Once again I find myself behind in my blogs, and I've got a whole months worth of gigs to talk about and another two to go. Trying to blog them all individually would of course be more work than fun, apart from anything else some of it was weeks ago and I literally can't remember what happened, so I'm just going to give a quick run down of each one:
5/11/11: The Royal Oak, Amblecote: Another Prickly gig, thanks to Joy for booking me for this one! My guitar actually doesn't sound too bad through an amp. Didn't play so well, unfortunately. I think probably I was distracted with the thought of the fireworks display that I was going to afterwards, and I was on first which would never be my, ahem, 'first' choice. It wasn't bad... but by no stretch of the imagination was it my best one. I said to Amy afterwards, I think I was mistaken in my assumtion that I can play a reasonable show (I did Katies a couple of weeks before,) not play my guitar for a week and a half and expect to be able to play just as good a show when I get it out again. Something to remember for the future, though it will be a while before my next scheduled acoustic gig.
6/11/11: 82s at Just Kroozin Fundraising Event, Four Ashes: Nearly forgot about this one! This was the time where we were trying out our new bass player West. He seems to fit the bill OK and having the keyboards there does fill out the sound quite a bit. We played OK, as ever I did make some mistakes but I was rather more concerned about being upstaged by Almost Easy who were on before! Terrific fundrasing event to raise money for research into Lukemeia, so I was glad to have been a part of it, though it was freezing cold!
12/11/11: The Wharf Bar, Walsall: Regular readers of my blog will know that it is a rare time indeed when I speak kindly of The Wharf Bar. There's never usually anyone there, the whole place smells of sick (which comes from the canal, by the way; it's not actually their fault) and the only people to watch me tend to be the other bands who are either leaving the venue or counting down the minutes until it's their turn to go on. Quite often, the best I can say about it is that at least they do still book me for gigs. So imagine how pleased I was when not only were the modest audience actually listening to me and, as they told me afterwards, enjoying it, but I actually found myself enjoying it as well! That was certainly the best I'd ever played at the Wharf Bar, I've got another one there on the 10th so I'm actually looking forward to it. That's almost unheard of!
16/11/11: 82s: Cover Band Showcase in Cannock: We have - not a deal - but a good working relationship with some booking agents in the area, who invited us to play this showcase to several booking agents who may or may not want us for gigs in the future. We got all our big guns out, which were Word Up, Trick Me and Sound of the Underground. Quite far removed from what we orignally put the band together to do, and I think there is a concern that it's not representative of the set, so you may see some changes with this in the future.
22/11/11 Recording Christmas Song with Sam Draisey: Sam's putting together another Christmas album of original material and I went up today to record mine. I hadn't rehearsed it nearly enough and I know it, the guitar took a few goes, but my vocals I did pretty much in one take. I don't know whether I like the song or not; it's hardly full of Chirstmas Cheer and lyrically it's very lazy, there isn't a single line I haven't copied off someone, not least of whom myself! Still, it will hopefully work for the album, and it will be interesting to see what the other guys come up with this time.
So, there you have it! Aki Maera's first gig is coming up next Wednesday, which will be... interesting. See you all there!
Showing posts with label Wharf 10 Cafe Bar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wharf 10 Cafe Bar. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
The Wharf Bar, 30/4/11
A couple of things before I get started: This is probably the last of the string of gigs I've been doing at the Wharf Bar that has lasted about 7 months, so thanks to Jon for re-booking me all those times and thanks to anyone who came to see me during this time! Also, as I mentioned the other day, my choice of songs was largely influenced by my not-so-good gig at Katies on Wednesday, so if this all seems familiar, there's a reason for it...
I got started with the venerable combo of Bitterness and Get Out Of My Head. I've marked those two songs as my attention-grabbers and until I write something that can surpass them in that role (I might! I wrote both of them roughly a year ago so it's not like I'm recycling any of my really old songs,) that is how they're likely to remain. I guess now that I have two, I can get away with switching one around from time to time if I want to try something new, but if I need the gig to go well, definitely open with those two songs.
Impulse decisions to play songs are never usually a good idea but I fancied playing something fast, so I went into a rendition of Hall of Mirrors by The Distillers, something I've not tried for a while. It all went OK actually, I don't think anybody knew it but I was playing that for myself rather than anybody else. Trouble is when I got to the quiet bit, I had to keep up the pace AND keep quiet and I lost it a bit. Other than that it went OK, but I'd be careful where I play it; not one to do if I'm minding my Ps and Qs!
We Will Survive was next, which now that I think about it is a similar sort of pace in a different key so this was probably as good a place as any to put it in the set, though it's usually best reserved as the closer. It's a bit wierd with that song actually because I was reluctant to play it live for a while (last year, before I started doing regular blogs like this.) I always liked the lyrics to it but I find the "Hurricanes and avalanches, fodder for the human monsters" part to be a bit clumsy. Now that I play it at near enough every gig I do, certainly when I'm playing more than about 4 songs, I can't imagine it sounding any other way, and it's become one of the main songs that I play sticking with the 'rock songs on an acoustic guitar' theme I appear to be doing so well. Anyway...
I chose to play Prisoner Of My Mind today to see if it would go down any better here. Again, it might; there's usually a number of people in the audience at the Wharf who are experienced enough to remember Radiohead at their peak, and we almost always get Creep played between bands, so catering for the shoegazing Indie audience isn't too much of a bad idea in this context. It went down as well as it ever does, I guess, but when the new material starts to take shape it might have to be relegated to the longer gigs because it's not exactly uplifing.
Linger by the Cranberries was next; I know Dave told me to leave that one alone but everyone else seemed to like it when I tried it before so I gave it another go. In hindsight, it would have helped if I'd have practiced it before. I need to be more careful with that chorus though; there's only so long I can hold 'finger' on without feeling very silly. I made mistakes with that A6 chord that is pretty much integral to the song and shouldn't have happened. And I can't shake off the feeling that, even though I have no trouble hitting the notes, the song doesn't necessarily fit my voice too well. Still, it's a nice, safe song to play if the occasion calls for it, and it seemed to go down OK.
I finished off with Storm From The North. Again, this proved an interesting one: apart from mucking up the chords occasionally, I once again found myself forgetting the words to the last part of the song. Now you would think, wouldn't you, that after playing this song live for nearly a month I'd make some semblence of an effort to learn the words properly, especially as it's always the same bit I get wrong. Obviously I haven't... but thinking about why not, I think it's because I actually quite like being able to cover up the fact that I don't know the words to my own song by noodling around on the E string for a while. Who else is going to know? I don't think there was anybody in the room other than the sound guy (I think) who had heard me play it before. With a suitably climatic ending I think it's a good one to end the set with, though I may have to let it achieve a more familiar place in my set before I put it there again.
So, all in all a far more focused and effective gig than the last solo outing. The reaction was near enough the same but that's more typical of the venue as much as anything else. I was happier with the way that I'd played and my choice of songs, and kudos to Mezzotonic who never fail to ensure that I'm having a really great time for half an hour...
I got started with the venerable combo of Bitterness and Get Out Of My Head. I've marked those two songs as my attention-grabbers and until I write something that can surpass them in that role (I might! I wrote both of them roughly a year ago so it's not like I'm recycling any of my really old songs,) that is how they're likely to remain. I guess now that I have two, I can get away with switching one around from time to time if I want to try something new, but if I need the gig to go well, definitely open with those two songs.
Impulse decisions to play songs are never usually a good idea but I fancied playing something fast, so I went into a rendition of Hall of Mirrors by The Distillers, something I've not tried for a while. It all went OK actually, I don't think anybody knew it but I was playing that for myself rather than anybody else. Trouble is when I got to the quiet bit, I had to keep up the pace AND keep quiet and I lost it a bit. Other than that it went OK, but I'd be careful where I play it; not one to do if I'm minding my Ps and Qs!
We Will Survive was next, which now that I think about it is a similar sort of pace in a different key so this was probably as good a place as any to put it in the set, though it's usually best reserved as the closer. It's a bit wierd with that song actually because I was reluctant to play it live for a while (last year, before I started doing regular blogs like this.) I always liked the lyrics to it but I find the "Hurricanes and avalanches, fodder for the human monsters" part to be a bit clumsy. Now that I play it at near enough every gig I do, certainly when I'm playing more than about 4 songs, I can't imagine it sounding any other way, and it's become one of the main songs that I play sticking with the 'rock songs on an acoustic guitar' theme I appear to be doing so well. Anyway...
I chose to play Prisoner Of My Mind today to see if it would go down any better here. Again, it might; there's usually a number of people in the audience at the Wharf who are experienced enough to remember Radiohead at their peak, and we almost always get Creep played between bands, so catering for the shoegazing Indie audience isn't too much of a bad idea in this context. It went down as well as it ever does, I guess, but when the new material starts to take shape it might have to be relegated to the longer gigs because it's not exactly uplifing.
Linger by the Cranberries was next; I know Dave told me to leave that one alone but everyone else seemed to like it when I tried it before so I gave it another go. In hindsight, it would have helped if I'd have practiced it before. I need to be more careful with that chorus though; there's only so long I can hold 'finger' on without feeling very silly. I made mistakes with that A6 chord that is pretty much integral to the song and shouldn't have happened. And I can't shake off the feeling that, even though I have no trouble hitting the notes, the song doesn't necessarily fit my voice too well. Still, it's a nice, safe song to play if the occasion calls for it, and it seemed to go down OK.
I finished off with Storm From The North. Again, this proved an interesting one: apart from mucking up the chords occasionally, I once again found myself forgetting the words to the last part of the song. Now you would think, wouldn't you, that after playing this song live for nearly a month I'd make some semblence of an effort to learn the words properly, especially as it's always the same bit I get wrong. Obviously I haven't... but thinking about why not, I think it's because I actually quite like being able to cover up the fact that I don't know the words to my own song by noodling around on the E string for a while. Who else is going to know? I don't think there was anybody in the room other than the sound guy (I think) who had heard me play it before. With a suitably climatic ending I think it's a good one to end the set with, though I may have to let it achieve a more familiar place in my set before I put it there again.
So, all in all a far more focused and effective gig than the last solo outing. The reaction was near enough the same but that's more typical of the venue as much as anything else. I was happier with the way that I'd played and my choice of songs, and kudos to Mezzotonic who never fail to ensure that I'm having a really great time for half an hour...
Sunday, 27 March 2011
The Wharf Bar 26/3/11 and Sam's Party
Back with the gigs again!
I let myself down a little bit with this one at the Wharf Bar. I really wanted to play some of my new songs but if I'm honest I hadn't practiced my set anywhere near enough this week. All I could do therefore was to fall back on my usual material...
Kicked off with Bitterness, which is never a bad idea. There were quite a few people in the Wharf tonight who I'd never seen before and I think they were taken by surprise by the acoustic guy opening the show with a spiteful rock song! I got a nice big round of applause for that one. Didn't do the fast strums too well, which I put down to the fact that I'd had very little time to warm my hands up, but other than that OK.
I was going to do Girl's Names straight after that but then I remembered that they're in the same key and move more or less at the same speed which is never a good idea, so I went ahead and played Get Out Of My Head instead. This actually went down quite well; it can be a bit hit and miss but I think it's a good song and I reckon the greater majority of the audience thought that as well.
Then I introduced myself and did Wide Open Space by Mansun. Not sure how well this one went. Better than last time, and a lot of the audience were about the right age to recognise it, but it was as though most of them couldn't understand why I was playing a song like that in the middle of my own stuff. I might break that one out at a longer gig but for now I'll think I'll put that one to bed, (as though I ever repeat any of my covers in the same venue...)
Next was Dear Mr Manager. To be honest I think I chose the wrong gig for this song, it was a 'younger' audience and less likely to be appreciative of my speculating how badly working in retail could have ended for me. Plus it's a quiet song and a huge shift in dynamic, which had an effect on the rest of the set. Still, I played it without mucking it up, which isn't common...
THEN I played Girl's Names. I think I played this one OK, but one of the guys in the audience who's seen me before told me that this particular song lacked my usual energy. I don't know about that, but again after Dear Mr Manager it's a massive shift in dynamic which for a gig that small probably doesn't work all that well. Actually, now that I think about it, I've been playing that song for so long now that there's a certain level of familiarity to it to the point where I felt myself switching off when I'm playing it. That's not good...
Ended up with We Will Survive, there was only really one song I was going to end with! I think by then the novelty of the acousitic guy singing rock songs had worn off and the crowd were looking to get some bands on, but hey, this song rarely goes down badly and tonight was no exception. It was as good as could be expected!
So then we bailed out early (not being funny but a 4-band show was supposed to end at 10:20, one of the bands didn't turn up and the last band were still setting up at 10:40,) and journeyed up to Codsall for Sam's birthday party. What I didn't expect was for Sam to have set up a stage at the back of a huge garden for an impromtu gig. And, as so often happens, I got called up to do a slot... and Kayla asking me to play Get Out Of My Head by describing the lyrics to me was, I have to admit, a surreal experience!
I'm not going to go song by song here, this was a desperate attempt to recall some happy/party songs. I kicked off with A Little Respect by Erasure/Wheatus, which never fails to raise a smile and got people dancing which is all good! Then I played Summer of '69, you cannot go wrong with that! 500 Miles by The Proclaimers was next; an impromptu decision and helped out with the words by Sam and Dave, but if ever a party's going flat, all you've got to do is play that song and you're away. I finished up with Hotel Yorba by The White Stripes. Of course it wasn't until I got off the stage that I remembered I could have done Word Up, or On A Day Like This... but hey, there's always next time, right?
I let myself down a little bit with this one at the Wharf Bar. I really wanted to play some of my new songs but if I'm honest I hadn't practiced my set anywhere near enough this week. All I could do therefore was to fall back on my usual material...
Kicked off with Bitterness, which is never a bad idea. There were quite a few people in the Wharf tonight who I'd never seen before and I think they were taken by surprise by the acoustic guy opening the show with a spiteful rock song! I got a nice big round of applause for that one. Didn't do the fast strums too well, which I put down to the fact that I'd had very little time to warm my hands up, but other than that OK.
I was going to do Girl's Names straight after that but then I remembered that they're in the same key and move more or less at the same speed which is never a good idea, so I went ahead and played Get Out Of My Head instead. This actually went down quite well; it can be a bit hit and miss but I think it's a good song and I reckon the greater majority of the audience thought that as well.
Then I introduced myself and did Wide Open Space by Mansun. Not sure how well this one went. Better than last time, and a lot of the audience were about the right age to recognise it, but it was as though most of them couldn't understand why I was playing a song like that in the middle of my own stuff. I might break that one out at a longer gig but for now I'll think I'll put that one to bed, (as though I ever repeat any of my covers in the same venue...)
Next was Dear Mr Manager. To be honest I think I chose the wrong gig for this song, it was a 'younger' audience and less likely to be appreciative of my speculating how badly working in retail could have ended for me. Plus it's a quiet song and a huge shift in dynamic, which had an effect on the rest of the set. Still, I played it without mucking it up, which isn't common...
THEN I played Girl's Names. I think I played this one OK, but one of the guys in the audience who's seen me before told me that this particular song lacked my usual energy. I don't know about that, but again after Dear Mr Manager it's a massive shift in dynamic which for a gig that small probably doesn't work all that well. Actually, now that I think about it, I've been playing that song for so long now that there's a certain level of familiarity to it to the point where I felt myself switching off when I'm playing it. That's not good...
Ended up with We Will Survive, there was only really one song I was going to end with! I think by then the novelty of the acousitic guy singing rock songs had worn off and the crowd were looking to get some bands on, but hey, this song rarely goes down badly and tonight was no exception. It was as good as could be expected!
So then we bailed out early (not being funny but a 4-band show was supposed to end at 10:20, one of the bands didn't turn up and the last band were still setting up at 10:40,) and journeyed up to Codsall for Sam's birthday party. What I didn't expect was for Sam to have set up a stage at the back of a huge garden for an impromtu gig. And, as so often happens, I got called up to do a slot... and Kayla asking me to play Get Out Of My Head by describing the lyrics to me was, I have to admit, a surreal experience!
I'm not going to go song by song here, this was a desperate attempt to recall some happy/party songs. I kicked off with A Little Respect by Erasure/Wheatus, which never fails to raise a smile and got people dancing which is all good! Then I played Summer of '69, you cannot go wrong with that! 500 Miles by The Proclaimers was next; an impromptu decision and helped out with the words by Sam and Dave, but if ever a party's going flat, all you've got to do is play that song and you're away. I finished up with Hotel Yorba by The White Stripes. Of course it wasn't until I got off the stage that I remembered I could have done Word Up, or On A Day Like This... but hey, there's always next time, right?
Monday, 28 February 2011
Wharf 10 Cafe Bar 26/2/11
Hah, forgot to blog my last gig, how silly...
I actually went in to this one feeling pretty good. They let me do 6 songs, and I came up with a list of my four best, or at least most popular, a cover and a new song. This is what happened:
I opened up with Bitterness, deciding that if there was ever a time to set the bar high with adrenaline, it was this. Struggled again with the fast strums, but it went down quite well, there were a fair few people at the Wharf tonight who hadn't seen me before and were probably quite surprised by this if they were expecting Paul Simon or something like that! Whatever the reason, I got a nice loud applause at the end of the song and that's always a nice feeling.
Cracking straight on with Get Out Of My Head, I played it with all the energy I can get from following Bitterness, and this one went down surprisingly well as well. Putting the songs in this order seems to work, so I'll probably be doing that for some weeks to come, or until one of my newer ones takes it's place!
Then I did my complimentary 90s cover, in this case Linger by the Cranberries. I think members of the audience of a certain age - and a certain level of being hammered - would remember this song very fondly and enjoy it, and I like playing it; it's one that's actaully hard to get wrong as long as I remember all the words. Dave didn't like it so much, but the few times I've played it so far it hasn't gone down badly. I probably won't play it there again though. When I do covers at The Wharf it has to be a different one each time - it's just my thing - so I'll have to pick a new one for next month. Any suggestions?
Next, I did Dear Mr Manager. Not sure whether this was the right place for this, I think because the song is very quiet it needs an intimate atmosphere which the Wharf Bar doesn't usually provide. However, Matt from No Time To Sleep really liked it, and I got a polite applause from it which wasn't bad!
Moving back in to more familiar territories, I went in to Girl's Names, which I'm actually playing a lot better these days and I'm far less self-conscious because of the fact that other than the time-signature change, it's about as MOR as I get. My Feeder influences come through with this one, I think, not because it necessarily sounds like Feeder but because it's got a catchy vocal line and chorus which will always work well. The audience seemed to like it but the novelty of an acoustic guy at the Wharf was wearing off by then...
Which is why I choose to end gigs like this with We Will Survive, my DragonForce-inspired romp through the message of Battle Royale and basically any good guy vs bad guy film you care to mention. Oddly enough I don't play it often at the open nights, but I end gigs with it... I wonder why? Perhaps it's because I think I've written songs since then that are better, or maybe I'm just not as in to it, but whatever the reason, it's always good to have as a set closer, and tonight was no exception.
A bit less analytical than usual tonight, but I am in a bit of a hurry! It was nice to see the guys from 2 Days Notice again, their new singer seems to be doing well!
I actually went in to this one feeling pretty good. They let me do 6 songs, and I came up with a list of my four best, or at least most popular, a cover and a new song. This is what happened:
I opened up with Bitterness, deciding that if there was ever a time to set the bar high with adrenaline, it was this. Struggled again with the fast strums, but it went down quite well, there were a fair few people at the Wharf tonight who hadn't seen me before and were probably quite surprised by this if they were expecting Paul Simon or something like that! Whatever the reason, I got a nice loud applause at the end of the song and that's always a nice feeling.
Cracking straight on with Get Out Of My Head, I played it with all the energy I can get from following Bitterness, and this one went down surprisingly well as well. Putting the songs in this order seems to work, so I'll probably be doing that for some weeks to come, or until one of my newer ones takes it's place!
Then I did my complimentary 90s cover, in this case Linger by the Cranberries. I think members of the audience of a certain age - and a certain level of being hammered - would remember this song very fondly and enjoy it, and I like playing it; it's one that's actaully hard to get wrong as long as I remember all the words. Dave didn't like it so much, but the few times I've played it so far it hasn't gone down badly. I probably won't play it there again though. When I do covers at The Wharf it has to be a different one each time - it's just my thing - so I'll have to pick a new one for next month. Any suggestions?
Next, I did Dear Mr Manager. Not sure whether this was the right place for this, I think because the song is very quiet it needs an intimate atmosphere which the Wharf Bar doesn't usually provide. However, Matt from No Time To Sleep really liked it, and I got a polite applause from it which wasn't bad!
Moving back in to more familiar territories, I went in to Girl's Names, which I'm actually playing a lot better these days and I'm far less self-conscious because of the fact that other than the time-signature change, it's about as MOR as I get. My Feeder influences come through with this one, I think, not because it necessarily sounds like Feeder but because it's got a catchy vocal line and chorus which will always work well. The audience seemed to like it but the novelty of an acoustic guy at the Wharf was wearing off by then...
Which is why I choose to end gigs like this with We Will Survive, my DragonForce-inspired romp through the message of Battle Royale and basically any good guy vs bad guy film you care to mention. Oddly enough I don't play it often at the open nights, but I end gigs with it... I wonder why? Perhaps it's because I think I've written songs since then that are better, or maybe I'm just not as in to it, but whatever the reason, it's always good to have as a set closer, and tonight was no exception.
A bit less analytical than usual tonight, but I am in a bit of a hurry! It was nice to see the guys from 2 Days Notice again, their new singer seems to be doing well!
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