As I mentioned last month, I did a couple of gigs with The
Revisited Covers Band while they look for a new permanent bass player. We
played shows in the Rock and Fountain in Shrewsbury, and The Western in
Leicester. They were good gigs and we were reasonably well-received, however I
don’t enjoy playing in covers bands enough to want to commit to The Revisited
on a mid-long term basis. It was fine with NQA as we’re all friends anyway, but
with the Revisited, I barely know them; it’s a lot of the same covers I played
with the previous band, and many more songs that I haven’t got enough
investment in to want to commit to learning. I’ll be available as dep bass
player if they need me, if not, it was a reasonable way of getting some gigs,
so thanks to the band for the opportunity.
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| I've actually been forgetting to do this a lot just lately, here's my #viewfromthestage at the Newhampton Inn earlier in the month. |
I am aware that I’m shooting myself in the foot a little bit
here because it sounds like covers bands aren’t really my thing, which is true.
I’m at the point now where I need something else to keep me engaged. As I
mentioned in the previous paragraph, I was friends with the lads in NQA anyway,
and there was a certain amount of fun and regularity with the gigs that made me
want to stay with the band long after we’ve essentially stopped being one. And
as I talked about last month, there is a certain creative element in The Fakes
where we have to work the songs we play around our own limitations of gear and
musicianship in order to play the songs we want to play; jamming those songs is
actually really good fun. So, as long as there is something else going on to
keep me engaged, I don’t mind being in covers bands – but I wouldn’t want to be
in one for its own sake.
I also mentioned last month that I was doing a gig with
Ellie Hawthorne. It was in the interlude of a quiz night and it went reasonably
well, if a little rushed in terms of setting up. However, it did give me an
insight into how well my voice has improved over the last year. We played I See
The Light, which if you remember was the song that inspired me to pick up the
singing lessons in the first place. And I was hitting all the high notes with
little to no strain on my voice. I was up to a high G at one point; I’d never
have been able to do that at this time last year. So, thanks to Ellie for
inspiring me to take up the lessons, and thanks to Vie for teaching me. It’s
working!
I’ve also started to play the Ukulele…
Now, I’m not fond of the Ukulele sound at all. I prefer deep
and powerful sounds to high scratchy ones; probably one of the reasons I
developed an intense dislike of indie music circa last decade. However, I
attended a staff meeting with DPA at the early part of the month, where we were
joined by our colleagues from Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton, and there
was a representative from Birmingham there as well. During the day, data on the
popularity of the instrument was brought to our attention, and I’m pretty sure
all the other music services are running Uke groups. When I found out later in
the month that a student that I will hopefully be taking on next year wants to
play Ukulele, I decided that DPA can ill afford to ignore the demand and bought
a Ukulele from Stourbridge. I will teach myself to play it over the summer, and
hopefully teach others to play it when I return to work in September.
However, I did find myself thinking that now that I have a
Ukulele, what if I did like it? What would that sound like? So that’s something
I’m going to develop over the next few months.
See you all again in July!
