Lodestar preview performances

Feels like a good while since I've updated this, but naturally that only means that I've been too busy to sign in, rather than it being nothing interesting is happening. Generally, things are in okay shape I think - a lot of the releases I've been drumming on this year have stared to emerge - Under The Streetlamp's album is very exciting and will be released on November 13th, Ethan Ash's new material is also sounding decent and that will be released on the same day, and the Eureka Stockade album isn't far off either and what a treat that sounds - that's set for a 6th December release, so much musically about to erupt I think. That, and some nice gigs coming up too including playing for Jon Orchard at Lodestar Festival next weekend, a festival in Windsor with Eureka Stockade and High Barn with Flaming June, plus the London stuff with Lu, mustn't grumble. Will though, can always do with more of this...

Anyway, tonight was the Lodestar preview performance of the 2 plays I'm putting on at the festival next weekend. I really had no idea what to think ahead of today - the music for Clowns had been rehearsed twice but without all the actors apart from the brilliant Kimberly Dobson who very kindly stepped in to play Clown-ette Miranda to perfection. Our other show, The Year Of The Rat, hadn't been touched at all. I arrived at midday today, with the worst hangover in history courtesy of a party at Rob-Eureka-Stockade's house last night, and then spent five hours in awe of how good these actors are. I had a feeling for a while that The Year Of The Rat was a bit of a return to form on the writing side of things, because I've written a lot of shite this year, and even in it's loosest first draft sense I could see the ideas come to life. But it was the cast who made it - Marto, Heather, Colin, Vaughan - it's their energy and willingness to make the show work. It was always supposed to be a 'fun' show, and they just shared my vision completely - in many respects it's the silliest thing I've ever written, and there's no denying bits of it don't work (like the 'Short Horror Play') but when performed with so much wit and passion it was generally always going to be a good evening. Heather's performance of a character called Hitler ("Hi, I'm Hitler but you can call me Judy") is up there with some of my highlights of the year. After 5 hours of rehearsing that show, we moved onto Clowns in which Vaughan and Colin were joined by Kimberly and also the live backing band - Bryan, Marcus, Ali and myself. In what is an extremely ambitious project, we seemed to nail it in two quick run-throughs, I'm really relieved about this one and can sense the cast are too because spoken word musicals are a bit of a change of direction. Again, the energy was there, and although I'm not comfortable as the narrator (I have since made a move for another actor to do it), I'm pretty happy with how it all went tonight and am genuinely excited about Lodestar next weekend now. Tonight we barely promoted the show because I was a bit unsure of the material, we played to a small-ish audience (although always a pleasure to see those who come to every show I do support my work once again) in a venue which I love but we've worked at loads of times. It's not new territory, but my recent fatigue has gone straight out the window - creativity and the danger of live performance is a complex beast, but sometimes when it works it's a bit of a treat.

First 'Clowns' rehearsal...

...and what a relief that was, to know that the concept actually works. Musically at least. The show premieres officially at the Lodestar Festival on September 4th, but we've got a preview date coming up on 29th August. The cast themselves haven't been involved, but tonight myself and the musicians - Alister Bunclark, Bryan Shore and Marcus Hood pretty much nailed the music, now just need to tweek the script a little bit as I spotted one or two consistancy errors, and get the actors in for next week's session. Spoken word musical? Easy. Almost too easy. Plenty can go wrong yet though.

Currently listening to: Ethan Ash - new recordings, Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom, Chris TT's new album, Randy Newman - Harps & Angels

Currently watching: Shooting Stars, Gavin & Stacey, The Brittas Empire, Match Of The Day (welcome back, season, I've missed you)

Currently reading: Gary Lineker - Still Dreaming (an honest book about why England failed at the World Cup)

August 12th

August 12th 2000: picture the scene, if you'd be so kind. St. Ives: a small, reasonably friendly market town just outside of Cambridgeshire. 6 young lads have hired the Corn Exchange, the biggest public building in the town centre, they've hired bouncers and a bar, they've got a set of songs they've been nurturing in a nearby village hall for a good few months. There's been drunken chats of world domination, there's been sober chats of world domination. The world is there for the taking. Alighting; a 6 piece band, are playing their first ever gig, and instead of playing a support slot or crappy pub gig like you're supposed to for a debut, they've hired a big building and are headlining the thing. It takes remarkable courage, but the band don't ever consider this - it's a special night, it's a special time, the scale of it is fully understood but the daunting nature of the evening that was to follow is lost in adrenaline. On drums, a 19-year-old Paul Richards; scruffy, wearing a stupid hat, rubbish at office jobs, completely in love with drums. That night was the first gig any of us had ever played, thinking back now technically I doubt it wasn't much to offer, but sometimes technicalities don't mean a thing when the raw passion and energy of young men going out as a team for the first time comes into it. A special night indeed, including the after show party. 10 years later, a lot has changed, especially on a personal level. My writing aspirations have become more prominent with 4 Edinburgh Fringe shows and loads of other credits, musically I've played some amazing places and recorded in some great studios, I'm on a few albums and even as I type this it's been a week where I've been given the final masters of the Under The Streetlamp album, have rehearsed with a funk band, have rehearsed with a prog-rock band, have rehearsed with 'Streetlamp, and am currently listening to the mixes of the new Ethan Ash EP which I had great pleasure drumming on - and that boy has songs that can change lives, he's that good. But August 12th 2000 - one of those days that will forever stick in my memory, I was on stage for the first time, we were on stage for the first time. I needed the support of my friends to do this, we're all still friends, good friends, and I'm proud of this. 10 years later; when I look back, I'm not sure where I thought I'd be now. Part of me arrogantly always thought I'd be retired on royalties by now. A more down to earth part of me thought I'd be married with kids by now. I'm neither of those things, but I'm happy enough. But. 10 years later - a 29-year-old Paul Richards; scruffy, doesn't wear hats anymore, rubbish at office jobs, completely in love with drums. Ah bollocks. We've all changed, a lot. We've all been through a lot. But nothing has really changed that much. It doesn't mean I'm still not proud of that day 10 years ago though.

Deadlines, ideas and general lack of time

Exciting things are happening on the label side of things with one of my artists. And I actually mean exciting, not just the usual blind optimism which litters my existence. No, really exciting things, but I can't say anything until things are confirmed and it's such a shame because I'm such a blabbermouth I just want to blurt it all out. Hopefully in the next couple weeks or so though I can mention it, because it's a really exciting thing.

It suggests also that things may get busy soon musically, and admin-ee, and also Alister (Streetlamp) is now back so that means we can get gigging again soon, and Eureka Stockade are back in action too, and I've also just joined a folk band called Flaming June, and the Trip 35's will be mixing the album again in a few weeks time and...goodbye evenings, but I love it, and need it actually - too much time in front of a screen right now, not enough time in dark, smelly rehearsal rooms.

I have too many ideas, and too little patience at the moment. Currently working on the script for my show at the Lodestar Festival in early September - it's basically a month away tomorrow, so I need to nail the script sharpish. The production is called 'The Year Of The Rat', it will be performed rehearsed, but script-in-hand at the festival, but I want the cast to have as much time as possible with the material. It's basically a series of short plays, about people who were born in the Chinese Year Of The Rat - the definition of these people being ambitious, passionate but also thrifty and easily angered. Loads of material for that there. I've resisted the initial thought of re-hashing ideas from 'Some Plays...About Indie Rock' which was performed earlier this year at the Bury Fringe to a tiny audience, because I really like Lodestar and want to give them something totally new. At the moment, I want to cram 18 short plays into 45 minutes, and tick off as many genres as possible in doing so. We'll see how it turns out. I've also got my much delayed spoken-word musical, 'Clowns' being performed at the festival. Meeting my musician chums tomorrow night to work out how exactly we perform a spoken word improvised musical. Should be a doddle...

Have also agreed to help launch a brand new comedy night in Cambridge, starting in mid-September, after a meeting last night. We need a title more than anything, I like 'Rant & Banter Comedy', but nobody else does, any suggestions appreciated.

SGP and new material

Last weekend was very music based, although somewhat annoyingly I was being the journalist, rather than the musician. Reviewing mega-superstar Pixie Lott play in the tiny village of Pidley was certainly something different for a Saturday evening (my full review of the event can be found here: http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/review_pixie_lott_performs_at_cambs_charity_gig_1_549383), and the rest of the time was spent at the Secret Garden Party festival, which is fast becoming one of the permanent fixtures in my yearly diary. Was great fun, as you can imagine, the weather held out and I had plenty of time to just lie in a field jotting script ideas down whilst watching various bands do their thing. Plenty of highlights, but in short - Mercury Rev, Revere and Darwin Deez made the weekend for me.

Last night we had a new material session. I was grateful that most of the actors I invited turned up and gave up their time to read through some of my stuff, and also a few other theatrical friends who's advice is always invaluable. I made the point of inviting down some of my harshest critics, which sometimes makes me feel uncomfortable, and there were points when I felt very down about everything; of the 3 plays there seemed to be a little negativity expressed afterwards; 'The Lonely, The Poor, The Big I Am' doesn't really work at all, 'Falling Apart With Martin' needs to have a reason why the lead deserves his happy ending and 'Totally From The Heart' - whilst littered with lovely moments, needs to be less obvious to the audience. A pretty long night then, but these are all only minor tweaks and people seemed in mutual agreement that with a little re-structuring here and there I've got myself some decent new material on my hands. A productive evening, but not easy to stomach sometimes. I've got to have a new play ready in time for the Lodestar Festival in September, I was hoping that one of last night's plays would fit the bill but I think it's time to go back to the drawing board and work on something completely new - time is tight, but that's all part of the fun...

Recording with Ethan Ash

Spent the day in the studio laying down some tasty drum parts for that ridiculously talented Ethan Ash fella today. I have to say, I've enjoyed pretty much everything I've done in the studio recently, and today was another brilliant way to spent a Monday. It was the perfect level between fun and hard work, with the songs fully taking priority. We recorded at Half Ton, where I spend lots of time, with Rob T producing/engineering, whom I work with frequently. Ethan's songs are superb - they're proper soul songs, and the challenge for me today was to be as laid back as possible, deep down in the groove and lay off any fancy fills. The fact that I'd only had 5 hours sleep really helped a great deal actually - a dozy Paul Richards is a relaxed Paul Richards, and we eased through the day with decent drum takes nailed for all 4 songs. I was booked for 2 days session drumming, but we got everything done today - yet, such is how much I believe in these songs, I'm still going to spend all tomorrow in the studio just seeing how they grow with more instrumentation as I'm keen to see how they develop. And I'll probably eat a lot of Pringles too, such is the nature of these things.

Radio sitcom

It's been a decent weekend, and I reckon the next couple of days are going to be decent too, although my caffeine intake may rise even higher. On Friday evening I rehearsed with Ethan Ash - he's got some top tunes that boy, and his family (who are old friends of mine) are just so nice, the food was good, his dogs are the friendliest I've ever met, and the songs sound great too. On Saturday I met up with a contact (who I can't say yet, because I'd be considered unprofessional and I know that more people than I'm aware of are starting to read this blog, which is totally lovely, I just need to stop being such a blabber mouth sometimes) to discuss all things radio and it looks like I've found an FM-shaped home for our sitcom, with online stuff all to follow too, it was a lovely meeting actually - completely littered with enthusiasm. In the evening I met up for a couple beers and pizza (which of course led to a couple more beers) with my mate Neil, and in the process signed his superb band, Shallow Falls, to the Cracking Tunes label - something I've been meaning to do for a while as I totally believe in the way they go about business, and it's nice that we could do it over beer and pizza - I might make this a rule for signing bands in the future actually.

Today we recorded the radio sitcom - which still has various names - it's either going to be called:

Patrick, Cameron And Their Reasonably Low-Key Adventures

or

Patrick And Cameron's Reasonably Low-Key Adventures

or

The Modest Adventures Of Patrick And Cameron

Probably the second one, but we've got a little time to decide. We started early, borrowing equipment from the mighty Rob Toulson, and setting up in Colin's very quiet flat - I'm happy we didn't use my flat now, which was the first suggestion, as Colin has everything a production needs - such as a balcony for well deserved breaks, and a Co-Op just down the road. We worked hard today - Alan our soundman worked ridiculously hard, and the cast were incredibly patient, responsive and above all they knew that we're onto a good thing with this. I've no doubt these are the bests scripts I've ever written, probably no coincidence that it's the longest I've ever spent working on anything, maybe this is where I've gone slightly wrong in some of my less successful projects...5 episodes, all wordy, but direct - it moves along quickly, and the exceptional team of actors pulled it off convincingly. The format themselves is very simple - with Colin (Woodham) and Steve Matthew playing the title roles, and Az Hussein and Vaughan Allanson filling in the gaps - the vibe was lovely, and full of banter, I like this working unit a lot. All 5 episodes (at 10-15 minutes in length) were recorded, including the very tricky final episode which, as everyone seemed to think, entered surreal territory (unlike the rest of the series which is very sitcom-ee), although ends the series on a satisfying note (or as Colin says: "It's like you've really thought this through, Paul" - he almost seemed surprised). 7 and a half hours later and we've got good takes of everything. Next step is the gruelling mixing session, which is going to take a very long time - Rob T is taking over that, and I'll have to sit with him with the script working out which takes from which scenes go in. Could be a very long process, but I genuinely think as a writer it could be the best thing I've done yet. We'll see, probably in a couple months time. In a dream world, the series would be launched on the radio station soon, and there would be enough public demand for a Christmas special. Just because I totally love Christmas. But that would be a dream, I think, but that's what dreamworld's are for, right?

Ended the weekend back at WriteOn, where the networking opportunities seem to have increased enormously over the last year or so. That, and the amount of people who go there who I genuinely consider to be good friends, and who I could chat to for hours. One of those people, Michelle, put some very big ideas into my head tonight, which got me thinking all the way home - I'm excited by certain prospects of the projects she mentioned, but I have to be careful about burning myself out, I've been on the fringes recently.

Tomorrow and Tuesday I'm in the studio with Ethan Ash laying down some new tracks with him, I like drumming to his stuff - it's all very Jack Johnson, controlled, but in the groove, should be a good session and at Half Ton Studios where I always feel at home. And then back into rehearsals with Lu, and then finishing off the scripts for my 'new material evening' in Cambridge on July 29th. And then, perhaps, the radio sitcom, and all these releases I've drummed on really, will be ready for public consumption, which is where the hard work really begins...

Currently listening to: Ed Harcourt - Lustre, Joe Jackson - Night & Day, The Travis Waltons - debut EP
Currently watching: Dad's Army, Shooting Stars
Currently drinking: Far too many energy drinks