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!
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