Cracking Tunes

Just signed Ethan Ash (www.myspace.com/ethanashmusic) to my Cracking Tunes label. That was a good, productive lunch hour...

Jiggery Pokery Cabaret - week 3

Week 3, which was last night, was actually bloody good. Really proper good, actually. Some people don't agree with me (some people were offended by the second comedian, some people thought it went on too late) but in my head it was clearly the best the 'show' has looked. Mixing the band up with the comedy really worked - probably because The Lost Weekend, despite their angriness and general fiery nature on stage, are the friendliest and most willing band you'll ever meet. The audience - and there was loads of them, made up largely of strangers, watched comedians David Trent and Ahir Shah with such interest - I didn't know it could work this well in a pub setting, but when a whole pub goes completely silent to respect a stand-up doing their thing it was indeed a lovely thing. By far the best the comedians have gone down, and with the added treat of a sketch that actually works in this venue (written by Andy Higson), respectable acoustic music from Tom Tilbury and early-Costello-like itchiness from The Lost Weekend, my faith in the whole idea has been restored. In fact, now we only have 2 weeks to go, people are asking me if there's going to be more next year. There probably won't be, to be honest, but we're starting to actually make people happy, which is always nice.

JIGGERY POKERY CABARET WEEK 3 - LINE UP
Kevin Wright - intro
The Lost Weekend - 1 song
Sketch (part 1) - Andy Higson/Kevin Wright
David Trent - guest stand-up
Ahir Shah - guest stand-up
Tom Tilbury - 3 songs
Sketch (part 2) - Andy Higson/Kevin Wright
The Lost Weekend - 1 song
Name That Tune (with Ade from The Lost Weekend and Tom Tilbury)
The Lost Weekend - full set

Cabaret, christmas, thoughts and stuff

Well it feels like the cabaret show suddenly has a new lease of life, after I posted an advert on Chortle (a comedy website recommended to me by my friend Paul Kerensa) asking for a comedian for this week's show. In less than 2 days I've had offers of 8 comedians, it's difficult to tell who are actually any good but I think I've got 2 decent ones for this week's show at least, with a few more tucked away in reserve for future weeks if we get stuck. I'm going to try a few different things this week, make it even more of a 'proper cabaret', really mix the bands up with the comedians now we have plenty of both to play with. It could get messy, but if it works I think it will be a great show. It's a shame hardly anybody is actually going to see it - without wishing to go on a proper rant about this, ***RANT STARTS HERE*** I work bloody hard to put on shows and when people can't be arsed to go 20 minutes down the road to watch the best young comics in the country with some excellent bands for free entry it really frustrates me. Fuck it, lets all sit at home and watch TV instead, the highly moderated, safe version of what we're trying to create on stage. Clearly leaving the house after 7pm is not what people do anymore ***RANT OVER***

On a lighter note, the interest generated by the Chortle advert has made me realise how easy it could be to set up a comedy club, and be proper comedy promoter. I'll have a think about that for next year, without jumping into it like I tend to a lot these days.

Meanwhile, rehearsals for 'A Fairytale Of Bar Hill' have continued, and although one or two lines feel a little too crude for my liking (which is weird to think that considering I wrote them) I think it's a winner. We start rehearsals this Sunday for 'Goldilocks And The Beanstalk' - and when I say 'we', it really is 'we' because I'm the narrator for it. If I ever feel that I've taken too much on though I only need to look at Kevin Wright, not only have I got him acting in both Christmas shows, and hosting the cabaret night, he's now working on a stand-up routine for next week's show, I don't understand how he does it all, but he does and that's exactly why I like working with him. I'm slightly alarmed at how close it is until the premiere of the Christmas shows (they share one big festive bill) - they open on the 17th December, but everyone else around me seems to have a great deal of confidence about it all so I'm happy to put that in my 'it's all okay' pile for now.

Currently listening to: 'The Stage Names' by Okkervil River, 'A Swingin' Christmas' by Tony Bennett.

Currently reading: 'Look At Me, Look At Me' by Dom Jolly

Christmas show - first rehearsal

I'm a happy man tonight. This year's Christmas show was probably the most difficult thing I've ever had to write, simply because it was the third time we've used these characters, it's with the same actors who know me both at my best and at my worst, and it was also time to bring some sort of closure to these creations of ours so we can move on to other projects, without it being a cheesy happy ending or anything too miserable. Two of the cast (Heather and Kevin) have read the script already, but for Colin and Vaughan it was the first time tonight they'd seen it. As I say, I'm a happy man tonight. It works - big style, I actually feel a little bit smug about how good it's looking, already. Having the best cast around really helps things as well, and I think we're onto an absolute winner here. The banter as well was typically brilliant, it's been a couple months (since Edinburgh) that this team have worked together, and although we're sadly without the always brilliant Victoria Welsh, we have Heather back and the first hour or so of the 'rehearsal' was just spent catching up and enjoying ourselves. This little team has been together for a year now and I really, genuinely, couldn't have asked to work with nicer people, they're friends above anything else. From an artistic point of view, they completely get my humour, completely get what I'm up to with this script, and they're just so keen to do it, and enjoy it, and it's all rather lovely. We're booking the venue tomorrow, then tickets for it go on sale. This is real dejavu from about this time last year when we had this excited idea of putting on a Christmas show. The sweating and literally days of sat staring at a script that didn't work for a long time has really been worth it.

Gig report: Eureka Stockade @ Cambridge University Radio (again)

Date: 19.11.09
Band: Eureka Stockade (trio set)
Venue: Churchill College, Cambridge
Type Of Gig: Radio performance
Venue Vibe: A bit like 'The Boat That Rocked', only not at sea
Audience: The enthusiastic presenters (two of them this time), and they say lots of people online, I think I believe them
Set List: Resistance, Through Every Darkness

Back again for another quick radio chat and couple of songs, this time there was three of us; Andy, Rob and myself, basically Eureka Stockade without our bassist, Nathan, who was working. Good fun, the novelty of last week had worn off a little bit but I appreciate the fact that they wanted us back and we cruised through it in a gentle mind-tempo kinda way.

Jiggery Pokery Cabaret - week 2

I think it's starting to work out, this cabaret thing. The cutting of all sketches seemed to have helped, and the comedian/band thing seems to work - I think we just need more comedians, and more features that get the audience involved. Tonight's second show just seemed a little more confident. The audience, it has to be said, weren't there for the show we were putting on but largely seemed okay with us invading their Wednesday evening down the pub. Kev was on good form tonight as host - he was last week too, but this week he seemed more relaxed, he seemed to have more of a control over things. Acoustic act Alighting were as exactly what Alighting always are - delicate, but likable, nice tunes, very easy on the ear and the perfect way to start the evening. Comedian Jen Spencer, who I have to admit knowing nothing about before the show (all I know is that she's a friend of a friend, is from St. Ives and saw me in a band about 10 years ago), was superb. I know I said that about last week's comic too, and I don't intend to just praise people for the sake of it, but she was really very good - even better considering she wrote her set on the morning of the show. There was a very loud bunch of drunk Italians at the bar who talked very loudly over her entire set, but she didn't flinch once, there's a Victoria Wood quality to her that suggests she'll more than likely go onto much bigger things. The 'name that tune' session went well, Rob (from Eureka Stockade) enjoyed himself perhaps a little too much with the Britney Spears stuff but it all adds to the random nature of the evening. For some reason the soundguy insisted on there being a 10 minute interval, I have no idea why and for me it ruined the flow of an evening which, when it got going, was really buzzing along nicely. I'm not sure why he did this, wouldn't like that to happen again. It felt silly going back on for just a few songs, so Eureka Stockade (with myself on drums, obviously) played a slightly longer set than planned - 6 songs, and went down very well, much better than we normally do actually. And the loud Italians seemed to love every second of it, ironically enough, and I think we played pretty well tonight, which hasn't always been the case when we've not rehearsed as a full band for a couple weeks. Our set by the way, I think, was: Through Every Darkness, Resistance, Without You, She Got Good, All Alone and our encore (yep, that's how well it seemed to go) was Heroes Fall. On the whole, as a gig - a great night, as a cabaret - likable fun but still needs a bit of work. Next week, perhaps, we'll get it right.

JIGGERY POKERY CABARET WEEK 2 - LINE UP
Kevin Wright - intro
Alighting - 3 songs
Jen Spencer - guest stand-up
Eureka Stockade - one song
Name That Tune (with Richard from Alighting, and Andy & Rob from Eureka Stockade)
Eureka Stockade - 6 songs

Cabaret thoughts

Last week's first show (of five) raised one or two questions about what works and what doesn't in a non-seated venue. As a result, this week's show - which takes place tomorrow night, just feels a little bit sparse. We've managed to find a comedian in time (the very enthusiastic Jen Spencer), got 2 good bands playing (yep, one of them is mine...how arrogant) and the 'name that tune' game, but I don't think that's enough personally. It's a tricky one, but I need more ideas for this. Well, I have ideas, it's just none of them would work in this envrinoment. It's all a learning curve for me as a producer I guess, just feels like a lot of effort at the moment for a show which I can't even see getting a huge turnout. Negativity aside, this run is a good thing I think - at the end of the day we're still giving comedians a chance to do their thing, we're giving bands the chance to play, we're giving the venue a little more bar trade than they would normally get on a Wednesday evening. I reckon if I do another cabaret show, in 2010, I could really make good things happen...

Gig report: Eureka Stockade @ Cambridge University Radio

Date: 12.11.09
Band: Eureka Stockade (duo set)
Venue: Churchill College, Cambridge
Type Of Gig: Radio performance
Venue Vibe: A bit like 'The Boat That Rocked', only not at sea
Audience: The presenter, the other act (Tracey somebody, she was very good) and they reckon lots of students listening in
Set List: Warm Hands, She Got Good

I actually really enjoyed this. We were asked to play a set at the station a few weeks back because one of our songs, 'Through Every Darkness' has been remixed as part of a project called 'The B-Side Project'. We assumed the gig wasn't happening, until Andy Brown, one of our two singer/guitarists, gets a text message at 6.20pm this evening saying the gig is on. Andy called around but two of the band, Rob and Nathan, had by now made other plans. As for me, my plans had fallen through so it was either play a gig or watch TV, and the telly signal is really bad around here so I took the drumming option. The studio itself was tiny, the presenter, a young lad in his early 20's was excellent, and we both felt very comfortable. It was nice that listeners were emailing in during the show, and it seemed to be a great novelty that there was a drummer playing tonight, myself and my ego liked this. It's the first time Andy and I have played a gig with just the two of us, as Eureka Stockade is very much Andy and Rob's band, with Nathan and I as the dependable rhythm section. It worked though, it was unrehearsed, but the two songs and interview were really smooth, and we've been asked back next week to play on the presenters other show. A bit of a late start, with the show opening at 10pm, but as far as unplanned evenings go I enjoyed that a lot.

Jiggery Pokery Cabaret - week 1

Hurrah. Home, knackered, and the night wasn't a total disaster. In fact, far from it - it was actually pretty good at times if I may say so myself. I seemed to spend too much time stressing about it, desperately seeking the audience approval. Part of me thinks it's a real miracle it works - the Cornerhouse is, after all, just a normal pub on a main road, sticking people on stage and making them tell jokes, and host, and read sketches, and play songs - why aren't the locals kicking up a fuss? But then again, it's a fucking good night's entertainment, for free entry, and part of me is annoyed that some of the content didn't get the rousing applause I felt it deserved. I think this was because we did no promotion whatsoever - but now, with a bit of tweaking, I feel 'Jiggery Pokery' has legs to be a decent night out in Cambridge, which was always the intention. Sadly the bits that didn't work were the bits that me and Alan wrote - the sketches. Carl and Heather did a superb job in acting them, but in a non-seated venue the comedy just gets lost, these things need to be saved for theatre audiences I think. That's a shame, because creatively that is the only input I really have. For this project though, I am just the producer I think, and occasional drummer when one of my bands is on the bill. Once I get my head around that, I'll be okay. And although the audience at times was a bit on the sparse side, tonight really did work - in ways which I thought it wouldn't do. The odd mix of having The Bomb Factory and Trevor Jones sharing a bill worked a treat, having Trevor do 'Name That Tune' was a real winner, Kev as the compare worked his arse off out there yet was brilliant throughout, and perhaps the biggest bonus of all was comedian Andy Higson - last time I booked him (for the Edinburgh fundraiser) he was completely ignored, tonight, with a fairly tough crowd, he was superb. I've even re-booked him for the Christmas special, comedy can work in this kind of venue, if the comedian is good enough to keep that audience occupied - Andy really is, which is great because I had no idea before the show he was that good. Phew! Trevor is a master songwriter, he deserved a more tentative audience but seemed happy anyway, The Bomb Factory were simply remarkable - it's never going to be to everyone's taste, but nobody dared dismiss it either, as my mate Marcus said 'they're more punk than those so called proper punk bands' - I know exactly what he means.

Next week, we do it all again. It's a little stressful, all this, but it certainly keeps life interesting.

JIGGERY POKERY CABARET WEEK 1 - LINE UP
Kevin Wright - intro
Trevor Jones - 3 songs
Stalker of the week (performed by Carl Fletcher, with Kevin Wright)
Andy Higson - guest stand-up
The Bomb Factory - one song
Celeb interview (performed by Heather Yeadon)
Name That Tune (with Trevor Jones)
The Bomb Factory - 3 songs

A good step in the right direction

Just been told one of my plays, 'Gone Midnight' (written last year) has been selected by Violet Microwave Productions for a professional radio recording as part of their new series, 'Voices Off'. I pretty happy about this, they had a lot of entries, and they seem to work with good actors, and it's all good for London networking. Recording starts early next year, my 30 minute piece will be episode 2 in their second series of 6 new plays. Hurrah, etc.

Christmas script - done

Hurrah! It's been a good weekend. Okay, so it started off with a slightly frustrating evening in St. Ives, I'm still not sure why I was frustrated by it, it's just all a bit routine by now. I'm 28, it's probably really very good I found it frustrating, I probably should have done years ago. I'm not sure, I don't want to be one of those 'town we grew up in' bashers like you see on Friends Reunited; it's not big and it's not clever to ever believe you are above your hometown, it's just sometimes a man needs a change (that's probably why I moved away, but I still keep coming back for some reason...)

Anyway, Saturday was a really good, productive day. Started writing at 11am, by 6pm I was still flying. A quick break to see Juliette and a Tescos trip and then back into it, I eventually finished by 11pm. The results? A Christmas play I am really proud of, and a decent re-write of last year's panto that nobody saw because none of my lot dared go to a rough pub in Peterborough to watch it. It's all good really; 2 shows, one billing, 3 nights at CB2 in Cambridge, Christmas is all wrapped up nicely. Of course there's work to be done, like the guys for 'A Fairytale Of Bar Hill' need to rehearse the thing at some point, and I still need to find a couple cast members for 'Goldilocks And The Beanstalk' (although managed to find my perfect 'cow' tonight in actor David Geaser, whom I got chatting to at the ADC bar), but the difficult, brain straining bit of writing is now done. My brain feels exhausted, but in a rewarding kind of way. Bob Dylan's Christmas album helped a lot, as did the damp, festive weather, and the chocolate Hobnobs currently residing on my desk. I actually really think the Christmas script works as well; it tells a message, there's a bit of humour, and structurally it all came good in the end. The stressing was worth it, only hope my beloved cast like it after all this.

Tonight I was the MC for WriteOn's final evening of theatrical performances. Why I was MC I don't know; I'm the least likely person to do this. I'm a drummer, and a playwright, I do not go on stage and talk. It's probably because they know I have the inability to say no to anything, a theory proved again tonight. Luckily, I had a lift, so I could have a few drinks. I certainly wasn't drunk on stage, introducing the plays and running the somewhat intimidating feedback session, but I was certainly a few pints in at least. I received a lot of praise for my skills as host; word is my understated, floppy-haired British awkwardness added a whole new dimension to the evening. I tried to explain that I was awkward for a reason (the reason being I was petrified - it's really scary having 50 people all hanging on to your every word), apparently awkwardness, and modesty is all charming, and they're keen for me to do it again next year. Something here just isn't right, but I'm happy to go along with it for now.

Christmas script

It's the 4th November and I'm really struggling with the Christmas script. It's the fucking 4th of November, this isn't good. I've written about half an hours worth of material for it so far but it just feels like a slightly overlong beginning from a play that needs to launch at some point into a great explosion of festivity. I think the very beginning of it is great, and I know how it ends and it will surprise people a bit. It's just the 40 mins or so of material in the middle which I'm really, really struggling with. I know the point I'm trying to make - there is a purpose, it is a love story after all with one or two twists. I know the characters really well, they're a joy to write for. It isn't working. It would work if I put Santa Claus in there and went down the surreal route of last-years show (which talked of injured reindeers who had trials at Stoke City, to be saved by a magical character called The Great Alfredo Junior The Third, among other things) but that was last year's show - this is this year's show. I refuse to use the 'abusive Santa Claus' trick AGAIN, people will think I've run out of ideas. I've got loads of ideas, it's just a shame none of them work for this piece. This is the third and final outing for my creations, Alex & Buddy, the actors who play them (Colin and Vaughan) deserve a decent script, a good send off all round. We're missing Victoria from the acting team but Heather is back and she's great - this should be a doddle, and of course Kev is back as narrator. What is my problem? It's the 4th of fucking November and the script isn't ready yet, and I've hit a creative wall, just at the wrong moment. I'm going to put it aside, and come back to it with fresh eyes. Like I've done 3 nights in row. What a loser.

Studio, plays and stuff

Is this the busiest I've ever been? Probably, actually. I'm enjoying it, I think, although I'd like to enjoy other things at some point (sleep, etc). Maybe at Christmas? Actually, no, that looks like it's just all going to go a bit crazy, next year though, I'll slow down just a little, just because I feel like I need to sometimes. The studio sessions have continued nicely, a couple weeks back I recorded with Bryan Shore which was a nice informal session, this weekend I was in the studio for the Eureka Stockade album sessions which were really successful. All drum parts for our forthcoming (and as yet, unnamed) album are now in the bag which is a good feeling - I worked very hard on Saturday, started recording at 9am and we were still there at 6pm. I had good fun though - the songs are good, I have enough room for creative expression yet equally if something isn't right I'm pointed in the right direction by whoever wrote it. In fact I'll go as far to say that these recordings probably have my best playing to date - I love recording at Half Ton Studios, I love the fact there wasn't any time restrictions, I love the fact I know these songs inside out so feel very comfortable with the whole process. Over the next few months all manner of guitar, bass, vocal, strings, piano, harmonica parts are being recorded for it so it'll be a while before it gets a release date (we reckon next April) but my work at least is done. Still looking to find time to record 'Clowns' but we've had all manner of delays with this, hopefully before the end of the year though this will be another one in the can for an early 2010 release. In the meantime I've done a couple things with the Damsons, an horrific radio Cambridgeshire gig and a very short, nothing of a show at the Portland Arms, there's a lot more to this band than we're showing to the public I feel, hopefully time will sort that. Now just working like crazy to try and get my Christmas cash-in band, The Snowmen some shows, it's been a lot trickier than I thought, this might go in my 'bad idea' pile soon, we'll see. In the meantime the endearing appeal of The Matt Corrall Band still confuses me a touch - I mean I'm really happy with the way it's been selling, but it's been selling really, really well judging by the chart positions, it's all rather lovely.

Saw one of my favourite bands play last week, The Wave Pictures, they're superb, just thought I'd mention that.

As a writer I'm starting to hit my stride again, if in a rushed kind of way. Last night my latest play, 'Sugar Sugar' premiered at the Larkum Studio (ADC Theatre) with WriteOn, I wasn't sure how it would go down to be honest - the more I analysed the script in my head beforehand the more I picked out it's flaws, one by one. Fortunately, the audience didn't bother to do that, not everyone liked it (as is always the way) but there was some lovely things said, particularly from the cast (who were excellent, I might add) to suggest this piece has legs for the future. Next up is the 2 Christmas shows, neither of which have been written yet - which considering it's November isn't a good thing at all. 'A Fairytale Of Bar Hill' is nearly done, the panto will follow shortly - I just need a couple nights in to write them, that's certainly not on the cards this week, frustratingly so.

Ah yes, and next Wednesday sees the launch of our new cabaret night, Jiggery Pokery Cabaret. I'm still stuck for comedians for other weeks, but at least the line-up for the first week is sorted - there will be comedy from Andy Higson (and whatever else me and Alan and write), live music from Trevor Jones and The Bomb Factory. All in all, looks like a cracker. Just need to make sure people turn up now, and that I can find enough acts for the rest of the run...