I had a feeling that the open mic tonight was pretty much the only way I was going to get a gig in this week, and I'm always happy to oblige so I went down to Katies wondering what to play. I've pretty much got a regular set going now, even if I don't always play them in the same order, so tonight what I thought I would do is get out some of the miserable songs that I often leave out of my set these days, and give them another run:
I kicked off with Believe, still not quite 'believing' that I'm still playing a song I wrote over 5 years ago now. I still remember the words, and I still play all the chords right, probably because it's basically Hurt (Johnny Cash version) crossed with Dark Light by HIM. But it's familiar enough that I can play it without necessarily concentrating on what I am doing. I found myself thinking about the two very specific people that I wrote it about, and how their lives have moved on since then, and what they would be thinking if they knew I was singing about a part of their lives that, to my knowledge, is no longer relevant to either of them...
I didn't play Dear Mr Manager quite so well. It has been a very long time since I last played this one at all, and even though I didn't make any glaring errors when I was playing it, I can play it better than I did and I know it. Still, at least it was better than the time I had to stop to remember what the words were...
On the cards for a while has been a duet between me and Dale singing Wide Open Space by Mansun. I hadn't rehearsed this at all and neither had Dale; illness had put Dale off singing anything for a while and I certainly hadn't played it since the summer, that I can remember. We don't even play it in the Fakes anymore. Consequently I forgot some of the words in the chorus, and what the chords were in the instrumental section. But LC reckoned it sounded good with the two of us singing together. It actually worked quite well; Dale's got a far higher singing voice than his dulcet tones suggest so it was his high voice in unisen with my low one.
I ended with a song that I've actually played quite a lot recently, A Lonely Night. There were significantly more people there tonight than there were the last time I played Katies! I'm there and thereabouts with the accuracy of the song these days, and tonight was no exception. But there was no light relief in the set tonight and by then the downbeat nature of my songs was getting a little old, so this didn't go down quite as well as it might have.
Then again I was never going to change the world with this. The whole point was to play songs that I don't often play, and the two that I played went as well as could be expected so I'm not displeased with anything that went on tonight! The duet with Dale was good as well, maybe I should think about more collaborations? Perhaps with the Staffordshire Sound guys, I've long wondered what might happen if I wrote a song with Sam, or Jamie wrote a song with Elliot...
A Lonely Night
Thursday 26 January 2012
Friday 20 January 2012
There's A New Sensation... in Bilston. 17/1/2012: Open Mic at the Robin 2
This is Sam Draisey's latest venture, bringing his ever-brilliant Open Mic nights to Bilston. It felt very different to the ones he's done before in various different places, not least because the Robin 2 is huge. The sound system was really good; never before had I actually been happy with the sound I was getting out of the monitors! (I have this thing about not complaining about my sound, because it probably doesn't sound anything like that at the front, and telling a sound engineer 'can you make the monitors sound any less shit?' probably won't go down well at all.) But with such an eclectic mix of personality and styles tonight, it was all about the songs...
The first of mine was Storm from the North. I picked this one because I'd actually gone on quite late and I had seen that the audience took music and themselves seriously enough to appreciate a track like this. Sam also got a video of it for your enjoyment! I think I did quite well, although if you look at the start where I was about to start the song and I didn't... it wasn't because I'd forgotten the words, it's because I literally couldn't remember what I was doing. I don't know, it's a sort of mental state where I completely blank out and think about nothing but I'm still capable of idly jamming on guitar. It's probably not something I should try again when I'm on a stage, especially not one of this prestiege!
Next was a cover of Do The Strand by Roxy Music. This went very well, I'm getting better at playing it. That guitar part is exhausting and that top F is a little higher than I can comfortably reach, but I'm building up the stamina now, it all comes with practice! I need to be careful who I play this song to, though. If the audience is old enough to remember Roxy Music, they'll be like 'Oh yeah, Roxy Music! I haven't heard this for ages!' and really enjoy it. If they're not old enough, but mature enough to appreciate the style, or at least the challenge of a song that let's face it pisses all over any semblance of song structure, they'll enjoy it as well. Thankfully, the room tonight appeared to consist of both of those things. But I wouldn't necessarily play it at a Prickly gig. Except perhaps in a sound check.
To finish off I played A Lonely Night, giving what I described as a rare performance of the un-edited version of it. This one went well, in fact I think tonight was the least I've messed any gig up for quite a long time now. This is one of those times where the audience helped by being attentive; pretty nearly everyone had been on by then and some people had left, but the people who remained behind were as interested in everybody elses performance as they were in their own, which is really pleasing to see. When I got off the stage, one of the guys who'd been on before told me they really like my lyrics. Well, compared to my contemporaries, I'm not much of a guitar player, and I rely on the quality of my songs to carry the gig, so thanks, you couldn't give me a higher compliment.
All in all tonight went very well. The next one won't be for a while but it's nice to come home from my second gig in a row where the feedback that I've given myself has been mostly positive. Compare that to where I was this time last year and I've not done too badly, have I?
See you next time.
The first of mine was Storm from the North. I picked this one because I'd actually gone on quite late and I had seen that the audience took music and themselves seriously enough to appreciate a track like this. Sam also got a video of it for your enjoyment! I think I did quite well, although if you look at the start where I was about to start the song and I didn't... it wasn't because I'd forgotten the words, it's because I literally couldn't remember what I was doing. I don't know, it's a sort of mental state where I completely blank out and think about nothing but I'm still capable of idly jamming on guitar. It's probably not something I should try again when I'm on a stage, especially not one of this prestiege!
Next was a cover of Do The Strand by Roxy Music. This went very well, I'm getting better at playing it. That guitar part is exhausting and that top F is a little higher than I can comfortably reach, but I'm building up the stamina now, it all comes with practice! I need to be careful who I play this song to, though. If the audience is old enough to remember Roxy Music, they'll be like 'Oh yeah, Roxy Music! I haven't heard this for ages!' and really enjoy it. If they're not old enough, but mature enough to appreciate the style, or at least the challenge of a song that let's face it pisses all over any semblance of song structure, they'll enjoy it as well. Thankfully, the room tonight appeared to consist of both of those things. But I wouldn't necessarily play it at a Prickly gig. Except perhaps in a sound check.
To finish off I played A Lonely Night, giving what I described as a rare performance of the un-edited version of it. This one went well, in fact I think tonight was the least I've messed any gig up for quite a long time now. This is one of those times where the audience helped by being attentive; pretty nearly everyone had been on by then and some people had left, but the people who remained behind were as interested in everybody elses performance as they were in their own, which is really pleasing to see. When I got off the stage, one of the guys who'd been on before told me they really like my lyrics. Well, compared to my contemporaries, I'm not much of a guitar player, and I rely on the quality of my songs to carry the gig, so thanks, you couldn't give me a higher compliment.
All in all tonight went very well. The next one won't be for a while but it's nice to come home from my second gig in a row where the feedback that I've given myself has been mostly positive. Compare that to where I was this time last year and I've not done too badly, have I?
See you next time.
Wednesday 11 January 2012
Kicking up a Storm from the North at Katies, 11/1/2012
I was getting rather despondant about the fact that I wasn't going to get a gig in this week, despite the different New Year's Resolution for this year removing any obligation to do so. So imagine how pleased I was when I checked the messages on my phone and found Sam had asked me to play tonight. It meant I had to cancel a games night with Dave, but I actually really wanted to play this one, so I was more than pleased to be there and was reasonably relaxed through the whole thing, which made all the difference.
I kicked off with Storm from the North, which is actually going down quite well these days as my opening number. The changing times would lend itself better for a mid-set song, which to be fair is where I normally put it, but as an opening statement of intent I could do far worse than this.
Next came Girl's Names, which I play every time I'm at Katies, and is also on the demo so I wasn't going to make any exceptions tonight! It all seems to be flowing together with that song now, the country lick I do at the start isn't always as accurate as it might be but actually playing it is almost effortless, which is not a bad position to be in. I could have done without forgetting the words at the start but all it meant was I had to keep the intro going for a little longer.
And here came my only major mistake of the night: Because The Night by Patti Smith. It was going really really well - I was making all the use I could of the varying dynamic of my guitar and voice - until I got to the middle part where I forgot the words. I tried to make a bit of a joke about it by asking the audience if they knew what the words were, it didn't really work but I just said 'fuck it' and skipped to the last chorus. I admit it was rather embarrasing.
Back to my own material where I belong: We Will Survive with the slow intro. I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep getting away with this, because the last few times I've played it with this intro have been at Acoustic Brew shows and it's probably getting old now. But I like doing it so if I play this song anywhere else with a reasonably familiar audience I'll do it again.
Then after a furious struggle to try to remember what the song was called, I went in to Get Out Of My Head. It's wierd because with the gigs I've been doing lately, it's been quite some time since I've played this one and I had to concentrate to remember what the words were in the second verse; not something I imagined for how long I usually play it! I think I need to get a more established practice routine.
As it was a slightly longer than usual gig I decided to play Chapter One. Namedropping Perry Barr rarely has the required effect; I'm going for sympathy, I tend to get incredulity. But apart from once where I played the wrong chord, the song went very well. I picked the right time at the gig, I think, to reduce the volume almost to a whisper; I had everyone's attention by then and you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
My second cover of the night was Do The Strand by Roxy Music. This was a bit of a funny one; Sam liked it but I think my audience was a little too young to remember Roxy Music. The reaction I got from them when I finished playing the song said to me 'What the hell was that?!' but in the good kind of way. I guess it's a bit more of a challenge to listen to than my usual quite standard song structures. I forgot the words to this one as well, but thankfully it was the bit just after the instrumental section so to cover it up I kept it going until such time as I could remember what they were.
I introduced my relatively new song as A Lonely Night, it's nice to be able to play this one in an environment where I can get away with it! I'm developing the performance with this song to the point where I can inject some of my usual swagger into it, which helps with the delivery! Which is good, because as Dave noticed that yes in fact I did near enough copy the tune off Dani California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I need to inject as much of my own personality into this as possible.
I finished off, of course, with what was quite possibly my best ever performance of Bitterness. It had been a great gig up to that point and I had the audience attentive and listening, my voice was warmed up and was as good as it was going to get, my hands were warmed up so I had no problem with the fast strums, it all worked very well indeed. I came away from this one feeling a lot better than I had at some of my more recent shows!
I'll put that down as one of my better ones, I think. The music seems to be working and the slightly longer set did me a favour as I could develop my set a little bit, rather than getting all my big guns out and making sure I've used them by the time I leave the stage. It went well, and I'm looking forward to the next one! No plans for another gig as yet though.
I kicked off with Storm from the North, which is actually going down quite well these days as my opening number. The changing times would lend itself better for a mid-set song, which to be fair is where I normally put it, but as an opening statement of intent I could do far worse than this.
Next came Girl's Names, which I play every time I'm at Katies, and is also on the demo so I wasn't going to make any exceptions tonight! It all seems to be flowing together with that song now, the country lick I do at the start isn't always as accurate as it might be but actually playing it is almost effortless, which is not a bad position to be in. I could have done without forgetting the words at the start but all it meant was I had to keep the intro going for a little longer.
And here came my only major mistake of the night: Because The Night by Patti Smith. It was going really really well - I was making all the use I could of the varying dynamic of my guitar and voice - until I got to the middle part where I forgot the words. I tried to make a bit of a joke about it by asking the audience if they knew what the words were, it didn't really work but I just said 'fuck it' and skipped to the last chorus. I admit it was rather embarrasing.
Back to my own material where I belong: We Will Survive with the slow intro. I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep getting away with this, because the last few times I've played it with this intro have been at Acoustic Brew shows and it's probably getting old now. But I like doing it so if I play this song anywhere else with a reasonably familiar audience I'll do it again.
Then after a furious struggle to try to remember what the song was called, I went in to Get Out Of My Head. It's wierd because with the gigs I've been doing lately, it's been quite some time since I've played this one and I had to concentrate to remember what the words were in the second verse; not something I imagined for how long I usually play it! I think I need to get a more established practice routine.
As it was a slightly longer than usual gig I decided to play Chapter One. Namedropping Perry Barr rarely has the required effect; I'm going for sympathy, I tend to get incredulity. But apart from once where I played the wrong chord, the song went very well. I picked the right time at the gig, I think, to reduce the volume almost to a whisper; I had everyone's attention by then and you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
My second cover of the night was Do The Strand by Roxy Music. This was a bit of a funny one; Sam liked it but I think my audience was a little too young to remember Roxy Music. The reaction I got from them when I finished playing the song said to me 'What the hell was that?!' but in the good kind of way. I guess it's a bit more of a challenge to listen to than my usual quite standard song structures. I forgot the words to this one as well, but thankfully it was the bit just after the instrumental section so to cover it up I kept it going until such time as I could remember what they were.
I introduced my relatively new song as A Lonely Night, it's nice to be able to play this one in an environment where I can get away with it! I'm developing the performance with this song to the point where I can inject some of my usual swagger into it, which helps with the delivery! Which is good, because as Dave noticed that yes in fact I did near enough copy the tune off Dani California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I need to inject as much of my own personality into this as possible.
I finished off, of course, with what was quite possibly my best ever performance of Bitterness. It had been a great gig up to that point and I had the audience attentive and listening, my voice was warmed up and was as good as it was going to get, my hands were warmed up so I had no problem with the fast strums, it all worked very well indeed. I came away from this one feeling a lot better than I had at some of my more recent shows!
I'll put that down as one of my better ones, I think. The music seems to be working and the slightly longer set did me a favour as I could develop my set a little bit, rather than getting all my big guns out and making sure I've used them by the time I leave the stage. It went well, and I'm looking forward to the next one! No plans for another gig as yet though.
Saturday 7 January 2012
4/1/2011: A Band of (almost) Strangers at the Maverick
Happy New Year...
So what happened with this one then? I've not spoken all that kindly of the Maverick in the past. I'll confide the reasons why to almost anyone in person, but since the remark is quite spiteful, when I'm online I tend to explain it away as being the only venue I've played so far where I've actually felt out of my depth. However, with no gig booked this week, not returning from Amy's until Tuesday and Sam having moved the Hartley Arms open mic to Mondays, this was basically the only option left that I was aware of. With starting off at DPA again, and work to do for Coady Consultants, this was not the time to start looking for a new gig. So, I spent the preceding week trying to learn some old covers, including Because The Night and Do The Strand, more on that later, to play at a venue that appreciates it's old rock.
I got there to find an old friend, Pete, and a couple of other people. He was looking forward to going up and having a jam and asked me if I'd like to come up and play with him, and I agreed after finding out he loved Because The Night and reasoning that we should be able to come up with another couple of songs to play. When our turn came around, we put a band together of myself on guitar and vocals, Pete on the drums, Steve on bass, my DPA colleague Al on eletric mandolin and Josh on guitar (a young guy with a Les Paul, and also the only member of the 'band' I'd never met before.) Having to teach them all the songs we eventually played was not a trivial task, but...
We began with Because The Night. Of all the ones we did, this one probably went down the best because of the time in which it was realeased, and probably the one we played the best as well! I've not long learned the song so I don't know if I got all the lyrics right, but to be honest it was hard enough making sure all the band knew what they were doing without worrying about what I was doing. Pete knowing the song helped as well, Steve was following the chords well and I imagine Josh was following Steve because he was stood behind me and wouldn't have been able to see what I was doing. Al... Well, Al I know as a drummer. When he plays stringed instruments, it's either the mandolin (I've never played one but I'm told they're tuned similarly to the violin,) or slide guitar in open tuning. He seems to have refined his technique on both of those instruments to the point where you can just say 'it's in B minor,' and he'll come up with something convincing, and this was no exception. Well done.
After some discussion we elected to play Losing My Religion by REM next. This one actually has a mandolin part, however I didn't help the band by playing it in the wrong key. I was halfway through the song before I realised it should have been in A minor, not E minor. I'm not sure how, if at all, it affected my delivery of the song, because I didn't struggle with the singing and I knew all the words, but if any of the band new it, it would very likely have confused them! But the punters seemed to recognise it and appreciate it.
Then I fell back on the one song I do that never fails to please, A Little Respect. Pete seemed to know it, but I reckon Steve and the others needed to listen to what I was doing to make any sense - not an easy thing to do since my guitar was plugged in to the PA, and there was no foldback monitors meaning that it was hard to hear what the PA was doing on stage. They actually did really well all things considered.
So, for all my trepidations about playing The Maverick, tonight wasn't too bad at all. Pete suggested to me afterwards, and not for the first time, that he and I should do a band. The idea of putting together a band to play my songs live is something I'd quite like to do, however I barely have time for the 3 bands that I'm in so it's not going to happen yet. I'm not ruling it out, and if what is happening with the other bands allows time for me to put the project together I might consider it, but right now I'll stick with the acoustic gigs as this is something I can handle myself without any need for other musicians.
See you next week...
So what happened with this one then? I've not spoken all that kindly of the Maverick in the past. I'll confide the reasons why to almost anyone in person, but since the remark is quite spiteful, when I'm online I tend to explain it away as being the only venue I've played so far where I've actually felt out of my depth. However, with no gig booked this week, not returning from Amy's until Tuesday and Sam having moved the Hartley Arms open mic to Mondays, this was basically the only option left that I was aware of. With starting off at DPA again, and work to do for Coady Consultants, this was not the time to start looking for a new gig. So, I spent the preceding week trying to learn some old covers, including Because The Night and Do The Strand, more on that later, to play at a venue that appreciates it's old rock.
I got there to find an old friend, Pete, and a couple of other people. He was looking forward to going up and having a jam and asked me if I'd like to come up and play with him, and I agreed after finding out he loved Because The Night and reasoning that we should be able to come up with another couple of songs to play. When our turn came around, we put a band together of myself on guitar and vocals, Pete on the drums, Steve on bass, my DPA colleague Al on eletric mandolin and Josh on guitar (a young guy with a Les Paul, and also the only member of the 'band' I'd never met before.) Having to teach them all the songs we eventually played was not a trivial task, but...
We began with Because The Night. Of all the ones we did, this one probably went down the best because of the time in which it was realeased, and probably the one we played the best as well! I've not long learned the song so I don't know if I got all the lyrics right, but to be honest it was hard enough making sure all the band knew what they were doing without worrying about what I was doing. Pete knowing the song helped as well, Steve was following the chords well and I imagine Josh was following Steve because he was stood behind me and wouldn't have been able to see what I was doing. Al... Well, Al I know as a drummer. When he plays stringed instruments, it's either the mandolin (I've never played one but I'm told they're tuned similarly to the violin,) or slide guitar in open tuning. He seems to have refined his technique on both of those instruments to the point where you can just say 'it's in B minor,' and he'll come up with something convincing, and this was no exception. Well done.
After some discussion we elected to play Losing My Religion by REM next. This one actually has a mandolin part, however I didn't help the band by playing it in the wrong key. I was halfway through the song before I realised it should have been in A minor, not E minor. I'm not sure how, if at all, it affected my delivery of the song, because I didn't struggle with the singing and I knew all the words, but if any of the band new it, it would very likely have confused them! But the punters seemed to recognise it and appreciate it.
Then I fell back on the one song I do that never fails to please, A Little Respect. Pete seemed to know it, but I reckon Steve and the others needed to listen to what I was doing to make any sense - not an easy thing to do since my guitar was plugged in to the PA, and there was no foldback monitors meaning that it was hard to hear what the PA was doing on stage. They actually did really well all things considered.
So, for all my trepidations about playing The Maverick, tonight wasn't too bad at all. Pete suggested to me afterwards, and not for the first time, that he and I should do a band. The idea of putting together a band to play my songs live is something I'd quite like to do, however I barely have time for the 3 bands that I'm in so it's not going to happen yet. I'm not ruling it out, and if what is happening with the other bands allows time for me to put the project together I might consider it, but right now I'll stick with the acoustic gigs as this is something I can handle myself without any need for other musicians.
See you next week...
Tuesday 3 January 2012
The last 2 gigs of 2011
Hi there ladies and gents,
Important milestone for me, this. As the Facebookers among you will have all seen, my New Year's Resolution for last year was to play a gig every week. And Dec 30th, 2011, I played the last 2 gigs that saw me play a gig every single week of 2011, apart from the 2 weeks I was on holiday. If you don't believe me, read the rest of my blogs!
The first of the gigs was actually quite special. This was a fundraising event for Cancer Research, put on by Prickly Music Promotions at the Royal Oak in Amblecote. I opened the event, (right up until the last moment this was subject to change, but anyway,) and played 5 songs, as is usual with Prickly gigs. The set list was:
REM: Man on the Moon
Slade: Merry Xmas Everybody
Amy MacDonald: Let's Start A Band
My Chemical Romance: Cancer
Elbow: On A Day Like This
In the spirit of the event I decided to do the set entirely made of covers. Some worked better than others, but the highlight of the set was most definitely Cancer. There weren't many people at the event at this point but I expect they had all either been affected by cancer, or someone with cancer, at some point, or had heard my story of how that song strikes a particularly poignant nerve with me. I probably won't play it again, certainly not in any other environment, but it served it's purpose for what I needed it to do.
Then I scurried over to the Rose and Crown in Wordsley to open for Recollection, thanks for giving me the gig guys! I played a set largely comprised of covers, though I did throw a couple of my own songs in there as well. The set was:
REM: Man on the Moon
Slade: Merry Xmas Everybody
Bitterness
Amy MacDonald: Let's Start A Band
Feeder: Yesterday Went Too Soon
A Lonely Night
Erasure/Wheatus: A Little Respect
Storm from the North
It went OK, I managed to get through the gig without messing up too badly. I do think, though, that I need to be a little more careful with what covers I'm playing in an environment like that. I started out OK but when I started playing the more contemporary songs like Feeder and Amy MacDonald the audience - who specifically asked me for things like Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, Deep Purple - basically lost interest.
However, that ties in to my New Year's Resolution for 2012: Learn a New Song Every Week! Looking forward to the next few gigs... see you soon! And Happy New Year!
Important milestone for me, this. As the Facebookers among you will have all seen, my New Year's Resolution for last year was to play a gig every week. And Dec 30th, 2011, I played the last 2 gigs that saw me play a gig every single week of 2011, apart from the 2 weeks I was on holiday. If you don't believe me, read the rest of my blogs!
The first of the gigs was actually quite special. This was a fundraising event for Cancer Research, put on by Prickly Music Promotions at the Royal Oak in Amblecote. I opened the event, (right up until the last moment this was subject to change, but anyway,) and played 5 songs, as is usual with Prickly gigs. The set list was:
REM: Man on the Moon
Slade: Merry Xmas Everybody
Amy MacDonald: Let's Start A Band
My Chemical Romance: Cancer
Elbow: On A Day Like This
In the spirit of the event I decided to do the set entirely made of covers. Some worked better than others, but the highlight of the set was most definitely Cancer. There weren't many people at the event at this point but I expect they had all either been affected by cancer, or someone with cancer, at some point, or had heard my story of how that song strikes a particularly poignant nerve with me. I probably won't play it again, certainly not in any other environment, but it served it's purpose for what I needed it to do.
Then I scurried over to the Rose and Crown in Wordsley to open for Recollection, thanks for giving me the gig guys! I played a set largely comprised of covers, though I did throw a couple of my own songs in there as well. The set was:
REM: Man on the Moon
Slade: Merry Xmas Everybody
Bitterness
Amy MacDonald: Let's Start A Band
Feeder: Yesterday Went Too Soon
A Lonely Night
Erasure/Wheatus: A Little Respect
Storm from the North
It went OK, I managed to get through the gig without messing up too badly. I do think, though, that I need to be a little more careful with what covers I'm playing in an environment like that. I started out OK but when I started playing the more contemporary songs like Feeder and Amy MacDonald the audience - who specifically asked me for things like Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, Deep Purple - basically lost interest.
However, that ties in to my New Year's Resolution for 2012: Learn a New Song Every Week! Looking forward to the next few gigs... see you soon! And Happy New Year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)