ReTrio at The Greyhound Bury St Edmunds

I was feeling a bit sciatic after the previous night so I was glad it was a local gig.  I set off at 6:25 for a 6:34 arrival,  but the car park was a bit tricky with people leaving and arriving.  I did get a space in the end but not ideal.  Chris the drum was already there and I got him to shuffle his car up a bit but it was still tight.  Chris the bass arrived to add to the confusion but, just as I was getting the gear in,  a couple of folks left the pub freeing up 2 parking spaces - we could get sorted!  As I got the last few bits out of the car Jacqui passed by with Phil, Nat,  Ethan and Isaac - all heading home from town.  Sad but true the grandsons wouldn't be coming to the gig on this occasion.

There is a new landlord at this pub and he soon got his barman shifting things at the West end of the room to give us quite a good size playing area.  His brief was to leave enough room for them to get past the band to access the door to the cellar and I was careful to do this;  but we needed to shift the cases back into the car to give full access.  We had a problem with set up.  My mic sounded flat and low powered and when I put the harmoniser on we just got annoying digital feedback?  Chris the drum confirmed it sounded weak at the bar.  I was checking settings on the harmoniser when it occurred to me I might have mistakenly plugged the harmoniser into my vocal input and vice versa.  Yes - that was it! We soon had our usual sound going. We still had a changeable hi frequency resonance to deal with but, with the feedback suppressors working on it,  overall I was much happier with the PA sound than our last time there.  I advised the boys to play to the PA level which couldn't go much higher.

Clothing was the same as the previous night but with black trousers and we had arrived dressed for the part so we had plenty of time for a beer before our 8:30 pm start.  Come show time there were only about 15 in the pub,  but it was such mild weather there were at least the same number outside in the courtyard.  We decided to strike up regardless and we soon hummed through a variation on our usual set 1 to exercise some of the reserves such as "Guitars Cadillacs,  Folsom Prison and Be Bop A Lula."  That kept us on our toes and we maintained good continuity so we arrived at the end of the set with enough time to take on "Wonder of You".  The band was playing well and we were relaxed and comfortable enough with each other to work in some nuances - good progress!

There were a few more in for the start of set 2.  I didn't do the walk as such but I did a few poses to entertain a couple at a table on my left who had sat through set 1 and looked really engaged with it.  Early on in the set I dropped in "Penny Arcade".  This was the best we have played it so far and it got some good applause from the fruit machine fans.  We progressed on through a standard set until the end of "Hot Love" when I unleashed my secret weapon to transition into "East Anglia Girls".  We took the key up to A and settled into the rhythm for a couple of bars then I shout:  'Florida!  Hawaii!  California!  East Anglia--!'  and off we go into the song proper.  All this went down pretty well with the about 20 in the room and we even had a few doing some dance action.  We finished to good applause and were set for the big finish with "American Trilogy" which got a fantastic reception from such a small crowd.

In the break the landlord had a word.  He said he was really enjoying our show but he was annoyed with the poor turn out.  He was clearly frustrated that he had put on quality entertainment for several weeks and thought he would have to retreat to occasional party nights. Nevertheless, we strode forward to do our final set in good heart and we got a good response from the slightly bigger crowd now some had 'come in from the cold'.  There was lots of singing along,  bits of dancing and strong applause.  The band was playing well and there was only one major cock up - towards the end.  I try to get the boys to transition from "All Right Now" into "Another Brick in the Wall" but Chris the drum didn't pick up on it and he even seemed to forget he was meant to be singing it.  So I started the vocal and that got him going, but he was not really with it throughout the song: with missed timings of 'hey teacher..' and even a whole vocal line missed out that I had to come back in on?  Chris the bass is getting the gist of the prominent bass line but it is not quite tight enough yet and he is so focussed on doing the bass line that he is not joining in on the vocal as rehearsed. The solo went quite well but not enough power so I have now decided this must be done with a sustain sound.  We did the transition from the solo into the vocal finish 'All in all ... brick in the wall'  very well though.  The song went down OK with the crowd but this number will need some more playing to slick it up and make the required impact.   Next up: "Hippy Hippy Shakes followed by Mustang Sally",  where I make a point of saying 'We want all the ladies to sing on the Ride Sallys'.  Chris the bass is doing a better job on the vocal in the chorus now and I made a mental note to ask him to try the verse as well (I am currently doing it).  We finished with Johnny B Goode and encored quickly with "Born to be Wild" - this combination big ending went as well as it possibly could with this relatively small crowd and we were well pleased with the response. 

As we packed up the landlord came over and said our performance had been 'just great' and,  on this showing,  he would love to get us back in on a party night.  We were chuffed with the nights work and almost whistled as we started tear down.  I said a special good bye to the couple on my left who had sat through the whole show - 'they deserve a medal!' I said.  We were soon packed and loaded and so I was home by 12:30am in a mood for cocoa and toast!  Still in a good mood the next day when we ended up at the Pickerel for roast lunch with the extended family.

ReTrio at the Dolphin Hotel Felixstowe

Chris the bass and I agreed to travel in convoy.  I left at 5:45pm to arrive at his house at 5:49pm and he would pull out in front of me at 5:50pm to lead the way.  Kinda worked like that but with an unplanned stop of 30 seconds for me to wait for his car to appear!  Stormy but mild night,  we had a good drive over to Felixstowe despite the rather heavy Friday late afternoon traffic,  but Chris too a strange route into the town centre and then back out rather than take the road to the docks which leads directly to the gig.  We parked up on the pavement outside the pub and walked in to inspect.  What I thought would be the playing area was a small stage in the pool room.  But no (thankfully) Karen was organising to clear some space at the door end of the main bar = ideal!  We were well advanced on set up when Chris the drum arrived and we had everything up and running by 7:30pm.  Shortly after the landlord (John a Liverpudlian) swept in and asked us to shift the cars off the pavement to the pub car park - apparently the pavement is a taxi drop off point!  No problem we said and as we did that a squall passed over and we got a bit wet.  We had come prepared in jeans and black shirts so only needed to put on ties and hats and we were ready to rock.  John asked for a 9pm start and an 11:30 finish so Chris worked out set times with a couple of 10 minute breaks,  then another beer before show time!

We played a fairly conventional set 1 and, a few numbers in, the bantering started to get some response.  No dancing as such but good applause and answers to my questions such as:  what was the name of the 60's Liverpool group I'm 'searching' my mind to remember.  'The Searchers'  they shouted back!  The bantering took some time up so we finished with "All Shook Up" to good applause.

In the break the landlord, John,  said he really liked the band but he had to admit it made little difference to the pub's takings.  Sadly, he revealed he was selling out of it at the end of the current year and it was unclear if the pub's new management would continue the tradition of it as a live music venue. 

We came back on with a Shads Walk to "Apache".  I made a point of getting as far forward as I could to judge the band sound and it was pretty good - nothing I could take issue with.  Unlike my dancing which was dire!  We don't mention 'Sir Cliff' at the moment so I simply ask the audience "Do You Wanna Dance?" to introduce the next song.  By and large they don't and they didn't at this venue;  but they did applaud and take interest.  As we continued I have to say the band was playing quite well together and a generally good atmosphere settled over the whole pub.   We morphed into "East Anglia Girls as we approached the end of the set and on this night it went well enough;  but still plenty to tighten up there.  We finished with "American Trilogy" which went well and brought the house down.

A couple came up in the break to say they had really enjoyed it - they hadn't expected to stay out as late as this;  but the band was so entertaining they had done but they had to go and relieve the babysitter at the caravan park across the road.  I had spotted them taking an interest and it was gratifying to hear they had enjoyed it.

So,  as we started set 3 we were down to about 25 in the 'concert room'.  There were bits of dancing now and then and we fulfilled a request for a Status Quo song with "Caroline".  Not too bad considering we hadn't played it for ages.  We got a lot of shouts for more after "Johnny B Goode" so we did do "Born to be Wild" with me following Chris's slow downed chorus.  All in all a very good night.  We packed and loaded efficiently and I made a fast run home to minimise sciatica - it still kicked in though and I had a rough night ending up taking Nurafen to get to sleep.

 

Checkmates at King Edward Hall Lindfield

After our jaunt to the Bluebell we proceeded through the Sussex countryside to Jenny and Miles house in Lindfield where we were treated to a nice lunch and drink!  We managed a little walk round the village in the afternoon then I set off for the gig while Jacqui watched Strictly with Jenny.  I found a good parking spot straight away and (recently arrived) Graham and Raye gave me a hand in with the gear.  Its a high stage here and we had to take care heaving Graham's Trace Elliot combo onto the stage.  We had about 30 minutes to check some things out.  Graham wanted to correct a difference between us on the riffs on "Counting Teardrops".  What I thought was a harmony on guitar wasn't really working - so we agreed to play the same unison run from E in the verses.  We gave the newies a run through.  As per last year I wonder if "Never Know What Your Missing" would benefit from a raise in key. Then we agreed the main arrangement for "Drums" which had got a bit too improvised of late.  All this practice revealed a stage resonance around A which rattled the drums but nothing we could do about that other than drop the volume a bit.  Graham wanted to check out the echo levels which he thought were too high on the ballads.  We had a difference of opinion there that we needed to solve by objective listening.  I went out front while he sang "Make Believe" over bass and drums and had to admit he had a point.  When I checked the ballad echo level in the FX unit it was about 60 and I had to reduce it to 50 to get it sounding good out front.  The levels on the slap back and the general vocal were fine at around 50 and the whole level was adjustable on the FX return on the mixer,  so we were all a lot happier after this discussion.  Jacqui arrived at 8pm; and Val arrived about the same time along with Val's sister Marilyn accompanied by Graham from the band 'Music Box'.   

We struck up with our fist set shortly after and of course as soon as we got going this wonderful crowd were dancing applauding and responding to our banter.  As we got going into "Walk Right Back" the dance floor really filled,  so I indicated to Graham we would run on into "When Will I Be loved" and the transition went really well despite my not playing it for best part of a year.  Sensing the crowd were up for it,  I dropped in "Rainin in My Heart" as a mid set slowey and that filled the floor as well.  After that we did the set as written and that took us to 9pm where we would have a 45 minute break for the buffet.  Jacqui insisted I had a something to eat and I found myself on the receiving end of a couple of sandwiches - very nice.  That called for another beer,  but I had to settle for a shandy as I had had rather a boozy lunch earlier in the day!  We went back on to play the Checkmates hits and then "Drums".  This was much tighter than the previous night but Graham surprised me when we doing our bit round the tom.  We pushed Raye away as planned so he could go and get his illuminated sticks,  but then Graham said 'en guard!'  Next thing we were fencing with the sticks in a mock sword fight.  He was getting the better of me so I was glad when Raye reappeared,  the lights dimmed and he got going with the flashing sticks.  The crowd loved it!

We took a short break,  changed shirts and resumed for 30 minutes dancing.  By the time we did our usual "Lucky Old Sun - Early in the Morning ending and got through a few encores it was 11:45 and we called a halt.  Very pleased with the end result.  We got packed and loaded in good form and said our goodbyes.  Raye asked me to plan a half hour set for our next appearance at a vintage Brit Rock n Roll weekend at the Borderline Club in Soho early in the New Year.    Jacqui and I crept back into Jenny and Miles house at about 12:45 tired but pleased with the night.

Next day we set off after breakfast on the long trip home - the sciatica not too bad so only two stops en route!

 

The Checkmates at Hassocks (Clayton and Keymer) British Legion

We set off for the annual Checkmates re-union gig weekend at 11:45 am on a typical dry Autumn day.  I was keen to get round the M25 before 4pm to avoid being stuck in a Friday afternoon jam,  but I planned to make a few stops to walk out the sciatica en route.   First stop Birchanger services near Stansted.  A worn out road surface leading into a jam packed car park almost made me head immediately for the exit - but it was already jammed with people trying to leave!  The reason we were travelling on the Friday was because with a week to go,  Raye rang up to say he had taken an extra gig at Hassocks British Legion on the Friday night.  Ms J and I thought it too much to spring it on the friends we were staying with that we needed to stay an extra night at short notice.  So we booked a room at the Hickstead Hotel near the gig where I aimed to have an hour or two resting before set up.  After a brief walk round the services we set off again - heading West round the M25 to avoid the tolls, a predictable source of jammed up traffic on a Friday.  I decided to skip the next services at South Mimms because that also is difficult to get into and we carried on round the M25 to the new services at Cobham where we stopped for a Kentucky chicken meal and coffee.  These services are new; and easy to access and park so we returned to the journey in good humour expecting a quick run down the M23 towards Brighton.  But hopes were soon dashed as we joined a tailback off the M25 into a 30 minute queue to get onto the M23 proper.  Major road works!  After that delay we had a fast run past Gatwick and onto the improved A23 towards Hickstead pulling up at the hotel at just after 4pm - so not too bad in the end.  It was a stormy early evening with plenty of thunder about and Jacqui decided to come with me to the gig for set up; so we set off at 5:45pm getting to the Legion car park at just after 6pm to find Raye and Graham already parked waiting for the place to open.  I had just got parked when Barry the barman came over to open up - we started our load in.  Not too bad here just have to watch out for 'elf n safety' issues in the back yard.   Actually set up didn't take too long and we were able to run through a few numbers before people started coming in.  We ran through 3 special songs Raye had requested.  "Brand New Cadillac" by Vince Taylor from his 2 i's coffee bar days,  "Sea Cruise" by Frankie Ford (that I had elected to sing) and "Reelin and a Rockin" another number Raye did in his Soho days.  I was surprised how well these went - particularly "Cadillac" which we really caught the pre-Beatles British Rock vibe with. 

Janice and Val (the other wives) arrived about 7:30pm and some other folks drifted in,  including Harvey Smith our long time supporter at this club.  But the club room was only about 70% full by show time. 

 The long suffering wives!

We got changed into our green shirts and appeared a few minutes late to open up the show with "Eyes".  Good sound - a bit dry though so I pushed the FX return up,  then good applause at our false ending.  The first few numbers proceeded on OK - a few errors here and there but nothing fatal!  I thought Raye was more on the ball than the previous year and he was playing a bit louder.  I had held the rest of the band levels down so we had a good overall balance.  After "Walk Right Back" we did "Brand New Cadillac".  For a first time performance this was good and we all enjoyed playing it.  Despite learning the solo like the record,  I couldn't quite remember it on the night and I ended up modernising it subtly;  and considering the audience probably didn't know it at all,  it went down well with the crowd. A couple more numbers on we arrived at "Smiling".  Graham knew I was doing this with ReTrio and kindly offered me the lead vocal on it.  It suited me because I could go on auto-pilot a bit more so off we went.  Raye pushed it along a tad faster than I am used to, and it may have come across as a bit hurried;  but it was well received by the crowd.  I announced it retrospectively as one Raye played with Jimmy Justice and the ExCheckers in 1962 pushing it up the charts to number 2 (I wasn't sure if this is true  and I since found it was number 9 in March 1962).  Then it was rock n roll business as usual through to the end of the set with "Wipe Out" - always a great finisher with the Checkmates.

We were disappointed with the attendance.  One of the reasons people may have stayed in was a massive storm over the area.  We found out later most of the power had gone off in Hassocks but the British Legion was spared!  We started set 2 with our usual rendition of the Checkmates Hits which the audience listened to politely.  This included "Never Know What You're Missing and Counting Teardrops" which are less ingrained in our psyche and harder work to remember.  We got through OK but Graham and I made mental notes to re-visit before the next outing!  Raye forgot the beginning to "Them There Eyes"  but somehow we got underway on the restart without anyone noticing!  After a few more standard songs from our set we finished with "Drums".  A bit ragged here and there,  but it was interesting to see the house lights dim and Raye bashing out a rhythm on the floor tom out front with a pair of those sticks that light up!  A great reception as usual.

We agreed to stay in the green shirts because, by the start of set 3, a few had left.  We tended to go through the motions in this set.  Second number in we came to "Reelin and a Rockin" one of the new ones.  Graham had asked me to hold the D rather than drop to the C as per a usual 12 bar in G.  I remembered it most of the time I think.   After a very well received "Saw her Standin There" we came to another new song "Sea Cruise".  Raye started with the bells on the bell of his ride cymbal;  I brought in strings on a low E to simulate a ships horn.  As I start the riff in A,  Raye shouts 'All Aboard'  and then we are into the sax riff to open the song.  In that sense it was similar to the Frankie Ford record - we did it faster though.  I did quite enjoy doing it but had trouble remembering the words;  however, Graham and I had the 'oooh ee baby'  harmonies spot on - just loved doing those and they are so catchy.  Jacqui said later it was stuck in her head as an ear worm for a couple of days.  The 25 or so folk that were left by 11:30 kept us encoring with "Eyes" and my choice of "Hound Dog" to finish a mostly satisfying performance by the band.

Raye received some welcome assistance in pack up and we were soon loaded and ready for off.  I had to be guided out of a tight spot in the car park,  but soon Jacqui and I were on our way to the hotel.  Slept well and long after a busy day and the took our time over an excellent breakfast before driving up to Haywards Heath.  We called in Tesco on the way and Jacqui suggested we had enough time to spend an hour at the Bluebell Railway before we were due at Jenny and Miles for lunch - so we did!

 

ReTrio at Felsto Arms Felixstowe

The guvnor (Robbie) at the Felsto had liked our set a few weeks previously and made room in their schedule for us to play a late Sunday afternoon slot.  On the day, the weather was still very nice for the time of year and I was looking forward to a relaxed drive over for a 2pm arrive and 4pm performance start.  But things conspired to slow me down - my sister was staying over to visit my mum,  I lost track of time and nearly forgot I needed a big feed before I set off, and finally, when I did get going,  I realised I had left my phone behind and had to double back home from Thurston.  I grabbed the phone and texted the boys that I was in delay and got going again.  I did the 40 mile run to Felixstowe in 30 minutes,  but it took another ten minutes to drive through the afternoon seaside traffic to the pub,  so it was about 2:40pm by the time I parked up.  The boys came out to give me a hand getting the gear in and I was tied up doing stuff for about 30 minutes before I got my first pint of lager in.  I had concluded from the previous visit we could do the double Bose configuration at this venue and this time I also decided to use my guitar synth - setting the rack up in its usual place under the mixer.   I finished set up and, testing things out, found the mains lead to the graphic EQ had come adrift in the rack.  I was able to fix that and my perception was that the overall sound was brighter and stronger - even though it was meant to be 'hard' bypassed with mains on or off.  The PA sound and headroom before feedback was good and I was happy with the existing levels,  just dropping Chris the drum's mic a tad and pushing Chris the bass's mic up a tad to correct imbalances that had built up last time out.  Just time to start a second pint as we started to think about showtime at 4pm.  We had arrived in jeans and black shirts as directed by our wardrobe mistress Chris the drum.  So all we needed to do was put on our white ties and hats.  The pub was getting busier and there were quite a few of Chris the drum's relatives in support so it was quite full as we took to our instruments.  In fact Chris the bass was nearly lost in a bunch of folk standing all around him!

We opened set 1 with "Flingel Bunt" for a change.  It got polite applause but as we got going with the usual set and interacted with the audience,  particularly a couple on my left,  they started to respond well.  We dropped in a special request for "Penny Arcade" after 30 minutes which went well and got some ladies dancing in the limited space in front of the band and the next number "Halfway to Paradise" they were singing along.  Then a few more came up came up to dance as we did "Runaround Sue - All Shook Up".  I chose to finish the set with "Wonder of You" and about halfway through an Elvis tribute singer started to join in on Chris the bass's mic.  OK enough I thought so I let him do the rest of the song and,  of course,  that entertained the crowd enormously.  He did take on the high line at the ending and focussing his voice did a good job of it!  In the break we tanked up with water and our guest singer revealed he was in the business - having a night off!  

We came on for set 2 opening with a special request for "Apache" and continued to play a standard sequence to about the 30 minute point when I called for "Wicked Games".  We had a bit of trouble getting started and I have since resolved to play a couple of chord sequences prior to the guitar opening (as per the record).  This will allow the boys to settle into the correct rhythm before I start the lead guitar parts.  As it was, the nice guitar bits were lost in the confused start.  But it went well enough after that even though my voice was also a tad froggy on the high parts on this night.  We ended in good enough order but we didn't get much reaction -  I think because it was a slowey and being a 'modern' song from the 80s they didn't know it well enough to sing along.  We soon got back on track with an ending sequence of "Hot Love" into "East Anglia Girls".  The latter is still a little confused and rushed:  but I have a cunning idea for the start of this that I will try out next time!   We finished with "American Trilogy" assisted by our Elvis tribute singer who was a little looser from a beer or two this time!  Nevertheless it went down a storm.  

We set off into set 3 with "Great Balls" and then played a fairly continuous sing-a-long / dance - a - long sequence through "Saw Her Standin There - Pretty Woman - Sweet Caroline - Saturday Night (Accompanied by Elvis doing a good job on the hi bits) - Come on Over to My Place - Hey Baby - Hi Ho - All Right Now".  At the last practice I had encouraged the boys to morph into "Another Brick In The Wall" at this point and with a bit flailing of arms and encouragement we did indeed get underway with the drum beat.  The two Chris's sing this,  but on the night it was only Chris the drum as Chris the bass was clearly concentrating on the prominent bass riff in this song.   Actually it went not too bad:  Chris the bass and I both forgot the accapella all join in vocals on the second verse but Chris the drum soldiered on and soon we were approaching the solo.  On the night I made a decision to use a sustain chorused sound for this; but it was a bit over the top I think and I need to try and do it cleaner going forward.  Apart from the first few notes I hadn't prepared anything and just improvised the character of the Dave Gilmore 80's solo. I looked round to the boys to indicate the end and we did finish quite tight.  It received a good response and I think it will work well in this sequence.  Chris bass called for "Hippy Hippy Shake to follow:  we were good and tight and it went down very well. Next up it was 'all the ladies' sing (and Elvis) as we did "Mustang Sally".  It was now time for "Johnny B Goode" to bring us to the 7pm finish time and,  announcing it as our last number,  off we went.  I was pleased that we got our outroductions a bit tighter on this night and the audience gave us all a big hand and there were enough shouts for more at the end to send us into another ball of confusion with our encore "Born to be Wild".  By now I know that Chris the drum will slow it down on the 'Born to be wild' bits and I decided to follow him this time rather than try and force him to follow the record.  By not fighting each other tempowise we definitely got a better overall feel,  but it just sounds wrong to me.  Still the crowd loved it and we had to work hard in our final sign off to avoid being sucked into more encores.   We got a lot of praise at the end from all sections of the crowd and Robbie asked Chris to call him back so he could fix some slots for 2015.  Pack up was difficult in this crowded pub but somehow it all came together.  I found an armoured lead had been trod on bad enough to bend the jack and I misplaced my interval muzak player (it turned up in the guitar FX bag the next day).  We got on the road about 8pm.  I had a reasonable run as far as Stowmarket before the sciatica kicked in hard but then it was only 15 minutes of pain before I got home about 8:45 pm to spend the rest of the evo with Ms J and my sister watching playbacks from 'Strictly Dancing'.  The sciatica is definitely on the mend but still quite debilitating if I have to sit for more than 30 minutes.