I was a bit cheeky with this one; I knew the open part of the night didn't start until 10pm so I went to the city, couldn't park my car, turned up at around 10:15 and asked for a slot. There were some other guys on so time was tight, but I did at least manage to get a couple of songs in so big thanks to Jason for that.
It was a bit tougher this time; I played Storm From The North first considering how well it went down last time and I actually played it significantly better. Partly because I know the song so much better now. Mostly because I got all the way thorugh it without forgetting the words or breaking a string. It seemed to go down OK but considering I went down a, er, Storm, last time I played the Yardbird, somehow the same magic just didn't seem to be there.
I had one more song and because it had gone down so well when I did Full Volume the Friday before, I elected to play We Will Survive. I don't think this was the right decision to be honest, I'd have been better off with Get Out Of My Head. There's usually a substantial divide between audiences; people looking to be 'entertained' tend to prefer the fast rocky songs like We Will Survive, and people looking for a bit more depth in their songs - and this tends to coincide with the audience being a bit older, though not necessarily at the Yardbird - prefer my 'arty' songs like Get Out Of My Head. In hindsight, I'd suggest that the Yardbird falls under the latter category, and I abstained from playing one of my more complex songs in front of an audience that would really appreciate it. That being said, I played it OK, got a cheer from someone when I said I'd played it at Stafford University, and I saw Amy singing along to the chorus as well so that's always a nice feeling.
All in all not my best, but given the circumstances I don't think I can be blamed for that. At least I was better than the two lads who were on before me singing about having threesomes...
Showing posts with label The Yardbird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Yardbird. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
The Yardbird, 19/4/11
Right about now there is a burglar alarm going off outside my house and it is driving me INSANE...
I heard that the Yardbird did an open night on Tuesdays so as I was staying in Birmingham last week I decided to go down and have a look. What I didn't know was that there were featured artists on beforehand and the actual open part of the night didn't start until 10pm, so Amy and I ended up going for a Cantonese first which was very nice. Unusually for open nights most of the guys I saw were only doing one or maybe two songs, I told the guy Jason that I had four, took the stage and got on with it...
Regular readers will have heard about my last visit to the Yardbird and while I was there I did a quick mental assessment of the sort of music the guys there would appreciate. As a lot of my songs are quite agressive I was a bit funny about playing some of them, however I was always going to play Get Out Of My Head. I started this one off somewhat slower than usual, I'm not sure whether I like that or not yet but it lends a certain subtlety to it, and the crowd really seemed to like it!
Bitterness was one of the songs I was umming and arring about, but I played it anyway two songs in and I needn't have worried, I got some very appreciative applause for that and it was about this time that I realised that the crowd at the Yardbird is actually really really good, and I'm really looking forward to my next one there.
It was all looking so good... until I did Storm from the North. It began well enough, apart from the previously-described problems with the vocal range being a little too low for me. The problem came when I was belting out the second chorus to have my D string snap on me. Thankfully I knew what had happened straight away, didn't panic and carried on right to the end of the chorus, yanked what remained of the string off and followed it up with the quiet bit. The guitar was obviously a bit out of tune by then, and possibly owing to the stress of breaking the string I also forgot the words to the last bit which I covered up by noodling around on the E string for a bit, but I got to the end of the song to a great applause from the crowd.
Given the circumstances, I decided to call it a night at that point, the other song would have been Walking on the Sun and I can't really do that without the D string. It was unfortunate, but it happens, and I think I made my point. I'll definitely be going to the Yardbird again!
I heard that the Yardbird did an open night on Tuesdays so as I was staying in Birmingham last week I decided to go down and have a look. What I didn't know was that there were featured artists on beforehand and the actual open part of the night didn't start until 10pm, so Amy and I ended up going for a Cantonese first which was very nice. Unusually for open nights most of the guys I saw were only doing one or maybe two songs, I told the guy Jason that I had four, took the stage and got on with it...
Regular readers will have heard about my last visit to the Yardbird and while I was there I did a quick mental assessment of the sort of music the guys there would appreciate. As a lot of my songs are quite agressive I was a bit funny about playing some of them, however I was always going to play Get Out Of My Head. I started this one off somewhat slower than usual, I'm not sure whether I like that or not yet but it lends a certain subtlety to it, and the crowd really seemed to like it!
Bitterness was one of the songs I was umming and arring about, but I played it anyway two songs in and I needn't have worried, I got some very appreciative applause for that and it was about this time that I realised that the crowd at the Yardbird is actually really really good, and I'm really looking forward to my next one there.
It was all looking so good... until I did Storm from the North. It began well enough, apart from the previously-described problems with the vocal range being a little too low for me. The problem came when I was belting out the second chorus to have my D string snap on me. Thankfully I knew what had happened straight away, didn't panic and carried on right to the end of the chorus, yanked what remained of the string off and followed it up with the quiet bit. The guitar was obviously a bit out of tune by then, and possibly owing to the stress of breaking the string I also forgot the words to the last bit which I covered up by noodling around on the E string for a bit, but I got to the end of the song to a great applause from the crowd.
Given the circumstances, I decided to call it a night at that point, the other song would have been Walking on the Sun and I can't really do that without the D string. It was unfortunate, but it happens, and I think I made my point. I'll definitely be going to the Yardbird again!
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Pan and the Poets at The Yardbird, 17/4/2011
I've really got to hurry up with this or I'll have done another gig by the time I've written up all my ones for April...
So as I mentioned earlier, I'm depping on bass for Pan and the Poets now. Or at least I was, more on that later. I had my debut with them at The Yardbird a couple of Sundays ago, I was very impressed with the place and was back there the following Tuesday. After setting up, we had what I can only describe as 'The usual problems with the microphones.' Bearing in mind that I've known Luke since school, and later 6th form, rare are the times when he's happy with how the vocals sound first time. In this case we couldn't hear Andy singing and it took a few minutes to put it right, during which all I could really do was keep quiet until we'd got it sorted, though I did reach for my earplugs when the microphones started to pop...
After this, we began with The Quail and The Cat, because Luke reckons this is a good one to begin with to get the levels sorted out because it's all about the vocals. I don't know about that, but I enjoyed playing it; in the absence of any specific bassline in the verse I twiddled around with the Gm pentatonic over the relevant chords and I think it sounded really good. Highlight for me - and Luke, he told me later - was when he brought the bass in for the second chorus. It's a simple line, but you don't half feel like a pro when you play it!
Next was Girl Like You, which is Pan and the Poet's staple track having done it at every single gig they've played. I played this as well as I needed to, I think; once you know the bass lines to it it's almost impossible to play wrong. I don't know whether it's the band's most inspiring song, but they play it well and we held it together that night.
Victory Cafe came after that, I love this song! If ever a party's going flat, get the Ska out. I don't know what bassline Jack originally played for this track so I considered the style of music and went for something inspired by The Specials. It was working well until the instrumental bridge parts bit, where I forgot what notes I was supposed to be playing and started paying A sharp when I should have been playing A, which threw me on the next note as well. Nobody seemed to notice, but that shouldn't have happened. Concentrate!
Queen of Hearts was a mission, because for some technical reason I can't fathom, I only learned it that day. This was a lot of following Luke's chords and keeping it simple; any attempt to go off on one would be followed very shortly by me falling flat on my face. In spite of this, I think we held it together very well indeed; I made it to the end of the song without any glaring errors and the crowed seemed to like it.
Liberty a Paris (There's supposed to be French punctuation in the title to that song, but by nature of not being French, I don't know where they go) is a really good song to play live because if the gig is going well and it's the right atmosphere, it may well turn into a barn dance. For the most part it's a relatively simple 'Hoe Down' bassline, and I was really pleased when I saw some guys at the front clapping with the band in the a'capello chorus. Tripped up on the final rundown to the root chord at the end, which shouldn't have happened, but hey, the crowd liked the song and that's what counts!
Rat Dog was supposed to end the set. This song is very rhythmic and the bassline is easy enough to follow, right until the fast punky bit at the end. Luke had told me that this part is very busy, so rather than work out anything specific (bearing in mind I had all the other songs to learn as well,) I decided to just go off on one and noodle around E minor for a bit. It would have worked if Ste on guitar hadn't been doing the same thing; I've never been in to the sound of both guitar and bass doing solos at the same time. Granted we had the keyboards and nylon guitar to hold it all together, but in hindsight, I reckon I should have stuck to a riff for this part. Should it come up again, need to have a word with the guitar player before the gig to find out who's doing what!
We ended with Jukebox, which is a nice one to finish a gig with and always takes me back to the first gig I did on bass in the school production of Grease. Not much to say about this one; we played it well and I enjoyed it.
So, my first gig with Pan and the Poets wasn't too bad at all! Unfortunately it's also my last gig with Pan and the Poets, as for his own reasons Luke has decided to leave the band and I can't see the others carrying on without him, not least because Andy will be in Spain from next September. Not a long tenure then, though Luke and I have been friends for a long time now and I do like his songwriting, so I'm sure our paths will cross again.
So what happened at the Yardbird the following Tuesday?
I'll tell you tomorrow...
So as I mentioned earlier, I'm depping on bass for Pan and the Poets now. Or at least I was, more on that later. I had my debut with them at The Yardbird a couple of Sundays ago, I was very impressed with the place and was back there the following Tuesday. After setting up, we had what I can only describe as 'The usual problems with the microphones.' Bearing in mind that I've known Luke since school, and later 6th form, rare are the times when he's happy with how the vocals sound first time. In this case we couldn't hear Andy singing and it took a few minutes to put it right, during which all I could really do was keep quiet until we'd got it sorted, though I did reach for my earplugs when the microphones started to pop...
After this, we began with The Quail and The Cat, because Luke reckons this is a good one to begin with to get the levels sorted out because it's all about the vocals. I don't know about that, but I enjoyed playing it; in the absence of any specific bassline in the verse I twiddled around with the Gm pentatonic over the relevant chords and I think it sounded really good. Highlight for me - and Luke, he told me later - was when he brought the bass in for the second chorus. It's a simple line, but you don't half feel like a pro when you play it!
Next was Girl Like You, which is Pan and the Poet's staple track having done it at every single gig they've played. I played this as well as I needed to, I think; once you know the bass lines to it it's almost impossible to play wrong. I don't know whether it's the band's most inspiring song, but they play it well and we held it together that night.
Victory Cafe came after that, I love this song! If ever a party's going flat, get the Ska out. I don't know what bassline Jack originally played for this track so I considered the style of music and went for something inspired by The Specials. It was working well until the instrumental bridge parts bit, where I forgot what notes I was supposed to be playing and started paying A sharp when I should have been playing A, which threw me on the next note as well. Nobody seemed to notice, but that shouldn't have happened. Concentrate!
Queen of Hearts was a mission, because for some technical reason I can't fathom, I only learned it that day. This was a lot of following Luke's chords and keeping it simple; any attempt to go off on one would be followed very shortly by me falling flat on my face. In spite of this, I think we held it together very well indeed; I made it to the end of the song without any glaring errors and the crowed seemed to like it.
Liberty a Paris (There's supposed to be French punctuation in the title to that song, but by nature of not being French, I don't know where they go) is a really good song to play live because if the gig is going well and it's the right atmosphere, it may well turn into a barn dance. For the most part it's a relatively simple 'Hoe Down' bassline, and I was really pleased when I saw some guys at the front clapping with the band in the a'capello chorus. Tripped up on the final rundown to the root chord at the end, which shouldn't have happened, but hey, the crowd liked the song and that's what counts!
Rat Dog was supposed to end the set. This song is very rhythmic and the bassline is easy enough to follow, right until the fast punky bit at the end. Luke had told me that this part is very busy, so rather than work out anything specific (bearing in mind I had all the other songs to learn as well,) I decided to just go off on one and noodle around E minor for a bit. It would have worked if Ste on guitar hadn't been doing the same thing; I've never been in to the sound of both guitar and bass doing solos at the same time. Granted we had the keyboards and nylon guitar to hold it all together, but in hindsight, I reckon I should have stuck to a riff for this part. Should it come up again, need to have a word with the guitar player before the gig to find out who's doing what!
We ended with Jukebox, which is a nice one to finish a gig with and always takes me back to the first gig I did on bass in the school production of Grease. Not much to say about this one; we played it well and I enjoyed it.
So, my first gig with Pan and the Poets wasn't too bad at all! Unfortunately it's also my last gig with Pan and the Poets, as for his own reasons Luke has decided to leave the band and I can't see the others carrying on without him, not least because Andy will be in Spain from next September. Not a long tenure then, though Luke and I have been friends for a long time now and I do like his songwriting, so I'm sure our paths will cross again.
So what happened at the Yardbird the following Tuesday?
I'll tell you tomorrow...
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