Aki Maera's first gig. This one had been a long time coming... and I also forgot to blog it. Now, I didn't really analyse the band's performance, only my own, so this time I'm just going to write out the set list and comment on the whole thing. The songs we played were:
Valkyries
In the Attic
Blissful Moment
Until Then
Shy
Drifted
Rise
Monday It's Too Late (encore)
We had some quite positive feedback from this, given that it was our first gig, and to be fair we played the songs pretty tightly. There were mistakes, there always are, and there were definitely some points where Cj was running out of steam on those drums and playing the songs a lot slower than we rehearsed, but this is all part of the learning curve. Marcus and Ian did very well indeed, considering neither of them had played a gig before. And the promoters seemed to enjoy it as well.
However someone who wishes to remain anonymous (I don't know who it is) provided us with some constructive feedback. Our biggest issue at the moment is the transition between songs; we use 3 different tunings in the band and having to change them between 4 out of the 8 songs we played deprived the set of any momentum. The way around it is basically to arrange the set more efficiently; some songs are better grouped together than others. It will blunt the impact of the set somewhat, because with the exception of Monday It's Too Late (this was an unplanned addition) that was the best order the songs could have gone in. But unless we can get a guitar tech to help us out, plus another 2 guitars for Marcus, we should try to rearrange the set. Constantly having to retune our guitars is more trouble than it's worth.
The other problem was our levels were out. Well, it's all very well people saying that after the gig when we can't do anything about it, but we were never going to notice during the show. Cj hadn't got a monitor, we could barely hear anything but ourselves, and even if we could, we know enough about playing live to know that the sound we get on the stage is nothing like how it sounds at the front of the house. One of the promoters needed to tell us that our levels were out and how to put them right; there was nothing really we could have done about it.
There were also apparently some less-than-kind comments about Marcus' voice. I haven't read them. I'm not going to worry too much about this, though. For one thing, I've seen a marked improvement in the whole band and particularly his voice over the last couple of months. For another, someone signed Kings of Leon and that guy's got a very rough voice. So if it's going to get better like it has been doing, and doesn't really matter too much anyway, then there's no problem!
We have no more gigs booked yet and I don't know when we're practicing next so watch this space...
Thursday, 8 December 2011
3/12/2011: The Fakes: The Blue Brick, Brierly Hill
What's this, you say? 3 Fakes gigs in one year? Are you sure?
Yes, I am, although to be fair this was our first 'full' gig in over two years, the previous 2 gigs were at the Baseline and we can play for a lot longer than time constraints usually allow with those guys. Long-term blog readers will remember we completely bombed the last time we did a gig, and I won't lie there has been talk of "If we do a gig that shit again, let's call it a day." I won't go into the reasons why that gig went the way it did, but suffice to say the stakes were quite high for this one.
And we very nearly had to pull it! During the soundcheck it became apparent that our PA was cutting out every 2-3 minutes. We reckon it was because a capacitator had blown in the circuitry; how that could have happened on a PA that I think we've only used 3 times so far I don't know, but it had certainly been a long time since we last used it. Thankfully we knew someone in Wall Heath we could hire a PA mixer from and we went through that. Close call though.
What was different about this gig is that we had our own sound engineer (we usually do it ourselves) called Ryan helping us out. What he was basically doing all the way through the gig, fair play to him, was boosting the vocals when we needed them, so if he could see either me or Matt was about to sing he'd turn up our mics and back down again afterwards to stop them feeding back. The result, we were reliably informed by Bob Drew, was the best vocal mix we'd ever had. The same could not be said for the guitars, though. Ryan had told me to turn mine down, which from where he was standing was probably the right thing to do as I was overpowering the other instruments. However the sound was not carrying across the whole room, which meant for the first half of the gig no one could hear my guitar solos. I turned it up again for the next half of the show, but there was a huge variation of volume I needed for some of the songs and it's a difficult call to make. Seemed to work OK though, everyone enjoyed it...
Highlights? I think that was the best I ever played She Bangs The Drums, and I really like that song anyway so it was good to see people enjoy it. Steve running off the stage to go to the toilet before playing I Wanna Be Adored was amusing, if nothing else. Fire by Kasabian was a good one as well, I think I got an overall better sound by stroking the strings gently with my fingers. Probably shouldn't rule out the whammy bar though. And the gig overall felt better than the last one we did, we really enjoyed it and can't wait to be there again!
Development points: With the levels, I'm just going to have to be really aware of what I'm doing with the lead guitar. The easy option is to buy a boost pedal, but to be honest I'd only really use it in the Fakes (There's rarely a need to boost my sound in the 82s, and I play bass in Aki Maera) and that's a lot of money to spend on a pedal just to use on a few songs in a covers band that at the most does 3 gigs a year. I'd like to get some new songs rolling out for the next gig but that's going to be a little tricky. Things are going to slow down for The Fakes now in terms of rehearsals because Drewey's going to be working away for the next couple of months, and we'll only really have Friday to rehearse - if we can all make it. That's by no means a guarantee, given that I'm off to see Amy every couple of weeks, or she comes up to me, and Steve's shifts not being conducive to a regular practicing pattern! But I'll see what I can do with getting them to play some new songs, or at least some songs we've never played live before. We should get Acquiesce by Oasis out by next gig, I think.
Looking forward to it, whatever happens!
Yes, I am, although to be fair this was our first 'full' gig in over two years, the previous 2 gigs were at the Baseline and we can play for a lot longer than time constraints usually allow with those guys. Long-term blog readers will remember we completely bombed the last time we did a gig, and I won't lie there has been talk of "If we do a gig that shit again, let's call it a day." I won't go into the reasons why that gig went the way it did, but suffice to say the stakes were quite high for this one.
And we very nearly had to pull it! During the soundcheck it became apparent that our PA was cutting out every 2-3 minutes. We reckon it was because a capacitator had blown in the circuitry; how that could have happened on a PA that I think we've only used 3 times so far I don't know, but it had certainly been a long time since we last used it. Thankfully we knew someone in Wall Heath we could hire a PA mixer from and we went through that. Close call though.
What was different about this gig is that we had our own sound engineer (we usually do it ourselves) called Ryan helping us out. What he was basically doing all the way through the gig, fair play to him, was boosting the vocals when we needed them, so if he could see either me or Matt was about to sing he'd turn up our mics and back down again afterwards to stop them feeding back. The result, we were reliably informed by Bob Drew, was the best vocal mix we'd ever had. The same could not be said for the guitars, though. Ryan had told me to turn mine down, which from where he was standing was probably the right thing to do as I was overpowering the other instruments. However the sound was not carrying across the whole room, which meant for the first half of the gig no one could hear my guitar solos. I turned it up again for the next half of the show, but there was a huge variation of volume I needed for some of the songs and it's a difficult call to make. Seemed to work OK though, everyone enjoyed it...
Highlights? I think that was the best I ever played She Bangs The Drums, and I really like that song anyway so it was good to see people enjoy it. Steve running off the stage to go to the toilet before playing I Wanna Be Adored was amusing, if nothing else. Fire by Kasabian was a good one as well, I think I got an overall better sound by stroking the strings gently with my fingers. Probably shouldn't rule out the whammy bar though. And the gig overall felt better than the last one we did, we really enjoyed it and can't wait to be there again!
Development points: With the levels, I'm just going to have to be really aware of what I'm doing with the lead guitar. The easy option is to buy a boost pedal, but to be honest I'd only really use it in the Fakes (There's rarely a need to boost my sound in the 82s, and I play bass in Aki Maera) and that's a lot of money to spend on a pedal just to use on a few songs in a covers band that at the most does 3 gigs a year. I'd like to get some new songs rolling out for the next gig but that's going to be a little tricky. Things are going to slow down for The Fakes now in terms of rehearsals because Drewey's going to be working away for the next couple of months, and we'll only really have Friday to rehearse - if we can all make it. That's by no means a guarantee, given that I'm off to see Amy every couple of weeks, or she comes up to me, and Steve's shifts not being conducive to a regular practicing pattern! But I'll see what I can do with getting them to play some new songs, or at least some songs we've never played live before. We should get Acquiesce by Oasis out by next gig, I think.
Looking forward to it, whatever happens!
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
26/11/2011: Coven Beer Festival, Coven Memorial Hall
Now I know what you're thinking: What the hell am I doing in a Beer festival?
How this came about is that Sam was doing an open mic for the day there. It transpired that not all that many people turned up for the open mic (probably too busy with their Christmas Shopping) so when Sam texted me at 1.30 asking people to come then I was happy to oblige. I got there around about 3 and found that Sam had been more or less playing on his own for an hour and a half, with a short set from Baden to break things up a little bit. So, I took the quite impressive stage, and began:
Because of what was happening, I decided to do a set of mostly covers. I began with an old favourite, High by Feeder. Again I suffered from not concentrating; it's not a hard song to play and for that reason I tend to keep playing the wrong chords; I probably get away with it to a certain extent because the Gsus chords cloud the sound anyway but I shouldn't really be doing that at this stage. It went down to a kind of passive indifference, as is so often the case with Feeder songs, but they rarely go down badly.
Followed that up with the song that I now know is called Never Forget You by the Noisettes. This went absolutely fine until the key change and then I kept fluffing up the chords once again. I do get a bit confused with this one; as I've said before I do this song in the 82s and we do it in a different key to the original to fit the vocal style a little better. Fine, except sometimes it's hard to remember which version of the song I'm actually playing and I end up making a complete mess of it from time to time, in both the band and the solo. The answer? Practice more...
Wanting to play one of my own songs but not wishing to let down the cheery atmosphere I then went on to play We Will Survive. I played it ok, I think, and it was the best reaction I could have expected given the environment. I felt exhausted though. Need to work on my fitness, I shouldn't be knackered after three songs!
Back to the covers for the next one, which was A Little Respect. This is where it started to work a bit better for me, because I could see some people singing along and getting in to it a little more than they were before, the difference obviously was I was playing something they actually know. This was probably the best song I played for the afternoon, I sang it fine and didn't mess up the guitar playing at all.
Sam was kind enough to give me another couple of songs so I went with another of my own, Bitterness. I always wanted to play this one anyway, but I've been taken to task before now for playing that one next to We Will Survive, and I had plans to end the gig so I needed to make sure I had enough songs to play it before I did! This went well; needed to edit out the swearing as it was a family event, but that's cool, and with a more energetic song I felt able to put a lot more into the performance.
Finally wrapped it up with On A Day Like This by Elbow. This was only the second time I've played that song live; it's a bit of a gamble because people need to sing along to the last part, otherwise it doesn't really work. Last time I tried it, it really didn't. But this time it did; some people were singing along with it and made it work! Trouble is it's been that song since I played it I forgot the sequece of vocal variations in the song, but never mind, we got there in the end.
So, not a bad one, and certainly quite good for an impromptu show like that. I think I need to practice some of those covers more if I'm going to take them out live though, those earlier songs were a bit sloppy.
Gig with Aki Maera tonight, Wheatsheaf in Walsall. Starts at 8! I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, but we'd appreciate your support if you could make it!
How this came about is that Sam was doing an open mic for the day there. It transpired that not all that many people turned up for the open mic (probably too busy with their Christmas Shopping) so when Sam texted me at 1.30 asking people to come then I was happy to oblige. I got there around about 3 and found that Sam had been more or less playing on his own for an hour and a half, with a short set from Baden to break things up a little bit. So, I took the quite impressive stage, and began:
Because of what was happening, I decided to do a set of mostly covers. I began with an old favourite, High by Feeder. Again I suffered from not concentrating; it's not a hard song to play and for that reason I tend to keep playing the wrong chords; I probably get away with it to a certain extent because the Gsus chords cloud the sound anyway but I shouldn't really be doing that at this stage. It went down to a kind of passive indifference, as is so often the case with Feeder songs, but they rarely go down badly.
Followed that up with the song that I now know is called Never Forget You by the Noisettes. This went absolutely fine until the key change and then I kept fluffing up the chords once again. I do get a bit confused with this one; as I've said before I do this song in the 82s and we do it in a different key to the original to fit the vocal style a little better. Fine, except sometimes it's hard to remember which version of the song I'm actually playing and I end up making a complete mess of it from time to time, in both the band and the solo. The answer? Practice more...
Wanting to play one of my own songs but not wishing to let down the cheery atmosphere I then went on to play We Will Survive. I played it ok, I think, and it was the best reaction I could have expected given the environment. I felt exhausted though. Need to work on my fitness, I shouldn't be knackered after three songs!
Back to the covers for the next one, which was A Little Respect. This is where it started to work a bit better for me, because I could see some people singing along and getting in to it a little more than they were before, the difference obviously was I was playing something they actually know. This was probably the best song I played for the afternoon, I sang it fine and didn't mess up the guitar playing at all.
Sam was kind enough to give me another couple of songs so I went with another of my own, Bitterness. I always wanted to play this one anyway, but I've been taken to task before now for playing that one next to We Will Survive, and I had plans to end the gig so I needed to make sure I had enough songs to play it before I did! This went well; needed to edit out the swearing as it was a family event, but that's cool, and with a more energetic song I felt able to put a lot more into the performance.
Finally wrapped it up with On A Day Like This by Elbow. This was only the second time I've played that song live; it's a bit of a gamble because people need to sing along to the last part, otherwise it doesn't really work. Last time I tried it, it really didn't. But this time it did; some people were singing along with it and made it work! Trouble is it's been that song since I played it I forgot the sequece of vocal variations in the song, but never mind, we got there in the end.
So, not a bad one, and certainly quite good for an impromptu show like that. I think I need to practice some of those covers more if I'm going to take them out live though, those earlier songs were a bit sloppy.
Gig with Aki Maera tonight, Wheatsheaf in Walsall. Starts at 8! I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, but we'd appreciate your support if you could make it!
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
November Gigs
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!
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!
Friday, 11 November 2011
Crashpoint to Reform?
Can't sleep, and this is on my mind so...
Earlier this evening Cj who I'm now in Aki Maera with text me to say some mutual friends had enjoyed the Crashpoint stuff and that it was a shame we weren't still together. I wholly agreed with this. When I was at the Just Kroozin fundraising event with Natasha and the 82s last week (blog to come later) and saw a storming set from the band Almost Easy, I considered the music I was playing (Good indie rock from the Fakes with a not-so-busy gigging schedule, quite restrained soul music in the 82s and bass in Aki Maera and who the hell knows what Post Hardcore actually sounds like anyway) and found myself missing the days when I could take the stage with an electric guitar and play rock songs that I'd had a hand in writing. So yeah, I'd quite like the band to still be together as well.
Quick history for the uninitiated - I put Crashpoint together with Cj in late 2007, still hurting from Jack's Legacy and my experience with The Dastards having sucked all the fun out of playing bass. Band members came and went until shortly after our first gig we settled on what became the definitive lineup of me on guitar, Emma on vocals, Jay on bass and Cj on drums. Musically, not the best lineup, and we were never as good as JL was, but it was the most stable lineup and did the most gigs. We recorded a reasonable-sounding demo and kept a steady momentum going on the live circuit for most of 2009. Then Jay and Emma dropped out for their own reasons, we struggled on for a bit with some different people but as it was going nowhere and neither Cj or I could afford to keep the band going indefinitely for its own sake, in May 2010 we sadly stepped down and added Crashpoint to the list of the also-rans.
Since then, amongst everything else we've done, I've tried various different things with Cj and Aki Maera has lasted by far the longest. Now on Facebook Cj's on about putting Crashpoint back together for one final show to go out with a bang. I'm against this, for the following reasons:
1) We've already done our farewell show. That was in February 2010. I made it clear a number of times during the show that this would be our last one, until we could get ourselves sorted out, and we never did. I drove home that night knowing perfectly well it was all over and crying my eyes out to The Poet and The Pendulum. Losing Crashpoint didn't hurt as bad, or for as long, as losing Jack's Legacy - we were nowhere near as good, and I was certainly not as close to the individual members - but putting myself through that again will for me be at best a waste of time that I don't really have, and at worst a desperate attempt to recapture something I lost nearly two years ago which will hardly be conducive to a great self-esteem.
2) Even if that first point didn't apply, we could barely get anyone to come to our shows when we were a band. Who's going to come to see us now, when we haven't been active on the live circuit for nearly two years? I for one find it very difficult to get people to come to gigs, (usually the only way I manage it is if I drive them there myself,) any new 'fans' will be disappointed that there will be no continuity in the band, and everybody else has presumably either forgotten about Crashpoint or weren't there for us the first time, and simply won't care if we do a reunion show.
3) To be fair Cj has picked up on this one already - we're not going to get the definitive lineup back together now. Emma left the band because the strain the style of music was putting on her voice was causing her some damage, and she's busy with In Between Seas now so I can't imagine her wanting to do it again. Jay's busy working as a chef. That just leaves me and Cj, and while we were the only two members of the band to be involved right from the start to the end, we couldn't manage it on our own.
Could we ever get back together and do Crashpoint again as a band? It could be done, I think. We'd need to find a new bass player - one that we can get on with, actually wants to do the band, and can play bass, you'd be surprised how hard they are to find - and that would be the bare minimum. Possibly we'd need a lead guitarist. I wouldn't waste my time looking for a singer when I can sing most of the songs myself anyway. And I'd love to write songs again in that environment (Marcus writes the songs for Aki Maera, and the one song we play that I wrote we did at the end of Crashpoint so it's not like I've written anything new in a band setting since then) and perform them with the same kind of energy that I've been sorely missing these last couple of years.
Unfortunately, I can't see that happening either. Aki Maera's got it's first gig coming up at the end of the month and we've been working very hard over the last few months to make sure it goes OK, we're not going to abandon it now for our old band. It's very easy to get disillusioned with finding band members (of all the people who contacted us off websites for the positions available in Aki Maera, Ian was the only one who got as far as meeting us and lasted more than about a week) and it's not a process I'm keen to repeat now that we've finally got the lineup sorted out. And I honestly have not got time to put Crashpoint back together and do it alongside all my other bands. Maybe, if Marcus ever decided to pull the plug on Aki Maera, we'd have time to give it another go. But we know perfectly well he's not even close to doing any such thing, and quite rightly so for all the work that's gone in to it.
So overall, I think it's a no. And to be honest, I was happier with the dream of rocking out on stage with my either of my old bands than contemplating the practicalities of actually going through with it. But it was interesting to think about for a while.
Got gig blogs coming up, and another gig at the Wharf later today - see some of you there. Maybe.
Earlier this evening Cj who I'm now in Aki Maera with text me to say some mutual friends had enjoyed the Crashpoint stuff and that it was a shame we weren't still together. I wholly agreed with this. When I was at the Just Kroozin fundraising event with Natasha and the 82s last week (blog to come later) and saw a storming set from the band Almost Easy, I considered the music I was playing (Good indie rock from the Fakes with a not-so-busy gigging schedule, quite restrained soul music in the 82s and bass in Aki Maera and who the hell knows what Post Hardcore actually sounds like anyway) and found myself missing the days when I could take the stage with an electric guitar and play rock songs that I'd had a hand in writing. So yeah, I'd quite like the band to still be together as well.
Quick history for the uninitiated - I put Crashpoint together with Cj in late 2007, still hurting from Jack's Legacy and my experience with The Dastards having sucked all the fun out of playing bass. Band members came and went until shortly after our first gig we settled on what became the definitive lineup of me on guitar, Emma on vocals, Jay on bass and Cj on drums. Musically, not the best lineup, and we were never as good as JL was, but it was the most stable lineup and did the most gigs. We recorded a reasonable-sounding demo and kept a steady momentum going on the live circuit for most of 2009. Then Jay and Emma dropped out for their own reasons, we struggled on for a bit with some different people but as it was going nowhere and neither Cj or I could afford to keep the band going indefinitely for its own sake, in May 2010 we sadly stepped down and added Crashpoint to the list of the also-rans.
Since then, amongst everything else we've done, I've tried various different things with Cj and Aki Maera has lasted by far the longest. Now on Facebook Cj's on about putting Crashpoint back together for one final show to go out with a bang. I'm against this, for the following reasons:
1) We've already done our farewell show. That was in February 2010. I made it clear a number of times during the show that this would be our last one, until we could get ourselves sorted out, and we never did. I drove home that night knowing perfectly well it was all over and crying my eyes out to The Poet and The Pendulum. Losing Crashpoint didn't hurt as bad, or for as long, as losing Jack's Legacy - we were nowhere near as good, and I was certainly not as close to the individual members - but putting myself through that again will for me be at best a waste of time that I don't really have, and at worst a desperate attempt to recapture something I lost nearly two years ago which will hardly be conducive to a great self-esteem.
2) Even if that first point didn't apply, we could barely get anyone to come to our shows when we were a band. Who's going to come to see us now, when we haven't been active on the live circuit for nearly two years? I for one find it very difficult to get people to come to gigs, (usually the only way I manage it is if I drive them there myself,) any new 'fans' will be disappointed that there will be no continuity in the band, and everybody else has presumably either forgotten about Crashpoint or weren't there for us the first time, and simply won't care if we do a reunion show.
3) To be fair Cj has picked up on this one already - we're not going to get the definitive lineup back together now. Emma left the band because the strain the style of music was putting on her voice was causing her some damage, and she's busy with In Between Seas now so I can't imagine her wanting to do it again. Jay's busy working as a chef. That just leaves me and Cj, and while we were the only two members of the band to be involved right from the start to the end, we couldn't manage it on our own.
Could we ever get back together and do Crashpoint again as a band? It could be done, I think. We'd need to find a new bass player - one that we can get on with, actually wants to do the band, and can play bass, you'd be surprised how hard they are to find - and that would be the bare minimum. Possibly we'd need a lead guitarist. I wouldn't waste my time looking for a singer when I can sing most of the songs myself anyway. And I'd love to write songs again in that environment (Marcus writes the songs for Aki Maera, and the one song we play that I wrote we did at the end of Crashpoint so it's not like I've written anything new in a band setting since then) and perform them with the same kind of energy that I've been sorely missing these last couple of years.
Unfortunately, I can't see that happening either. Aki Maera's got it's first gig coming up at the end of the month and we've been working very hard over the last few months to make sure it goes OK, we're not going to abandon it now for our old band. It's very easy to get disillusioned with finding band members (of all the people who contacted us off websites for the positions available in Aki Maera, Ian was the only one who got as far as meeting us and lasted more than about a week) and it's not a process I'm keen to repeat now that we've finally got the lineup sorted out. And I honestly have not got time to put Crashpoint back together and do it alongside all my other bands. Maybe, if Marcus ever decided to pull the plug on Aki Maera, we'd have time to give it another go. But we know perfectly well he's not even close to doing any such thing, and quite rightly so for all the work that's gone in to it.
So overall, I think it's a no. And to be honest, I was happier with the dream of rocking out on stage with my either of my old bands than contemplating the practicalities of actually going through with it. But it was interesting to think about for a while.
Got gig blogs coming up, and another gig at the Wharf later today - see some of you there. Maybe.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
24/10/2011: Gig at Katy Fitzgeralds
I was booked to play Katies once again within a couple of days of the gig, and I really wanted to demo my new song A Lonely Night, so I was more than happy to do the show. As there was only me and Sam Tilley there that night I had longer than the usual set, and I was the first on that night so I had the task of entertaining the crowd and setting the tone for the gig. Most of the people who had come specifically for the gig were there for Sam but for Katies that was just about the right number of people there to feel comfortable and guauge how good a show you're playing.
I started off with a cover of Yesterday Went Too Soon by Feeder; not a song that I think I've ever played live before. Mixed bag with this, I made the mistake I make every single time that I play this song, which is start singing it low then realise it's too low and then start singing it high. The line 'But I'm missing yesterday...' ends with a very long top E note, which is about as high as I can go, and my voice started to break a couple of times. Perhaps this one would have been better employed mid-set when I'd warmed up my voice a little bit? None of the crowd recognised the song; it's not one of Feeder's better known songs to the layman but it's a beautiful song and the crowd really did appear to enjoy it. As an opening statement of intent, I could have done far worse.
I then carried on with Get Out Of My Head. This one went down as well as it ever does and I don't think there were any mistakes when I was playing it, although as I know the song a lot better now having had the song over a year, it means I'm concentrating a lot less. Not a major problem, but sometimes I forget to take the appropriate amount of breath and wonder why I'm running out of breath halfway through a line. Something I need to take care of!
Commenting on the fact that I've got new strings on my guitar and they sound awesome, I went in to We Will Survive. One thing I really want to do with this one - and to be fair I'm asking a lot out of an acoustic show - is to get people clapping on the 'We're still here and we're still standing' bit. Not that easy when your hands are tied to a guitar, I won't lie to you. But I try anyway by stamping my foot on the floor. So far it hasn't worked, but I'll keep trying! Other than that, the song went really well. I'm actually quite surprised about how well I'm playing these days!
Then I had a go at my new song, A Lonely Night, after once again telling the story of how it came about, because a lot of the people who go in Katies are musicians themselves and would probably appreciate the sentiment of feeling a little peeved because no one has come to their gig. This one was quite interesting to play because of the words to it. Obviously I need to get them all right, and word for word, this didn't happen. But I managed to cover the lines I couldn't exactly remember with words that fit just as well. The result is a performance that's equally as convincing either way, and actually a lot of the final edits for my songs were done by playing them live and playing the version that feels most comfortable to play, rather than the ones I've written down. Get Out Of My Head and Storm From The North were two such songs, I might talk about that another time. For now, the song went down very well, and Sam told me she really liked it because she likes songs with a lot of lyrics in them. Might need to tone the swearing down in future though...
Storm from the North was next, and I played that with my usual bravado and swagger. I had a bit of a problem hitting the low notes at the start, and I really needed to concentrate on that in order to do it, that's something to be aware of in future. I noticed when I was recording it last week I had some trouble remembering what chords to play in the chorus and I ended up playing the wrong chords on more than one occasion; this has happened live as well but thankfully did not happen tonight. Nothing like a recording drill to really give you an idea of what your own song sounds like.
Then I gave them Chapter One. A bit of a massive slowdown given the song that I'd just played, but this far in to the gig I reckoned it was just what it needed. As to how it went down, I'm not so sure. It didn't go down badly... but I think people are used to hearing fast rock songs off me now, so as soon as I start to play anything that sounds like it ought to be played on acoustic guitar, I become as run-of-the-mill as the next guy with a guitar who writes songs. I lose my edge; the thing that sets me apart from the crowd. But do you know what, I don't care; I wrote that song for a very personal reason and as long as I enjoy playing it I'm going to keep playing it live.
Followed that up with Girl's Names; a bit of a return to pace here I think. Not much else to say about it, but I'm becoming more confident in playing this one all the way through without messing up the 12/8 bit. Bearing in mind that, of all the songs that I play live that I also recorded, this is probably the one that I play the least, I think that's no bad thing.
I then did something that I've never done before and played Motorcycle Emptiness by the Manic Street Preachers. I think they've put a new album out so there's interest in the band again, and I wondered how well this one would go down. It's not one I've played live before because I think the key part of that song is the lead guitar and the song loses something without it, I played it because I wanted to so something I've never really done before. I played it reasonably well considering I hadn't rehearsed it, though I wonder how well the open two strings/power chord combo really sounded. I don't think I'll be doing this one again too soon, not without the lead guitar at least.
Finally, I wrapped the whole escapade up with Bitterness; a little predictable but I can think of far worse songs to be remembered by! This one is getting really tight now including the fast strums, so I'm pleased, and it's always good to get a nice big cheer at the end. What was also nice to see was that more or less the same number of people who were at the start of the gig were there at the end; not common at any gig I play really so this was a refreshing change.
All in all a good gig, and if I managed every gig like that I'd be happy. I've got another one coming up next Saturday at the Royal Oak in Stourbridge, thanks to the Prickly guys for putting me on there, and on Sunday I've got a charity show I think with Natasha and the 82s on Sunday at the Four Ashes Pub, just North of Coven. Hope the weather's a bit better than it was last time, but we'll be in to November by then so this is hardly a guarantee! See you then!
I started off with a cover of Yesterday Went Too Soon by Feeder; not a song that I think I've ever played live before. Mixed bag with this, I made the mistake I make every single time that I play this song, which is start singing it low then realise it's too low and then start singing it high. The line 'But I'm missing yesterday...' ends with a very long top E note, which is about as high as I can go, and my voice started to break a couple of times. Perhaps this one would have been better employed mid-set when I'd warmed up my voice a little bit? None of the crowd recognised the song; it's not one of Feeder's better known songs to the layman but it's a beautiful song and the crowd really did appear to enjoy it. As an opening statement of intent, I could have done far worse.
I then carried on with Get Out Of My Head. This one went down as well as it ever does and I don't think there were any mistakes when I was playing it, although as I know the song a lot better now having had the song over a year, it means I'm concentrating a lot less. Not a major problem, but sometimes I forget to take the appropriate amount of breath and wonder why I'm running out of breath halfway through a line. Something I need to take care of!
Commenting on the fact that I've got new strings on my guitar and they sound awesome, I went in to We Will Survive. One thing I really want to do with this one - and to be fair I'm asking a lot out of an acoustic show - is to get people clapping on the 'We're still here and we're still standing' bit. Not that easy when your hands are tied to a guitar, I won't lie to you. But I try anyway by stamping my foot on the floor. So far it hasn't worked, but I'll keep trying! Other than that, the song went really well. I'm actually quite surprised about how well I'm playing these days!
Then I had a go at my new song, A Lonely Night, after once again telling the story of how it came about, because a lot of the people who go in Katies are musicians themselves and would probably appreciate the sentiment of feeling a little peeved because no one has come to their gig. This one was quite interesting to play because of the words to it. Obviously I need to get them all right, and word for word, this didn't happen. But I managed to cover the lines I couldn't exactly remember with words that fit just as well. The result is a performance that's equally as convincing either way, and actually a lot of the final edits for my songs were done by playing them live and playing the version that feels most comfortable to play, rather than the ones I've written down. Get Out Of My Head and Storm From The North were two such songs, I might talk about that another time. For now, the song went down very well, and Sam told me she really liked it because she likes songs with a lot of lyrics in them. Might need to tone the swearing down in future though...
Storm from the North was next, and I played that with my usual bravado and swagger. I had a bit of a problem hitting the low notes at the start, and I really needed to concentrate on that in order to do it, that's something to be aware of in future. I noticed when I was recording it last week I had some trouble remembering what chords to play in the chorus and I ended up playing the wrong chords on more than one occasion; this has happened live as well but thankfully did not happen tonight. Nothing like a recording drill to really give you an idea of what your own song sounds like.
Then I gave them Chapter One. A bit of a massive slowdown given the song that I'd just played, but this far in to the gig I reckoned it was just what it needed. As to how it went down, I'm not so sure. It didn't go down badly... but I think people are used to hearing fast rock songs off me now, so as soon as I start to play anything that sounds like it ought to be played on acoustic guitar, I become as run-of-the-mill as the next guy with a guitar who writes songs. I lose my edge; the thing that sets me apart from the crowd. But do you know what, I don't care; I wrote that song for a very personal reason and as long as I enjoy playing it I'm going to keep playing it live.
Followed that up with Girl's Names; a bit of a return to pace here I think. Not much else to say about it, but I'm becoming more confident in playing this one all the way through without messing up the 12/8 bit. Bearing in mind that, of all the songs that I play live that I also recorded, this is probably the one that I play the least, I think that's no bad thing.
I then did something that I've never done before and played Motorcycle Emptiness by the Manic Street Preachers. I think they've put a new album out so there's interest in the band again, and I wondered how well this one would go down. It's not one I've played live before because I think the key part of that song is the lead guitar and the song loses something without it, I played it because I wanted to so something I've never really done before. I played it reasonably well considering I hadn't rehearsed it, though I wonder how well the open two strings/power chord combo really sounded. I don't think I'll be doing this one again too soon, not without the lead guitar at least.
Finally, I wrapped the whole escapade up with Bitterness; a little predictable but I can think of far worse songs to be remembered by! This one is getting really tight now including the fast strums, so I'm pleased, and it's always good to get a nice big cheer at the end. What was also nice to see was that more or less the same number of people who were at the start of the gig were there at the end; not common at any gig I play really so this was a refreshing change.
All in all a good gig, and if I managed every gig like that I'd be happy. I've got another one coming up next Saturday at the Royal Oak in Stourbridge, thanks to the Prickly guys for putting me on there, and on Sunday I've got a charity show I think with Natasha and the 82s on Sunday at the Four Ashes Pub, just North of Coven. Hope the weather's a bit better than it was last time, but we'll be in to November by then so this is hardly a guarantee! See you then!
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
18/10/2011 Recording: Bitterness EP
I think this is going to be my 'gig' for the week. Now that I've spent this evening not doing anything at all it feels like a bit of a cop-out, but the fact of the matter is that the only night this week where I can hit an open/jam night is tomorrow, and I need to be up very early on Thursday.
Still, enough of that, on with the recording! I was as surprised by this as anyone when Sam Draisey messaged me on Facebook yesterday asking me if we were still on for recording tomorrow; I thought we'd pushed it back 'til November but I figured what the hell; I didn't think there was much to be gained from not doing it today. So I arrived at Sams this morning and we began:
The 5 songs I wanted to put on this CD were Bitterness, Get Out Of My Head, Girl's Names, Storm from the North and We Will Survive. I'd changed my guitar strings, and after a not-so-quick scramble to get another sound card plugged in to the computer (the one Sam was using was crackling for some reason) we went on with the recording. I was surprised at how many times I managed to mess up the most basic things like chords, and I also noticed something that I've heard a lot about in studio write-ups about how the 2nd or 3rd take is about as good as it usually gets; any after that and you stop concentrating and start messing things up. That was the case with me, though thankfully it didn't come up too often, and it wasn't too hard to 'drop in' on the bits where I'd really got it wrong. My playing was OK, not the best I've ever played, Bitterness in particular I've played more accurately live before than I managed on the CD, but it did what I needed it to do. Perhaps, if I'd had a week in a studio, I'd have gone for more accuracy, but to be honest my gig write-ups are festooned with admissions of mistakes, so leaving them in was actually probably a better representation of the artist it showcases!
Then it was time to record the vocals. I haven't got the most inspiring voice in the world and I know it, and I suspect that if I were to play back that Jack's Legacy demo I did way back in early 2006 I would find that nothing's really changed about it. But at least if I'm doing my own thing then it's on my own terms! I actually became more and more comfortable with it as it went on, when I managed to convince myself that it's OK to get in to it, close your eyes and pretend that there's nothing else in the world but you and the song. Once I'd broken that barrier, it was plain sailing, and I even managed to do some songs in one take. As ever, with more time I'd have gone in to a bit more depth, but for what came of it, this was as good as it was ever going to get.
It was nice working with Sam as the atmosphere was far more relaxed. You book a studio for a certain number of hours and you know that the clock is ticking from the moment you enter the studio, and that puts a lot of pressure on you to get it right, especially when you're working with an engineer that you've never met and has no idea what you want to sound like. Whereas I've known Sam for a year now and he knows what game I play with the acoustic guitar, he knows what I like to sound like, and also he's not far from home either so we could take as long as we needed. If I did need to come back and do something on another day, then that option was there. It made for an atmosphere far more conducive to a good performance out of me.
I won't be posting the songs up on the internet yet because a mixing error caused the first half a second of Bitterness to be chopped off, Sam's going to sort that out and send me the file, other than that it sounds every bit as good as I have a right to expect for what it is. It's something I should have done a long time ago and I'm glad I've finally done it as I can get this round to promoters now and hopefully get a few more gigs. I might even try and make a bit of money out of it if I can!
See y'all next time
Still, enough of that, on with the recording! I was as surprised by this as anyone when Sam Draisey messaged me on Facebook yesterday asking me if we were still on for recording tomorrow; I thought we'd pushed it back 'til November but I figured what the hell; I didn't think there was much to be gained from not doing it today. So I arrived at Sams this morning and we began:
The 5 songs I wanted to put on this CD were Bitterness, Get Out Of My Head, Girl's Names, Storm from the North and We Will Survive. I'd changed my guitar strings, and after a not-so-quick scramble to get another sound card plugged in to the computer (the one Sam was using was crackling for some reason) we went on with the recording. I was surprised at how many times I managed to mess up the most basic things like chords, and I also noticed something that I've heard a lot about in studio write-ups about how the 2nd or 3rd take is about as good as it usually gets; any after that and you stop concentrating and start messing things up. That was the case with me, though thankfully it didn't come up too often, and it wasn't too hard to 'drop in' on the bits where I'd really got it wrong. My playing was OK, not the best I've ever played, Bitterness in particular I've played more accurately live before than I managed on the CD, but it did what I needed it to do. Perhaps, if I'd had a week in a studio, I'd have gone for more accuracy, but to be honest my gig write-ups are festooned with admissions of mistakes, so leaving them in was actually probably a better representation of the artist it showcases!
Then it was time to record the vocals. I haven't got the most inspiring voice in the world and I know it, and I suspect that if I were to play back that Jack's Legacy demo I did way back in early 2006 I would find that nothing's really changed about it. But at least if I'm doing my own thing then it's on my own terms! I actually became more and more comfortable with it as it went on, when I managed to convince myself that it's OK to get in to it, close your eyes and pretend that there's nothing else in the world but you and the song. Once I'd broken that barrier, it was plain sailing, and I even managed to do some songs in one take. As ever, with more time I'd have gone in to a bit more depth, but for what came of it, this was as good as it was ever going to get.
It was nice working with Sam as the atmosphere was far more relaxed. You book a studio for a certain number of hours and you know that the clock is ticking from the moment you enter the studio, and that puts a lot of pressure on you to get it right, especially when you're working with an engineer that you've never met and has no idea what you want to sound like. Whereas I've known Sam for a year now and he knows what game I play with the acoustic guitar, he knows what I like to sound like, and also he's not far from home either so we could take as long as we needed. If I did need to come back and do something on another day, then that option was there. It made for an atmosphere far more conducive to a good performance out of me.
I won't be posting the songs up on the internet yet because a mixing error caused the first half a second of Bitterness to be chopped off, Sam's going to sort that out and send me the file, other than that it sounds every bit as good as I have a right to expect for what it is. It's something I should have done a long time ago and I'm glad I've finally done it as I can get this round to promoters now and hopefully get a few more gigs. I might even try and make a bit of money out of it if I can!
See y'all next time
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