Hah, forgot to blog my last gig, how silly...
I actually went in to this one feeling pretty good. They let me do 6 songs, and I came up with a list of my four best, or at least most popular, a cover and a new song. This is what happened:
I opened up with Bitterness, deciding that if there was ever a time to set the bar high with adrenaline, it was this. Struggled again with the fast strums, but it went down quite well, there were a fair few people at the Wharf tonight who hadn't seen me before and were probably quite surprised by this if they were expecting Paul Simon or something like that! Whatever the reason, I got a nice loud applause at the end of the song and that's always a nice feeling.
Cracking straight on with Get Out Of My Head, I played it with all the energy I can get from following Bitterness, and this one went down surprisingly well as well. Putting the songs in this order seems to work, so I'll probably be doing that for some weeks to come, or until one of my newer ones takes it's place!
Then I did my complimentary 90s cover, in this case Linger by the Cranberries. I think members of the audience of a certain age - and a certain level of being hammered - would remember this song very fondly and enjoy it, and I like playing it; it's one that's actaully hard to get wrong as long as I remember all the words. Dave didn't like it so much, but the few times I've played it so far it hasn't gone down badly. I probably won't play it there again though. When I do covers at The Wharf it has to be a different one each time - it's just my thing - so I'll have to pick a new one for next month. Any suggestions?
Next, I did Dear Mr Manager. Not sure whether this was the right place for this, I think because the song is very quiet it needs an intimate atmosphere which the Wharf Bar doesn't usually provide. However, Matt from No Time To Sleep really liked it, and I got a polite applause from it which wasn't bad!
Moving back in to more familiar territories, I went in to Girl's Names, which I'm actually playing a lot better these days and I'm far less self-conscious because of the fact that other than the time-signature change, it's about as MOR as I get. My Feeder influences come through with this one, I think, not because it necessarily sounds like Feeder but because it's got a catchy vocal line and chorus which will always work well. The audience seemed to like it but the novelty of an acoustic guy at the Wharf was wearing off by then...
Which is why I choose to end gigs like this with We Will Survive, my DragonForce-inspired romp through the message of Battle Royale and basically any good guy vs bad guy film you care to mention. Oddly enough I don't play it often at the open nights, but I end gigs with it... I wonder why? Perhaps it's because I think I've written songs since then that are better, or maybe I'm just not as in to it, but whatever the reason, it's always good to have as a set closer, and tonight was no exception.
A bit less analytical than usual tonight, but I am in a bit of a hurry! It was nice to see the guys from 2 Days Notice again, their new singer seems to be doing well!
Monday 28 February 2011
Thursday 24 February 2011
Open Mic Night, The Woodman, 24/2/11
Well, tonight didn't get off to a flying start. I had actually intended to go to the Tap and Spile, or the Pretty Bricks in Walsall, basically because I've got a gig at the Wharf on Saturday and I'm looking to do SOMETHING to promote it. This didn't go to plan, I arrived at the pub to find that it was closed, probably for some time. Combine that with going to the Drunken Duck on Monday to find that their jam night was actually on Tuesday and the week's not looking good for me...
I turned up at the Woodman at 10 to find the usual crowd there; no bad thing because they're a great bunch of people. After a short wait, Sam got me on, and what followed was the best I'd felt about a set that I'd done for a while:
Tripped up a bit with Bitterness. The positioning of that song's always an issue with me; do I put it at the start and set the pace and adrenaline for the whole show, or do I put it at the end when my hands have warmed up and there's an outside chance of being able to play the fast strums? My plectrum didn't help. The thing about being a teacher, as I lost no time in telling the audience afterwards, is that you'll always end a working day with half the number of plectrums that you had when you started it. I have one carbon-feeling plectrum that tends to snap if I strum too hard (and I strum hard!) and one millimetre-thick plectrum that's fine for picking, not so good for strumming - this was the one I used. But it made it hard work for me. Other than that, it went OK, it's as familiar as any of my songs get, particularly with this crowd who Elliot tells me enjoyed it, and I made no major mistakes.
My plan for the day was to play Dear Mr Manager all the way through without having to stop to remember the words, and while there were a few points here where I messed up, it was nothing particularly horrible and I did manage to get all the way through. So that one's getting better! About time too, though I'm not happy with the precedent it's setting for how long I'm going to get my new songs to playable levels. I think I need to be careful where in the set I put this song; I doubt straight after Bitterness is a good idea, because from loud and brash to almost a whisper is probably too vast a change in dynamics. But hey, that's not the point of an open mic night; at least I didn't have any key drones. Not sure how well it went down; it's not one that's been talked about much so far and would tend to be more popular with the older members of the audience - who I spend far less time talking to than Sam and his friends. Not casting aspersions on them or anything like that, that's just the way it is.
Next I played a cover that I'd never really played live before, Linger by The Cranberries. I had to concentrate on the words but that actually went really well, people were singing along to it and everything! I guess that's a nice song to break out if I need some respite from my insufferable self-pity, it certainly did me no harm tonight.
By this time I was feeling really good about how it was going and launched into the most energetic performance of Get Out Of My Head I think I've done so far. Usually, as my opener, that's the one that's got to win the crowd over and would set the tone for the gig. Now that I'd been on the stage for a few songs, I could relax a little and enjoy playing it, which I'm choosing to think made everybody else enjoy the song a lot more as well. I'll have to give that some serious consideration, not least because I've got a 7-song set list to come up with for Saturday.
So, all's well that ends well. And that's not something I say a great many times! Thanks again to Sam and Roy for putting the night on, we really appreciate it and it's going really well, I think. Need to get him doing one in Birmingham though; it's screaming for something like that...
I turned up at the Woodman at 10 to find the usual crowd there; no bad thing because they're a great bunch of people. After a short wait, Sam got me on, and what followed was the best I'd felt about a set that I'd done for a while:
Tripped up a bit with Bitterness. The positioning of that song's always an issue with me; do I put it at the start and set the pace and adrenaline for the whole show, or do I put it at the end when my hands have warmed up and there's an outside chance of being able to play the fast strums? My plectrum didn't help. The thing about being a teacher, as I lost no time in telling the audience afterwards, is that you'll always end a working day with half the number of plectrums that you had when you started it. I have one carbon-feeling plectrum that tends to snap if I strum too hard (and I strum hard!) and one millimetre-thick plectrum that's fine for picking, not so good for strumming - this was the one I used. But it made it hard work for me. Other than that, it went OK, it's as familiar as any of my songs get, particularly with this crowd who Elliot tells me enjoyed it, and I made no major mistakes.
My plan for the day was to play Dear Mr Manager all the way through without having to stop to remember the words, and while there were a few points here where I messed up, it was nothing particularly horrible and I did manage to get all the way through. So that one's getting better! About time too, though I'm not happy with the precedent it's setting for how long I'm going to get my new songs to playable levels. I think I need to be careful where in the set I put this song; I doubt straight after Bitterness is a good idea, because from loud and brash to almost a whisper is probably too vast a change in dynamics. But hey, that's not the point of an open mic night; at least I didn't have any key drones. Not sure how well it went down; it's not one that's been talked about much so far and would tend to be more popular with the older members of the audience - who I spend far less time talking to than Sam and his friends. Not casting aspersions on them or anything like that, that's just the way it is.
Next I played a cover that I'd never really played live before, Linger by The Cranberries. I had to concentrate on the words but that actually went really well, people were singing along to it and everything! I guess that's a nice song to break out if I need some respite from my insufferable self-pity, it certainly did me no harm tonight.
By this time I was feeling really good about how it was going and launched into the most energetic performance of Get Out Of My Head I think I've done so far. Usually, as my opener, that's the one that's got to win the crowd over and would set the tone for the gig. Now that I'd been on the stage for a few songs, I could relax a little and enjoy playing it, which I'm choosing to think made everybody else enjoy the song a lot more as well. I'll have to give that some serious consideration, not least because I've got a 7-song set list to come up with for Saturday.
So, all's well that ends well. And that's not something I say a great many times! Thanks again to Sam and Roy for putting the night on, we really appreciate it and it's going really well, I think. Need to get him doing one in Birmingham though; it's screaming for something like that...
Tuesday 22 February 2011
Depping for Pan and the Poets
Hi gang,
Just a quick note to say that I'll be depping on bass for Pan and the Poets as and when they need me. I've known Luke and Andy since school, and I've always enjoyed their shows when I've gone to see them, so being in a position like this is absolutely great, thanks guys.
A bit more explaination, for those of you who are interested: Pan and the Poets seem to be in a situation where they have a revolving door for band members; it's hard enough to hold a 6/7-piece band together at the best of times, and with work and other commitments they're finding it hard to hold on to a regular bass player or guitar player. Rather than search for a permanent replacement for anybody, they appear to be sticking with Toby as their "official" bass player, and Jack (their old bass player) and I helping out if he's unavailable. I'll also be available to help them out on guitar if need be, though they have played without a guitar player in the past and are prepared to do so again. As for any contribution to the music of the band, I don't think it's part of the plan, but if it comes up it comes up and as long as they give me any songwriting credit due and any royalties they receive (here's to hoping!) I'll be happy to get involved with that. I don't think I'll be contributing any lyrics though.
So if you're planning to come to any future shows, be very careful which one you're coming to, because if it's a Poets gig, I won't be playing any of my own material!
See you soon
Just a quick note to say that I'll be depping on bass for Pan and the Poets as and when they need me. I've known Luke and Andy since school, and I've always enjoyed their shows when I've gone to see them, so being in a position like this is absolutely great, thanks guys.
A bit more explaination, for those of you who are interested: Pan and the Poets seem to be in a situation where they have a revolving door for band members; it's hard enough to hold a 6/7-piece band together at the best of times, and with work and other commitments they're finding it hard to hold on to a regular bass player or guitar player. Rather than search for a permanent replacement for anybody, they appear to be sticking with Toby as their "official" bass player, and Jack (their old bass player) and I helping out if he's unavailable. I'll also be available to help them out on guitar if need be, though they have played without a guitar player in the past and are prepared to do so again. As for any contribution to the music of the band, I don't think it's part of the plan, but if it comes up it comes up and as long as they give me any songwriting credit due and any royalties they receive (here's to hoping!) I'll be happy to get involved with that. I don't think I'll be contributing any lyrics though.
So if you're planning to come to any future shows, be very careful which one you're coming to, because if it's a Poets gig, I won't be playing any of my own material!
See you soon
Thursday 17 February 2011
Maverick Jam Night 16/2/11
This set for me was a wake-up call. Not least because it filled my New Year Resolution to play, in addition to one gig every week, one new venue every month; while I've been aware of the Maverick in Amblecote for some time, even been there once many moons ago, I'd never actually played there before. But to appreciate why this was an important night for me, we've got to look at some of the other shows I've been doing this year:
My regular blog readers will have noticed the pattern emerging in the places I choose to play; more often than not it's either Katy Fitzgeralds or one of the open nights that Sam Draisey does. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but I don't think the fact that my last few shows have been a bit lacklustre is any coincidence. When I've played the songs that are more than about half a year old, it feels like I'm going though the motions, when I play something new, I screw it up. And I get away with it, to a certain extent, because I'm on friendly familiar terms with most of the guys at the aforementioned venues, but on the other hand it creates an atmosphere where I don't feel as though the stakes are particularly high...
Whereas I turned up at the Maverick last night not having a clue what to expect, to find Al (a colleague at DPA and a VERY good drummer) and Peter setting up and launching into some old bluesey rock which they played extremely well; precise, good sound mix, very professional. And there I was with my acoustic guitar, my less-than-precise playing style and a voice that sounds like a cement mixer full of toads. And cement. No question about it, I had to be on top of my game this time, and for the first time in quite a while I felt nervous. Thankfully this was the 'good' version of nervous; despite playing most of my songs at twice the usual speed, I barely made any mistakes at all, which by the precedent of my last few gigs is almost unheard of...
I kicked off with Get Out Of My Head. It sounded a bit strange because the mix in my monitor was very loud; I didn't want to do anything about it though because a) I couldn't tell which of the many dials on the PA was controlling the monitor output, b) stopping in the middle of a song to alter settings never goes down well, and c) I don't like moaning about the sound to the sound guy in the middle of a gig; once I'm on, I'm on. But one thing that I guess it's hard for a lot of people to appreciate is this: The sound in the monitors can be crystal clear, a complete mess, or anything in between. The sound out front - i.e. what the audience can hear - probably doesn't sound anything like your monitors. Fundamentally, one doesn't affect the other. It's only when the sound in the monitor starts to affect how you're playing that some change occurs. So when I can hear the sound from the monitor louder than I can hear my own voice and guitar, (not quite the same thing,) the temptation is to quiet down a little bit. This is almost completely subliminal and I don't know if this had an effect on the night, but chances are it did; it's something to keep in mind for the future. As far as playing the song was concerned, I was... not incorrect, but certainly more aware of how I was delivering the lines that don't quite fit in with the music. This isn't a good thing or a bad thing in terms of what the audience heard but I rarely do that these days. I think out of all the songs I played that night, this one probably went down the best.
After introducing myself as Matt from Lower Gornal, Girls Names was next, adding the Scrubs reference to the song name which I really must stop doing because it seems to get completely the opposite reaction from the one I intended. This one's a bit of a mixed bag; even though I don't think it's all that good, it tends to go down well, and given the general age and demographic of the audience I figured the 'storytelling' nature of the lyrics would be well-received. I don't know why but it didn't really work out that way. Maybe it's because I was playing the place for the first time, or maybe it was because - bearing in mind what went on for the rest of the night - they were waiting for me to play something they actually know, but the people who were watching appeared to be losing interest.
I then explained that some of these songs were years old and went into Believe, which I wrote in 06. I was mainly sticking to my slower songs tonight, again because of the age and demographic of the audience; it tends to go down better with the older guys. Once again I became concious of my own playing, namely my rapidly improving ability to switch between fingers and plectrum. That being the only song in my set where I actually need to do it, it's not a skill that gets consciously practiced all that often, but now that I'm teaching guitar I do a lot more fingerpicking so that might be it. I played it well and received a polite applause.
I was allowed to do one more song (no extra long solos when there's only one guy on the stage with an acoustic guitar!) and went in to Bitterness. I thought I may as well end with what's considered by many to be my best song! This is the one where I was really aware of my volume to the point where I was barely making any noise with the guitar at all in the verses; never was I so grateful of my ability to palm-mute! I was also aware that I was playing it far too quickly, and the combination of these factors plus my heavier-than-usual plectrum meant that I wasn't quite hitting the fast strumming bits in time, but oh well, these things happen. I'm not sure but I think this one went down a little better, as I left the stage...
However, as most of you will know by now, sometimes I'm my own worst critic, and talking to some of the people afterwards suggested to me that it wasn't quite as bad as all that. The people I was sitting with appeared to like it, Al thought I did well, and Peter asked me to come back at a later time! I might at that, though I think I would like to get some more of my newer songs sorted out properly before I play there again, because the music I've been writing recently lends itself better to that environment. Hell, I might even bring one of my electrics in and start jamming with some of the other guys...
My regular blog readers will have noticed the pattern emerging in the places I choose to play; more often than not it's either Katy Fitzgeralds or one of the open nights that Sam Draisey does. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but I don't think the fact that my last few shows have been a bit lacklustre is any coincidence. When I've played the songs that are more than about half a year old, it feels like I'm going though the motions, when I play something new, I screw it up. And I get away with it, to a certain extent, because I'm on friendly familiar terms with most of the guys at the aforementioned venues, but on the other hand it creates an atmosphere where I don't feel as though the stakes are particularly high...
Whereas I turned up at the Maverick last night not having a clue what to expect, to find Al (a colleague at DPA and a VERY good drummer) and Peter setting up and launching into some old bluesey rock which they played extremely well; precise, good sound mix, very professional. And there I was with my acoustic guitar, my less-than-precise playing style and a voice that sounds like a cement mixer full of toads. And cement. No question about it, I had to be on top of my game this time, and for the first time in quite a while I felt nervous. Thankfully this was the 'good' version of nervous; despite playing most of my songs at twice the usual speed, I barely made any mistakes at all, which by the precedent of my last few gigs is almost unheard of...
I kicked off with Get Out Of My Head. It sounded a bit strange because the mix in my monitor was very loud; I didn't want to do anything about it though because a) I couldn't tell which of the many dials on the PA was controlling the monitor output, b) stopping in the middle of a song to alter settings never goes down well, and c) I don't like moaning about the sound to the sound guy in the middle of a gig; once I'm on, I'm on. But one thing that I guess it's hard for a lot of people to appreciate is this: The sound in the monitors can be crystal clear, a complete mess, or anything in between. The sound out front - i.e. what the audience can hear - probably doesn't sound anything like your monitors. Fundamentally, one doesn't affect the other. It's only when the sound in the monitor starts to affect how you're playing that some change occurs. So when I can hear the sound from the monitor louder than I can hear my own voice and guitar, (not quite the same thing,) the temptation is to quiet down a little bit. This is almost completely subliminal and I don't know if this had an effect on the night, but chances are it did; it's something to keep in mind for the future. As far as playing the song was concerned, I was... not incorrect, but certainly more aware of how I was delivering the lines that don't quite fit in with the music. This isn't a good thing or a bad thing in terms of what the audience heard but I rarely do that these days. I think out of all the songs I played that night, this one probably went down the best.
After introducing myself as Matt from Lower Gornal, Girls Names was next, adding the Scrubs reference to the song name which I really must stop doing because it seems to get completely the opposite reaction from the one I intended. This one's a bit of a mixed bag; even though I don't think it's all that good, it tends to go down well, and given the general age and demographic of the audience I figured the 'storytelling' nature of the lyrics would be well-received. I don't know why but it didn't really work out that way. Maybe it's because I was playing the place for the first time, or maybe it was because - bearing in mind what went on for the rest of the night - they were waiting for me to play something they actually know, but the people who were watching appeared to be losing interest.
I then explained that some of these songs were years old and went into Believe, which I wrote in 06. I was mainly sticking to my slower songs tonight, again because of the age and demographic of the audience; it tends to go down better with the older guys. Once again I became concious of my own playing, namely my rapidly improving ability to switch between fingers and plectrum. That being the only song in my set where I actually need to do it, it's not a skill that gets consciously practiced all that often, but now that I'm teaching guitar I do a lot more fingerpicking so that might be it. I played it well and received a polite applause.
I was allowed to do one more song (no extra long solos when there's only one guy on the stage with an acoustic guitar!) and went in to Bitterness. I thought I may as well end with what's considered by many to be my best song! This is the one where I was really aware of my volume to the point where I was barely making any noise with the guitar at all in the verses; never was I so grateful of my ability to palm-mute! I was also aware that I was playing it far too quickly, and the combination of these factors plus my heavier-than-usual plectrum meant that I wasn't quite hitting the fast strumming bits in time, but oh well, these things happen. I'm not sure but I think this one went down a little better, as I left the stage...
However, as most of you will know by now, sometimes I'm my own worst critic, and talking to some of the people afterwards suggested to me that it wasn't quite as bad as all that. The people I was sitting with appeared to like it, Al thought I did well, and Peter asked me to come back at a later time! I might at that, though I think I would like to get some more of my newer songs sorted out properly before I play there again, because the music I've been writing recently lends itself better to that environment. Hell, I might even bring one of my electrics in and start jamming with some of the other guys...
Sunday 13 February 2011
Pioneer Centre Weekend 11-13th February 2011
Hi there.
To be honest tonight I was hoping to write about a new open night that I was going to check out - but, having got there to find that absolutely no one was there and the pub wasn't even open, either that or the entrance is very cleverly concealed and everybody was being quiet, I decided to go home again and talk about this.
So for those of you who don't know, I work for Dudley Performing Arts, and one of the events we've been putting on for a number of years is this Pioneer Centre weekend, where we take a load of kids up to the Pioneer Centre and work them up in to musical groups, and have some really good fun while we're doing it. That's very broad and none-descriptive, and due to the sensitive nature of this I'm not going to write about anything specific, but this being my blog I want to talk about the effect it had on me:
I actually got in to playing bass for one of the rehearsal groups. It's strange because in itself it wasn't hard stuff I was playing. What made it slightly tricky for me was that for the first time in a while I had to manage without tab, and just stick to standard notation. I can do it, despite the fact that there was no part written for bass guitar so I either had to follow the cello or, even more worryingly, the left hand piano part, some of which goes quite a long way beneath the range of a 4-string bass. But all these years of reading the rhythm off notation and the notes off tab have made me very lazy and I really had to concentrate to know what had to be played. It's something I need to work on, I think; it's one thing to know where the notes are on the fretboard but I should be able to read it in music as well, especially if I'm mixing with the pros like the DPA guys. Funnily enough it's a skill I seem to have lost over the past 7 or 8 years, mainly through lack of use. I've been slowly getting it back through teaching - but I've still got a long way to go.
I ended up playing drums in a gospel choir as well, that was, how can I put this... interesting. I haven't actually played drums since 2009 since the ill-fated Pip Zest gig, which was so bad that I actually had to be reminded of the name of the band a couple of months later. So yeah, keeping it simple. I mean, it worked, I guess, but I'm not a very confident drummer, so I was making mistakes that I shouldn't really have been making. It's something that I should work on, probably would work on if my drum kit wasn't a complete wreck and I had the money to repair it. But it's an experience I haven't had for a while with musicians I'd not yet had the chance to play with, so it's all worthwhile.
That's what it all meant to me. At the end of the day though, this weekend was about the kids, and from the youngest child we had there right down to the guy who I don't think is actually in school any more, I don't think there's a single person among them who hasn't taken something from that weekend. That sort of thing always makes it worth doing. Looking forward to the next one!
To be honest tonight I was hoping to write about a new open night that I was going to check out - but, having got there to find that absolutely no one was there and the pub wasn't even open, either that or the entrance is very cleverly concealed and everybody was being quiet, I decided to go home again and talk about this.
So for those of you who don't know, I work for Dudley Performing Arts, and one of the events we've been putting on for a number of years is this Pioneer Centre weekend, where we take a load of kids up to the Pioneer Centre and work them up in to musical groups, and have some really good fun while we're doing it. That's very broad and none-descriptive, and due to the sensitive nature of this I'm not going to write about anything specific, but this being my blog I want to talk about the effect it had on me:
I actually got in to playing bass for one of the rehearsal groups. It's strange because in itself it wasn't hard stuff I was playing. What made it slightly tricky for me was that for the first time in a while I had to manage without tab, and just stick to standard notation. I can do it, despite the fact that there was no part written for bass guitar so I either had to follow the cello or, even more worryingly, the left hand piano part, some of which goes quite a long way beneath the range of a 4-string bass. But all these years of reading the rhythm off notation and the notes off tab have made me very lazy and I really had to concentrate to know what had to be played. It's something I need to work on, I think; it's one thing to know where the notes are on the fretboard but I should be able to read it in music as well, especially if I'm mixing with the pros like the DPA guys. Funnily enough it's a skill I seem to have lost over the past 7 or 8 years, mainly through lack of use. I've been slowly getting it back through teaching - but I've still got a long way to go.
I ended up playing drums in a gospel choir as well, that was, how can I put this... interesting. I haven't actually played drums since 2009 since the ill-fated Pip Zest gig, which was so bad that I actually had to be reminded of the name of the band a couple of months later. So yeah, keeping it simple. I mean, it worked, I guess, but I'm not a very confident drummer, so I was making mistakes that I shouldn't really have been making. It's something that I should work on, probably would work on if my drum kit wasn't a complete wreck and I had the money to repair it. But it's an experience I haven't had for a while with musicians I'd not yet had the chance to play with, so it's all worthwhile.
That's what it all meant to me. At the end of the day though, this weekend was about the kids, and from the youngest child we had there right down to the guy who I don't think is actually in school any more, I don't think there's a single person among them who hasn't taken something from that weekend. That sort of thing always makes it worth doing. Looking forward to the next one!
Tuesday 8 February 2011
New Song: Storm from the North
I'm in quite a lot of danger of turning into a folkie with this one...
So as I hinted at last night, I have a new set of lyrics, called Storm from the North. The idea for the song came to me last night while watching my old friend and former bandmate Emma Simpson play a few songs on an acoustic guitar at Katies. Somehow, I managed to analogise Crashpoint as a ship, one of the old pirate ships built out of wood. Crashpoint obviously broke up as the members went their seperate ways, like parts of the ship getting old, worn and falling off, and even though we tried to make repairs by getting new members in, in the end the damage was done; the ship became a wreck, and the individual members little more than driftwood, that may end up either as something else, or cast of as waste.
The driftwood analogy is particularly appropriate because there's been a lot of different things going on with the former members of Crashpoint. Cj's been trying his hand drumming for various different people, it's not always worked out well for him though. Similar story with Luke. Rich has been going around different bands as well but I wonder if he'll ever really find what he's looking for. J, as far as I know, has abandoned music completely. I've been going around a few different bands, with limited success, and been doing my own acoustic shows because I can't hold it together. I've barely spoken to Emma since Crashpoint but seeing her play last night reminded me yet again that we're all just floating around trying to make something of doing what we enjoy...
So the lyrics to the song are all based on this shipwreck analogy, the Storm from the North being the collective set of circumstances that eventually forced us to call it a day. There's quite a Dire Straits-style storytelling nature to it, which I quite like because I always wanted to write a song as good as Telegraph Road. It starts with the ship being built, (getting the band together,) being sailed around various different places (gigging!) being weathered and eroded (the damage we were doing to Emma's voice and J's departure) and sailing on through shallow and rocky waters (when the band was basically over and we were only keeping it together for it's own sake.) It ends with the idea that even though we're all pieces of driftwood now and we'll almost certainly never be a ship (or band) again, it's important to remember each other and what we managed to achieve before the end.
Musically the chords are nothing to write home about, but I'm changing time signatures quite a lot in this from a 6/8 ballad to a 4/4 stomper, and back to 6/8 for the sad bit at the end. I'm thinking of putting a tin whistle solo in there as well. Yes, I have one, and yes, I can play it a bit. In fact I could hear it working with a whole folk group set-up, with violins and bodhrans and everything... but one thing at a time. When will we hear it live? Hopefully soon, though my record for new songs this year hasn't been 100% and I'd really rather not screw this one up. I'll play it when I play it, but I doubt that will be before March.
I hear there's a new video of me on Youtube, must check that out...
So as I hinted at last night, I have a new set of lyrics, called Storm from the North. The idea for the song came to me last night while watching my old friend and former bandmate Emma Simpson play a few songs on an acoustic guitar at Katies. Somehow, I managed to analogise Crashpoint as a ship, one of the old pirate ships built out of wood. Crashpoint obviously broke up as the members went their seperate ways, like parts of the ship getting old, worn and falling off, and even though we tried to make repairs by getting new members in, in the end the damage was done; the ship became a wreck, and the individual members little more than driftwood, that may end up either as something else, or cast of as waste.
The driftwood analogy is particularly appropriate because there's been a lot of different things going on with the former members of Crashpoint. Cj's been trying his hand drumming for various different people, it's not always worked out well for him though. Similar story with Luke. Rich has been going around different bands as well but I wonder if he'll ever really find what he's looking for. J, as far as I know, has abandoned music completely. I've been going around a few different bands, with limited success, and been doing my own acoustic shows because I can't hold it together. I've barely spoken to Emma since Crashpoint but seeing her play last night reminded me yet again that we're all just floating around trying to make something of doing what we enjoy...
So the lyrics to the song are all based on this shipwreck analogy, the Storm from the North being the collective set of circumstances that eventually forced us to call it a day. There's quite a Dire Straits-style storytelling nature to it, which I quite like because I always wanted to write a song as good as Telegraph Road. It starts with the ship being built, (getting the band together,) being sailed around various different places (gigging!) being weathered and eroded (the damage we were doing to Emma's voice and J's departure) and sailing on through shallow and rocky waters (when the band was basically over and we were only keeping it together for it's own sake.) It ends with the idea that even though we're all pieces of driftwood now and we'll almost certainly never be a ship (or band) again, it's important to remember each other and what we managed to achieve before the end.
Musically the chords are nothing to write home about, but I'm changing time signatures quite a lot in this from a 6/8 ballad to a 4/4 stomper, and back to 6/8 for the sad bit at the end. I'm thinking of putting a tin whistle solo in there as well. Yes, I have one, and yes, I can play it a bit. In fact I could hear it working with a whole folk group set-up, with violins and bodhrans and everything... but one thing at a time. When will we hear it live? Hopefully soon, though my record for new songs this year hasn't been 100% and I'd really rather not screw this one up. I'll play it when I play it, but I doubt that will be before March.
I hear there's a new video of me on Youtube, must check that out...
Monday 7 February 2011
Katy Fitzgeralds Open Night, 7/2/2011
Here we are again. Actually to be fair this one was because of what else I've got going on this week (band practice with the Fakes on Tuesday, helping out at a Rock Gig for DPA on Wednesday, maybe band practice with Perception on Thursday, and then doing the Pioneer weekend for DPA on, well, the weekend) making doing a gig at any other time quite difficult. But hey, I need no excuse to go to an open night. That being said, with another gig at the Wharf coming up, maybe I should be concentrating more on hitting Walsall... still, here's what happened tonight:
Even though I've tried to do some new material over the past few gigs, I've not really done it very well. And I was conscious of the fact that I haven't done much (or indeed, any) practice since last time I played Katies. With that in mind, I decided to play songs that I actually knew tonight. With hindsight, maybe kicking off a night with Prisoner of my Mind was not a brilliant idea, it's pretty much the most desolate wrist-slasher I play at the moment (speaking figuratively, of course,) and opening what for many people will be a night out with a Radiohead-style shoe-gazer hardly does much to set the tone. Still, I played it OK, which is good because it's been a LONG time since I last played it...
I then went in to Get Out Of My Head. I played it quite well, though I wasn't really feeling much energy from it. It was quite amusing, actually, when I sang the line 'And then a car goes past and I can't believe what I saw,' at precisely the same moment some unidentified emergency vehicle zoomed past the pub with it's sirens on full blast. Unfortunately this was one of those occasions where this song didn't go down too well, as I finished the song and absolutely nothing happened for about four or five seconds, then LC started off the clapping which didn't last too long. I don't know what it is about this song that has that effect on people but it seems to be a bit hit and miss and I really can't work out why.
I finished it with Bitterness, and again even though I was playing it OK I wasn't feeling much energy. I guess that's the problem with going on first; there were quite a few people in the pub but as most of them were either waiting to play themselves, in which case their focus would have been on their own sets, or had just come in and getting the drinks in, there wasn't much attention on what was going on. Still, I came across an old friend Shaw who does Zaneus promotions on and off, who told me he liked it so I can't argue with that.
So, not a highlight of my gigs so far this year. What made it significant for me was making some new friends and most of all running into another old friend Emma, who used to be in Crashpoint. She was there playing a set with some other people as a kind of band set-up, fair play to her. Hearing her sing took me right back to the Crashpoint days back in 09... it saddens me, actually, to see people who've been in bands in the past, and now go around doing acoustic sets because they can't hold the band together. Not to be presumptuous about Emma - she originally left Crashpoint because she literally couldn't sing that style of music any more, and from what I remember of her musical tastes this new set-up probably suits her better in any case - but it's quite a common thing to see, myself included. This one hit me quite hard because it was my band she was in... anyway, this made the night significant for me because it became the inspiration for a new set of lyrics that hopefully I'll have time to work through tomorrow. Seriously, I'm going to need about a week to work on all my new songs and get them ready to play.
Even though I've tried to do some new material over the past few gigs, I've not really done it very well. And I was conscious of the fact that I haven't done much (or indeed, any) practice since last time I played Katies. With that in mind, I decided to play songs that I actually knew tonight. With hindsight, maybe kicking off a night with Prisoner of my Mind was not a brilliant idea, it's pretty much the most desolate wrist-slasher I play at the moment (speaking figuratively, of course,) and opening what for many people will be a night out with a Radiohead-style shoe-gazer hardly does much to set the tone. Still, I played it OK, which is good because it's been a LONG time since I last played it...
I then went in to Get Out Of My Head. I played it quite well, though I wasn't really feeling much energy from it. It was quite amusing, actually, when I sang the line 'And then a car goes past and I can't believe what I saw,' at precisely the same moment some unidentified emergency vehicle zoomed past the pub with it's sirens on full blast. Unfortunately this was one of those occasions where this song didn't go down too well, as I finished the song and absolutely nothing happened for about four or five seconds, then LC started off the clapping which didn't last too long. I don't know what it is about this song that has that effect on people but it seems to be a bit hit and miss and I really can't work out why.
I finished it with Bitterness, and again even though I was playing it OK I wasn't feeling much energy. I guess that's the problem with going on first; there were quite a few people in the pub but as most of them were either waiting to play themselves, in which case their focus would have been on their own sets, or had just come in and getting the drinks in, there wasn't much attention on what was going on. Still, I came across an old friend Shaw who does Zaneus promotions on and off, who told me he liked it so I can't argue with that.
So, not a highlight of my gigs so far this year. What made it significant for me was making some new friends and most of all running into another old friend Emma, who used to be in Crashpoint. She was there playing a set with some other people as a kind of band set-up, fair play to her. Hearing her sing took me right back to the Crashpoint days back in 09... it saddens me, actually, to see people who've been in bands in the past, and now go around doing acoustic sets because they can't hold the band together. Not to be presumptuous about Emma - she originally left Crashpoint because she literally couldn't sing that style of music any more, and from what I remember of her musical tastes this new set-up probably suits her better in any case - but it's quite a common thing to see, myself included. This one hit me quite hard because it was my band she was in... anyway, this made the night significant for me because it became the inspiration for a new set of lyrics that hopefully I'll have time to work through tomorrow. Seriously, I'm going to need about a week to work on all my new songs and get them ready to play.
Thursday 3 February 2011
Katies Jam Sessions, 2/2/2011
I've just been in a curious situation where I couldn't remember what website I actually wanted and kept pressing random keys until I found it...
Didn't have time to write this last night; Dante asked me to come to the Jam session at Katies so I packed both my guitars and went there after band practice with The Fakes (they tend to tune to E flat so it makes sense to bring my Les Paul which is also tuned to E flat!) I had no preconceived idea of what I was going to do when I got there though.
Most of the time I was on stage I actually ended up playing bass, as it happens. We began with an improvised version of Through Glass with Dante singing, LC on guitar and Rob on the drums. I guess it went OK, if you don't set much store by how much it sounded like the original! We managed to leave out half the song...
That done, we hadn't got a clue what to play next (In a way I'm actually quite glad that my suggestion of This Is War by 30 Seconds To Mars didn't happen in the end, because almost certainly we'd have not done it very well!) and we decided to have a bit of a jam. LC started playing a hard rock style guitar riff in A, me and Rob joined in and Dante freestyled some vocals to it, and it was one of those moments of magic where we're literally just making it up as we're going along and yet it sounds like we'd been playing it for ages! Awesome stuff, I ended up shaking hands with the entire 'band' after that.
We tried another one, this time without Dante, and this went from LC's funky E choppy-choppy chords to a Jane's Addiction-style freakout, and ended up with Rob going mad and finishing with a Metallica mosh riff. Funnily enough it still sounded like we were playing the same song all the way through. It's amazing when it works!
After that I got my guitar out and tuned it down to Drop C sharp (far easier to do that with mine than LC's Ibanez, as I haven't got a locking nut,) and had of all things a blues jam! Dante's figured out how to do the rock'n'roll shuffle in drop tuning so that was the reason for it. It was a new and not entirely comfortable experience for me trying to play blues on a bass in drop tuning, and not one I have any particular desire to repeat, however the fact that I was still reaching for the familiar positions in the blues scale came up with some very interesting notes...
I was going to freestyle some slower stuff with Dante after that because we really enjoyed it last time, sadly it was not to be but there's always next time, I guess. And there will be a next time; I'm really enjoying that at the moment and it's a refreshing change from all the acoustic stuff I've been doing over the last few weeks.
Off to Swindon tomorrow. See you next week!
Didn't have time to write this last night; Dante asked me to come to the Jam session at Katies so I packed both my guitars and went there after band practice with The Fakes (they tend to tune to E flat so it makes sense to bring my Les Paul which is also tuned to E flat!) I had no preconceived idea of what I was going to do when I got there though.
Most of the time I was on stage I actually ended up playing bass, as it happens. We began with an improvised version of Through Glass with Dante singing, LC on guitar and Rob on the drums. I guess it went OK, if you don't set much store by how much it sounded like the original! We managed to leave out half the song...
That done, we hadn't got a clue what to play next (In a way I'm actually quite glad that my suggestion of This Is War by 30 Seconds To Mars didn't happen in the end, because almost certainly we'd have not done it very well!) and we decided to have a bit of a jam. LC started playing a hard rock style guitar riff in A, me and Rob joined in and Dante freestyled some vocals to it, and it was one of those moments of magic where we're literally just making it up as we're going along and yet it sounds like we'd been playing it for ages! Awesome stuff, I ended up shaking hands with the entire 'band' after that.
We tried another one, this time without Dante, and this went from LC's funky E choppy-choppy chords to a Jane's Addiction-style freakout, and ended up with Rob going mad and finishing with a Metallica mosh riff. Funnily enough it still sounded like we were playing the same song all the way through. It's amazing when it works!
After that I got my guitar out and tuned it down to Drop C sharp (far easier to do that with mine than LC's Ibanez, as I haven't got a locking nut,) and had of all things a blues jam! Dante's figured out how to do the rock'n'roll shuffle in drop tuning so that was the reason for it. It was a new and not entirely comfortable experience for me trying to play blues on a bass in drop tuning, and not one I have any particular desire to repeat, however the fact that I was still reaching for the familiar positions in the blues scale came up with some very interesting notes...
I was going to freestyle some slower stuff with Dante after that because we really enjoyed it last time, sadly it was not to be but there's always next time, I guess. And there will be a next time; I'm really enjoying that at the moment and it's a refreshing change from all the acoustic stuff I've been doing over the last few weeks.
Off to Swindon tomorrow. See you next week!
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