Caister Social Club

We had had a couple of weeks off the band. I had immediately succumbed to a cold and a bad back. Jacqui and I were planning to pay a visit to Carl in Spain, but he had arrived back in the UK and fortunately we hadn’t booked any flights. So we spent some time catching up with jobs around the house and garden with Carl doing the ‘heavy’ work! He’s now gone to stay with my sister for a while so no roady for this resumption of banding at Caister. During my week off I set up the Bose for a health check. After I cleaned a layer of dust off the T1 mixer, I spent some time ‘improving’ the guitar settings. I set up the parametric EQ cantered on 100Hz to filter out most of the very low frequencies and raised the low and mid on the three band Z EQ to compensate for the loss of low end power with a boost in the low mids. While I was at it I pushed up Mick and my mic aux sends to 75% to increase reverb on these two mics a tad. I set off for the gig at 5pm on a cloudy, cool day threatening rain. I took it steady and arrived at the community centre at 6:30pm as planned. The guvnor PJ can be a bit disorganised so I was pleased to see ‘Sky High” were advertised on the board. Mick was already there and loaded in. I had just started to load in when Nige arrived reporting a noisy rear wheel bearing? He drove up and down the car park but I couldn’t hear anything amiss? By the time we got back in Mick was about set up with his Roland electronic kit. I was disappointed there wasn’t much room on stage. In the end Nige decided to set up at the front on some self assembly ‘Top of the Pops” staging we found. This wasn’t ideal from a show or a sound perspective but best we could reasonably do without starting set up again and moving Mick more over to my side. On a positive note: Mick’s lights made a good impact on a dark stage and we would be able to see what we were doing. I told Nige I would volunteer to go forward next time! Mick’s V drums sounded just great for this gig, his acoustic kit would be too powerful. During our time off I had arranged The Thymes “Miss Grace” and asked the boys to be prepared to play it at this gig. As it happened we had time for a bit of a sound check so we were able to run it though (and a bit of rock’n’roll as well). Despite Nige’s Bose being well forward the balance was OK on stage. Stevie Styles had commented that at the Kingfisher my high harmonies were too loud over Mick’s vocal so I added a lot of top to Mick’s mic to get it to cut though a bit more. (Mind you this was at odds with the bar keeper there who said he couldn’t hear my announcements?) Trouble with that gig was there was no space on the stage to get sound dispersion out of the Bose and Mick’s headset mic just doesn’t give the same quality of sound as even a Shure SM58. We set off to get changed in a storeroom with no lights. Shock horror – I couldn’t find my waistcoats! So we decided to do the gig in white shirts and black ties. PJ had asked us to play quietly and check our volume with the audience. Although I had toyed with the idea of changing the start I decided to play safe and called for “Foot Tapper” to open. Despite the peculiar placement of the Bose, the on stage sound was good and we got a good round of applause from the 20 or so in the room. As part of our introductions we took a straw poll of the audience regarding volume. Most said it was just right - a good start! But we continued to play it safe with repertoire carryng on “Just One Look, Heartbeat and Cathys Clown” by which time I had increased Mick’s mic volume to get a better vocal balance. We played on through a lightweight selection getting a generally good response. I got the boys to do “Hippy Hippy Shakes” so I could test out the guitar solo I had been perfecting in our time off. I was delighted to see it fitted pretty well. Not much dancing going on but the audience were paying attention, singing along and looking like they were enjoying it. We gave “The Green Green Grass” an airing and we finished off with the Beatles medley. As I handed out the wigs we got a good laugh from the crowd so we hammed it up a bit, with Nige and I sniggering away when Mick told the audience: “he hoped he wouldn’t look stupid in the wig”. The medley went well and we finished to a warm applause. During a long break for bingo a string of lights fell down from the ceiling. One of the bar men came over to fix it and we had to shift some of the cases to help him get a ladder out. He made a few attempts to rehang it but every time he did a few more strings would fall down. In the end we suggested he power down and just gather the several fallen strings together to trap in a ceiling tile as a temporary fix! By then it was time to resume for set 2. We opened with “Under the Sun, Tambourine Man and the Searchers”. The Searchers went pretty well and was definately improved at the start with Mick getting the bass harmony going in "Sugar and Spice". I now need to sort out with Nigel who does what with the close and high lines in "Needles and Pins". After that we moved on through some newer repertoire with “How Sweet It Is” “Daydream Believer” and the two “How Long”’s by Ace and the Eagles. Although we’ve been playing these for 6 months or so I’m still having a occasional problems remembering chords – nothing the audience would notice but annoying to me. I suppose it take longer to get into the fingers as you get older! Our audience was down to about 15 now but still enthusiastic and sometimes we’d get some dancing going. We finished off with “Words” at about 10:50pm with only about 6 left in the room. As we sat down for a short break. A lady came over to say how much she and her fella had enjoyed it but unfortunately they had to go. They loved the variety of repertoire, that we had three singers in the band and played songs they knew; and they felt bad about going - but they would definitely spread the word for next time. No problem I said and we thanked them for their attention. As they left we looked round and the other 4 had gone as well. PJ had also left the building so Mick had a word with the barkeep who said just play another 15 minutes and you can wrap up early. We opened up our final set with “Sky High” to give it an airing. Then we did “Miss Grace” which skipped along nicely - just got to watch the middle 8 and bring in some backing vocals and strings. We finished off by busking “My Girl” with Nige singing lead. Mick and I did some good backing singing and, apart a bit of untogetherness in the solo and key change, it went very well. Although not well attended, the small audience had been good and it had actually been a quite a good night for the band. We were able to get packed, loaded and on the road by midnight. It was windy and wet on the way home but I made good time - getting in about 1:20am. Ironically I found my waistcoats in the bag the next day. I blame it on the lack of light in the storeroom not my ageing eyes!

Kingsfisher Bar at Burgh Castle near Yarmouth

We had a false start on the Friday as the band set off to play the gig only to find that it had been shifted to Saturday! Mick had arrived first and was able to contact Nige and myself who were in transit. Carl was accompanying me and, after Mick’s call, we turned back and ended up in the “Moreton Hall” pub in Bury for a coupla beers. On the Saturday I set out again and arrived at 6:45 to find Nige and Mick unloaded and setting up. It was cold and windy so I parked up near the main door to unload and re-parked behind Mick’s van when I finished. The stage is a lot smaller than I remembered, until Mick reminded me that the bands spread out onto the dance floor at the “Heros” do. I managed to squeeze my Bose in the back, but a lot of the sound would run into a piano on my side or the false ceiling over the stage. Mick had procured an A / B switch to switch the headset mic off and the lead lengths made it sensible to route to my Bose. It turned out there were a couple of birthday parties on and the venue was filling up nicely. The guvnor Paul was content to put his own musak on with Heart Radio on at first followed after half an hour by a selection of soul type dance CD tracks. Mick had agreed two one hour sets starting at 9pm and suggested a more casual look of black shirt without tie, but still wear the white waistcoats. We opened up to a full room with “Flingel Bunt”. There was no reaction whatsoever? So we did the band introductions anyway and set about playing the first few numbers. The sound was OK where I was. Mick and my vocals were kinda right in my ear but I hoped the audience were getting a more rounded balance. As we played on we did start to get a little applause. Thinking we needed to try something different I called for Ace’s “How Long”. We played it pretty well and it got a slightly better round of applause. So, thinking modern, next up was “How Long” by the Eagles. For reasons unknown the power went off just as we were announcing it. Nige went off to get the guvnor to reset their power and I had a look at our trip box which had tripped? When we finally got going again I made a few mistakes on guitar and I think the band performance was a bit hurried; so I wasn’t surprised at some more muted audience response. As we ventured into our normal set 2 material I continued to be slightly dismayed at the limited responses we got from normal crowd pleasers such as “Wonder of You / Sweet Caroline” Not much applause and no dancing? Mind you, no one was leaving and they all looked like they were enjoying themselves so we kept on playing until we closed the set with “Words”. In the interval, the barkeep said he couldn’t hear my announcements. In many situations that can be a good thing because it means he can hear the bar orders; but I took it to mean ‘speak up’. Well I had been quite soft spoken because the Bose was so much in my ear at this gig, so I resolved to announce louder when we returned. Also had a word with Stevie Styles from the UK Beach Boys who was interested in the Bose. His take on it was punchy, but a bit too dry – he would use more reverb. A difficult circle of opinion in our band to square! We returned to open the second set with a slightly nervy performance of “Sky High”; but it did get a good response (led by Stevie Styles!) I was toying with the idea of calling some of the new numbers we had recently tried out, but in the end I chickened out and we settled for the “Searchers” and “How Sweet”. We had a bit of dance interest as we carried on with a good performance of “Runaround Sue” and then we rapidly filled the floor as we kept things going by playing on without gaps through a long dancey sequence including: “Moon of Love, Dance the Night Away, Walk of Life, Crazy Little Thing, Hi Ho, All Right Now, Lets Dance and Mony Mony”. We popped “Unchained” in at this point as a slowey and that filled the floor with romantics. The gig was finally becoming rewarding but we were heading towards close time! We resumed with “Amarillo Hey Baby” which kept the floor full enough then we did “Walk Alone” followed by “Johnny B Goode” to close. There was a good reaction and even some half hearted shouts for more but we were already in retreat to get changed, so the encore never got played. By the time we packed and loaded up the bar had emptied a bit, but there were still quite a few having a drink, so I thought the guvnor must have been pleased. I negotiated a tricky exit through the bollards at the front of the club and set off on an hour and 20 minute run home, getting in about 1:30am on another cold night. We have a weekend off now and I hope I can get over the residue of the phlegmy virus that has been dogging me the last few days.

Toppers Bar Restuarant, Newport Road, Hemsby

Bleak bank holiday weather. It was easy to navigate to Hemsby, but once on the Sundowner Chalet Park it was quite hard to find Toppers. I was looking for a couple of large concrete top hats as a landmark but I ended up having to ask holiday makers as I wound my way through the warren of routes through the park. Finally I rolled up to the gig to find Mick already unloaded. It is an easy load in through the fire doors, turn left and there is the stage. There’s plenty of room on the stage even though Mick was setting up his lights on the big stands. The club has obviously been recently refurbished and it all looks quite smart – probably thats when the large top hats were taken away. The strong wind made it a but tricky to get the gear in and keep the doors open; and when Nige arrived it was even a bit rainy as well. Once in we set about set up. I was quite near a corner so I mounted my bass bins on the absorbent foam to avoid boom. It all set up and tested out OK and I wandered off to have a word with the boss man: Matthew. I found him in his office and sounded him out as to what he was looking for. ‘Play very quiet’ he said, ‘We want live music ambience but quiet enough for people to have a drink and a chat’. ‘OK’ I said and I briefed the boys accordingly. We got changed in the office: black shirts (so Nige could get another wear out of the previous nights shirt!), white ties and white waistcoats. There were about 30 in when we took to the stage and opened up with “Flingel Bunt”. Good sound on-stage, but there was no reaction as we finished? I introduced the band anyway and we ploughed on in a similar manner for a couple more songs before we got the message to turn it down. No problem – we took it down quite a bit on the Bose and carried on feeling out the audience with a variety of material. We seemed to be getting a good sound at the lower volume and we got some applause with “Ferry”, “Take It Easy” and “Folsom Prison” (a couple of country fans in there). But, by and large, we continued to ‘take it easy’ with what I thought was quite a good low volume easy listening balance. I was making sure we stuck closely to the set times we had been given and we came off only a couple of minutes over time. Set 2 was more interesting: we started off with “Under the Sun” and the “Searchers” and then Ace’s “How Long” which we played quite well despite the low volume. We were starting to get a bit of reaction from the audience now and the applause got quite strong on the ‘join in’ sequence of: “Wonder of You, Sweet Caroline, Hi Ho”. We added “Amarillo” to this lot which brought a young girl out to the front to clap the responses. We finished with a fair performance of “Words”. But when we resumed for the final set there were only about 20 left and we were asked to turn it down a bit more. Mick found this most difficult and, as we started to lose cohesion as a band, the set became a chore. But we did end on a high note doing “Walk Alone” which got a good response. For once we didn’t feel up to an encore, so we signed off as best we could and set about getting changed and packing up. I did have a word with the guvnor, saying I hoped he liked it and he indicated all was fine. So I took it that we had done as good a job as could be done at this gig. Nevertheless we were all a bit down hearted as we packed up and Mick went as far as asking us to get a dep if we wanted to do this job again. So it was a grim old ride home in the wind and rain and I I was sufficiently tired that I had to hit the emergency cola to get me through the last few miles. Reflecting on what we could have done better, I think we should have been less egotistical about reaction with this audience and we should have been more disciplined in getting our heads down to play a wide range of material at low volume as requested. Anyway it turned out that in the week following, the club cancelled all the acts due to play there saying it was a restaurant / bar focussed on people out for a quiet drink or meal and entertainment wasn’t necessary – so that ends that chapter! Felt a bit viral in the week but it didn’t amount to much.

Seacroft Caravan Park East Runton

Although I got away in good time, there was a some slow moving traffic holding me up ‘til I got past Swaffham. However, I picked up most the lost time over the next leg to Holt and arrived at the gig at 6:45 as planned. Mick was already there and well unloaded. He had sussed out the stage set up to allow access to the switches for the lighting and when Nige arrived they were able to work out some lighting combinations. Nige had popped in to the Links at West Runton to see Charie who was putting on his band for a do; I had toyed with the same idea but when it turned out I was a bit short of time I ended up going straight to our gig. Set up went well, and needed to because it turned out show time was at 8:15 on a Friday not the 8:30 we expected as per paperwork. I checked finish time with Sarah and she said call last orders at 10:45pm and the band to wrap up shortly after. The room was filling up well and as we took to the stage on time in the black waistcoats, white shirts and black ties there were about 40 in the club room. We opened up with the usual suspects (Foot Tapper et al) and were rewarded with a good on-stage sound and warm applause from the off. A few numbers in, it was clear that they were not there to dance much. But they were very attentive, so we switched into entertainment mode with the three of us interacting nicely to create a good, slightly self-deprecatory ambience. Wisely, we had kept the volume down from the off and, if anything, edged it down a bit more as we played through a versatile set 1 with good performances of some of the harmony numbers e.g. the Eagles “Peaceful Easy Feelin” & “How Long”. I selected “Ferry Cross Mersey” early on as a romantic number and a couple came up to dance a rumba to it. They did it well and at the end the band gave ‘them’ a round of applause. Building on that we developed a bit of ‘strictly come dancing’ banter and invited the dancers to do a quickstep to “Lady is a Tramp”. This all went well with the crowd and we finished wigged up with our “Beatles” medley to enthusiastic applause. We opened set 2 with the “Searchers” medley but, not finding much dance interest, we ventured back to the ‘strictly dance’ theme with the Jim Reeves waltz sequence. The harmonies on Anna Marie are much improved nowadays and this earned a big round of applause. As there wasn’t any real interest in dancing, I called for “Halfway” and Nige and I carried out the old ‘girly vocal’ routine very successfully. Basically I announce the number inviting Nige to sing girly backings and he lets out a particularly gruff answer back in the middle 8. So I stop the band and make him wear a blonde girl wig to sing the rest of the song. All a bit slapstick but it gets a laugh and this audience did enjoy it. We followed up with the “Wonder of You, Sweet Caroline, Hi Ho” sing-a-longa sequence and then it was time to finish with “Words”. I’m still working on my high line in this, but I will get there very soon. We had a short break during which Mick and I experienced the full force of the air conditioning as we tried to sit away from the draughty door. We resumed for set 3 with “How Sweet It Is” and Ace’s “How Long” both of which went well and were warmly applauded. We tried out “Unchained” as the mid set slowey and finally got a few up and dancing. After a few more numbers it was time to wrap up, so I called for “Wonderful Tonight” as a change from our usual closing sequence. I did a talk over sign off of each of the band which went well. Actually we got a very good reception with shouts for ‘more’ so we did “Saw Her Standing There” as an encore. Then it was pack’n’load. I got off on my long journey home via Swafham and made really good time getting in at 1:30am. Overall a good night for the band that we could take some pride in,