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!
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