24/8/2011: The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham

So for the second time this month, I find myself playing a new venue. I’d been to the Sunflower Lounge before to watch Pan and the Poets, and I was aware of the fact that the venue does take itself seriously, but even without this, the stakes are always higher if it’s a new gig. I was therefore wondering for a long time what to play; whether to play my faster songs which would fit about half of the audience, or my arty ones that would fit the venue. In the end I just decided to play whatever the hell I felt like, and fell back on almost exactly the same set list I played in Cradley Heath last week. If it ain’t broke…

Kicking of with Bitterness was probably the best decision I made all night. The guy who was on before me was quiet all the way through his set so suddenly bursting on to the stage with this one was probably just what the audience needed at that point. I did hear the sound guy having fun with the mixer – my pickup has never been the favourite of sound engineers, and for what it’s worth the sound was great for the rest of the night – but apart from that it all went very well. I got the roar at the end of the song exactly right, and it’s nice to be in an environment where I might get away with it.

Followed that up with Get Out Of My Head. I was conscious of the fact that Sam Tilley, who had gone on first, was a fan of Maroon 5, who inspired most of the music for this song. He didn’t say anything but it appeared to go down well; a lot of the guys in there were quite attentive and I can’t fault them for that.

For the first time for quite a while I’d actually managed to get some people to come to a gig, in this case Hannah and John who used to be in Perception with me,* and Mark who does That’s Sound recording. For my two former bandmates, neither of whom I’d seen for months, I played my rendition of Let’s Start A Band, a song we used to cover. I fluffed up a chord at one point but other than that it went OK and there was at least one other person in the crowd who knew what I was playing because I saw her singing along. A good one to remember! Thanks very much to the three of you for coming, I appreciate it.

I gave Chapter One another go next. My ‘Does anyone come from Perry Barr?’ spiel seemed to work, although that’s probably because I was prepared for the fact that actually probably none of them came from Perry Barr and scripted my response accordingly. I wouldn’t necessarily do it in, say, Northumberland, but around the Midlands it just might work. I played the song a lot better than I did last week, I did fluff up the words again but I was able to cover up my mistakes far more effectively so I’m pleased; I’d be happy to play it again live. I think maybe the song is a little too quiet for an environment where I have to plug my guitar in; tonight for example the sound on my guitar had to be right down for the heavier moments which means that when I was playing quietly the guitar would have been almost inaudible. But that won’t necessarily always be the case; I’m in the market for a new guitar after all!

I then followed it through by playing the same chords in to Storm From The North. One very careless blunder while I was playing this: It was going very well indeed. No sooner had this thought entered my head than the plectrum started to slip out of my hand. Thankfully I rescued it – but that could have been interesting! I had a feeling, this being a new gig, that I’d get clapped over the last quiet bit, but this time when it happened I just let the audience get on with it and came back in when they’d quietened down. That was far more effective than mentioning it during the song, though I did make a point of thanking them for applauding twice for one song once I’d finished.

I wrapped it up with We Will Survive, which I think is one way I can make absolutely sure that whatever else happens, I will go out with a bang. The thought entered my head as I was playing that it’s been a while since I last changed the strings on my guitar, and I can consider myself very lucky to still have all six at this point. I need to keep an eye on it because I’m very busy in the coming weeks.

So this one was certainly one of my better gigs in recent months. There were people there who were playing better than I did; doing all sorts of things with open tunings that I wouldn’t even try at this stage, and singing better as well. But that still didn’t stop a rather proud feeling of setting the bar quite high for the act that was to follow…

I’ve got a gig with the 82s at Pulse Festival in Four Ashes on Friday, so if you want to see what all the fuss is about I’d say that would be a pretty good place to do it.

*Perception never officially broke up, but it will be a long time, if ever, before we play together as a band again. It’s a shame, but I think we were reluctant to admit that we just weren’t moving in the same direction musically, and sort of necessarily let it die over the past few months.

19/8/2011: The Victoria Inn, Cradley Heath

All quiet on the gig front due to Holidays and such, but I'm back...

This was to be my first gig supported by PricklyMusic P Romotions (I know;) and as I'd never played the place before nor had I done a solo gig for a while, I was in 'New Gig' mode...

I was on first, a position I wouldn't normally take out of choice but it gives me the rest of the night to kick back and relax. As it was a new gig, I started with Bitterness, and I saw quite a few people sit up and listen to the whole 'rock star with acoustic guitar' thing that I have going on. It was as I was singing the line 'With long red hair and wild eyes that could tear my soul apart,' that for the first time since I've been playing this song I happened to notice a young lady in the audience... with long red hair. Laughter ensued from that particular group, who turned out to be one of the bands that was on later, but I made a point of saying in the musical interlude to the song that it was extremely unlikely that she was the person the song refers to. Other than that, it went quite well.

As ever, I followed it up with Get Out Of My Head, which now that I had the attention of the audience was met with the kind of appreciation that I think this song deserves. I didn't play it all that well, I fluffed up a couple of chords and dropped my plectrum, so I had to finish the song with my fingers, but again, the crowd seemed to like it.

I then road-tested my new song Chapter One, after announcing that it refers to moving out of Perry Barr. I think it is a good song and it went down quite well, though probably not as well as it would have done had I picked a faster song to keep up the momentum. I also fluffed the words to the first chorus; I was halfway through singing the wrong line before I realised I couldn't do anything about it; the mistake must have been noticeable even to an unfamiliar crowd, but at least I made it all the way to the end of the song which is more than I've managed on some other occasions I've chosen to showcase a new song! I was also reliably informed by Aaron from Pheonix Rising that the PA cut out halfway through the song - I didn't notice, but it wouldn't have helped that I was making a deliberate effort to keep quiet. (Oh, and Aaron, if you're reading this - sorry if I've spelled your name wrong; there's about 20 different spellings of the name so I just had to pick one and hope for the best.)

Followed that up with a much better performance of Storm From The North. Interestingly, given my last Katies blog, I came surprisingly close to Emma hearing that song for the first time tonight - In Between Seas were actually on later, but because they also had a gig in Birmingham on the same night they didn't arrive until just before they went on. I imagine when that eventually happens, the ensuing discussion will be very interesting. But for tonight, all that happened was the same thing that happens every time I play the song in a new place, which is that people start clapping just before the last 'quiet bit.' At least I spared them Nothing Else Matters, though I was seriously considering it at one point...

I finished up with We Will Survive. I think I'm going to have to stop putting the Battle Royale reference before it; I know what I mean but it always feels really clunky to explain. That was probably my best song of the night, an opinion shared by Cal from Prickly; looks like I've got the first and last songs sorted out, it's just the rest of the set I need to figure out now!

So, an enjoyable return to acoustic gigging. My next one is at the Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham next Wednesday, see you there!

The Fakes: 29/7/2011 The Earl of Dudley Arms

Two gigs with the Fakes in the space of a few months is rare to the point where I actually think it’s unprecedented, nonetheless we were delighted to have the chance to play the Baseline at the Earl of Dudley Arms in July once again. It had gone well last time, we learned from our mistakes, and we were ready to give this gig a really good go. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way…

Being honest, this wasn’t one of our better ones. The problem was we went on far too late; we were last on a bill of 4 acts, and things were taking a long time to work through, so by the time we took the stage, the alcohol had been flowing, we were tired, and to be quite frank we weren’t concentrating. It didn’t start off too bad, our usual combo of set openers worked quite well and even though it wasn’t the best we’d played them, it was good enough. The problems began, I think, when I left the stage to go to the toilet. Reason I did this was because the rest of the band were playing Come As You Are, which I don’t actually play on. (I turn up late for near enough every band practice so the lads usually play this one while they wait for me.) By the time I’d come back, it had all one to pieces, we were making mistakes in the songs that we knew far better than to make, and it generally wasn’t working very well at all. I don’t know if leaving the stage had anything to do with it but by this precedent it’s not something I wish to repeat.

Not that there was nothing good about the show; the audience enjoyed it and the one person who was causing problems got thrown out just before we went on so I was able to be a lot more relaxed. The biggest thing I was pleased about, though, was the fact that we called it a day when we did. The original plan was to go back on stage after we’d finished our main set and do another 6 songs, but we decided not to. We finished once again with Dakota by Stereophonics, which to be fair we always play well no matter how badly the rest of the show went. We got off the stage, and the gig felt like it was over; there was no reason to go back on. Compare this to last time, where we over-extended our welcome by at least a few songs, and I think that was a mature decision and a noticeable progression from last time.

So, not so great this time. But in the Fakes we’ll never let something like that get us down, we’ll get back into the practice room next Monday, have a run through some songs, and look forward to the next gig, whenever that may be. There’s no plans for another Fakes gig yet, however I’m playing tonight at the Victoria Inn in Cradely Heath; it’s an acoustic gig, come and have a look!

See you soon.