Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Hehehe.. What a weekend! What a week! Spent last week in court hoping to see an end to a legal matter that has been a pain for 2 years, thankfully justice prevailed and now I don’t have to suffer getting up at stupid o'clock to drive to Canterbury every morning! The worst thing was the breakfasts on offer at the services on the M25.. Gastronomical sadism.
Also managed to have a bit of a weekend! Went out on the tiles Fri with flatmate and some foxy friends for alcamaholic fun and games - ended up in the Turtle before staggering home (my life is 100% better for being able to walk home from town in less than 10 mins). Pottered about in town for an hour on Sat before retreating to watch as much rugby as my schedule allowed. England were uninspired, Samoa were their usual physical selves - the only time the English 8 hunted as a pack was when the fight kicked off. Fair play to Mark Cueto for deciding to kick off on a player twice his size (dangerous tackle or no!), and an honourable mention to Lewis Moody for performing the shortest peace-keeping mission on film. He knew Cueto was going to have words with Al Tuilagi so went over to make sure it was all kept civil, which lasted for about half a second when Tuilagi punched Cueto, prompting Moody to start unloading with some big right hands. If only the UN peacekeepers took the same approach, we wouldn't have had any trouble with Iraq at all. T'was silly; you can’t promote pugilism at that level of rugby, hopefully Moody will miss the Wales game next year!
Then Wales did the Aussies. When I say "did", I mean "annhilated at the scrum". The commentator's comments were "For years the Aussies have undervalued the scrum, now it looks like all their chickens have come home to roost at once" as Chris Horsmann and Duncan Jones and that new hooker-whose-name-escapes-me made mincemeat out of the Aussie front row. Brilliant. Almost as good as the Ashes in the summer, only we've always known that the crims can’t scrummage. The rest of the Aussie play was great, it wasn't a drubbing anywhere other than the set-pieces, so it was a classic game which Wales won. Wow, how many times have I been able to say that over the years? Rarely - which makes it all the more satisfying! Anyway, as soon as the ref blew up I was on my way out the door to soundcheck with Müf at Impact studios on Cardiff Road.
Cool venue, small crowd (it was FREEZING outside, and Cardiff Rd. is a fair old trek to get to) but a great night with DSA opening up with some frontline punk stylings, Daily Dose doing their smooth blues/funk rock thang and us trying to stay sober enough to keep it together. I loved it, probably bouyed by the Welsh game, and really really enjoyed it. What a laugh. Thanks to all concerned!
Left Impact at midnight, headed to a poker game in Abingdon where I stayed all night *details of the night have been censored to avoid adverse repercussions*. before coming back to Reading at 9am to be at a recording session for All Wrapped Up (we needed a new demo). 7 hrs later I must have gone home, but I don’t remember much past 3pm - I started passing out by then, but somehow managed to get everything finished? Obviously it's not ideal to have to use the Force to see your way through such obligations, but from now on when I say that I can record tracks in my sleep I mean it in a very literal sense. I think I kind of apologised to the rest of the band, but as we did everything that needed doing, it seems to be a case of no harm - no foul. I guess I'll know when I hear the demo! Comments so far include:
"I couldnt quite believe it actually - there we were, guitar strumming in the background, and then it just stopped. Got to the end of the song - shouted Alex down the mics - no response. Walked into lounge - the poor lad is zonked out on the sofa, hands still in position on fretboard! Annoying and amazing (and very amusing) all at the same time!!"
White Sunday CD is with the printers (CD Mule = top man!), we've done some photo shoots to go with the new tracks and if 2006 continues exponentially from last year (it's my 1 year anniversary of having joined in Jan!) then we'll be laughing. Have already got some big gigs booked, as well as some very cool local shows (playing at the Purple Turtle on 9th Dec), and got some good mentions in the latest edition of "Blah Blah" - including news that Gareth from the Palestinians recently got called "a lesser AK", which made me smile - and sympathise with him! Him being compared to me would be like me getting compared to, I dunno, Richard Digance? It's not what I am going for, so why bother with a comparison? The Palestinians do a wicked angry, political punk rock thang - so I reckon Gareth would have taken it as a reassurance that at no point do any of his songs degenerate into pentachronic widdle-fests! Gareth, should you be in need of any sort of consolation, White Sunday are described in the same issue as being "Ian Brown with Slash on guitar", which was well-intended but irked me none the less. If it had said "Rock and roll, with a guitarist who can remove knickers at 200 yards" it would have been OK, but I guess no publicity is bad publicity.. Must remember to write my own press releases in future.
Also managed to have a bit of a weekend! Went out on the tiles Fri with flatmate and some foxy friends for alcamaholic fun and games - ended up in the Turtle before staggering home (my life is 100% better for being able to walk home from town in less than 10 mins). Pottered about in town for an hour on Sat before retreating to watch as much rugby as my schedule allowed. England were uninspired, Samoa were their usual physical selves - the only time the English 8 hunted as a pack was when the fight kicked off. Fair play to Mark Cueto for deciding to kick off on a player twice his size (dangerous tackle or no!), and an honourable mention to Lewis Moody for performing the shortest peace-keeping mission on film. He knew Cueto was going to have words with Al Tuilagi so went over to make sure it was all kept civil, which lasted for about half a second when Tuilagi punched Cueto, prompting Moody to start unloading with some big right hands. If only the UN peacekeepers took the same approach, we wouldn't have had any trouble with Iraq at all. T'was silly; you can’t promote pugilism at that level of rugby, hopefully Moody will miss the Wales game next year!
Then Wales did the Aussies. When I say "did", I mean "annhilated at the scrum". The commentator's comments were "For years the Aussies have undervalued the scrum, now it looks like all their chickens have come home to roost at once" as Chris Horsmann and Duncan Jones and that new hooker-whose-name-escapes-me made mincemeat out of the Aussie front row. Brilliant. Almost as good as the Ashes in the summer, only we've always known that the crims can’t scrummage. The rest of the Aussie play was great, it wasn't a drubbing anywhere other than the set-pieces, so it was a classic game which Wales won. Wow, how many times have I been able to say that over the years? Rarely - which makes it all the more satisfying! Anyway, as soon as the ref blew up I was on my way out the door to soundcheck with Müf at Impact studios on Cardiff Road.
Cool venue, small crowd (it was FREEZING outside, and Cardiff Rd. is a fair old trek to get to) but a great night with DSA opening up with some frontline punk stylings, Daily Dose doing their smooth blues/funk rock thang and us trying to stay sober enough to keep it together. I loved it, probably bouyed by the Welsh game, and really really enjoyed it. What a laugh. Thanks to all concerned!
Left Impact at midnight, headed to a poker game in Abingdon where I stayed all night *details of the night have been censored to avoid adverse repercussions*. before coming back to Reading at 9am to be at a recording session for All Wrapped Up (we needed a new demo). 7 hrs later I must have gone home, but I don’t remember much past 3pm - I started passing out by then, but somehow managed to get everything finished? Obviously it's not ideal to have to use the Force to see your way through such obligations, but from now on when I say that I can record tracks in my sleep I mean it in a very literal sense. I think I kind of apologised to the rest of the band, but as we did everything that needed doing, it seems to be a case of no harm - no foul. I guess I'll know when I hear the demo! Comments so far include:
"I couldnt quite believe it actually - there we were, guitar strumming in the background, and then it just stopped. Got to the end of the song - shouted Alex down the mics - no response. Walked into lounge - the poor lad is zonked out on the sofa, hands still in position on fretboard! Annoying and amazing (and very amusing) all at the same time!!"
White Sunday CD is with the printers (CD Mule = top man!), we've done some photo shoots to go with the new tracks and if 2006 continues exponentially from last year (it's my 1 year anniversary of having joined in Jan!) then we'll be laughing. Have already got some big gigs booked, as well as some very cool local shows (playing at the Purple Turtle on 9th Dec), and got some good mentions in the latest edition of "Blah Blah" - including news that Gareth from the Palestinians recently got called "a lesser AK", which made me smile - and sympathise with him! Him being compared to me would be like me getting compared to, I dunno, Richard Digance? It's not what I am going for, so why bother with a comparison? The Palestinians do a wicked angry, political punk rock thang - so I reckon Gareth would have taken it as a reassurance that at no point do any of his songs degenerate into pentachronic widdle-fests! Gareth, should you be in need of any sort of consolation, White Sunday are described in the same issue as being "Ian Brown with Slash on guitar", which was well-intended but irked me none the less. If it had said "Rock and roll, with a guitarist who can remove knickers at 200 yards" it would have been OK, but I guess no publicity is bad publicity.. Must remember to write my own press releases in future.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Dimanche Blanc
The new White Sunday CD is ready! I'm just waiting for the artwork before sending it all off to nice Mr. CD Mule (www.thecdmule.co.uk) to get a run pressed up. Having heard it at various stages of writing, rehearsing, recording and mixing I think I became slightly immune to it, or it lost meaning or something (try saying the same word over and over again for 2 mins for a similar and entirely comparable effect) but I finally managed to "listen" to it last night, and I'm happy to announce that it is probably the best thing in the world, ever. We're gonna get the tracks up on arkade.com as soon as possible, and we have photo shoots, etc. lined up to back up the new CD so it's all a bit hectic but great fun generally.
I was originally going to write in length and detail about how amazed and happy I was with the new recordings, but I didn’t want to get all gushing, etc. Of course I would be happy with it - even if I wasn't, I wouldn’t come on here and throw my rattles out of my pram - but after all the time, effort, expense, energy, stress and general bloody-mindedness needed to get to this stage, I had to listen to the music that we created and ask myself "is this worth it?". Yes, it is. Definitely; without question. Even if no-one outside of the band likes it, even if every critic in the world derided it, denounced it, ridiculed the four songs and us as a band, I wouldn't care a jot because when I listened to the CD last night I felt a sense of peace and assurity that I hadn't felt.. since the last CD (White Sunday or Müf) was done, really. Everything is worth it, anything would be worth it, I don’t care - if I get to keep being a part of making music as beautiful as these tracks, sign me up. My parts are all groovy, tasteful and slick (i.e. no fret-wankery beyond the limits of good taste) and are completely lost within the whole as far as I'm concerned. Mike's guitar is perfect (as is his piano playing, the talented little scrote), Jim's lyrics and singing is the star of the show - as it should be; Dan's drumming is concussive and his all round musicality has permeated all of the tracks in one way or another (as well as doing all the recording, engineering, production and mastering! He's like a Swiss Army Musician, an attachment for pretty much everything a band could need!). And Luke? Well, he's holding his own with the rest of us and probably deserves the most credit for it as he's worked the hardest over the last 10 months out of all of us.
I don’t know if it's the result of the hardwork that makes it all worthwhile, or whether working hard is the reward in itself but one way or t'other it'll be the way forward. It's wonderful to belong, even better to find a place.
I was originally going to write in length and detail about how amazed and happy I was with the new recordings, but I didn’t want to get all gushing, etc. Of course I would be happy with it - even if I wasn't, I wouldn’t come on here and throw my rattles out of my pram - but after all the time, effort, expense, energy, stress and general bloody-mindedness needed to get to this stage, I had to listen to the music that we created and ask myself "is this worth it?". Yes, it is. Definitely; without question. Even if no-one outside of the band likes it, even if every critic in the world derided it, denounced it, ridiculed the four songs and us as a band, I wouldn't care a jot because when I listened to the CD last night I felt a sense of peace and assurity that I hadn't felt.. since the last CD (White Sunday or Müf) was done, really. Everything is worth it, anything would be worth it, I don’t care - if I get to keep being a part of making music as beautiful as these tracks, sign me up. My parts are all groovy, tasteful and slick (i.e. no fret-wankery beyond the limits of good taste) and are completely lost within the whole as far as I'm concerned. Mike's guitar is perfect (as is his piano playing, the talented little scrote), Jim's lyrics and singing is the star of the show - as it should be; Dan's drumming is concussive and his all round musicality has permeated all of the tracks in one way or another (as well as doing all the recording, engineering, production and mastering! He's like a Swiss Army Musician, an attachment for pretty much everything a band could need!). And Luke? Well, he's holding his own with the rest of us and probably deserves the most credit for it as he's worked the hardest over the last 10 months out of all of us.
I don’t know if it's the result of the hardwork that makes it all worthwhile, or whether working hard is the reward in itself but one way or t'other it'll be the way forward. It's wonderful to belong, even better to find a place.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Ding Ding, round ones.
Yes indeedy, Friday night was great. I really like the venue (a boxing gym/hall - the ring was the stage, so nice and elevated and it was just a shame that they couldn’t leave the ring ropes up, I know Mikey was looking forward to doing a Nasim Hamed-esque flip into the ring and I wanted to run through my repertoire of WWF/WWE impressions, especially the Ultimate Warrior's "Rope-shaker"). The sound was great, the crowd was great, the gig in itself was - according to reports - a good 'un. Daily Dose play some clean, fluid, bluesy funk rock - the singer has a great voice for this sort of music - we did everything we could to stay in time and in tune and got some good feedback (from the audience, not just my amp) so I think we can be pleased with it. Into Ashes, the only "metal" band of the night played well, although it was a bit too emo for my tastes: I know there are plenty of people who really dig that stuff, they should do OK for themselves. But the Palestinians (formerly the Pale Skinny Ones, The Palestines, etc.) were on top form and deserved to go on last in front of the large crowd on the big stage. Angsty and full of attitude, driving punk rock guitars and shouty choruses, seems like they are finding their feet on stage (I thought they were a bit subdued at the After Dark, they didn’t really grab it by the external reproductive organs) and will be interesting to see how they develop over the coming months. I like 'em, and not just because they have a song that could - wrongly - be accused of being a novelty tune. You'll have to see them to make up your own mind, I suggest "sooner" rather than "too late!"-er.
Yeah, Mike's comments about my singing ring true. It's a confidence trick, relatively speaking. I'm so confident about playing guitar that I just don't worry about 99% of the classic "worries". So, it's a shock to my system to have to start worrying about things - but having dealt with most of the vocal issues, I'm somewhere close to being relaxed about singing now. I love singing, it's one of the best things anyone can do, ever. To write our own songs and melodies amplifies that pleasure several times, but to give a performance worthy of a paying crowd instead of singing myself hoarse in the shower? Well, I guess that's where the pro's show their mettle - hopefully I'm a lot further down that line than I was 6 months ago. Bottom line? I'm an arrogant fecker and I like rising to challenges more than I like looking bad in front of crowds.
Yeah, Mike's comments about my singing ring true. It's a confidence trick, relatively speaking. I'm so confident about playing guitar that I just don't worry about 99% of the classic "worries". So, it's a shock to my system to have to start worrying about things - but having dealt with most of the vocal issues, I'm somewhere close to being relaxed about singing now. I love singing, it's one of the best things anyone can do, ever. To write our own songs and melodies amplifies that pleasure several times, but to give a performance worthy of a paying crowd instead of singing myself hoarse in the shower? Well, I guess that's where the pro's show their mettle - hopefully I'm a lot further down that line than I was 6 months ago. Bottom line? I'm an arrogant fecker and I like rising to challenges more than I like looking bad in front of crowds.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Well that was a great gig.
Müf officially played really well on Friday evening. It's one of very few gigs I've done ever where everything seemed to go right. Almost no mistakes, great sound on stage (which helps with the former point), and if the sound for the other bands was any indication great sound for the crowd too. Also AK really got into it and sung the best he has for Müf.
I think it's quite weird for him being the frontman rather than a guitarist who does backing vocals occasionally but it really seemed to click on Friday. We spent a bit of time working on that kind of thing and it really seemed to pay off.
Got some mixed feedback on our songs. Some people want us to do more heavy songs, some want us to go more mellow. The other day I was having a conversation with AK about Müf's style and the fact we have a fairly varied set in terms of musical styles and feel. There are a couple of heavy songs, a couple of slower songs, couple of indy songs... It is great for us because we always wanted Müf to be about just writing songs we liked and wanted to play. It also means we've got some variety in what we play. On the downside you tend to get people wanting you to do more songs that are more similar to the ones they like best in the set.
The other great thing about Friday night was The Palestinians who were really, really good. For various reasons I haven't seen them live for ages. I've always thought they had good songs but since I last saw them play live (when they'd only done a few gigs) they've got a lot more experience and way more confident. They took the stage like they owned it and played a great set. The Christmas Club Velocity featuring them, Pete and the Pirates and Desdemona is going to be a 'must see' event.
Speaking of the Rising Sun Arts Center, this Saturday Rebus are playing with Mr Fogg as part of Mr Fogg's tour supporting his new single. That should also be a cracking night.
I think it's quite weird for him being the frontman rather than a guitarist who does backing vocals occasionally but it really seemed to click on Friday. We spent a bit of time working on that kind of thing and it really seemed to pay off.
Got some mixed feedback on our songs. Some people want us to do more heavy songs, some want us to go more mellow. The other day I was having a conversation with AK about Müf's style and the fact we have a fairly varied set in terms of musical styles and feel. There are a couple of heavy songs, a couple of slower songs, couple of indy songs... It is great for us because we always wanted Müf to be about just writing songs we liked and wanted to play. It also means we've got some variety in what we play. On the downside you tend to get people wanting you to do more songs that are more similar to the ones they like best in the set.
The other great thing about Friday night was The Palestinians who were really, really good. For various reasons I haven't seen them live for ages. I've always thought they had good songs but since I last saw them play live (when they'd only done a few gigs) they've got a lot more experience and way more confident. They took the stage like they owned it and played a great set. The Christmas Club Velocity featuring them, Pete and the Pirates and Desdemona is going to be a 'must see' event.
Speaking of the Rising Sun Arts Center, this Saturday Rebus are playing with Mr Fogg as part of Mr Fogg's tour supporting his new single. That should also be a cracking night.
Friday, November 11, 2005
A suitably convoluted story with very little point to it
This morning before work I was tuning my guitar (just making sure those shiny new gig strings were staying in shape...) and my brain was working in that semi-concious way it does in the morning. I started off thinking about how much I was looking forward to tonight's gig and moved off into strange areas.
Anyway, I'm going to spare you most of the middle of this story as it's pointless, complicated, and probably makes me sound weirder than you already think I am. Basically the thought processes involved someone who's coming to the gig who likes Megadeth, AK's general love of Megadeth and the fact he said that Sonic Undermind (my old band) helped him understand Psychotron (from Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction album). Combined with me remembering those long gone days of 92/93 when we used to listen to Countdown to Extinction a lot and play in our rubbish but fun metal band and basically run riot.
So...
I was wandering towards the station forming a set of mental interview questions for Dave Mustaine about Psychotron and what bands/albums shaped his early childhood band experiences and I realised I hadn't looked forward to a gig this much for ages!
200 posts here hey? Let's not work out how many a day that is!
Anyway, I'm going to spare you most of the middle of this story as it's pointless, complicated, and probably makes me sound weirder than you already think I am. Basically the thought processes involved someone who's coming to the gig who likes Megadeth, AK's general love of Megadeth and the fact he said that Sonic Undermind (my old band) helped him understand Psychotron (from Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction album). Combined with me remembering those long gone days of 92/93 when we used to listen to Countdown to Extinction a lot and play in our rubbish but fun metal band and basically run riot.
So...
I was wandering towards the station forming a set of mental interview questions for Dave Mustaine about Psychotron and what bands/albums shaped his early childhood band experiences and I realised I hadn't looked forward to a gig this much for ages!
200 posts here hey? Let's not work out how many a day that is!
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Happy 200th Post!!!!
Who'd have thought we could waffle and prattle on like two Z-list rock celebrities for 200 different attacks of verbosity and loqaciousness, eh?
I personally have used up over ten bottles of tippex in the writing and editing of this blog, but I in no way condone such substance abuse to any of our readers. Especially you, mum.
Thanks for reading - you must be really, really bored!
I personally have used up over ten bottles of tippex in the writing and editing of this blog, but I in no way condone such substance abuse to any of our readers. Especially you, mum.
Thanks for reading - you must be really, really bored!
Müf in the jungle business..
Oh yeah, swept up in the memory of last Friday I forgot all about Müf playing at the Boxing Club in Reading this Friday! I haven't played there before, so I get to tick another Reading venue off my list. We sounded tickety-boo at our last rehearsal in Rebus' secret underground lair and will hopefully also rock the arse out of it tonight. Now that I've shaken my flueyness off, I should be able to sing without sounding like my balls are in the process of dropping, which will be nice.
Will be good to play on the same bill as the Palestinians again (after the After Dark show), they're real punky like, but in the good old British fashion, not the American, Blink-182, Bad Religion way. I love Bad Religion tho, that's not to disrespect them or Blink 182 for that matter (altho I'm not a big "Blinkie"). Will be good to check out Daily Dose n'all as I've heard good things about them.
Currently brushing up on Christmas songs with All Wrapped Up too - deep joy. Deep-veined thrombosen joy. Joy to the world, etc. Oh well, if the party-goers get drunk and have a grand ol' time shouting away to Shaky's "Merry Christmas everyone" then I'll consider it doing my part in spreading some yuletide love, just don’t ask me to enjoy playing the false ending to "I wish it could be Christmas everyday". Derr-derr, derr-derr, derr-derr, derr-derr, etc.
Watched several episodes of "Ultimate Force" last night - think it may have spoiled my appreciation of Grant Mitchell being back in Eastenders ("Just stand there and look 'ard"). Now I want to see him blow people away with automatic rifles.
"You've 'ad this comin' fer a long time, Dot.. *bangbangbangbang* .. an' where do you fink you're going, Ian? *kerblammo!*"
Now THAT'S entertainment.
Will be good to play on the same bill as the Palestinians again (after the After Dark show), they're real punky like, but in the good old British fashion, not the American, Blink-182, Bad Religion way. I love Bad Religion tho, that's not to disrespect them or Blink 182 for that matter (altho I'm not a big "Blinkie"). Will be good to check out Daily Dose n'all as I've heard good things about them.
Currently brushing up on Christmas songs with All Wrapped Up too - deep joy. Deep-veined thrombosen joy. Joy to the world, etc. Oh well, if the party-goers get drunk and have a grand ol' time shouting away to Shaky's "Merry Christmas everyone" then I'll consider it doing my part in spreading some yuletide love, just don’t ask me to enjoy playing the false ending to "I wish it could be Christmas everyday". Derr-derr, derr-derr, derr-derr, derr-derr, etc.
Watched several episodes of "Ultimate Force" last night - think it may have spoiled my appreciation of Grant Mitchell being back in Eastenders ("Just stand there and look 'ard"). Now I want to see him blow people away with automatic rifles.
"You've 'ad this comin' fer a long time, Dot.. *bangbangbangbang* .. an' where do you fink you're going, Ian? *kerblammo!*"
Now THAT'S entertainment.
Sundried Raisens
So.. after the hedonistic explosion that was the After Dark gig, White Sunday went and topped it all by supporting Hundred Reasons ("Sundried Raisens" as my mate put it) on t' big stage at Reading university. As Gene Simmons once spat - in blood - it was a crazy, crazy night. In brief, everyone worked hard to make sure it was an amazing experience - the sound guys were brilliant, Cat and everyone at the uni were great (a fridge full of beer and a couple of trays of sandwiches - it's like they've known me forever!), Hundred Reasons not only kicked arse live but were quality blokes to chat to/hang out with b/stage. They didn’t have to, they were tired and wanted to go home but they still took time to chat *makes mental note to self*.
I thought we would play to a half-full venue, as the students would probably feed into the hall in drips and drabs until the main act, but not a jot of it: I walked on and headed straight for my guitar, strapped that bad boy on and turned to face the crowd to see about 1000 people all going crazy, shouting, cheering, clapping. If I hadn't been so intensely focused on counting out to the end of the drum loop intro that heralded our big entrance, I would probably have shat my pants. As it was, instinct took over and we nailed the set, getting much love from the crowd from start to finish. It was amazing, what a rush! 40 mins flew past in the blink of an eye, I WANNA DO IT AGAIN!!!! To hear parts of the crowd scream when Jim announced "Chaperone" was a strange moment - fookin' cool - bit surreal, like we were in a music video for *insert famous band here* where everyone knows the songs! Hopefully we're not a million miles away from that, but it never occurred to me that we may already be edging ourselves in that direction! Keeeeeerazy.
Playing there made me want to have a big guitar solo in every song - that Jimmy G knows what he's doing when he tells me how he thinks the guitar parts should go to suit the song, but now I'll begrudge it every time he tells me to get back in my box.. I think I had 2 - maybe 3 - "proper" solo's in the set we played and it was climactic each time (for me, anyways!). We're not a guitar solo band, we don’t write guitar solo music: it's just that one keeps slipping in there every now and again and I gotta rip the arse out of it when it does!
I blazed away on the solo to "You got soul", too - swept up in the atmosphere and the moment I just zen'd my way through it; it was the closest I've come to euphoria on stage. I used to think lots of different thoughts about how I wanted to feel when playing the guitar; now I just want to feel like that all the time, every time. Impossible to describe, really; kind of an out of body experience, only louder. I expect the fridge full of beer helped! And the weirdest thing? The very strangest, most inexplicable, most melon-twisting part of it all was that I normally sweat like a rapist on stage - like, even if it's just a pub gig in front of one man and his dog I like to get into it and feel the music seeping out of every pore - but here, on a big stage in front of a big crowd, and despite jumping around and grooving away as per standard operating procedure, I remained as cool as a cucumber. Well, OK, I had a bit of a bead on by the end of it, but I didn’t even need to change my shirt. Probably just shock, but I like to think that I just felt perfectly at home on a big stage. My family's always said to me "You should be on a big stage.. sweeping the fucker."
Backstage was as crazy as a turd-flavoured lollipop, too. It started out all nice and quiet (backstage at Reading uni is a non-smoking area: a) rock b) roll. It's also like a police waiting room for décor, tables and chairs, etc.), just us and our close personal entourage (security, religious guru's, yoga instructors, personal dieticians, film agents, etc.) but within 20 mins of Hundred Reasons finishing their set our room was packed and a hive of activity (some nefarious, some ridiculously banal) to the point where we even had girls knocking on the window, shoving bits of paper through for us to autograph. I shit ye not. We'll probably have to wait for a good while yet before we can play another show as big as this one, but I look forward to it, and I'll wait as long as it takes!
Hundred Reasons - some of their songs actually provided the soundtrack to my life at one point or another. "Silver" has particularly strong emotive connotations for me, so to get to warm up the crowd for them was brilliant. Top band, top blokes, will be getting my filthy paws on their new album once it's out. "Ideas Above our Station" has been getting a few plays recently as well, unsurprisingly.
So the last few days has been a bit of an anti-climax, coming back to earth. Just waiting for the new CD to get finished really.. Ho hum.. I expect I have washing to do, bills to pay; if you'll allow me to badly hack up Rudyard Kipling:
"If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch"
Actually, a nice coming-back-to-earth experience was provided on the Hundred Reasons website message board, where some of their fans were keen to communicate their feelings about White Sunday! I'd like to thank those people, because I would have hated to try and go through my day on Monday thinking that everyone loved us! My day job doesn’t support that sort of attitude, so you probably saved me from having to sell drugs to pay for guitar strings and rehearsals. Genuine thanks to you all.
I thought we would play to a half-full venue, as the students would probably feed into the hall in drips and drabs until the main act, but not a jot of it: I walked on and headed straight for my guitar, strapped that bad boy on and turned to face the crowd to see about 1000 people all going crazy, shouting, cheering, clapping. If I hadn't been so intensely focused on counting out to the end of the drum loop intro that heralded our big entrance, I would probably have shat my pants. As it was, instinct took over and we nailed the set, getting much love from the crowd from start to finish. It was amazing, what a rush! 40 mins flew past in the blink of an eye, I WANNA DO IT AGAIN!!!! To hear parts of the crowd scream when Jim announced "Chaperone" was a strange moment - fookin' cool - bit surreal, like we were in a music video for *insert famous band here* where everyone knows the songs! Hopefully we're not a million miles away from that, but it never occurred to me that we may already be edging ourselves in that direction! Keeeeeerazy.
Playing there made me want to have a big guitar solo in every song - that Jimmy G knows what he's doing when he tells me how he thinks the guitar parts should go to suit the song, but now I'll begrudge it every time he tells me to get back in my box.. I think I had 2 - maybe 3 - "proper" solo's in the set we played and it was climactic each time (for me, anyways!). We're not a guitar solo band, we don’t write guitar solo music: it's just that one keeps slipping in there every now and again and I gotta rip the arse out of it when it does!
I blazed away on the solo to "You got soul", too - swept up in the atmosphere and the moment I just zen'd my way through it; it was the closest I've come to euphoria on stage. I used to think lots of different thoughts about how I wanted to feel when playing the guitar; now I just want to feel like that all the time, every time. Impossible to describe, really; kind of an out of body experience, only louder. I expect the fridge full of beer helped! And the weirdest thing? The very strangest, most inexplicable, most melon-twisting part of it all was that I normally sweat like a rapist on stage - like, even if it's just a pub gig in front of one man and his dog I like to get into it and feel the music seeping out of every pore - but here, on a big stage in front of a big crowd, and despite jumping around and grooving away as per standard operating procedure, I remained as cool as a cucumber. Well, OK, I had a bit of a bead on by the end of it, but I didn’t even need to change my shirt. Probably just shock, but I like to think that I just felt perfectly at home on a big stage. My family's always said to me "You should be on a big stage.. sweeping the fucker."
Backstage was as crazy as a turd-flavoured lollipop, too. It started out all nice and quiet (backstage at Reading uni is a non-smoking area: a) rock b) roll. It's also like a police waiting room for décor, tables and chairs, etc.), just us and our close personal entourage (security, religious guru's, yoga instructors, personal dieticians, film agents, etc.) but within 20 mins of Hundred Reasons finishing their set our room was packed and a hive of activity (some nefarious, some ridiculously banal) to the point where we even had girls knocking on the window, shoving bits of paper through for us to autograph. I shit ye not. We'll probably have to wait for a good while yet before we can play another show as big as this one, but I look forward to it, and I'll wait as long as it takes!
Hundred Reasons - some of their songs actually provided the soundtrack to my life at one point or another. "Silver" has particularly strong emotive connotations for me, so to get to warm up the crowd for them was brilliant. Top band, top blokes, will be getting my filthy paws on their new album once it's out. "Ideas Above our Station" has been getting a few plays recently as well, unsurprisingly.
So the last few days has been a bit of an anti-climax, coming back to earth. Just waiting for the new CD to get finished really.. Ho hum.. I expect I have washing to do, bills to pay; if you'll allow me to badly hack up Rudyard Kipling:
"If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch"
Actually, a nice coming-back-to-earth experience was provided on the Hundred Reasons website message board, where some of their fans were keen to communicate their feelings about White Sunday! I'd like to thank those people, because I would have hated to try and go through my day on Monday thinking that everyone loved us! My day job doesn’t support that sort of attitude, so you probably saved me from having to sell drugs to pay for guitar strings and rehearsals. Genuine thanks to you all.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
So, just to catch up...
Yeah, I know, I haven't been writing anything recently. Well there is a good reason. Nothing's been happening! All the gigs I've been going to go to I haven't for various reasons. I did go and see Six Nation State and Three Litre at the first Boxing Club gig run by Luisa/Unsigned Showcase though and that was really good. I'm looking forward to playing there next weekend with the Palestinians.
Müf have a couple of gigs coming up in November which is good and we've started sharing Rebus' rehearsal room which is very good (but we've only been in it once so far).
Rehearsal tonight though. I think we're going to ditch the "new song we can't seem to finish because we have a real mental block over it but that I really love..." because it's not going anywhere and try and write some new stuff!
Müf have a couple of gigs coming up in November which is good and we've started sharing Rebus' rehearsal room which is very good (but we've only been in it once so far).
Rehearsal tonight though. I think we're going to ditch the "new song we can't seem to finish because we have a real mental block over it but that I really love..." because it's not going anywhere and try and write some new stuff!
