Monday, January 17, 2005
Monday, back to square one.
Monday morning.. what a drag. What a Danny-La-Rue-Hinge-and-Brackett-Lily-Savage-panto-dame size drag. Only a very short while ago it was Friday afternoon and everything was good in the world, I was getting ready for the penultimate Müf rehearsal before our debut show and the weekend's itinerary was all laid out in front of me. And then - in the blink of an eye - the weekend rushed past my head like a mobile phone being flung at a petulant and antagonistic Man Utd. striker. And here I am, struggling to come to terms with another week of the grind. Oh well, shit happens.
Müf rehearsal was a bit flat for me, but then I like rehearsals to be flat every now and again - it reminds me that I'm not there to have fun, I'm there to try and work hard and develop the music and the performance. As long as I get one rehearsal in every ten that goes brilliantly and is a pleasure to be at, I don’t mind. It's gigging that is the fun part, not rehearsals. But this one was OK, anyway. Still need to memorise the lyrics for Thursday, but that shouldn't be too hard now that I'm familiar with the set, etc. I just don’t want to have to have a music stand in front of me holding the lyrics, or be squinting at them taped to the floor, etc. I'm most concerned about a little ditty we've written called "The Clown Song", in which the lyrics are a kind of disturbed ramble rather than rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter. It's a lot like some of Primus' monologonous lyrics, spoken rather than sung, which is all good, but new territory for me to get up and recite in public. Ah well, adrenaline is our friend.
Sat was a case of getting up at stupid o'clock to drive to Loughton, Essex to meet up with my bro, two cousins (one of whom is the groom-to-be), and my uncle at his pub in Debden. We were off to Lakeside shopping centre to get measured up for Morning suits for the wedding, and it turned out to be a good laugh. One big plate of food at the pub later and it was back down the M25/M4 to make it (just…) to a White Sunday rehearsal in Reading at Plug n' Play for 3 hrs. It was only the third time we've properly got together but already the chemistry is starting to happen and we're almost ready to launch ourselves on an unsuspecting public. We've got four or five gigs lined up for February now, can’t wait to see what happens. The gig at the Fez club on the 23rd Feb is supporting Pure Reason Revolution (a Reaidng band signed to Alan McGhee's Poptones label) so fingers crossed we will be at maximum gigging speed by then.
Awoke on Sunday on a mate's sofa (which used to be my parent's sofa, but that's a long story), not remembering passing out the night before (exhaustion rather than excess, I'm afraid!) to a text from Natalie O'Neill, she of the diva vocals for Red Antennae. She was making sure I wasn't going to be late to pick her up to go to the studio in Hackney. I was already cutting it fine.. So gulped back a quick cuppa and shot over to Marlow to collect her. Poor thing, she's had mumps and conjunctivitis so she looked like the last thing she wanted to do was go and rehearse all day! But being the trooper she is, she did anyway. We had a band meeting to decide the way forward for 2005 too, and we've decided that Red Antennae is going to be the name of the record company that Dan is in the process of setting up, an umbrella term for all the different musical projects he's involved with at the mo, and in the interests of brand identity and clarity, the band formerley known as Red Antennae will be changing their name to something else. We have a working title, but it's unconfirmed - Stonepark. I won't bore you with the whys and wherefores, suffice to say that Stonor Park (just outside Henley-on-Thames) was an inspiration. I'm sure an official announcement will be released at some point with confirmation of the re-branding. Glad I didn’t get any Red Antennae tattoos done, anyway. Still, good to have a label (of sorts) of our own, we're speaking to people about distribution, etc. but it's early doors yet.
Still waiting to hear back from Godin guitars about possible endorsement of their lovely, shiny, Canadian-made products - I'm not holding my breath, but at least I've got through to the man responsible! Will be easier to negotiate once Müf have sold a couple million CD's, I should imagine. Perhaps herein lies the problem?
Müf rehearsal was a bit flat for me, but then I like rehearsals to be flat every now and again - it reminds me that I'm not there to have fun, I'm there to try and work hard and develop the music and the performance. As long as I get one rehearsal in every ten that goes brilliantly and is a pleasure to be at, I don’t mind. It's gigging that is the fun part, not rehearsals. But this one was OK, anyway. Still need to memorise the lyrics for Thursday, but that shouldn't be too hard now that I'm familiar with the set, etc. I just don’t want to have to have a music stand in front of me holding the lyrics, or be squinting at them taped to the floor, etc. I'm most concerned about a little ditty we've written called "The Clown Song", in which the lyrics are a kind of disturbed ramble rather than rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter. It's a lot like some of Primus' monologonous lyrics, spoken rather than sung, which is all good, but new territory for me to get up and recite in public. Ah well, adrenaline is our friend.
Sat was a case of getting up at stupid o'clock to drive to Loughton, Essex to meet up with my bro, two cousins (one of whom is the groom-to-be), and my uncle at his pub in Debden. We were off to Lakeside shopping centre to get measured up for Morning suits for the wedding, and it turned out to be a good laugh. One big plate of food at the pub later and it was back down the M25/M4 to make it (just…) to a White Sunday rehearsal in Reading at Plug n' Play for 3 hrs. It was only the third time we've properly got together but already the chemistry is starting to happen and we're almost ready to launch ourselves on an unsuspecting public. We've got four or five gigs lined up for February now, can’t wait to see what happens. The gig at the Fez club on the 23rd Feb is supporting Pure Reason Revolution (a Reaidng band signed to Alan McGhee's Poptones label) so fingers crossed we will be at maximum gigging speed by then.
Awoke on Sunday on a mate's sofa (which used to be my parent's sofa, but that's a long story), not remembering passing out the night before (exhaustion rather than excess, I'm afraid!) to a text from Natalie O'Neill, she of the diva vocals for Red Antennae. She was making sure I wasn't going to be late to pick her up to go to the studio in Hackney. I was already cutting it fine.. So gulped back a quick cuppa and shot over to Marlow to collect her. Poor thing, she's had mumps and conjunctivitis so she looked like the last thing she wanted to do was go and rehearse all day! But being the trooper she is, she did anyway. We had a band meeting to decide the way forward for 2005 too, and we've decided that Red Antennae is going to be the name of the record company that Dan is in the process of setting up, an umbrella term for all the different musical projects he's involved with at the mo, and in the interests of brand identity and clarity, the band formerley known as Red Antennae will be changing their name to something else. We have a working title, but it's unconfirmed - Stonepark. I won't bore you with the whys and wherefores, suffice to say that Stonor Park (just outside Henley-on-Thames) was an inspiration. I'm sure an official announcement will be released at some point with confirmation of the re-branding. Glad I didn’t get any Red Antennae tattoos done, anyway. Still, good to have a label (of sorts) of our own, we're speaking to people about distribution, etc. but it's early doors yet.
Still waiting to hear back from Godin guitars about possible endorsement of their lovely, shiny, Canadian-made products - I'm not holding my breath, but at least I've got through to the man responsible! Will be easier to negotiate once Müf have sold a couple million CD's, I should imagine. Perhaps herein lies the problem?
# posted by AK @ 13:46 
