Practice at Skeyton

Good run over in showery, cool weather arriving at 4:50pm.

Began with usual warm ups and maintenance:

* Hotel Cal: I tried it on my Fender X11, I wondered why it was so powerful until I found the Roland volume wound right up – need to watch for that or tape it fixed.
* Shine I still haven’t got the chord sequence into fingers but just need to keep playing it.
* Make Those Eyes at Me For – ran thru this several times. Dave’s notes need to show the backing vocal requirements better.

We did a good session on working towards an improved Beatles Medley – we played full length versions of :
* Please Please Me in C – Dave to do answer backs Mog doing the high Macca line.
* She Loves You D worked best. Mog lead. Nige takes the high line, Dave comes in on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs unison and harmony on the last Yeah’s
* Nowhere Man E – we switched this around so Dave sings the lead line, Nige take the Lo line and I take the hi line.

Once we know them the idea is to shorten the individual songs and review the existing medley. I will propose and arrange a hi impact medley.

Then we did a good work out on Something. Dave redid the intro: counting 2 to come in on the drum intro on 3. We simplified the last verse to just Nigel doing the Macca hi harmony on first 3 lines.

More Warm Ups and Maintenance:
* Hippy Hippy Shake, B D D# B Riff in verse. 2 guitar solos - first needs working out.
* Under The Sun, Shortened arrangement
* Spencer Davis – played this pretty well I thought
* Can’t Get Enough - Good’n’tight: Dave to remember accents on final chorus’s

We made a start on Let There Be Drums – following the Sandy Nelson version closely. Mog to write out arrangement. Now we need some ideas to work in some showmanship e.g. a section where Nigel and I join in on some percussion.

Islands in the Stream - Feasibility Test it was a bit hi for the female vocal even in G so we agreed to abandon it.
It was very cold as we packed up, but I got off home in good order munching the Mars bar Jen sent and getting in at 11:40pm

Sheringham Social Club

Made good time over on a pleasant Spring evening. I just got in and Nigel rolled up, we just about got our gear in when Dave’n’Jen arrived. So we were all set up by just after 7pm and, with no one in the room, we could run through a few bars of “Good Luck Charm” with Dave playing brushes and “Cathy’s Clown” with Dave on snare (I think I might take this and “Bye Bye Love” up to Key of G to make it a bit less country and a bit more like the Everlys?). Just settled down to a beer, when Dan arrived. So we got him a beer and heard some tales from the US including the one where they were locked in a bar gig because outside there was a guy with a gun being talked down by the police.


Got changed into the red’n’black (Dave with some difficulty despite some weight loss in the week) and hit the stage a few minutes late for an 8:48 start on a 1 hour set. After a conventional start we began to pick’n’mix a bit because we did have a few ladies up and dancing early on. We had some good continuity between songs; for instance: Dave ran us into the Beach Boys at the right moment to keep the dancers going. It was a good on stage sound where I was but, despite a bit of home practice in the week, I was making the odd annoying error (and so was Dave); but nothing too fatal. For example: somehow we all started out of synch on “How Long” and I had to restart the intro guitar bit – but we kept going! About halfway through the set we did the Nigel ‘bad hand is there a bass player in the house’ routine to bring Dan up to play bass and do the Shadows walk on “Apache”.

We all got a great reception for this and Nigel was pleased to hear his solid Hofner bass sound out in the hall. Thereafter we tended to play to the dancers and cut the banter; working in some rock’n’roll and generally going down well. After the break, we started off set 2 with “Hotel California”. We got thru it OK but it was a bit nervy, I think ‘cos we hadn’t played it together on stage for a few months. Nevertheless, it got a good reception and we set off into the Searchers, where again I was making some unforced errors.


The dancers re-emerged in force for “Alice” and “Halfway” where we did a good ‘girly backing singers’ routine, stopping the middle 8 to get Nigel wigged up to sing more girly! Dave elected to do Elvis unmasked (so we all knew who it was) and, strangely, we didn’t fill the floor after as we went into “Sweet Caroline”. But, as usual, once we got going with the “Bay Cities” the floor was filled and we kept them there through “Shine”; so I led the boys into “Crazy Little Thing” and “Johnny B Goode” into “Great Balls” to keep the dancey atmosphere going. We wrapped the set up with a request for “Somewhere Under The Sun” which went down well with an increasingly vocal crowd. After the raffle it was into the faded dragon shirts and back on for a short third set. We started with a ‘Moggy wheres your troosers’ version of “500 Miles” as I came out in the kilt. Dave wisely cut the song a bit, but I think we must re-arrange this properly as a permanently shorter set 3 opener. Perversely, no one got up to dance to “Amarillo” (but they did sing along), so I called for “Unchained” which did fill the floor. We followed this up with “ American Trilogy” which brought the house down with shouts for more. The we did the debut of “What Do You Wanna Make These Eyes” which went very well with extremely prominent supporting audience vocals. Time was marching on so we decided to do the end “Pretty Woman / Wonderful Tonight” sequence and we got a great reception for both. A gig of two halves I said as we packed up: ‘first half was ladies dancing and the second half was drinkers sing a long’. A bit of a ragged performance along the way but nevertheless it had been a good night for the band and the management were pleased with the turn out. Got away about 1am on a chilly, windy night; getting home at 2:30am after a good run through Swaffham and Thetford.

Littleport Ex-Services Club

Good run over to meet up with Dave and Jen who were enjoying a coffee having arrived early. I got Dave to get the side door opened while I parked for the unload. A few minutes later Nigel emerged from the fens and we all started a long load in down the side of the building. It is a good sized stage an hall and we soon had the gear set up and, with no one around, we had the luxury of a sound check with a few bars of “Let There Be Drums” and all of “How Long”. I managed to position the guitar FX pedal so I could see it for a change – now it was just a question of remembering the changes! Jen had a wander round to listen and gave us the nod. It was certainly a good on stage sound and I could tell when I put on background music and had a wander round that it would be a good band sound out in the hall. We only had about 20 in by the time we got changed into the red’n’black and maybe 30 by 8:30pm when we took to the stage for a one hour set 1. We made a good start with the first few songs sounding good and the emergence of a good bantering relationship with the small audience sitting beyond the dance floor. The new flow worked well, I was pleased to fit in “Beautiful Body” early on and despite no takers for a “Shadows Walk”, the strictly dancing routine still went down very well. We did a fair “How Long” and an energetic “Peggy Sue” and wrapped up with “3 Times a Lady” getting a good round of applause. Dave had had the occasional coughing fit but we just worked round it with Nigel taking on the lead line where necessary. In the break we talked about putting together a Buddy Holly Sequence with shortened versions of “Peggy Sue, “That’ll Be the Day” and “Oh Boy”. Came back on for set 2 and I declined to do “Hotel California” mainly because I thought it would be too strong for the crowd, but also we had rehearsed on the 6 string and I was a bit worried about playing the solo on the 12 string – so I must get over that! Anyway, we got on with the Searchers and I cocked up the guitar sound again - it took me ‘til the beginning of “Needles and Pins” to get it right. We went straight into “Do It Again” getting a great round of applause at the end. Similar for the Eagles. We did an entertaining “Halfway” and we actually got a couple of ladies up and dancing to Alice, then it was into Elvis and Neil Diamond and "Shine". After a tartan reminisence, we filled the dance floor with the “Bay City Rollers” running into the “Moon of Love” sequence. Finished with a well appreciated “Love is All Around” and took a break. Coming back on for set 3 I wore the kilt for “500 Miles” (we agreed this number needs shortening now) and then we packed the dance floor with the Amarillo sequence. They tired after “Locomotion” and we lost them with “All Right Now” so I shortened it to one verse and solo. After “Unchained” we did “Crazy Little Thing” to get them up and dancing again and followed up with “Johnny B Goode”. In the confusion to change the guitar sound for a dirtier sustain, I messed up the guitar solo a bit, but the dancers didn’t notice and it went down very well. We did the usual finish to close at midnight and then it was the long pack and load. We agreed we had done a great job of entertaining the small crowd and this was born out by the management who were well pleased with the show and apologetic that there were so few attending. Dave and I formed a convoy to go home via the A14 and I was in relatively early at 1:30am. (In before Claire, who was out on the town with Rocky, for a change)

Practice at Skeyton

Brought my new PRS Hollowbody 1 along for a band test. It has a much deeper sound than the Godin and cuts thru the live mix really well. I need to think about how it might be used in the show – I can only justify it on the gigs with big stages, ‘cos I still need the Godin for synth effects. We settled down to the usual sort of practice warm up with Hotel California, then Shine a few times. Dave’s sore throat is still affecting what pitch he sings this; so we are just going to put it in the show and perfect it on the road. Did “Dance the Night Away” just checked out some timings. Followed up with “Crazy Little Thing” and “Spencer Davis” run throughs. Then we had a good go at a new addition to the repertoire: “What Do You Wanna Make Those Eyes” by Emile Ford & Checkmates, we agreed it was road ready and I would probably introduce it in Set 2 close to “Halfway”. Then we ran through 4 slowies:
Nights in White Satin - we ran thru in case we were asked to do this at Littleport (Dave Whistled Flute Solo)
No Matter - I played a string solo to replace flute and it felt like an easy win.
Something – Nige has the bass line about right, there appears to be the odd dischord but I’m sure we can sort that off line.
Wonderful Tonight - introducing accents and a stronger end
We did enough of “Hippie Hippie Shake” to up the confidence for road play. During the night we departed from the agenda from time to time to play some rock on my new guitar. “Born to be Wild” sounded promising and we did a passable performance of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock’n’Roll” with Nigel belting the vocals out. We finished off with a few bars of “Stairway to Heaven”. After the practice I wrote out an updated set listing for Dave to organise his book.

Swaffham Ex Services Club

Got away a bit late but had a good run over to find Dave already unloaded and making space in the drive for me to back in. Soon got unloaded and then looked for parking – there wasn’t much space at the front of the club, but I eventually settled on a space in front of a house nearby. Meanwhile Nige had arrived and by the time he got unloaded there was no parking anywhere in the vicinity, so he had to drive back to town and walk back! Set up was OK. We used our lights at the back of the stage. The aim was to bounce off the ceiling and back onto the band, but I think the end result was more of a silhouette. Dave had set up a bit close to me, so I was unsure of using the 12 string, but in the end he said he would exit on Nige’s side so I set it up. Did a bit of meet and greeting, then it was time to get changed in the committee room. We did red with white ties and black waistcoats – smart and colourful enough thanks to Jenny washing mine while Jacqui is in hospital. Then it was on for a one hour set 1. We started off well. Despite a bit of a slap back echo from the stage side walls it was a good on stage sound. The banter was going well right from the start when I did a Bruce Springsteen “He----llo Market Shipboro” We got the logic right on the Everlys patter as I looked to Dave to say “I thought you said do the “Beverley Sisters?” Unfortunately then there some confusion over which pair of Everly songs we were doing. I called for, and eventually we did, “Cathy’s Clown and Bye Bye Love” There were a few up and dancing from the off and the dancing carried on as we progressed through the set, highlights included a particularly amusing Shadows walk with one of the guvnors making very rude use of the rubber guitar and the 4 Seasons and Hollies medleys which, unusually, kept people dancing and also garnered lots of warm applause. The slowies filled the floor and all was well apart from a bit of phlegm in Dave’s throat for the big end with “I Believe” In the break Eileen (who had seen us at Northwold) requested Johnny B Goode and I said we would oblige. We changed into the white dragon shirts for set 2 and it took a bit longer for people to get up and dance. So turning to entertainment Dave wisely called for “Alice” after the Eagles. This routine went really well and was much improved by Nige being on the phone for the delayed bass run into the chorus “I told you not to call me at work” he says! After an amusing “Halfway” where Nigel got put in a girly wig”, Elvis and Neil Diamond made an appearance and filled the dance floor. Then we did “Johnny Be Goode”. I messed up the guitar start but once we got into it the dance floor was rocking. The guitar problem is that the clean rock solo sound I go for is too brittle to get any sustain coupling between the guitar and amp – it makes it too hard to play because you have to pick and finger each note too cleanly in the time available (its fast for a slow hand like me). So I will try using the dirty sound on this in future to get the sustain. Also throughout the night, I had had trouble switching sounds because the pedal board was out the sight line due to lack of space – this is becoming a regular problem, I must try placing it differently! We finished off with the Bay Cities and “Love Is All Around”. We had got a bit disorganised towards the end but I don’t think anyone noticed much. While we were off for the raffle, We got a request to do an 81st Birthday for Cyrill who had played sax on “Britains Got Talent” he was in great shape for his age and wore the birthday hat well! Then it was back onto the usual sequence from “500 Miles”; but missing out “The Twist” ‘cos we had done it earlier -consequently we cocked up the start of “Locomotion”. After “Unchained” we did “Hi Ho” and “All Right Now”, then I called for Nige to do “Sweet Caroline”, Dave and I couldn’t stop ourselves going into the other two old Foot Tapper Status Quo numbers which although enthusiastically played were a bit shambolic. Towards the end there was a fight at the far end of the hall and the police arrived as we finished to take statements. With the audience a bit distracted and time marching on, it was time to wrap up with “Pretty Woman” and encore with “Wonderful tonight”. As we came off we sold a CD to a couple of autograph collectors. A gig of two halves I think. We played pretty well to start but we got increasingly out of kilter as the night progressed – partly due to trying to read the audience and change things on the fly! But I thought the entertainment aspects had gone very well, the management were well pleased and we look forward to our re-appearance later in the year. Pack up was hard work, but I got away about 12:30 am and was home for 1:20am on a wild, windy and cold night.

Norwich Working Mens

Made good time over but came in on the Watton Road, ‘cos I drove on auto pilot onto the A47. Not a good route but I soon ended up at the club which was just opening. Nigel arrived same time and we had all our gear in and cars parked over by Pizza Express by the time Dave and Jen arrived. Nige and I agreed to bring the Boses forward and to the centre as much as possible to give a reasonable line of sight to get the sound past the pillars. Dave was doing some glad handing while Jenny set the kit up and with a great effort we bashed on with set up and were all ready to go by 7:50pm. So we got changed into the Red with black ties and waistcoats and emerged just after 8pm to open up with “Foot Tapper”, Got part way through it and up comes the concert sec’ lady to ask if we were practicing? We faded out for Dave to answer: “We have an 8pm start on the contract!” “Oh No” says the concert sec’ “It’s an 8:30pm start” Oh dear what a cock up – so off we went to pass 20 minutes or so before we returned to open up Set 1 with “Heartbeat”. We followed this up with a fairly disorganised “Girl of my Best Friend” with Dave starting to cough again and not a lot of audience reaction. We carried on quickly with “Cathy’s Clown / Bye Bye Love”, then back to Dave for a slow Jim Reeves waltz – still no audience reaction? We got a couple up and dancing to “Sir Cliff” and a bit of applause for “Peggy Sue” but it was hard going. We picked and mixed our way through the rest of the set but only really got a good response dancing and applausewise as we wrapped up with “I Believe”. Some of the dancers were only arriving on the floor as we ended the last verse and I tried to get Dave to go round again, but he was suffering vocally so we ground to a halt. As we came off Nige spotted a vocalist mate who he knew from Arkwrights (another Norwich club) and reckoned he could have been talent scouting for them? So we had a break for water, bingo and a change of shirt and then opened up set 2 with a strange choice of the “50’s Medley” to rest Dave. Oddly enough that went down OKish with a bit of audience singalong. We carried on with the Searchers. This got a much better response, quite a few up and dancing and it carried on thru “Do It Again”. We tried to get the Eagles going but Dave couldn’t get his breath, so we played a bit of “Walk Don’t Run” while he coughed something horrible up. Somehow we got through the “Eagles” and a messy “Shine” before we hammed up “Alice”, “Halfway” and a lacklustre visit from Elvis. There was a bit of life in “Sweet Caroline” and “The Moon of Love” but then we drifted off piste to a fizzle out end: I think it was with: “Good Luck Charm”. After the break for the raffle we only had about 40 minutes to go so we got straight into “Amarillo” and ran through to “Hi Ho” with quite a few dancing before we slowed up for “Unchained”. I made the wrong call for “Midnight Hour” next. We played it well enough - but it was just not on the audiences wavelength. Then it was time to wrap up with “Pretty Woman / Wonderful Tonight” and it was over. A rough night and to top it off: on the way up to get changed Dave had an altercation with the bar man. In the dressing room it was clear we all felt bad about the place, the performance and the hard work for such little reward. It was a hard job packing up and keeping a lid on emotions but I think we all felt that this particular gig needed something extra (not just money?) to make it worthwhile. Nige and I talked about a ‘Dave Sore Throat’ set that would allow him to ease off vocally and allow the band to crack on with continuity – we think we have enough material to do something like that. Jen kindly undertook to wash my shirts becuase J was off for her reconstruction op' the next week. Finally got off about 12:30am. I missed the turn for the inner ring road and ended up going through the centre. It was very busy with young revellers and it took about 10 minutes extra to get onto the A11. Then I had a good run home getting in about 1:45am.