The Checkmates at King Edward Hall Lindfield

Slow getting going on Saturday morning after the rigour of the night before.  After breakfast Jacqui had lined us to visit some folks in the morning and in the afternoon we had a stroll round our old village of Lindfield with Jenny and Miles.  I was treated to an early curry dinner and then I made my excuses and set off the few hundred yards to the gig.  Bit of trouble parking,  so Graham loaned me a disabled badge to allow me to park on a yellow line!?!  But we eventually got the gear in and got parked up legally in a timely vacated space.  Raye had got in earlier, and had some assistance to load in his kit.  He was in good form considering the previous late night!  Graham had brought the precious shirts.  He said he was still buzzing when he got home so he put them through a wash at 1am!  I manhandled Graham's combo onto the stage and after that heavy lift the rest of set up was a breeze and we soon had a sound check going.  I asked Graham to put a bit more top on the bass thinking it would cure a strange stage resonance that peaked near Raye.  Didn't work so he tried cutting the bottom.  That worked but then he couldn't hear the bass;  so we left it thinking the resonance might go as the hall filled. We ran "You'll Never Know What You're Missing" and "Smiling" and then we ran through "American Trilogy" - this went a lot better than the Friday,  so we called a halt;  put the muzak on and set about sourcing beers!  This was not as easy as usual because the license had run out for the hall.  We had to pop upstairs to the club to get a drink.  Actually the club had geared up for the situation quite well and were supplying take away packs of beer and wine;  and they were serving soft drinks downstairs;  so all was well.  Quite a few folks there we knew including John (the teddy boy rocker who used to be Raye's minder and roady for us in the 90s -  very useful particularly when we were playing gigs a long way away like Bournemouth) and Graham the rhythm guitarist and John the drummer from 'Music Box'.   Jacqui arrived about 8pm having strolled over from our lodgings and met up with the other band wives: Janice and Val. 

Approaching showtime the hall was full.  I set up Raye's mic so Trevor could make an announcement about the drink situation.  After that I quickly reinstated Raye's mic and then we were announced on acoustically by the Chairman.  We followed much the same sets as the previous night.  We did omit a few songs because time was tighter as other things were going on:  e.g. there was a buffet and a raffle (Jacqui won a bottle of wine!)  But in general the band was more together and relaxed; and we were astounded by the reception we got.  It had been good the previous night,  but on the Saturday it was even better.  The audience responded like true fans:  they applauded madly,  they danced the rock'n'rollers and the slowies; and even 'of their time' songs like "Mr Sandman" brought out some foxtrot dancers.  The crowd were really enthusiastic about the Checkmates hits set and Raye got a huge reception for the drum routine.  The resonance from the bass had still been a problem on stage at times,  but we hoped it hadn't carried out front.  Actually we had no complaints about the band sound - only compliments!

I was pleased to see the band wives up and dancing a few times (Jacqui looked very graceful powered by house gin and tonic) and I recollect that Raye's missus Val was really enjoying herself dancing to quite a few songs - maybe also powered by gin and tonic?

 As we approached the end of the night, once again we were indulged with several encores; and we stretched the stringent license conditions by a few minutes with our final encore:  I think it was "Jailhouse Rock"?   This worked surprisingly well with Raye's mini snare and cymbal kit. 

Once again we finished to great applause and lots of people came up to wish us well as we left the stage.  Packing up was hard work again,  but Raye had a drummer pal dismantling his kit so he could mingle while we worked.  As we were loading up I was relieved to see Raye looking in better shape than the previous night but I 'shooed' him away from loading Grahams car as I manhandled the combo in - just to be on the safe side!  This may have led to a misunderstanding whereby Raye then said his goodbyes and set off for home thinking his work was all done when, in fact,  he had forgotten to collect the band fee and driven off in my coat!?!  Graham popped upstairs to the club to sort out the fee and said he would straighten money out with Raye the next day.  So we shook hands on that and Jacqui and I departed for our lodgings - creeping in about 1am.  Next day after a fine breakfast we popped up to Raye's house to swap coats.  Raye was apologetic, blaming it on a senior moment;  but we had a good laugh and talked about maybe doing one of the London rock'n'roll reminiscence gigs in the future.  Jacqui and I set off for home hoping for an easy run.  Not to be!  The Dartford tunnel was choc-a-block and in the end we diverted off into central London to go through the Blackwall tunnel and then headed up the A12 for home.  So it was well after 2pm when we finally got home:  tired but pleased with a good weekend.

The Checkmates at Hassocks British Legion

The 54th Anniversary Checkmates World Tour continued through Sussex this weekend. Jacqui and I set off from Bury St Edmunds at 11 am and taking an easy ride (with a diversion for ladies clothing shopping at Bluewater),  we arrived in the Haywards Heath area at 3:30pm.   We drove straight round to Jenny and Miles' house in Lindfield where we were welcomed with a cup of tea and a slap up feed.  Jacqui had elected to stay with these old friends for the night while I headed off to Hassocks to meet up with Raye and Graham at 6pm to play the British Legion.  It must have been 12 years since we had last played this gig as The Checkmates, although Raye and Graham had appeared in other bands there several times over recent years.  Quite nostalgic for me however!  We got the gear in the back door which leads straight on to the playing area.  It was still light enough to avoid breaking a leg on the various 'elf n safety' hazards in the back yard,  but I could see we would definitely carry the gear out the main entrance at the end of the night!  Graham was excused lifting as he was recovering from a very recent hernia operation - the one he had been scheduled for about 3 years ago!  I wheeled his single 15" Trace Elliott combo in and set it into position for the young fella.  We got the beers in and commenced set up.  We were using a double Bose PA and there was plenty of room compared to the pub jobs I had been doing recently.  No surprises in set up and I soon had a good mic mix going. 

In between meeting and greeting various folk arriving early we got the opportunity to run through the new songs I had added to the repertoire: "When My Little Girl is Smiling" (one I had added as representative of Raye's stint with Jimmy Justice and the Exchequers);  and "Counting Teardrops" and "You'll Never Know What You're Missing" both done originally by Emile Ford & The Checkmates and pre-requested by a fan named Ron! Raye also asked to play through "Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" and a bit of "Mona Lisa"  to remind ourselves of the Checkmates Caribbean rhythmic style! These run throughs went well enough but there is just enough complexity in the arrangements to make me cross my fingers for luck as we put the background muzak on and set about mingling and greeting the fans and acquaintances of the band.  The venue seemed very full to me with at least 60 in the small performance room by show time;  but Raye was a little disappointed with the turn out until we mentioned it was Friday (not a normal gig night at the venue) and there were no spare seats - standing room only!  We had got changed into the green shirts and we took to the 'stage' sensing an air of anticipation from the crowd.  We opened with "What do...Eyes at Me For" a bit nervously,  in fact we had to restart 'cos Graham had sung the very similar opening 'do do wahs' for "Wonder Who's Kissing" by mistake!  We smoothed that over as part of the act and proceeded with the acapella intro to "Eyes" proper.  Good sound I thought as we got into our stride.  The whole room was singing along from the off - boding well for a good night.  We finished to a great round of applause.  Continuing with "Stand By Me and Heartbeat"; I usually use these songs to finalise the mix and ended up increasing the top and echo on the mics to compensate for the dry sounding room now it was full.   Then we started to get into a familiar Checkmatey groove with added banter to take us through the next few pre-Beatles era numbers. We enjoyed a bit of excitement as we performed "When My Little Girl is Smiling" in public for the first time.  A bit nervy,  but a very good sound I thought.  Graham sang it well (it suits his voice) and when I brought the harmony and strings in to the refrain it sounded quite classy!  The solo came and I played the notes in the right place but a little nervously because,  although I play this with ReTrio,  I still haven't delegated this from brain to fingers! Graham sensed the solo would benefit from some 'aaaahs' in the Bm G refrain and adding them worked well to fill the soundscape.  Graham had picked up to do the slide down to the D on the little guitar phrases between verses - well done I nodded.  We finished tightly together and this 'nice' song earned a good response from the audience.  I adopted a Shadows stagger for the next song "Apache".  My lead is still a bit restrictive and I am thinking about a wireless link.  I have got a legal one somewhere but it is all the hassle of set up.  Maybe I should look into going all wireless on mics with a rack while I'm at it?  Still I blundered around to great effect and we got a thunderous reception for it (probably sympathy for the dispraxic)!  We moved onto a mini rock'n'roll sequence with "Move It, Summertime Blues and Alright Mama".  This had the effect of filling the dance floor and we got a great reception at the end.  It was time to slow things down:  We started with "Raining In My Heart" - unfortunately the dancers melted away,  but we did an ok job of it.  Then we followed up as planned with a short version of "I Believe" which got the crowd singing along towards the end.  We finished the set with "Wipe Out".  Raye was on top form and it was pretty tight.  He got a great roar of approval as we finished.   In the break we mingled -  I met up with Pat the bassist from "Music Box" who,  I think not having heard us before,  was very impressed with the big and classy sound from a three piece.  Harvey, the concert secretary for the club in the 90s, looked just the same except he's now in his mid 70s: still smoking and drinking and looking very fit and well.  We agreed it was a time warp experience,  but he kindly said the band seemed better than he remembered and we were good then!  Raye's missus Val and her sister Marilyn had arrived early in the set and were also complimentary on the band.  We got changed into the blue and struck out to start set 2 with a Checkmates hits sequence starting with: "Slow Boat, Wonder Who's Kissing and Red Sails".  These all went well and I am pleased to report Graham and I expected the solo in "Red Sails" at the same point and I played it well - its only taken us 20 years to get in synch!  Next up was a requested newie: "You'll Never Know What You're Missing".  I counted us in and we got the rhythm and 'bop bop ba da das' going well.  Graham struck up with the vocal.  Its fine but a tad down in the mix I thought.  We are doing it in the same key as Emile Ford (A) but it is quite low for a band lead singer nowadays,  I wonder if it would benefit from being a bit higher say B or C?  Still it was great to get it performed in public after I did the arrangement way back in 1993 - we never managed to launch it until tonight!  "Counting Teardrops" was next.  We had played this many times in the mid-90's but it had fallen out of the play list.  It is relatively complex with little riffs, lots of stops and me doing girly answer backs.  On this night we found our feet with the basic song OK but it is hard to get all the little nuances in.  We finished the sequence with "Them There Eyes"  (a little untogether?) and "Mona Lisa" (swang nicely).   The audience had been polite rather than ecstatic during the whole Checkmates sequence, which was strange, but these songs can sound a little dated if you are not a real aficionado.  I took the boys into a short rock'n'roll sequence with "Rip It Up,  All Shook Up and Runaround Sue" which livened things up.  Then we did "Only Make Believe" - a big number with big vocals, big strings and a big audience response with singing along and applause aplenty.  So now we were set for "Let There Be Drums" as a high point of the night.  Raye got into a strong rhythm (amazing for a young chap in his 80s).  Usually Raye counts us in,  but tonight he seemed to be concentrating on bashing out a great Gene Krupa beat so he looked to me to count in which I obliged.  Because the onstage sound was so clear we had no trouble co-ordinating the various changes and we relaxed into yet another version of our well honed routine.  As usual it brought the house down and there was a real buzz about the place as we took our break,  Coming back on for the last set we opened with "Great Balls".  Graham was enjoying the band groove so much he called for an extra solo and verse.  As we finished I took us straight into the riff for "Wanderer" and the dance floor started get busy again.  Although I hadn't played the solo to this for a year,  I rattled out an acceptable version on the night;  keeping to a more authentic cleanish sound rather than the gritty sustain I used to use.  As soon as this ended I counted us into "Saw Her Standing There"  which kept the dance floor full.  No problem with the solo and Graham and I sang the very high harmony lines as the end of the chorus like 'angels'.  We skipped and mixed to "Route 66" next to keep the crowd bopping and get the dedication to Val in.  The band was really cooking as we came to the solo which is always improvised and I got a good solo in on the night.  As we ended we all came to the same conclusion: "American Trilogy" would be up next!  I introduced it as one of our oldest songs, actually from the 19th Century.  On the night this was only an OK performance as we struggled to remember the nuances;  but I did get the flute solo in as intended and that made folk in the audience and the band sit up - it sounded really good through the double Bose!  We built the big crescendo to the end well - I was mighty impressed by Graham's ability to hold that last high note through eight bars (I had to take two breaths doing the harmony)! We got a fantastic reception for this.  We gave the voices a rest as I took on FBI next.  I did a little bit of Shadows posturing but no walk as such.  I thought we played it well but I was truly surprised by the great reception we got.  I opened another little dance sequence with "Shakin All Over"  - the boys followed the old arrangement we used to do and I fitted in (I normally do this closer to the record nowadays).  Again a great reception and we nodded each other into "Jailhouse Rock"  to follow and keep the dancers busy.  Raye and Graham always get a great beat going for this and it helps with solo building;  in fact it was going so well at the end that Graham kept it going with a soul like repeat of the last phrase 'Going to the Jailhouse' which Raye and I supported tightly until we rounded off neatly with me adding a burst of Scotty Moore guitar to end it.   It was time to do the closing sequence.  Graham introduced "Lucky Old Sun" as the song we have closed the show with for 'maaany' years. In the meantime Raye had come out front with his spare mini snare and cymbal. Despite playing this song as the closer for at least twenty years,  we got off to a slightly ragged start and I was well out of kilter as we negotiated the early chord switch into the bridge;  so I missed the harmonies on the first line.  Just general unfamiliarity on my part I think -  but that's one I need to run thru or listen to before we re-unite!  However, the rest of it was OK and we didn't miss Raye's bass drum too much.  Towards the end; Graham said his 'goodnights from Adrian and Raye' and I said 'goodnight from Graham' and we ran through to the end.  As the audience gave it up for the 'last song', we transitioned into "Early in the Morning" as per usual.  Raye is a master of getting a big sound out of the minimum kit and it sounded fine (if a little skiffley) as we got underway with this fast song.  We got a magnificent roar from the audience as we finished and they were shouting for more; so we got on with our planned encore of "Eyes".  Still more shouts for more at the end so I called for "Johnny B Goode"  and we bashed that out - I sang it to give Graham a break and we still had Raye playing just on snare and cymbal;  but it sounded and swang fine.  As we finished Graham gave 'em one more as we bashed straight on into "Hound Dog".  I hadn't played the solo for more than a couple of years but remembered enough of it to improvise it well enough.  We finally came to a halt about 11:40pm, a little over time but the crowd had stayed (bless 'em) and we did a bit of glad handing as several 'fans' came over to congratulate us on a great night.  Then it was time to get changed.  My shirt was pretty sweaty,  but Graham kindly offered to wash both my shirts to be ready for Saturday's performance.  Packing up was hard work and there were still a few folk around wishing us well which slowed us down a bit,  but Graham did find a volunteer to help shift his amp (Raz?).  Barry from the club gave Raye and me a hand to shift stuff out but it was about 12:30am as we completed load.  Actually Raye looked knackered and his breathing was quite shallow as we loaded the last few bits into his car.  Graham and I were becoming concerned for his well being but he assured us he would be OK and we finally hit the road about 12:45 am.  For me it was a quick run to Haywards Heath straight through Burgess Hill (rather than the bypass).  But I ran into road works near Haywards Heath station,  then I took a wrong turn and had to go round the one-way again to get on the road to Lindfield.  So it was well after 1 am as I crept into Jenny and Miles' house where everyone was asleep.  As I settled into sleep I felt good about the night's work.  Despite some ragged edges,  we had had several moments in the night where the band seems to take on its own improvising identity beyond that of the 3 individuals - these are very rewarding for the musicians and don't happen in every band.

Got My Bass Back

After Glastonbury St Edmunds, I realised that my 1962 Fender Precision Bass needed a lot of work.  The action was very high and still there was fret buzz above the 13th fret.  There was a bad twist in the neck and the body was shambolic after my own bodge job to take the 1960's dark red stain finish out, and there were lots of other minor niggles.  Still it had worked its passage over the years and had a bit of a swansong by appearing at Glastonbury St Eds - I certainly had enjoyed playing it again that night!

Anyway,  I took it into Guitarlodge at Felixstowe and they quoted a reasonable price to refurb it so off it went for a dismantle,  the body to be sanded and re-varnished,  the neck to be straightened,  shiny bits to be cleaned and control electrics to be replaced!

Got it back today and it is a whole lot better:  looking good,  but still looking vintage!  Sounding good with new D'Addario flat wounds and a real low action making it play good.

This is how it looks now:

This how looked in 1978 when I was using it with Banco plugged into a Vox Foundation Bass rig:

I bought the Precision from Carlsbro in Mansfield in 1972 trading in my Epiphone Rivoli (wish I hadn't!) - here's the Rivoli waking the neighbours in 1970:

Can't find any photos of the Precision in the condition I bought it because I quickly got the neck refurbed from a rosewood to a maple fingerboard by John Birch.  Quite innovative then!  As I recall Paul Strong took the guitars over and made the decision to go maple,  so I didn't know until we got them back.  Initially I was a bit miffed but I grew to like it and now much prefer a maple fingerboard on a Fender.  Here is the earliest pic I can find: post neck refit along with the other instruments used for a recording session in 1973.  It was during this session I took a day out to sand the red finish out and we resumed the next day in natural.

I suspect it might have been sunburst or white when made in 1962.

ReTrio at The Elmswell Fox

The two Chris's we're going early to set up their 'new' stuff so I thought I'd hang back for a 7 arrival.  Jacqui and I set off about 6:40pm on a pleasant Autumn evening - it took all of 15 minutes to get there - the pub is just North of the railway crossing in Elmswell.  I saw Chris the drum eyeing up a Kebab stall as I turned in and parked next to his car.  He came over and said "they are resurfacing the crossing tonight and it will be closed from just after 7pm"  "Good job we set off when we did" I said - thinking about a long diversion to get North of the railway.  It was an easy load in through double doors to the large bay window where we would be playing.  The Chris's were already set up and there was quite a bit of room to work with.  I put the Bose right at the back and as centrally as I could.  I positioned myself well forward and out of the bay so I had room to swing the guitar.  Nice polished floor I noted (thinking about a Shadows stagger?)  I was just plugging the last bits in when in walks Steve Lemon with his lady - Lou.  Big hugs all around - he is looking very well and obviously enjoying life!  I finished set up and checked the mix.  It was my intention to play quieter than last time out so I set the mics well below feedback. Chris the bass came up for sound check.  The bass though the new Ashdown amp sounded just great: a deep and bouncy sound using a bit of sub-bass,  but well compressed into the bass area of the soundscape.  We could all hear it clearly as well - a massive improvement!  We did a bit of "Just One Look" as a sound check but the harmoniser was too low.  I fixed that and we re-tested - all good and we were ready to rock!

Had a beer and a bit of a chat with Steve before we got changed into the red shirts and black waistcoats for the off.  We had the luxury of the kitchen to get changed in,  but I didn't realise and got changed in the gents before I found out - oh dear.  The landlady had asked for a start at 9pm.  A bit late by our standards,  I was well into my second pint by the time we got up to play.  There were only about 25 in the pub as we opened up with the usual few,  but they were quite receptive to the band and banter.  One couple had come to see us again after our appearance at the Railway Tavern a couple of weeks previously. Soundwise it was a bit dry so I upped the echo a tad,  but it was a good balance and we started to enjoy playing together and hearing some of the subtleties.  I was a little nervy as we did "Smiling" and got the words the wrong way round but it was well received and we carried on through a creditable set 1.  Got a bit of banter going with some of the younger folk there who claimed they hadn't heard of the Beatles as I prepared them for "8 Days a Week".  It went down well though, as did the rock n roll that followed.  I had skipped "Guitars Cadillacs" earlier and that left us in need of a filler as we approached the 40 minute mark.  No problem - I dropped into "Be Bop A Lula" and the boys followed effortlessly.  I was intending to finish with "Nights in White Satin" but opted for the easier "Green Grass" when we got there and we played it pretty well closing to good applause. 

 

Back on for set 2,  we opened with "Apache".  I couldn't resist the opportunity to do the walk and was rewarded by a great round of applause. 

Then we followed the well established set 2 flow for the first 30 minutes.  Bit of sixties, followed by "Delilah and Daydream Believer" as sing-a-long,  then some rock'n'roll.  I had replaced "Rock Around the Clock" with "Jailhouse" in the pub rock set list to give it a bit more bite and that went down well with this audience.  At the 30 minute point we tried out a 70s sequence of:  "Don't Stop,  Yellow River and Amarillo".  First time out for the latter two.  Actually we played them well I thought.   Chris the drum's "Yellow River" vocal worked well and it was great to add my high harmony to it.  He returned the favour with his high harmony as I sang "Amarillo".  And Chris the bass came in with a low line on this as well.  This is the start of us getting some more substance in our vocal arrangements and I plan to keep us at it by picking popular harmony songs we know and can do easily.  We did "Wonder of You" to finish.  I messed up some of the words but the audience was singing along well so it didn't matter too much.  I need to work up a plan B for the final vocal phrase for when I'm not quite on form.  I got the pitching right this week but, still breathless from the last gasp of my cold, couldn't sustain it. Ah well the audience filled in well enough!

 
We changed into white tees and black waistcoats for set 3.   Yet again I forgot to turn the mics on for the opener "Great Balls".  I gave myself a good telling off and we restarted!  Still only about 25 in the pub but they applauded well.  Despite putting the time in during the week to fix the horn solos in "Dance The Night Away" I decided to skip it 'cos we would be hard pressed to get through the list by finish time.  I got Chris to get on with the drum beat to "Pretty Woman" as I announced it and we did a pretty good job of it I thought.  Next was  "Saturday Night at Movies into Come on Over"  I was basking in the success of finally getting the middle "aahs" section right with the unnatural double bars of Bs and E's at the end and lost concentration as we smoothly entered "Come On Over";  only to be woken up a minute later as I forgot the key change I had been imploring Chris the bass to get right (and he did!). I caught up quickly but gave myself another mental telling off!  My voice was feeling a little tired by now,  so I brought forward "Trilogy".  We got off to a nicely sensitive start but I shortened the linking bars of C on guitar to move things along.  The boys followed without a blink and played their parts really well.  When I brought the strings in they sounded pretty good in this room.  Also the pace was spot on and we built the song confidently to the climax just before the solo.  Because it was so well timed and 'band felt' I had plenty of time to switch from strings to flute and turn the guitar down;  resulting in the flute solo I had always intended but hadn't been able to achieve with this band yet.  Same as we exited the solo,  Chris took his time to bring in the start of the large tom roll giving me enough time to switch the guitar back in and flute to strings.  So the final crescendo was spot on and only marred slightly by the lack of sustain from my vocal on the last line.  The audience went extra large in response and sustained their applause for at least a minute giving me time to catch my breath. Fantastic response from only 25 people.  Voice was going and I needed an instrumental so I called for "Albatross" as a change.  It went pretty well. We got back on track with "Sweet Caroline" which had the 20 odd sing-a-longers raising the rafters.  Then I took a bit of stock.  We had about 3 numbers to do,  so I called for a rocky finish.  We opened the mini sequence with "Hippy Hippy Shake".   We did this pleasingly tight and as we finished I got straight on into the riff for "Caroline" which went surprisingly well for a first outing.  I had been on the net to sort out my guitar riffs and was quite pleased with the result on the night.  Chris the drum got the chorus harmony spot on and we finished with 3 rounds of guitar riff with the middle one quiet like the record. He even did a bit of stand up drumming! Once again we got a good response from the about 20 left now. 

I called "Johnny B Goode" as the last number and that went well as usual.  We got the 'goodnights' from the band out in better order (still not perfect though) and finished well together.  We 'rewarded' the remaining few in the pub with "Born to be Wild" as an encore.  This went very well up to the end but we need to work out a better finish - at the moment its a bit of an improvised freak out! We were slightly over time as we finished, but some folks came up to thank us for a great evening.  Including the couple had come to see us again after our appearance at the Railway Tavern - they had stayed all night and finished with a B52 cocktail as we packed up.  Gotta admire their stamina!  Steve came over to say how impressed he was:  3 great musicians,  really good sound and surprised at how well we did the rockier numbers (not something we did so much in the Foot Tappers).  Lou thanked us as well.  She (and Steve) go to see Mark James quite a bit and she said it was great to hear a live band for a change rather than backing tracks.  They set off back to Norwich and we finished pack up.  Once we were loaded and ready to go I realised we would have to go back across country 'cos the rail crossing was still being worked on.  It was a bit misty as we wended our way through rural Suffolk but eventually we found a way to Norton and then it was an easy run home down the A14. In my opinion this was the best of the three nights on the East Enders tour:  having completed the tour the band is now working well together;  we cracked the gremlins and improved the sound.  A bit more work on the vocals and I think we will be ready for anything.