing if I use one or two of them, and two, there's a cheesey key change in there which I HAD to include in my new song.
I'm actually really pleased with how this one came out, and I will be putting it in my live show in the future, though I'm not quite sure where. I would like to put it near the end but it needs to be the right atmosphere for that. I'd get away with it at The Woodman, I'm sure, but not necessarily at the Varsity.
So if you're reading this and wondering whether all this means I've actually given up, well, who knows how long all this is going to last for me? For now, I'll say this: When I've written my last song, played my last show, and put my guitar down for the very last time, then I will have given up. Until then, I'm going to keep trying.
Thursday 27 January 2011
Open Mic Night, The Woodman, 27/1/11
It struck me just how many pubs there are called The Woodman... I guess it's like the Red Lion, every town has at least one. So for the benefit of those of you who don't know where I mean, I mean the one in Bilbrook, Codsall, that my friend Sam Draisey hosts. Overall, I wasn't too pleased with myself tonight...
I kicked off with Girl's Names. Not quite sure why I did this except that I wanted to do something different from Get Out Of My Head or Bitterness, which can be quite predictable as my set openers. This was pretty much the only song tonight that I played perfectly, which for how many times I've not played it perfectly is very much a good thing. But somehow I managed to feel... comfortable. No, that's not a good thing at all, there's no danger there, there's no risk that it could all go wrong, I know people like that song and that it's a good one to open with, and it lent itself to a situation that I never really wanted to be in where I'm going through the motions. Not sure what I can do about that...
Next I announced that I had some new songs to show them, and played Dear Mr Manager once again. Despite the fact that I'd been going over the lyrics in my head pretty much all day I STILL managed to forget the second verse halfway through, and stopped in the middle of the song while I worked it out. The rest of it I guess I played OK. Actually somebody came up to me in the toilet after and said that they really liked that song, remembering what it was called and everything, which was nice. Thinking about it, after I'd finished the first verse - which describes somebody making a complaint about a salesman - I mentioned that I used to work in retail, which may have struck a chord with some of the guys in the room, most of whom will have worked in a shop at sometimes. Or maybe it's because I fingerpick the chords rather than strum them; that works well as well. But I need to be able to get through that one without stopping, I can't keep messing it up.
I then joked that as most people who'd seen me before would know, I'm not reknowned for writing happy songs, so after writing this one [The Most Beautiful Woman I Know] I wondered what on earth was the matter with me. This was the first time I've ever played that song live and I actually think it went OK; I'm not sure how it went down because the thing about the Woodman is that there's about 10 feet between the stage and the door to the toilets, so the audience tends to be to your left and right but not straight ahead; a crowd reaction is difficult to guauge in such circumstances! Messed up on one tiny picking bit I've got in there, which may seem superficial but I do need to get that right.
Because it tends to go down well wherever I play it, I finished up with Bitterness, which was actually quite tricky because for some reason today I couldn't get those fast strumming sections right. I also forgot the words in a stupid place... However I did hear the unmistakable sounds of Kayla and her friends making percussive sounds with various different things when I was banging on the guitar, which makes me think that yes, people know this song and are really starting to like it! One day I'm going to bang on the guitar so hard I put my hand through it, but until then...
So what was the problem tonight? For whatever reason, I wasn't concentrating very hard, so when I lost it it was hard to get it back on track. I don't know why this was, right now I'm wondering if it relates to opening with a less interesting song... but whatever the reason, it needs to be fixed, because I've spent quite a bit of time this week berating some of my students for losing concentration in the middle of songs and now I'm going around doing it at gigs, for crying out loud.
I've noticed something that I noticed with Crashpoint with regard to who enjoys what song... when I think about it, songs like Bitterness and We Will Survive tend to be enjoyed more by the younger members of the audience; you need a bit of imagination to call them 'fast rock songs' but they're certainly more agressive and it's the younger guys, say below 30, who come up to me after a gig and tell me that that's the song they enjoyed the most out of my set. Whereas songs like Get Out Of My Head and more recently Dear Mr Manager tend to be enjoyed more by the older guys in the audience. It was a similar story with my former band so there must be a reason for it...
We all like to be entertained but I think with the younger guys they like to be excited as well, they like the angst and agression and the feeling that I'm putting some real power and passion in to my songs. Maybe because they've seen it all already, the older guys tend to look for the more subtle songs, the ones that use something more complex than simple strumming, the ones that take a more 'story-telling' approach to the lyrics.
Obviously when I do gigs there's usually several of both so it's unlikely that I'll construct a set based around one or the other. But if it ever does come up, it's there if I need it.
Not sure when the next one's going to be. Probably my last one for this month. I'll keep you posted.
I kicked off with Girl's Names. Not quite sure why I did this except that I wanted to do something different from Get Out Of My Head or Bitterness, which can be quite predictable as my set openers. This was pretty much the only song tonight that I played perfectly, which for how many times I've not played it perfectly is very much a good thing. But somehow I managed to feel... comfortable. No, that's not a good thing at all, there's no danger there, there's no risk that it could all go wrong, I know people like that song and that it's a good one to open with, and it lent itself to a situation that I never really wanted to be in where I'm going through the motions. Not sure what I can do about that...
Next I announced that I had some new songs to show them, and played Dear Mr Manager once again. Despite the fact that I'd been going over the lyrics in my head pretty much all day I STILL managed to forget the second verse halfway through, and stopped in the middle of the song while I worked it out. The rest of it I guess I played OK. Actually somebody came up to me in the toilet after and said that they really liked that song, remembering what it was called and everything, which was nice. Thinking about it, after I'd finished the first verse - which describes somebody making a complaint about a salesman - I mentioned that I used to work in retail, which may have struck a chord with some of the guys in the room, most of whom will have worked in a shop at sometimes. Or maybe it's because I fingerpick the chords rather than strum them; that works well as well. But I need to be able to get through that one without stopping, I can't keep messing it up.
I then joked that as most people who'd seen me before would know, I'm not reknowned for writing happy songs, so after writing this one [The Most Beautiful Woman I Know] I wondered what on earth was the matter with me. This was the first time I've ever played that song live and I actually think it went OK; I'm not sure how it went down because the thing about the Woodman is that there's about 10 feet between the stage and the door to the toilets, so the audience tends to be to your left and right but not straight ahead; a crowd reaction is difficult to guauge in such circumstances! Messed up on one tiny picking bit I've got in there, which may seem superficial but I do need to get that right.
Because it tends to go down well wherever I play it, I finished up with Bitterness, which was actually quite tricky because for some reason today I couldn't get those fast strumming sections right. I also forgot the words in a stupid place... However I did hear the unmistakable sounds of Kayla and her friends making percussive sounds with various different things when I was banging on the guitar, which makes me think that yes, people know this song and are really starting to like it! One day I'm going to bang on the guitar so hard I put my hand through it, but until then...
So what was the problem tonight? For whatever reason, I wasn't concentrating very hard, so when I lost it it was hard to get it back on track. I don't know why this was, right now I'm wondering if it relates to opening with a less interesting song... but whatever the reason, it needs to be fixed, because I've spent quite a bit of time this week berating some of my students for losing concentration in the middle of songs and now I'm going around doing it at gigs, for crying out loud.
I've noticed something that I noticed with Crashpoint with regard to who enjoys what song... when I think about it, songs like Bitterness and We Will Survive tend to be enjoyed more by the younger members of the audience; you need a bit of imagination to call them 'fast rock songs' but they're certainly more agressive and it's the younger guys, say below 30, who come up to me after a gig and tell me that that's the song they enjoyed the most out of my set. Whereas songs like Get Out Of My Head and more recently Dear Mr Manager tend to be enjoyed more by the older guys in the audience. It was a similar story with my former band so there must be a reason for it...
We all like to be entertained but I think with the younger guys they like to be excited as well, they like the angst and agression and the feeling that I'm putting some real power and passion in to my songs. Maybe because they've seen it all already, the older guys tend to look for the more subtle songs, the ones that use something more complex than simple strumming, the ones that take a more 'story-telling' approach to the lyrics.
Obviously when I do gigs there's usually several of both so it's unlikely that I'll construct a set based around one or the other. But if it ever does come up, it's there if I need it.
Not sure when the next one's going to be. Probably my last one for this month. I'll keep you posted.
Wednesday 26 January 2011
New Song: Get Violent
I think this one's been a long time coming...
The inspiration for the lyrics to this one was from a text message a mutual friend sent to me earlier today. The content of said message is for me to know and my friend to disclose at his leisure. However, it got me thinking about what it must be like to always feel like you have to be fighting something, always feeling like you've got something to prove, always feeling like no matter how hard you fight, how hard you try, you'll never win. And how it feels to be constantly reminded of this. I played around with muted chords and a soaring chorus, and the rest of it just came together...
The result is the angriest song I've written in a long time, certainly since Bitterness, and it actually sounds like it would be better suited for a rock band than my acoustic sets. However I've managed a clever 'pre-chorus' section where I hit the top 2 strings and let them ring while palm-muting a chugging rhythm underneath, somehow I think that one's better left up to me.
So, when are we going to hear it? Funnily enough, I would imagine quite soon; it's been a long time since I've been this excited about any song, to be perfectly honest, and it's one of those ones that I can get so enthusiastic about that I will learn quite quickly and not worry about making mistakes. In terms of songwriting, this hasn't happened for a while, in fact quite a lot of what I've written since the summer never even made it as far as my guitar. I think with this one I'm on to a winner, even a possible set closer if I can swing it, but time will tell. For now, when it's ready, I'll put it on the mid-card and see how it goes down.
I should have gone to some sort of open night tonight but I got caught up writing this song, (yes, and playing Bejewelled Blitz, you try having just one go on it,) and it's probably not worth me going down now. I'll try again tomorrow; if the Garibaldi is open I might try there again as I haven't been there for a while.
See you soon!
The inspiration for the lyrics to this one was from a text message a mutual friend sent to me earlier today. The content of said message is for me to know and my friend to disclose at his leisure. However, it got me thinking about what it must be like to always feel like you have to be fighting something, always feeling like you've got something to prove, always feeling like no matter how hard you fight, how hard you try, you'll never win. And how it feels to be constantly reminded of this. I played around with muted chords and a soaring chorus, and the rest of it just came together...
The result is the angriest song I've written in a long time, certainly since Bitterness, and it actually sounds like it would be better suited for a rock band than my acoustic sets. However I've managed a clever 'pre-chorus' section where I hit the top 2 strings and let them ring while palm-muting a chugging rhythm underneath, somehow I think that one's better left up to me.
So, when are we going to hear it? Funnily enough, I would imagine quite soon; it's been a long time since I've been this excited about any song, to be perfectly honest, and it's one of those ones that I can get so enthusiastic about that I will learn quite quickly and not worry about making mistakes. In terms of songwriting, this hasn't happened for a while, in fact quite a lot of what I've written since the summer never even made it as far as my guitar. I think with this one I'm on to a winner, even a possible set closer if I can swing it, but time will tell. For now, when it's ready, I'll put it on the mid-card and see how it goes down.
I should have gone to some sort of open night tonight but I got caught up writing this song, (yes, and playing Bejewelled Blitz, you try having just one go on it,) and it's probably not worth me going down now. I'll try again tomorrow; if the Garibaldi is open I might try there again as I haven't been there for a while.
See you soon!
Wednesday 19 January 2011
Katy Fitzgeralds Acoustic Brew, 19/1/2011
First of all, whatever else I say in this blog, make sure we know this: It was a really good night. Nice atmosphere, just the right artists to make it work, a friendly crowd, couldn't ask for better.
OK well my first step tonight was to take a picture of the pub before I went in. Why? Well, as you might have gathered from the blog, I play Katies quite a bit and I thought it might be a good idea to have a picture of the place that I can attach to the invites I send out on Myspace and Facebook. Superficial, and I doubt it will make a significant amount of difference to the turnout, which tonight was quite good, but it might go some way to making it look a little more like I mean it. So that should be up for the next time I get a gig there...
I went into this gig quite relaxed, and because it seems to be working I started out by playing Bitterness. Most of the regulars/bar staff know this song now, and Jen was kind enough to tell me she knew the words to it as well. I find it a good one to get the adrenaline going, and this time was no exception; I certainly sounded like I meant it and that was reflected in the warm reception I got for playing it.
Second, I played Get Out Of My Head. Despite what I said in my previous blog, this one went down very well. It's more familiar in this setting than anywhere else, which was probably why, but somehow I felt my delivery of the song had improved as well. Can't fault this one.
Then, after announcing that this was the first time I'd played to a dog, (and that's not a euphamism for anything, there was literally a guy in the pub who had a dog,) I played Prisoner of my Mind, which I hadn't played for a while but somehow managed to play it note perfectly. Not sure how well it went down; it's not a happy song and unless you're in to your shoegazing indie circa mid/late 90's, the effect would probably be lost on you. However, I did notice a couple of people who hadn't seen me before clapping in the 'gaps' where I stop playing and then start again, which suggests to me that they're paying attention which is never a bad thing.
After the gig at the Wharf last week I found myself thinking that I really shouldn't be putting Believe and Girl's Names next to each other since they use the same chord progression in the chorus, so I decided at this point to play Believe. It was here that I noticed a certain divide in the audience; it was a comedown from my more energetic songs at the start of the set and those people who I'd ensared were watching, listening, and paying attention. Those who were only casually listening were drifting off at this point. I also marked the distinct improvement in my fingerpicking, and being able to switch from that to plectrum has as much to do with the fact that I teach guitar as anything else.
Next... oh dear, this wasn't one of my better moves. As you may know, I've had some new songs, which I've not played live yet because I haven't really had time to rehearse them. However, during a call of nature I found myself reciting the lyrics to a new song, Dear Mr Manager, which thinking about it I haven't blogged yet and I really should, and deciding that as I could remember them all I might just give it a go tonight. Unfortunately, being on stage high as a kite on adrenaline reduces my brain capacity by about 50%, so I forgot most of the second half of the song and made the words up. It didn't go very well. I had to stop completely at one point. I shouldn't really kick myself too hard about this because the rest of the gig went well, but I ought to know better than this. That being said, Dale seemed to like the guitar playing in it, which is quite different from my usual style so it would have been a refreshing change.
So as you can imagine, I had to make the next one count to recover from that. Fortunately that's not hard to do at Katies, I gave them Girl's Names and this one seems to go down very well these days. I must admit it's one of my more catchy choruses; Amy text me today telling me she'd had it going around in her head all afternoon which is one of the nicer things said about my songs! I also noticed people singing along to it as well, which to me proves the point that whatever I think of the song, people like it. A firm part of my set list, should I ever decide to write one!
I ended with We Will Survive, after announcing that it was inspired by Battle Royale. I don't get much of a reaction when I say that, so I'm not sure if anyone gets it, and in a future blog I might explain why as well. For now, it's enough to say that I played it very well last night and went off to pretty much the biggest cheer I've ever got at Katies. It looks like I'm starting to put my set in the right order!
It was a good night, but I couldn't have done it without help, well done to Chris Jones and Jen Robins for some very solid performances; Jen in particular had the whole pub hanging on her every word. And it was nice to catch up with who I hope is Spence from Satsumo, who I'd had the pleasure of jamming with a few years ago at The Broadway in the Jack's Legacy glory days. Funnily enough, he described my set as 'Irish music, without the accent,' and mentioned The Levellers, as well. I'd not thought about either of those things when I wrote any of those songs, and I've never even heard any music by The Levellers, but I guess growing up around, amongst other things, Irish music, that might come across in my songwriting. If it does, it's certainly an ingrained part!
Overall, very pleased with the way tonight went. It's not looking too bad for me at all!
OK well my first step tonight was to take a picture of the pub before I went in. Why? Well, as you might have gathered from the blog, I play Katies quite a bit and I thought it might be a good idea to have a picture of the place that I can attach to the invites I send out on Myspace and Facebook. Superficial, and I doubt it will make a significant amount of difference to the turnout, which tonight was quite good, but it might go some way to making it look a little more like I mean it. So that should be up for the next time I get a gig there...
I went into this gig quite relaxed, and because it seems to be working I started out by playing Bitterness. Most of the regulars/bar staff know this song now, and Jen was kind enough to tell me she knew the words to it as well. I find it a good one to get the adrenaline going, and this time was no exception; I certainly sounded like I meant it and that was reflected in the warm reception I got for playing it.
Second, I played Get Out Of My Head. Despite what I said in my previous blog, this one went down very well. It's more familiar in this setting than anywhere else, which was probably why, but somehow I felt my delivery of the song had improved as well. Can't fault this one.
Then, after announcing that this was the first time I'd played to a dog, (and that's not a euphamism for anything, there was literally a guy in the pub who had a dog,) I played Prisoner of my Mind, which I hadn't played for a while but somehow managed to play it note perfectly. Not sure how well it went down; it's not a happy song and unless you're in to your shoegazing indie circa mid/late 90's, the effect would probably be lost on you. However, I did notice a couple of people who hadn't seen me before clapping in the 'gaps' where I stop playing and then start again, which suggests to me that they're paying attention which is never a bad thing.
After the gig at the Wharf last week I found myself thinking that I really shouldn't be putting Believe and Girl's Names next to each other since they use the same chord progression in the chorus, so I decided at this point to play Believe. It was here that I noticed a certain divide in the audience; it was a comedown from my more energetic songs at the start of the set and those people who I'd ensared were watching, listening, and paying attention. Those who were only casually listening were drifting off at this point. I also marked the distinct improvement in my fingerpicking, and being able to switch from that to plectrum has as much to do with the fact that I teach guitar as anything else.
Next... oh dear, this wasn't one of my better moves. As you may know, I've had some new songs, which I've not played live yet because I haven't really had time to rehearse them. However, during a call of nature I found myself reciting the lyrics to a new song, Dear Mr Manager, which thinking about it I haven't blogged yet and I really should, and deciding that as I could remember them all I might just give it a go tonight. Unfortunately, being on stage high as a kite on adrenaline reduces my brain capacity by about 50%, so I forgot most of the second half of the song and made the words up. It didn't go very well. I had to stop completely at one point. I shouldn't really kick myself too hard about this because the rest of the gig went well, but I ought to know better than this. That being said, Dale seemed to like the guitar playing in it, which is quite different from my usual style so it would have been a refreshing change.
So as you can imagine, I had to make the next one count to recover from that. Fortunately that's not hard to do at Katies, I gave them Girl's Names and this one seems to go down very well these days. I must admit it's one of my more catchy choruses; Amy text me today telling me she'd had it going around in her head all afternoon which is one of the nicer things said about my songs! I also noticed people singing along to it as well, which to me proves the point that whatever I think of the song, people like it. A firm part of my set list, should I ever decide to write one!
I ended with We Will Survive, after announcing that it was inspired by Battle Royale. I don't get much of a reaction when I say that, so I'm not sure if anyone gets it, and in a future blog I might explain why as well. For now, it's enough to say that I played it very well last night and went off to pretty much the biggest cheer I've ever got at Katies. It looks like I'm starting to put my set in the right order!
It was a good night, but I couldn't have done it without help, well done to Chris Jones and Jen Robins for some very solid performances; Jen in particular had the whole pub hanging on her every word. And it was nice to catch up with who I hope is Spence from Satsumo, who I'd had the pleasure of jamming with a few years ago at The Broadway in the Jack's Legacy glory days. Funnily enough, he described my set as 'Irish music, without the accent,' and mentioned The Levellers, as well. I'd not thought about either of those things when I wrote any of those songs, and I've never even heard any music by The Levellers, but I guess growing up around, amongst other things, Irish music, that might come across in my songwriting. If it does, it's certainly an ingrained part!
Overall, very pleased with the way tonight went. It's not looking too bad for me at all!
Saturday 15 January 2011
Wharf 10 Cafe Bar 15/1/11
Interesting gig, this. I'll be honest, the Wharf is always a tough gig; I'm always at least 15 feet away from any of the 20 people at the most that are in the room at any one time, so my set loses some of it's intimacy and I don't often get the feeling that I create much of an atmosphere while I'm there. It's not that people don't enjoy it, and I'm sure they do, but in a setting like that it's a little difficult to see. I've played the Wharf once every month now since October, the people who were there were mainly there for the other acts on that night, and while I appreciate any gig, I didn't go in to this one feeling that the stakes were particularly high.
Which is probably for the best because I didn't have anything new for them either. I've got about 3 new sets of lyrics that need songs putting to them - one just needs a bit of rehearsal and it's there - and what with everything else that's been going on this week, I haven't had time to work them in to the set. That's an issue I need to address in the coming weeks because I'm still filling out my set with covers, and I really should be beyond that now.
I decided to get the adrenaline going straight away and open with Bitterness, and this at least was a good move because it seemed to go down very well. I played it almost note-perfect, which is good, starting how I mean to carry on, and I got probably one of the bigger cheers once I'd finished.
I went straight in to Get Out Of My Head after that, starting it off with an ill-advised slide up and down the A string. I need to practice that a bit more because I couldn't hit the right note, and I also messed up the second verse and ended up putting words in at the first. Whether or not anybody noticed I couldn't honestly say, because it's only Dave and the sound guy at the wharf who's heard me play that song more than a couple of times, but for some reason that didn't seem to go down as well as I'd expected. To be fair I normally open with it and get a polite but lukewarm applause, maybe I need to prepare myself for the fact that the audience may not enjoy it quite as much as I do.
After announcing once again that Feeder were my favourite band, I played High again. I dropped my plectrum half way through but hey, that's why God gave us fingernails. This actually seemed to go very well and would certainly have been a refreshing change from my introvert lyrics at that point, although as Feeder aren't necessarily all that popular a band, and that song isn't as widely known as some of the others, I shouldn't expect many people to know it.
I then had a go with Grey. I actually think it's the best I've ever played that live, bar one misplaced lyric in the second verse. That being said, I'm not sure what I think of this one yet, it seems to me to be a bit of a mid-card jobber at the moment. I'll have to play it live a few more times to see how it's really going down, on this occasion not very well because I'm pretty sure I heard a 'boo' after I'd finished...
Then I played Believe. This one's always a bit risky because it doesn't come across as particuarly energetic, and it is my quirky/energetic stuff that seems to go down well, but I think when I get to that last chorus it starts to soar. It's not a very happy song though, and to be honest I usually only play it because I don't want to play anything else. It seemed to go down OK... but after having the song going for 4 years now, I'd like to be able to speak more kindly of it than, 'Well I think it's a good song, but it's not usually a very good idea to play it.'
Approaching the end of the set I thought I'd pick the pace up a little bit with Girl's Names. Not sure if it's a particularly good idea to announce the song by saying that the title was inspired by Scrubs, I guess there's only a small number of people who get that. But somehow it sound less cheesey than saying that I wrote it about being stood up. I played it very well, and it seemed to go down OK. Even though I think it's a bit MOR, it's becoming one of my more popular ones so I'll probably keep playing it.
Finally I ended with We Will Survive. I took a risk with this one by singing the a'capello chorus without playing the eflat chord on my guitar to give me the note, and got away with this! I think, as it's probably one of my more energetic ones, coupled with the fact that I'd announced it as my last one, it went down very well and I got a big cheer at the end of it. Then again it might have been because I didn't make a mistake all the way through it! I'd like to think the latter.
Well Terasunda, who were the band on after me and incidentally blew the roof off the place, seemed to like what I had going on, so did the guy who played before me who's name escapes me. Dave is also honest about how he thinks I got on and said I did well tonight so all in all, my first full gig of the year went OK. That's set the bar for the rest of them...
Which is probably for the best because I didn't have anything new for them either. I've got about 3 new sets of lyrics that need songs putting to them - one just needs a bit of rehearsal and it's there - and what with everything else that's been going on this week, I haven't had time to work them in to the set. That's an issue I need to address in the coming weeks because I'm still filling out my set with covers, and I really should be beyond that now.
I decided to get the adrenaline going straight away and open with Bitterness, and this at least was a good move because it seemed to go down very well. I played it almost note-perfect, which is good, starting how I mean to carry on, and I got probably one of the bigger cheers once I'd finished.
I went straight in to Get Out Of My Head after that, starting it off with an ill-advised slide up and down the A string. I need to practice that a bit more because I couldn't hit the right note, and I also messed up the second verse and ended up putting words in at the first. Whether or not anybody noticed I couldn't honestly say, because it's only Dave and the sound guy at the wharf who's heard me play that song more than a couple of times, but for some reason that didn't seem to go down as well as I'd expected. To be fair I normally open with it and get a polite but lukewarm applause, maybe I need to prepare myself for the fact that the audience may not enjoy it quite as much as I do.
After announcing once again that Feeder were my favourite band, I played High again. I dropped my plectrum half way through but hey, that's why God gave us fingernails. This actually seemed to go very well and would certainly have been a refreshing change from my introvert lyrics at that point, although as Feeder aren't necessarily all that popular a band, and that song isn't as widely known as some of the others, I shouldn't expect many people to know it.
I then had a go with Grey. I actually think it's the best I've ever played that live, bar one misplaced lyric in the second verse. That being said, I'm not sure what I think of this one yet, it seems to me to be a bit of a mid-card jobber at the moment. I'll have to play it live a few more times to see how it's really going down, on this occasion not very well because I'm pretty sure I heard a 'boo' after I'd finished...
Then I played Believe. This one's always a bit risky because it doesn't come across as particuarly energetic, and it is my quirky/energetic stuff that seems to go down well, but I think when I get to that last chorus it starts to soar. It's not a very happy song though, and to be honest I usually only play it because I don't want to play anything else. It seemed to go down OK... but after having the song going for 4 years now, I'd like to be able to speak more kindly of it than, 'Well I think it's a good song, but it's not usually a very good idea to play it.'
Approaching the end of the set I thought I'd pick the pace up a little bit with Girl's Names. Not sure if it's a particularly good idea to announce the song by saying that the title was inspired by Scrubs, I guess there's only a small number of people who get that. But somehow it sound less cheesey than saying that I wrote it about being stood up. I played it very well, and it seemed to go down OK. Even though I think it's a bit MOR, it's becoming one of my more popular ones so I'll probably keep playing it.
Finally I ended with We Will Survive. I took a risk with this one by singing the a'capello chorus without playing the eflat chord on my guitar to give me the note, and got away with this! I think, as it's probably one of my more energetic ones, coupled with the fact that I'd announced it as my last one, it went down very well and I got a big cheer at the end of it. Then again it might have been because I didn't make a mistake all the way through it! I'd like to think the latter.
Well Terasunda, who were the band on after me and incidentally blew the roof off the place, seemed to like what I had going on, so did the guy who played before me who's name escapes me. Dave is also honest about how he thinks I got on and said I did well tonight so all in all, my first full gig of the year went OK. That's set the bar for the rest of them...
Wednesday 12 January 2011
Open Mic Night, The Harrow 12/1/11
As well as making it my new year's resolution to play one gig a week, I would also like to hit one new venue a month. Thinking about it, for all the gigs I did in 2010, there were actually only 3 occasions where I went and played somewhere that I'd never been before. Need to broaden the horizons, and I'd never played The Harrow before, so...
Musically, the songs weren't anything new. The difference between this and the many many times I've done open nights before was the song order. I opened this time with Bitterness, the song I would normally close with. Reason? Well, I was consicious of the fact that there were a significant number of people, including Sam Draisey who runs the night, who have seen me before and heard me close the set with this song several times already. It's the song that seems to go down best when I play live so I wanted to play it at some point, and as I always finish it wanting to play some more, the start seemed to be as good a place to put it as any. Apart from the usual trouble with the mic stand it seemed to go very well!
Next was my other big gun, Get Out Of My Head, and it was around about this time that I started looking around and seeing the bar staff watch me with some interest. Funnily enough I change the lyrics to the chorus almost every time I play it; in the second line I either sing "I can't get depressed" or "I can't get obsessed." I don't know why. Both lyrics seem to fit. The original lyric - the version I have written down - is "obsessed," but it basically depends on how the lyrics flow on the night I'm playing it live. It's also a substantial change of pace from Bitterness, which I've been careful about in the past because it's a good idea to keep the energy going for your first three songs. Not so much in an acoustic setting though, and it didn't seem to make a difference tonight.
Then we came to the part of the show where 2 things happen: 1 I use the "Hi I'm Matt, this is my guitar" spiel, and 2 I played a cover. With the first one, I distinctly heard someone laugh this time, and in genuine amusement, so it's not just another bad joke. With the second, I played High by Feeder. As Feeder are my favourite band of all time it's rare to find a place I've played that I haven't done a Feeder cover at some point. Usually people choose that part of the show to stop listening but for some reason it seemed to go down really well tonight so I'll have to think about that - win their attention with a couple of killer songs THEN play a cover...
After plugging my gig at the Wharf Bar on Saturday I finished up with We Will Survive, which as probably my most energetic song is always worth playing. Need to work out how I'm going to play in the second verse; fair enough it's supposed to be quieter but I was almost muting it tonight. And to this day I think "Hurricanes and alvalanches, Fodder for the human monsters" is a bit of a clumsy lyric, although as it's been nearly 3 years since I wrote that song, I doubt it will change. It rarely goes down badly, but I also rarely play it exactly the same way twice.
Also Dan who's a regular there was saying he's doing an open night on Sundays at the Goalpost in Wolverhampton, so it might be worth going down there one of the nights. Probably not this week though, as tonight and the Wharf Bar will more than fill my requirements for one gig a week.
I've got a good feeling about how it went tonight, I really have. I'll definitely be back there but I really need to get some new songs into my set. Can't keep playing the same show over and over again
Musically, the songs weren't anything new. The difference between this and the many many times I've done open nights before was the song order. I opened this time with Bitterness, the song I would normally close with. Reason? Well, I was consicious of the fact that there were a significant number of people, including Sam Draisey who runs the night, who have seen me before and heard me close the set with this song several times already. It's the song that seems to go down best when I play live so I wanted to play it at some point, and as I always finish it wanting to play some more, the start seemed to be as good a place to put it as any. Apart from the usual trouble with the mic stand it seemed to go very well!
Next was my other big gun, Get Out Of My Head, and it was around about this time that I started looking around and seeing the bar staff watch me with some interest. Funnily enough I change the lyrics to the chorus almost every time I play it; in the second line I either sing "I can't get depressed" or "I can't get obsessed." I don't know why. Both lyrics seem to fit. The original lyric - the version I have written down - is "obsessed," but it basically depends on how the lyrics flow on the night I'm playing it live. It's also a substantial change of pace from Bitterness, which I've been careful about in the past because it's a good idea to keep the energy going for your first three songs. Not so much in an acoustic setting though, and it didn't seem to make a difference tonight.
Then we came to the part of the show where 2 things happen: 1 I use the "Hi I'm Matt, this is my guitar" spiel, and 2 I played a cover. With the first one, I distinctly heard someone laugh this time, and in genuine amusement, so it's not just another bad joke. With the second, I played High by Feeder. As Feeder are my favourite band of all time it's rare to find a place I've played that I haven't done a Feeder cover at some point. Usually people choose that part of the show to stop listening but for some reason it seemed to go down really well tonight so I'll have to think about that - win their attention with a couple of killer songs THEN play a cover...
After plugging my gig at the Wharf Bar on Saturday I finished up with We Will Survive, which as probably my most energetic song is always worth playing. Need to work out how I'm going to play in the second verse; fair enough it's supposed to be quieter but I was almost muting it tonight. And to this day I think "Hurricanes and alvalanches, Fodder for the human monsters" is a bit of a clumsy lyric, although as it's been nearly 3 years since I wrote that song, I doubt it will change. It rarely goes down badly, but I also rarely play it exactly the same way twice.
Also Dan who's a regular there was saying he's doing an open night on Sundays at the Goalpost in Wolverhampton, so it might be worth going down there one of the nights. Probably not this week though, as tonight and the Wharf Bar will more than fill my requirements for one gig a week.
I've got a good feeling about how it went tonight, I really have. I'll definitely be back there but I really need to get some new songs into my set. Can't keep playing the same show over and over again
Wednesday 5 January 2011
Katies Jam Sessions, 5/1/2011
Hi there.
Jam nights that bands can turn up to and play seem to be a bit thin on the ground these days; there's acoustic open nights in a great many places but there doesn't seem to be many people who are all that willing to put on bands in an enviroment like this, certainly not since the Broadway called it a day back in 07, I think it was. So fair play to LC for putting this on. It's a bit quiet at the moment, but well worth the effort I made to go down, I think. It's always worthwhile playing with some different musicians.
For my part, I went up on the stage with Dante on the drums and started playing some old Crashpoint songs with him jamming the drums to them. This might seem like a strange thing to do given that I have no intention of taking Crashpoint any further at this point, but there was a reason for it: I wanted to play some original material, and the songs I've written since the band ended have been primarily for my acoustic gigs. Faced with that for the first time since then, I decided to play some of the old rockier songs. We played You Gotta and Out of Line, to a warm reception considering there were only three people in the room at that particular time, though Dante was worn out after the second song.
After that, I started idly jamming an arpeggiated chord sequence. When asked if I had any words to it, I had to say no as I'd literally just made it up. Dante sat down and freestyled some lyrics to it in the sections of the songs I had written and it was almost as though we'd been playing it for ages and had planned out the whole thing; it was amazing! Definitely one to hang on to in the future.
I participated in a couple of covers after that; Through Glass by Stone Sour went quite well and I tried Outside by Staind; it's been a while since a great many people have heard that song and it shows because I was the only one who appeared to know it, but we got through it somehow so that was OK.
I'll make it a mission in the future to go back there if I'm hard up for a gig that week, but I need to think carefully about why I'm doing it- the whole point of me doing gigs is to get my name out, and as the shows that I have booked for this year are all acoustic shows, I definitely need to be promoting them first and foremost. Sadly, my skills as an electric guitarist and bass player may need to take a back seat. But hey, they're there if I need them...
Jam nights that bands can turn up to and play seem to be a bit thin on the ground these days; there's acoustic open nights in a great many places but there doesn't seem to be many people who are all that willing to put on bands in an enviroment like this, certainly not since the Broadway called it a day back in 07, I think it was. So fair play to LC for putting this on. It's a bit quiet at the moment, but well worth the effort I made to go down, I think. It's always worthwhile playing with some different musicians.
For my part, I went up on the stage with Dante on the drums and started playing some old Crashpoint songs with him jamming the drums to them. This might seem like a strange thing to do given that I have no intention of taking Crashpoint any further at this point, but there was a reason for it: I wanted to play some original material, and the songs I've written since the band ended have been primarily for my acoustic gigs. Faced with that for the first time since then, I decided to play some of the old rockier songs. We played You Gotta and Out of Line, to a warm reception considering there were only three people in the room at that particular time, though Dante was worn out after the second song.
After that, I started idly jamming an arpeggiated chord sequence. When asked if I had any words to it, I had to say no as I'd literally just made it up. Dante sat down and freestyled some lyrics to it in the sections of the songs I had written and it was almost as though we'd been playing it for ages and had planned out the whole thing; it was amazing! Definitely one to hang on to in the future.
I participated in a couple of covers after that; Through Glass by Stone Sour went quite well and I tried Outside by Staind; it's been a while since a great many people have heard that song and it shows because I was the only one who appeared to know it, but we got through it somehow so that was OK.
I'll make it a mission in the future to go back there if I'm hard up for a gig that week, but I need to think carefully about why I'm doing it- the whole point of me doing gigs is to get my name out, and as the shows that I have booked for this year are all acoustic shows, I definitely need to be promoting them first and foremost. Sadly, my skills as an electric guitarist and bass player may need to take a back seat. But hey, they're there if I need them...
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