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.
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