The dress rehearsal

This is a busy week, but one I've been looking forward to in a while. On a non-music note, things are continuing to progress with the film side of things - Robert (director) likes the new draft of the script and on Thursday we run it with the potential cast of Vorn and Claire, very keen to see how this turns out. I've also starting drafting ideas for my collaboration with Heather, which all being well we'll continue working on together on Friday.

This Saturday it's the Dowsing For Sound gig. I've been raving about this a lot to friends, family, and I'm fortunate that a lot of them will be there to watch this hugely ambitious project that has been put together at a relatively short time scale. Last night the band rehearsed and I came out of it buzzing, the grey areas seemingly worked upon and I was very confident about the whole thing. Tonight's dress rehearsal with the band and choir was both exciting and nervy. The vibe is so brilliant - the amount of people waiting to carry my drums for me on arrival is flattering, the whiskey, the good natured spirit of everyone in the room - it's such a lovely group of people, all working hard to make this absolutely epic show the best it can be. There was points where it was totally breathtaking - 'Alive' really was, 'Hoppillia' (or however you spell it, you know the one - it's by Sigur Ros) was magical. In fact about 75% of it was outstanding, and the choir were top notch throughout the whole thing. But here I am, sat in the flat, eating pizza, drinking a cheeky Tuesday beer, mulling over the 25% that is going to trouble me until we next meet, which will be the soundcheck on Saturday. It's the awkwardness of ending certain songs, it's 'Peace Train' which goes wonky as soon as the band go from Afro-beat to quiet choir stuff, it's my totally shambolic solo tonight which was not tasteful at all and resembled a child going crazy with excitement at being behind a drum kit. What happened to the Gilson Lavis-esque drum solo I planned? I got carried away, that's what happened. I expect good things of myself, I'm a better drummer than what I was tonight, or what I have been with any of the full rehearsals this year. Wake up, Richards, you're drumming like a fool. My bandmates are fantastic, by the way, and I am well aware that all these little glitches are minor, that it's amazing it sounds this good considering the time scale (which says a lot for the hugely talented people involved, especially Andrea), and that a majority of the audience won't notice the odd slip. But I will, because I know how good this really can be. We'll get there I think. Anything can happen, it's very exciting, but on a completely selfish level I know I need to lose the sub-snare as it's a distraction, simplify the Latin-tinged bits and generally get a fucking grip. And a haircut.