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Day 1 - 27th October 2005
Lancaster University
"The Grad Bar"
Following the previous night's jamming, the plan was for us all to hook up at 219SR at 9.30am on Thursday in time to hit the road by about half ten - on top of the band we had two travelling companions - Alan Harvey, top bloke and writer for Blues Matters! mag, and Cat, Fox's bird, also along for the ride. Consequently fitting all the gear into 2 cars was, as you'd expect, something of a challenge! Suffice to say, no amount of Tetris mastery was able to squeeze everything into just the two, and so as the cheapest available supplement, Marc's mighty Yaris was drafted in too. Cecil the Skoda performed admirably, swallowing Pumperloaf, Fox, and Cat, plus mine and Marc's full guitar rigs; Mama F's VW Tourbus took on both myself and the Lunachick, all the PA, drumkit, and Fox's full bass rig too, with all the luggage being taken by the roofbox, overflowing into "Le Petit Yaris".
Marc being Marc, and wanting to make a quick getaway, set off ahead with Alan Harvey - quick as a flash and before I had a chance to say the word "Convoi" - leaving myself and Pumperloaf to steer our respective wagons (both handling at this point like overweight blancmanges) onto the M3, through the M25 (predictably bunged), onto the M1 (predictably bunged) and then onto the M6 (also predictably bunged). Stopping at the end of the M6 toll, I remembered to buy some batteries and handed over to Hayden something incredibly special... that's right, I had bought a pair of Walkie Talkies the night before, which to be fair were an absolute godsend. The rest of the journey (read: weekend) was therefore spent talking gibberish in a Smokey and The Bandit style, complete with "closing the back door" and "giving the honkey something to remember" (in this case, the honkey being a Zafira driven by a first class bastard) - and all the while delta two zero was "coming through 30,000 heavy, over" of course. Roger. Not just a gimmick, these were really a complete result and meant the rest of the journey seemed to last about 1/2 an hour!
We arrived at the Grad Bar at about 6ish to find that Lancaster University is really a very modern thing - seemingly plonked onto a hill side more or less as a fully formed unit. While this means it's very clean and very fresh, there wasn't much charm or character to be found in the buildings surrounding us. The venue for the gig itself was a smallish student bar with a raised stage and surprisingly active acoustics. A gig for Hayden to chill at perhaps! Not likely! In the end the acoustics actually worked pretty well in our favour I think - a smidge of bass and both guitars in the PA, and we were laughing.
Predictably, the beer was laughably cheap (I bought a whole round for the band + extras, cost £6.50!) and the atmosphere suitably informal - a nice gathering had already appeared before we even played a note. It's fair to say we weren't really sure what to expect from the crowd; despite being booked nominally as a blues band, it was clear from the off that the more we funked and the more we rocked, the better the reception. And so, rock we did. Worked up quite a sweat in fact! I can't say enough how good the crowd were, really into what we were doing and totally supportive of our style. Playing gigs as often as I do to middle-aged blues club clientele (not knocking it - they were the guys who followed the british blues rock boom from the 60s when they started, it's still very much "owned" by their generation) I saw these students' reactions as being a totally encouraging vindication that we are really onto something here. So, the more uni gigs we can get, the better!
And of course, being a uni gig, the LOF was great too!
After a fairly heavy encore of Layla - during the coda of which I was lucky enough to pop a B string - there was a very swift tear down of the gear (*now* the Tetris king was coming into play!), much congratulatory banter and backslapping all round on a job well done, before we all piled into our cars and headed for Emmett Mansions down in Preston, where our new mate Barry put in a good justification for winning the coveted man of the match award (or man of the tour in fact) - beers in the fridge, wine open, pizza's in the oven, comfortable beds and showers - a complete legend as it happens and worthy of as much praise and gratitude as I can possibly cram into one poxy little gig report. As any gigging musician will know, decent and friendly accomodation is like gold dust, and to be put up by a gentleman such as Barry is a complete godsend... you really are the man, Barry!
And so, smiles on our faces, we all hit the sack and blissfully fell asleep looking forward to the next day - a return trip up to Barrow to play The Duke of Edinburgh.
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Day 2 - 28th October 2005
Barrow in Furness
"The Duke of Edinburgh"
Waking up to the sweet smell of fry up on Friday morning was a really unexpected luxury! Everyone had time to shower and get cleaned up before coming downstairs to find a spread that the local Little Chef would probably kill to learn how to do properly. Spicy Tomatoes, Sausages, Marmalade, Toast, Eggs, Bacon, Yoghurt, Cereal, Tea, Orange Juice... actually I'm typing this at 4pm yet still salivating at the prospect. Delicious, and as usual not knowing when our next big fill up would be, we scoffed the lot. Awesome!
One small photoshoot and milk donation later (more about the milk later!) and we were back on our way - northbound up the M6 to Barrow - really one of the more picturesque drives to a gig that I ever have, the Lake District is a beautiful place to be. 90 minutes of walkie talkie nonsense, the blink of an eye really, and there we were, cruising gently down the hill into Barrow (both myself and Hayden at this point marvelling at the joys of VW TDI engines) - too early really as there was noone at the Duke yet, leaving us to go down into town and wander around the shops for a while. The Lunachick and I got kitten stuff (as a postscript I must say that I could spend HOURS watching the mittens playing on their frame!) and played like kids on the walkie talkies (apologies to anyone who heard any strange noises coming out of Pumperloaf's back pocket in Tescos), Fox and Cat went for a wander into town, and we generally just milled about for a bit. That's the thing about going on the road, there really is a lot of just milling about to be done!
Eventually it got round to 3pm and we headed back up to the Duke to find the Landlady had arrived and we could load the gear in. Swiftly done, Marc arriving once again about 30 seconds after the really heavy lifting is done, the gear swiftly set up, and then more milling about; this time at the pool table where, for the first of several times through the weekend, it was ascertained that Marc is officially a "lucky git" (or "monsieur le jammy bastard" in French). That is to say, he fluked his way through about 5 games of pool on the trot, all the while sinking a glass of red wine here and a glass there, until the bottle was empty. Take him on at your peril! You will lose!
A bite to eat grabbed at the local wetherspoons, positions resumed at the Duke, and all of a sudden we were running late and it was time to play! It was particularly nice to see both Gaz and Christine Moore who had travelled a long way to see us - great to have some friendly faces there - and it was also great to have the pub pretty well packed right from the word go. Normally it is empty for the first set, but this time it was well stuffed from the off.
Being honest however I would say that this was perhaps not the most happening gig musically. Really, it was Lorna's night - Marc and I didn't really "get our groove on" at all, for whatever reason, and I think Hayden and Fox were struggling with a combination of fatigue and stage volume a little bit (perhaps with hearing us or each other - it just wasn't a very tight gig). This left the Lunachick to up her ante to compensate really, which she did very well - as I said this was her night to shine and shine she did. Really kicking vocals tonight... now if I can only surreptitiously lose the mic stand from my car... (I'll get in trouble for that I'm sure!) - either way, all in all it was not such a good gig for us, certainly not as good as the last time we were there, during which we really had the audience eating out the palm of our hand. This time I didn't quite get the feeling they were into it as much as I'd hoped.
That said, everyone was very complimentary afterwards, and both Bill and Joyce sold a LOT of CDs - so who knows, perhaps my perception is off kilter a bit? It's difficult to tell sometimes - maybe they just weren't the most energetic of audiences? Maybe we really just weren't bluesy enough? Maybe we really just weren't playing tightly enough? Perhaps it was just that the previous night was so hard to top? Either way, these things are all relative, and it was still a fun night and of course I'm still looking forward to our next visit to Barrow!
One of the best things about the Duke is actually that although you have to finish by half midnight, the bar keeps serving until 2am, and there's no obligation to pack up the gear until the following morning. Consequently we had a great bar-based debrief before moving back up to Fox and Cat's room, where we dined on some rather tasty wine and cheese, followed by lemon cheesecake or ham rolls if we preferred, before hitting the sack, zonked, and looking forward to an early start and long drive down to Norwich for Saturday... bring it on!
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Day 3 - 29th October 2005
Norwich
"The Shed"
While the two touring couples (myself and the Lunachick + Fox and Cat) both woke up to relatively luxurious settings, our three solo travellers were not so fortunate - it must be said that if you were a paying customer at the Duke, the top floor would honestly be one left avoided if possible! I think the pint Pumperloaf found in his bedroom was probably in fact the one I left there when I had the same bedroom last time we were in town! *But* that said, the roof and warmth are free and as such are not to be knocked!
When 9.30am rolled around, I was pretty shocked to come downstairs to find nearly everyone down and already packing up - thought it'd be much harder than that! With Marc again displaying his typical talent for arriving about 30 seconds after all the really heavy lifting is done, everything was packed and we were ready to set off - leaving in fact 10 minutes earlier than my estimated half ten departure. Ace! Some inspired Bertha usage saw us nicely bypassing some traffic jams on the little country lanes winding through the Lake District, and soon enough we were back on the M6, heading southbound and waffling more nonsense on the walkie talkies. Ten four good buddy! Cruise Control engaged! Geek heaven I'm sure. So sitting at 60 and taking it nice and slow (a medium pace, perhaps) we settled down for the long haul. M6, M62, A1(M), A17 to Sleaford - at which point it was time to stop for a spot of late lunch - another Wetherspoons in Sleaford town centre (just over the road from the "spaedo trap" plod van) and more Chicken in Jim Beam sauce (hmmmm). Walking back to the car we stopped to look at an estate agent by the car park. It must be said, we here in London are being royally ripped a new one as far as house prices go. For example, out in the countryside near Sleaford, £300k buys you a new 5 double bedroom house with double garage, huge garden, summer house (studio potential?!?) and lakeside view, in an acre of land. Contrast with anywhere inside the M25 where 300k buys you a small 2 bedroom flat if you're lucky. Really made us all wonder why we are so attached to living here?
Thinking caps removed and we were duly back motoring again, 100 miles to go (A47 - roadworks hell!) - blink and you'd miss it - we're rolling into Norwich, arriving at "The Shed" at about 6.30ish - exactly as I'd predicted! Result - I'm getting good at this planning malarky!
A very quick set up of the gear (35 minutes top to tail - has to be a record) and I spend a few minutes outside trying to figure out why Cecil has developed such a stink - popular consensus it is the cheese or biscuits, or some oil from Cat's olives which apparently fell over (tho none fell out of the bag) - so all bags of food are duly removed and placed in the roofbox on my the Mamabus for safe keeping and to prevent further stinkage! Marvellous, everyone happy and problem solved. Apparently!
A few short beers later and it was time to kick off the set - with some trepidation I might add! With no rehearsal it was really something of a gamble for us to take this gig, but since our previously booked appearance at The Navy Club in Maryport had been cancelled, we would either do this, or find somewhere to chill out and party. In the end Ryan kindly offered me the gig and I decided it'd be worth doing. As it happens, I'm really very glad I did! Although at times it felt like we were caged animals (the noise limiter enforced by the local council is set really very comically low) it made us really think about how we approach our material on the fly. Lorna for example did "jazz it up" a storm - and it gave her a load of extra space to work. More room to maneuvre with her voice, and it sounded great. Marc was also totally in his element - where I was a little uncomfortable not playing with a boatload of gain and not being able to feel the guitar talk back to me, his experience of playing in Paris jazz clubs really shone out here; playing our songs that way really is his natural idiom. To be honest I would have quite happily sat back and played no solos all night really, there wasn't much to add. Alan Harvey took some video clips that when I get a second I might rip and put online - you'll see what I mean. He really cooked.
Also worth mentioning is that Pumperloaf did a superb job - quite a surprise to hear him funking it up with the brushes; it worked really well and made for a decent gig all round, mixed well with Fox's Columbian. Although I would have trouble denying that really I just like to rock out, every gig gets judged on its own merits and this one had plenty. Particularly fun was "infecting" the jazz with some soul!
Post gig we had some absolutely exceptional banter - namely with Mel and Chilli (I think I spelt that right!) and also Lee le le lee le lee lee lee lee leeeeee, who I possibly offended (yet he is a decent bloke and seemed to skim over the offence) by saying that I thought if he put some patches on his outfit he'd look just like a ghostbuster - at which point he turned his shoulder to reveal an eerily accurate Ghostbuster patch on his arm. Woops! I had just thought he was an electrician or miscellaneous strangely dressed person?!? I suppose the ISA Modem hanging off his utility belt should have given it away really - but anyway, much hugely entertaining chit chat later (incorporating some Zakk Wylde style posing - see left!) all was forgiven, many D quotes recalled, scary Jack Black grimaces posed, all was well with the world!
As the good folk of norfolk dispersed, we settled down for a decent run of drafts where once again "Monsieur Le Jammy Bastard" showed himself to be a complete git by trouncing all comers at drafts - until I managed to fluke a win (after, I suppose I should add, surreptitiously refilling Marc's wine glass to the point were total booze/blood saturation was achieved) - leaving Pumperloaf to do the same before I headed up to crawl into the sack in the wee small hours. What a fun evening!
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Day 4 - 30th October 2005
Banham
"The Banham Barrel"
"Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head"... Well apart from the comb bit, Lennon and McCartney were really quite on the ball! Waking up with a giant sized hangover, and in no rush to do the gear, we headed downstairs to find Ryan cleaning up, and measuring up to go and get a new bannister. No rest for the wicked says I - really there can be few more hard wearing jobs than pub landlord in the world, I make a small vow not to moan about work again (no doubt to be broken within the hour!) before attacking the PA, hungry to get it done asap and head out for a fry up!
With pinpoint precision, Marc once again appears 30 seconds after all the heavy lifting is done, the gear is all packed away, and once again I observe that Cecil stinks, and I mean really reeks, of a deeply unpleasant mixture of cowshit and baby puke - has anyone trod in poo or thrown up and said nothing I wonder aloud? I thought I had taken all the cheese out of the car the night before? Met with silence all round - ho hum thinks I, I wonder what that's all about. Anyway, more pressing things to worry about, namely breakfast! So we head into town, find the nearest greasy spoon, and treat ourselves to an absolutely pucker fry up. Just what the doctor ordered on such a beautiful morning! Cat not feeling too well, spends the time ensconced upstairs - Fox not far behind either, leaving the rest of us downstairs to natter and ponder life, the universe, and everything. Of course 42 minutes later it's time to go so we head back to the car, the Lunachick stopping to buy a Pumpkin, and then the convoi exceptionel is on the road again!
The Banham Barrel is only about 20 miles from The Shed so it was a nice easy drive over, in blazing sunshine and with music blaring - Radio 2 as usual and featuring a top form Parky - bonza! Arriving pretty early we had a few hours to mill about (again) and so mill about we did! More drafts (I lose, again, Quel Surprise!) - much scooping of the pumpkin by Lorna (same now christened Funkin the Pumpkin) - crosswords attacked, cocked up, beaten - punters arriving and the audience beginning to swell. The anticipation was quite palpable! It was very nice to see so many of the people that had been present at our last gig returning to see us again. I think the band has developed a fair bit since our last gig, so to see the same guys coming back (especially the young clan of prog rockers!) gave the gig a really cool vibe before we'd even started...
Marc collared (not getting away with it this time!) and it was time to start getting the gear in - once again set up in pleasingly quick time - 40 minutes all in. Not bad at all! At this point, as Cecil is open for amps to be retrieved, the smell from the back seat is now becoming quite overpowering, even from a distance. Suffice to say, a small exchange of words was had, courtesy of Lorna's apparently rather advanced sense of smell, and it was established that the source of the stink was because a to-be-unnamed member of our entourage had in fact spilt some milk over the floor the previous day, yet said nothing to me about it, nor admitted responsibility while standing next to me and watching as I hunted high and low for the source of the smell over the previous 24 hours. Thanks guys! Accidents happen but cover ups just suck - period. It's nice to trust someone with something you really cherish, and then have that trust met with smelly bullshit. How would it have been with the shoe on the other foot? Enough said.
On with the actual gig itself - and it was a real barnstormer, honestly. Easily the highlight of the week musically - Marc and I played off each other great and were just having a whale of a time - Hayden really kicked arse in a big way (awesome solo... gave the crowd exactly what they wanted) - Lorna was really in fine voice and rocked the frontline totally - and Fox held it down in his own usual way. All in all a fantastic gig that was met with a suitably fantastic crowd reaction. We sold a bunch more CDs and said hi to a load more people - again Alan Harvey filmed a few songs, which might make their way onto this DVD we're working on as extra tracks, or perhaps I'll put them online. It felt so good to play to guys who make us feel like they are our "home crowd" so to speak - people up dancing, making a noise, appreciating the quiet bits, digging the loud bits - and loving everything inbetween. Really, just a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Post gig, much more celebratory banter and backslapping all round between bandmembers - Alan Harvey joining in and really proving to have been a top bloke and fun tour companion all round. Beef rolls provided and a few drive-home-friendly J20's drunk. A relaxed load up and then Hayden, Fox and a very subdued Cat took off in Cecil to go via Ipswich and drop Alan Harvey off, with Lorna and I settling down for a chilled, contemplative and above all cogitative drive home (during which we played a mental game of join the dots), Marc following behind.
Eventually we got home, offloaded everything, a couple of beers were opened, and that was that. Cecil + occupants were not far behind, arriving to find me basically in a foul mood, and with a deeply sour taste in my mouth. It must be said, to anyone reading this - one of life's lessons that most people learn as children is of course that if you cock up - the sooner you apologise the easier it is. Accepting responsibility for your actions is something I thought most people learnt when they are 10 years old. It seems that's not always the case.
In the end, this was a great run of gigs - although for some reason as I fell asleep on Sunday night I found it really hard not to be disappointed with the sentiments I came away from it feeling. Hopefully the next one we do will be better - for this band to ever make it beyond the level we're at now we'll have to be able to trust and respect each other 110% - both on and off stage.
The music and the songs are great, though!
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