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...
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