24/10/2011: Gig at Katy Fitzgeralds

I was booked to play Katies once again within a couple of days of the gig, and I really wanted to demo my new song A Lonely Night, so I was more than happy to do the show. As there was only me and Sam Tilley there that night I had longer than the usual set, and I was the first on that night so I had the task of entertaining the crowd and setting the tone for the gig. Most of the people who had come specifically for the gig were there for Sam but for Katies that was just about the right number of people there to feel comfortable and guauge how good a show you're playing.

I started off with a cover of Yesterday Went Too Soon by Feeder; not a song that I think I've ever played live before. Mixed bag with this, I made the mistake I make every single time that I play this song, which is start singing it low then realise it's too low and then start singing it high. The line 'But I'm missing yesterday...' ends with a very long top E note, which is about as high as I can go, and my voice started to break a couple of times. Perhaps this one would have been better employed mid-set when I'd warmed up my voice a little bit? None of the crowd recognised the song; it's not one of Feeder's better known songs to the layman but it's a beautiful song and the crowd really did appear to enjoy it. As an opening statement of intent, I could have done far worse.

I then carried on with Get Out Of My Head. This one went down as well as it ever does and I don't think there were any mistakes when I was playing it, although as I know the song a lot better now having had the song over a year, it means I'm concentrating a lot less. Not a major problem, but sometimes I forget to take the appropriate amount of breath and wonder why I'm running out of breath halfway through a line. Something I need to take care of!

Commenting on the fact that I've got new strings on my guitar and they sound awesome, I went in to We Will Survive. One thing I really want to do with this one - and to be fair I'm asking a lot out of an acoustic show - is to get people clapping on the 'We're still here and we're still standing' bit. Not that easy when your hands are tied to a guitar, I won't lie to you. But I try anyway by stamping my foot on the floor. So far it hasn't worked, but I'll keep trying! Other than that, the song went really well. I'm actually quite surprised about how well I'm playing these days!

Then I had a go at my new song, A Lonely Night, after once again telling the story of how it came about, because a lot of the people who go in Katies are musicians themselves and would probably appreciate the sentiment of feeling a little peeved because no one has come to their gig. This one was quite interesting to play because of the words to it. Obviously I need to get them all right, and word for word, this didn't happen. But I managed to cover the lines I couldn't exactly remember with words that fit just as well. The result is a performance that's equally as convincing either way, and actually a lot of the final edits for my songs were done by playing them live and playing the version that feels most comfortable to play, rather than the ones I've written down. Get Out Of My Head and Storm From The North were two such songs, I might talk about that another time. For now, the song went down very well, and Sam told me she really liked it because she likes songs with a lot of lyrics in them. Might need to tone the swearing down in future though...

Storm from the North was next, and I played that with my usual bravado and swagger. I had a bit of a problem hitting the low notes at the start, and I really needed to concentrate on that in order to do it, that's something to be aware of in future. I noticed when I was recording it last week I had some trouble remembering what chords to play in the chorus and I ended up playing the wrong chords on more than one occasion; this has happened live as well but thankfully did not happen tonight. Nothing like a recording drill to really give you an idea of what your own song sounds like.

Then I gave them Chapter One. A bit of a massive slowdown given the song that I'd just played, but this far in to the gig I reckoned it was just what it needed. As to how it went down, I'm not so sure. It didn't go down badly... but I think people are used to hearing fast rock songs off me now, so as soon as I start to play anything that sounds like it ought to be played on acoustic guitar, I become as run-of-the-mill as the next guy with a guitar who writes songs. I lose my edge; the thing that sets me apart from the crowd. But do you know what, I don't care; I wrote that song for a very personal reason and as long as I enjoy playing it I'm going to keep playing it live.

Followed that up with Girl's Names; a bit of a return to pace here I think. Not much else to say about it, but I'm becoming more confident in playing this one all the way through without messing up the 12/8 bit. Bearing in mind that, of all the songs that I play live that I also recorded, this is probably the one that I play the least, I think that's no bad thing.

I then did something that I've never done before and played Motorcycle Emptiness by the Manic Street Preachers. I think they've put a new album out so there's interest in the band again, and I wondered how well this one would go down. It's not one I've played live before because I think the key part of that song is the lead guitar and the song loses something without it, I played it because I wanted to so something I've never really done before. I played it reasonably well considering I hadn't rehearsed it, though I wonder how well the open two strings/power chord combo really sounded. I don't think I'll be doing this one again too soon, not without the lead guitar at least.

Finally, I wrapped the whole escapade up with Bitterness; a little predictable but I can think of far worse songs to be remembered by! This one is getting really tight now including the fast strums, so I'm pleased, and it's always good to get a nice big cheer at the end. What was also nice to see was that more or less the same number of people who were at the start of the gig were there at the end; not common at any gig I play really so this was a refreshing change.

All in all a good gig, and if I managed every gig like that I'd be happy. I've got another one coming up next Saturday at the Royal Oak in Stourbridge, thanks to the Prickly guys for putting me on there, and on Sunday I've got a charity show I think with Natasha and the 82s on Sunday at the Four Ashes Pub, just North of Coven. Hope the weather's a bit better than it was last time, but we'll be in to November by then so this is hardly a guarantee! See you then!

18/10/2011 Recording: Bitterness EP

I think this is going to be my 'gig' for the week. Now that I've spent this evening not doing anything at all it feels like a bit of a cop-out, but the fact of the matter is that the only night this week where I can hit an open/jam night is tomorrow, and I need to be up very early on Thursday.

Still, enough of that, on with the recording! I was as surprised by this as anyone when Sam Draisey messaged me on Facebook yesterday asking me if we were still on for recording tomorrow; I thought we'd pushed it back 'til November but I figured what the hell; I didn't think there was much to be gained from not doing it today. So I arrived at Sams this morning and we began:

The 5 songs I wanted to put on this CD were Bitterness, Get Out Of My Head, Girl's Names, Storm from the North and We Will Survive. I'd changed my guitar strings, and after a not-so-quick scramble to get another sound card plugged in to the computer (the one Sam was using was crackling for some reason) we went on with the recording. I was surprised at how many times I managed to mess up the most basic things like chords, and I also noticed something that I've heard a lot about in studio write-ups about how the 2nd or 3rd take is about as good as it usually gets; any after that and you stop concentrating and start messing things up. That was the case with me, though thankfully it didn't come up too often, and it wasn't too hard to 'drop in' on the bits where I'd really got it wrong. My playing was OK, not the best I've ever played, Bitterness in particular I've played more accurately live before than I managed on the CD, but it did what I needed it to do. Perhaps, if I'd had a week in a studio, I'd have gone for more accuracy, but to be honest my gig write-ups are festooned with admissions of mistakes, so leaving them in was actually probably a better representation of the artist it showcases!

Then it was time to record the vocals. I haven't got the most inspiring voice in the world and I know it, and I suspect that if I were to play back that Jack's Legacy demo I did way back in early 2006 I would find that nothing's really changed about it. But at least if I'm doing my own thing then it's on my own terms! I actually became more and more comfortable with it as it went on, when I managed to convince myself that it's OK to get in to it, close your eyes and pretend that there's nothing else in the world but you and the song. Once I'd broken that barrier, it was plain sailing, and I even managed to do some songs in one take. As ever, with more time I'd have gone in to a bit more depth, but for what came of it, this was as good as it was ever going to get.

It was nice working with Sam as the atmosphere was far more relaxed. You book a studio for a certain number of hours and you know that the clock is ticking from the moment you enter the studio, and that puts a lot of pressure on you to get it right, especially when you're working with an engineer that you've never met and has no idea what you want to sound like. Whereas I've known Sam for a year now and he knows what game I play with the acoustic guitar, he knows what I like to sound like, and also he's not far from home either so we could take as long as we needed. If I did need to come back and do something on another day, then that option was there. It made for an atmosphere far more conducive to a good performance out of me.

I won't be posting the songs up on the internet yet because a mixing error caused the first half a second of Bitterness to be chopped off, Sam's going to sort that out and send me the file, other than that it sounds every bit as good as I have a right to expect for what it is. It's something I should have done a long time ago and I'm glad I've finally done it as I can get this round to promoters now and hopefully get a few more gigs. I might even try and make a bit of money out of it if I can!

See y'all next time

12/10/2011: Open Mic Night at the Hartley Arms

It's been far too long since I was last here, and to be honest I only remembered it was because Sam texted me in the day saying so. It's one of those nice times where you think you're not going to get a gig in this week, and then it turns out that you do. And Sam's open nights are always good fun.

On this particular occasion, however, I'd hurt my right arm. Not quite sure how I did this, I think I've pulled a muscle in there or something, but whatever the reason anything heavier than a glass of water and my forearm would scream in protest. So none of my usual pyrotechnics tonight, then. I kicked off with Get Out Of My Head; I'm familiar enough with the place in order to get away with that and it worked quite well I think, considering how long it's been since I last played it. (At least a couple of weeks ago.)

After explaining about my arm and fogging the heckler who told me it was due to wanking, I then went on to play Chapter One. I think I played it ok but for some reason I was really struggling with the fingerpicking, it wasn't coming as naturally to me as it usually does. Not that it comes naturally anyway, I'm far more used to playing with a plectrum, but it was a struggle to do it. Probably because I don't practice it enough; it's rare that I find the time to do that these days! I didn't make any mistakes, except once in the second verse, so all it took was a bit of concentration. And I do have to remind people that the song is over, probably due to its stop-start nature; I wouldn't normally do it at a gig like this to be honest but given the circumstances was probably the best choice.

A bit of a risk for the next one: I played a new song, A Lonely Night, after warning the crowd about the bad language and relating it's subject matter to Sam's gig with The Replicas that would have gone on last (friday) night but had to be cancelled because they hadn't sold enough tickets. A risk because I'd only recently learned all the words, and we all know what happens when I try to do a song I don't know well enough... thankfully I needn't have worried, I sang the song as near to perfect as it was ever going to get for trying it out in a live environment for the first time, and the Chili Peppers style vocal delivery was a bit of a new step for me which Sam thought was 'class.' Couldn't receive a higher compliment mate, thanks!

I then went ahead and did some covers. I chose High by Feeder, as the song I pay when I'm not allowed to play Oasis songs* which was kind of ironic as the lads at the table to my left were convinced I was playing Wonderwall. Trouble is that song is so easy for me to play now I stop concentrating and fluff the chords; I shouldn't be playing a D of any kind in that song! Other than that it seemed to go OK, though I think it might be worth knowing more than one Oasis song for next time...

I finished up with A Little Respect at the request for a fast 80s song. If that didn't mess up my arm even worse, I don't know what will. But it went as well as it ever does, and as a way to wrap up a light-hearted set like this one I could pick far worse.

The quality of the rest of the night was consistently good fun all the way through and I'm always pleased to be a part of it. Still need to get me, Sam and Elliot playing some gigs together, time to email Acoustic Brew and see if we can't sort something out...

*This came from a gig I did nearly 4 years ago with Phil, sometimes known as Fatbwoi, where I was expressley forbidden to play anything by Oasis. He hates them. Ever since then I've used the Feeder song as my replacement, I could do with learning some more songs by those guys as well...

8/10/2011: The Brierly Hill Project at Stourbridge Cricket Club

I’d got started on this one through Hannah who I used to be in Perception with. The band may be gone, but the spirit still remains…

We began with Scars by Papa Roach, which we played quite well in spite of the fact that I was in mortal terror that Hannah would put some Dudley colloquialisms into the lyrics and give me the giggles. Thankfully this didn’t happen, and we played it very well. Hannah seems to regard this as her signature tune, and I think she could pick far worse songs than this.

We thought we were only going to get two songs for this one so we played another song we did in Perception; Because The Night by Patti Smith. I’m really starting to enjoy this one and it might find its way in to my set in the not too distant future. I think this was the best one we played in terms of accuracy, and there were plenty of people in the audience who knew the song. (And if you choose to interpret that remark as ‘Plenty of people in the audience old enough to remember when that song was released, well, that’s up to you I suppose.) It’s a good one!

And then we discovered we were allowed 3 songs after all, so we played the other one that we’d rehearsed, which was Love Me Tender, the Norah Jones version (or at least as near as I could get to that, having not really heard that or any version of the song enough times to feel justified in emulating it.) The song actually fits Hannah’s voice quite well and it sounded really good; I had a very positive feeling about our performance when we had finished it.

I had the same... not a problem, but a little niggle all the way through the show – Hannah was reading from her words on a music stand. I don’t know what that meant for her performance, but what it meant for me is that I kept looking over to it, and reading the version of the chords that Hannah had got written down, which if I’m honest weren’t all that accurate. So because of that I played the wrong chord a couple of times. But hey, if that’s the worst mistake I ever make at a gig I think I’ll have done quite well, and none of it spoiled the night; it was really good fun and I’m looking forward to the next one.

6/10/2011: Jam Night at the Samson and Lion

Some of you may recall that I came to this jam night ages ago back in April and had a go playing some covers in front of a modest but very appreciative (and by appreciative, I largely mean drunk) audience. I didn’t return, not because I didn’t want to, but because it was on a Thursday and I joined the Roleplaying club not too long after that. Since then, the night has changed hands from Kev on the keyboards who apparently quit, to my old friend Richard Sadler who’s taken it upon himself to set up a jam night in the pub, and for the opening night he needed a drummer. Enter yours truly…

I’ve said it before but not for nothing: I don’t claim to be a drummer. I do, however, have a pair of sticks and some idea of what to do with them. My kit will need something like £600 spending on it before it will be even close to playable, and since I only paid £250 for it in the first place (actually my Dad did,) I can’t see that happening too soon. Rich said he had an electric drum kit I could use, and I thought that wouldn’t be too bad; I’ve used them before and got on reasonably well. I got to the pub to find what I can only describe as ‘Rock Band Drums.’ There were 4 pads I could hit with a stick; a kick, a snare, a hi-hat, and a crash. So I had all the ground covered, and away we went.

The classic rock stuff that Rich likes to play is rarely all that complicated on the drums, which is probably as well, as I needed to keep it simple. Obviously there were the limitations of the drum kit, but there was also the fact that the top range (cymbal sounds) wasn’t cutting through the mix very well so all anyone could hear were the kick and the snare. Nonetheless I think I did a solid job of keeping it going for about half of the night, and the band appreciated it. It wasn’t ideal, but it was far better than nothing and everybody knew it. I think we did quite well.

Rich was also kind enough to let me have a go playing a small acoustic set…

Purely because I sound checked with a C chord and could think of nothing better, I had a go at playing Laid by James. Not a song I play very often because I don’t honestly think I’m that good at the necessary falsetto, but considering how long it had been since I’d last played it acoustically (we do it in The Fakes, where I use my pedals and the volume control on my Strat to make an approximation of string sounds) I played it quite well. Not sure how well it went down, or how many people recognised it, but not a bad start.

Despite the nature of the night, I would have felt it was lost opportunity if I didn’t play at least one of my original songs, so I had a go at We Will Survive. I’m getting more familiar with the sound of my own voice now, and at this point of the show I noticed that either the microphone or the PA we were putting it through wasn’t brilliant and there was some distortion on my voice. I doubt, therefore, that anyone would understand what I was singing, and with that on my mind it was trickier to put the usual kind of energy in to the performance. But I got through it all the way without making any mistakes, and that’s not nothing.

I then did Always Remember Me again, and I think there were some people in the room who recognised the song because I could see them singing, or at least mouthing, along. I must remember to ask anybody I see doing that whether that song works or not, considering the song was as far as I know originally sung by a black woman in a contemporary soul band, a far cry from my voice which sounds like a very large nail being rubbed against a very small plank of wood… maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t, but I play it live a lot now so it would be good to find out which.

At a request from the crowd for some Oasis, I went in to the only one of their songs I both know how to play and know all the words to: Stop Crying Your Heart Out. Again, I don’t sound anything like Liam Gallagher, but Oasis are the ultimate pub band and you can never go wrong with playing some of their songs in one. Rich was kind enough to join me on backing vocals; I was genuinely pleased to see this happen as that I think is what it’s all about. So guys, if you ever see me paying this and you know the guitar part to it, by all means join in! And especially if you know the harmonic bit at the end, which I do but forgot when it was time for me to play it..,

I finished off with Storm From The North. I think this was testing the water as much as anything else, because it was vastly different from my other song, and I probably wanted to see how well it went down. Whether by the style of the music or whether because, 5 songs in to a set, people were starting to get used to me I don’t know, but it seemed to go down better than my other original song tonight. Without being sure of the reasons there’s only so much I can take from it, but it’s an interesting observation if nothing else.

I’m back with the Role players now so it’s unlikely that I’ll come back to the jam night in the near future. But if it’s still going when I get a night off then maybe… Cheers Rich, and well done for putting it on. I can’t think of a single musician who wouldn’t thank you for giving them somewhere else to play.

29/9/2011: Open Mic at The Woodman

Because I've joined the Roleplay Club in Blackheath that takes up most of my Thursdays, I haven't been able to come down to the Woodman for a while. That's a shame because I've really enjoyed playing the open nights there in the past, and I've made some good friends out of it! However, I took a couple of nights off Roleplay and decided to make the journey up to Bilbrook to see what happened:

Coming up on the end of the month when no one's got any money, there wasn't all that many people there, and those that were I knew most of them at least by sight. However, they haven't heard me play Always Remember Me yet, so I thought I'd give them that. I played it slightly better tonight, and I think it went down OK, though I'm not sure how to guauge how well-known that song is in an environment like that.

One song that did seem to go down well at the Woodman when I played there in the past was Dear Mr Manager, so I gave that another go. The quiet and morbid nature of the song, along with it's apparent popularity, meant that it was deathly quiet in the pub while I was playing. A high complement indeed, and it is nice to get through it without making any mistakes...

At this point I found myself quite incapable of remembering what I was doing or why, so I launched in to Bitterness. This goes down as well as it ever does but - and I really do take no pleasure at all from saying this - is getting to be a bit old hat now; the one that I feel obliged to play at every gig I do. Of all the songs I did tonight, this one was the most predictable, if the best played.

I gave the Foggy Dew a run through as well. This is a song that I like to play but haven't played too many times in recent months, simply because I've not found the right atmosphere to do it in (Katies is the best bet, but even that depends on the age and demographic of the audience.) For that reason I think I fluffed up a couple of chords, though none of the lyrics; mistakes I would have preferred not to have made but I doubt it did too much damage.

I recognised that there weren't all that many of us playing tonight so I asked Sam if it was OK if I could do one more. At his request, I played Storm From The North, which thinking about it I don't think I've actually played at the Woodman before. It's a flattering feeling to have one of your own songs requested! Sam described it as 'The Crashpoint Song' and it took me a few seconds to realise which one he meant. I thought I would be clever and try to put a Crashpoint song in the middle of it, I injected a bit of Keep Your Distance to ramp it down to the quiet bit, and fell flat on my face as I forgot the words. To my own song, not Emma's lyrics...

Later on I went up and did another few songs. I tried Buck Rogers by Feeder but I find this very difficult to do on acoustic because of the barre chords involved. I'm fine on electric but the performance of this one suffered for that.

Then I played a song I hadn't played for literally years: Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead. It was a good feeling to hear cries of 'Tune!' as I hit the opening chords. This song I really made an effort to learn how to play when I was 17, and I still remember all the words and chords which makes it quite something, even if Radiohead aren't a band I make a habit of listening to.

I finished up with Halelujah, closer to the Jeff Buckley version but I'm not quite that good! I was as surprised as anyone that I managed to make it all the way through without forgetting any of the words, and I was reliably informed by Sam afterwards that considering he hates that song with a passion, it was one of the most pallatable versions he'd heard. That's not nothing!

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable night at The Woodman. It will be a long time before I come to another one but it's nice to know that it's a musical venture that has remained reasonably solid for Sam over the last year or so...

24/9/2011: Royal Oak with Mezzotonic

Fallen behind a lot with this, and the problem with writing gig blogs a week and a half after I've done them means I can't remember what the hell I actually played. But hey, here goes...

I do seem to remember varying my opening songs with this one, kicking off I think with Girl's Names and Get Out Of My Head. The knock-on effect of both this and the fact that I wasn't really concentrating on my set list was to have consequences later, but for the moment this seemed to be a solid performance.

Next came the song that I'm pretty sure now is called Always Remember Me. I've been playing this quite a bit lately and people seem to like it, I'm not sure how fond I am of my guitar playing on this one as I tend to either rush the verses or not articulate all the sounds in the chorus when I know I can do better. That's something to practice, but to be perfectly honest I'd rather get my own material down to a T...

The rest of the gig went by in something of a haze, except that I remained on the stage for longer than my usual 7 songs. At one point I did High by Feeder while a Commodores video was showing on the screen above, made a snide comment about Lionel Ritchie's haircut beggaring belief (It was 3 Times A Lady if you want to have a look) and forgetting the words, which shouldn't really have happened but comical observations are something I have been trying to do lately and the lads from Mezzotonic, who's gig it was, at least found it funny...

Of course, I ended up using all my mid-paced songs up and putting my 3 fastest ones towards the end, which would have just been dull. While this did result in a rare and not-altogether-welcome outing of Prisoner of my Mind, it shouldn't really have happened and added to the idea that tonight I just wasn't concentrating. Next time I do a full gig (I've got a couple booked for the Wharf Bar,) I will have to think about that a bit more; I don't want to fall flat on my face for not being bothered to write a set-list!

Kudos to Mezzotonic, though. The gig itself suffered from a poor turnout - the night started with about 15 people in the room, half of which walked out just before I went on, and the rest of them walked out just before the band went on. It's never easy to play a gig when there are less people in the audience than there are in the band, but it meant the band got to try some material and covers that they wouldn't normally play, and I felt quite privelidged to see that. There were some other lads who showed up at one point, but there was football on in the other room, so, you know...