Band: Aidy
Venue: The Vault, Stockton-On-Tees
Date: 28/08/11
Audience: Busy, enthusiastic
Set: Make It Happen, Pain In My Heart, Down Like That, Guns, God's Front Porch, Edinburgh, Washing Machine
Notes: This was great fun, as much as I like living around here I'm starting to enjoy gigging out of town more and more these days. It's also nice to be doing gigs like this with Aidy and Dave as, after the tour last month, we're pretty used to each other now so travelling fairly long distances for gigs is never a problem. Got picked up at 8.30am which is a bit early for a Sunday for my liking, and then made the long trip up to Middlesborough. To be honest we made it in pretty good time, just after midday I think. It's nice hitting new places with plenty of time to spare as we had an opportunity to explore the town centre a bit, grab some food and a cheeky pint and browse the ridiculously cheap music shops. After a quick rehearsal in our hotel room a taxi was sent for us by the promoter to get us to the venue, The Vault, which was about ten minutes down the road in Stockton. The Vault is a nice space - it's downstairs, it has a slight wine-bar feel to it but certainly not pretentious, small stage but good fitting for all of the acts booked. The Stockton Underground Festival is the first of it's kind - and the promoter, a young chap called Matt, did an outstanding job - he seemed stressed for most of it but he didn't need to be, he'd booked some excellent bands and everyone seemed to be enjoying it. I like being in the out-of-town band, there's a certain kudos about it sometimes, the fact that we were willing to travel for hours to play at their event. We were treated so well - probably the best hospitality we've had anywhere this year, with our drinks requirements met (including cans of carbonated caffeine for me), there was just a sense that we were being looked after. Three hours, a few complimentary beers and a even a cheeky Jaggerbomb later and we hit the stage at 8pm, on just after the brilliant Broken Broadcast, a band we met in Leeds on the tour. By now the venue was filling up nicely and we played good enough I think, it was one of our safer sets and we all know these songs very well by now, the Aidy trio feels like a well-oiled indie-rock machine. Doing the mailing list run after the gig is always a nice way to meet the audience despite the fact that Aidy pimps out my cuddles (for a while now I've had the nickname of 'Cuddly Paul' whilst in this band, due to the excessive length of my arms), but it's all part of the banter, CD's were sold, new friends were definitely made. The people in Stockton are the friendliest people I've met in a gig situation in a long time. Back to the hotel just after midnight because we were all knackered, probably not as rock 'n' roll as we have been recently, but that was a long, if brilliant day. Up at 7am, back in my little Shepreth pad by midday, was a lovely little jaunt up north to play in front of some lovely people. Wicked.
Monday, 29 August 2011
Saturday, 27 August 2011
Gig report: Trevor Jones Band @ Tony's housewarming, Brampton
Band: Trevor Jones Band
Venue: Tony's new house, Brampton
Date: 27/08/11
Audience: Friendly - obviously
Set: All I Am, Badman, Shine A Light, Roll On The Rain, I Don't Wanna Talk About It, Old Fashioned Woman, Alive, Can't Take This Anymore, Falling
Notes: Tony, our bassist, has moved into a new house with his family and he's spent months making it look fantastic - it's really rather impressive. Hungover from Chris and Kelly's engagement drinks last night, I arrived in the early afternoon, feeling disheveled and slightly uncomfortable with my new haircut, to be greeted by some of the nicest people I've ever met. Our set was in Tony's garden, those nice people were very nice about it, I wasn't at my sharpest performance-wise today, 'Alive' and 'Can't Take This Anymore' were pretty awesome, but I was a bit ploddy at times for the rest of the set. Still, was good fun, and enjoyed the socialising afterwards.
Venue: Tony's new house, Brampton
Date: 27/08/11
Audience: Friendly - obviously
Set: All I Am, Badman, Shine A Light, Roll On The Rain, I Don't Wanna Talk About It, Old Fashioned Woman, Alive, Can't Take This Anymore, Falling
Notes: Tony, our bassist, has moved into a new house with his family and he's spent months making it look fantastic - it's really rather impressive. Hungover from Chris and Kelly's engagement drinks last night, I arrived in the early afternoon, feeling disheveled and slightly uncomfortable with my new haircut, to be greeted by some of the nicest people I've ever met. Our set was in Tony's garden, those nice people were very nice about it, I wasn't at my sharpest performance-wise today, 'Alive' and 'Can't Take This Anymore' were pretty awesome, but I was a bit ploddy at times for the rest of the set. Still, was good fun, and enjoyed the socialising afterwards.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Gig report: Flaming June @ The Hidden Rooms, Cambridge
Band: Flaming June
Venue: The Hidden Rooms, Cambridge (supporting John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett)
Date: 23/08/11
Audience: Seated, lots of them, lovely
Set: Rejoice, Under My Skin, You Do Moody So Well, The Devil's Daughter, Nerves Of Steel, I Know What It's Like, The Insane Ex-Girlfriend Parade, Stop The Ride, Rumplestiltskin, Wednesdays And Weekends
Notes: Seriously; it's gigs like this that remind me why I play live. Why I get so much pleasure being in a band, playing original material. Just one of those evening's when all the slogging around suddenly seems worthwhile. We were supporting the legendary John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett tonight, the final night of their 40th anniversary tour. It was a charity show, in a venue which I thought would be slightly unconventional but for the nature of the event it worked a treat - seated, capacity of 70 (nearly sold out), for a really good cause. Having Jo from the Cornerhouse do our sound worked in our favour too as she knows her stuff, and that was, in my opinion, without question the best we have played. The venue was hot, sweaty, the audience sat fairly close watching but completely getting it, getting the humour, getting the fact we were literally sweating ourselves senseless up there to entertain them. Our performance was fiery, very tight, it was a proper show, it was brilliant to be part of. With the single being released yesterday and the EP coming out next week there's a nice vibe to the whole FJ thing, we hit total top form today, I drank excessive caffeine beforehand but every drop of it seemed to be used in a fast and often furious set. Otway and Barrett then played two incredible 45 minute sets. I'm not sure I can even begin to describe the madness of what these two can create. They're the perfect comedy double act; Otway is the awkward one, Barrett is the confident one putting him down, Barrett is a truly magnificent musician, Otway shouts his way through the set and plays terrible electronic drums but then surprises everyone with a violin solo. Yet together it works so well - they've been around 40 years, it shows, I've not laughed this much in months and I only came back from the Edinburgh Fringe a few weeks back...they had an amplifier in a bin mic'd up on stage, they had songs - good proper songs. The gig ended with Barrett seemingly getting bored of the last track and cutting up his guitar with a saw, and then smashing it to pieces with a hammer. It's been done before, but the timing of it was impeccable. He then started playing bagpipes as Otway awkwardly finished the vocals...mesmerising, top notch entertainment. They're nice people too, managed to grab a quick word with both of them, they were really great. It was a really great evening all around, it's late, it's now technically Wednesday morning, I'm still buzzing from it.
Venue: The Hidden Rooms, Cambridge (supporting John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett)
Date: 23/08/11
Audience: Seated, lots of them, lovely
Set: Rejoice, Under My Skin, You Do Moody So Well, The Devil's Daughter, Nerves Of Steel, I Know What It's Like, The Insane Ex-Girlfriend Parade, Stop The Ride, Rumplestiltskin, Wednesdays And Weekends
Notes: Seriously; it's gigs like this that remind me why I play live. Why I get so much pleasure being in a band, playing original material. Just one of those evening's when all the slogging around suddenly seems worthwhile. We were supporting the legendary John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett tonight, the final night of their 40th anniversary tour. It was a charity show, in a venue which I thought would be slightly unconventional but for the nature of the event it worked a treat - seated, capacity of 70 (nearly sold out), for a really good cause. Having Jo from the Cornerhouse do our sound worked in our favour too as she knows her stuff, and that was, in my opinion, without question the best we have played. The venue was hot, sweaty, the audience sat fairly close watching but completely getting it, getting the humour, getting the fact we were literally sweating ourselves senseless up there to entertain them. Our performance was fiery, very tight, it was a proper show, it was brilliant to be part of. With the single being released yesterday and the EP coming out next week there's a nice vibe to the whole FJ thing, we hit total top form today, I drank excessive caffeine beforehand but every drop of it seemed to be used in a fast and often furious set. Otway and Barrett then played two incredible 45 minute sets. I'm not sure I can even begin to describe the madness of what these two can create. They're the perfect comedy double act; Otway is the awkward one, Barrett is the confident one putting him down, Barrett is a truly magnificent musician, Otway shouts his way through the set and plays terrible electronic drums but then surprises everyone with a violin solo. Yet together it works so well - they've been around 40 years, it shows, I've not laughed this much in months and I only came back from the Edinburgh Fringe a few weeks back...they had an amplifier in a bin mic'd up on stage, they had songs - good proper songs. The gig ended with Barrett seemingly getting bored of the last track and cutting up his guitar with a saw, and then smashing it to pieces with a hammer. It's been done before, but the timing of it was impeccable. He then started playing bagpipes as Otway awkwardly finished the vocals...mesmerising, top notch entertainment. They're nice people too, managed to grab a quick word with both of them, they were really great. It was a really great evening all around, it's late, it's now technically Wednesday morning, I'm still buzzing from it.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
A productive weekend
I've enjoyed this weekend. I've barely seen anybody at all, which is not the reason I enjoyed it as such but after the hustle and bustle of the last few weekends - the festivals, the Edinburgh Fringe, the gigs, it's been nice to have some Paul Richards time, a chance to actually catch up on things and write the plays I've promised people I'd actually have ready soon. In fact, if it wasn't for this weekend I've just had I've be totally screwed because it's two weeks until Lodestar and I've got two new plays going on there. One of them, a one-act play called 'How About You?' has been half in the bag for a while, but a couple of hours of re-writing yesterday afternoon soon kicked that into shape and it's all good to go. It was the other piece that was concerning me somewhat though - the musical for Dowsing For Sound choir. It's become one of those projects that I've been so excited about but never got around to doing - until Friday evening when my mate's dog got ill so she couldn't come over for beers so I had some time to get started on it. The songs are already there - pretty much the Dowsing set from the gig last month, and I foolishly thought doing a Ben Elton and sticking a plot around it would be easy enough. But listening to the songs again, I soon started to get worried as they didn't fit my original concept that I'd been making notes for during the last few days. But in some strange kind of way, they nudged the plot into a whole new direction, a darker direction, and it's been a nice challenge. It's a really good challenge for a writer to have to work with tools you're not used to - I found myself with three songs left to fit in somehow convincingly as if they were supposed to be there in the first place. In the end I got a bit carried away and, after a little sleep, carried on writing it on Saturday evening, completely forgetting to attend my mate Ben's birthday party in London because I was too wrapped up in the script and lost track of time. The songs are long, and our slot is only 50 minutes at the festival, so I've had to go back and cut a load of dialogue, so the actual script itself is only 7 pages. But I think they're a good 7 pages, I feel very relieved this one has worked out and I can't wait for the rehearsals to begin. Next up; casting. Spent a couple hours today emailing the actors I have in mind for both plays, 2 responses so far - both positive, I love that feeling that things are falling into shape nicely. The weekend concluded with a mixed grill with Aidy and Dave, a perfect mix of good conversation and excessive meat. Next week I'm drumming literally all week, after what feels like a silly amount of time sat staring at a screen on a weekend, I can't wait.
Currently watching: Match Of The Day, How Not To Live Your Life (series 3 DVD)
Currently listening to: I Am Kloot, Young Rebel Soul Club, Joe Jackson
Currently reading: Pauline Black - Black By Design
Currently watching: Match Of The Day, How Not To Live Your Life (series 3 DVD)
Currently listening to: I Am Kloot, Young Rebel Soul Club, Joe Jackson
Currently reading: Pauline Black - Black By Design
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Gig report: Flaming June @ BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Cambridge
Band: Flaming June
Venue: BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Cambridge
Date: 17/08/11
Audience: No idea, thousands? Plus Sue, the technical person, the kind lady who let us in, and Henry the studio dog
Set: I Know What It's Like, The Insane Ex-Girlfriend Parade (plus interview)
Notes: Nice to be back drumming after a short while off for all that theatrical malarkey. This was a simple, easy session - turned up at 8pm and was home by 9.30. We were on the Sue Marchant show (or 'Big Night In' as I think it's known) and Sue's a lovely host, extremely supportive of creativity and seemed to be really into the Flaming June material. We were on the show to promote our new single, 'Nerves Of Steel', which is released on Monday and that was played on the show, before we played a couple tracks off the forthcoming EP, and had a little interview, all the usual, but all very nicely done.
Venue: BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Cambridge
Date: 17/08/11
Audience: No idea, thousands? Plus Sue, the technical person, the kind lady who let us in, and Henry the studio dog
Set: I Know What It's Like, The Insane Ex-Girlfriend Parade (plus interview)
Notes: Nice to be back drumming after a short while off for all that theatrical malarkey. This was a simple, easy session - turned up at 8pm and was home by 9.30. We were on the Sue Marchant show (or 'Big Night In' as I think it's known) and Sue's a lovely host, extremely supportive of creativity and seemed to be really into the Flaming June material. We were on the show to promote our new single, 'Nerves Of Steel', which is released on Monday and that was played on the show, before we played a couple tracks off the forthcoming EP, and had a little interview, all the usual, but all very nicely done.
Monday, 15 August 2011
Is It Too Late To Save Oscar Pike? Edinburgh Fringe run
Got back about five hours ago from the Edinburgh Fringe. I'm both physically knackered yet more inspired than ever before. Our two-day run has been a fairly low-key affair, in fringe terms it was organised pretty late on - so late that it didn't even make the brochure. Having performed it in May/June here in Cambridge, and then had a shocking (seriously shocking) dress rehearsal two days before travelling up, there may have been a few doubts in the team about how well this would fair. For starters, it's generally considered that if you're not in the fringe programme, you don't have a show. The terrible dress rehearsal seemed to be bugging us a little too. That though, was to be the least of our problems...
Travelling up with Izzy (actress) and Vaughan (one of my regular actors, this time joining us at the last minute though as an extra helping hand for flyering/organising/drinking beer), we pulled into our regular 'half way house' at Scotch Corner to pick up a call from our mate Emily. She was calling on behalf of Kate (actress), to tell us that Kate's boyfriend had been involved in an accident. I won't go into details here as that wouldn't be right, but in short there was suddenly doubts that Kate - who played my on-stage girlfriend, Tessa, would actually be able to make it to the fringe as she obviously needed to be at her partner's bedside in a hospital in London. We plotted a plan b just in case for the rest of the journey up, meeting up with Kev (actor), Alan (soundman) and Elisa (Kev's girlfriend/show helper) at our lovely accommodation just down the road from the Royal Mile. We couldn't get to look at our venue that evening as it was locked which made us all feel a bit more uncertain, but that's nothing that a beer and good food in Edinburgh - the most beautiful city in the whole world - couldn't fix. Later that evening I spoke to Kate on the phone and she was determined to join us, even if that meant leaving London at a very early time on Saturday to make it in time for the first performance. Among her many other qualities, Kate is a wonderful professional and was keen not to let us down. But I was also keen for her to be okay - Chris (her boyfriend) was on the mend, but after such a stressful day I was concerned about energy levels and above all else - her well being, so I made the tricky decision to tell her that it's best that she gets some rest and we work out another option instead. It was a great shame, I've been enjoying working with Kate, but sometimes there's more to life than these projects, as a friend we just wanted her to be okay. Having already lost our brilliant director Michelle a week before the run due to a very saddening family bereavement, losing Kate could have made us even more uncomfortable. But you know - we're a good little team (getting smaller by the day, it felt) and it wasn't long before plan B was put into action - Izzy taking Kate's role on stage (meaning she was playing all 5 female characters, but that didn't seem to bother her because Izzy Nicolson is a brilliant actress) and Elisa doing all the other things Kate did for the production off stage - the set changes, the fake fire scene etc. On top of that, Vaughan was to host the show and explain the change of cast, I don't think he expected to be on stage when he text me on Thursday asking if there was room in the car/floor space in our rented flat, but such is the nature of these wonderful people I have the pleasure of being associated with he didn't even question it and did us proud.
On Saturday we got into our venue and we were relieved to see that it was actually rather lovely, a disused shop that had suddenly found itself being a theatre space in true fringe fashion, the PA was suitable, as were the lights, there was plenty of performance space and it was in a good location. But we still weren't in the programme, which means that people probably didn't know about the show unless we gave them one of our lovely flyers - but we didn't have much time to flyer because we were getting used to the space. Remarkably, 23 people still turned up to it (and that's including 20 strangers, my mates Chris and Alison made it, and one of Izzy's friends) and seemed to even enjoy it. My own performance was nervy and uncomfortable, but Kev is a really consistent actor who I relied upon a lot to hold things together on stage, Izzy took to playing an additional role like a duck to water, Elisa didn't miss a trick and the many scene changes were flawless, Vaughan warmed the audience up for us nicely and Alan - well, Alan never makes a mistake.
Sunday's second and final performance was pretty much the same, although my own performance was better I think, I relaxed more into the space and didn't have Red Bull before going on stage which probably helped a bit. A couple less people in the audience but this bunch were louder with their laughter, possibly helped by the fact we had more friends in the crowd. This was certainly one of my better performances on stage, and I reckon that if it was a longer run I would grow with it. Okay, so a professional actor would be able to jump straight in, but I've never claimed to be an actor, but I was starting to get a strange buzz out of this...
The rest of the time off stage was spent enjoying the greatest arts festival in the world. There isn't a place anywhere that matches the atmosphere of The Royal Mile - it's a magical, inspiring stretch of road packed with hope, optimism, fear, creativity...I want to be back there, right now, I am a better person when I am at the Edinburgh Fringe; I'm alive, I'm a writer/producer, I am not some guy who stares at a spreadsheet all day in an office and has a snack machine routine. It was fantastic to catch up with friends - Chris, Alison, Paul, Nat, Steve, Carl, it was lovely to hang out with Kev, Elisa, Izzy, Vaughan, Alan - I can't stress how much I enjoyed being in all of their company. I saw some great shows; Tom Rosenthal is one of the most accomplished and hilarious comedians I've ever seen, I sat five seats away from David Mitchell and got embarrassingly star struck by this, I read reviews of other comedy shows and analysed with friends over seemingly endless beers in the Pleasence Courtyard why some shows work and why others don't. I was a writer/producer/performer. I am a writer/producer/performer, it's just sometimes, in a certain city on a certain month, I just happen to believe in myself a bit more.
It's normal routine for me to return from the fringe saying 'that was the last time I do that' and then six months later I've got a venue booked to do it all again. This time it's different - the long 8 hour car drive home (five of us crammed into my little Fiesta) didn't dampen the spirits - in fact if anything it just confirmed how strong this team is, we bantered our way through the day, being diplomatic on what we listen to and generally just talking, and finding out more about each other. Yet constantly at the forefront of my mind the whole time was next year's Edinburgh Fringe show. I have absolutely no doubt at all - doing a short two day run may have been pathetic compared to a lot of my peers who will go and do the whole three and a half weeks, but it's made me hungry for it again. It's who I am and next year, if things work out, I will do the full run. Of course we had problems with this show, and of course it could be argued that I really am a very limited actor, but it's all starting to grow on me...I just know how good things can be. Time to start writing the 2012 show then: 'There's Absolutely Nothing Wrong With Oscar Pike'.
Travelling up with Izzy (actress) and Vaughan (one of my regular actors, this time joining us at the last minute though as an extra helping hand for flyering/organising/drinking beer), we pulled into our regular 'half way house' at Scotch Corner to pick up a call from our mate Emily. She was calling on behalf of Kate (actress), to tell us that Kate's boyfriend had been involved in an accident. I won't go into details here as that wouldn't be right, but in short there was suddenly doubts that Kate - who played my on-stage girlfriend, Tessa, would actually be able to make it to the fringe as she obviously needed to be at her partner's bedside in a hospital in London. We plotted a plan b just in case for the rest of the journey up, meeting up with Kev (actor), Alan (soundman) and Elisa (Kev's girlfriend/show helper) at our lovely accommodation just down the road from the Royal Mile. We couldn't get to look at our venue that evening as it was locked which made us all feel a bit more uncertain, but that's nothing that a beer and good food in Edinburgh - the most beautiful city in the whole world - couldn't fix. Later that evening I spoke to Kate on the phone and she was determined to join us, even if that meant leaving London at a very early time on Saturday to make it in time for the first performance. Among her many other qualities, Kate is a wonderful professional and was keen not to let us down. But I was also keen for her to be okay - Chris (her boyfriend) was on the mend, but after such a stressful day I was concerned about energy levels and above all else - her well being, so I made the tricky decision to tell her that it's best that she gets some rest and we work out another option instead. It was a great shame, I've been enjoying working with Kate, but sometimes there's more to life than these projects, as a friend we just wanted her to be okay. Having already lost our brilliant director Michelle a week before the run due to a very saddening family bereavement, losing Kate could have made us even more uncomfortable. But you know - we're a good little team (getting smaller by the day, it felt) and it wasn't long before plan B was put into action - Izzy taking Kate's role on stage (meaning she was playing all 5 female characters, but that didn't seem to bother her because Izzy Nicolson is a brilliant actress) and Elisa doing all the other things Kate did for the production off stage - the set changes, the fake fire scene etc. On top of that, Vaughan was to host the show and explain the change of cast, I don't think he expected to be on stage when he text me on Thursday asking if there was room in the car/floor space in our rented flat, but such is the nature of these wonderful people I have the pleasure of being associated with he didn't even question it and did us proud.
On Saturday we got into our venue and we were relieved to see that it was actually rather lovely, a disused shop that had suddenly found itself being a theatre space in true fringe fashion, the PA was suitable, as were the lights, there was plenty of performance space and it was in a good location. But we still weren't in the programme, which means that people probably didn't know about the show unless we gave them one of our lovely flyers - but we didn't have much time to flyer because we were getting used to the space. Remarkably, 23 people still turned up to it (and that's including 20 strangers, my mates Chris and Alison made it, and one of Izzy's friends) and seemed to even enjoy it. My own performance was nervy and uncomfortable, but Kev is a really consistent actor who I relied upon a lot to hold things together on stage, Izzy took to playing an additional role like a duck to water, Elisa didn't miss a trick and the many scene changes were flawless, Vaughan warmed the audience up for us nicely and Alan - well, Alan never makes a mistake.
Sunday's second and final performance was pretty much the same, although my own performance was better I think, I relaxed more into the space and didn't have Red Bull before going on stage which probably helped a bit. A couple less people in the audience but this bunch were louder with their laughter, possibly helped by the fact we had more friends in the crowd. This was certainly one of my better performances on stage, and I reckon that if it was a longer run I would grow with it. Okay, so a professional actor would be able to jump straight in, but I've never claimed to be an actor, but I was starting to get a strange buzz out of this...
The rest of the time off stage was spent enjoying the greatest arts festival in the world. There isn't a place anywhere that matches the atmosphere of The Royal Mile - it's a magical, inspiring stretch of road packed with hope, optimism, fear, creativity...I want to be back there, right now, I am a better person when I am at the Edinburgh Fringe; I'm alive, I'm a writer/producer, I am not some guy who stares at a spreadsheet all day in an office and has a snack machine routine. It was fantastic to catch up with friends - Chris, Alison, Paul, Nat, Steve, Carl, it was lovely to hang out with Kev, Elisa, Izzy, Vaughan, Alan - I can't stress how much I enjoyed being in all of their company. I saw some great shows; Tom Rosenthal is one of the most accomplished and hilarious comedians I've ever seen, I sat five seats away from David Mitchell and got embarrassingly star struck by this, I read reviews of other comedy shows and analysed with friends over seemingly endless beers in the Pleasence Courtyard why some shows work and why others don't. I was a writer/producer/performer. I am a writer/producer/performer, it's just sometimes, in a certain city on a certain month, I just happen to believe in myself a bit more.
It's normal routine for me to return from the fringe saying 'that was the last time I do that' and then six months later I've got a venue booked to do it all again. This time it's different - the long 8 hour car drive home (five of us crammed into my little Fiesta) didn't dampen the spirits - in fact if anything it just confirmed how strong this team is, we bantered our way through the day, being diplomatic on what we listen to and generally just talking, and finding out more about each other. Yet constantly at the forefront of my mind the whole time was next year's Edinburgh Fringe show. I have absolutely no doubt at all - doing a short two day run may have been pathetic compared to a lot of my peers who will go and do the whole three and a half weeks, but it's made me hungry for it again. It's who I am and next year, if things work out, I will do the full run. Of course we had problems with this show, and of course it could be argued that I really am a very limited actor, but it's all starting to grow on me...I just know how good things can be. Time to start writing the 2012 show then: 'There's Absolutely Nothing Wrong With Oscar Pike'.
Thursday, 11 August 2011
The dress rehearsal
Had our Edinburgh Fringe dress rehearsal last night, it was a bit rubbish. If you believe in cliches, a bad dress rehearsal is generally a positive thing. We all know what we need to do, I think we'll be alright.
Saturday, 6 August 2011
Gig report: Unknown band @ Wedding, Bassingbourne
Band: Genuinely didn't have a name as far as I was aware
Venue: A wedding party in Bassingbourne, Cambridgeshire
Date: 06/08/11
Audience: Cheery, all wedding-ed up
Set: Crocodile Rock, All Shook Up, Drive My Car, Don't Let The Sun Go Down, House Is Rockin', Hippy Hippy Shake, Hallelujah I Love Her So, Great Balls Of Fire, Bad Moon Rising, Angels, 10 Out Of 10, Baggy Trousers, Twisting The Night Away, She's The One, Mustang Sally.
Notes: This started out as a day which I genuinely wasn't too sure about. Starting with our first 'Oscar Pike...' rehearsal since June, and then off to dep for a wedding band playing songs I didn't really know. But all in all, everything went surprisingly well. The Oscar Pike stuff made me smile again, like it did a few months back before I got distracted by other projects, we've got the dress rehearsal on Wednesday ahead of a couple performances next week in Edinburgh and I think we'll be fine you know - the lines are roughly there, and what lines aren't there are generally covered up by the confidence on stage anyway. Then I dashed over to Bassingbourne to set up my drums ahead of tonight's wedding gig. I don't normally play function or cover shows; nothing against them, just not really my scene. But my mate Neil needed someone at short notice, I was free, it's good to keep playing, especially playing different styles, good way to stay in shape. The band was formed by three friends of his who are in a band anyway, and two of them worked with the bride, so they put together a makeshift band adding Neil and myself to the line-up, and we went for it pretty much unrehearsed but trusting each other's ability. After a delay as, like weddings do, things overran, we played a nice little set in the marquee outside. For an unrehearsed band it was impressive stuff, okay - so it wasn't the tightest, but on the 12 bar stuff we could all really let fly and the audience seemed to like all of it - it's a wedding, everybody was so overdosed in love anyway, the odd shaky ending wasn't going to bother them. I'm a bit concerned at how well I knew the Robbie Williams stuff, and it felt nice to play 'Crocodile Rock' as (as he informed me the other day) my dad used to cover that years ago. It could have been terrible, but it was pretty respectable, the happy couple seemed extremely happy with it, which is obviously the most important thing of all. I felt very appreciated, got paid, and got home before 10pm - these things never normally happen.
Venue: A wedding party in Bassingbourne, Cambridgeshire
Date: 06/08/11
Audience: Cheery, all wedding-ed up
Set: Crocodile Rock, All Shook Up, Drive My Car, Don't Let The Sun Go Down, House Is Rockin', Hippy Hippy Shake, Hallelujah I Love Her So, Great Balls Of Fire, Bad Moon Rising, Angels, 10 Out Of 10, Baggy Trousers, Twisting The Night Away, She's The One, Mustang Sally.
Notes: This started out as a day which I genuinely wasn't too sure about. Starting with our first 'Oscar Pike...' rehearsal since June, and then off to dep for a wedding band playing songs I didn't really know. But all in all, everything went surprisingly well. The Oscar Pike stuff made me smile again, like it did a few months back before I got distracted by other projects, we've got the dress rehearsal on Wednesday ahead of a couple performances next week in Edinburgh and I think we'll be fine you know - the lines are roughly there, and what lines aren't there are generally covered up by the confidence on stage anyway. Then I dashed over to Bassingbourne to set up my drums ahead of tonight's wedding gig. I don't normally play function or cover shows; nothing against them, just not really my scene. But my mate Neil needed someone at short notice, I was free, it's good to keep playing, especially playing different styles, good way to stay in shape. The band was formed by three friends of his who are in a band anyway, and two of them worked with the bride, so they put together a makeshift band adding Neil and myself to the line-up, and we went for it pretty much unrehearsed but trusting each other's ability. After a delay as, like weddings do, things overran, we played a nice little set in the marquee outside. For an unrehearsed band it was impressive stuff, okay - so it wasn't the tightest, but on the 12 bar stuff we could all really let fly and the audience seemed to like all of it - it's a wedding, everybody was so overdosed in love anyway, the odd shaky ending wasn't going to bother them. I'm a bit concerned at how well I knew the Robbie Williams stuff, and it felt nice to play 'Crocodile Rock' as (as he informed me the other day) my dad used to cover that years ago. It could have been terrible, but it was pretty respectable, the happy couple seemed extremely happy with it, which is obviously the most important thing of all. I felt very appreciated, got paid, and got home before 10pm - these things never normally happen.
Friday, 5 August 2011
Gig report: Aidy @ Cambridge Rock Festival
Band: Aidy (duo set)
Venue: Cambridge Rock Festival, Cambridge
Date: 05/08/11
Audience: Scattered, but happy enough
Set: Make It Happen, Pain In My Heart, Down Like That, Washing Machine
Notes: A very short set at the Cambridge Rock Festival on the 'Access To Artists' stage, which was conveniently placed opposite the main stage so we had a nice scattering of audience come over to watch us. On at 5.20pm, the sun was out, it was all quirky enough, we played well and kept things simple, probably the easiest gig we've ever played.
Venue: Cambridge Rock Festival, Cambridge
Date: 05/08/11
Audience: Scattered, but happy enough
Set: Make It Happen, Pain In My Heart, Down Like That, Washing Machine
Notes: A very short set at the Cambridge Rock Festival on the 'Access To Artists' stage, which was conveniently placed opposite the main stage so we had a nice scattering of audience come over to watch us. On at 5.20pm, the sun was out, it was all quirky enough, we played well and kept things simple, probably the easiest gig we've ever played.
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