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!

23/9/2011: Victoria Inn

Well here's me thinking I wasn't going to get a gig in this week and somehow I find myself doing 2. Here's how the first of them went:

This was an emergency booking I picked up quite by chance on Facebook last Friday, from Prickly Promotions. I've actually got a lot of time for these guys, they're one of the few promoters I've come across so far who have been able to get their mind around the idea that promotion is their job as well as the bands. And it seems to be working well because there was a brilliant turnout for tonight; there were around 40 people in the room tonight which for the Victoria Inn is near enough full. And I hadn't brought anybody, Luke Huntley hadn't brought anybody, Tom Lloyd brought 2 people... and there were only another 2 acts on! So they're doing OK. Cal told me it's getting pretty popular now, unfortunately they seem to be plagued with pull-outs...

Anyway, on to the show. I didn't intend to surprise anybody tonight - I didn't think I was going to get a gig in, after all - and started off with the Bitterness/Get Out Of My Head Combo. Pretty much the same as I did the last time I played there, but with almost a completely different audience (apart from Tiffany, who remembered me) it worked as well as it ever did. I've done enough gigs now to make those songs bang on perfect when I play them, which is a nice position to be in.

It was then time for the mid-set cover, and I had intended to play either Let's Start a Band or that one by the Noisettes I can never remember the name of. However I was really trying to engage with the crowd this time rather than playing songs, and when Tiffany heard I could play A Little Respect she requested that one. Not a bad choice, it's almost impossible not to enjoy it and that was the part of the show that the people who spoke to me afterwards remembered. Learning that one way back in 2007 was probably one of the best decisions I made that year!

Storm from the North was next, interjected with the Metallica bit. I rarely do that, but I think before I do it again anywhere I'd better learn how to play it, because the kids in the schools I was teaching at last year can play that song better than I can and I really did mess it up a lot. I think I fluffed some lyrics in that one as well and I really ought to know better; I need to concentrate!

I finished up with We Will Survive, which I'm really enjoying playing live, no matter what the audience thinks of it. (Rarely unkind, for the record.) I think that's a nice energetic one to play and now that I'm not worrying about getting it wrong (it still happens, I just don't worry about it!) it gets the right combination of chemicals going around in my bloodstream so that I can leave the stage wishing I was still there, which is never a bad thing. Now if I could just get the audience to feel the same way...

Not necessarily my best but as ever far from my worst, and it's always a pleasure to play for Prickly. Long may it continue.

19/8/2011: The Victoria Inn, Cradley Heath

All quiet on the gig front due to Holidays and such, but I'm back...

This was to be my first gig supported by PricklyMusic P Romotions (I know;) and as I'd never played the place before nor had I done a solo gig for a while, I was in 'New Gig' mode...

I was on first, a position I wouldn't normally take out of choice but it gives me the rest of the night to kick back and relax. As it was a new gig, I started with Bitterness, and I saw quite a few people sit up and listen to the whole 'rock star with acoustic guitar' thing that I have going on. It was as I was singing the line 'With long red hair and wild eyes that could tear my soul apart,' that for the first time since I've been playing this song I happened to notice a young lady in the audience... with long red hair. Laughter ensued from that particular group, who turned out to be one of the bands that was on later, but I made a point of saying in the musical interlude to the song that it was extremely unlikely that she was the person the song refers to. Other than that, it went quite well.

As ever, I followed it up with Get Out Of My Head, which now that I had the attention of the audience was met with the kind of appreciation that I think this song deserves. I didn't play it all that well, I fluffed up a couple of chords and dropped my plectrum, so I had to finish the song with my fingers, but again, the crowd seemed to like it.

I then road-tested my new song Chapter One, after announcing that it refers to moving out of Perry Barr. I think it is a good song and it went down quite well, though probably not as well as it would have done had I picked a faster song to keep up the momentum. I also fluffed the words to the first chorus; I was halfway through singing the wrong line before I realised I couldn't do anything about it; the mistake must have been noticeable even to an unfamiliar crowd, but at least I made it all the way to the end of the song which is more than I've managed on some other occasions I've chosen to showcase a new song! I was also reliably informed by Aaron from Pheonix Rising that the PA cut out halfway through the song - I didn't notice, but it wouldn't have helped that I was making a deliberate effort to keep quiet. (Oh, and Aaron, if you're reading this - sorry if I've spelled your name wrong; there's about 20 different spellings of the name so I just had to pick one and hope for the best.)

Followed that up with a much better performance of Storm From The North. Interestingly, given my last Katies blog, I came surprisingly close to Emma hearing that song for the first time tonight - In Between Seas were actually on later, but because they also had a gig in Birmingham on the same night they didn't arrive until just before they went on. I imagine when that eventually happens, the ensuing discussion will be very interesting. But for tonight, all that happened was the same thing that happens every time I play the song in a new place, which is that people start clapping just before the last 'quiet bit.' At least I spared them Nothing Else Matters, though I was seriously considering it at one point...

I finished up with We Will Survive. I think I'm going to have to stop putting the Battle Royale reference before it; I know what I mean but it always feels really clunky to explain. That was probably my best song of the night, an opinion shared by Cal from Prickly; looks like I've got the first and last songs sorted out, it's just the rest of the set I need to figure out now!

So, an enjoyable return to acoustic gigging. My next one is at the Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham next Wednesday, see you there!