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.
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