Farnham Secret Garden Festival is quite secret. I can’t find it. This does not make me happy. I have been moving house and am really rather tired. It’s OK though, I’ve still got fifteen minutes…. More walking around. I’ve still got ten minutes….. five minutes to go, I’m still OK, I’m not late, and then I spot a promising looking white tent, and there are musicians in it. Phew….. Arrrgggh, the musicians (I use this term loosely) are Brassneck. Cue panic! I break into what can only be described as an incredibly feeble attempt at some slightly faster than average walking, and find that in fact there isn’t any panic at all. Ben’s guitar won’t work. I sort myself out, get on stage and Ben’s guitar still won’t work. He tries different leads, different tuners, someone else’s (extremely kindly leant) guitar, pretty much everything and the damn guitar still doesn’t work. I don’t have a pint and am temporarily distracted from the problem in hand by an overwhelming urge to ditch 'Brassneck' and re-hydrate myself at a bar somewhere, when suddenly Ben’s guitar works. Hooray! (Except the obvious; I don’t have time for bar hunting). Ben joins in the stage/tent, plugs into the DI box and his guitar won’t work. Time for more lead/tuner/guitar hitting/dreaming of beer…. George appears, removes the lead from the badly behaved guitar and reinserts it. It works. Apparently Ben’s guitar only works when George puts the lead it. Hmmm, this could be a problem, but for now we are good to go. We play a reasonable set, it all feels a little slow to me, but this could be due to the fact that the only thing standing between me and a beer is the set!
Lots of our usual friends are around, so once we finish and I get my beer we have some nice chats. I go home to pack more boxes and put more furniture in a van. I hope the rest of the world had a better bank holiday weekend that I did!!!
Kat.
Friday, 29 May 2009
Dublin Castle, Camden, London, 20/05/09. Sid's Tour Diary
I like the ‘Dublin Castle’. I tell the rest of the band this over and over again on the way up there and when we first arrive. Countless stories of how I got my first review in the ‘NME’ there (when I threw up in the gutter outside) or the time the landlord relieved himself up the back of my old band’s van while we were loading up - and all he could say was ‘I’m the landlord here, I can do what I like” ! Happy days ! We also have bets on the way up as to whether we would arrive before the soundman or any of the other bands. I say yes to the soundman, but no to the bands. I was right. There’s already another band here when we roll up. In fact, Ben still hasn’t paid up the £100 he owes me for this fact.
‘The Lasting Days’ are the other said band and introduce themselves straight away as we’re heading for the bar. A band that’s here before us and a band that is nice with it, such a rarity on our gigging schedule.
Eventually the soundman arrives, but the headline band hasn’t. He decides to soundcheck ‘The Lasting Days’ instead. This takes ages, and then some. They have a multitude of different instruments and are a drummer down until later. This means differing band members are sounchecking differing instruments. It gets confusing. We get bored. After what seems like an eternity we do get to do our soundcheck though, it goes well. F***ing loud, but good. The first band on then soundcheck and we head out to the bar.
More drinks are bought and consumed as various fans and friends start to arrive to see us play (hello Sam, Rock ‘N’ Roll Steve, Depak et al). In fact, the whole place is starting to look lively and busy. We like this.
We amble in to watch the first band, they’re called ‘British Broken Class’. They have 2 guitars, 1 laptop and only 1 tune. They play it, they change the drum pattern, they play it again, they change the drum pattern, they start to play it again, they realise the drum pattern is wrong, they stop, they start again. To be honest I switch off.
Then, it’s us up. We rawk ! Quite literally. It’s f***ing loud. People are impressed. We get a queue going for our new free cd afterwards. Lots of people are joining the mailing list as well. We must be doing something right, our friends variously say we are improving so much and that the song’s are really catchy and well thought out. This is just what we want. We’re happy. The banter / vibe / piss-taking is great. ‘Brassneck’ really are on top form tonight.
Following us come ‘The Lasting Days’, they have fiddles, mandolin’s, harmonies, talent and energy in abundance. We’re impressed. Not only were they here before us, then they were nice to us and now they turn out to be a great band. What’s going on ? Well, before we get too carried away their set tails off a bit towards the end. We still like them though and despite their free cd not doing them justice (y’see they give away cd’s the same as us too !) they’re easily one of the better bands we’ve gigged with on the circuit for quite a while.
Last up are ‘Jive Stick’. They didn’t turn up for their soundcheck and now they’ve just plugged in to Neil’s bass amp without even asking if they can borrow it. I see red. I bound up to the stage just as they’re about to start. ‘Do you know who’s bass amp that is ?’ I ask the bassist. ‘Errr, no’ he says. ‘Don’t you think you should have asked someone before just assuming you can use it ?’ I say. ‘I thought it was an in-house one’ he replies. I’m not happy. If they’d been here for the soundcheck they would have known it was Neil’s amp and then they could have asked if they could borrow it like any decent human being would. I can’t be bothered to watch their set now, especially after 2 songs when Ben leans over to me and says “It looks like you’re not even the worst singer in the building tonight Sid”. I howl with laughter. He’s right. I could sing better than that. I leave to talk to Smith from ‘The Lasting Days’ in the bar.
All in all though, a good night. I must admit I’ve had a few to drink by the end of the evening (I’m not quite throwing up in the gutter outside though) and when we load up the band ask that usual question ‘Are you going to get us lost on the way home Sid ?’ ‘I’ll try not to’ I say but it really does look different going home. I can get us to the gigs in Camden blindfolded but sometimes getting out of Camden confuses me, must be the drinking that I do in the evening eh ! Anyway, today’s exit goes well and we’re out on the normal route home in no time. The banter’s good again. Ben liking boys (allegedly), Kat liking listening to people being killed (allegedly) and me liking watersports (allegedly) !! How come Neil and Mark never admit to anything dodgy on these journeys ? Oh yeah, Neil goes the other way on his own (so to speak !)………and Mark’s the drummer !
Sid.
‘The Lasting Days’ are the other said band and introduce themselves straight away as we’re heading for the bar. A band that’s here before us and a band that is nice with it, such a rarity on our gigging schedule.
Eventually the soundman arrives, but the headline band hasn’t. He decides to soundcheck ‘The Lasting Days’ instead. This takes ages, and then some. They have a multitude of different instruments and are a drummer down until later. This means differing band members are sounchecking differing instruments. It gets confusing. We get bored. After what seems like an eternity we do get to do our soundcheck though, it goes well. F***ing loud, but good. The first band on then soundcheck and we head out to the bar.
More drinks are bought and consumed as various fans and friends start to arrive to see us play (hello Sam, Rock ‘N’ Roll Steve, Depak et al). In fact, the whole place is starting to look lively and busy. We like this.
We amble in to watch the first band, they’re called ‘British Broken Class’. They have 2 guitars, 1 laptop and only 1 tune. They play it, they change the drum pattern, they play it again, they change the drum pattern, they start to play it again, they realise the drum pattern is wrong, they stop, they start again. To be honest I switch off.
Then, it’s us up. We rawk ! Quite literally. It’s f***ing loud. People are impressed. We get a queue going for our new free cd afterwards. Lots of people are joining the mailing list as well. We must be doing something right, our friends variously say we are improving so much and that the song’s are really catchy and well thought out. This is just what we want. We’re happy. The banter / vibe / piss-taking is great. ‘Brassneck’ really are on top form tonight.
Following us come ‘The Lasting Days’, they have fiddles, mandolin’s, harmonies, talent and energy in abundance. We’re impressed. Not only were they here before us, then they were nice to us and now they turn out to be a great band. What’s going on ? Well, before we get too carried away their set tails off a bit towards the end. We still like them though and despite their free cd not doing them justice (y’see they give away cd’s the same as us too !) they’re easily one of the better bands we’ve gigged with on the circuit for quite a while.
Last up are ‘Jive Stick’. They didn’t turn up for their soundcheck and now they’ve just plugged in to Neil’s bass amp without even asking if they can borrow it. I see red. I bound up to the stage just as they’re about to start. ‘Do you know who’s bass amp that is ?’ I ask the bassist. ‘Errr, no’ he says. ‘Don’t you think you should have asked someone before just assuming you can use it ?’ I say. ‘I thought it was an in-house one’ he replies. I’m not happy. If they’d been here for the soundcheck they would have known it was Neil’s amp and then they could have asked if they could borrow it like any decent human being would. I can’t be bothered to watch their set now, especially after 2 songs when Ben leans over to me and says “It looks like you’re not even the worst singer in the building tonight Sid”. I howl with laughter. He’s right. I could sing better than that. I leave to talk to Smith from ‘The Lasting Days’ in the bar.
All in all though, a good night. I must admit I’ve had a few to drink by the end of the evening (I’m not quite throwing up in the gutter outside though) and when we load up the band ask that usual question ‘Are you going to get us lost on the way home Sid ?’ ‘I’ll try not to’ I say but it really does look different going home. I can get us to the gigs in Camden blindfolded but sometimes getting out of Camden confuses me, must be the drinking that I do in the evening eh ! Anyway, today’s exit goes well and we’re out on the normal route home in no time. The banter’s good again. Ben liking boys (allegedly), Kat liking listening to people being killed (allegedly) and me liking watersports (allegedly) !! How come Neil and Mark never admit to anything dodgy on these journeys ? Oh yeah, Neil goes the other way on his own (so to speak !)………and Mark’s the drummer !
Sid.
Haslemere Arts Festival, 19/05/09. Ben's Tour Diary
We played Haslemere Festival thing the other night. It was shit. Except for Byron Johnson. He was ace. And Aimee was as good as ever.
That is all.
Ben.
That is all.
Ben.
Farnham Festival, 09/05/09. Mark's Tour Diary.
Is it me or has it been ages since we last did a gig or practice?
No, I am right it’s been nearly 4 weeks. I don’t think in the history of ‘Brassneck’ we have ever had a longer break.
Still, it’s the Farnham Festival today and it will be good to get back into it, even though I have been musically busy doing other things so at least I’m not completely out of practice. I arrive at Kat’s with the missus just as the gang are finishing a quick acoustic practice.
Ben has brought the infant army along, which seems like a great idea and Karen and myself think perhaps we should have brought Eleanor to her first ‘Brassneck’ outing.
We all then make transit to Farnham and as we arrive we see it’s packed which is great.
We unload and in usual Brassneck fashion head for the bar.
I then setup the kit as we are playing with our usual friends ‘Thinking for Tuesday’ and Julia K.
There are loads of kids around, damn I wish we had brought Eleanor!
A quick phone call home to the outlaws and we get them to drop Eleanor off which is great as there is a good vibe in the place and it will be her first live gig.
2 Minutes in and then I decide maybe bringing Eleanor was not such a good idea as it’s the same old compere. My god this guy is shit I mean he is really shit I know he tries hard but surely he must know he’s shit? Some of his lines are so bad I am pretty sure any one of us ‘Brassneck’ lot could get up without prompts and still be better!
It’s a shame as the ‘Yellow Tambourine’ events are great otherwise. The first few acoustic acts go on which go down well and in the background another band is setting up in the corner. This at first seems normal until we see the line up which appears to be made up of transvestites. ‘Brassneck’ all look on thinking we have got to stay on to see what these are like!
‘ Thinking for Tuesday’ go up and play a good set but hey up what’s this? It looks like they have been taking a leaf out of ‘Brassneck’s book and actually look very well dressed which makes a difference.
Julia K and the gang also get up and do a great set which goes down well , the sound’s a little odd today but I guess its just because the doors are open to the outside and perhaps the sound is being bounced around differently.
I seem to have had quite a few friends turn up and as we are getting ready to play on stage (we are last on) think hopefully we should go down well.
We start well and finish well, everyone is a little rusty but hey for not having a practice for a few weeks I think we did great. The crowd enjoyed it and we even managed to get everyone clapping on ‘Treasure It Because You Care, Natasha’.
Nice gig this one and looking forward to the next ‘Yellow Tambourine’ night. And no, before you ask we didn’t get lost for once!
No, I am right it’s been nearly 4 weeks. I don’t think in the history of ‘Brassneck’ we have ever had a longer break.
Still, it’s the Farnham Festival today and it will be good to get back into it, even though I have been musically busy doing other things so at least I’m not completely out of practice. I arrive at Kat’s with the missus just as the gang are finishing a quick acoustic practice.
Ben has brought the infant army along, which seems like a great idea and Karen and myself think perhaps we should have brought Eleanor to her first ‘Brassneck’ outing.
We all then make transit to Farnham and as we arrive we see it’s packed which is great.
We unload and in usual Brassneck fashion head for the bar.
I then setup the kit as we are playing with our usual friends ‘Thinking for Tuesday’ and Julia K.
There are loads of kids around, damn I wish we had brought Eleanor!
A quick phone call home to the outlaws and we get them to drop Eleanor off which is great as there is a good vibe in the place and it will be her first live gig.
2 Minutes in and then I decide maybe bringing Eleanor was not such a good idea as it’s the same old compere. My god this guy is shit I mean he is really shit I know he tries hard but surely he must know he’s shit? Some of his lines are so bad I am pretty sure any one of us ‘Brassneck’ lot could get up without prompts and still be better!
It’s a shame as the ‘Yellow Tambourine’ events are great otherwise. The first few acoustic acts go on which go down well and in the background another band is setting up in the corner. This at first seems normal until we see the line up which appears to be made up of transvestites. ‘Brassneck’ all look on thinking we have got to stay on to see what these are like!
‘ Thinking for Tuesday’ go up and play a good set but hey up what’s this? It looks like they have been taking a leaf out of ‘Brassneck’s book and actually look very well dressed which makes a difference.
Julia K and the gang also get up and do a great set which goes down well , the sound’s a little odd today but I guess its just because the doors are open to the outside and perhaps the sound is being bounced around differently.
I seem to have had quite a few friends turn up and as we are getting ready to play on stage (we are last on) think hopefully we should go down well.
We start well and finish well, everyone is a little rusty but hey for not having a practice for a few weeks I think we did great. The crowd enjoyed it and we even managed to get everyone clapping on ‘Treasure It Because You Care, Natasha’.
Nice gig this one and looking forward to the next ‘Yellow Tambourine’ night. And no, before you ask we didn’t get lost for once!
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Depression Is a Young Person's Art Form - review
Here's a rather lovely review of one of our new recordings, Depression Is a Young Person's Art Form, by notable and esteemed music blogger The Legendary Frank. To find out what all the fuss is about and hear the track for yourself using the ReverbNation audio player click here.
"Depression Is a Young Person's Art Form
This is gobsmackingly, goosebumpingly good! Every I hear this live I go to pieces.
This song has everything in it and oozes emotion from every pore.
The song opens with a phone and disembodied voices. Add to this a bass that's like a slow heartbeat, a heart out of sync with the world. Then the drums come in like a military tatoo or maybe a death march? The sad violin underlines the sad reflections.
And that guitar. Subtle, understated, way down like depression. And weaving in and out that violin, not plaintive but plain sad.
And the bitterness of the singer mounts. The self pity mounts.
And yet amidst all that pity an acceptance "I know that it's over, although it overran".
And then the song changes gear.
The song becomes angrier and staccatto as the climax builds up.
Builds up to some great hamronica playing and if you're not already an emotional wreck you will be now.
This song will go down as Brassneck's greatest, great to listen to here and great live.
No Brassneck, it's not thanks for nothing, it's thanks for giving me great feelings even if those feelings are achingly sad and yet beautiful.
In other words everytine I listen to this song I am refreshed which is odd considering the theme of the song.
Maybe it's the sheer power of the song
and maybe we've all been there but have stepped back.
The Legendary Frank"
Visit Frank's blog here.
"Depression Is a Young Person's Art Form
This is gobsmackingly, goosebumpingly good! Every I hear this live I go to pieces.
This song has everything in it and oozes emotion from every pore.
The song opens with a phone and disembodied voices. Add to this a bass that's like a slow heartbeat, a heart out of sync with the world. Then the drums come in like a military tatoo or maybe a death march? The sad violin underlines the sad reflections.
And that guitar. Subtle, understated, way down like depression. And weaving in and out that violin, not plaintive but plain sad.
And the bitterness of the singer mounts. The self pity mounts.
And yet amidst all that pity an acceptance "I know that it's over, although it overran".
And then the song changes gear.
The song becomes angrier and staccatto as the climax builds up.
Builds up to some great hamronica playing and if you're not already an emotional wreck you will be now.
This song will go down as Brassneck's greatest, great to listen to here and great live.
No Brassneck, it's not thanks for nothing, it's thanks for giving me great feelings even if those feelings are achingly sad and yet beautiful.
In other words everytine I listen to this song I am refreshed which is odd considering the theme of the song.
Maybe it's the sheer power of the song
and maybe we've all been there but have stepped back.
The Legendary Frank"
Visit Frank's blog here.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Bar Four, Reading, 15/04/09. Neil's Tour Diary.
I've spent the last five days on holiday in North Wales, where, bizarrely, the Easter weather has been rather better than in the South East, and I've even come back with a bit of a sun tan. It defies all logic but it's true. I now have just a few hours before the impending gig to a) get a haircut as I'm starting to resemble a yeti, b) have a bit of a run-through of the Brassneck set as we haven't rehearsed in weeks and I'll probably play like a yeti, and c) play with my new Google G1 phone/PDA thingy that has arrived in the post while I've been away. I don't think there's a particular yeti connection with point c). Presently, with all three tasks accomplished, me and the missus head off for sunny Reading.
With just about every gig, negotiating a one-way system designed by town planners from Hell, and finding a free, legal parking space within five miles of the venue is by far the most stressful part of the evening. Today, however, is different. I manage to bag the prime spot, just outside Bar Four in Reading's Friar Street. Deep joy! I unload the gear and find that, remarkably, the sound man is already here and the PA set up and ready to go. Obviously there will still be the usual prolonged wait around until we get to soundcheck, but things are looking good thus far. Mr Sound also confirms that we are to play our favoured middle slot of the three bands on. This is good - not too early before anyone turns up, and not too late when everyone's buggered off home again.
Ben turns up in a bit, then spends about half an hour trying to find somewhere to leave his car. I try not to be smug about my own outstanding parking achievement. Eventually the others also appear, and Mark duly spends about half an hour trying to find somewhere to leave his car. I try not to be smug about my own outstanding parking achievement.
Promoter Mr Blind Pig Jack is DJ-ing, playing a rather fine selection of reggae and ska tunes. This we like (© Sid Stovold). We note that the house sound system is rather bass-heavy - good for reggae, granted, but it seems a little excessive. A number of young ladies then appear, all dolled up in very short, very tight skirts and displaying a good acreage of bare flesh. Sid straightens his tie, licks his eyebrows and applies the underarm pheromone spray he carries for just such occasions. Kat regrets wearing jeans. Naturally, the married, male members of Brassneck avert their eyes. Did I just say 'male members'? Of course not - it was just your fevered, filthy imagination.
Following soundchecks, the first band take to the stage. They're called Infrasonic, and you wouldn't know it from the name, but they're an American style rootsy country-folk outfit. They wear check shirts, have a stand-up bass and a sit-down guitarist. They have a convincing sound, with some nice vocal harmonies and, for a country-folk band, a surprisingly funky rhythm section. However, as is often the case with bands we've played with, they don't seem to have very strong tunes, and apart from the general sound, nothing particularly sticks in the head once they've finished.
In between bands, the reggae and ska continues, and if anything, the bass seems to have got even more prevalent, to the point where our internal organs start to resonate, inducing mild nausea. After a bit we get onstage ready to go, then stand there like lemons for about 10 minutes until Jack notices we're there and kills the reggae.
We launch into 'Sensitive, But A Bit Of A 'Rong Un', and there are a couple of technical hitches. Kat is sawing away at the viomilin like a very sawing thing indeed, but there is no noise to be heard. Mr Sound rushes over and switches on the DI box, which someone, possibly the previous band, had rather unhelpfully switched off. Me, I didn't even know you got DI boxes with switches. It then becomes apparent that Ben's monitor isn't working, and he can't hear either his vocals or guitar at all. Being the consummate professional, or possibly because he doesn't have much choice, the old Dunkirk spirit kicks in, he manfully continues. By all accounts, it sounds the same as normal out front. I'm not sure what this says for 'the same as normal'. Eventually, after a song or two, the monitor is fixed and it's business as usual. For me personally it feels really good and tight. I'm very glad I had that run-through of the tunes earlier on. We notice that the first band disappear about halfway through our set. Perhaps they had a pressing engagement, or had to go and tidy their collective sock drawer, but we frown upon this sort of behaviour. (Admittedly, I did bail out before the last band at a recent London gig, but I was knackered and had a long trip home, so that's different, isn't it. Probably. Oh, alright then - I'm a hypocrite.)
After our set, we retire to our table, to be subjected to an even louder reggae bass assault. I thought the use of sub-bass as torture, or a weapon of mass destruction was banned under the Geneva Convention, but apparently not. I think we get some nice comments from a few people, but I can't really hear over the reggae. My ears are alight.
The last band on are a power pop trio by the name of The Smash Robots. Before they go on, they catch me on the way back from the gents and compliment me on my bass playing. What jolly nice chaps they are! This may colour my opinion of their performance, but I enjoy them far more than my Brassneck comrades, who don't seem overly impressed. For my money they had good, catchy tunes and quite a few little musical ideas going on. I hear shades of The Jam and the better elements of The Fratellis. A little shambolic in places but hey, we've been there too on occasion!
And so it's time to wend our way home. As I go to load up the car, I notice that my prime parking spot has been so popular this evening that several other vehicles have also attempted to park in the same space - one in front, one behind and two double parked to the side. And it just so happens that on the other side there are bollards along the pavement, so I'm well and truly boxed in, with no hope of escape. Great! What kind of idiots would knowingly block someone in like that? Marion and I return to Bar Four, where they're now shutting up shop. Fortunately one of the staff can tell us that the large van which is the main double parking culprit belongs to one of the bouncers at Yates's Wine Lodge, a few doors down. And I thought pub bouncers were kind and considerate types that wouldn't dream of doing something as thoughless as that. Anyway, we shouldn't have any trouble finding him, then. Or should we? When we get to Yates's, it's already well and truly shut! After banging on the doors and windows to attract attention, one of the staff eventually appears and tells us that said bouncer is now in the nightclub a few doors down. Fan-bloody-tastic! So now we're going to have to get past some more shithead bouncers to find the shithead bouncer who's blocked us in. But for a change we're in luck. This particular shithead bouncer is identified outside having a fag. We politely advise him of the error of his ways. He says he was just leaving anyway, so it's no trouble moving his van. No trouble? What about our bloody trouble, mate? An apology might be nice. Shithead!
I tell you what, this kind of thing would never happen at CrashBang, Farleigh Wallop's premier nightspot, when Knuckles Magoo is on the door. Although there was that time when village idiot Olly Owens tried to take the combined harvester onto the dancefloor after 18 pints of home-brew scrumpy. He hasn't touched a drop since, mind...
Neil
With just about every gig, negotiating a one-way system designed by town planners from Hell, and finding a free, legal parking space within five miles of the venue is by far the most stressful part of the evening. Today, however, is different. I manage to bag the prime spot, just outside Bar Four in Reading's Friar Street. Deep joy! I unload the gear and find that, remarkably, the sound man is already here and the PA set up and ready to go. Obviously there will still be the usual prolonged wait around until we get to soundcheck, but things are looking good thus far. Mr Sound also confirms that we are to play our favoured middle slot of the three bands on. This is good - not too early before anyone turns up, and not too late when everyone's buggered off home again.
Ben turns up in a bit, then spends about half an hour trying to find somewhere to leave his car. I try not to be smug about my own outstanding parking achievement. Eventually the others also appear, and Mark duly spends about half an hour trying to find somewhere to leave his car. I try not to be smug about my own outstanding parking achievement.
Promoter Mr Blind Pig Jack is DJ-ing, playing a rather fine selection of reggae and ska tunes. This we like (© Sid Stovold). We note that the house sound system is rather bass-heavy - good for reggae, granted, but it seems a little excessive. A number of young ladies then appear, all dolled up in very short, very tight skirts and displaying a good acreage of bare flesh. Sid straightens his tie, licks his eyebrows and applies the underarm pheromone spray he carries for just such occasions. Kat regrets wearing jeans. Naturally, the married, male members of Brassneck avert their eyes. Did I just say 'male members'? Of course not - it was just your fevered, filthy imagination.
Following soundchecks, the first band take to the stage. They're called Infrasonic, and you wouldn't know it from the name, but they're an American style rootsy country-folk outfit. They wear check shirts, have a stand-up bass and a sit-down guitarist. They have a convincing sound, with some nice vocal harmonies and, for a country-folk band, a surprisingly funky rhythm section. However, as is often the case with bands we've played with, they don't seem to have very strong tunes, and apart from the general sound, nothing particularly sticks in the head once they've finished.
In between bands, the reggae and ska continues, and if anything, the bass seems to have got even more prevalent, to the point where our internal organs start to resonate, inducing mild nausea. After a bit we get onstage ready to go, then stand there like lemons for about 10 minutes until Jack notices we're there and kills the reggae.
We launch into 'Sensitive, But A Bit Of A 'Rong Un', and there are a couple of technical hitches. Kat is sawing away at the viomilin like a very sawing thing indeed, but there is no noise to be heard. Mr Sound rushes over and switches on the DI box, which someone, possibly the previous band, had rather unhelpfully switched off. Me, I didn't even know you got DI boxes with switches. It then becomes apparent that Ben's monitor isn't working, and he can't hear either his vocals or guitar at all. Being the consummate professional, or possibly because he doesn't have much choice, the old Dunkirk spirit kicks in, he manfully continues. By all accounts, it sounds the same as normal out front. I'm not sure what this says for 'the same as normal'. Eventually, after a song or two, the monitor is fixed and it's business as usual. For me personally it feels really good and tight. I'm very glad I had that run-through of the tunes earlier on. We notice that the first band disappear about halfway through our set. Perhaps they had a pressing engagement, or had to go and tidy their collective sock drawer, but we frown upon this sort of behaviour. (Admittedly, I did bail out before the last band at a recent London gig, but I was knackered and had a long trip home, so that's different, isn't it. Probably. Oh, alright then - I'm a hypocrite.)
After our set, we retire to our table, to be subjected to an even louder reggae bass assault. I thought the use of sub-bass as torture, or a weapon of mass destruction was banned under the Geneva Convention, but apparently not. I think we get some nice comments from a few people, but I can't really hear over the reggae. My ears are alight.
The last band on are a power pop trio by the name of The Smash Robots. Before they go on, they catch me on the way back from the gents and compliment me on my bass playing. What jolly nice chaps they are! This may colour my opinion of their performance, but I enjoy them far more than my Brassneck comrades, who don't seem overly impressed. For my money they had good, catchy tunes and quite a few little musical ideas going on. I hear shades of The Jam and the better elements of The Fratellis. A little shambolic in places but hey, we've been there too on occasion!
And so it's time to wend our way home. As I go to load up the car, I notice that my prime parking spot has been so popular this evening that several other vehicles have also attempted to park in the same space - one in front, one behind and two double parked to the side. And it just so happens that on the other side there are bollards along the pavement, so I'm well and truly boxed in, with no hope of escape. Great! What kind of idiots would knowingly block someone in like that? Marion and I return to Bar Four, where they're now shutting up shop. Fortunately one of the staff can tell us that the large van which is the main double parking culprit belongs to one of the bouncers at Yates's Wine Lodge, a few doors down. And I thought pub bouncers were kind and considerate types that wouldn't dream of doing something as thoughless as that. Anyway, we shouldn't have any trouble finding him, then. Or should we? When we get to Yates's, it's already well and truly shut! After banging on the doors and windows to attract attention, one of the staff eventually appears and tells us that said bouncer is now in the nightclub a few doors down. Fan-bloody-tastic! So now we're going to have to get past some more shithead bouncers to find the shithead bouncer who's blocked us in. But for a change we're in luck. This particular shithead bouncer is identified outside having a fag. We politely advise him of the error of his ways. He says he was just leaving anyway, so it's no trouble moving his van. No trouble? What about our bloody trouble, mate? An apology might be nice. Shithead!
I tell you what, this kind of thing would never happen at CrashBang, Farleigh Wallop's premier nightspot, when Knuckles Magoo is on the door. Although there was that time when village idiot Olly Owens tried to take the combined harvester onto the dancefloor after 18 pints of home-brew scrumpy. He hasn't touched a drop since, mind...
Neil
Moondog Art Stop Café, Reading, 04/04/09. Sid's Tour Diary.
One of the greatest aspects of ‘Brassneck’, I think, is our ability to play gigs ranging from the full-on electric gig in Camden (see previous blog) to this, a chilled out matinee acoustic set in an arts café.
This particular Saturday afternoon starts with Kat and Tall George arriving late to pick me up, apparently held up in ‘Guitar Village’ in Farnham where Kat has just purchased a new tuner, the same as Ben’s in fact, except it was £20 cheaper. Don’t tell Ben though, he’ll feel like he’s been ripped off.
We arrive at the venue in Reading just as Ben is frantically trying to call us to find out where we are. As well as running late the parking near the venue wasn’t particularly easy, so we opted to park in a nearby swimming pool car park and walk from there.
As we walk in we are immediately greeted by Craig the owner and spy the others all lounging around on very cosy chairs and sofas. Ben has even brought his family with him, kids and all. We say our hellos and order coffees. Hang on, this isn’t rock’n’ roll is it ? Or is it ? Yes, we are all that rock ‘n’ roll that we all have caffeine habits.
Upon looking around the venue is very nice too, nice artwork adorn the walls, nice seating arrangements, a veritable plethora of teas / coffees on sale and a general really nice vibe all round. There are people coming and going a lot too, a really vibrant happening little coffee shop.
Neil then informs us that there is no PA so this will in fact be our first purely acoustic gig. No worries I think, that’s cool. But hang on, we didn’t know this and Kat has only brought her electric violin with her. This could be tricky. Or not. Straight away Ben realises he has a splitter socket with him meaning that both Kat and Neil can play through Neil’s small bass amp. Hurrah ! Too easy. No need for strops in this band.
So, no need for a soundcheck and as we were a little late we decide to just start (we’re due to play 2 x 30 minute sets). We arrange ourselves accordingly on the comfy seats (luxury !) and are just about to get going when Ben notices a nasty smell coming from somewhere. He gestures to girlfriend Amanda that maybe their daughter Charlotte has soiled her nappy. I nudge Ben and gesture to him that maybe it was Neil who in comedic fashion is bending over adjusting his bass amp. Ben doesn’t laugh. I thought it was funny. Then, without warning Ben says “Oh shit”. “What ?” we all say. It appears his eyes are going, the sign of an impending migraine. Gulp ! Having witnessed Ben having one of these before this is not good news, they really knock him out. Kat says the best thing to do is take Paracetamol straight away as this may hold it off for a while. Nobody has any though, except a lovely lady in the audience who manages to save the show, for a little while anyway.
We start, there’s a lovely vibe going on, lots of grinning, there’s no nerves or tension. It’s just great to play our tunes to a bunch of people drinking coffee and eating cake on a Saturday afternoon. The first set goes great, people really enjoying what we’re doing. We like it here.
Ben appears to be okay and so we continue with a second set after a break for a cup of tea (see how rock ‘n’ roll we are, we’ve switched to tea now !). Lots of songs are getting aired that we don’t normally have time for in the short sets, everything from ‘Sometimes I’m Ashamed To Be Quite Normal” to our version of Van Morrison’s “Jackie Wilson Said” (in the ‘Dexys Midnight Runners’ style). Halfway through this set a couple of kids squeeze past Kat to get to the toilets out the back . They leave the door open though, causing a draft, and so Kat has to shut the door. No problem, except towards the end of the set we decide to play our nearly 8 minute epic song “Depression Is A Young Person’s Art Form”, which wasn’t planned. We finish the set. It’s gone great. Then we hear the knocking, the 2 poor kids have been locked outside all that time. Kat goes very red and apologises for locking them out. Bad Kat.
So, after the swiftest pack up in the history of rock ‘n’ roll (only one amp and no PA to help with) Ben decides to head off sharp-ish. We don’t blame him. He looks grey. More so than usual. The rest of us stand around idly chatting to Craig who has really enjoyed the afternoon. He wants us to come back. We probably will. He also offers us some advice on other acoustic places to try and get bookings at. This we probably will. A superb afternoon. Neils wife Marion likened it to being in an episode of ‘Friends’. A great analogy.
Sid.
This particular Saturday afternoon starts with Kat and Tall George arriving late to pick me up, apparently held up in ‘Guitar Village’ in Farnham where Kat has just purchased a new tuner, the same as Ben’s in fact, except it was £20 cheaper. Don’t tell Ben though, he’ll feel like he’s been ripped off.
We arrive at the venue in Reading just as Ben is frantically trying to call us to find out where we are. As well as running late the parking near the venue wasn’t particularly easy, so we opted to park in a nearby swimming pool car park and walk from there.
As we walk in we are immediately greeted by Craig the owner and spy the others all lounging around on very cosy chairs and sofas. Ben has even brought his family with him, kids and all. We say our hellos and order coffees. Hang on, this isn’t rock’n’ roll is it ? Or is it ? Yes, we are all that rock ‘n’ roll that we all have caffeine habits.
Upon looking around the venue is very nice too, nice artwork adorn the walls, nice seating arrangements, a veritable plethora of teas / coffees on sale and a general really nice vibe all round. There are people coming and going a lot too, a really vibrant happening little coffee shop.
Neil then informs us that there is no PA so this will in fact be our first purely acoustic gig. No worries I think, that’s cool. But hang on, we didn’t know this and Kat has only brought her electric violin with her. This could be tricky. Or not. Straight away Ben realises he has a splitter socket with him meaning that both Kat and Neil can play through Neil’s small bass amp. Hurrah ! Too easy. No need for strops in this band.
So, no need for a soundcheck and as we were a little late we decide to just start (we’re due to play 2 x 30 minute sets). We arrange ourselves accordingly on the comfy seats (luxury !) and are just about to get going when Ben notices a nasty smell coming from somewhere. He gestures to girlfriend Amanda that maybe their daughter Charlotte has soiled her nappy. I nudge Ben and gesture to him that maybe it was Neil who in comedic fashion is bending over adjusting his bass amp. Ben doesn’t laugh. I thought it was funny. Then, without warning Ben says “Oh shit”. “What ?” we all say. It appears his eyes are going, the sign of an impending migraine. Gulp ! Having witnessed Ben having one of these before this is not good news, they really knock him out. Kat says the best thing to do is take Paracetamol straight away as this may hold it off for a while. Nobody has any though, except a lovely lady in the audience who manages to save the show, for a little while anyway.
We start, there’s a lovely vibe going on, lots of grinning, there’s no nerves or tension. It’s just great to play our tunes to a bunch of people drinking coffee and eating cake on a Saturday afternoon. The first set goes great, people really enjoying what we’re doing. We like it here.
Ben appears to be okay and so we continue with a second set after a break for a cup of tea (see how rock ‘n’ roll we are, we’ve switched to tea now !). Lots of songs are getting aired that we don’t normally have time for in the short sets, everything from ‘Sometimes I’m Ashamed To Be Quite Normal” to our version of Van Morrison’s “Jackie Wilson Said” (in the ‘Dexys Midnight Runners’ style). Halfway through this set a couple of kids squeeze past Kat to get to the toilets out the back . They leave the door open though, causing a draft, and so Kat has to shut the door. No problem, except towards the end of the set we decide to play our nearly 8 minute epic song “Depression Is A Young Person’s Art Form”, which wasn’t planned. We finish the set. It’s gone great. Then we hear the knocking, the 2 poor kids have been locked outside all that time. Kat goes very red and apologises for locking them out. Bad Kat.
So, after the swiftest pack up in the history of rock ‘n’ roll (only one amp and no PA to help with) Ben decides to head off sharp-ish. We don’t blame him. He looks grey. More so than usual. The rest of us stand around idly chatting to Craig who has really enjoyed the afternoon. He wants us to come back. We probably will. He also offers us some advice on other acoustic places to try and get bookings at. This we probably will. A superb afternoon. Neils wife Marion likened it to being in an episode of ‘Friends’. A great analogy.
Sid.
Tommy Flynns, Camden, London, 02/04/09. Kat's Tour Diary.
I had to make my way to this gig on my own, having been rather inconveniently working in Windsor and not finishing until 6 (for the regular readers amongst you, I am not just a scummy student see, I work occasionally)! The disadvantage of this was that I had to change in a Scuba diving shop, from nice sensible jeans and trainers into a very short dress. I decided to wear jeans under it. I was rapidly dissuaded by the boss’s wife. I spent the rest of the evening cursing her!
Anyway, I get away a bit early so thought there was an outside chance I might make the soundcheck, which would be good, because I had expected to miss it. I arrived about 6.45, and spotted Neil walking up the road in the opposite direction. ‘The rest of them are stuck in Twickenham’. We thought a cheeky pint might be in order while we waited. We headed into Tommy Flynn’s and were assaulted by what can only be described as a wall of noise. On closer inspection we established that it was coming from an acoustic guitar and a large group of very drunk people at the back of the pub. Neil and I looked at each other, did a quick scout around for the promoter and then rapidly adjourned over the road for a slightly quieter place for our restoring pint! Time wore on, and there was still no sign of the others and since a soundcheck involving bass and vocals would be a bit pointless we hung around where we were for a bit longer. Eventually we decided it was time to brave a trip over the road to establish the state of play.
The noise has not abated but there is a PA, a promoter, a soundman and a girl on stage doing a soundcheck. Hurrah. I think. It’s still very noisy and the girl on stage (who is Kit Richardson) shouts something to Neil and his face lights up with understanding. We have stumbled across an Irish wake. This could be interesting.
Finally the rest of them turn up! It’s taken them 3 hours. Ben is overjoyed, Mark doesn’t look too happy, and Sid is seemingly oblivious. About usual there then ! Sid immediately perks up on being presented with a pint of student and the arrival of Nadeen. He suggests we should all stand back whilst he dusts of the duvet and handles her. Hmm. I’m not sure I needed to hear that! Frank is also here, having changed a theatre ticket to come and see us. Thanks Frank, you’re a legend… ;)
Finally the wake quietens down a bit and Kit starts. Or so we think. It takes half an hour to get a level on the cello that wasn’t there for the soundcheck. The only band to get a soundcheck and it still takes half an hour to set up! However, it was worth the wait. She’s actually really rather good in a Tori Amos kinda way. I enjoyed it. She has been asked by the Irish wake attendees to sing 'Amazing Grace', which she does. She introduces it by suggesting that we have all stumbled on a rather sombre occasion… The drunken whoops suggest anything but! When I die I hope people have that much fun in my memory…
It’s time for our set. I am cursing my brother, who promised to come and still hasn’t turned up, but as I am putting my violin together he sticks his face up against the window and gives me a heart attack. Hurrah. He truly is the king of ‘constructive’ criticism. He will tear me apart for everything from my singing to my hair tie! We play a really rather average set in our eyes, not helped by the fact that Sid played one song in entirely the wrong key. Nice! Bizarrely my hyper-critical brother is really rather complimentary. He swears it’s nothing to do with the bottle and a half of wine he’s had, and demands another pint. And a lift home! We wait around for the next band ('Private Trousers' - Ed) who have arrived with a load of home-made instruments and backing vocals that make my singing sound good. They are OK, but turning up with a cello and no bow isn’t the best start in my eyes…
I leave the rest of the band and take my brother home. From what I hear I missed out on a corker of a night. Sid pinned Pussy against the wall, Mark dancing, Ben eyeing up jailbait and many more. Ah well, next time…..
Kat
Anyway, I get away a bit early so thought there was an outside chance I might make the soundcheck, which would be good, because I had expected to miss it. I arrived about 6.45, and spotted Neil walking up the road in the opposite direction. ‘The rest of them are stuck in Twickenham’. We thought a cheeky pint might be in order while we waited. We headed into Tommy Flynn’s and were assaulted by what can only be described as a wall of noise. On closer inspection we established that it was coming from an acoustic guitar and a large group of very drunk people at the back of the pub. Neil and I looked at each other, did a quick scout around for the promoter and then rapidly adjourned over the road for a slightly quieter place for our restoring pint! Time wore on, and there was still no sign of the others and since a soundcheck involving bass and vocals would be a bit pointless we hung around where we were for a bit longer. Eventually we decided it was time to brave a trip over the road to establish the state of play.
The noise has not abated but there is a PA, a promoter, a soundman and a girl on stage doing a soundcheck. Hurrah. I think. It’s still very noisy and the girl on stage (who is Kit Richardson) shouts something to Neil and his face lights up with understanding. We have stumbled across an Irish wake. This could be interesting.
Finally the rest of them turn up! It’s taken them 3 hours. Ben is overjoyed, Mark doesn’t look too happy, and Sid is seemingly oblivious. About usual there then ! Sid immediately perks up on being presented with a pint of student and the arrival of Nadeen. He suggests we should all stand back whilst he dusts of the duvet and handles her. Hmm. I’m not sure I needed to hear that! Frank is also here, having changed a theatre ticket to come and see us. Thanks Frank, you’re a legend… ;)
Finally the wake quietens down a bit and Kit starts. Or so we think. It takes half an hour to get a level on the cello that wasn’t there for the soundcheck. The only band to get a soundcheck and it still takes half an hour to set up! However, it was worth the wait. She’s actually really rather good in a Tori Amos kinda way. I enjoyed it. She has been asked by the Irish wake attendees to sing 'Amazing Grace', which she does. She introduces it by suggesting that we have all stumbled on a rather sombre occasion… The drunken whoops suggest anything but! When I die I hope people have that much fun in my memory…
It’s time for our set. I am cursing my brother, who promised to come and still hasn’t turned up, but as I am putting my violin together he sticks his face up against the window and gives me a heart attack. Hurrah. He truly is the king of ‘constructive’ criticism. He will tear me apart for everything from my singing to my hair tie! We play a really rather average set in our eyes, not helped by the fact that Sid played one song in entirely the wrong key. Nice! Bizarrely my hyper-critical brother is really rather complimentary. He swears it’s nothing to do with the bottle and a half of wine he’s had, and demands another pint. And a lift home! We wait around for the next band ('Private Trousers' - Ed) who have arrived with a load of home-made instruments and backing vocals that make my singing sound good. They are OK, but turning up with a cello and no bow isn’t the best start in my eyes…
I leave the rest of the band and take my brother home. From what I hear I missed out on a corker of a night. Sid pinned Pussy against the wall, Mark dancing, Ben eyeing up jailbait and many more. Ah well, next time…..
Kat
Recording – No Machine Studios, Wokingham, 29/03/09. Sid's Tour Diary.
Two days before this recording session and I’m saying to Kat “Remember, it’s ‘those’ and not ‘these’ in the first verse”. God, I’m so anal about the words.
The day arrives, Kat, myself and Mark arrive nice and early and stand around in the sun wishing that Mark had bought his football with him to pass the time. Kat decides to sit down, just as engineer Neil arrives. Kat then struggles to get up because of her bad back. I laugh and don’t offer to help. Sadistically I like to see women in trouble (and on their knees). God, I’m such an anally retentive unfunny git.
Pleasantries out the way and engineer Neil asks the usual question “What’s the song called today then chaps ?” People always turn to me at this point. I laugh nervously and say “Treasure It Because You Care, Natasha”. Neil grins and types “Treasure It…..” into the PC. I’m happy, I don’t like the song’s title being abbreviated to “Natasha”. God, I’m so anal about the titles.
A couple of takes, a bit of timing fixed here and there and the drums are done. I love recording here. It’s effortless. Bass is then done in 2 takes, followed by a small percussion overdub. Electric guitar takes a bit longer but the tuning holds out and after some fantastic teamwork between Ben and I we’ve played some great overdubs and everyone is buzzing that the song is coming to life. Ben then records acoustic guitar using both a 6 string and a 12 string. God, I love guitars, and I’m anal about them too.
Then it’s the time for the vocals. Kat records take after take, getting better and better each time. Engineer Neil records them all. Kat sings them all exactly the same (well, apart from one she cocks up !). Classical training clearly isn’t wasted on Kat. You learn something, then you repeat it. Ace. Ben records his harmonies, bassist Neil adds some too. We’re in heaven. This could be the best one yet. It sums up ‘Brassneck’ very well. God, I’m so anal about this band.
Finally we head home, another superb day. Now it’s time for the running order debates and putting the finishing touches to everything from mixes to artwork. Then......our new EP ‘With Something Amiss’ will be released to the public. Soon we hope too. Our best work yet, easily. When you hear it do please let us know what you think. God, we’re so anal about your opinions.
Sid.
The day arrives, Kat, myself and Mark arrive nice and early and stand around in the sun wishing that Mark had bought his football with him to pass the time. Kat decides to sit down, just as engineer Neil arrives. Kat then struggles to get up because of her bad back. I laugh and don’t offer to help. Sadistically I like to see women in trouble (and on their knees). God, I’m such an anally retentive unfunny git.
Pleasantries out the way and engineer Neil asks the usual question “What’s the song called today then chaps ?” People always turn to me at this point. I laugh nervously and say “Treasure It Because You Care, Natasha”. Neil grins and types “Treasure It…..” into the PC. I’m happy, I don’t like the song’s title being abbreviated to “Natasha”. God, I’m so anal about the titles.
A couple of takes, a bit of timing fixed here and there and the drums are done. I love recording here. It’s effortless. Bass is then done in 2 takes, followed by a small percussion overdub. Electric guitar takes a bit longer but the tuning holds out and after some fantastic teamwork between Ben and I we’ve played some great overdubs and everyone is buzzing that the song is coming to life. Ben then records acoustic guitar using both a 6 string and a 12 string. God, I love guitars, and I’m anal about them too.
Then it’s the time for the vocals. Kat records take after take, getting better and better each time. Engineer Neil records them all. Kat sings them all exactly the same (well, apart from one she cocks up !). Classical training clearly isn’t wasted on Kat. You learn something, then you repeat it. Ace. Ben records his harmonies, bassist Neil adds some too. We’re in heaven. This could be the best one yet. It sums up ‘Brassneck’ very well. God, I’m so anal about this band.
Finally we head home, another superb day. Now it’s time for the running order debates and putting the finishing touches to everything from mixes to artwork. Then......our new EP ‘With Something Amiss’ will be released to the public. Soon we hope too. Our best work yet, easily. When you hear it do please let us know what you think. God, we’re so anal about your opinions.
Sid.
Havana Bar, Windsor, 25/03/09. Ben's Tour Diary.
Communication
I meet up with Mark, Sid and Kat at our usual rendezvous point at Sainsbury's in Camberley. The journey is punctuated by the usual piss-taking when the subject of Spandau Ballet's impending reunion crops up. Sid seems to be taking an interest in this and reels off a load of 'Spandau Ballet' songs - I make a passing comment that Sidney must be a bit of a fan and he confesses that he does indeed own all the records he has mentioned.
Sid. Likes. Spandau. Ballet.
The rest of the journey is undertaken in total silence.
Through The Barricades
We arrive in Windsor - still in a mild state of shock - and find ourselves in what appears to be the delivery bay area of a shopping centre. We must have gone wrong, the place we're playing can't be here.
But it is. Great.
We get out of the car and I step into puddle. Only its a very deep puddle. I appear to have put my left foot into an open sewer. Great. I'm in a back alley and I stink. And I'm friends with a 'Spandau Ballet' fan. I've hot rock bottom, my own personal Nadir. It can't get any worse.
We saunter into what transpires to be a very cool looking bar and we're greeted by the uber-confident Niel. He greets us all with a smile and a firm handshake. Except for me - he backs off sharpish when the smell of my left leg drifts in.
I Don't Need This Pressure On
The sound guy, Tom, seems a little aloof but eventually gets the construction of a p.a. underway. We notice there are no monitors. I point this out to Tom. He says they don't have any. I mention that there are a load of speakers around the back I've noticed not being used. "They sound shit" he insists. Ok, but a shit sound is better than no sound at all. He pauses for a while, looks at me a little enigmatically and says......
"I have a wedge ....... will you help me".
OK, so I'm friends with a 'Spandau Ballet' fan, I'm in an empty pub situated in a back alley, I stink of raw sewage and some bloke I just met wants me to pull his underpants out of the crack of his arse. And I thought it couldn't get any worse.
But then he wanders off towards a cupboard and points me at a large wedge monitor speaker.
He then admits that he is just a bit lazy and didn't fancy lifting the heavy speaker. I'm so relieved that the situation doesn't involve the realignment of his undercrackers that I forget to get annoyed with bone idle git.
We soundcheck - it all sounds OK. Result.
True
I order some food to share round. Even the 'Spandau Ballet' fan eats some! Sid never eats. Ever.
It's at this point I discover that I have the keys to one of the server rooms at work in my pocket. Ordinarily not a problem, but I'm not going into work tomorrow and a lot of people need to be in that room. Great.
Gold
'Our Lost Infantry' are playing first. They are a very fine band indeed. This is about the fourth time I've seen them and I'm singing along to most of their tunes now. A right talented bunch of youngsters they are. The gits. They even talk to me despite the fact I smell (more than usual).
To Cut a Long Story Short
We play OK, no great shakes, just OK. Neil is stood behind me and appears to be grimacing even more menacingly than ever. But that's probably because he has to tolerate the aroma of Windsor's sewerage system for the best part of 45 minutes.
Only When You Leave
We say our good-byes and load up the cars.
I pick up my car at Sainsbury's when Mark drops me off. It's midnight and I want to go home. But no. I have to drop off those sodding keys at work on the way. Luckily its only a 10 minute diversion. I press the buzzer and am ushered in by the genial security guard. I explain the situation and hand over the keys.
"Thanks very much" he says "...................there's a funny smell in here tonight aint there?"
Yes there is.
Ben
I meet up with Mark, Sid and Kat at our usual rendezvous point at Sainsbury's in Camberley. The journey is punctuated by the usual piss-taking when the subject of Spandau Ballet's impending reunion crops up. Sid seems to be taking an interest in this and reels off a load of 'Spandau Ballet' songs - I make a passing comment that Sidney must be a bit of a fan and he confesses that he does indeed own all the records he has mentioned.
Sid. Likes. Spandau. Ballet.
The rest of the journey is undertaken in total silence.
Through The Barricades
We arrive in Windsor - still in a mild state of shock - and find ourselves in what appears to be the delivery bay area of a shopping centre. We must have gone wrong, the place we're playing can't be here.
But it is. Great.
We get out of the car and I step into puddle. Only its a very deep puddle. I appear to have put my left foot into an open sewer. Great. I'm in a back alley and I stink. And I'm friends with a 'Spandau Ballet' fan. I've hot rock bottom, my own personal Nadir. It can't get any worse.
We saunter into what transpires to be a very cool looking bar and we're greeted by the uber-confident Niel. He greets us all with a smile and a firm handshake. Except for me - he backs off sharpish when the smell of my left leg drifts in.
I Don't Need This Pressure On
The sound guy, Tom, seems a little aloof but eventually gets the construction of a p.a. underway. We notice there are no monitors. I point this out to Tom. He says they don't have any. I mention that there are a load of speakers around the back I've noticed not being used. "They sound shit" he insists. Ok, but a shit sound is better than no sound at all. He pauses for a while, looks at me a little enigmatically and says......
"I have a wedge ....... will you help me".
OK, so I'm friends with a 'Spandau Ballet' fan, I'm in an empty pub situated in a back alley, I stink of raw sewage and some bloke I just met wants me to pull his underpants out of the crack of his arse. And I thought it couldn't get any worse.
But then he wanders off towards a cupboard and points me at a large wedge monitor speaker.
He then admits that he is just a bit lazy and didn't fancy lifting the heavy speaker. I'm so relieved that the situation doesn't involve the realignment of his undercrackers that I forget to get annoyed with bone idle git.
We soundcheck - it all sounds OK. Result.
True
I order some food to share round. Even the 'Spandau Ballet' fan eats some! Sid never eats. Ever.
It's at this point I discover that I have the keys to one of the server rooms at work in my pocket. Ordinarily not a problem, but I'm not going into work tomorrow and a lot of people need to be in that room. Great.
Gold
'Our Lost Infantry' are playing first. They are a very fine band indeed. This is about the fourth time I've seen them and I'm singing along to most of their tunes now. A right talented bunch of youngsters they are. The gits. They even talk to me despite the fact I smell (more than usual).
To Cut a Long Story Short
We play OK, no great shakes, just OK. Neil is stood behind me and appears to be grimacing even more menacingly than ever. But that's probably because he has to tolerate the aroma of Windsor's sewerage system for the best part of 45 minutes.
Only When You Leave
We say our good-byes and load up the cars.
I pick up my car at Sainsbury's when Mark drops me off. It's midnight and I want to go home. But no. I have to drop off those sodding keys at work on the way. Luckily its only a 10 minute diversion. I press the buzzer and am ushered in by the genial security guard. I explain the situation and hand over the keys.
"Thanks very much" he says "...................there's a funny smell in here tonight aint there?"
Yes there is.
Ben
Recording - Soundscape Studio, Redhill, 09+23/03/08. Neil's Tour Diary.
Several moons ago, the ever industrious Mr Stovold entered Brassneck into a competition he spied in the back pages of the NME to win a day’s recording in a swanky studio. Our demo of ‘Set My Alarm For 7’ was duly submitted and, guess what? We won. Huzzah!
The studio, Soundscape, is owned by the RNIB and situated in their site at Redhill, Surrey, and its primary use is to provide the sight-impaired residents with access to recording and other musical facilities. After much to-ing and fro-ing and a last minute weekend date cancellation (by the studio!) we fix on splitting the session over two Monday evenings.
When I arrive, just after 6pm, Sid, Kat and Mark are already there, the drums are set and miked up ready to go. Good progress! St. John, who runs the facility, and another Mark, a freelance engineer, appear busy. I have a snoop around and it looks like an impressive setup. Loads of space, a massive desk in the control room and an adjoining room full of assorted percussion, including a large gong. I couldn’t resist a quick J. Arthur Rank. (Er, no – you know full well that’s not what I mean – it wasn’t that exciting.)
We’re here to record one of our new-ish songs, ‘Too Much, Too Drunk’. It’s a snappy little Stax soul-inspired number (with a ska middle eight – it works, honest!), which is rhythmically quite hard to nail accurately. We know from experience that the best way to capture it is for Mark to record the drums to a click track, without the distraction of everybody else’s dodgy timing, then overdub the other instruments. However, the studio guys are insistent that we record it pretty much ‘as live’. We decide to humour them. Funnily enough, as it happens we’re right, and after several unsatisfactory attempts they’re convinced to do it our way.
Within a few takes, our Mark has pretty much got the drums down. The raw sound of the kit records very well and sounds great. Obviously there's some sonic tweaking to do before they sound quite right. Obviously to us, that is – Mark Engineer and St. John seem strangely reluctant to use the software at their disposal to tame that raw sound and get it into an fit state for the track. Fair enough, maybe they're going to do that later, we think. Think again!
Next up is the bass. A seemingly endless amount of time is spent messing around with mics to capture the sound of the bass amp. I start to wonder – are these guys just perfectionists, or is there a possibility that they don't quite know what they're doing...? I get a good take with a minor fluff in the second half, so I ask them if I can drop a bit in. That should be easy, now shouldn't it? Apparently not. They spend at least half an hour trying to figure out how to do this while I sit and twiddle my thumbs and the rest of the band get increasingly restless. It's now apparent that they haven't got a clue how to use the recording software. Er, aren't they supposed to know this? Well, bizarrely it turns out that they don't! Engineer Mark says he knows Cubase, but not Logic, and St. John doesn't know his way around it either!
Of course, we should have realised there's no such thing as a free lunch, and it's now clear that the only reason we're getting this session free of charge is that we're being used as guinea pigs to test out the studio and recording setup, presumably so the guys here can get up to speed with a view to charging for future sessions. This is all very well, but it's an incredibly frustrating experience, the clock is ticking and our studio time is rapidly disappearing round the U-bend. If we don't come away from this session with something usable, we'll be mightily pissed off, having traipsed across the south of England and spent hours waiting around which could have been used more productively.
Anyhow, eventually we get the bass down, although it's impossible to tell if it's any good, as all we can hear in the playback is a low rumbling sound somewhere underneath the crashing drums. There's obviously no way we're going to come away from here with any kind of mix.
Fortunately, I have Logic Pro at home, so we decide that we should just get everything we can recorded and then finish off and mix it in our own time. Once we decide this the process becomes slightly less painful. But only slightly, mind. Once we've got the electric guitar recorded, it's gone 11pm, so we call it a night.
In the intervening couple of weeks before the second half of the session, I put in some time cleaning up the recording and doing a preliminary mix of what we've got, ready for the second half.
Fortunately, by the time we return the studio guys seem to have got a little more au fait with the software. And it has to be said, Engineer Mark does know what he's doing when it comes to mics and capturing the raw sound. The violin parts and vocals are duly recorded, then Ben lays down a killer piano part and a bit of organ in the middle eight. Call me old-fashioned, but me, I love a bit of organ in the middle eight. By the time we're finished, there's no time to do any kind of mixing at the studio anyway. That's quite a relief – I don't think we could have endured that, to be honest. We download all the files and get the Hell outta there.
As it happens, we're still working on 'Too Much, Too Drunk'. When you get to hear it in the not-too-distant, I hope you'll think of the pain that went into its creation. You have to suffer for your art, don't you?
Neil
The studio, Soundscape, is owned by the RNIB and situated in their site at Redhill, Surrey, and its primary use is to provide the sight-impaired residents with access to recording and other musical facilities. After much to-ing and fro-ing and a last minute weekend date cancellation (by the studio!) we fix on splitting the session over two Monday evenings.
When I arrive, just after 6pm, Sid, Kat and Mark are already there, the drums are set and miked up ready to go. Good progress! St. John, who runs the facility, and another Mark, a freelance engineer, appear busy. I have a snoop around and it looks like an impressive setup. Loads of space, a massive desk in the control room and an adjoining room full of assorted percussion, including a large gong. I couldn’t resist a quick J. Arthur Rank. (Er, no – you know full well that’s not what I mean – it wasn’t that exciting.)
We’re here to record one of our new-ish songs, ‘Too Much, Too Drunk’. It’s a snappy little Stax soul-inspired number (with a ska middle eight – it works, honest!), which is rhythmically quite hard to nail accurately. We know from experience that the best way to capture it is for Mark to record the drums to a click track, without the distraction of everybody else’s dodgy timing, then overdub the other instruments. However, the studio guys are insistent that we record it pretty much ‘as live’. We decide to humour them. Funnily enough, as it happens we’re right, and after several unsatisfactory attempts they’re convinced to do it our way.
Within a few takes, our Mark has pretty much got the drums down. The raw sound of the kit records very well and sounds great. Obviously there's some sonic tweaking to do before they sound quite right. Obviously to us, that is – Mark Engineer and St. John seem strangely reluctant to use the software at their disposal to tame that raw sound and get it into an fit state for the track. Fair enough, maybe they're going to do that later, we think. Think again!
Next up is the bass. A seemingly endless amount of time is spent messing around with mics to capture the sound of the bass amp. I start to wonder – are these guys just perfectionists, or is there a possibility that they don't quite know what they're doing...? I get a good take with a minor fluff in the second half, so I ask them if I can drop a bit in. That should be easy, now shouldn't it? Apparently not. They spend at least half an hour trying to figure out how to do this while I sit and twiddle my thumbs and the rest of the band get increasingly restless. It's now apparent that they haven't got a clue how to use the recording software. Er, aren't they supposed to know this? Well, bizarrely it turns out that they don't! Engineer Mark says he knows Cubase, but not Logic, and St. John doesn't know his way around it either!
Of course, we should have realised there's no such thing as a free lunch, and it's now clear that the only reason we're getting this session free of charge is that we're being used as guinea pigs to test out the studio and recording setup, presumably so the guys here can get up to speed with a view to charging for future sessions. This is all very well, but it's an incredibly frustrating experience, the clock is ticking and our studio time is rapidly disappearing round the U-bend. If we don't come away from this session with something usable, we'll be mightily pissed off, having traipsed across the south of England and spent hours waiting around which could have been used more productively.
Anyhow, eventually we get the bass down, although it's impossible to tell if it's any good, as all we can hear in the playback is a low rumbling sound somewhere underneath the crashing drums. There's obviously no way we're going to come away from here with any kind of mix.
Fortunately, I have Logic Pro at home, so we decide that we should just get everything we can recorded and then finish off and mix it in our own time. Once we decide this the process becomes slightly less painful. But only slightly, mind. Once we've got the electric guitar recorded, it's gone 11pm, so we call it a night.
In the intervening couple of weeks before the second half of the session, I put in some time cleaning up the recording and doing a preliminary mix of what we've got, ready for the second half.
Fortunately, by the time we return the studio guys seem to have got a little more au fait with the software. And it has to be said, Engineer Mark does know what he's doing when it comes to mics and capturing the raw sound. The violin parts and vocals are duly recorded, then Ben lays down a killer piano part and a bit of organ in the middle eight. Call me old-fashioned, but me, I love a bit of organ in the middle eight. By the time we're finished, there's no time to do any kind of mixing at the studio anyway. That's quite a relief – I don't think we could have endured that, to be honest. We download all the files and get the Hell outta there.
As it happens, we're still working on 'Too Much, Too Drunk'. When you get to hear it in the not-too-distant, I hope you'll think of the pain that went into its creation. You have to suffer for your art, don't you?
Neil
Fiddlers Elbow, Camden, London, 20/09/09. Mark's Tour Diary.
Amazing, we managed to get parked and find the venue really easily for once, that makes a change. It’s the normal line up, we met at Sainsbury’s prior, with me driving the Brassneck crew to London. It’s the 'Fiddlers Elbow' tonight, plus it’s a Friday, so it should be pretty good.
As we walk in the pub seems a little strange with a separate bit for the locals near the ladies toilet. The stage looks ok and the sound chap seems cool. We are waiting for the other bands to turn up and you’ve guessed it Sid and Ben are battling away on the pool table as usual. Neil duly arrives and now we're a full set.
We take our turn to go up and soundcheck and as I'm setting up I look down at a note stuck on the front of the drumkit. It says that because the venue is providing the kit each band has to pay £5 and it will be a personal insult to the promoter if you do not. At first I think I guess that’s ok and then it hits home, hang on a minute we have trawled 2 ½ hrs through shit traffic, dragged a few people along spent money buying drinks, Sid and Ben might as well have bought the pool table and we are playing for free? What the f**K? Some venues really take the piss and to add insult to injury the kit is a piece of shit, 1 cymbal stand, battered drum heads, half a highat and no drum stool. At least if you’re charging £5 per band per night you should buy a decent kit and maintain it. As you can tell I was pretty pissed off about this......and then the sums started, on average you do 208 gigs per year have 4 bands per gig that’s £4160 talk about taking the piss. Anyway, moan over and yes because Brassneck are so nice we paid it anyway but next time I'm bringing my own kit out of principle.
First up was 'Just Like little People'. I really enjoyed their set and I thought they had good variety in the music.The female singer had a good stage presence too.
We then followed them and all went ok, I wouldn’t say we played great but we certainly went down ok.
'Long Live Viv' followed us and they were a great rocking band with great musicians.
And finally, Chris Cape came on, whose earlier start to the evening was a little disappointing because of their late arrival and then long soundcheck. However, I must admit they were a very talented bunch, although the music wasn’t completely to my taste. I don’t think anyone could deny they were very good at what they do.
So, it’s the end of the night again and the drive home opens in-depth discussions of the 'Beatles'. Big thanks to Frank for making the Gig!
Mark.
As we walk in the pub seems a little strange with a separate bit for the locals near the ladies toilet. The stage looks ok and the sound chap seems cool. We are waiting for the other bands to turn up and you’ve guessed it Sid and Ben are battling away on the pool table as usual. Neil duly arrives and now we're a full set.
We take our turn to go up and soundcheck and as I'm setting up I look down at a note stuck on the front of the drumkit. It says that because the venue is providing the kit each band has to pay £5 and it will be a personal insult to the promoter if you do not. At first I think I guess that’s ok and then it hits home, hang on a minute we have trawled 2 ½ hrs through shit traffic, dragged a few people along spent money buying drinks, Sid and Ben might as well have bought the pool table and we are playing for free? What the f**K? Some venues really take the piss and to add insult to injury the kit is a piece of shit, 1 cymbal stand, battered drum heads, half a highat and no drum stool. At least if you’re charging £5 per band per night you should buy a decent kit and maintain it. As you can tell I was pretty pissed off about this......and then the sums started, on average you do 208 gigs per year have 4 bands per gig that’s £4160 talk about taking the piss. Anyway, moan over and yes because Brassneck are so nice we paid it anyway but next time I'm bringing my own kit out of principle.
First up was 'Just Like little People'. I really enjoyed their set and I thought they had good variety in the music.The female singer had a good stage presence too.
We then followed them and all went ok, I wouldn’t say we played great but we certainly went down ok.
'Long Live Viv' followed us and they were a great rocking band with great musicians.
And finally, Chris Cape came on, whose earlier start to the evening was a little disappointing because of their late arrival and then long soundcheck. However, I must admit they were a very talented bunch, although the music wasn’t completely to my taste. I don’t think anyone could deny they were very good at what they do.
So, it’s the end of the night again and the drive home opens in-depth discussions of the 'Beatles'. Big thanks to Frank for making the Gig!
Mark.
The Keep, Guildford, 12/03/09. Kat's Tour Diary.
I was going to be original and do this as a time line, but Ben did that. Damn him. I’ll have to be original another time, I can’t be thinking about it now, my dissertation is due in a week and I’ve still got 5000 words to write.
I was sitting on the sofa, laptop on lap, asleep, when taxi Owens arrived, and sent Sid to the door to wake me up! I greeted them enthusiastically (don’t they know my dissertation is due next week and I’m only half way through it?) and got in the car and promptly got in some cheeky snoozing. You see, I’m not sleeping very well at the moment; my dissertation is due next week….
We arrived at the venue and then had a conversation or two about where to park. Tried for some cheeky free parking but there wasn’t any, so we went to the multi-storey where the parking was free anyway! Hurrah! We wander down to the pub ('The Keep' - Ed). It looks like a great place, really nice and cosy. It’s also packed. Which in many ways is great. From a sitting down point of view it wasn’t so good, but a nice man said we could sit at the other half of his table. Mark was already there waiting for us, which was nice, since he wasn’t playing. I sat down and started listening to the rest of the band talking. I fell asleep a little bit. I woke up and they were discussing a bizarre suicide pact as a result of their unrequited love for someone. As soon as I realised I was the subject of this (I hope) fictional unrequited love I decided it was time to go back to sleep.
I woke up briefly to play our set, which seemed to go pretty well. Mark had some great feedback, it’s nice for one of us to be able to listen! I went back to worrying about my dissertation. It’s due in next week, I still have 5000 words to write and I’m not getting a lot of sleep at the moment. I slept in the car on the way home, then promptly stayed awake all night worrying about my dissertation. Did I mention….?
Kat
I was sitting on the sofa, laptop on lap, asleep, when taxi Owens arrived, and sent Sid to the door to wake me up! I greeted them enthusiastically (don’t they know my dissertation is due next week and I’m only half way through it?) and got in the car and promptly got in some cheeky snoozing. You see, I’m not sleeping very well at the moment; my dissertation is due next week….
We arrived at the venue and then had a conversation or two about where to park. Tried for some cheeky free parking but there wasn’t any, so we went to the multi-storey where the parking was free anyway! Hurrah! We wander down to the pub ('The Keep' - Ed). It looks like a great place, really nice and cosy. It’s also packed. Which in many ways is great. From a sitting down point of view it wasn’t so good, but a nice man said we could sit at the other half of his table. Mark was already there waiting for us, which was nice, since he wasn’t playing. I sat down and started listening to the rest of the band talking. I fell asleep a little bit. I woke up and they were discussing a bizarre suicide pact as a result of their unrequited love for someone. As soon as I realised I was the subject of this (I hope) fictional unrequited love I decided it was time to go back to sleep.
I woke up briefly to play our set, which seemed to go pretty well. Mark had some great feedback, it’s nice for one of us to be able to listen! I went back to worrying about my dissertation. It’s due in next week, I still have 5000 words to write and I’m not getting a lot of sleep at the moment. I slept in the car on the way home, then promptly stayed awake all night worrying about my dissertation. Did I mention….?
Kat
The Tup, Guildford, 11/03/09. Sid's Tour Diary.
So, we arrive in Guildford thinking we’re knowing where we’re going. But….we can’t turn right where I want us to go ! Rats. Now we end up going round and round (and round) in circles trying to find somewhere to park. This we eventually manage to do but we’re not sure exactly where the venue is, everybody’s bearings are shot to pieces ! We stumble out of the car, unload and trudge in what we think is the right direction. It must be, we bump into Neil driving the other way !
Upon entering ‘The Tup’ seems like a lovely venue. Candles adorn the tables, very relaxing. But wait, there’s football being shown on big screens ! Important European football match on TV versus intimate acoustic music. This could be interesting. All initial worries soon pass though, it’s not a rowdy venue and nobody seems to actually mind too much when the screen behind the ‘stage’ is switched off. We say hello to the event organiser, the lovely Susie, who informs us that we get some free drinks. Very nice. We settle down.
Now, normally I’d ask for us to get a middle slot at most gigs (some punters and some other band members do tend to drift away from gigs as evenings wear on and ultimately we want to reach as many people as possible) but it appears I missed out on this and Susie says we’re going on last. That’s not a problem though, we always stick around to the end of gigs anyway. It’s not (and never will be) our style to turn up late, play and then go straight home.
Natalie Ross steps up first. She has a loop pedal and a very endearing quality to her on-stage persona. She’s quite scatty. I like this. The songs suffer from being a little bit samey though, but still, she makes us laugh.
Second up is ‘All Things Considered’. We’ve gigged with these guys a few times before but not as a full band, tonight we get the full ‘ATC’ experience, bassist and everything ! They’re pleasant but I can’t help wondering why they don’t actually play full electric gigs, with drums and everything ? Acoustic gigs are great, don’t get me wrong, we like playing them as much as the electric ones but if you have a percussionist why don’t you make the most of it and make it in to a full electric band guys ? Just a thought…..
Then, it’s our go. See earlier paragraph regarding the last slots. People start to leave. Not everybody, but a few. Slowly. Even some of ‘All Things Considered’. We rattle on through our set though, quite literally in places. We’ve started to relax and we’re a bit shambolic. It doesn’t matter. It kinda adds to the performance. Banter and personality comes to the fore. We don’t take ourselves too seriously (which gets remarked upon by a punter asking for a free cd afterwards, just before he offers us a gig……. in Oswestry !). ‘Nil By Mouth’ gets a debut acoustic outing and it goes pretty well. Until Ben fluffs up the ending. All-in-all though, it’s a good fun set. With character.
So, we pack-up, have a little dance with Natalie Ross and her friends to the music from Susie’s ipod, say our goodbyes to Susie, who is smiling profusely (so we must have done something right) and then head off. The last to leave. Susie says we’re welcome to play gigs for her anytime. I think we just might.
Sid.
Upon entering ‘The Tup’ seems like a lovely venue. Candles adorn the tables, very relaxing. But wait, there’s football being shown on big screens ! Important European football match on TV versus intimate acoustic music. This could be interesting. All initial worries soon pass though, it’s not a rowdy venue and nobody seems to actually mind too much when the screen behind the ‘stage’ is switched off. We say hello to the event organiser, the lovely Susie, who informs us that we get some free drinks. Very nice. We settle down.
Now, normally I’d ask for us to get a middle slot at most gigs (some punters and some other band members do tend to drift away from gigs as evenings wear on and ultimately we want to reach as many people as possible) but it appears I missed out on this and Susie says we’re going on last. That’s not a problem though, we always stick around to the end of gigs anyway. It’s not (and never will be) our style to turn up late, play and then go straight home.
Natalie Ross steps up first. She has a loop pedal and a very endearing quality to her on-stage persona. She’s quite scatty. I like this. The songs suffer from being a little bit samey though, but still, she makes us laugh.
Second up is ‘All Things Considered’. We’ve gigged with these guys a few times before but not as a full band, tonight we get the full ‘ATC’ experience, bassist and everything ! They’re pleasant but I can’t help wondering why they don’t actually play full electric gigs, with drums and everything ? Acoustic gigs are great, don’t get me wrong, we like playing them as much as the electric ones but if you have a percussionist why don’t you make the most of it and make it in to a full electric band guys ? Just a thought…..
Then, it’s our go. See earlier paragraph regarding the last slots. People start to leave. Not everybody, but a few. Slowly. Even some of ‘All Things Considered’. We rattle on through our set though, quite literally in places. We’ve started to relax and we’re a bit shambolic. It doesn’t matter. It kinda adds to the performance. Banter and personality comes to the fore. We don’t take ourselves too seriously (which gets remarked upon by a punter asking for a free cd afterwards, just before he offers us a gig……. in Oswestry !). ‘Nil By Mouth’ gets a debut acoustic outing and it goes pretty well. Until Ben fluffs up the ending. All-in-all though, it’s a good fun set. With character.
So, we pack-up, have a little dance with Natalie Ross and her friends to the music from Susie’s ipod, say our goodbyes to Susie, who is smiling profusely (so we must have done something right) and then head off. The last to leave. Susie says we’re welcome to play gigs for her anytime. I think we just might.
Sid.
The Hope, Brighton, 07/03/09. Ben's Tour Diary.
14.10 Leave home for a day (and night) in Brighton. Supposed to meet up with the rest of the band at Brighton Pier at 15.30. Should make it no problem.
14.50 Whizzing past Pompey - everything is right with the world.
15.20 Three miles outside Brighton - gonna be bang on time.
15.26 Stuck in traffic in Brighton.
15.45 Still stuck - just got message from Neil to say that Brighton is gridlocked! Apparently X-factor is in town. I'm starting to get worried about what Sid has stitched us up for. We'll be playing cruise ships before the year is out.
16.10 Got through traffic and reach the pier. Get parked up about 100 yards away (and at little expense) within a couple of minutes - result!
16.20 Arrive at pier and buy very large tub of mussels which I promptly smother in vinegar and pepper.
16.21 Meet up with Neil and Marion who look at me with utter dismay when they see what I'm eating. You'd think I was biting the heads off babies with the looks they give me. I buy hot drinks to placate them. They tell me how hard it was to get parked - it took the best part of an hour and cost a fortune.
16.45 Amble over towards the West Pier to meet up with Sid, Mark and Kat who have just got parked some distance away - it took the best part of an hour and cost a fortune. I think my smugness on this issue maybe starting to grate with the rest of the band. So I mention it ad nauseum for the rest of the day.
17.00 - 18.00 Photos at the West Pier, In a bus shelter, In the Quadrophenia Alleyway (where Jimmy and Steph enjoy a quickie [in the movie - we haven't been joined by two very outgoing friends]), and the main pier - take a look here for actual proof should you need it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30315319@N04/sets/72157614965742778/
18.01 Pick up cars and head to gig.
18.25 Locate the pub. Getting parked is proving a little problematic until we nearly run over Neil and Marion who tell me to ignore the Road Closed sign and park up for free about 100 feet from the venue. Result. Parking in Brighton is easy.
18.30 Arrive at 'The Hope' - our venue for this evening. Say hello to promoter guy Al and Soundman Leon. Leon appears to be the coolest guy on the planet. However his arse is hanging out of his jeans. This meets with much disapproval from Kat (though the disapproval seems to entail quite a lot of watching of Leon's arse). She doesn't like this new fangled fashion - underpants should not be on display. I ensure that my orange and brown Y-fronts (with Thursday written on them) are not showing in order that I too don't meet with Ms Milner's disapproval.
18.45 Headline act "Gentleman Starkey" are soundchecking. I'm Impressed with keyboard sound. The rest of the band sound pretty good too.
19.30 We soundcheck. Leon clearly knows what he is doing. Result. We play 'Sensitive But A Bit Of A 'Rong 'Un' and new tune 'Nil By Mouth' which goes really well. Another result.
19.50 Descend the stairs to main bar and order some drinks and some very nice pizza. Today is going well.
21.00 Head back upstairs to listen to "The Hi-Sides". They're clearly enjoying themselves on stage and have brought quite a crowd along. They play straight-forward indie-rock 3 minute pop tunes. I like them.
21.50 It's our turn - we get onstage and race through our set. We seem to retain most of the crowd which is good - some are quite amused by Sid's on-stage antics. 'Nil By Mouth' goes well. 'Depression Is A Young Persons Art Form', as ever, holds everyone's attention and we get a great response from a good crowd. Result. The on-stage sound has been ace too. Today is still going very well.
22.20 Headline act "Gentleman Starkey" take to the stage. Each song is greeted with a strangely muted response. Not sure why - I think they're pretty good. They're certainly better than most bands we see.
22.35 Two easy-on-the-eye-yet-clearly-drunk girls start dancing right in front of me. I don't complain.
22.40 A burlesque dancer - Cherie Shakewell - has joined the band on stage. Weird. I'm still watching the two girls in front of me though.
22.42 Cherie clearly does not know the difference between Burlesque and Stripping. Very weird. Out of nowhere there are about 5 guys with big cameras flashing away. All very surreal.
22.43 Cherie is jiggling her very ample charms in time to the music. I'm sure that they're are rotating in different directions. That's a cool trick. Its hard to know where to look. The drunk girls are pressing against each other at every opportunity. I'm not sure I'll be able to walk anywhere for a while.
23.10 "Gentleman Starkey" finish their set. It's been very interesting to say the least. Sid wanders in - only to realise he's missed the "Burlesque". He is clearly quite distraught.
23.30 The place is emptying out....we're still hanging around when the DJs start playing some great rock n roll - Kat is torn between going home and dancing to cool tunes. I'm definitely staying for a while. I've been off the beer for a year now - the upside of which is I never have a hangover. The downside is that I never dance though - I'm way too self-conscious to dance when sober. But I can't help myself. Sod it. Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Little Richard, fuck it I'm gonna dance and I don't care that I look stupid.
23.31 - 00.29 I look very stupid.
00.30 We get kicked out of 'The Hope'. I call a mate who is in town for a stag night and was hoping to make it to the gig (he didn't). He says they've moved on from Brighton and are in the classy 'Le Chic' - a lapdancing club in downtown Worthing. It's on my way home but I'm a modern man - I don't do that. Its not my thing. I'm above that. I will give it a miss. Definitely.
01.20 Tiffany is whispering in my ear that she really wants to do a dance for me. It's only £15. Though judging by the standard of the girls in this place they should be paying me £15 for the privilege. I'd always thought that the pre-requisites of being a lapdancer were a fit body and an attractive face. Clearly I am wrong. Me and my mate, Darryl, finish our drinks before heading to the club next door.
01.25 It's a total chav club - lots of very ugly people around too. There are poles everywhere which the girls are only too eager to dance around. They're also fitter than the ones in the lapdancing club. Weird. I head to the loos and notice that there's loads of blood everywhere. There's a guy at the mirror who seems to be extracting teeth. Very weird.
02.30 I've had enough. I'm starting to flag now, I say my good-byes and head off home.
04.05 Arrive home. It's been emotional.
Ben
14.50 Whizzing past Pompey - everything is right with the world.
15.20 Three miles outside Brighton - gonna be bang on time.
15.26 Stuck in traffic in Brighton.
15.45 Still stuck - just got message from Neil to say that Brighton is gridlocked! Apparently X-factor is in town. I'm starting to get worried about what Sid has stitched us up for. We'll be playing cruise ships before the year is out.
16.10 Got through traffic and reach the pier. Get parked up about 100 yards away (and at little expense) within a couple of minutes - result!
16.20 Arrive at pier and buy very large tub of mussels which I promptly smother in vinegar and pepper.
16.21 Meet up with Neil and Marion who look at me with utter dismay when they see what I'm eating. You'd think I was biting the heads off babies with the looks they give me. I buy hot drinks to placate them. They tell me how hard it was to get parked - it took the best part of an hour and cost a fortune.
16.45 Amble over towards the West Pier to meet up with Sid, Mark and Kat who have just got parked some distance away - it took the best part of an hour and cost a fortune. I think my smugness on this issue maybe starting to grate with the rest of the band. So I mention it ad nauseum for the rest of the day.
17.00 - 18.00 Photos at the West Pier, In a bus shelter, In the Quadrophenia Alleyway (where Jimmy and Steph enjoy a quickie [in the movie - we haven't been joined by two very outgoing friends]), and the main pier - take a look here for actual proof should you need it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30315319@N04/sets/72157614965742778/
18.01 Pick up cars and head to gig.
18.25 Locate the pub. Getting parked is proving a little problematic until we nearly run over Neil and Marion who tell me to ignore the Road Closed sign and park up for free about 100 feet from the venue. Result. Parking in Brighton is easy.
18.30 Arrive at 'The Hope' - our venue for this evening. Say hello to promoter guy Al and Soundman Leon. Leon appears to be the coolest guy on the planet. However his arse is hanging out of his jeans. This meets with much disapproval from Kat (though the disapproval seems to entail quite a lot of watching of Leon's arse). She doesn't like this new fangled fashion - underpants should not be on display. I ensure that my orange and brown Y-fronts (with Thursday written on them) are not showing in order that I too don't meet with Ms Milner's disapproval.
18.45 Headline act "Gentleman Starkey" are soundchecking. I'm Impressed with keyboard sound. The rest of the band sound pretty good too.
19.30 We soundcheck. Leon clearly knows what he is doing. Result. We play 'Sensitive But A Bit Of A 'Rong 'Un' and new tune 'Nil By Mouth' which goes really well. Another result.
19.50 Descend the stairs to main bar and order some drinks and some very nice pizza. Today is going well.
21.00 Head back upstairs to listen to "The Hi-Sides". They're clearly enjoying themselves on stage and have brought quite a crowd along. They play straight-forward indie-rock 3 minute pop tunes. I like them.
21.50 It's our turn - we get onstage and race through our set. We seem to retain most of the crowd which is good - some are quite amused by Sid's on-stage antics. 'Nil By Mouth' goes well. 'Depression Is A Young Persons Art Form', as ever, holds everyone's attention and we get a great response from a good crowd. Result. The on-stage sound has been ace too. Today is still going very well.
22.20 Headline act "Gentleman Starkey" take to the stage. Each song is greeted with a strangely muted response. Not sure why - I think they're pretty good. They're certainly better than most bands we see.
22.35 Two easy-on-the-eye-yet-clearly-drunk girls start dancing right in front of me. I don't complain.
22.40 A burlesque dancer - Cherie Shakewell - has joined the band on stage. Weird. I'm still watching the two girls in front of me though.
22.42 Cherie clearly does not know the difference between Burlesque and Stripping. Very weird. Out of nowhere there are about 5 guys with big cameras flashing away. All very surreal.
22.43 Cherie is jiggling her very ample charms in time to the music. I'm sure that they're are rotating in different directions. That's a cool trick. Its hard to know where to look. The drunk girls are pressing against each other at every opportunity. I'm not sure I'll be able to walk anywhere for a while.
23.10 "Gentleman Starkey" finish their set. It's been very interesting to say the least. Sid wanders in - only to realise he's missed the "Burlesque". He is clearly quite distraught.
23.30 The place is emptying out....we're still hanging around when the DJs start playing some great rock n roll - Kat is torn between going home and dancing to cool tunes. I'm definitely staying for a while. I've been off the beer for a year now - the upside of which is I never have a hangover. The downside is that I never dance though - I'm way too self-conscious to dance when sober. But I can't help myself. Sod it. Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Little Richard, fuck it I'm gonna dance and I don't care that I look stupid.
23.31 - 00.29 I look very stupid.
00.30 We get kicked out of 'The Hope'. I call a mate who is in town for a stag night and was hoping to make it to the gig (he didn't). He says they've moved on from Brighton and are in the classy 'Le Chic' - a lapdancing club in downtown Worthing. It's on my way home but I'm a modern man - I don't do that. Its not my thing. I'm above that. I will give it a miss. Definitely.
01.20 Tiffany is whispering in my ear that she really wants to do a dance for me. It's only £15. Though judging by the standard of the girls in this place they should be paying me £15 for the privilege. I'd always thought that the pre-requisites of being a lapdancer were a fit body and an attractive face. Clearly I am wrong. Me and my mate, Darryl, finish our drinks before heading to the club next door.
01.25 It's a total chav club - lots of very ugly people around too. There are poles everywhere which the girls are only too eager to dance around. They're also fitter than the ones in the lapdancing club. Weird. I head to the loos and notice that there's loads of blood everywhere. There's a guy at the mirror who seems to be extracting teeth. Very weird.
02.30 I've had enough. I'm starting to flag now, I say my good-byes and head off home.
04.05 Arrive home. It's been emotional.
Ben
Bang Bar, Basingstoke, 28/02/09. Mark's Tour Diary.
Kat’s Driving tonight, which is cool, plus its Saturday night, hey I might have a drink and break the Teetotal curse Brassneck has brought upon us. Of course I won’t be alone, as I'm sure Sid will be on his usual student brew.
So, it’s about 6.40, all three of us are onboard and talking about the 'Bull and Gate' gig and the bass player incident. We're all still amused by this and continue with the usual banter before a gig. The sat-nav does its usual and takes us nowhere near our destination. So, as we start slating it and go round in circles we then decide to ask a by passer. It turns out to be the bass player from the first band who duly tells us its just down the road on the left! Damned sat-nav was right, but the sign was so small for the 'Bang Bar' we missed it.
We are pretty early and shortly Neil and Ben turn up, at which point Ben leaves again to go and get some monitors from home.
We all then decide to chill out in the back room and talk, worryingly, about the shooting last year at this venue and point out the 'BRS posters' on the wall. 'Our Lost Infantry' are soundchecking and the sound isn’t great. Not in respect of them, just the general acoustics of the room. I hope this improves once we get more people in here, if any turn up. In fact there is a rumour that one of the bands is bringing a coach of 50 people, well, if that’s the case the place should be rammed.
“Brassneck, you're up for a soundcheck” shouts the promoter. So, we set up and play 'Stupid What ?' which sounds ok, although as we thought levels are a bit odd because of the enclosed arch surrounding the band. Still, we get a good level and leave the stage ready for Nadeen White.
Now, Nadeen what can I say about Nadeen ? I had heard a lot about her from Sid and the rest of the band, although I can’t say I have ever met her before. Dressed as a pirate, which was unusual but well dressed, she took to the stage, did a brief soundcheck and did her set. It was pretty good and I thought she had a good vocal. A very powerful vocal considering the size of her. Near to her finish my mate Adam turns up with his new missus who seems very nice.
We have a quick chat and soon we are up, he hasn’t seem us play since Winchester probably 8 months ago so hopefully he can see an improvement. The place really is rammed, the coach-load really did turn up and although they all look like Millwall supporters hopefully we should be able to win some of them over. We do, people are really taking notice and the new track 'Too Much, Too Drunk' sounds great......then Bang ! 'Depression.......' does its usual silence of the room and complete attention. Is it me or do I mention this every time? I never seem to tire of this song! Well, it’s a success, we get a great response and the feedback I get from everyone is really good. I duly talk to Ben about the feedback and he proclaims no bugger ever says anything to him! I think they're all frightened of you mate and don’t realise you're not like every other primadonna singer song-writer.
We are then at the bar getting a drink and 2 other big events happen. In fact these 2 big events came past 3 or 4 times, in and out and all over the place. Those that were there will know what im talking about. In fact who cares I think nearly all the guys were transfixed on this girl with the biggest rack on display ever, although Sid apparently missed her (Busy with Nadeen no doubt). What did she look like ?? Sid exclaims at practice on Monday night !! All of us look at each other and it’s at that point we realise none of us has any idea what she looked like. "Blonde hair" Neil points out , which is about the extent of the description and all of the 'Brassneck' men stand quiet in the stereotypical cloud put over us where female assets are involved. Anyway back to the set (the music set now) the next band are up and sorry I have no idea of their name ('The Zeros' - Ed) and are fronted by an unusual out-of-place looking frontman singer. They are pretty mediocre, good musicians, just the same old story of dull unvaried material. They are followed by 'Sevasa' I believe, who are the people that have brought the big crowd of football hooligans. I switched off after 'Hi-Ho Silver Lining' and turned my attentions to the ever growing mosh pit getting ready to kick off at any moment.
Well, it’s all over and 'Our Lost Infantry' are getting ready to play. At this point Nadeen, for some reason, decides to pull down her trousers and show us her batman pants! Different ! Then she tries to persuade me and Sid to show her our pants (no chance there, nobody sees my Spiderman pants).
At this point I look across and poor old Kat is looking so tired and really wants to go, but she knows me and Sid really want to watch 'OLI '. They play a great set as per usual and are a really good band to play alongside.
We then pack up and say our goodbyes, by this point me and Sid have had a few to drink and Kat has to put up with our drunken banter all the way home, bless her ;)
Mark
So, it’s about 6.40, all three of us are onboard and talking about the 'Bull and Gate' gig and the bass player incident. We're all still amused by this and continue with the usual banter before a gig. The sat-nav does its usual and takes us nowhere near our destination. So, as we start slating it and go round in circles we then decide to ask a by passer. It turns out to be the bass player from the first band who duly tells us its just down the road on the left! Damned sat-nav was right, but the sign was so small for the 'Bang Bar' we missed it.
We are pretty early and shortly Neil and Ben turn up, at which point Ben leaves again to go and get some monitors from home.
We all then decide to chill out in the back room and talk, worryingly, about the shooting last year at this venue and point out the 'BRS posters' on the wall. 'Our Lost Infantry' are soundchecking and the sound isn’t great. Not in respect of them, just the general acoustics of the room. I hope this improves once we get more people in here, if any turn up. In fact there is a rumour that one of the bands is bringing a coach of 50 people, well, if that’s the case the place should be rammed.
“Brassneck, you're up for a soundcheck” shouts the promoter. So, we set up and play 'Stupid What ?' which sounds ok, although as we thought levels are a bit odd because of the enclosed arch surrounding the band. Still, we get a good level and leave the stage ready for Nadeen White.
Now, Nadeen what can I say about Nadeen ? I had heard a lot about her from Sid and the rest of the band, although I can’t say I have ever met her before. Dressed as a pirate, which was unusual but well dressed, she took to the stage, did a brief soundcheck and did her set. It was pretty good and I thought she had a good vocal. A very powerful vocal considering the size of her. Near to her finish my mate Adam turns up with his new missus who seems very nice.
We have a quick chat and soon we are up, he hasn’t seem us play since Winchester probably 8 months ago so hopefully he can see an improvement. The place really is rammed, the coach-load really did turn up and although they all look like Millwall supporters hopefully we should be able to win some of them over. We do, people are really taking notice and the new track 'Too Much, Too Drunk' sounds great......then Bang ! 'Depression.......' does its usual silence of the room and complete attention. Is it me or do I mention this every time? I never seem to tire of this song! Well, it’s a success, we get a great response and the feedback I get from everyone is really good. I duly talk to Ben about the feedback and he proclaims no bugger ever says anything to him! I think they're all frightened of you mate and don’t realise you're not like every other primadonna singer song-writer.
We are then at the bar getting a drink and 2 other big events happen. In fact these 2 big events came past 3 or 4 times, in and out and all over the place. Those that were there will know what im talking about. In fact who cares I think nearly all the guys were transfixed on this girl with the biggest rack on display ever, although Sid apparently missed her (Busy with Nadeen no doubt). What did she look like ?? Sid exclaims at practice on Monday night !! All of us look at each other and it’s at that point we realise none of us has any idea what she looked like. "Blonde hair" Neil points out , which is about the extent of the description and all of the 'Brassneck' men stand quiet in the stereotypical cloud put over us where female assets are involved. Anyway back to the set (the music set now) the next band are up and sorry I have no idea of their name ('The Zeros' - Ed) and are fronted by an unusual out-of-place looking frontman singer. They are pretty mediocre, good musicians, just the same old story of dull unvaried material. They are followed by 'Sevasa' I believe, who are the people that have brought the big crowd of football hooligans. I switched off after 'Hi-Ho Silver Lining' and turned my attentions to the ever growing mosh pit getting ready to kick off at any moment.
Well, it’s all over and 'Our Lost Infantry' are getting ready to play. At this point Nadeen, for some reason, decides to pull down her trousers and show us her batman pants! Different ! Then she tries to persuade me and Sid to show her our pants (no chance there, nobody sees my Spiderman pants).
At this point I look across and poor old Kat is looking so tired and really wants to go, but she knows me and Sid really want to watch 'OLI '. They play a great set as per usual and are a really good band to play alongside.
We then pack up and say our goodbyes, by this point me and Sid have had a few to drink and Kat has to put up with our drunken banter all the way home, bless her ;)
Mark
Bull & Gate, Kentish Town, London, 25/02/09. Sid's Tour Diary.
Bull & Gate, Kentish Town, London - 25th February 2009
I’m looking forward to this, the ‘Bull & Gate’ is one of my favourite small venues in London Town. It should be good this.
So, Mark and Kat arrive at mine, then we head off to our Sainsbury’s rendezvous to meet Ben. We circle the car-park just as Ben arrives. He must be feeling generous too, he gives a stranger £6 to clean his car, but then tells us he’s left his wallet and phone at home. No beers on Ben tonight then. Maybe it won’t be so good this.
We head off and Kat asks me to ‘look after’ the cookies in the front. These had been left in Mark’s car from the recording session on Sunday but it really isn’t long into the journey before Ben and Kat ask for the cookies and start to munch away happily. Then they start to discuss how when they were kids they weren’t allowed to eat more than 3 (Kat) or 4 (Ben) cookies at a time. “Just what is this all about ?” I ask myself. Mark and I sit in the front like gay parents disapproving of our kids behaviour. Kat and Ben then duly inform me that I’m not allowed to mention any of this in the blog of tonights gig, as if their parents might find out or something. There’s good banter going on this afternoon. It’s going to be good this.
We take my tried and tested M3, A316 route to Kentish Town (Sat-Nav, Schmat-Nav !) and arrive early for the second London gig running. We park easily too. Right next to the 2500 capacity ‘Forum’ venue. “Wow, some nice gigs you get us Sid” says Ben. “Errr, no, ours is in the little pub next door” say I. We unload and shuffle round the back of the ‘Bull & Gate’ with all our stuff. Upon entering we see a smatter of other band members dotted around but nothing actually happening. No probs, we are early. Kat introduces herself to the sound engineer who asks “Are you all here ?”, Kat replies “Yes, we are”. “Great” says the soundman, “you can soundcheck now then”. Smiling heroically Kat turns to Ben, Mark and myself and is just about to say “hey guys, we can soundcheck now” when the penny drops that Neil’s not actually here ! Kat sheepishly apologises to the soundman and we decide to slope off for a game of pool while we wait for more people to arrive. That was a good start that.
The pool table is rough. I like it. I play better than normal. Mark does too. We beat (nay, thrash !) the doubles partnership of BenKat 5-2. 5-2 I say. We only let them win the last 2 out of sympathy, oh, and the fact that I was mentally elsewhere after Kat tells me she is going to try and distract me by showing me her boobs. It was just talk, but it put me off my stroke a bit. It’s on my mind now. It’s going to be good this.
Neil arrives, confuses Ben with his unloading technique (don’t laugh !) and then we soundcheck. It’s quite loud. The mix isn’t great on stage and we have to try our new structure of ‘Treasure It Because You Care, Natasha’ twice, just to get it right. By the end of the soundcheck it sounds good though. Should be good tonight this.
First band ‘Skinny’ (just where are the other 2 bands ?) follow us to soundcheck and again we retire to the bar. Which is through the toilet. This confuses Mark the first time, he thinks I’m just going to the toilet and doesn’t follow me. Kat, on the other hand, is braver, hoping to catch a glimpse of an old-man I guess. There’s no genitalia on show here though. Poor show that.
Eventually ‘Skinny’ take to the stage and we amble through to watch. They’re loud (we think the guitar might have been a little ‘too’ loud). They sound okay though. Apparently it’s their first gig. They’ve brought a crowd with them. Their bassist even buys Neil a pint for letting him use his amp. We like these guys. Y’see, when lending out equipment I cheekily always say to other bands “It’s fine, just look after it and buy us a pint”. No one ever has though. Until now. So, thank you ‘Skinny’, we salute you. Congrats on your first gig too. Good gig that.
Next up is us. We set up quickly so as to try and catch all of ‘Skinny’s fans before they head off to the bar. It works. Most of them stay for the duration of our set. We play well. Very well I think. Newbie ‘Too Much, Too Drunk’ goes well again and looks like it could become a firm live favourite. Overall it feels like we really are a tight unit now. We maybe need a few tweaks here and there, performance wise, but thanks to Marks’ business nous we’ve managed to get a dvd of our set tonight, for a knockdown price. Nice. This should make for interesting viewing, we can now all sit and watch ourselves to see what we look like and where we can improve our performances. Should be good that.
So, some other band play next but the less said about them the better. They don’t turn up for their soundcheck, they don’t bother to watch any of the other bands and they stand in our way when we’re trying to get off stage as if they own the place. They don’t even say hello. They’re not really worthy of our attention, especially seeing as they sound like ‘Curiosity Killed The Cat’. Dated and soul-less. I say to Ben that if they carry on playing gigs like this then the singer will soon start auditioning for X-Factor, he’ll think he’s above gigs like this. Anyway, I’m giving them too much space here as it is. No, wait a minute I haven’t even named and shamed them. ‘Domino Theory’. That’s them. I hope they read this. That’ll be good that.
So, after a brief flurry of interest, from ‘Skinny’ members and their fans alike, for our free cd, we look around to see that nearly everyone has gone. But there is still one band left to play. We think. This’ll be a laugh this.
There’s a couple of guys that have been hanging around all night, looking very lost. They see that we are here for the whole evening (we don’t play and go straight home, hello again ‘Domino Theory’) and duly try and explain to us what’s going on. Their drummer is stuck in Old Street. That’s right, stuck a few miles away. Errr, hello, we’ve come from Hampshire and Berkshire ! Anyway, they think he might make it in time so decide to set up and start without him. The audience now consists of a very stern looking soundman, all of ‘Brassneck’ and our friends Frank and Steve (although the latter quickly thinks better of staying and slopes off, we can’t blame him, we would too but it is our duty being on the same bill as this band to sit and watch). The band are called ‘End’. They start. Without their drummer (who mysteriously never does show up). We can’t wait for the end. One guitarist sits down on a drum stool and faces away from the audience, the other guitarist starts to sing (I use the term loosely) and the bassist sits on the front of the stage as if he really doesn’t want to be there. How long is this going to go on for ? It’s painful. No rhythm, no melody, just droning. No point, no spark, just droning. No style, no bassist, just droning. Hang on, what’s that ? The bassist has had enough mid-set and is packing up ? I’ve never seen this before. I’m not seeing things though, he’s had it, zips his bass in to it’s case and walks off. He laughs as he walks past us and mumbles at Mark “They’re just 2 dumb Italian cunts, I only met them on Sunday, we’ve only had one jam and they’re shit”. Then, he’s gone. The other 2 guys are still playing on stage, almost oblivious. This has got to stop. I jump on stage and start to pack away Neil’s bass amp, I just can’t take it anymore. Their ‘set’ duly flops to an end. I thought they were going to be good them.
So, we depart without saying a word to them. Just not worth it. We say our goodbyes, only to Frank though, there’s no-one else left to say goodbye to. Ben starts to complain that it’s not his turn for the blog tonight. I knew it was going to be good this.
We’re just about to set off from our parking space very close to a very busy main road. “Look, there’s a fox” I say. “Yeah” says Mark, “And it’s only got 1 leg”. “I think you mean it’s missing a leg Mark”. We carry on, regardless. “Sat-Nav, Schmat-Nav” I say, again. We get lost. We miss a turning. Everything looks different when you’re driving the other way. A small detour and we’re soon back on the right road though. Relaxed, happy, full of the joys of an eventful evening and looking forward to a pleasant drive home. This’ll be a laugh this. Kat and I have been drinking, the talk turns to sex. I try and rattle Ben by saying I can’t believe he’s never tried it gay-wise. “I just wouldn’t want to kiss a man” he says “But I’ll happily suck one off”.
I knew it, I just knew it was going to be a good night this.
Sid.
I’m looking forward to this, the ‘Bull & Gate’ is one of my favourite small venues in London Town. It should be good this.
So, Mark and Kat arrive at mine, then we head off to our Sainsbury’s rendezvous to meet Ben. We circle the car-park just as Ben arrives. He must be feeling generous too, he gives a stranger £6 to clean his car, but then tells us he’s left his wallet and phone at home. No beers on Ben tonight then. Maybe it won’t be so good this.
We head off and Kat asks me to ‘look after’ the cookies in the front. These had been left in Mark’s car from the recording session on Sunday but it really isn’t long into the journey before Ben and Kat ask for the cookies and start to munch away happily. Then they start to discuss how when they were kids they weren’t allowed to eat more than 3 (Kat) or 4 (Ben) cookies at a time. “Just what is this all about ?” I ask myself. Mark and I sit in the front like gay parents disapproving of our kids behaviour. Kat and Ben then duly inform me that I’m not allowed to mention any of this in the blog of tonights gig, as if their parents might find out or something. There’s good banter going on this afternoon. It’s going to be good this.
We take my tried and tested M3, A316 route to Kentish Town (Sat-Nav, Schmat-Nav !) and arrive early for the second London gig running. We park easily too. Right next to the 2500 capacity ‘Forum’ venue. “Wow, some nice gigs you get us Sid” says Ben. “Errr, no, ours is in the little pub next door” say I. We unload and shuffle round the back of the ‘Bull & Gate’ with all our stuff. Upon entering we see a smatter of other band members dotted around but nothing actually happening. No probs, we are early. Kat introduces herself to the sound engineer who asks “Are you all here ?”, Kat replies “Yes, we are”. “Great” says the soundman, “you can soundcheck now then”. Smiling heroically Kat turns to Ben, Mark and myself and is just about to say “hey guys, we can soundcheck now” when the penny drops that Neil’s not actually here ! Kat sheepishly apologises to the soundman and we decide to slope off for a game of pool while we wait for more people to arrive. That was a good start that.
The pool table is rough. I like it. I play better than normal. Mark does too. We beat (nay, thrash !) the doubles partnership of BenKat 5-2. 5-2 I say. We only let them win the last 2 out of sympathy, oh, and the fact that I was mentally elsewhere after Kat tells me she is going to try and distract me by showing me her boobs. It was just talk, but it put me off my stroke a bit. It’s on my mind now. It’s going to be good this.
Neil arrives, confuses Ben with his unloading technique (don’t laugh !) and then we soundcheck. It’s quite loud. The mix isn’t great on stage and we have to try our new structure of ‘Treasure It Because You Care, Natasha’ twice, just to get it right. By the end of the soundcheck it sounds good though. Should be good tonight this.
First band ‘Skinny’ (just where are the other 2 bands ?) follow us to soundcheck and again we retire to the bar. Which is through the toilet. This confuses Mark the first time, he thinks I’m just going to the toilet and doesn’t follow me. Kat, on the other hand, is braver, hoping to catch a glimpse of an old-man I guess. There’s no genitalia on show here though. Poor show that.
Eventually ‘Skinny’ take to the stage and we amble through to watch. They’re loud (we think the guitar might have been a little ‘too’ loud). They sound okay though. Apparently it’s their first gig. They’ve brought a crowd with them. Their bassist even buys Neil a pint for letting him use his amp. We like these guys. Y’see, when lending out equipment I cheekily always say to other bands “It’s fine, just look after it and buy us a pint”. No one ever has though. Until now. So, thank you ‘Skinny’, we salute you. Congrats on your first gig too. Good gig that.
Next up is us. We set up quickly so as to try and catch all of ‘Skinny’s fans before they head off to the bar. It works. Most of them stay for the duration of our set. We play well. Very well I think. Newbie ‘Too Much, Too Drunk’ goes well again and looks like it could become a firm live favourite. Overall it feels like we really are a tight unit now. We maybe need a few tweaks here and there, performance wise, but thanks to Marks’ business nous we’ve managed to get a dvd of our set tonight, for a knockdown price. Nice. This should make for interesting viewing, we can now all sit and watch ourselves to see what we look like and where we can improve our performances. Should be good that.
So, some other band play next but the less said about them the better. They don’t turn up for their soundcheck, they don’t bother to watch any of the other bands and they stand in our way when we’re trying to get off stage as if they own the place. They don’t even say hello. They’re not really worthy of our attention, especially seeing as they sound like ‘Curiosity Killed The Cat’. Dated and soul-less. I say to Ben that if they carry on playing gigs like this then the singer will soon start auditioning for X-Factor, he’ll think he’s above gigs like this. Anyway, I’m giving them too much space here as it is. No, wait a minute I haven’t even named and shamed them. ‘Domino Theory’. That’s them. I hope they read this. That’ll be good that.
So, after a brief flurry of interest, from ‘Skinny’ members and their fans alike, for our free cd, we look around to see that nearly everyone has gone. But there is still one band left to play. We think. This’ll be a laugh this.
There’s a couple of guys that have been hanging around all night, looking very lost. They see that we are here for the whole evening (we don’t play and go straight home, hello again ‘Domino Theory’) and duly try and explain to us what’s going on. Their drummer is stuck in Old Street. That’s right, stuck a few miles away. Errr, hello, we’ve come from Hampshire and Berkshire ! Anyway, they think he might make it in time so decide to set up and start without him. The audience now consists of a very stern looking soundman, all of ‘Brassneck’ and our friends Frank and Steve (although the latter quickly thinks better of staying and slopes off, we can’t blame him, we would too but it is our duty being on the same bill as this band to sit and watch). The band are called ‘End’. They start. Without their drummer (who mysteriously never does show up). We can’t wait for the end. One guitarist sits down on a drum stool and faces away from the audience, the other guitarist starts to sing (I use the term loosely) and the bassist sits on the front of the stage as if he really doesn’t want to be there. How long is this going to go on for ? It’s painful. No rhythm, no melody, just droning. No point, no spark, just droning. No style, no bassist, just droning. Hang on, what’s that ? The bassist has had enough mid-set and is packing up ? I’ve never seen this before. I’m not seeing things though, he’s had it, zips his bass in to it’s case and walks off. He laughs as he walks past us and mumbles at Mark “They’re just 2 dumb Italian cunts, I only met them on Sunday, we’ve only had one jam and they’re shit”. Then, he’s gone. The other 2 guys are still playing on stage, almost oblivious. This has got to stop. I jump on stage and start to pack away Neil’s bass amp, I just can’t take it anymore. Their ‘set’ duly flops to an end. I thought they were going to be good them.
So, we depart without saying a word to them. Just not worth it. We say our goodbyes, only to Frank though, there’s no-one else left to say goodbye to. Ben starts to complain that it’s not his turn for the blog tonight. I knew it was going to be good this.
We’re just about to set off from our parking space very close to a very busy main road. “Look, there’s a fox” I say. “Yeah” says Mark, “And it’s only got 1 leg”. “I think you mean it’s missing a leg Mark”. We carry on, regardless. “Sat-Nav, Schmat-Nav” I say, again. We get lost. We miss a turning. Everything looks different when you’re driving the other way. A small detour and we’re soon back on the right road though. Relaxed, happy, full of the joys of an eventful evening and looking forward to a pleasant drive home. This’ll be a laugh this. Kat and I have been drinking, the talk turns to sex. I try and rattle Ben by saying I can’t believe he’s never tried it gay-wise. “I just wouldn’t want to kiss a man” he says “But I’ll happily suck one off”.
I knew it, I just knew it was going to be a good night this.
Sid.
Recording - No Machine Studios, Wokingham, 22/02/09. Kat's Tour Diary.
Well, today we are back at ‘No Machine’ in Wokingham with Neil (not our Neil, the Neil who owns No Machine is called Neil too) to record track two for our new EP ("With Something Amiss").
Brassneck are filled with excitement, and I am trying very hard to keep with their enthusiasm. I’m not feeling particularly brilliant, but we don’t get to the studio that often, so I’m going to ignore it and have fun! George was supposed to be coming over with me in the morning to take some photos of us looking rotten in headphones, so when I turn up on my own there are several choruses of ‘Where’s Lurch?’ ‘In bed still, where I should be’ is the, slightly obvious, reply! But no matter, I am up and here and we’re ready to get going.
Mark sets his drums up and starts getting his bit done. There is a slight look of confusion on Neil’s (not our Neil, the Neil who owns No Machine is called Neil too) face as Mark explains he wants no guide at all, just a click,. We reassure Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too) that Mark knows the structures really well, and it won’t be a problem, then settle down to listen as Mark plays it too long, then too short, then just right (whilst dressed in a red hood and cloak). Done! In record time!
Now it’s Neil’s (yes, our Neil this time, Neil who plays the bass) turn. He nails (yes, I mean ‘nails’, not ‘neils’) it in two takes, and we are sitting there in slight shock, drowning in a sea of chocolate biscuits, chocolate cornflake cakes and many, many sausage rolls, trying to work out why this is going so smoothly and failing!
It’s now Sid’s turn, and he does a sterling job, just as George turns up with the camera. The problem is that the photographer can’t stay all day, and we are all sitting on the sofa eating chocolate biscuits. Not really the best photo opportunity! George takes a couple of shots, suggests we move from the sofa and go somewhere more interesting, gets no response other than munching, and buggers off! Sid finishes his bit, and then it’s my turn. I’m not looking forward to this. I can never play this in time. I’m feeling slightly sick and very dizzy, and this does not bode well for accurate pizzicato! Fortunately Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too) doesn’t think this is a problem, gets me to play it once and then does lots of amazing jiggery pokery so that it sounds like I played it in time. Clever, clever Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too, though that isn’t to say our Neil, isn’t mighty clever too)!!
Now it’s the turn of Ben and his guitar and his vocals, again, done in only a couple of takes! It’s only about 3pm, and we’re not far off done. Neil and I get our backing vocals sorted pretty quickly and it’s time to experiment with adding a bit of Synth, to truly cement the cheesy disco brilliance that is ‘Mess of Contradictions’. Sadly, in my slightly delicate state, there is something about the sound of the synth that makes me feel really unpleasant. I complain. Ben calls me a mardy cow. He’s excited by the word ‘mardy’, he looked it up in my dictionary yesterday and everything. It doesn’t help my outlook on life, so I hush up, and Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too) turns it down a bit. It actually sounds pretty cool, in spite of my nausea! And we’re all done.
We settle up, book a date to record the final track of the EP in March I think, and head home. I curl up on the sofa to begin feeling sorry for myself with some determination. Today was good. There are some things I’m not hundred percent convinced about, but we’ll see how it sounds after a bit of a break. It’s hard to be objective when you’ve listened to something 100 times in 6 hrs!
Kat
Brassneck are filled with excitement, and I am trying very hard to keep with their enthusiasm. I’m not feeling particularly brilliant, but we don’t get to the studio that often, so I’m going to ignore it and have fun! George was supposed to be coming over with me in the morning to take some photos of us looking rotten in headphones, so when I turn up on my own there are several choruses of ‘Where’s Lurch?’ ‘In bed still, where I should be’ is the, slightly obvious, reply! But no matter, I am up and here and we’re ready to get going.
Mark sets his drums up and starts getting his bit done. There is a slight look of confusion on Neil’s (not our Neil, the Neil who owns No Machine is called Neil too) face as Mark explains he wants no guide at all, just a click,. We reassure Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too) that Mark knows the structures really well, and it won’t be a problem, then settle down to listen as Mark plays it too long, then too short, then just right (whilst dressed in a red hood and cloak). Done! In record time!
Now it’s Neil’s (yes, our Neil this time, Neil who plays the bass) turn. He nails (yes, I mean ‘nails’, not ‘neils’) it in two takes, and we are sitting there in slight shock, drowning in a sea of chocolate biscuits, chocolate cornflake cakes and many, many sausage rolls, trying to work out why this is going so smoothly and failing!
It’s now Sid’s turn, and he does a sterling job, just as George turns up with the camera. The problem is that the photographer can’t stay all day, and we are all sitting on the sofa eating chocolate biscuits. Not really the best photo opportunity! George takes a couple of shots, suggests we move from the sofa and go somewhere more interesting, gets no response other than munching, and buggers off! Sid finishes his bit, and then it’s my turn. I’m not looking forward to this. I can never play this in time. I’m feeling slightly sick and very dizzy, and this does not bode well for accurate pizzicato! Fortunately Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too) doesn’t think this is a problem, gets me to play it once and then does lots of amazing jiggery pokery so that it sounds like I played it in time. Clever, clever Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too, though that isn’t to say our Neil, isn’t mighty clever too)!!
Now it’s the turn of Ben and his guitar and his vocals, again, done in only a couple of takes! It’s only about 3pm, and we’re not far off done. Neil and I get our backing vocals sorted pretty quickly and it’s time to experiment with adding a bit of Synth, to truly cement the cheesy disco brilliance that is ‘Mess of Contradictions’. Sadly, in my slightly delicate state, there is something about the sound of the synth that makes me feel really unpleasant. I complain. Ben calls me a mardy cow. He’s excited by the word ‘mardy’, he looked it up in my dictionary yesterday and everything. It doesn’t help my outlook on life, so I hush up, and Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too) turns it down a bit. It actually sounds pretty cool, in spite of my nausea! And we’re all done.
We settle up, book a date to record the final track of the EP in March I think, and head home. I curl up on the sofa to begin feeling sorry for myself with some determination. Today was good. There are some things I’m not hundred percent convinced about, but we’ll see how it sounds after a bit of a break. It’s hard to be objective when you’ve listened to something 100 times in 6 hrs!
Kat
Live & Unsigned Audition, Aldershot and Brooklands FM radio session, 21/02/09. Neil's Tour Diary.
Some time ago, Sid entered the band into a competition to win ‘a recording and management contract with up to £20,000 investment to release a single with Future Music’ with www.liveandunsigned.uk.com. We didn’t think much about it at the time, but as it was a long way in the future we thought, “Yeah, whatever.” Well, suddenly the day is upon us, and the embarrassing and slightly distasteful prospect of an X-Factor style audition for the first round of the competition looms large.
Marion and I arrive at Princes Hall, Aldershot at 9.30am to find Ben sitting in the waiting room, looking mighty uncomfortable among the prospective girl bands, skinny-trousered indie kids, bum-fluff-bearded teen metallers and earnest looking singer-songwriters. What ARE we doing here? The others arrive shortly after, and we make light of the situation and get what enjoyment we can out of quietly taking the piss out of the other hopefuls. What they think of us is anybody’s guess.
We’ve been told that we’ll get a grand total of two minutes in front of the panel of judges, so we’ve prepared a shortened version of ‘Sensitive But A Bit Of A ’Rong ’Un’. We’re called in, get asked a few questions about how many gigs we’re doing and stuff, then launch into our tune. The levels are all over the place, understandably with no sound check, and we’re just finding our feet by the time our two minutes are up and we’re unceremoniously instructed to cease and desist. It’s a fairly unpleasant and vaguely humiliating experience, but we duly tug our proverbial forelocks, say thank you to the nice judges and exit. At least it’s over. Now all we have to do is wait for 20 minutes or so to be told if we’re through to the second round. We’re not overly hopeful. If they’re looking for the next McFly or Girls Aloud then we’re unlikely to be the first choice. But wait! We’re called over and, blow me, we’re through to the next round. Result!
So, feeling quite pleased with ourselves we return to our seats to read through the details and fill out the entry form for the next round. It turns out this will comprise a live performance by all the acts who’ve got through, in front of a paying audience. Sounds good so far. The tickets are £6 each and each act is expected to sell at least 25 tickets. OK, that’s do-able – we’re sure we could rustle up enough heads who’d want to see us run through our set and would lend their support. But wait a minute, there seems to be a bit of a catch. It says ’ere, each act only gets to perform for a total of three minutes! And to add insult to injury, half of that has to be cover version!! As the great philosopher Amy Winehouse once said, what kind of f*ckery is this? Suddenly, the scales fall from our eyes. It’s now plain that this is nothing but a money-making exercise by the organisers. Imagine how many hopefuls they could get into a concert lasting a few hours, each lasting three minutes and selling 25 x £6 tickets. Then multiply this by the number of other locations where they’re also running the competition and you can hear the cash registers ringing loud and clear, and the dollar signs flashing in their beady little eyes. What a shower! We decide it’s time to withdraw gracefully. Kat finds the man in charge, hands back the application and informs him that we’ve read through the small print and decided that this is ‘not for us’. Apparently he looks at her as if he’s just been slapped. I’d like to think that maybe she did slap him, but just didn’t want to tell us.
Following this mildly traumatic experience, we head back to Kat’s, where she kindly rustles up a tasty brunch of bacon butties (or cider, in Sid’s case). We contemplate the morning’s events and prepare for our next mission. This is going to be altogether more fun – a radio session and interview for Brooklands FM, a small Internet radio station based in Addlestone.
The station is in a couple of rooms above the ‘Cosmic’ electrical shop. We pass the next hour and a half pleasantly, indulging in witty/inane (delete as applicable) banter with our genial host, David Durant. We knock out three songs, live and acoustic, get to play a few records of our own choosing, and also a couple by two of our favourite local artistes, Julia K and Aimée. Both are listening and email in their appreciation, which is nice. After the show we retire to a local hostelry for some light refreshment. It’s been a helluva day, that’s for sure, and we think we’ve earned a pint.
Oh, and Mr. Ian Sadler, if you’re reading this, we’re still not wearing any pants.
Neil
Marion and I arrive at Princes Hall, Aldershot at 9.30am to find Ben sitting in the waiting room, looking mighty uncomfortable among the prospective girl bands, skinny-trousered indie kids, bum-fluff-bearded teen metallers and earnest looking singer-songwriters. What ARE we doing here? The others arrive shortly after, and we make light of the situation and get what enjoyment we can out of quietly taking the piss out of the other hopefuls. What they think of us is anybody’s guess.
We’ve been told that we’ll get a grand total of two minutes in front of the panel of judges, so we’ve prepared a shortened version of ‘Sensitive But A Bit Of A ’Rong ’Un’. We’re called in, get asked a few questions about how many gigs we’re doing and stuff, then launch into our tune. The levels are all over the place, understandably with no sound check, and we’re just finding our feet by the time our two minutes are up and we’re unceremoniously instructed to cease and desist. It’s a fairly unpleasant and vaguely humiliating experience, but we duly tug our proverbial forelocks, say thank you to the nice judges and exit. At least it’s over. Now all we have to do is wait for 20 minutes or so to be told if we’re through to the second round. We’re not overly hopeful. If they’re looking for the next McFly or Girls Aloud then we’re unlikely to be the first choice. But wait! We’re called over and, blow me, we’re through to the next round. Result!
So, feeling quite pleased with ourselves we return to our seats to read through the details and fill out the entry form for the next round. It turns out this will comprise a live performance by all the acts who’ve got through, in front of a paying audience. Sounds good so far. The tickets are £6 each and each act is expected to sell at least 25 tickets. OK, that’s do-able – we’re sure we could rustle up enough heads who’d want to see us run through our set and would lend their support. But wait a minute, there seems to be a bit of a catch. It says ’ere, each act only gets to perform for a total of three minutes! And to add insult to injury, half of that has to be cover version!! As the great philosopher Amy Winehouse once said, what kind of f*ckery is this? Suddenly, the scales fall from our eyes. It’s now plain that this is nothing but a money-making exercise by the organisers. Imagine how many hopefuls they could get into a concert lasting a few hours, each lasting three minutes and selling 25 x £6 tickets. Then multiply this by the number of other locations where they’re also running the competition and you can hear the cash registers ringing loud and clear, and the dollar signs flashing in their beady little eyes. What a shower! We decide it’s time to withdraw gracefully. Kat finds the man in charge, hands back the application and informs him that we’ve read through the small print and decided that this is ‘not for us’. Apparently he looks at her as if he’s just been slapped. I’d like to think that maybe she did slap him, but just didn’t want to tell us.
Following this mildly traumatic experience, we head back to Kat’s, where she kindly rustles up a tasty brunch of bacon butties (or cider, in Sid’s case). We contemplate the morning’s events and prepare for our next mission. This is going to be altogether more fun – a radio session and interview for Brooklands FM, a small Internet radio station based in Addlestone.
The station is in a couple of rooms above the ‘Cosmic’ electrical shop. We pass the next hour and a half pleasantly, indulging in witty/inane (delete as applicable) banter with our genial host, David Durant. We knock out three songs, live and acoustic, get to play a few records of our own choosing, and also a couple by two of our favourite local artistes, Julia K and Aimée. Both are listening and email in their appreciation, which is nice. After the show we retire to a local hostelry for some light refreshment. It’s been a helluva day, that’s for sure, and we think we’ve earned a pint.
Oh, and Mr. Ian Sadler, if you’re reading this, we’re still not wearing any pants.
Neil
The Boileroom, Guildford, 19/02/09. Ben's Tour Diary.
I'm in a bad mood. Even by my miserable standards. I'm off work this week, spending time with the Kids and doing DIY. How Rock'n'Roll is that? That's not what has got me in a bad mood though. Oh no. I've just received an email from work telling me I'm going to have to take a pay cut. The bastards. The stuff I'm working on is making loads of cash but because of inept management I have to get paid less. The bastards.
Arrive at Kat's - Sid's already there. There are several 'Feminism and Rock' books strewn about the place. My attempt at getting a rise out of Kat by saying "You don't need to worry your pretty little head with big ideas like that" fails miserably. Kat is happy that I think she's pretty. The death of feminism starts here.
Arrive at the gig at 6pm.... 6pm!... Matt Hegarty is soundchecking, Chris Helme wanders in and introduces himself - though he's then on his way out - says he'll be back to see us later though. Seems a nice enough chap.
We do the soundcheck - oddly I'm forgetting words to tunes I don't usually forget. Must have something on my mind. Oh yeah ..that's it - I'm getting a fucking pay cut.
We now kill 2 hours. It goes slowly - livened up by Rob Himself donating us some free chinese food. We like Rob.
Kat and I demolish the free chinese whilst Neil eats his paid-for food. Sid looks on with disdain. I go to the bar for a pint of student for Sid, some fizzy pop for Neil and some Rock'n'Roll coffee for Kat and me. The barman is unable to provide the coffee on account of the fact he can't work the coffee machine - he hasn't had the training apparently. I wouldn't have thought that pressing the button on the coffee machine would require a training course but I hold my tongue and settle on some more fizzy pop for me and Kat.
Rob Himself takes to the stage and we are entertained for 1/2 hour with cool acoustic pop tunes with witty lyrics. Well I wasn't going to say anything bad about him after he gave me free food was I?
Then its us. We play OK - nothing special. The set is constantly interrupted by a particularly camp member of the audience who keeps shouting "coo-ee!" at Sid throughout the performance. Sid is a little disturbed. He is a bit weird this geezer (no not Sid, the other geezer). He keeps shouting out very random stuff (again not Sid, the other geezer).
Matt Hegarty is up next. His stuff is very laid back with some interesting vocals - but it's a little short on variation and my attention begins to wander. I go to the bar and try again to get a cup of coffee. It doesn't work. Not until Kat wanders over and does that soppy faced, head to one side, fluttery eye-lid trick that girls do. The barman runs off to find the manageress who then gets us a coffee (irony - it does more than flatten your clothes). Strike 2 for the death of feminism.
Then its Chris Helme who used to be in the Seahorses in the 90s. He's a very engaging performer - he has a great voice and lots of self-depracating charm. Although he does get a little tetchy when Sid's camp friend constanttly interrupts his inter-song chinwags. He plays a couple of Seahorses tracks, a few covers, some of his own stuff. Lots of people walk up at the end to say Hi and buy a CD. Kat walks up and flutters her eye-lids and gets a free CD. Feminism is now officially 6 feet under.
Then its time to go. But first I head for the loo where I encounter Sid's friend. Its more than a little uncormfortable - he's clearly not a full shilling and doesn't just invade your personal space - he ransacks, rapes and pillages it. All this I could contend with - even in my foul mood. But then.... get this .... he calls me a Geordie! ..... me. a. Geordie........ I'm really not impressed now. Now don't get me wrong - I don't have much against my simple Northern cousins - not the female half of the city anyway. But I'm from Teesside. I'm not a Geordie. I'm glad we've cleared that up.
I go home. In a mood.
Ben
Arrive at Kat's - Sid's already there. There are several 'Feminism and Rock' books strewn about the place. My attempt at getting a rise out of Kat by saying "You don't need to worry your pretty little head with big ideas like that" fails miserably. Kat is happy that I think she's pretty. The death of feminism starts here.
Arrive at the gig at 6pm.... 6pm!... Matt Hegarty is soundchecking, Chris Helme wanders in and introduces himself - though he's then on his way out - says he'll be back to see us later though. Seems a nice enough chap.
We do the soundcheck - oddly I'm forgetting words to tunes I don't usually forget. Must have something on my mind. Oh yeah ..that's it - I'm getting a fucking pay cut.
We now kill 2 hours. It goes slowly - livened up by Rob Himself donating us some free chinese food. We like Rob.
Kat and I demolish the free chinese whilst Neil eats his paid-for food. Sid looks on with disdain. I go to the bar for a pint of student for Sid, some fizzy pop for Neil and some Rock'n'Roll coffee for Kat and me. The barman is unable to provide the coffee on account of the fact he can't work the coffee machine - he hasn't had the training apparently. I wouldn't have thought that pressing the button on the coffee machine would require a training course but I hold my tongue and settle on some more fizzy pop for me and Kat.
Rob Himself takes to the stage and we are entertained for 1/2 hour with cool acoustic pop tunes with witty lyrics. Well I wasn't going to say anything bad about him after he gave me free food was I?
Then its us. We play OK - nothing special. The set is constantly interrupted by a particularly camp member of the audience who keeps shouting "coo-ee!" at Sid throughout the performance. Sid is a little disturbed. He is a bit weird this geezer (no not Sid, the other geezer). He keeps shouting out very random stuff (again not Sid, the other geezer).
Matt Hegarty is up next. His stuff is very laid back with some interesting vocals - but it's a little short on variation and my attention begins to wander. I go to the bar and try again to get a cup of coffee. It doesn't work. Not until Kat wanders over and does that soppy faced, head to one side, fluttery eye-lid trick that girls do. The barman runs off to find the manageress who then gets us a coffee (irony - it does more than flatten your clothes). Strike 2 for the death of feminism.
Then its Chris Helme who used to be in the Seahorses in the 90s. He's a very engaging performer - he has a great voice and lots of self-depracating charm. Although he does get a little tetchy when Sid's camp friend constanttly interrupts his inter-song chinwags. He plays a couple of Seahorses tracks, a few covers, some of his own stuff. Lots of people walk up at the end to say Hi and buy a CD. Kat walks up and flutters her eye-lids and gets a free CD. Feminism is now officially 6 feet under.
Then its time to go. But first I head for the loo where I encounter Sid's friend. Its more than a little uncormfortable - he's clearly not a full shilling and doesn't just invade your personal space - he ransacks, rapes and pillages it. All this I could contend with - even in my foul mood. But then.... get this .... he calls me a Geordie! ..... me. a. Geordie........ I'm really not impressed now. Now don't get me wrong - I don't have much against my simple Northern cousins - not the female half of the city anyway. But I'm from Teesside. I'm not a Geordie. I'm glad we've cleared that up.
I go home. In a mood.
Ben
The Claremont, West Byfleet, 12/02/09. Kat's Tour Diary.
This evening started off well. I’m driving, I’ve taken the parcel shelf out of the car and am off to pick up Mark and Sid from Mark's house. I get lost. I’ve been there a time or two, it’s just round the corner from my house, but I still manage to miss the turning! I arrive and collect the two of them who look at my car with some cynicism and ask if I’m sure everything will fit. ‘It’ll be fine’ I reassure them. This proves to be true, though Sid’s guitar case is a fraction too long to fit in the boot so we have to put one of the seats in the back down. Not a problem on the way there, but when we add my 6’5” boyfriend to the load on the way back it could be interesting…. I don’t mention this at the time though, thinking it’s a surprise best saved for later!
We arrive at the 'Claremont Hotel' in West Byfleet about 15 minutes late, due partly to the time taken to load the car, and partly to the fact that I refused to believe my 'Tom-Tom' and went the wrong way. Nearly twice. Women always know best! It’s very quiet when we arrive, and we are temporarily concerned that we may be playing to the (mighty friendly) landlady, the other band, and my boyfriend, who is already there and ready to break exciting news. His sister and her boyfriend are coming, and his Mum. Hmm now I’m a little nervous, but at least that’s three members of an audience! A couple more and we’ll have a crowd! Sid and Ben head off to play pool, Mark heads for the kebab shop and Neil watches in amusement!
The other band show up, and I’m sure I recognise one of them. I am temporarily convinced that their drummer is actually the guitarist from the band 'Concept', who is supposed to be studying Spanish guitar in Spain no less. I get a little excited at the prospect of serious gossip, before someone says they’re from the same university as me. That’ll be it then, they’re on my course. It’s a small world!! They do their soundcheck and it’s pretty good, I’m looking forward to their set. We head up for our soundcheck as more people arrive to see us, Ian of 'Good Intentions' turns up, which is really appreciated. After a bit of tweaking, with plenty of audience participation - ‘turn the bass down, turn the guitar up, turn the guitar down’ (we discovered Sid doesn’t understand the concept of ‘a little bit’) and we’re ready to go. A quick trip to the bar, greeting of friends and some panicked repairing of my shoulder rest with a screwdriver and some gaffer tape and we’re sorted.
The set goes well, with no major hitches, in spite of the gremlins that become evident later. Evidently Sid’s faces kept them hiding behind the skirting board for our set! I keep getting distracted by the TV in the corner, and several times realise that although I’m singing I have absolutely no idea where in the song I am, what I have been singing and what comes next. It’s not just food, it’s M&S food, and it looks sooo good up there on the TV, even with the sound turned down. I’m wishing I’d had a bigger supper and trying to remember that nowhere in any of Sid’s lyrics does the phrase ‘white chocolate soufflé’ appear. Darn it! ‘Depression is a wah wah wah’ ('....Young Persons Art Form' ! Tut tut ! - Ed) goes down well, as usual, with my repetitive violin lines leaving plenty of time for advert watching, and we’re done. We head back to our seats to watch 'The Nominees'. At this point, rather embarrassingly, the reasonably sized audience that had amassed to watch us disappear. All of them. Ah well, we were there to play, not supply the audience, but it’s a shame that there aren’t more people there to watch 'The Nominees'.
The lead singer does a bit of solo stuff first, just him and his guitar, which is OK, but I definitely preferred the full band stuff. Their set starts well, with the song they played in the soundcheck which I really quite liked. Then disaster strikes. The singer/guitarist breaks a string. No problem though, he’s got a spare. He grabs the spare and disappears. The band strike up ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ to entertain us while we wait. None of them are singing. Sid twists Ben’s very very rubbery arm and he leaps to his feet and heads to the free mic. He sings along, rather well really, but don’t tell him I said that! When he runs out of words he knows he reluctantly heads back to his seat. The guitarist still hasn’t reappeared. Apparently the guitar isn’t in tune. The obvious answer would be to tune it, but I wasn’t there, so it may have been more complicated than that…. The band are still waiting and starting to look desperate. They’ve really done ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ to death. They look at each other and start in on ‘Johnny B Goode’. I suspect there may have been a spring of some sort in Ben’s seat, because I didn’t actually see him go past me he moved so quickly! He starts singing again and the band look truly grateful. Then he starts touching the pocket with the harmonica in it, and looking suspiciously at the bassist to try and work out the key. It’s A. Ben’s smiling and cracks out what can only be described as a storming harmonica solo. The rest of the band are smiling now too! There is a slightly sticky moment when Ben is still singing and the lead guitarist is trying to play a solo at the same time, but the singer/guitarist has now borrowed Sid’s spare guitar and is looking ready to rejoin the band. They come to a mighty tidy finish and Ben resumes his seat, with cries of ‘is your middle name ‘saviour?’’ coming from the band. We tell Ben he’s rubbish to make sure his head doesn’t get too big!
Sadly at this point the gremlins have still not been frightened back behind the skirting, and the power cable to the lead guitarist’s amp decides it doesn’t like staying where it should. They carry on regardless, to rapidly increasing faces (and sounds) of frustration from the guitarist. No one likes gremlins, they should stay in the skirting, but it happens to us all sometimes and 'The Nominees' coped admirably. Sid’s obviously started making faces again, and they finally get through their last couple of songs without any hitches.
The only thing left to do is get home. We head back to my car and George explains that he’s sitting in the front. Sid and Mark look sceptically at the space left in the back seat once the car’s loaded. To be fair there isn’t very much. I think it’s funny, George thinks it’s funny. Sid and Mark? Not so amused methinks!! They manage to squish in as George directs me home. He gives up with directions such as ‘left’ and ‘right’ pretty quickly and resorts to just flicking my indicators for me, so I know which way to go. It worked, and I deliver Mark and Sid to their houses before we head home. 'Brassneck', once again tired and happy.
Kat
We arrive at the 'Claremont Hotel' in West Byfleet about 15 minutes late, due partly to the time taken to load the car, and partly to the fact that I refused to believe my 'Tom-Tom' and went the wrong way. Nearly twice. Women always know best! It’s very quiet when we arrive, and we are temporarily concerned that we may be playing to the (mighty friendly) landlady, the other band, and my boyfriend, who is already there and ready to break exciting news. His sister and her boyfriend are coming, and his Mum. Hmm now I’m a little nervous, but at least that’s three members of an audience! A couple more and we’ll have a crowd! Sid and Ben head off to play pool, Mark heads for the kebab shop and Neil watches in amusement!
The other band show up, and I’m sure I recognise one of them. I am temporarily convinced that their drummer is actually the guitarist from the band 'Concept', who is supposed to be studying Spanish guitar in Spain no less. I get a little excited at the prospect of serious gossip, before someone says they’re from the same university as me. That’ll be it then, they’re on my course. It’s a small world!! They do their soundcheck and it’s pretty good, I’m looking forward to their set. We head up for our soundcheck as more people arrive to see us, Ian of 'Good Intentions' turns up, which is really appreciated. After a bit of tweaking, with plenty of audience participation - ‘turn the bass down, turn the guitar up, turn the guitar down’ (we discovered Sid doesn’t understand the concept of ‘a little bit’) and we’re ready to go. A quick trip to the bar, greeting of friends and some panicked repairing of my shoulder rest with a screwdriver and some gaffer tape and we’re sorted.
The set goes well, with no major hitches, in spite of the gremlins that become evident later. Evidently Sid’s faces kept them hiding behind the skirting board for our set! I keep getting distracted by the TV in the corner, and several times realise that although I’m singing I have absolutely no idea where in the song I am, what I have been singing and what comes next. It’s not just food, it’s M&S food, and it looks sooo good up there on the TV, even with the sound turned down. I’m wishing I’d had a bigger supper and trying to remember that nowhere in any of Sid’s lyrics does the phrase ‘white chocolate soufflé’ appear. Darn it! ‘Depression is a wah wah wah’ ('....Young Persons Art Form' ! Tut tut ! - Ed) goes down well, as usual, with my repetitive violin lines leaving plenty of time for advert watching, and we’re done. We head back to our seats to watch 'The Nominees'. At this point, rather embarrassingly, the reasonably sized audience that had amassed to watch us disappear. All of them. Ah well, we were there to play, not supply the audience, but it’s a shame that there aren’t more people there to watch 'The Nominees'.
The lead singer does a bit of solo stuff first, just him and his guitar, which is OK, but I definitely preferred the full band stuff. Their set starts well, with the song they played in the soundcheck which I really quite liked. Then disaster strikes. The singer/guitarist breaks a string. No problem though, he’s got a spare. He grabs the spare and disappears. The band strike up ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ to entertain us while we wait. None of them are singing. Sid twists Ben’s very very rubbery arm and he leaps to his feet and heads to the free mic. He sings along, rather well really, but don’t tell him I said that! When he runs out of words he knows he reluctantly heads back to his seat. The guitarist still hasn’t reappeared. Apparently the guitar isn’t in tune. The obvious answer would be to tune it, but I wasn’t there, so it may have been more complicated than that…. The band are still waiting and starting to look desperate. They’ve really done ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ to death. They look at each other and start in on ‘Johnny B Goode’. I suspect there may have been a spring of some sort in Ben’s seat, because I didn’t actually see him go past me he moved so quickly! He starts singing again and the band look truly grateful. Then he starts touching the pocket with the harmonica in it, and looking suspiciously at the bassist to try and work out the key. It’s A. Ben’s smiling and cracks out what can only be described as a storming harmonica solo. The rest of the band are smiling now too! There is a slightly sticky moment when Ben is still singing and the lead guitarist is trying to play a solo at the same time, but the singer/guitarist has now borrowed Sid’s spare guitar and is looking ready to rejoin the band. They come to a mighty tidy finish and Ben resumes his seat, with cries of ‘is your middle name ‘saviour?’’ coming from the band. We tell Ben he’s rubbish to make sure his head doesn’t get too big!
Sadly at this point the gremlins have still not been frightened back behind the skirting, and the power cable to the lead guitarist’s amp decides it doesn’t like staying where it should. They carry on regardless, to rapidly increasing faces (and sounds) of frustration from the guitarist. No one likes gremlins, they should stay in the skirting, but it happens to us all sometimes and 'The Nominees' coped admirably. Sid’s obviously started making faces again, and they finally get through their last couple of songs without any hitches.
The only thing left to do is get home. We head back to my car and George explains that he’s sitting in the front. Sid and Mark look sceptically at the space left in the back seat once the car’s loaded. To be fair there isn’t very much. I think it’s funny, George thinks it’s funny. Sid and Mark? Not so amused methinks!! They manage to squish in as George directs me home. He gives up with directions such as ‘left’ and ‘right’ pretty quickly and resorts to just flicking my indicators for me, so I know which way to go. It worked, and I deliver Mark and Sid to their houses before we head home. 'Brassneck', once again tired and happy.
Kat
Recording – No Machine Studios, Wokingham, 08/02/09. Sid's Tour Diary.
So, our debut recorded ep ‘That’s What Thinking Does’ has served it’s purpose, it got our name out there and got us plenty of gigs. Now, 9 months later, it’s time to do some more recording. We have better songs and are tighter as a band unit. This is good. We do have an imminent free recording session in Redhill to look forward to, but one day is not quite enough, we want to do more. So, Ben books us in to ‘No Machine Studios’ to record a track as a trial run.
Mark, Kat and I arrive slightly early, which is great, as we have no real idea where we’re going and can’t seem to find the place anywhere. We have the address, we have a sat-nav, but all we find is locked gates and lots of units without any signs on them ! Mark stops the car, jumps out and asks a nearby welder to be told ‘yeah, it’s just there !’ to which we pull up, and, “as if by magic the shop-keeper appears” when the studios’ owner / engineer Neil steps out and greets us from one of the units. Now it all becomes clear. Bass-player-Neil’s arrived as well now, but still no sign of Ben as of yet, the only person to have been here before. Typical ! He does arrive after we’ve finished unloading though ! Typical ! We let him off though, when he offers to go to the shop for essentials while Engineer-Neil and Mark set up the drums.
“What’s the song called ?” asks Engineer-Neil. “Sid ?” cries everyone in unison, looking my way. “Depression Is A Young Persons Art Form” I reply. He gulps and types in “DIAYPAF” into his computer. Hmph !
A couple of warm-ups later and 2 or 3 takes and the drums are done. What ? It’s never normally this easy ! Instead of persisting until we’d got a complete take in one-go Engineer-Neil picks a good one and touches that up instead. A bass-drum moved slightly more in-time here, a snare there. Done. Too easy. Sounding really good too. Mark then lays down a couple of percussion and extra drum bits on top. This is sounding ace. Most of “Brassneck” are smiling. It must be good. It gets better too, Bass-player-Neil’s bass-take was good as well. So, no need for massive over-dubs or drop-ins there. Shall we go to the pub ? No, seriously.
I’m up next, just 2 guitar parts and I’ve only brought 2 guitars with me. Less really is more sometimes. The ‘clean’ guitar part is completed on the second take and my Rickenbacker has none of it’s tuning problems that we had at the last recording session. Probably due to the fact that ‘No Machine’ is a lovely studio without any temperature extremes like we experienced before. A Slightly heavier sound used for the outro riffs and a ‘whack-everything-up-to-11-and-stand-in-front-of-the-amp-til-it-distorts-and-feeds-back’ sound used for the very end and I’m done. Get in !
Ben’s up next, strumming his acoustic to give the recording a real warm feel to it. Now we really can hear how this song is building.
Kat then duly takes her acoustic violin in and lays down her two, repetitive-but-very-effective, parts. The song is starting to sound dark and maudlin in some places, uplifting and bright in others. Perfect.
We’re still not quite at the vocal stage yet because Ben’s back again, this time recording his harmonica solo for the middle eight. What a solo it is too. Bass-player-Neil and I look at each other in the control room and say “Wow, Ben really can play that thing !” Although the song is 7 and a half minutes long none of the band members have ever realised this until we timed it recently. It has everything in it and is never dull. We all thought it was only around 5 minutes long !
So, next up it’s vocal time and Ben goes in first. “Just remember it’s ‘came’ and not ‘come’ I shout at him”, The rest of the band look at me like I’m a freak and Ben mumbles “Words, schmurds !” to himself as he ambles in to the vocal booth. It’s all key I’m my book. Anyway, again, the lead vocal is laid down in only 2 takes but the outro long-notes take a while longer to get right. Understandable when you hear it, this is why when we play it live Ben normally feels faint afterwards. He really does go for it at the end. The ‘spoken word’ part in the middle is then recorded on a separate track and sounds menacing and sinister, just what I imagined ! Just wait ‘til you hear Ben breathe the word “Eh ?” !!
Finally Kat and Bass-player-Neil lay down some backing vocals which are double-tracked and heavy on nice-ness. Then we just have time to add our amazing intro effects of modem, rain and spoken word quotes. Then, that’s it. Engineer-Neil has been doing amazing job of tidying things up as he went along and mixing it as he went along too. We’re all very happy. A great days work. Personally one of the best recording sessions I’ve been involved in for a long while. And so, we’re booked to go back again on 22nd February to record the second track for our eagerly awaited next ep ‘With Something Amiss’. Keep your eyes and ears open. It will all be coming to a cd player near you, soon.
Sid.
Mark, Kat and I arrive slightly early, which is great, as we have no real idea where we’re going and can’t seem to find the place anywhere. We have the address, we have a sat-nav, but all we find is locked gates and lots of units without any signs on them ! Mark stops the car, jumps out and asks a nearby welder to be told ‘yeah, it’s just there !’ to which we pull up, and, “as if by magic the shop-keeper appears” when the studios’ owner / engineer Neil steps out and greets us from one of the units. Now it all becomes clear. Bass-player-Neil’s arrived as well now, but still no sign of Ben as of yet, the only person to have been here before. Typical ! He does arrive after we’ve finished unloading though ! Typical ! We let him off though, when he offers to go to the shop for essentials while Engineer-Neil and Mark set up the drums.
“What’s the song called ?” asks Engineer-Neil. “Sid ?” cries everyone in unison, looking my way. “Depression Is A Young Persons Art Form” I reply. He gulps and types in “DIAYPAF” into his computer. Hmph !
A couple of warm-ups later and 2 or 3 takes and the drums are done. What ? It’s never normally this easy ! Instead of persisting until we’d got a complete take in one-go Engineer-Neil picks a good one and touches that up instead. A bass-drum moved slightly more in-time here, a snare there. Done. Too easy. Sounding really good too. Mark then lays down a couple of percussion and extra drum bits on top. This is sounding ace. Most of “Brassneck” are smiling. It must be good. It gets better too, Bass-player-Neil’s bass-take was good as well. So, no need for massive over-dubs or drop-ins there. Shall we go to the pub ? No, seriously.
I’m up next, just 2 guitar parts and I’ve only brought 2 guitars with me. Less really is more sometimes. The ‘clean’ guitar part is completed on the second take and my Rickenbacker has none of it’s tuning problems that we had at the last recording session. Probably due to the fact that ‘No Machine’ is a lovely studio without any temperature extremes like we experienced before. A Slightly heavier sound used for the outro riffs and a ‘whack-everything-up-to-11-and-stand-in-front-of-the-amp-til-it-distorts-and-feeds-back’ sound used for the very end and I’m done. Get in !
Ben’s up next, strumming his acoustic to give the recording a real warm feel to it. Now we really can hear how this song is building.
Kat then duly takes her acoustic violin in and lays down her two, repetitive-but-very-effective, parts. The song is starting to sound dark and maudlin in some places, uplifting and bright in others. Perfect.
We’re still not quite at the vocal stage yet because Ben’s back again, this time recording his harmonica solo for the middle eight. What a solo it is too. Bass-player-Neil and I look at each other in the control room and say “Wow, Ben really can play that thing !” Although the song is 7 and a half minutes long none of the band members have ever realised this until we timed it recently. It has everything in it and is never dull. We all thought it was only around 5 minutes long !
So, next up it’s vocal time and Ben goes in first. “Just remember it’s ‘came’ and not ‘come’ I shout at him”, The rest of the band look at me like I’m a freak and Ben mumbles “Words, schmurds !” to himself as he ambles in to the vocal booth. It’s all key I’m my book. Anyway, again, the lead vocal is laid down in only 2 takes but the outro long-notes take a while longer to get right. Understandable when you hear it, this is why when we play it live Ben normally feels faint afterwards. He really does go for it at the end. The ‘spoken word’ part in the middle is then recorded on a separate track and sounds menacing and sinister, just what I imagined ! Just wait ‘til you hear Ben breathe the word “Eh ?” !!
Finally Kat and Bass-player-Neil lay down some backing vocals which are double-tracked and heavy on nice-ness. Then we just have time to add our amazing intro effects of modem, rain and spoken word quotes. Then, that’s it. Engineer-Neil has been doing amazing job of tidying things up as he went along and mixing it as he went along too. We’re all very happy. A great days work. Personally one of the best recording sessions I’ve been involved in for a long while. And so, we’re booked to go back again on 22nd February to record the second track for our eagerly awaited next ep ‘With Something Amiss’. Keep your eyes and ears open. It will all be coming to a cd player near you, soon.
Sid.
The Maltings, Farnham, 06/02/09. Mark's Tour Diary.
Damn, I’m writing the blog on the way to a gig nearly a week later in the back of Kat's car. Well, I must admit it’s hard to remember it all but i'll give it a go.
It’s a Friday night and Karen is able to make the gig with me which is good for a change. We make our way to Farnham in the snow and when we get to The Maltings we discover the car park is like an ice rink. After one attempt of moving my bass drum across the car park to the venue and nearly falling flat on my arse I decide I am gonna back the car up right outside the door. It’s nice and early as I’m providing the kit tonight and wanted to get it set up properly in time for the other bands.
Around half six the rest of the band turn up and we get straight up for a soundcheck, all sounds good. So we chill out ready for the other bands and slowly people start to arrive. This venue is always really good and tonight I think is going to be no exception. It’s great that people have made the effort to come and see us, even in the bad weather.
Well, 'Thinking for Tuesday' are on stage and they sound good, we have played with these guys before so it was good to see how far they have come on.
Shortly after their set we are up. Whilst I’m setting up the kit the compere decides to try and tell some jokes which I’m sure everyone will agree were the biggest pile of shit you have ever heard. Then, whilst still setting up some crazy old guy gets on the stage and starts singing, which was odd to say the least, but yet more entertaining than the compere. We have a 20 min set tonight so we are straight in with 'Sensitive But A Bit Of A 'Rong 'Un' and 'Treasure It Because You Care, Natasha'. These sounded great apart from the slight technical hitches of the acoustic guitar cutting out, my drums moving around on stage and Sid accidently unplugging his guitar whilst jumping around. We finish with our usual 'Depression is a young something or other' as Kat puts it. ('Depression Is A Young Persons Art Form' - Ed !). What a great anthem and great response as usual from family and friends.
We are followed by a young up and coming band called 'Eddys Lane' who seem ok, young but they were ok. And then Julia K the headline took the stage for a great end to the evening. This was the first time I have ever seen her play and I must say I really enjoyed the set and great vocals. They also decided to nab Kat for 1 song to help them along and unfortunately Julia forgot to sing the song to Kat before she got on stage, so Kat was a little confused, but Neil came to the rescue holding up the chords on the back of some paper for her to barely see across the room !
Thanks 'Yellow Tambourine' for a well organised night once again!
Mark
It’s a Friday night and Karen is able to make the gig with me which is good for a change. We make our way to Farnham in the snow and when we get to The Maltings we discover the car park is like an ice rink. After one attempt of moving my bass drum across the car park to the venue and nearly falling flat on my arse I decide I am gonna back the car up right outside the door. It’s nice and early as I’m providing the kit tonight and wanted to get it set up properly in time for the other bands.
Around half six the rest of the band turn up and we get straight up for a soundcheck, all sounds good. So we chill out ready for the other bands and slowly people start to arrive. This venue is always really good and tonight I think is going to be no exception. It’s great that people have made the effort to come and see us, even in the bad weather.
Well, 'Thinking for Tuesday' are on stage and they sound good, we have played with these guys before so it was good to see how far they have come on.
Shortly after their set we are up. Whilst I’m setting up the kit the compere decides to try and tell some jokes which I’m sure everyone will agree were the biggest pile of shit you have ever heard. Then, whilst still setting up some crazy old guy gets on the stage and starts singing, which was odd to say the least, but yet more entertaining than the compere. We have a 20 min set tonight so we are straight in with 'Sensitive But A Bit Of A 'Rong 'Un' and 'Treasure It Because You Care, Natasha'. These sounded great apart from the slight technical hitches of the acoustic guitar cutting out, my drums moving around on stage and Sid accidently unplugging his guitar whilst jumping around. We finish with our usual 'Depression is a young something or other' as Kat puts it. ('Depression Is A Young Persons Art Form' - Ed !). What a great anthem and great response as usual from family and friends.
We are followed by a young up and coming band called 'Eddys Lane' who seem ok, young but they were ok. And then Julia K the headline took the stage for a great end to the evening. This was the first time I have ever seen her play and I must say I really enjoyed the set and great vocals. They also decided to nab Kat for 1 song to help them along and unfortunately Julia forgot to sing the song to Kat before she got on stage, so Kat was a little confused, but Neil came to the rescue holding up the chords on the back of some paper for her to barely see across the room !
Thanks 'Yellow Tambourine' for a well organised night once again!
Mark
The Hope & Anchor, Islington, London, 20/01/09. Neil's Tour Diary.
Somehow I manage to drive from home to Islington in under an hour and a half and even manage to park outside the venue and NOT get a parking ticket. It’s a bloody miracle! The rest of The Neck, in Ben’s hearse, also manage to get there in good time, just before me. They then go and get coffees for themselves. But not for me. Even though they know full well I’ll be there on time. I could murder a coffee. Bastards.
The Hope & Anchor has a significant musical heritage. It was one of the first pubs to embrace the emergent, but brief, phenomenon of pub rock in the 1970s, and subsequently became a leading venue for the punk movement. Apparently, ‘The Stranglers’ even recorded a whole live album there. That was all 30 or more years ago, of course, but it still has a good reputation for live music.
The part where all the musical shenanigans takes place is the basement - a small room, half of which appears to be taken up by two enormous PA cabinets. I think it could get mighty loud down there. It’s also pretty warm, and even Kat takes her coat off. Until now I’d assumed she was sewn into it from October to April. Kevin, the sound man, initially appears ruthlessly efficient, but when he realises (rightly or wrongly) that we’re not complete idiots he lightens up somewhat. He also seems to know what he’s doing, which is refreshing.
While Kevin sets up, we make for the bar. The barmaid says we can have anything as long as it doesn’t contain ice or Jack Daniels. Naturally, we proceed to order four pints of ice and a JD on the rocks. We’re so funny. The soundcheck goes well and it seems that it won’t be as skull-crushingly loud as feared, which is nice. We stow our gear in an adjacent store room, which is covered in past bands’ graffiti. Surprisingly, we can’t find a single name we’ve actually heard of, so we decide to remedy this situation by adding our own historic mark to the masonry. Sid scrawls ‘BRASSNECK’ above the door. We tell him he should add the date for posterity. ‘BRASSNECK DATE’, he writes, but before we can tell him what today is, he’s already completed the inscription – ‘BRASSNECK DATE BOYS’. D’oh!
We now have two and a half hours to kill until we’re onstage at 10pm, so we retire to the upstairs pool room. Now me, I’m allergic to any kind of sporting activity, even pub games, so I sit this out and pass the time by starting this here blog while the others play doubles and drink pop. (Shouldn’t this be the other way around?)
Eventually, it’s time for the first act. David Carroll is an Irishman from Paris, with a cowboy hat and matching cowboy facial hair. He executes a solo acoustic set of witty songs, with, to my ears, more than a hint of Neil Young about his style. I can’t help but warm to the man when he performs a Darwinist, atheist rock song in praise of Lucy the Australopithecus. Smart! Carroll’s MySpace tunes reveal that there’s a fair bit more to him than the country-folk tinged style we’re hearing tonight – well worth a listen – http://www.myspace.com/migratingfellows
The next band on is ‘Appi’. They have three (count ’em) guitarists and no (don’t count ’em) vocals, and have earlier declared to Kevin the sound man that they are ‘quite loud’. You might say that, rather than being slaves to the conventions of traditional pop, they are sonic pioneers, pushing back the musical boundaries and bravely coaxing free-form impressionistic landscapes of sound from their instruments. YOU might say that - I wouldn’t. I would say they were more from the ‘ooh-look-at-me-I’ve-got-a-big-FX-rack-and-an-even-bigger-amplifier-and-I-think-I’m-whatsisface-out-of-Radiohead-but-without-any-of-the-talent’ school of dead boring empty-space rock. That’s just my opinion, of course, but you’re quite entitled to it. They also didn’t particularly endear themselves to us with their attitude. We kindly let them use our bass amp and drum kit. Don’t mention it, lads! Oh… you didn’t. Instead you’ve thrashed the living daylights out of our gear without so much as a thank you. Kids today, eh?
Finally it’s our turn. The set passes lightning fast and without major incident - I think we play pretty well and it feels good ’n’ tight. As usual, ‘Depression is a Young Person’s Art Form’ seems to mightily impress the small, but perfectly formed audience. We’ve only recently realised that it clocks in at around 7 minutes 30. I can’t really work out why, but it feels like about half that length, and just flies by.
So that’s it. It’s goodnight from us and time to pack up and wend our weary way home. I’ll leave you with a little reminder of the Hope & Anchor’s glory days, courtesy of Guildford’s finest, ‘The Stranglers’. Enjoy!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CBKb0iZSTfo
Neil.
The Hope & Anchor has a significant musical heritage. It was one of the first pubs to embrace the emergent, but brief, phenomenon of pub rock in the 1970s, and subsequently became a leading venue for the punk movement. Apparently, ‘The Stranglers’ even recorded a whole live album there. That was all 30 or more years ago, of course, but it still has a good reputation for live music.
The part where all the musical shenanigans takes place is the basement - a small room, half of which appears to be taken up by two enormous PA cabinets. I think it could get mighty loud down there. It’s also pretty warm, and even Kat takes her coat off. Until now I’d assumed she was sewn into it from October to April. Kevin, the sound man, initially appears ruthlessly efficient, but when he realises (rightly or wrongly) that we’re not complete idiots he lightens up somewhat. He also seems to know what he’s doing, which is refreshing.
While Kevin sets up, we make for the bar. The barmaid says we can have anything as long as it doesn’t contain ice or Jack Daniels. Naturally, we proceed to order four pints of ice and a JD on the rocks. We’re so funny. The soundcheck goes well and it seems that it won’t be as skull-crushingly loud as feared, which is nice. We stow our gear in an adjacent store room, which is covered in past bands’ graffiti. Surprisingly, we can’t find a single name we’ve actually heard of, so we decide to remedy this situation by adding our own historic mark to the masonry. Sid scrawls ‘BRASSNECK’ above the door. We tell him he should add the date for posterity. ‘BRASSNECK DATE’, he writes, but before we can tell him what today is, he’s already completed the inscription – ‘BRASSNECK DATE BOYS’. D’oh!
We now have two and a half hours to kill until we’re onstage at 10pm, so we retire to the upstairs pool room. Now me, I’m allergic to any kind of sporting activity, even pub games, so I sit this out and pass the time by starting this here blog while the others play doubles and drink pop. (Shouldn’t this be the other way around?)
Eventually, it’s time for the first act. David Carroll is an Irishman from Paris, with a cowboy hat and matching cowboy facial hair. He executes a solo acoustic set of witty songs, with, to my ears, more than a hint of Neil Young about his style. I can’t help but warm to the man when he performs a Darwinist, atheist rock song in praise of Lucy the Australopithecus. Smart! Carroll’s MySpace tunes reveal that there’s a fair bit more to him than the country-folk tinged style we’re hearing tonight – well worth a listen – http://www.myspace.com/migratingfellows
The next band on is ‘Appi’. They have three (count ’em) guitarists and no (don’t count ’em) vocals, and have earlier declared to Kevin the sound man that they are ‘quite loud’. You might say that, rather than being slaves to the conventions of traditional pop, they are sonic pioneers, pushing back the musical boundaries and bravely coaxing free-form impressionistic landscapes of sound from their instruments. YOU might say that - I wouldn’t. I would say they were more from the ‘ooh-look-at-me-I’ve-got-a-big-FX-rack-and-an-even-bigger-amplifier-and-I-think-I’m-whatsisface-out-of-Radiohead-but-without-any-of-the-talent’ school of dead boring empty-space rock. That’s just my opinion, of course, but you’re quite entitled to it. They also didn’t particularly endear themselves to us with their attitude. We kindly let them use our bass amp and drum kit. Don’t mention it, lads! Oh… you didn’t. Instead you’ve thrashed the living daylights out of our gear without so much as a thank you. Kids today, eh?
Finally it’s our turn. The set passes lightning fast and without major incident - I think we play pretty well and it feels good ’n’ tight. As usual, ‘Depression is a Young Person’s Art Form’ seems to mightily impress the small, but perfectly formed audience. We’ve only recently realised that it clocks in at around 7 minutes 30. I can’t really work out why, but it feels like about half that length, and just flies by.
So that’s it. It’s goodnight from us and time to pack up and wend our weary way home. I’ll leave you with a little reminder of the Hope & Anchor’s glory days, courtesy of Guildford’s finest, ‘The Stranglers’. Enjoy!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CBKb0iZSTfo
Neil.
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