Lounge Plays - show 1, plus Fred's House recording

That was a pleasantly exhausting weekend. On Friday night I played a private function gig with Fred's House in Cambridge, it rained a lot but we got fed very nice food and the people seemed friendly, in a strange kind of way it still worked really well and kept us fresh for the recording the next day. When I first recorded some drum takes for the band earlier this year it was a bit of an odd one; technically spot on, but it seemed to be lacking a bit of spirit, the performance was perfectly in time and as rehearsed, but just a bit too static. This time around though we lost the click track and went for a more live approach - the freedom helped the songs breath, and over the course of a two days recording at Half Ton Studios with producer Bugs some pretty awesome grooves were created, if I may say so myself. 'Take A Ride' has now turned very soulful, away from the caffeinated way it's performed live, this new feel to it sounds absolutely brilliant, as does the whole project. There's a lot to be done yet, but this album should be very worthwhile.

In between the recording sessions, I popped down to Hackney to celebrate my good friend Ben's birthday, which was a nice and typically surreal evening - this one involved a drinking game whilst watching Japanese horse racing. Later in the evening I went to sleep in my sleeping bag on the sofa, only to wake myself up by falling off that sofa and smacking my head against a very sturdy table. I have a nice mark next to my eye as a reminder, and two days later it's finally stopped hurting - although I imagine the hangover was also partly responsible for that.

Last night, after a second day of recording, I dashed home, put on my best suit, and then drove over to Newnham - where I was to record the first in a series of six podcasts called, 'Lounge Plays.' This is a new idea I had at the fringe, partly as a way of getting to new audiences, but mostly because it's just fun to perform shows in the most unconventional places possible. For these shows, I'll be performing a different solo play in different lounges - the audience are whoever the host invites, it's recorded on a fancy bit of software I downloaded for my iPhone, and it's all very personal. It's all very intimidating - but it's healthy to feel scared sometimes, and after a fringe run where I performed solo in a big and often near-empty venue, this suddenly felt like a completely different challenge. This show was always intended to be my October project, but for the first one I had to nudge things forward a bit as my friend Julia (a former colleague, somebody who has been to pretty much every play I've performed in the last two years, and just generally one of the best people I've ever met) wanted a show - but is moving to Australia this week for (at least) 10 months. Last night I performed the fringe solo show, 'Things Could Be Marvellous' in front of her, her parents, her sister Emily, some family friends and a couple of her friends I already knew (Cara, Jess). 13 people, crammed into the kitchen, with quite high expectations (Julia had been singing my praises before I arrived), but in good spirits thanks to the food and wine provided by our wonderful host. One very worried writer/actor, feeling slightly out of his depth. I had barely looked at the script in a month, but you know...it all worked out, really well. Possibly the nicest audience I've ever performed in front of - so close to the action but so warm, so generous with their laughter, the time just flew by - it helped my performance, confidence grew as the show progressed, a really incredible vibe that I've never experienced before.

I spent the rest of the evening chatting to various people in the house - there's a real sense that I'm really progressing as a writer, people really seem to like the whole solo thing. Julia's mum pointed out how expressive my (huge) hands are and how it helps the performance - I wasn't aware of this. Cara continually reminded me how brave the solo concept is, that girl has seen me in some really substandard performances over the years so I'm glad she managed to catch a good one. I really enjoyed chatting to Jess, she's a very inspiring young lady - she's living her dreams, fulfilling her ambitions. And Julia - well, Julia will be missed.

'Things Could Be Marvellous' worked - it worked better than it ever did in Edinburgh. Shame that was the last ever performance of that play, but it's time to move on. The next five, 'Lounge Plays' are all brand new shows, I'm writing them as we speak. I'll be in Bristol, Downham Market and two different houses in Cambridge, with one more date to be booked up, once they're all done I'll stick them all up online. For an opening show this was in theory the easiest it's going to get - a really friendly audience, a show I've performed plenty of times, a nice way of easing myself into my most challenging project yet.