Band: Flaming June
Venue: The Maltings, Farnham
Date: 25/11/12
Audience: Lots of them, amazing
Set: Rejoice, Stop The Ride, Rumplestiltskin, Nerves Of Steel, I Know What It's Like, Little Love In A Cruel World, Psycho, Wednesdays And Weekends
Notes: Hungover from cooking for my good friend Heather last night (this is the first time I have ever cooked for anybody ever - she ate all of it, which suggests it wasn't too shabby) followed by drinks, up early-ish to head down to Farnham in Surrey with Louise and Alyssa for a radio session for 'Brian Player - Folk and Roots Radio'. It was an afternoon, public gig that will eventually be broadcast to about six other stations too, and we were on the bill with lots of other folky types at the lovely Maltings in Farnham. All seated audience, again, but this time lots of them and despite a bit of a drive (Louise drove, I'm glad she did, my head was slightly muzzy from last night) we felt good coming into this one having played a decent show on Friday night. The two acts before us were very much of the quieter nature, as a result Flaming June once again came across as more than a bit raucous - but the audience lapped it up, a really good turn out and they were just so into it, we felt that onstage and not being arrogant or anything - we put on a proper show for them. The kind of show where you leave the stage out of breath and sweating, the kind of show I didn't think was on the cards considering it was a 1.30pm performance on a Sunday afternoon in deepest Surrey. Afterwards lots of CD's were sold at the merch table, lots of compliments in our direction, asked to sign EP's, decent radio interview in a small room beforehand...just a really good way to spend a Sunday. More gigs like this one please, brilliant afternoon, home in time to catch the end of the Spurs game.
Sunday 25 November 2012
Saturday 24 November 2012
Gig report: Flaming June @ CB2, Cambridge
Band: Flaming June
Venue: CB2, Cambridge
Date: 24/11/12
Audience: Small, but they enjoyed it
Set: Rejoice, Stop The Ride, Rumplestiltskin, Nerves Of Steel, I Know What It's Like, Under My Skin, Psycho, Wednesday's And Weekends, Little Love In A Cruel World
Notes: My first gig in a few weeks due to the tour of the play etc, but a nice friendly little show. As part of the always jolly Night Of The Artisans monthly event, small audience this time around - about 11 people I think, but all seated which means we had their full attention and they were vocal in their enjoyment of the set. Played well, lots of energy, a little bit angry at times, good vibes on stage. Followed Tom Copson who was just incredible - his vocal range is outstanding, was a pleasure to watch that, he'll go far - everyone could see that. Shame I missed headliner Cara Winter who I've heard good things about but I had a friend in need who needed beer, but with such a nice atmosphere in the room I'm sure she would have had a great gig.
Venue: CB2, Cambridge
Date: 24/11/12
Audience: Small, but they enjoyed it
Set: Rejoice, Stop The Ride, Rumplestiltskin, Nerves Of Steel, I Know What It's Like, Under My Skin, Psycho, Wednesday's And Weekends, Little Love In A Cruel World
Notes: My first gig in a few weeks due to the tour of the play etc, but a nice friendly little show. As part of the always jolly Night Of The Artisans monthly event, small audience this time around - about 11 people I think, but all seated which means we had their full attention and they were vocal in their enjoyment of the set. Played well, lots of energy, a little bit angry at times, good vibes on stage. Followed Tom Copson who was just incredible - his vocal range is outstanding, was a pleasure to watch that, he'll go far - everyone could see that. Shame I missed headliner Cara Winter who I've heard good things about but I had a friend in need who needed beer, but with such a nice atmosphere in the room I'm sure she would have had a great gig.
Wednesday 21 November 2012
Writing the Christmas show
Last year's Christmas show, 'Three Elves, A Snowman And A Funeral' was my fourth festive show in four years and was a sell-out success in the tiny cellar of our spiritual home, CB2 in Cambridge. As daft as this may sound though, the thing I didn't like about it was the fact that it all went a bit too smoothly...if anything, I came away from that lovely little show feeling a bit flat. In our first Christmas show, 'On The 12th Day Of Alex' (which I have to admit is still my most favourite thing I've written) we were driven by fear - it was put together at such short notice and wasn't even intended for a public performance initially, in the second year for 'A Fairytale Of Bar Hill' (quite happy with this script, although it dipped a bit in the middle) we were missing many audience members due to excessive snow in the UK, the third year when we did 'Santa Claus And The Unfortunate Allegations' (poor script, I apologise to anyone who came to see it - possibly the worst thing I've ever written) one of our leading actors - Kev, was stranded in Amsterdam on the day of the first performance so I ended up taking the roles of Jesus and Cliff Richard...it's these kind of crisis' that help bring a show together, it creates a new energy. Last year, we just all knew what we were doing, and everyone enjoyed it, and I just drove home from the final performance knowing I was supposed to be happy but...
Not that you can create a major problem of course, that would just be daft, but somehow I needed to feel excited about this year's Christmas production - it can't just be another Paul Richards Christmas script, things were in danger of getting stale. It is different this year because for the first time we're working under a production name, Fat Fox Productions, and my co-founder, Izzy, probably wouldn't let a rubbish script slip through the net. I very much doubt that if I turned up to the rehearsal with, 'Santa Claus And The Unfortunate Allegations' as the script for this year's show it would have actually happened. My initial idea in our post-fringe chat at the end of August was to write and put on a full scale festive musical at a big theatre, before being reminded that this isn't really achievable given the timescale - a point that was justified even more when I (in Izzy's words) "had a meltdown" and decided to tour a solo show. And besides, there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing another Christmas show in the wonderful little venue where we've been putting on stuff for years - it's become a tradition, and no matter what the year has to throw at us there's something quite comfortable in the knowledge that you'll be feeling all warm and festive putting on a show in front of a 'home' audience, it's normally the final project of the year.
This year we've doubled the run of performances, which in itself is a little bit of a challenge (we can sell-out 2 nights reasonably easy, 4 is asking a lot though - but I'm into asking a lot at the moment), and to create a little panic I left writing the script to the very last minute. Not intentional of course, but the tour show popped up, and then I allowed myself all of last week to write it but it just wasn't happening - I have 7 half-written Christmas scripts from this year alone that I've abandoned mid-way because they just weren't funny enough, in my opinion. In the end I wrote the whole show on Sunday, started at 10am, wrote solidly until 6pm, popped out to do the front-of-house for WriteOn at the ADC, home by 8pm, finished writing it by midnight. On Monday I looked over it again, took out all the rubbish, and last night we read through it for the first time as a team...and hurrah, it works a treat. It doesn't even feel rushed, it feels like it was written by somebody who was feeling properly festive - which I was - and finally latching onto an idea which worked before letting it grow naturally into something rather manic and excitable. You can almost tell the writer has just found his 'It's Christmas Time' CD and has been having a little private party in his flat whilst working on the dialogue. Quite relieved it did work last night, you can never tell - but the tempo of it felt consistent, and it was nice to write for people I trust and have worked with before. It's more of an ensemble piece compared to anything else I've written this year (with the exception of 'My Unfunny Valentine - Death Of A Comedienne' - our murder mystery), and includes pretty much everything that was on my check list of festive things. The show opens in about 3 weeks time, so now rehearsals are pretty intense, in fact on paper it's quite a tall order. Should be a goodun, then...
Not that you can create a major problem of course, that would just be daft, but somehow I needed to feel excited about this year's Christmas production - it can't just be another Paul Richards Christmas script, things were in danger of getting stale. It is different this year because for the first time we're working under a production name, Fat Fox Productions, and my co-founder, Izzy, probably wouldn't let a rubbish script slip through the net. I very much doubt that if I turned up to the rehearsal with, 'Santa Claus And The Unfortunate Allegations' as the script for this year's show it would have actually happened. My initial idea in our post-fringe chat at the end of August was to write and put on a full scale festive musical at a big theatre, before being reminded that this isn't really achievable given the timescale - a point that was justified even more when I (in Izzy's words) "had a meltdown" and decided to tour a solo show. And besides, there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing another Christmas show in the wonderful little venue where we've been putting on stuff for years - it's become a tradition, and no matter what the year has to throw at us there's something quite comfortable in the knowledge that you'll be feeling all warm and festive putting on a show in front of a 'home' audience, it's normally the final project of the year.
This year we've doubled the run of performances, which in itself is a little bit of a challenge (we can sell-out 2 nights reasonably easy, 4 is asking a lot though - but I'm into asking a lot at the moment), and to create a little panic I left writing the script to the very last minute. Not intentional of course, but the tour show popped up, and then I allowed myself all of last week to write it but it just wasn't happening - I have 7 half-written Christmas scripts from this year alone that I've abandoned mid-way because they just weren't funny enough, in my opinion. In the end I wrote the whole show on Sunday, started at 10am, wrote solidly until 6pm, popped out to do the front-of-house for WriteOn at the ADC, home by 8pm, finished writing it by midnight. On Monday I looked over it again, took out all the rubbish, and last night we read through it for the first time as a team...and hurrah, it works a treat. It doesn't even feel rushed, it feels like it was written by somebody who was feeling properly festive - which I was - and finally latching onto an idea which worked before letting it grow naturally into something rather manic and excitable. You can almost tell the writer has just found his 'It's Christmas Time' CD and has been having a little private party in his flat whilst working on the dialogue. Quite relieved it did work last night, you can never tell - but the tempo of it felt consistent, and it was nice to write for people I trust and have worked with before. It's more of an ensemble piece compared to anything else I've written this year (with the exception of 'My Unfunny Valentine - Death Of A Comedienne' - our murder mystery), and includes pretty much everything that was on my check list of festive things. The show opens in about 3 weeks time, so now rehearsals are pretty intense, in fact on paper it's quite a tall order. Should be a goodun, then...
Monday 12 November 2012
Some Plays By Paul Richards - the first tour
Well that was fun. I was back in the office today and spent a little time trying to justify the last four days - it was a tour that lost money and felt like it killed my little car. But can you really put a price on feeling that you're really working towards something really quite marvellous? Tiny steps, really tiny steps perhaps, but steps that still mean you're actually doing something worthwhile with your time? Seven and a half weeks ago I wrote a show, last week we started touring it - even by my own impatient standards this was probably pushing it a bit. It's my first foray into an 'almost solo' show ie; a show I can pretty much nail by myself, and then have an actress contributing a few lines just for when the audience get restless of my ranty, big-handed ways. The actress in question was Claudia McKenzie - an old friend of mine of many years and one of the best musicians in Cambridge. This tour was her stage acting debut, just to add a little more pressure to the whole thing, and Izzy directed it before heading off on her travels around India. Working with Claudia and Izzy on this has been fun because they're two of my favourite people, yet it still couldn't hide the fact that this was virtually a solo show - a first for me, with barely any time at all to actually learn the lines due to gigs/other projects, and just lack of actual days. We had a mini UK tour ahead - 5 performances, in 4 days, and some rather lovely press coverage ahead of the shows including a journalist in Wales describing me as being a 'lanky hero'.
People who have seen a lot of my work have disagreed with me when I've said 'Some Plays By Paul Richards' has a 'typical Paul Richards script' because, certainly with the first half of the show at least, it's all the more darker. I never intend to write anything that is particularly happy or sad (apart from the forthcoming Christmas show, which will be the most sickeningly joyful thing ever performed - promise) so it's interesting to see what people thought of it. The format of this show was also a bit different - I decided to make it all the more informal and introduce it at the start, have a little chat to the audience, explain to them that after the plays I shall tick them off on the whiteboard and they can applaud if they wish, and then after the intro I left the stage before returning 'in character'. It's a concept I thought up a day before the dress rehearsal - simply because I hadn't had the chance to print out any programmes due to the fact the flat I'm renting was flooding so I was back living with my parents for the week as the floor dries out and they don't have a printer. It really worked - it just seemed to make the audience relaxed, it was only one step away from saying 'are you sitting comfortably?' to them...
After an awkward and at times horrible dress rehearsal at CB2 in front of an invite-only audience (sorry Rich, Chris, Michelle, Heather and Cathy that you had to sit through that) in which it was clear I wasn't exactly nailing this show, we hit Norwich the day later for the first performance. I like Norwich - I really do, I liked it when we played there on tour with the band last year, but it's all bloody one-way isn't it? Parking issues aside, our venue - The Tea Lounge, was lovely and Dina the venue manager looked after us well. It was a quiet start to the tour, an audience of 4 - Dina, my mate Jack, my mate Liz, and Liz's mate Daphne, and another slightly shaky performance on my behalf although a million times better than the dress rehearsal, and Claudia had already nailed her lines by this stage. But a nice start - and a sign that this material does work, I just needed to get my confidence up. Brighton the next day, and after a scary moment with my driving (won't go into details but let's just say we were momentarily driving the on the wrong side of the road with the traffic about to come towards us...Claudia's calm reaction of, 'I think something silly just happened there...' kept me calm as I quickly had to turn around feeling slightly embarrassed, if not relieved) we checked in at the hotel and made the longer-than-expected walk to the Ambassador. Despite a radio interview, being heavily publicised on another station, and newspaper coverage - not to mention the fact the venue had it's own PR team, clearly the people of Brighton just weren't up for seeing our show. We had an audience of one - Aidy, my bandmate but above all a friend, who came up from Cambridge to see the show. I really appreciated him being there, as much as it was weird as he was sat completely by himself. We did the full show for him though, and as time progressed it felt less awkward, he's a decent audience member laughing at the right times. Performance was another slight step-up, I missed out a few good lines in the second half and stumbled a little, but it was nothing that affected the plot and you could just feel that it was gradually starting to feel like a proper show. Enjoyed Brighton after the show - the three of us went for a few light drinks, there was a good vibe in the air.
The next morning we set off at a stupidly early hour (7.30am) to Wales, a five hour trip to a tiny village I couldn't pronounce (or spell) to do a show I was slightly worried about. Although it was starting to feel stronger and stronger as a piece, this was always going to be a performance where, for the first time, we'd have a completely neatural crowd. It helped that we got there an hour and a half early so we had some relaxing time, it helped that the staff at The Royal Oak in Rhandirmywn were so supportive of what we were doing, and it helped that the audience were absolutely wonderful people. Mostly of an older nature, you just got the sense they wanted to like it before it even started. My confidence was up, the informal introduction was more informal than ever, and we breezed through the show - some proper big laughs in there, the punchlines actually felt like punchlines, even the dog in the audience enjoyed it. Shame we couldn't hang around for long after the show but we had to dash off to the next one - Bristol.
By this stage we were really enjoying the tour - we had a show, a show that was working. My car on the other hand wasn't having such a great time - some of the noises it was starting to make were rather alarming, it was even drowning out the wonderful music of David Ford that was on the stereo. We made it to Bristol 50 minutes before the show - slightly cutting it fine, but in the capable hands of my close friend Matt who showed us to the venue where we met Kirsty who booked us for the performance. Caffe Clifton (yep, Caffe is spelt like that) is a lovely little space and a perfect setting for the play. Audience of 4 for this one - Kirsty, Matt, Matt's new girlfriend Abi and an random stranger who must have seen a poster, CD player skipped a bit but aside from that a fairly solid showing, we got laughs in the right places. Great social afterwards too - we hit some pubs, ate some good food, drank whisky that costs £8.50 a glass in an exclusive little bar, great to catch up with Matt who is an impeccible host and just one of those brilliant people you're lucky to meet in life.
Hungover and with a car that was still protesting, we drove back up to Cambridgeshire yesterday for the final performance, this time in Gamlingay. Not being arrogant or anything, but this was a cracking little performance - by far the best one yet of 'Some Plays...' - simply because we knew the show inside out, we had a vibrant audience, it was just a great way to end a tiring but great few days. As the performances progressed it was clear that both Claudia and myself were hitting our stride - I was cutting lines off the cuff that I didn't feel were working, adding a few more in every now and then, the whole show felt very natural by the end of the short run and I was starting to feel really at home up there. Shame it had to end after 5 shows really...
Claudia was a joy to tour with, just relentlessly optimistic about everything, despite the really long hours on the road, and looking at her schedule (she makes me look lazy) it's a miracle she was available for 4 whole days in row.
Anyway, this week I shall mostly be nailing the scripts for the Christmas shows, recording congas for my mate Bryan's new album and er, booking another tour for early next year.
People who have seen a lot of my work have disagreed with me when I've said 'Some Plays By Paul Richards' has a 'typical Paul Richards script' because, certainly with the first half of the show at least, it's all the more darker. I never intend to write anything that is particularly happy or sad (apart from the forthcoming Christmas show, which will be the most sickeningly joyful thing ever performed - promise) so it's interesting to see what people thought of it. The format of this show was also a bit different - I decided to make it all the more informal and introduce it at the start, have a little chat to the audience, explain to them that after the plays I shall tick them off on the whiteboard and they can applaud if they wish, and then after the intro I left the stage before returning 'in character'. It's a concept I thought up a day before the dress rehearsal - simply because I hadn't had the chance to print out any programmes due to the fact the flat I'm renting was flooding so I was back living with my parents for the week as the floor dries out and they don't have a printer. It really worked - it just seemed to make the audience relaxed, it was only one step away from saying 'are you sitting comfortably?' to them...
After an awkward and at times horrible dress rehearsal at CB2 in front of an invite-only audience (sorry Rich, Chris, Michelle, Heather and Cathy that you had to sit through that) in which it was clear I wasn't exactly nailing this show, we hit Norwich the day later for the first performance. I like Norwich - I really do, I liked it when we played there on tour with the band last year, but it's all bloody one-way isn't it? Parking issues aside, our venue - The Tea Lounge, was lovely and Dina the venue manager looked after us well. It was a quiet start to the tour, an audience of 4 - Dina, my mate Jack, my mate Liz, and Liz's mate Daphne, and another slightly shaky performance on my behalf although a million times better than the dress rehearsal, and Claudia had already nailed her lines by this stage. But a nice start - and a sign that this material does work, I just needed to get my confidence up. Brighton the next day, and after a scary moment with my driving (won't go into details but let's just say we were momentarily driving the on the wrong side of the road with the traffic about to come towards us...Claudia's calm reaction of, 'I think something silly just happened there...' kept me calm as I quickly had to turn around feeling slightly embarrassed, if not relieved) we checked in at the hotel and made the longer-than-expected walk to the Ambassador. Despite a radio interview, being heavily publicised on another station, and newspaper coverage - not to mention the fact the venue had it's own PR team, clearly the people of Brighton just weren't up for seeing our show. We had an audience of one - Aidy, my bandmate but above all a friend, who came up from Cambridge to see the show. I really appreciated him being there, as much as it was weird as he was sat completely by himself. We did the full show for him though, and as time progressed it felt less awkward, he's a decent audience member laughing at the right times. Performance was another slight step-up, I missed out a few good lines in the second half and stumbled a little, but it was nothing that affected the plot and you could just feel that it was gradually starting to feel like a proper show. Enjoyed Brighton after the show - the three of us went for a few light drinks, there was a good vibe in the air.
The next morning we set off at a stupidly early hour (7.30am) to Wales, a five hour trip to a tiny village I couldn't pronounce (or spell) to do a show I was slightly worried about. Although it was starting to feel stronger and stronger as a piece, this was always going to be a performance where, for the first time, we'd have a completely neatural crowd. It helped that we got there an hour and a half early so we had some relaxing time, it helped that the staff at The Royal Oak in Rhandirmywn were so supportive of what we were doing, and it helped that the audience were absolutely wonderful people. Mostly of an older nature, you just got the sense they wanted to like it before it even started. My confidence was up, the informal introduction was more informal than ever, and we breezed through the show - some proper big laughs in there, the punchlines actually felt like punchlines, even the dog in the audience enjoyed it. Shame we couldn't hang around for long after the show but we had to dash off to the next one - Bristol.
By this stage we were really enjoying the tour - we had a show, a show that was working. My car on the other hand wasn't having such a great time - some of the noises it was starting to make were rather alarming, it was even drowning out the wonderful music of David Ford that was on the stereo. We made it to Bristol 50 minutes before the show - slightly cutting it fine, but in the capable hands of my close friend Matt who showed us to the venue where we met Kirsty who booked us for the performance. Caffe Clifton (yep, Caffe is spelt like that) is a lovely little space and a perfect setting for the play. Audience of 4 for this one - Kirsty, Matt, Matt's new girlfriend Abi and an random stranger who must have seen a poster, CD player skipped a bit but aside from that a fairly solid showing, we got laughs in the right places. Great social afterwards too - we hit some pubs, ate some good food, drank whisky that costs £8.50 a glass in an exclusive little bar, great to catch up with Matt who is an impeccible host and just one of those brilliant people you're lucky to meet in life.
Hungover and with a car that was still protesting, we drove back up to Cambridgeshire yesterday for the final performance, this time in Gamlingay. Not being arrogant or anything, but this was a cracking little performance - by far the best one yet of 'Some Plays...' - simply because we knew the show inside out, we had a vibrant audience, it was just a great way to end a tiring but great few days. As the performances progressed it was clear that both Claudia and myself were hitting our stride - I was cutting lines off the cuff that I didn't feel were working, adding a few more in every now and then, the whole show felt very natural by the end of the short run and I was starting to feel really at home up there. Shame it had to end after 5 shows really...
Claudia was a joy to tour with, just relentlessly optimistic about everything, despite the really long hours on the road, and looking at her schedule (she makes me look lazy) it's a miracle she was available for 4 whole days in row.
Anyway, this week I shall mostly be nailing the scripts for the Christmas shows, recording congas for my mate Bryan's new album and er, booking another tour for early next year.
Sunday 4 November 2012
Pre-tour thoughts
It's been a busy couple of weeks with plenty of gigs with plenty of bands, and alongside all of this I've been working hard on the Christmas shows, the Christmas album, lots of bits of promotion (radio/newspapers) for the new projects and of course trying to nail my lines for the forthcoming tour..'Some Plays By Paul Richards' opens on Thursday night. Rehearsals have been either worrying because I'm still not quite nailing these lines yet, or really brilliant because it is the best material I've written in a long time - I'm much more fond of this than I am of the Oscar Pike stuff already because it's just remarkably honest and structurally it's all come together nicely. Yet if I get it wrong, it could be a mess...it's always the danger I guess of performing my own work; the power to destroy it. I really need to get focused, but after a minor flood in the flat I'm renting (a burst pipe in the bedroom) I've been forced to move back in to my parents' house for a week whilst the floor dries out and suddenly I'm being distracted all over the place. 3 days of intense rehearsal before the show hits the road, Claudia is brilliant fun to work with and before she went to India the direction of Izzy was superb - she just 'gets' my work more than most people. I'm on the edge with this show - this could be something rather brilliant, but I just need to put the hours in to make sure it comes together in time.
Finding the hours is never an easy thing though of course, and I'm still itching to work on other projects - the Christmas shows (any excuse to listen to festive tunes a bit early...), the radio sitcom, the Christmas album still needs finishing, the forthcoming new material night, the re-recording of 'The 12 Monologues Of Christmas' and a script for Louise Hamilton's alter-ego, Eartha Tydeville which will be a stage-show for next year (probably at the fringe). I've also got an idea for a musical which I am determined to write with the genius that is Alister Bunclark...one step at a time though, and that step has to be 'Some Plays By Paul Richards' for the next week or so. This really could go either way. Do come and see the show if you get a chance though (tickets here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/fatfoxproductions) if only to see a grown man stress a bit.
Finding the hours is never an easy thing though of course, and I'm still itching to work on other projects - the Christmas shows (any excuse to listen to festive tunes a bit early...), the radio sitcom, the Christmas album still needs finishing, the forthcoming new material night, the re-recording of 'The 12 Monologues Of Christmas' and a script for Louise Hamilton's alter-ego, Eartha Tydeville which will be a stage-show for next year (probably at the fringe). I've also got an idea for a musical which I am determined to write with the genius that is Alister Bunclark...one step at a time though, and that step has to be 'Some Plays By Paul Richards' for the next week or so. This really could go either way. Do come and see the show if you get a chance though (tickets here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/fatfoxproductions) if only to see a grown man stress a bit.
Gig report: The British IBM @ The Rose & Crown, Erdington, Birmingham
Band: The British IBM
Venue: The Rose and Crown, Erdington, Birmingham
Date: 03/11/12
Audience: Busy, clearly not there for us but friendly enough
Set: Make It Happen, Pain In My Heart, Down Like That, Animal, Sugar Water, Cannibal, 3 Years, Feeling, The British IBM, God's Front Porch, Not Your Day, Guns, Washing Machine
Notes: Our final (scheduled/public) gig of the year and back to playing electric with the full band for this show in Birmingham. I really like Birmingham - it's the second time we've played there this year and I like it more than most places, people just seem really friendly. Nice guesthouse, very comfortable. We were booked to play this as part of a fairly large charity event for Water Aid, a very worthy cause and organised by very nice people who made us feel welcome. Busy audience, we were the only electric band following the acoustic opener and excellent comedian Tony Cowards. Kind of get the feeling a party covers band may have been more suitable, but that's not to say we weren't well received, we were pretty much background music but with a couple of dedicated people at the front were really into it. It was all very friendly anyway, and it's the first time we've played 'Feeling' live I think. Last British IBM gig for a while as Dave is off to the USA and I'll be doing some theatre-ee stuff over the next few weeks, not a bad night at all.
Venue: The Rose and Crown, Erdington, Birmingham
Date: 03/11/12
Audience: Busy, clearly not there for us but friendly enough
Set: Make It Happen, Pain In My Heart, Down Like That, Animal, Sugar Water, Cannibal, 3 Years, Feeling, The British IBM, God's Front Porch, Not Your Day, Guns, Washing Machine
Notes: Our final (scheduled/public) gig of the year and back to playing electric with the full band for this show in Birmingham. I really like Birmingham - it's the second time we've played there this year and I like it more than most places, people just seem really friendly. Nice guesthouse, very comfortable. We were booked to play this as part of a fairly large charity event for Water Aid, a very worthy cause and organised by very nice people who made us feel welcome. Busy audience, we were the only electric band following the acoustic opener and excellent comedian Tony Cowards. Kind of get the feeling a party covers band may have been more suitable, but that's not to say we weren't well received, we were pretty much background music but with a couple of dedicated people at the front were really into it. It was all very friendly anyway, and it's the first time we've played 'Feeling' live I think. Last British IBM gig for a while as Dave is off to the USA and I'll be doing some theatre-ee stuff over the next few weeks, not a bad night at all.
Friday 2 November 2012
Gig report: The British IBM @ Lyric Lounge, Nottingham
Band: The British IBM
Venue: Studios at Lyric Lounge, Nottingham
Date: 31/10/12
Audience: About five people in the studio itself, but we imagine a lot more when it's broadcast...
Set: Animal, Sugar Water, the British IBM, Cannibal, Is It Too Late To Save Oscar Pike, 3 Years, God's Front Porch
Notes: Traveled up to rainy Nottingham on Wednesday night to play a studio session with Aidy (Dave was unavailable so we did it as an acoustic duo) for Lyric Lounge. Filmed as well as recorded, some really established names have recorded sessions with these guys (notably Muse and Starsailor) and alongside a 40 minute set we were interviewed. Despite the stress of finding the place in horrible wet conditions (my mate Rachel deserves a lot of credit for her navigational genius) it was a hugely enjoyable session - the interview itself was remarkably relaxed and I was happy with the performance. I may have been slightly distracted for a bit of it knowing that the flat I'm renting was flooding a little at the time, but it didn't take long for the music to take over and nice to be playing a set entirely consisting of album songs. Great people, hopefully this looks as good as it felt at the time. Then got more than a bit lost heading home, eventually returning to my very damp flat at 2.30am...
Venue: Studios at Lyric Lounge, Nottingham
Date: 31/10/12
Audience: About five people in the studio itself, but we imagine a lot more when it's broadcast...
Set: Animal, Sugar Water, the British IBM, Cannibal, Is It Too Late To Save Oscar Pike, 3 Years, God's Front Porch
Notes: Traveled up to rainy Nottingham on Wednesday night to play a studio session with Aidy (Dave was unavailable so we did it as an acoustic duo) for Lyric Lounge. Filmed as well as recorded, some really established names have recorded sessions with these guys (notably Muse and Starsailor) and alongside a 40 minute set we were interviewed. Despite the stress of finding the place in horrible wet conditions (my mate Rachel deserves a lot of credit for her navigational genius) it was a hugely enjoyable session - the interview itself was remarkably relaxed and I was happy with the performance. I may have been slightly distracted for a bit of it knowing that the flat I'm renting was flooding a little at the time, but it didn't take long for the music to take over and nice to be playing a set entirely consisting of album songs. Great people, hopefully this looks as good as it felt at the time. Then got more than a bit lost heading home, eventually returning to my very damp flat at 2.30am...
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