Gig report: The British IBM @ Rock Your Mind Festival, Middlesbrough

Band: The British IBM
Venue: Rock Your Minds Festival @ Westgarth Social Centre, Middlesbrough
Date: 07/10/12
Audience: Plenty of them, enthusiastic
Set: Cannibal, 3 Years, Animal, Sugar Water, The British IBM, Down Like That, Guns, Washing Machine
Notes: Back up north, and back on form - I'm sure this isn't a coincidence. We always like playing in Middlesbrough and this festival - organised by our manager Matt, was a charity event in aid of Rock Your Mind (a mental health awareness charity). Two indoor spaces, big old building, lovely vibe throughout the whole thing - going on at 5.30pm was perfect for us (event started at 1pm), we switched the set around a bit and seemed fresh because of it. Lovely audience, we always feel welcome at that end of the country, 9 hour round trip for a 30 minute gig but completely worth it.

New projects, Christmas, and the first glimpse of 2013 from a distance

I've had a heavy cold all week, and today a strange irritation in my right eye, which is why I'm feeling a bit grumpy and unsociable and not at the pub with my friends tonight. Instead on this Friday evening I'm working on scripts, getting frustrated by them, so writing this blog post instead whilst drinking lager that is so weak and has some citrus lime thing going on with it, no wonder Tesco had a massive offer on to try and clear it, it's horrible.

And besides, I've not updated this properly for a while now, so I was a due a ramble. It feels like it's been a strange couple of weeks, I think I'm still on a post-tour-post-fringe-post-Lodestar comedown and for a brief while I was a bit concerned about not being busy. You know that fear - suddenly it's October and there really isn't time to do much else before Christmas so you might as well write the year off and think about plans for the next 12 months instead? Well that's probably why I've suddenly over-committed myself. I don't fear time off from stuff, I've got so many books I need to read, films to watch and friends I don't see enough of. But when I look back on 2012, will it be considered a success? I'm not ready to think like that yet, I'm going to do a few more things just in case before assessing it.

There's some nice little projects - the music we recorded with Alister, Steve and Clare for the Christmas story album sounds great, and this weekend I'm going to finish the actual story words to go with it, and then we can get recording and releasing and it'll all be lovely. A story/music album can really go either way, but I think this should end up modestly beautiful, which is what we all strive for, yeah? And we need to re-record last year's Christmas audio offering, 'The 12 Monologues Of Christmas' using a proper microphone, not the mp3 recorder I purchased off my mate Bryan for a fiver. Doing a lot of stuff under the Fat Fox Productions tag now - Fat Fox is awesome, it's the production company I've formed with Izzy, and it's so nice to be working with somebody who is completely on the same page as me, somebody who is not only a wonderful actress but also a great editor of my work to cut out all the crap bits (let's face it, I do go on a bit) and perhaps most amazingly; somebody who, after knowing me for over a year now, isn't that annoyed by my scatterbrain, messy and confusing ways. And she's wicked at spreadsheets. We've got Fat Fox t-shirts, and business cards and everything, and next year's Edinburgh show is already being plotted. Before that though we have our radio sitcom, 'Technically Single' being recorded for a podcast series, 6 x 20 minute episodes ending on a Christmas special - I'm really proud of the pilot/first episode, which is why I'm being so careful writing the other five instalments...although they all need to be written within the next couple of weeks. And we've got our two Christmas shows too, both on the same bill for a four night run at Christmas, and our regular new material nights (the first one of which didn't happen because of the venue being double booked, but that's cool - it just means I have more new material for the next one). And then there's the, well, the slightly strange project...

At the end of a complicated few days, in which I got my wallet 'stolen' (okay, I dropped it outside a supermarket but it was gone a couple hours later) and then went momentarily anxious about something that shouldn't really be explained on this blog, I've somehow ended up touring a solo show called, 'Some Plays By Paul Richards'. Look, just don't ask, okay? And besides, it's not completely solo, the lovely Claudia McKenzie (joining me on the road for these performances) has some lines in there, just not that many. It features two plays, 'The Wallet' and 'Man Versus Ants', I wrote them both last week on my week off work for writing time. I really feel 'The Wallet' is the strongest piece I've written in a long while, years perhaps, and 'Man Versus Ants' is completely heartbreaking if we get the timing right with the song at the end. Izzy is directing, and Chris from Distant Cloud has taken some wonderful promo pictures. It's a very wordy show, I'm a very wordy man. I've got a lot of words to learn. Tour opens on 7th November.

Inspiration is good, isn't it? Went to a really lovely classical/world music/folk concert thing on Saturday with Heather and on stage was Nicky and Gav from the Dowsing For Sound band - the music they were making was just lovely. And then last night, although still as snotty as anything, I went with Heather, Kevin and Elisa to see Piff The Magic Dragon in Bury St Edmunds. Piff was my favourite show at the fringe, and last night it was just as enjoyable - it's such a great act, a glorious mix of comedy, magic, Chihuahuas...everyone deserves to see Piff, he deserves a bigger audience. Pappy's are coming to Cambridge soon, and I'm off to see Ben Folds Five next month, ever get the feeling there's so much creative brilliance in the world you can't keep up? I need to keep on writing, keep on getting my work out there (my work is starting to be performed all over the world these days thanks to a couple indie publishing deals), need to finally get my debut novel out there (both people who I've sent it to to proof read haven't actually looked at it yet/hate it so much they can't work out how to tell me), and need to be drumming more...

Talking of which, some nice gigs coming up with Flaming June - a little run of charity shows for Oxjam (all in aid of Oxfam) in Cambridge, Bedford and Bury, some Christmassy shows with Trevor Jones (note we're not called 'The Trevor Jones Band' these days due to a contractual thingy) and the British IBM continues to be the subject of some wonderful media coverage (everywhere from Retro Gamer magazine to a review in The Sunday Sport) - we've got a few gigs left this year, all out of town, I like that a lot, I like to stretch my musical legs and play in new places. And there's talk of a very special Christmassy project too, but I can't say anything just yet, not because I'm all secretive and trying to big something up that you probably don't care about, but because I've been asked to keep it quiet until things are confirmed and besides, I was only asked yesterday, it shall be awesome though.

So looks like there's enough to keep me going for the rest of the year and I shall endeavour to report back if anything interesting comes of this. Or, if like tonight, I've got a cold and I'm killing time before the good programmes kick in on BBC3 at 11pm.

Currently reading: The Last Party (by John Harris), just finished reading Where Do Comedians Go When They Die? (by Milton Jones)

Currently watching: Cuckoo, Family Guy, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Match Of The Day

Currently listening to: Ben Folds Five - The Sound Of The Life And Mind, Straylight Run - The Needles The Space, Guillemots - Hello Land

Currently eating: the unpredictable results of my attempts at cooking

Gig report: The British IBM @ The Hope & Anchor, London

Band: The British IBM
Venue: Hope And Anchor, London
Date: 23/09/12
Audience: Friendly
Set: Make It Happen, Pain In My Heart, Animal, Sugar Water, The British IBM, Cannibal, 3 Years, Washing Machine
Notes: We've been reluctant to play London recently, preferring instead to play in other cities/towns in the country where we could make more of a mark, but the chance to headline this prestigious venue was too good to turn down. Great performance space, nice house kit to play on, good sound on and off the stage, managed to get the train in from the small village I live in and meet the guys at Kings Cross - it was such an easy gig to do. That was possibly the reason why we were just a little bit slack - some good friends were there (Rob, Matt, Izzy, James) so a little alcohol indulgence was in order, and we all came off stage knowing that we hadn't really played that well. The thing is, as I've said before, we know we're a really strong band - we've been gigging a while now with two tours and we're very rehearsed, so even when we're not quite hitting our full stride we put on a good show and those who were there to watch us really seemed to love it. I just know how good we can be, if my memory serves me correctly I dropped three beats in the whole gig - but that's three beats more than I should have dropped, it's just good enough. Apart from our actual slightly ramshackle performance it was a really nice evening though.

Gig report: Trevor Jones @ Black Bull Festival, Godmanchester

Band: Trevor Jones
Venue: The Black Bull Festival, Godmanchester
Date: 15/09/12
Audience: Drunk, brilliant
Set: Not sure of the order - usual set with the omission of Solid Ground
Notes: This was a really brilliant gig - and even more so because on arrival they looked like the kind of audience who wouldn't like us. The festival, held at our regular venue of The Black Bull, had been on since 1pm, so by the time we went on - 8.20pm, a majority of the audience were hammered. Although there were plenty of acoustic acts on the bill, a lot of the bands on our stage - the electric stage, were of a heavier rock vibe, and somehow I just felt our acoustic-led pop would unsettle the audience. I was proved wrong though as they got into it from the start, and as a trio (Trev, Tony and myself) we really got into it, more so than we have done in ages, can't work out why - sometimes an audience like that just helps things. The sound on and off stage was great, the kit was lovely to play and I really hit my stride, it was just a really fantastic little gig to play and Allan's Promotions deserve credit for running it so well. We've been in the studio for the last couple of nights recording and haven't quite hit that level of performance again I feel, but the sessions continue again soon and I've got a sneaky, and slightly arrogant, feeling that we will.

Recording times

After a summer of dashing about everywhere it feels really good to be drumming in the studio again. See, as much as I love the thrill of live work (as a musician, writer, actor) there's always a sad sense that when it's done, it's done - with no or very little record of it. Now though I enter a few months where I'll be on stage less and recording more - and as a writer we (Izzy and myself) will be focusing more on radio projects. A good recording can go a long way - I'm really proud to be on the British IBM album - my dad believes it's the best thing I've ever been on and my dad is always right, yet that was one of the very few studio sessions I've done this year, unlike 2011 when I was seemingly in the studio all the time.

This weekend we recorded the backing music for a Christmas album I'm devising. Can't go into too many details about the concept of the project (for many reasons, the main one being I haven't finished writing it yet and it's likely to change a million times before I feel comfortable), but it is effectively a theatre/music crossover (but not a musical), utilising some classic Christmas tunes nicely rearranged as the backing track to the drama. For this I called upon a few good friends who also happen to be outstanding musicians; Alister Bunclark, Clare Calder and Steve Calder, and, aided by Una the enthusiastic puppy, we recorded the music in one fairly lengthy, live session. Alister, Clare and Steve really are brilliant musicians - and so versatile too, and on the record we have piano, double bass, strings, flute, saxophone alongside my percussion...I don't think 'Jingle Bells' has ever sounded so worldly. Felt slightly strange recording Christmas songs in early September, but it also felt bloody good.

A couple days later I was back in the studio recording with Louise and producer Rob for the new Flaming June EP. This one really is a quite dramatic leap (in places) from the last EP, but I now get why Louise has done this - the last EP was very successful and even won an award but why replicate it? It's sounding brilliant (quite a lot has been done already), the folk roots are still very much there but it just feels more electric (whilst remaining largely acoustic), it's sounding big already. On top of the congas I've added a bass drum, snare, hi-hat and ride cymbal - so yep, a full kit, but all recorded separately as each one is being treated as an individual percussional sound in the mix. I think this EP will be a while yet as everything is being done carefully, but it will really be worth the wait.

Next week work continues on the Trevor Jones album back at Half Ton with the most patient engineer on the planet, Matty Moon, and there's also the new Eureka Stockade album in the pipeline - Rob and Andy have 16 new songs, and at some point I'll be in to drum all over them, marvellous stuff.

Anyway, best get back to trying to learn how to cook. Since coming back from the fringe I feel refreshed and looking forward to some new creative challenges, with a new website, the launch of the new theatre company (Fat Fox) with Izzy which will be amazing, finally getting my novel out there, some new plays, some new recordings and yep, going to try and cook too. That's the bit I'm really struggling with to be honest, but we all knew that was going to be the case, yes?

Gig report: Jon Orchard @ The Royal Oak, St Ives

Band: Jon Orchard (acoustic duo)
Venue: The Royal Oak, St Ives
Date: 09/09/12
Audience: Lively
Set: Lots of covers
Notes: A nice if rare gig with Mr Orchard. Sunday night gigs are always a tricky one - half of the audience are there for a quiet drink to conclude the weekend, the other half are getting hammered to try and forget about the impending Monday. Either way, everyone seemed to enjoy it - mostly thanks to Jon's choice of songs, he has a repertoire that consists of real crowd pleasers and from a percussionists point of a view it was a pretty easy gig to play musically. Hard work at times though because it was such a long show, but when you're playing good songs, with a good fellow musician, in front of a lively crowd the time just flies by.

Lodestar Festival 2012

The Lodestar Festival is awesome - it's a growing music festival just outside of Cambridge that I have the privilege of being the Director Of Theatre for. I'm not long back from spending the whole of my weekend at this year's event and once again I'm just amazed by how lovely the whole festival is, so incredibly friendly. This is my third year with Lodestar and in short my role is to book the comedy/theatre acts for the second stage - I'd like to think that every year our line-up is getting just a little bit better and although I was honestly worried about how this one would work out it really did, brilliantly. My fears were that we had to re-schedule a couple of the acts at really short notice, such short notice that programmes had been printed already with the wrong information (it's a festival - it's bound to happen sometimes with this many acts), but there were no worries really at the end of the day - we put plenty of acts on, people walked in to our tent and enjoyed them. The tent this year was a circus style big-top tent and was absolutely perfect - a good distance from the main stage so no chance of being drowned out by the bands, and undercover so no chance of being drowned in the rain.

Alongside booking the non-music stuff, two of my own pieces were performed; There's Absolutely Nothing Wrong With Oscar Pike on the Saturday, and You Don't Miss Your Water today - Sunday. This has always been scheduled as the final performance of this Oscar show - having started our little adventure a couple months back in Bristol before Cambridge (twice), London and of course the Edinburgh Fringe, it's a show that really has developed nicely along the way. Saturday felt like a challenge at first - due to the size of the stage (huge), the distance between us and the audience, and due to both of these things the fact that we had to do the show with radio mics so we would be heard. That's a first for me as a performer, and it took a couple minutes to adjust, but we soon settled into it. In a strange kind of way it felt like an important performance - there was a pretty big crowd there to watch us, bigger than any of the previous showings, yet we hadn't rehearsed since the fringe. But we know this show inside out now and if anything it was one of our most comfortable performances yet, even if (in the final scene where I knock the 'David' picture over) I did smash the photo frame with glass everywhere, that almost felt like a spectacular conclusion to this production. Izzy and Grace were both fantastic - they seemed relaxed enough pretty much straight from the start. Waiting before the show, in character (ie; in my pyjamas) I looked at the audience and there was a real sense of expectation in the air, I found out later on our play was announced on the main stage by the lovely people at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire who recommended us, hence why we suddenly had a big turnout. As I was pacing about around the back, people in the audience could see us and a couple even took pictures; difficult to explain but for the first time I actually felt like a 'proper' performer, this was a 'proper' act, that people wanted to see. I got a buzz out of that. I don't think there can be any more Oscar Pike shows though unless I suddenly get a big idea, feels like I've done all I can with this character. Either way, it went down well, and quite a few strangers (including a random bunch of girls who approached me later in the evening at the festival) praised the quality of the piece. A good day for my ego.

Today we debuted a comedy musical I had written as a vehicle for Bristol-based blues band, The Outlines. This has been on the cards for a while now, The Outlines were keen to play the festival so I suggested that I write a script to go alongside their awesome tunes and we can make a proper theatre show out of it. I only know one Outline - the legendary Matt Corrall, but the whole band went along with this idea. I then kind of ran out of time when it came to writing the script, and although the format and structure had been knocking about in my head for a couple weeks I didn't finish writing the thing until the early hours of Thursday morning. It took 6 hours to write...it shouldn't have worked really, but 'You Don't Miss Your Water' really did. A majority of the cast, and the band, only saw the script for the first time yesterday morning, that was how tight we were cutting things...we had a slightly worrying run-through on a patch of field before Oscar Pike, and then this morning did the same thing again, with most of us having hangovers. The rehearsals - well, I think 'rehearsals' is probably an exaggeration, these were just a chance to get vaguely familiar with the script, were worrying. So why did it work in the performance? Simple really; The Outlines are a brilliant - and more importantly, likable, band that have songs that work so well in this medium, and we had a cracking cast of Izzy, Abi, Alan, Vaughan and Kevin, who were just so open to the 'anything can happen' nature of this show, a joy to work with. There were glimmers of really, really perfect moments in the production, mostly thanks to Vaughan's slightly erratic dancing, and none of which were apparent in the rehearsal, and the band were super-tight, that was apparent in the rehearsal. Yeah, it was thrown together at short notice and could have looked that way to some of the audience, but with a lot of enthusiasm and charm that made me proud. And I have to admit, considering it only took 6 hours to write, I was rather happy with the script - it's as cheesy as anything, but with some nice lines and serves it's purpose perfectly. But in lesser hands it wouldn't have worked - with The Outlines and that cast it did, but then again if you put that much talent on one stage you can't really fail, can you?

Not that it was all about us/me of course; our stage was littered with treats. Helen Arney, in particular - I know she's a mate so I'm biased, but she was outstanding on Saturday, playing at midday it could have gone either way but she played a truely delightful set and the audience lapped it up. Other great stuff - Custard Comedy (a really fine range of new comedians), Rosie Wilby, The Cambridge Improv Factory, The Gamlingay Players. We also caught a bit of Bob Geldof's headline set on the main stage, and watched some burlesque which made me feel all awkward.

Over the years I've started to go off music festivals, big and small, mostly because they're hard work sometimes - they get overcrowded, rowdy, uncomfortable. But Lodestar is different - it is without question the nicest festival in the country, with really good quality acts (gutted that due to my comittments I couldn't really catch much of the music on the main stage but whenever I did pass it looked wonderful, The Go Team on Friday night were outstanding), and all the simple things we forget about like reasonably priced beer and plenty of different food options. It's a festival where you can stretch out a bit, it's on a really attractive site and it's run by geniuene, honest people. And selfishly, it's a great creative outlet for me too - Doug the director gives me a lot of freedom to book the acts I want and to put on my own work, and I'm grateful for this. I'm also knackered though as it kicks into life four days after the Edinburgh Fringe, and tonight - our final night - we chickened out and left at 6pm, my brain is frazzled from a manic couple of weeks and I admit - I've run out of steam. My friends are as nice as the festival by the way, whilst I've been running around worrying about the acts they do great things like set up my tent for me, and even take it down, it's almost like they know I'm not a typical outdoor type.

I think I'm happy right now, I'm knackered but when I wake up a bit I think I'll realise I am happy - it's been a good couple of months what with the musical, the tour, the fringe, the festival. It's weird not suddenly having to dash about somewhere, my inbox is cleared for the first time this year. Time for new projects, I have many ideas both theatrically and musically, and many ideas of who I want to do them with. And Christmas seems to be creeping up on us too...this quiet period won't last for long, phew!