Band Practice

Warmed up with “Travelodge California” Hollies and Searchers medleys and this time we successfully recorded them and played through the Bose. It was very impressive and I was able to try out a few ideas, particularly the concept of mixing the vocals into both Bose - it worked well and I plan to add a small mixer to the Lexicon reverb rack to allow control over levels.

Started two new projects – the Queen Rock Champs medley and Shine by Take. They both showed promise but will need more than a weeks attention! I reworked the sets slightly for the weekend.

Trimingham Caravan Site

I had had a sense of impending doom all day, but it was only when Rocky and Claire called in about 4pm and asked if I knew the Galaxy had a flat tyre that things started to go wrong. Started to change the wheel with Rocky’s help but it was complex, so we ended up calling out the RAC to change the Galaxy wheel whilst I unloaded the gear into the Focus as my plan B. There was a surprising amount of room in the Focus, but I had to sacrifice a couple of things, including the 12 string. Got away at 5pm (the RAC came 10 minutes later apparently) and had a good run over to Trimingham arriving about 6:50 to find Nigel already there. Dave and Martin arrived a few minutes later and then we spotted Andy heading to the club and got the card key to get in the gates. It was a bit of a parking nightmare at the club and eventually Dave persuaded me to park on the paved area in front of the club, but it was very tight. We got the gear in OK, then ran into the next problem – the Bose towers were too tall to be on stage. So after a bit of a look at the problem we put them on the dance floor, one to each side surrounded by protective layers of drum cases etc. Couldn’t immediately power them up to test them because the next problem was the circuit breaker - which wasn’t working. Finally got it all going and decided to keep things minimalist = no strings, no switched reverb, no harmoniser. Despite the less than optimal placings of the Bose towers the sound was quite good. Of course it is very dry there and “what you hear is what you play”, so you have a big incentive to play it right! Surprisingly, by 8:30pm the place was getting quite busy and some of Dave’s mates arrived, including Sunny the talented guitarist with Mark James; so no pressure there then :-) Started set 1 as usual and all was fine with the banter and the on stage sound; although the guitar started to sound a bit brittle as the place filled up taking some of the top away and also I was behind the tower enough to hear more of the lo end frequencies from the guitar. Still the bantering was fine and we were confident enough to do the Hollies “Bus Stop – I’m Alive” which got a good response, but also a request from Andy at the bar to drop the volume. So we did back the Bose masters down a bit and that seemed to do the trick – but it does demonstrate how well the Bose were throwing the sound even when not optimally placed. We carried on right through most of the set to finish with “I Believe” which was OK despite no harmoniser or strings. It was in the break that a chap called Ben reminded me to play his request of “Sleepwalk” so I got the boys to open with that and we got through it fine. and straight into “Seasons of Gold” both going well and getting a good reception and a few people up and dancing as we went on. We played through to “Crazy Little Thing” and then did the Bay City sequence of “Shang – a – Lang and Bye Bye Baby” and finished off with a stringless “Love is All Around” Had a break. Sunny was on the way home but came over and said “he loved what we were doing” – he’s a nice boy! Started set 3 with “Travelodge California then I think we did “Walk Don’t Wipe Out”. Then it was 500 miles and a few dancy pieces to the end with “Unchained” at 5 past midnight. Despite all the doom problems we had had a good night and acquitted ourselves well. Then it was pack up, extricate the car and a rapid exit for me ‘cos I had Alicias’ wedding to go to in Sussex next morning. Got home suitably tired at 2:30am and, yes we had a great time at the wedding the next day!

Band Practice Skeyton

I had gone back to basics with the guitar sound in the week and removed all compression. These efforts definitely improved the sound and the playability of the guitar, so I was a lot happier during this rehearsal. The other thing I had done was to load the Lexicon MPX1 and the Axon string synth into a 19” rack case; so we could send an aux signal from both the Boses into the reverb and receive the reverbed signal back into the analogue input to the Bose tower. This allowed me to control it with a footswitch. I didn’t care for the string sound too much and might revert to the Roland? Gave Dave his Audix OM5, so we are now all on the same mics. We concentrated on the Hollies and Bay City Rollers medleys and agreed to give “Bus Stop – I’m Alive” and “Shang-a-Lang - Bye Bye Baby” a go at the weekend. Ran through “Sleepwalk” in preparation for Trimmingham. Dave would have a listen to “Here I Go Again” before the next practice.

Tyneside at Sheringham

Set off in good weather allowing plenty of time for a 1:30pm arrival. Only snag was I ran into long tailbacks at Swaffham and Fakenham. But I still managed to arrive at 1:40pm! Met up with Nigel and unloaded; Dave and Martin rolled up shortly after and we did a bit of clever parking round the back of the club. Dave’s parents and Jen / Laura arrived as we were setting up. It was a nice sunny day and there weren’t many in the club by the time we soundchecked. I was still operating with the brittle guitar sound of the night before, but it was OK at soundcheck so I resolved to sort it out in the week. We played much the usual sets and the sound and banter was generally good and reported as such by the audience. The raffle came and went and it was soon time for us to play our last song and sign off for the day. Had a good run back through Swaffham and home for 8:15pm

Trimingham Woodlands

New gig. Had an easy drive over in good travelling weather, dry with a mix of sun and clouds; and spotted the sign to turn right just before the radar station. It’s down a long drive which opens into a modern holiday park set in a wood. The club house is new and I got one of the staff to open the back door for us to get the gear through the dressing room and straight onto a good sized stage. . I got most of my gear in by the time Dave and Nigel arrived. There is a small dance floor then beyond that lots of tables for eating, and there were a fair few in eating as we set up with the new Bose gear. I was using my replacement Korg pedal with guessed settings in it, a Roland GR33 synth, and Audix OM5 microphone. I also issued Nige with an Audix OM5 (we are waiting for Dave’s to arrive, so he used his Shure Sm58 Beta A) We set the Bose’s up well back and Dave well forward. Needless to say it all took a bit of time to get working, but the vocal sound on stage was really very good. The guitar sound was brittle and remained so, but I need to work on that over a period of time. We warmed up with “I Feel Fine” and were told it was a bit loud, so we backed off the masters a bit, I put my show background MP3 on, and we settled down for a drink. Dave had some mates arrive to see the band and Jenny and Laura arrived for show time. We started off with the usual set 1. This went pretty well with good audience reaction and a relaxed “bantery” atmosphere on stage. The new Searchers medley went very well, the vocals sounded particularly good on “Sugar and Spice”. Had a break, Nige put on his MP3 for background. Then came back on for the usual set 2, with a return of “Seasons of Gold” to the set with “improved” vocals. We still got good audience reaction and this time we got a couple of dancers up. We played right thru the Rock’n’Roll finish to “Love is All Around”. Had another break and went on to play Set 3 through to midnight. We started with “Travel Lodge California” and the set went well enough right through to American Trilogy which got a rousing reception. To be fair I was struggling to play the solos with the brittle guitar sound but it didn’t put the audience off. Then we filled in a bit with “Bad Moon Rising” and “Dance the Night Away” before we were into the closing sequence; encoring with “Wonderful Tonight”. Despite the newness we were delighted with, and people complimented us on, the sound; in fact Steve had arrived for the start of set 3 and said he heard us start “Hotel California” at the bar and it sounded clear there and remained clear and balanced as he walked through to the front. A long pack up ‘cos I don’t know which leads go where; and then we set off with Dave in the lead the wrong way down a cart track. We had to reverse back in convoy, before finally getting underway. I followed Dave to North Walsham and then onto Norwich from there. It was kind of Dave to lead the way but I reckon I’d have been quicker going back through Cromer. Finally got in about 2:30am after taking a “short cut” through Thetford that brought me back onto the A11 I had just left!

Practice at Charlie’s Dereham

Rough and slow journey over via Garboldisham and Watton. Finally got set up and playing about 7pm – noted:

• Somewhere Under the Sun – Adrian to check all have latest version with 6 bar intro and occasional hi phrases
  
• Dave to listen to Searchers Needles and Pins Chris Curtis break in bridge otherwise whole medley ready to go
  
• Shang-a-lang – Double intro riffs and slow down final riff for ending
  
• Bye Bye Baby – up one tone to B Adrian to learn guitar then just look at link and ready to go
  
• Hollies Medley Running Order Bus Stop – I’m Alive – Here I Go Again each to rehearse own parts for target launch after next practice.
  
• Spencer Davis Sequence: Somebody Help Me – Keep On Running ready to go.
  

Still getting a harsh guitar sound from the Bose, but will look into that when Korg pedal returns. There was another group practicing a couple of doors down, and their singer said he thought our harmonies were very good. Got packed up and Dave put the key back through the letterbox as instructed. It was at this point Nigel couldn’t find his keys. After a bit of poking at the lock to get back in we went for a plan B where I ran Nigel back to Necton (about 10 miles) to pick up his spare key. So eventually got away about 11:30pm and home for 12:30pm.

Sheringham Social Club

Dan depping again and was hosting a BBQ the next day for his and Michele’s 23^rd Anniversary and my B’Day. The plan was for J and myself to stay over. But Jacqui wasn’t feeling too well with a broken metatarsal so elected not to come to the gig. I had a good drive over in bright windy / sunny weather and arrived first at 6:30pm. I got the gear in and parked up on the main car park. I was just setting up when Dave arrived and I helped him get his gear in. We were well set up when Dan and Michele arrived to get his gear in. We had lost the band sign and weren’t using the lights and Dan ticked us off for letting visual standards slip! I set up my spare Marshall for Dan as a monitor. It didn’t sound too good, but would do the job of letting him hear. With all set up we did a sound check which wasn’t too bad. We had a toppy PA sound and I couldn’t hear the guitar too well but I fiddled with the enhancement a bit and it all sounded OK. Dave’s family arrived and we got on about 8:45 to play a 45 minute set 1 which included some sloweys and the Shadows walk - got a very good reception, but not much dancing. Towards the end we were affected by some crackling noises from the guitar. I put this down to a dodgy battery and brought the spare Godin in during the break. I was pretty fed up with this turn of events and reacted badly even though it seemed to fix the problem. Nevertheless we went on for a standard set 2 , starting with a slightly shorter “Walk Don’t Wipe Out” and running through to the “Rock’n’Roll Love is All Around” finish. The band was a bit looser than the week before , but it all went down well enough with the audience. Started set 3 with “500 Miles” and played through to “All Right Now” (another slip up = no tambourine out for Dan!!). We did a loud “Unchained Melody” and followed up with “Bad Moon Rising” before finishing off with “American Trilogy”. We weren’t meant to finish with it, but just as we got to the end the power went off. Maybe they have a timer on the power to cut off at 11:45pm to prevent annoyance to the neighbours. So Dan shouted out some closing remarks and we were off. Got changed and packed up quickly with Steve’s help and on the road for 12:30am getting in about 2am after an uneventful ride home. We were up early the next day to go back to Dan’s for a BBQ which turned into a buffet because of the rain.

Practice at Skeyton

Had a good run over, but Dave was delayed and Nigel got lost, so it was quite late by the time we opened up with Hotel California. Moved straight onto the Searchers medley and revamped it with “Sugar and Spice” at the front end. Good 3 part harmony and Nige sings a good lead line. Looked at “Amazed” which seems fine and “Walk Don’t Wipe Out” has been shortened. Did “Shang-a-Lang” by the Bay City Rollers with Nige doing lead Dave close above and me hi falsetto. Looked at Status Quo medley and agreed to try it in the order Rockin All Over The World – Whatever You Want – Caroline. Adrian to prepare a disc with originals on that Dave/Nige can listen to. Tried out Sleepwalk Nige needs an MP3 version!