January 2015: Break-ups, cancellations, and we've got to find a new singer from somewhere.

It’s funny how the worst situations can bring out the best in people. Although, I guess, it pays to look at it positively.

On New Years Eve, my girlfriend and I broke up after being together for four and a half years. I’m going to keep the reasons for this to myself, as it’s not for me to post the inner workings of our relationship online, but the breakup did affect me quite profoundly. There was a lot of sadness, a lot of tears, and a lot of wondering whether or not we’d done the right thing.

The Fakes. We're alright, really.

I tried to keep it quiet from most people who didn’t have a lot of investment in the situation, since I didn’t want them to feel awkward when talking to me. But there was one group of people for whom this would never have remained a secret, and that is The Fakes. On our first band practise after the Christmas break, we were talking about our holidays, and the story came out. After the obligatory “Sorry to hear that,” the band decided to cheer me up by running though our version of She Hates Me (not actually the case, I hasten to add!) by Puddle of Mudd. And it worked! It was quite nice, having my most consistent group of friends for the last eleven years around me and just getting on with what we do, which is playing indie songs not very well and taking the piss out of each other. That sort of thing can’t be bought or looked for, and the fact that I have it makes me feel a lot better.

It’s also given me a lot of material to write songs about, so you might be hearing some new songs from me later!

I was hoping to be able to tell you about some gigs I’ve been doing. I’d had two of them booked and they were both cancelled. One was a solo gig, and one was with No Questions Asked. Where I was given the reasons, it seems that a lot of the pubs were looking at their January budget and deciding that they can’t afford to pay for the shows, so they cancel them.

Now here’s where I feel inclined to go off on one about how live music often gets the roughest part of the deal. It’s true that I felt let down by the cancellations. I’m blaming nobody I’m in contact with for this; they were invariably the middle-men having to deliver the bad news and had nothing to do with the decision, but I actually quite like playing live and was disappointed not to be able to do it.

Still, it’s not a significant problem for me. All it means is that I didn’t get to do a gig. I haven’t lost much. I rarely got paid for gigs up until NQA, and have not touched any of the money that they’ve paid me so far. Relying on a pub band for income is a dangerous game indeed – NQA is a walking case in point for this – so I’ve saved all the money they’ve paid me for a rainy day. It’s there if I need it.

But I wonder what might happen to those people who are counting on their live work for income. If live acts can be cancelled as easily as that, it’s hard to see how one is supposed to make a living from playing music. It makes me glad I have a reasonably steady day job, since at least I’m sorted for the year.

That being said, I try to understand the pubs that have to cancel us. *My opinion* is that live music isn’t a great draw anymore. It might have been at one point but entertainment is not hard to find now, in fact rarely involves moving. I’ve said it before but not for nothing: The only way I can usually get anybody to come to a gig is if I drive them there myself. So it won’t necessarily help the pubs to have a live band that they have to pay because there’s no guarantee of extra footfall. When the budget comes through for the last quarter and some things have to go, why shouldn’t they choose the live bands that aren’t making a difference anyway?

Finally, I’ve been told that Mike is leaving No Questions Asked, and we’re currently looking for a new singer. We’re doing our next gig with Rich Sadler, and Mike will do the one after that. We’re looking into some people and I’m going to try to learn as much of the set as I can so I can help out on vocals if need be.

At least I’ll have one gig to talk about next month…

*edit*