It's been far too long since I was last here, and to be honest I only remembered it was because Sam texted me in the day saying so. It's one of those nice times where you think you're not going to get a gig in this week, and then it turns out that you do. And Sam's open nights are always good fun.
On this particular occasion, however, I'd hurt my right arm. Not quite sure how I did this, I think I've pulled a muscle in there or something, but whatever the reason anything heavier than a glass of water and my forearm would scream in protest. So none of my usual pyrotechnics tonight, then. I kicked off with Get Out Of My Head; I'm familiar enough with the place in order to get away with that and it worked quite well I think, considering how long it's been since I last played it. (At least a couple of weeks ago.)
After explaining about my arm and fogging the heckler who told me it was due to wanking, I then went on to play Chapter One. I think I played it ok but for some reason I was really struggling with the fingerpicking, it wasn't coming as naturally to me as it usually does. Not that it comes naturally anyway, I'm far more used to playing with a plectrum, but it was a struggle to do it. Probably because I don't practice it enough; it's rare that I find the time to do that these days! I didn't make any mistakes, except once in the second verse, so all it took was a bit of concentration. And I do have to remind people that the song is over, probably due to its stop-start nature; I wouldn't normally do it at a gig like this to be honest but given the circumstances was probably the best choice.
A bit of a risk for the next one: I played a new song, A Lonely Night, after warning the crowd about the bad language and relating it's subject matter to Sam's gig with The Replicas that would have gone on last (friday) night but had to be cancelled because they hadn't sold enough tickets. A risk because I'd only recently learned all the words, and we all know what happens when I try to do a song I don't know well enough... thankfully I needn't have worried, I sang the song as near to perfect as it was ever going to get for trying it out in a live environment for the first time, and the Chili Peppers style vocal delivery was a bit of a new step for me which Sam thought was 'class.' Couldn't receive a higher compliment mate, thanks!
I then went ahead and did some covers. I chose High by Feeder, as the song I pay when I'm not allowed to play Oasis songs* which was kind of ironic as the lads at the table to my left were convinced I was playing Wonderwall. Trouble is that song is so easy for me to play now I stop concentrating and fluff the chords; I shouldn't be playing a D of any kind in that song! Other than that it seemed to go OK, though I think it might be worth knowing more than one Oasis song for next time...
I finished up with A Little Respect at the request for a fast 80s song. If that didn't mess up my arm even worse, I don't know what will. But it went as well as it ever does, and as a way to wrap up a light-hearted set like this one I could pick far worse.
The quality of the rest of the night was consistently good fun all the way through and I'm always pleased to be a part of it. Still need to get me, Sam and Elliot playing some gigs together, time to email Acoustic Brew and see if we can't sort something out...
*This came from a gig I did nearly 4 years ago with Phil, sometimes known as Fatbwoi, where I was expressley forbidden to play anything by Oasis. He hates them. Ever since then I've used the Feeder song as my replacement, I could do with learning some more songs by those guys as well...
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Friday, 14 October 2011
8/10/2011: The Brierly Hill Project at Stourbridge Cricket Club
I’d got started on this one through Hannah who I used to be in Perception with. The band may be gone, but the spirit still remains…
We began with Scars by Papa Roach, which we played quite well in spite of the fact that I was in mortal terror that Hannah would put some Dudley colloquialisms into the lyrics and give me the giggles. Thankfully this didn’t happen, and we played it very well. Hannah seems to regard this as her signature tune, and I think she could pick far worse songs than this.
We thought we were only going to get two songs for this one so we played another song we did in Perception; Because The Night by Patti Smith. I’m really starting to enjoy this one and it might find its way in to my set in the not too distant future. I think this was the best one we played in terms of accuracy, and there were plenty of people in the audience who knew the song. (And if you choose to interpret that remark as ‘Plenty of people in the audience old enough to remember when that song was released, well, that’s up to you I suppose.) It’s a good one!
And then we discovered we were allowed 3 songs after all, so we played the other one that we’d rehearsed, which was Love Me Tender, the Norah Jones version (or at least as near as I could get to that, having not really heard that or any version of the song enough times to feel justified in emulating it.) The song actually fits Hannah’s voice quite well and it sounded really good; I had a very positive feeling about our performance when we had finished it.
I had the same... not a problem, but a little niggle all the way through the show – Hannah was reading from her words on a music stand. I don’t know what that meant for her performance, but what it meant for me is that I kept looking over to it, and reading the version of the chords that Hannah had got written down, which if I’m honest weren’t all that accurate. So because of that I played the wrong chord a couple of times. But hey, if that’s the worst mistake I ever make at a gig I think I’ll have done quite well, and none of it spoiled the night; it was really good fun and I’m looking forward to the next one.
6/10/2011: Jam Night at the Samson and Lion
Some of you may recall that I came to this jam night ages ago back in April and had a go playing some covers in front of a modest but very appreciative (and by appreciative, I largely mean drunk) audience. I didn’t return, not because I didn’t want to, but because it was on a Thursday and I joined the Roleplaying club not too long after that. Since then, the night has changed hands from Kev on the keyboards who apparently quit, to my old friend Richard Sadler who’s taken it upon himself to set up a jam night in the pub, and for the opening night he needed a drummer. Enter yours truly…
I’ve said it before but not for nothing: I don’t claim to be a drummer. I do, however, have a pair of sticks and some idea of what to do with them. My kit will need something like £600 spending on it before it will be even close to playable, and since I only paid £250 for it in the first place (actually my Dad did,) I can’t see that happening too soon. Rich said he had an electric drum kit I could use, and I thought that wouldn’t be too bad; I’ve used them before and got on reasonably well. I got to the pub to find what I can only describe as ‘Rock Band Drums.’ There were 4 pads I could hit with a stick; a kick, a snare, a hi-hat, and a crash. So I had all the ground covered, and away we went.
The classic rock stuff that Rich likes to play is rarely all that complicated on the drums, which is probably as well, as I needed to keep it simple. Obviously there were the limitations of the drum kit, but there was also the fact that the top range (cymbal sounds) wasn’t cutting through the mix very well so all anyone could hear were the kick and the snare. Nonetheless I think I did a solid job of keeping it going for about half of the night, and the band appreciated it. It wasn’t ideal, but it was far better than nothing and everybody knew it. I think we did quite well.
Rich was also kind enough to let me have a go playing a small acoustic set…
Purely because I sound checked with a C chord and could think of nothing better, I had a go at playing Laid by James. Not a song I play very often because I don’t honestly think I’m that good at the necessary falsetto, but considering how long it had been since I’d last played it acoustically (we do it in The Fakes, where I use my pedals and the volume control on my Strat to make an approximation of string sounds) I played it quite well. Not sure how well it went down, or how many people recognised it, but not a bad start.
Despite the nature of the night, I would have felt it was lost opportunity if I didn’t play at least one of my original songs, so I had a go at We Will Survive. I’m getting more familiar with the sound of my own voice now, and at this point of the show I noticed that either the microphone or the PA we were putting it through wasn’t brilliant and there was some distortion on my voice. I doubt, therefore, that anyone would understand what I was singing, and with that on my mind it was trickier to put the usual kind of energy in to the performance. But I got through it all the way without making any mistakes, and that’s not nothing.
I then did Always Remember Me again, and I think there were some people in the room who recognised the song because I could see them singing, or at least mouthing, along. I must remember to ask anybody I see doing that whether that song works or not, considering the song was as far as I know originally sung by a black woman in a contemporary soul band, a far cry from my voice which sounds like a very large nail being rubbed against a very small plank of wood… maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t, but I play it live a lot now so it would be good to find out which.
At a request from the crowd for some Oasis, I went in to the only one of their songs I both know how to play and know all the words to: Stop Crying Your Heart Out. Again, I don’t sound anything like Liam Gallagher, but Oasis are the ultimate pub band and you can never go wrong with playing some of their songs in one. Rich was kind enough to join me on backing vocals; I was genuinely pleased to see this happen as that I think is what it’s all about. So guys, if you ever see me paying this and you know the guitar part to it, by all means join in! And especially if you know the harmonic bit at the end, which I do but forgot when it was time for me to play it..,
I finished off with Storm From The North. I think this was testing the water as much as anything else, because it was vastly different from my other song, and I probably wanted to see how well it went down. Whether by the style of the music or whether because, 5 songs in to a set, people were starting to get used to me I don’t know, but it seemed to go down better than my other original song tonight. Without being sure of the reasons there’s only so much I can take from it, but it’s an interesting observation if nothing else.
I’m back with the Role players now so it’s unlikely that I’ll come back to the jam night in the near future. But if it’s still going when I get a night off then maybe… Cheers Rich, and well done for putting it on. I can’t think of a single musician who wouldn’t thank you for giving them somewhere else to play.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
29/9/2011: Open Mic at The Woodman
Because I've joined the Roleplay Club in Blackheath that takes up most of my Thursdays, I haven't been able to come down to the Woodman for a while. That's a shame because I've really enjoyed playing the open nights there in the past, and I've made some good friends out of it! However, I took a couple of nights off Roleplay and decided to make the journey up to Bilbrook to see what happened:
Coming up on the end of the month when no one's got any money, there wasn't all that many people there, and those that were I knew most of them at least by sight. However, they haven't heard me play Always Remember Me yet, so I thought I'd give them that. I played it slightly better tonight, and I think it went down OK, though I'm not sure how to guauge how well-known that song is in an environment like that.
One song that did seem to go down well at the Woodman when I played there in the past was Dear Mr Manager, so I gave that another go. The quiet and morbid nature of the song, along with it's apparent popularity, meant that it was deathly quiet in the pub while I was playing. A high complement indeed, and it is nice to get through it without making any mistakes...
At this point I found myself quite incapable of remembering what I was doing or why, so I launched in to Bitterness. This goes down as well as it ever does but - and I really do take no pleasure at all from saying this - is getting to be a bit old hat now; the one that I feel obliged to play at every gig I do. Of all the songs I did tonight, this one was the most predictable, if the best played.
I gave the Foggy Dew a run through as well. This is a song that I like to play but haven't played too many times in recent months, simply because I've not found the right atmosphere to do it in (Katies is the best bet, but even that depends on the age and demographic of the audience.) For that reason I think I fluffed up a couple of chords, though none of the lyrics; mistakes I would have preferred not to have made but I doubt it did too much damage.
I recognised that there weren't all that many of us playing tonight so I asked Sam if it was OK if I could do one more. At his request, I played Storm From The North, which thinking about it I don't think I've actually played at the Woodman before. It's a flattering feeling to have one of your own songs requested! Sam described it as 'The Crashpoint Song' and it took me a few seconds to realise which one he meant. I thought I would be clever and try to put a Crashpoint song in the middle of it, I injected a bit of Keep Your Distance to ramp it down to the quiet bit, and fell flat on my face as I forgot the words. To my own song, not Emma's lyrics...
Later on I went up and did another few songs. I tried Buck Rogers by Feeder but I find this very difficult to do on acoustic because of the barre chords involved. I'm fine on electric but the performance of this one suffered for that.
Then I played a song I hadn't played for literally years: Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead. It was a good feeling to hear cries of 'Tune!' as I hit the opening chords. This song I really made an effort to learn how to play when I was 17, and I still remember all the words and chords which makes it quite something, even if Radiohead aren't a band I make a habit of listening to.
I finished up with Halelujah, closer to the Jeff Buckley version but I'm not quite that good! I was as surprised as anyone that I managed to make it all the way through without forgetting any of the words, and I was reliably informed by Sam afterwards that considering he hates that song with a passion, it was one of the most pallatable versions he'd heard. That's not nothing!
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable night at The Woodman. It will be a long time before I come to another one but it's nice to know that it's a musical venture that has remained reasonably solid for Sam over the last year or so...
Coming up on the end of the month when no one's got any money, there wasn't all that many people there, and those that were I knew most of them at least by sight. However, they haven't heard me play Always Remember Me yet, so I thought I'd give them that. I played it slightly better tonight, and I think it went down OK, though I'm not sure how to guauge how well-known that song is in an environment like that.
One song that did seem to go down well at the Woodman when I played there in the past was Dear Mr Manager, so I gave that another go. The quiet and morbid nature of the song, along with it's apparent popularity, meant that it was deathly quiet in the pub while I was playing. A high complement indeed, and it is nice to get through it without making any mistakes...
At this point I found myself quite incapable of remembering what I was doing or why, so I launched in to Bitterness. This goes down as well as it ever does but - and I really do take no pleasure at all from saying this - is getting to be a bit old hat now; the one that I feel obliged to play at every gig I do. Of all the songs I did tonight, this one was the most predictable, if the best played.
I gave the Foggy Dew a run through as well. This is a song that I like to play but haven't played too many times in recent months, simply because I've not found the right atmosphere to do it in (Katies is the best bet, but even that depends on the age and demographic of the audience.) For that reason I think I fluffed up a couple of chords, though none of the lyrics; mistakes I would have preferred not to have made but I doubt it did too much damage.
I recognised that there weren't all that many of us playing tonight so I asked Sam if it was OK if I could do one more. At his request, I played Storm From The North, which thinking about it I don't think I've actually played at the Woodman before. It's a flattering feeling to have one of your own songs requested! Sam described it as 'The Crashpoint Song' and it took me a few seconds to realise which one he meant. I thought I would be clever and try to put a Crashpoint song in the middle of it, I injected a bit of Keep Your Distance to ramp it down to the quiet bit, and fell flat on my face as I forgot the words. To my own song, not Emma's lyrics...
Later on I went up and did another few songs. I tried Buck Rogers by Feeder but I find this very difficult to do on acoustic because of the barre chords involved. I'm fine on electric but the performance of this one suffered for that.
Then I played a song I hadn't played for literally years: Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead. It was a good feeling to hear cries of 'Tune!' as I hit the opening chords. This song I really made an effort to learn how to play when I was 17, and I still remember all the words and chords which makes it quite something, even if Radiohead aren't a band I make a habit of listening to.
I finished up with Halelujah, closer to the Jeff Buckley version but I'm not quite that good! I was as surprised as anyone that I managed to make it all the way through without forgetting any of the words, and I was reliably informed by Sam afterwards that considering he hates that song with a passion, it was one of the most pallatable versions he'd heard. That's not nothing!
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable night at The Woodman. It will be a long time before I come to another one but it's nice to know that it's a musical venture that has remained reasonably solid for Sam over the last year or so...
24/9/2011: Royal Oak with Mezzotonic
Fallen behind a lot with this, and the problem with writing gig blogs a week and a half after I've done them means I can't remember what the hell I actually played. But hey, here goes...
I do seem to remember varying my opening songs with this one, kicking off I think with Girl's Names and Get Out Of My Head. The knock-on effect of both this and the fact that I wasn't really concentrating on my set list was to have consequences later, but for the moment this seemed to be a solid performance.
Next came the song that I'm pretty sure now is called Always Remember Me. I've been playing this quite a bit lately and people seem to like it, I'm not sure how fond I am of my guitar playing on this one as I tend to either rush the verses or not articulate all the sounds in the chorus when I know I can do better. That's something to practice, but to be perfectly honest I'd rather get my own material down to a T...
The rest of the gig went by in something of a haze, except that I remained on the stage for longer than my usual 7 songs. At one point I did High by Feeder while a Commodores video was showing on the screen above, made a snide comment about Lionel Ritchie's haircut beggaring belief (It was 3 Times A Lady if you want to have a look) and forgetting the words, which shouldn't really have happened but comical observations are something I have been trying to do lately and the lads from Mezzotonic, who's gig it was, at least found it funny...
Of course, I ended up using all my mid-paced songs up and putting my 3 fastest ones towards the end, which would have just been dull. While this did result in a rare and not-altogether-welcome outing of Prisoner of my Mind, it shouldn't really have happened and added to the idea that tonight I just wasn't concentrating. Next time I do a full gig (I've got a couple booked for the Wharf Bar,) I will have to think about that a bit more; I don't want to fall flat on my face for not being bothered to write a set-list!
Kudos to Mezzotonic, though. The gig itself suffered from a poor turnout - the night started with about 15 people in the room, half of which walked out just before I went on, and the rest of them walked out just before the band went on. It's never easy to play a gig when there are less people in the audience than there are in the band, but it meant the band got to try some material and covers that they wouldn't normally play, and I felt quite privelidged to see that. There were some other lads who showed up at one point, but there was football on in the other room, so, you know...
I do seem to remember varying my opening songs with this one, kicking off I think with Girl's Names and Get Out Of My Head. The knock-on effect of both this and the fact that I wasn't really concentrating on my set list was to have consequences later, but for the moment this seemed to be a solid performance.
Next came the song that I'm pretty sure now is called Always Remember Me. I've been playing this quite a bit lately and people seem to like it, I'm not sure how fond I am of my guitar playing on this one as I tend to either rush the verses or not articulate all the sounds in the chorus when I know I can do better. That's something to practice, but to be perfectly honest I'd rather get my own material down to a T...
The rest of the gig went by in something of a haze, except that I remained on the stage for longer than my usual 7 songs. At one point I did High by Feeder while a Commodores video was showing on the screen above, made a snide comment about Lionel Ritchie's haircut beggaring belief (It was 3 Times A Lady if you want to have a look) and forgetting the words, which shouldn't really have happened but comical observations are something I have been trying to do lately and the lads from Mezzotonic, who's gig it was, at least found it funny...
Of course, I ended up using all my mid-paced songs up and putting my 3 fastest ones towards the end, which would have just been dull. While this did result in a rare and not-altogether-welcome outing of Prisoner of my Mind, it shouldn't really have happened and added to the idea that tonight I just wasn't concentrating. Next time I do a full gig (I've got a couple booked for the Wharf Bar,) I will have to think about that a bit more; I don't want to fall flat on my face for not being bothered to write a set-list!
Kudos to Mezzotonic, though. The gig itself suffered from a poor turnout - the night started with about 15 people in the room, half of which walked out just before I went on, and the rest of them walked out just before the band went on. It's never easy to play a gig when there are less people in the audience than there are in the band, but it meant the band got to try some material and covers that they wouldn't normally play, and I felt quite privelidged to see that. There were some other lads who showed up at one point, but there was football on in the other room, so, you know...
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, 15 September 2011
14/9/2011: Katy Fitzgeralds
To quote the Honda advert, "Isn't it nice when things just... work?"
I was opening the gig tonight and there was a very strong line-up with an appreciative audience; I felt just about the right amount of pressure to deliver the goods with this one. It might seem strange therefore that I started the gig with Believe, but there was a reason for it. I basically hadn't played guitar much at all that day and my hand wasn't warmed up; starting off with Bitterness or We Will Survive would have been a recipe for disaster and I knew it. I thought it better to start with a relatively sedate one for me, although that last chorus seems to soar and I was really feeling it tonight. I guess I haven't opened with that one before, or if I had then it hasn't been for a while, so there would have been less of a feeling of going through the motions than there may otherwise have been.
THEN I was ready to play Bitterness. I think I've got that song down to a fine art now, from the fast strums right down to the positioning of my mouth to the microphone for the quiet to loud bits. It was probably one of the more memorable moments of the set and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it.
Get Out Of My Head was next. This one is another one that I'm playing very well these days; I don't know if it went down quite as well as Bitterness - a lot of the guys in the audience were quite young - but the subtleties of that song make it a very enjoyable one to play. Thinking about it, it's also the only one I currently play that relies on a riff rather than a chord sequence to carry the verse, not often in acoustic music does that happen. Not music that I listen to anyway. It's something I'd quite like to develop, and I'm well on my way to doing so with another song that's in the pipeline which hopefully people will hear soon.
Next I tried a song by the Noisettes; not sure what it's called, it's either Never Forget You or Always Remember Me, but I play it in the 82s and I really like it. It actually went down really well, a lot of the guys in the audience recognised the song and they can't have heard it live often; I don't hear it played by many - if any - of my contemporaries. There's some bits that need ironing out, namely the strumming pattern in the second verse; I could feel myself rushing it but I couldn't do anything about it without stopping, but it didn't spoil what I would otherwise consider to be quite a convincing delivery.
For some reason whenever I do a 7-song gig these days, Storm From The North is always the 5th one. Actually I know exactly what the reason is; it's the mid-set epic and therefore needs to be in the middle of the set. I don't know if that's becoming a little predictable now that I've been playing it for a few months, and especially at Katies where I play a lot, but I honestly can't think of a better place to put it. I played it well, I think, and the audience is familiar enough not to clap too soon!
I was torn then between playing Girls Names and Chapter One. I went with Girl's Names because it's faster; I was having a really good gig by now and I wanted to keep up the pace. I'm struggling a lot less with the 12/8 bit; fewer are the times when I mess up the chords and I'm used to singing it now to the point where I can make it sound good (if you haven't heard the song, that part is quite low and I find it difficult to project my voice.) It went down as well as it ever does, it's familiar at Katies so I do play it quite a bit.
I wrapped it up with We Will Survive, and I seem to be getting far more precise with this one as well. It's come from all this gigging, I'm sure; sometimes it's the only time I play guitar these days but as the stakes are always higher on the stage than they are in my bedroom, no matter how good the gig is, I'm under a lot of pressure to get it right when I do play it. That kind of experience have really put some of these songs at another level which after all this time I am very pleased with! And fortunately so were my audience.
Well, blowing my own trumpet a little bit here but I think I set the bar quite high for what was to follow! I had a lot of people come up to me afterwards telling me how much they enjoyed the show which is always a nice feeling. I wouldn't normally do this on this blog, but big well done to Georgia and Will, who followed me, and Sam, who wrapped up the gig very well indeed with a sing-along chorus. It really was a great night and a fine reminder of why I play live.
I was opening the gig tonight and there was a very strong line-up with an appreciative audience; I felt just about the right amount of pressure to deliver the goods with this one. It might seem strange therefore that I started the gig with Believe, but there was a reason for it. I basically hadn't played guitar much at all that day and my hand wasn't warmed up; starting off with Bitterness or We Will Survive would have been a recipe for disaster and I knew it. I thought it better to start with a relatively sedate one for me, although that last chorus seems to soar and I was really feeling it tonight. I guess I haven't opened with that one before, or if I had then it hasn't been for a while, so there would have been less of a feeling of going through the motions than there may otherwise have been.
THEN I was ready to play Bitterness. I think I've got that song down to a fine art now, from the fast strums right down to the positioning of my mouth to the microphone for the quiet to loud bits. It was probably one of the more memorable moments of the set and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it.
Get Out Of My Head was next. This one is another one that I'm playing very well these days; I don't know if it went down quite as well as Bitterness - a lot of the guys in the audience were quite young - but the subtleties of that song make it a very enjoyable one to play. Thinking about it, it's also the only one I currently play that relies on a riff rather than a chord sequence to carry the verse, not often in acoustic music does that happen. Not music that I listen to anyway. It's something I'd quite like to develop, and I'm well on my way to doing so with another song that's in the pipeline which hopefully people will hear soon.
Next I tried a song by the Noisettes; not sure what it's called, it's either Never Forget You or Always Remember Me, but I play it in the 82s and I really like it. It actually went down really well, a lot of the guys in the audience recognised the song and they can't have heard it live often; I don't hear it played by many - if any - of my contemporaries. There's some bits that need ironing out, namely the strumming pattern in the second verse; I could feel myself rushing it but I couldn't do anything about it without stopping, but it didn't spoil what I would otherwise consider to be quite a convincing delivery.
For some reason whenever I do a 7-song gig these days, Storm From The North is always the 5th one. Actually I know exactly what the reason is; it's the mid-set epic and therefore needs to be in the middle of the set. I don't know if that's becoming a little predictable now that I've been playing it for a few months, and especially at Katies where I play a lot, but I honestly can't think of a better place to put it. I played it well, I think, and the audience is familiar enough not to clap too soon!
I was torn then between playing Girls Names and Chapter One. I went with Girl's Names because it's faster; I was having a really good gig by now and I wanted to keep up the pace. I'm struggling a lot less with the 12/8 bit; fewer are the times when I mess up the chords and I'm used to singing it now to the point where I can make it sound good (if you haven't heard the song, that part is quite low and I find it difficult to project my voice.) It went down as well as it ever does, it's familiar at Katies so I do play it quite a bit.
I wrapped it up with We Will Survive, and I seem to be getting far more precise with this one as well. It's come from all this gigging, I'm sure; sometimes it's the only time I play guitar these days but as the stakes are always higher on the stage than they are in my bedroom, no matter how good the gig is, I'm under a lot of pressure to get it right when I do play it. That kind of experience have really put some of these songs at another level which after all this time I am very pleased with! And fortunately so were my audience.
Well, blowing my own trumpet a little bit here but I think I set the bar quite high for what was to follow! I had a lot of people come up to me afterwards telling me how much they enjoyed the show which is always a nice feeling. I wouldn't normally do this on this blog, but big well done to Georgia and Will, who followed me, and Sam, who wrapped up the gig very well indeed with a sing-along chorus. It really was a great night and a fine reminder of why I play live.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)