This was an open air gig at the bandstand in the park, hosted by Acoustic Brew. I'm not going to do a track by track on this one, because unfortunately I was let down by losing power to the sound system and I have a feeling my set was a constant stream of feedback - and not the constructive kind. But for the record, the set list was:
We Will Survive (slow intro)
Girl's Names
Walkin' On The Sun
Storm from the North
The First Footprint
Get Out Of My Head
Bitterness
A couple of things though:
I'd borrowed Dale's guitar because mine wasn't coming through very well in the open air environment, and it was the first time I'd done an acoustic gig - or any gig, thinking about it - with a guitar in Eflat tuning. For the most part it worked OK but with some of those capo'd songs, the close proximity of the frets really did make them harder to play accurately. Then again, that also coincided with the first time I've ever played Walkin' On The Sun in the right key! I mention this because when I get my new guitar (hey, a guy can dream) I'm thinking of keeping it in Eflat tuning. I'm not sure how good an idea this is because it's just so I can play things like Smash Mouth, 30 Seconds To Mars etc... I've never actually written anything in Eflat. Though if I ever do get round to doing Crashpoint again it is something I could consider as it fits my voice a little better - in that environment. On the other hand, if I had a guitar permanently in Eflat, chances are I might write something in the tuning!
I also made the exact same mistake I did when I played a similar set up in Stourbridge - not wear fingerless gloves! My fingers were absolutely frozen and honestly I'm surprised I managed to keep the notes as accurate as I did! Fair enough I only do this once a year, but it wouldn't be a bad investment, all things considered.
A nice day, in all. No one went mad for it but no one would in this sort of environment, and as an acoustic act I was basically background noise for a couple of hours out in the park. Glorified busking really. I've had worse days!
Saturday 24 December 2011
23/21/2011: The Holly Bush, Cradley Heath
This was another gig put on by Cal and Joy from Prickly Promotions. They put me on first again and I was left with the unenviable task of opening the night, which in front of a very unfamiliar crowd (which included my Dad and my brother, neither of whom had been to any of my gigs for years) was always going to be a challenge.
So what made me think it was a good idea to open with Storm from the North? It's not exactly my most accessible song and would usually go somewhere around the middle. I've opened with it in the recent past but it works better in front of people who have seen me before and have heard me open with the same 3 songs a number of times. That being said, I played the song well, with the exception of maybe one fluffed chord.
After introducing myself and making the Shrewish Vegan comment, I launched in to Bitterness - the clean version, as there were kids in the audience. It's funny, I spend 9/10 years refusing to write swearing in to my songs, with one or two very notable exceptions (anyone remember Jacobean Tragedy?) and now that I finally do, I come to realise just how constricting it can be with regard to my set list. I don't even bother playing A Lonely Night if there's kids in the audience; it's just too problematical for that. The song went as well as it ever does, though I may need a new capo before too long as I think the spring is going in the one I'm currently using.
Get Out Of My Head was next. I played this one OK and covered up the times I nearly forgot the words with some very slight delays in delivering the vocals, which added to it actually. Not sure if it was the right audience for it - it's the arty kind of song that tends to go down better in front of an older audience than this - but the response had been quite flat up to this point and I was thinking I'd have to rescue the set with a couple of covers at the end, so I wanted to get my heavyweights out first.
At that point I launched in to one song that is always guaranteed to go down well: A Little Respect by Erasure/Wheatus. There were some people in the crowd who knew it, and I saw Cal having a dance while manning the door to the room, but I think the fact that I cheered up made this song work as much as anything else. After all, I don't sound much like the guys from Erasure or Wheatus! Slightly mistimed on some of those chords, which I put down to lack of practice as this was the first time I'd picked up my guitar for about a week.
After asking the audience if they wanted a happy song or a sad song, I got the reply that I'm always going to get to such a question: Happy. I followed it up by joking that it writes off most of my set list, and went in to Never Forget You by the Noisettes. I don't know how many people knew it but it was the best I've ever played that one, either on my own or with the band, and as a set closer I could have picked far worse songs than this.
So tonight was made tough by the unfamiliarity of the audience, and for that reason I'd probably have been better off aiming for a standard set peppered with slightly more than the usual number of covers. Something to keep in mind for next week when I'm playing the Cancer Research afternoon event for Prickly. All things considered though, I think I did a good job. If I'd change anything it would be the position of the stool, as I was constantly having to lean forward on a stool that felt a few pounds away from breaking anyway, and this would have meant an admittedly comical but not entirely welcome fall down the stairs. Thanks to everyone who came, see you all again next week!
So what made me think it was a good idea to open with Storm from the North? It's not exactly my most accessible song and would usually go somewhere around the middle. I've opened with it in the recent past but it works better in front of people who have seen me before and have heard me open with the same 3 songs a number of times. That being said, I played the song well, with the exception of maybe one fluffed chord.
After introducing myself and making the Shrewish Vegan comment, I launched in to Bitterness - the clean version, as there were kids in the audience. It's funny, I spend 9/10 years refusing to write swearing in to my songs, with one or two very notable exceptions (anyone remember Jacobean Tragedy?) and now that I finally do, I come to realise just how constricting it can be with regard to my set list. I don't even bother playing A Lonely Night if there's kids in the audience; it's just too problematical for that. The song went as well as it ever does, though I may need a new capo before too long as I think the spring is going in the one I'm currently using.
Get Out Of My Head was next. I played this one OK and covered up the times I nearly forgot the words with some very slight delays in delivering the vocals, which added to it actually. Not sure if it was the right audience for it - it's the arty kind of song that tends to go down better in front of an older audience than this - but the response had been quite flat up to this point and I was thinking I'd have to rescue the set with a couple of covers at the end, so I wanted to get my heavyweights out first.
At that point I launched in to one song that is always guaranteed to go down well: A Little Respect by Erasure/Wheatus. There were some people in the crowd who knew it, and I saw Cal having a dance while manning the door to the room, but I think the fact that I cheered up made this song work as much as anything else. After all, I don't sound much like the guys from Erasure or Wheatus! Slightly mistimed on some of those chords, which I put down to lack of practice as this was the first time I'd picked up my guitar for about a week.
After asking the audience if they wanted a happy song or a sad song, I got the reply that I'm always going to get to such a question: Happy. I followed it up by joking that it writes off most of my set list, and went in to Never Forget You by the Noisettes. I don't know how many people knew it but it was the best I've ever played that one, either on my own or with the band, and as a set closer I could have picked far worse songs than this.
So tonight was made tough by the unfamiliarity of the audience, and for that reason I'd probably have been better off aiming for a standard set peppered with slightly more than the usual number of covers. Something to keep in mind for next week when I'm playing the Cancer Research afternoon event for Prickly. All things considered though, I think I did a good job. If I'd change anything it would be the position of the stool, as I was constantly having to lean forward on a stool that felt a few pounds away from breaking anyway, and this would have meant an admittedly comical but not entirely welcome fall down the stairs. Thanks to everyone who came, see you all again next week!
Thursday 22 December 2011
17/12/2011: Grand Theft Audio at the Fordhouse Cricket Club
I didn't think to write my set list down for this one. Let's hope I can remember it...
This one came about because someone dropped out of the gig that Grand Theft Audio were doing at the Fordhouse Cricket Club in Wolverhampton, and Sam was kind enough to ask me to fill in. I was only too happy to oblige...
By the precedent of the gig we had done last Wednesday, Storm from the North appeared to be working quite well as the set opener, so I decided to go for it again. I'm not entirely sure but I think this one might have suffered a bit from sound problems; because of circumstances beyond any capacity or desire to control I didn't get a soundcheck and to me it didn't sound all that good. I played it OK as far as I know but it wasn't coming through the foldback monitors very clearly. That being said, it probably sounded nothing like how it comes out the front, and nobody said anything to me afterwards, so it was probably OK.
I introduced Bitterness as 'A reasonably polite version of the song that should be familiar to anyone who's seen me before,' which was about half the people in the room. So one of my biggest guns was fired early... possibly not too good a choice now that I think about it, at the time I reckon I'd have thought that I needed to keep the mood cheery and didn't want to lower the tone by playing a spiteful tirade of abuse, swearing or no, right at the end. (By the way, I chose to do the clean version because there were a significant number of small children in the room.) I played it OK, probably not my best but not bad at all.
Get Out Of My Head was next, but for once this one was pretty nonedescript. I can't really think of anything to say about this one, although thinking about it I've actually gone and relegated it to the mid-set jobbers...
And then I went and mucked it all up AGAIN by forgetting the same lyric in The First Footprint that I did the previous Wednesday at Katies. This was something of a let-down for me, especially since I stopped to think about it. I crawed through the song, thinking that though I'd teased the audience by singing the first line of All I Want For Christmas is You - a song I neither know how to sing nor play - I couldn't helpt thinking I'd have been better off singing that one.
I decided not to go out on a limb and play the slow intro to We Will Survive, as I needed to recover from the last song and it was not the time for experimentation! This one was actually quite worrying as I found myself unable to breathe for those last couple of choruses. Thinking about it, I've got another gig tomorrow - I'll check this one again. If this is something to do with the weight I've gained over the last year then I guess this will be as good an excuse as I need to do some exercise, stop eating crap and drop some of it...
I know the tone of this blog will have come across as quite negative, so let me just say it wasn't actually as bad as all that. I'm picking myself up on things I need to improve but it's not like these little mistakes spoiled the gig for me or the night for anyone else. It actually went OK. That's probably the last gig I'll do for Sam this year so I want to take this opportunity to thank him for all his support this year, I reckon about a third of what I've done couldn't have happened without him so well done, the music scene in Wolverhampton would be a poorer place without him!
This one came about because someone dropped out of the gig that Grand Theft Audio were doing at the Fordhouse Cricket Club in Wolverhampton, and Sam was kind enough to ask me to fill in. I was only too happy to oblige...
By the precedent of the gig we had done last Wednesday, Storm from the North appeared to be working quite well as the set opener, so I decided to go for it again. I'm not entirely sure but I think this one might have suffered a bit from sound problems; because of circumstances beyond any capacity or desire to control I didn't get a soundcheck and to me it didn't sound all that good. I played it OK as far as I know but it wasn't coming through the foldback monitors very clearly. That being said, it probably sounded nothing like how it comes out the front, and nobody said anything to me afterwards, so it was probably OK.
I introduced Bitterness as 'A reasonably polite version of the song that should be familiar to anyone who's seen me before,' which was about half the people in the room. So one of my biggest guns was fired early... possibly not too good a choice now that I think about it, at the time I reckon I'd have thought that I needed to keep the mood cheery and didn't want to lower the tone by playing a spiteful tirade of abuse, swearing or no, right at the end. (By the way, I chose to do the clean version because there were a significant number of small children in the room.) I played it OK, probably not my best but not bad at all.
Get Out Of My Head was next, but for once this one was pretty nonedescript. I can't really think of anything to say about this one, although thinking about it I've actually gone and relegated it to the mid-set jobbers...
And then I went and mucked it all up AGAIN by forgetting the same lyric in The First Footprint that I did the previous Wednesday at Katies. This was something of a let-down for me, especially since I stopped to think about it. I crawed through the song, thinking that though I'd teased the audience by singing the first line of All I Want For Christmas is You - a song I neither know how to sing nor play - I couldn't helpt thinking I'd have been better off singing that one.
I decided not to go out on a limb and play the slow intro to We Will Survive, as I needed to recover from the last song and it was not the time for experimentation! This one was actually quite worrying as I found myself unable to breathe for those last couple of choruses. Thinking about it, I've got another gig tomorrow - I'll check this one again. If this is something to do with the weight I've gained over the last year then I guess this will be as good an excuse as I need to do some exercise, stop eating crap and drop some of it...
I know the tone of this blog will have come across as quite negative, so let me just say it wasn't actually as bad as all that. I'm picking myself up on things I need to improve but it's not like these little mistakes spoiled the gig for me or the night for anyone else. It actually went OK. That's probably the last gig I'll do for Sam this year so I want to take this opportunity to thank him for all his support this year, I reckon about a third of what I've done couldn't have happened without him so well done, the music scene in Wolverhampton would be a poorer place without him!
16/12/2011
Just a quick one...
Aki Maera played a gig at a hall in Penkridge who's name I can't remember at this point. It was the same set list as before; we hadn't had time to rehearse again or iron out the previous identified faults, and the only real difference to the procedings - including all the delays - was the fact that I broke my A string half way through In The Attic. To be honest this was my fault as it had been nearly 2 years since I last changed the things, I should never have allowed that to happen and I know it.
More than that though, the band just weren't feeling it. I guess, with some semblance of sound management, we sounded better than we did at the Wheat Sheaf a couple of weeks before. But we didn't come away from this one feeling anywhere near as good as we did after that. All bands have a bad gig at some point and the onus will be on us to make sure it doesn't happen again, but as I said before, we have got a lot of work to do before we get there...
Aki Maera played a gig at a hall in Penkridge who's name I can't remember at this point. It was the same set list as before; we hadn't had time to rehearse again or iron out the previous identified faults, and the only real difference to the procedings - including all the delays - was the fact that I broke my A string half way through In The Attic. To be honest this was my fault as it had been nearly 2 years since I last changed the things, I should never have allowed that to happen and I know it.
More than that though, the band just weren't feeling it. I guess, with some semblance of sound management, we sounded better than we did at the Wheat Sheaf a couple of weeks before. But we didn't come away from this one feeling anywhere near as good as we did after that. All bands have a bad gig at some point and the onus will be on us to make sure it doesn't happen again, but as I said before, we have got a lot of work to do before we get there...
Thursday 15 December 2011
14/12/2011: Acoustic Brew at Katy Fitzgeralds with Sam Draisey and Elliot Burton
This is part of an experiment between me, Sam and Elliot; we've been putting together some good sets between us over the last few years, and after Codfest, I felt that the next step was to take the show on the road. We're trying to get gigs with some local promoters getting us all playing on the same night, to get people used to the idea that the 3 of us are playing together. We're tentatively calling it 'The Travelling Fools' at the moment. It was a modest audience tonight in Katies, no more than about 6 or 7 people at the most. Nonetheless, I felt the stakes for me were quite high after some truly storming sets from Elliot and Sam. Elliot dispensed with his usual covers in favour of his own material; it really drove home just what a good songwriter he actually is, and Sam was as ever immaculate. His Christmas song, which is called 'Nan's song' and is available to download, by the way, will set familiar memories off with a great many people...
It didn't get off to a flying start for me. Following the other's example I opened with my Christmas song The First Footprint, and proceeded to forget the words halfway through. Stopping to figure it out was a mistake that I really shouldn't be making at this stage, but as I said afterwards, in my defence I only play that song a couple of times a year anyway.
I then went in to Storm from the North. It was originally my intention to open with it because I wanted to experiment by putting it at a different point in the set. (Regular blog readers will know I almost always put it either 5th, or as close to the middle as I can.) I found the low E a little difficult to sing but other than that it went quite well. Elliot said afterwards that this was the song he remembered as having the widest vocal range, and from low E to high C I'm inclined to agree. I forgot he hadn't heard me play this one yet!
Next was Girl's Names. That country lick at the start's getting smoother! That song is quite familiar to me now and I had to make an effort to keep concentrating but I managed it.
I then tried We Will Survive with a 'slow' intro. I'll have to be careful where I'm going with that, I haven't forgotten the Crashpoint days where I'd come up with a fast rock song, then come up with a slower picked version of the same song and Emma would like the slow version better. It worked well enough tonight in front of what was let's face it a very familiar audience, but if people don't know what the song's supposed to sound like in the first place, I doubt it would make much of an impact and would be misleading to the people who then heard the 'real' version.
I realised too late that I'd played We Will Survive too early; and I had to put Get Out Of My Head and A Lonely Night - two songs that move at a very similar pace - together. Not something I would have chosen to do, but I haven't written a set list for near enough a year now so I'm bound to make mistakes like that on occasion. I played A Lonely Night, after refusing to explain what it was about (poor gig attendance) as the small number of people who were there would find it quite patronising. Dale and Sam listened to my lyrics and were amused when they figured it out, and Dale looked surprised, shocked, and not a little entertained by the foul language in the song which for once I was allowed to use. There were times when I was about a tenth of a second away from forgetting the words to it and came in quite late with the vocals, but with that kind of loose vocal style it didn't make much difference.
I tried Get Out Of My Head, I've taken to doing a 'buzzsaw' intro to it which I like, and if an audience has seen me before I think it's probably good for them to be going, 'Oh wow, what's he going to do now?' and then play something familiar. The song went pretty well actually, and my earlier mistake with the order of the songs didn't seem to matter.
I ended with Bitterness, after dedicating it to the Wharf Bar, where I sat for three and a half hours last Saturday and didn't get to play. As you can imagine, this put me in a foul mood, and I might have another song out of that if I can sort some music out to it. I was very impressed tonight when I started stomping in the quiet bit and everybody else started stomping along with me, and imitated the 'bang bang bang' bit on the tables! That's probably the best I've ever ended a show, and Sam told me afterwards it was the best he'd ever seen me!
Overall I'm very pleased with how I played, it was once again an example of a time where I've played to a small but appreciative audience and really enjoyed the experience.
With the set lists, by the way, perhaps in the future I might be able to organise my set a little better if I, you know, write one. But the most I usually play is 7 songs, and it only really helps if I've got a band with me who need to know what they're supposed to be doing. So at present, I'll stick to what I'm doing...
See you a week on Friday at the Holly Bush in Cradley Heath!
It didn't get off to a flying start for me. Following the other's example I opened with my Christmas song The First Footprint, and proceeded to forget the words halfway through. Stopping to figure it out was a mistake that I really shouldn't be making at this stage, but as I said afterwards, in my defence I only play that song a couple of times a year anyway.
I then went in to Storm from the North. It was originally my intention to open with it because I wanted to experiment by putting it at a different point in the set. (Regular blog readers will know I almost always put it either 5th, or as close to the middle as I can.) I found the low E a little difficult to sing but other than that it went quite well. Elliot said afterwards that this was the song he remembered as having the widest vocal range, and from low E to high C I'm inclined to agree. I forgot he hadn't heard me play this one yet!
Next was Girl's Names. That country lick at the start's getting smoother! That song is quite familiar to me now and I had to make an effort to keep concentrating but I managed it.
I then tried We Will Survive with a 'slow' intro. I'll have to be careful where I'm going with that, I haven't forgotten the Crashpoint days where I'd come up with a fast rock song, then come up with a slower picked version of the same song and Emma would like the slow version better. It worked well enough tonight in front of what was let's face it a very familiar audience, but if people don't know what the song's supposed to sound like in the first place, I doubt it would make much of an impact and would be misleading to the people who then heard the 'real' version.
I realised too late that I'd played We Will Survive too early; and I had to put Get Out Of My Head and A Lonely Night - two songs that move at a very similar pace - together. Not something I would have chosen to do, but I haven't written a set list for near enough a year now so I'm bound to make mistakes like that on occasion. I played A Lonely Night, after refusing to explain what it was about (poor gig attendance) as the small number of people who were there would find it quite patronising. Dale and Sam listened to my lyrics and were amused when they figured it out, and Dale looked surprised, shocked, and not a little entertained by the foul language in the song which for once I was allowed to use. There were times when I was about a tenth of a second away from forgetting the words to it and came in quite late with the vocals, but with that kind of loose vocal style it didn't make much difference.
I tried Get Out Of My Head, I've taken to doing a 'buzzsaw' intro to it which I like, and if an audience has seen me before I think it's probably good for them to be going, 'Oh wow, what's he going to do now?' and then play something familiar. The song went pretty well actually, and my earlier mistake with the order of the songs didn't seem to matter.
I ended with Bitterness, after dedicating it to the Wharf Bar, where I sat for three and a half hours last Saturday and didn't get to play. As you can imagine, this put me in a foul mood, and I might have another song out of that if I can sort some music out to it. I was very impressed tonight when I started stomping in the quiet bit and everybody else started stomping along with me, and imitated the 'bang bang bang' bit on the tables! That's probably the best I've ever ended a show, and Sam told me afterwards it was the best he'd ever seen me!
Overall I'm very pleased with how I played, it was once again an example of a time where I've played to a small but appreciative audience and really enjoyed the experience.
With the set lists, by the way, perhaps in the future I might be able to organise my set a little better if I, you know, write one. But the most I usually play is 7 songs, and it only really helps if I've got a band with me who need to know what they're supposed to be doing. So at present, I'll stick to what I'm doing...
See you a week on Friday at the Holly Bush in Cradley Heath!
Thursday 8 December 2011
6/12/2011: Open Mic at the Hartley Arms
The open mic at the Hartley Arms that Sam runs has now been moved to Mondays for various reasons, most of which pertaining to the pub's domino team. Since then, the turnout has been modest, at best. That doesn't mean we can't have a laugh with it though...
As I did the last time I did an open mic with Sam, I decided to do a set of mainly covers. I told the people in the pub that I reckoned that some of my covers need a bit of practice; no time like the present. I began with Linger by The Cranberries, where I was once again reminded of how silly I feel singing the 7 syllables in the word 'finger.' I played it OK but to make that song work I really need to get that A6 chord in the right place. One to keep in mind for next time I'm playing with a girl singer though!
Next I did a Christmas song, The Power of Love, after a not-so-quick scramble to tune my guitar up. I fudged the E11 chord a couple of times, and I know I'm missing some chords because I'm pretty sure there's a Bm in there somewhere and I didn't play it once. It's also a little too high for me to sing, but that didn't stop me trying!
I followed that up with my one original song for the evening - The First Footprint, which I wrote for the Christmas album last year. Given the fact that it's been near enough that long since I last played it, I was surprised that I remembered all the words, though I did mess up a couple of chords. I certainly enjoy playing it more than my new one, which I haven't learned properly yet and doesn't really capture that same Christmassy spirit...
I explained to the audience that despite my intentions to enjoy Christmas last year when I wrote that song, I found it very difficult owing to the onion in my basement, and spilling oil over the engine of my car. Realising that I was moaning far too much, I decided to cheer up a little bit with A Little Respect, the one cover I do that I can play near enough perfectly because I play it so much. Need to be careful with those Bflats, other than that I'm there.
When I went up for my second set, I began by playing a song that I hadn't played for years and certainly never played live, Let Robeson Sing by the Manic Street Preachers. It's one of the ones I learned to play when I was just starting to learn to play guitar, and for that reason I think has stuck with me since then; I'm still getting most of it right including the words. Not bad, not bad!
I then reduced the volume to barely even a whisper and played Mad World, closer to the Gary Jules version as much as anything else. I have to be careful when I'm doing this, and I certainly don't do it much, but in this case it really worked because the room went quiet and you could hear a pin drop. I'll certainly break this one out again for a suitably morbid gig!
Then I decided to play some Feeder, settling on Yesterday Went Too Soon, which I'm enjoying playing more than High at the moment. I should probably learn some of the songs of their more recent albums to cover their later career; people barely recognise Feeder songs anyway so it's not as though it will make much difference to the impact of the show. In any case, Yesterday proved a little too high for my voice tonight, and I could feel it breaking in some places. Still love playing it though!
I finished off with probably my favourite Stone Roses tune, She Bangs The Drums. That one always goes down well no matter who I play it to, which says something given what a 'scene' band the Stone Roses were. One I think I shall keep and do again in the future.
Not a bad show, all in all, though it was a case of experimenting with some different songs to a small but familiar audience. It's certainly been useful for finding out what covers work and what don't, so I know which to break out in the future!
As I did the last time I did an open mic with Sam, I decided to do a set of mainly covers. I told the people in the pub that I reckoned that some of my covers need a bit of practice; no time like the present. I began with Linger by The Cranberries, where I was once again reminded of how silly I feel singing the 7 syllables in the word 'finger.' I played it OK but to make that song work I really need to get that A6 chord in the right place. One to keep in mind for next time I'm playing with a girl singer though!
Next I did a Christmas song, The Power of Love, after a not-so-quick scramble to tune my guitar up. I fudged the E11 chord a couple of times, and I know I'm missing some chords because I'm pretty sure there's a Bm in there somewhere and I didn't play it once. It's also a little too high for me to sing, but that didn't stop me trying!
I followed that up with my one original song for the evening - The First Footprint, which I wrote for the Christmas album last year. Given the fact that it's been near enough that long since I last played it, I was surprised that I remembered all the words, though I did mess up a couple of chords. I certainly enjoy playing it more than my new one, which I haven't learned properly yet and doesn't really capture that same Christmassy spirit...
I explained to the audience that despite my intentions to enjoy Christmas last year when I wrote that song, I found it very difficult owing to the onion in my basement, and spilling oil over the engine of my car. Realising that I was moaning far too much, I decided to cheer up a little bit with A Little Respect, the one cover I do that I can play near enough perfectly because I play it so much. Need to be careful with those Bflats, other than that I'm there.
When I went up for my second set, I began by playing a song that I hadn't played for years and certainly never played live, Let Robeson Sing by the Manic Street Preachers. It's one of the ones I learned to play when I was just starting to learn to play guitar, and for that reason I think has stuck with me since then; I'm still getting most of it right including the words. Not bad, not bad!
I then reduced the volume to barely even a whisper and played Mad World, closer to the Gary Jules version as much as anything else. I have to be careful when I'm doing this, and I certainly don't do it much, but in this case it really worked because the room went quiet and you could hear a pin drop. I'll certainly break this one out again for a suitably morbid gig!
Then I decided to play some Feeder, settling on Yesterday Went Too Soon, which I'm enjoying playing more than High at the moment. I should probably learn some of the songs of their more recent albums to cover their later career; people barely recognise Feeder songs anyway so it's not as though it will make much difference to the impact of the show. In any case, Yesterday proved a little too high for my voice tonight, and I could feel it breaking in some places. Still love playing it though!
I finished off with probably my favourite Stone Roses tune, She Bangs The Drums. That one always goes down well no matter who I play it to, which says something given what a 'scene' band the Stone Roses were. One I think I shall keep and do again in the future.
Not a bad show, all in all, though it was a case of experimenting with some different songs to a small but familiar audience. It's certainly been useful for finding out what covers work and what don't, so I know which to break out in the future!
30/11/2011: Aki Maera: The Wheatsheaf, Walsall
Aki Maera's first gig. This one had been a long time coming... and I also forgot to blog it. Now, I didn't really analyse the band's performance, only my own, so this time I'm just going to write out the set list and comment on the whole thing. The songs we played were:
Valkyries
In the Attic
Blissful Moment
Until Then
Shy
Drifted
Rise
Monday It's Too Late (encore)
We had some quite positive feedback from this, given that it was our first gig, and to be fair we played the songs pretty tightly. There were mistakes, there always are, and there were definitely some points where Cj was running out of steam on those drums and playing the songs a lot slower than we rehearsed, but this is all part of the learning curve. Marcus and Ian did very well indeed, considering neither of them had played a gig before. And the promoters seemed to enjoy it as well.
However someone who wishes to remain anonymous (I don't know who it is) provided us with some constructive feedback. Our biggest issue at the moment is the transition between songs; we use 3 different tunings in the band and having to change them between 4 out of the 8 songs we played deprived the set of any momentum. The way around it is basically to arrange the set more efficiently; some songs are better grouped together than others. It will blunt the impact of the set somewhat, because with the exception of Monday It's Too Late (this was an unplanned addition) that was the best order the songs could have gone in. But unless we can get a guitar tech to help us out, plus another 2 guitars for Marcus, we should try to rearrange the set. Constantly having to retune our guitars is more trouble than it's worth.
The other problem was our levels were out. Well, it's all very well people saying that after the gig when we can't do anything about it, but we were never going to notice during the show. Cj hadn't got a monitor, we could barely hear anything but ourselves, and even if we could, we know enough about playing live to know that the sound we get on the stage is nothing like how it sounds at the front of the house. One of the promoters needed to tell us that our levels were out and how to put them right; there was nothing really we could have done about it.
There were also apparently some less-than-kind comments about Marcus' voice. I haven't read them. I'm not going to worry too much about this, though. For one thing, I've seen a marked improvement in the whole band and particularly his voice over the last couple of months. For another, someone signed Kings of Leon and that guy's got a very rough voice. So if it's going to get better like it has been doing, and doesn't really matter too much anyway, then there's no problem!
We have no more gigs booked yet and I don't know when we're practicing next so watch this space...
Valkyries
In the Attic
Blissful Moment
Until Then
Shy
Drifted
Rise
Monday It's Too Late (encore)
We had some quite positive feedback from this, given that it was our first gig, and to be fair we played the songs pretty tightly. There were mistakes, there always are, and there were definitely some points where Cj was running out of steam on those drums and playing the songs a lot slower than we rehearsed, but this is all part of the learning curve. Marcus and Ian did very well indeed, considering neither of them had played a gig before. And the promoters seemed to enjoy it as well.
However someone who wishes to remain anonymous (I don't know who it is) provided us with some constructive feedback. Our biggest issue at the moment is the transition between songs; we use 3 different tunings in the band and having to change them between 4 out of the 8 songs we played deprived the set of any momentum. The way around it is basically to arrange the set more efficiently; some songs are better grouped together than others. It will blunt the impact of the set somewhat, because with the exception of Monday It's Too Late (this was an unplanned addition) that was the best order the songs could have gone in. But unless we can get a guitar tech to help us out, plus another 2 guitars for Marcus, we should try to rearrange the set. Constantly having to retune our guitars is more trouble than it's worth.
The other problem was our levels were out. Well, it's all very well people saying that after the gig when we can't do anything about it, but we were never going to notice during the show. Cj hadn't got a monitor, we could barely hear anything but ourselves, and even if we could, we know enough about playing live to know that the sound we get on the stage is nothing like how it sounds at the front of the house. One of the promoters needed to tell us that our levels were out and how to put them right; there was nothing really we could have done about it.
There were also apparently some less-than-kind comments about Marcus' voice. I haven't read them. I'm not going to worry too much about this, though. For one thing, I've seen a marked improvement in the whole band and particularly his voice over the last couple of months. For another, someone signed Kings of Leon and that guy's got a very rough voice. So if it's going to get better like it has been doing, and doesn't really matter too much anyway, then there's no problem!
We have no more gigs booked yet and I don't know when we're practicing next so watch this space...
3/12/2011: The Fakes: The Blue Brick, Brierly Hill
What's this, you say? 3 Fakes gigs in one year? Are you sure?
Yes, I am, although to be fair this was our first 'full' gig in over two years, the previous 2 gigs were at the Baseline and we can play for a lot longer than time constraints usually allow with those guys. Long-term blog readers will remember we completely bombed the last time we did a gig, and I won't lie there has been talk of "If we do a gig that shit again, let's call it a day." I won't go into the reasons why that gig went the way it did, but suffice to say the stakes were quite high for this one.
And we very nearly had to pull it! During the soundcheck it became apparent that our PA was cutting out every 2-3 minutes. We reckon it was because a capacitator had blown in the circuitry; how that could have happened on a PA that I think we've only used 3 times so far I don't know, but it had certainly been a long time since we last used it. Thankfully we knew someone in Wall Heath we could hire a PA mixer from and we went through that. Close call though.
What was different about this gig is that we had our own sound engineer (we usually do it ourselves) called Ryan helping us out. What he was basically doing all the way through the gig, fair play to him, was boosting the vocals when we needed them, so if he could see either me or Matt was about to sing he'd turn up our mics and back down again afterwards to stop them feeding back. The result, we were reliably informed by Bob Drew, was the best vocal mix we'd ever had. The same could not be said for the guitars, though. Ryan had told me to turn mine down, which from where he was standing was probably the right thing to do as I was overpowering the other instruments. However the sound was not carrying across the whole room, which meant for the first half of the gig no one could hear my guitar solos. I turned it up again for the next half of the show, but there was a huge variation of volume I needed for some of the songs and it's a difficult call to make. Seemed to work OK though, everyone enjoyed it...
Highlights? I think that was the best I ever played She Bangs The Drums, and I really like that song anyway so it was good to see people enjoy it. Steve running off the stage to go to the toilet before playing I Wanna Be Adored was amusing, if nothing else. Fire by Kasabian was a good one as well, I think I got an overall better sound by stroking the strings gently with my fingers. Probably shouldn't rule out the whammy bar though. And the gig overall felt better than the last one we did, we really enjoyed it and can't wait to be there again!
Development points: With the levels, I'm just going to have to be really aware of what I'm doing with the lead guitar. The easy option is to buy a boost pedal, but to be honest I'd only really use it in the Fakes (There's rarely a need to boost my sound in the 82s, and I play bass in Aki Maera) and that's a lot of money to spend on a pedal just to use on a few songs in a covers band that at the most does 3 gigs a year. I'd like to get some new songs rolling out for the next gig but that's going to be a little tricky. Things are going to slow down for The Fakes now in terms of rehearsals because Drewey's going to be working away for the next couple of months, and we'll only really have Friday to rehearse - if we can all make it. That's by no means a guarantee, given that I'm off to see Amy every couple of weeks, or she comes up to me, and Steve's shifts not being conducive to a regular practicing pattern! But I'll see what I can do with getting them to play some new songs, or at least some songs we've never played live before. We should get Acquiesce by Oasis out by next gig, I think.
Looking forward to it, whatever happens!
Yes, I am, although to be fair this was our first 'full' gig in over two years, the previous 2 gigs were at the Baseline and we can play for a lot longer than time constraints usually allow with those guys. Long-term blog readers will remember we completely bombed the last time we did a gig, and I won't lie there has been talk of "If we do a gig that shit again, let's call it a day." I won't go into the reasons why that gig went the way it did, but suffice to say the stakes were quite high for this one.
And we very nearly had to pull it! During the soundcheck it became apparent that our PA was cutting out every 2-3 minutes. We reckon it was because a capacitator had blown in the circuitry; how that could have happened on a PA that I think we've only used 3 times so far I don't know, but it had certainly been a long time since we last used it. Thankfully we knew someone in Wall Heath we could hire a PA mixer from and we went through that. Close call though.
What was different about this gig is that we had our own sound engineer (we usually do it ourselves) called Ryan helping us out. What he was basically doing all the way through the gig, fair play to him, was boosting the vocals when we needed them, so if he could see either me or Matt was about to sing he'd turn up our mics and back down again afterwards to stop them feeding back. The result, we were reliably informed by Bob Drew, was the best vocal mix we'd ever had. The same could not be said for the guitars, though. Ryan had told me to turn mine down, which from where he was standing was probably the right thing to do as I was overpowering the other instruments. However the sound was not carrying across the whole room, which meant for the first half of the gig no one could hear my guitar solos. I turned it up again for the next half of the show, but there was a huge variation of volume I needed for some of the songs and it's a difficult call to make. Seemed to work OK though, everyone enjoyed it...
Highlights? I think that was the best I ever played She Bangs The Drums, and I really like that song anyway so it was good to see people enjoy it. Steve running off the stage to go to the toilet before playing I Wanna Be Adored was amusing, if nothing else. Fire by Kasabian was a good one as well, I think I got an overall better sound by stroking the strings gently with my fingers. Probably shouldn't rule out the whammy bar though. And the gig overall felt better than the last one we did, we really enjoyed it and can't wait to be there again!
Development points: With the levels, I'm just going to have to be really aware of what I'm doing with the lead guitar. The easy option is to buy a boost pedal, but to be honest I'd only really use it in the Fakes (There's rarely a need to boost my sound in the 82s, and I play bass in Aki Maera) and that's a lot of money to spend on a pedal just to use on a few songs in a covers band that at the most does 3 gigs a year. I'd like to get some new songs rolling out for the next gig but that's going to be a little tricky. Things are going to slow down for The Fakes now in terms of rehearsals because Drewey's going to be working away for the next couple of months, and we'll only really have Friday to rehearse - if we can all make it. That's by no means a guarantee, given that I'm off to see Amy every couple of weeks, or she comes up to me, and Steve's shifts not being conducive to a regular practicing pattern! But I'll see what I can do with getting them to play some new songs, or at least some songs we've never played live before. We should get Acquiesce by Oasis out by next gig, I think.
Looking forward to it, whatever happens!
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