Burwell Ex-Services and Social Club

I picked up my amp from Chris in the morning and set about loading the regular gear for the evening gig - a new club for us!  Chris came round at 6:15 to lead the convoy to Bury Golf Club where we picked up Chris drum and headed West on the A14 in the dark.  We only had to go to the Soham exit to pick up the road to Burwell and it was only a few miles so we arrived at about 6:55pm on a dark, cool night.  Chris got them to open the stage door / fire exit on the road side of the club,  we unloaded and then shifted the cars to the car park. 
Nice little club room with a relatively large stage we would all fit comfortably on.  Chris the bass and I elected to go forward onto a front extension which would put us quite away forward from the back wall.  We decided to set the Bose up level with the drums so there was a good line of sight into the club room and on this occasion that meant placing the Bose outside the bass stack.  The Bose on my side had less of a line of sight into the room but would provide good monitoring for myself.  This week Chris the drum had failed to remember his mic stands - he hadn't needed them on the previous night!  So I got my spare out for Chris the bass to use,  Chris the drum used Chris's boom and Chris the bass improvised a stand for the bass drum mic by taping the mic and its desk stand to the mic box. 

We had good support from the management who came over to make sure we had power and to sort the house lights out.  We had the luxury of a junk room by the side of the stage to get changed in.  By 7:45pm everything tested OK but there were a few in already so we didn't sound check as such and I put the background muzak on.

Come show time at just before 9pm there were about 25 in the room.  We opened up with the usual few numbers and all seemed to be good with a very acceptable on stage sound.  Audience response was a bit muted,  but we gradually started to win them over as the set progressed.  We fitted in "Rockin Around the Xmas Tree and White Xmas" early on and we got some bits of sing-a-long going.   We had a fair few up and dancing as we got into the final third of the set with  "Halfway to Paradise, Runaround Sue and All Shook Up".   In the break I showed an enthusiastic young committee man round our hi-tech PA - he was most impressed.

The room had gradually filled during our first set and break and the room looked busy if not crowded as we resumed.  We opened set 2 with "Apache" and I went out front for a walk.  It sounded pretty good with sparkly guitar over solid bass and drums,  and we got a good response for it.  After "Do You Wanna Dance", we played "My Only Possession" as a request waltz for one of Chris the bass's mates who had shown up. He and his missus did a fine job and several other slow dancers came up just as we were finishing it.  So we elected to continue with "Albatross" as a slow dance and we were pleased to see it fill the floor!  After that we continued with our normal set 2 rock n roll repertoire for a bit and that kept people dancing.  We lost them in "Rip It Up" so I cut that short and we did "Wicked Games" as an atmospheric slowey.  This time I made sure the boys had the rhythm before I started the guitar solo introduction.  The floor filled again and we played it well apart from losing the intended arrangement as I added the wrong 3rd verse and omitted a repeated chorus - it really didn't matter though!   We tried a debut of Chris the drum singing "Spanish Eyes" but,  maybe too many slowies?  It didn't go down too well I'm afraid - maybe next time? This night we did a creditable performance of "Hot Love into East Anglia Girls".  I slowed it down a bit more and took my time about getting started.  Although I did forget the 'Florida Hawaii etc '  intro,  "East Anglia Girls" itself was well received:  I think they got the joke,  but on this night the big thing was that it was danced to - we had a full dance floor!  Vocally we got it much better as well.  Still a bit more to do but I was very pleased with the best outing of this so far. We finished the set with "American Trilogy" which went down well.   In the break I wanted to bring up the volume on the muzak a little,  but the mixer had frozen so I had to find a break between songs to restart it.  I wonder if the rural voltage was down a bit this far out?  Fortunately everything on the PA was working for the restart. But, unfortunately,  Chris's bass was hardly working?  He plugged straight in to bypass compressor,  but it was only a little louder.  I was all for continuing with a weak sound but he suddenly announced the lead into his bass had worked loose.  The guitar stand must have nudged it out of kilter so it was half in = a weak signal! We finally opened with "Dance the Night Away".  I messed the timing up of the initial horn part but we soon got into it proper and then about 10 ladies got up to line dance to it.  This was great stuff!  I continued with "Saw Her Standin There" and then took us into "Pretty Woman" all of which kept the dance floor busy.  We lost them with "Sweet Caroline"  but they all sang along and were really enjoying it.  They came back for a dance with "Saturday Night at Movies - Come on Over to My Place,  Hey Baby,  Hi Ho, Alright Now"  I tried to keep the momentum going with "Another Brick In the Wall"  but Chris the drum had forgotten the sequence change and it was very scrappy when we finally did get going.  So we lost the dancers at that point.  We picked it up again with "Help Me Make It Through Night"  after a bad start where I mistakenly cued Chris the drum in with an A instead of a D.   We did get some slow dancing going however, so I tried to take them up a small gear with "Mustang Sally" .  That didn't really work and we kept it short because we were out of time.  We finished off with "Johnny B Goode" which we played well enough after the ragged section we had just completed.  It was midnight and people were drifting off so we didn't encore.  Overall it had been a good night and,  despite our performance falling down somewhat towards the end,  the management hadn't noticed and were keen to book us back.  So we were well pleased as we packed up.  We were on the road by 12:45am and home on a misty night by 1:30 am.  Leg a bit sore but not feeling as tired as usual - I must be getting my stamina back!

Bury St Edmunds Xmas Fayre

Headlining on the Friday night at the Xmas Fayre on Angel Hill?  Well,  we just had the last one hour slot of the day following a rock-a-billy band called Fretz!  Our slot started at 7pm but we were required to show up a couple of hours earlier.  We only needed back line,  so I tested my Mesa Lonestar amp with the Roland FX and packed a few leads.  I also put on my thermal underwear because,  even though it was a mild night for the time of year,  it would be cold playing in the open.  Chris the bass was taking a half stack and kindly picked me up at 4:15pm for the drive us into town.  Getting through security was a bit of a faff, and the Mayor of Bury was brought over to walk in front of the car to lead us to the car park near the old tourist office.  This was still a hundred yards to the Abbeygate Green King stage in the square so I borrowed a trolley thing and we shifted the amps to the assembly area to the left of the stage.  Chris the drum was already there and a school choir was performing,  so we minimised disruption while they finished by heading to the One Bull pub for a pint.  When we came back we shifted our gear into the artiste assembly tent - aka green room!  Fretz did their set and Chris assembled his kit while they were on so we were all ready for a quick change.  They played a fine set of that idiom;  I was pleased to see there was no overlap with our set.  The wives and entourage all arrived about 20 minutes before our show time and the square was busy if not crowded.

The changeover went very smoothly.  The sound guy miked my amp up with a SM57 and the kit with a condenser mic on the top and a bass drum mic.  Chris provided a DI from the 'pre' socket on the back of his amp and all was working very quickly.  We didn't do a sound check as such and just got straight on with FBI.  My amp was a bit toppy,  so I took the volume down a bit on guitar and that seemed better.  We got a good reception for our start off and I led us quickly into "Heartbeat".  The toppy edge came back,  but not a lot I could do while singing.  Interestingly,  some ladies out front had been dancing,  so I got quickly on with "Rock Around Clock".  It was after the solo in this that my amp lost a lot of power and we had to drivel it to a finish.  I switched guitar socket thinking the guitar battery had given out,  but no sound at all then.  I touched the tip of the jack,  not a whisper?  So I swapped lead and - we got sound back!  We got straight on with "Alright Mama". Good pace but I could feel the amp struggling to maintain volume,  so I kept the guitar signal as high as possible to blow the problem free - that seemed to work a bit.  We got through the song and set up for "Rocking Around the Xmas Tree - White Xmas"  All OK and I started to relax.  Next was "Ring of Fire".  The guitar sound went again in the last verse. The number came to a close and I fiddled around a bit but I never got to the bottom of it on the night.  From then on it seemed to work enough for us to get on with the set.  Chris had a go at "Delilah" and it sounded fine.  The guitar sound was a bit distorted but workable as we carried on with the Beatles and Searchers.  No harmoniser on the mics but the mic sound was good on stage and Jacqui later reported the vocals as being strong out front.  We were going down well with this passing crowd and I ramped us up a gear by doing "Hi Ho into Alright Now".  The guitar sounded good in these!  We ran to a finish with "Johnny B Goode" .  We had done about 45 minutes but it felt like hours with all the problems. I know we weren't at our best but all our followers thought it was good - with a really strong band sound out front making the stress of the situation less noticeable.

Pack up went smoothly and the Mayor who was MC for the event came over to say he had enjoyed our set and would we be up for it next year? 'Yes Please' we said. It had been quite enjoyable despite the problems.

Jacqui and I walked back intending to get a beer on the way  but, as the One Bull was packed,  we ended up having a beer at home .

 Next day I ran the guitar rig at home and found:
1. The guitar lead has a silent switch on it.  I must have knocked it when changing sockets!
2. The amp was set as I use it at home with the FX loop enabled.  There has always been an intermittent fault with this.  I thought the service had fixed it but it was still there.  The fix is simple - switch it to hard bypass and a relay switches that circuitry out!  That's the way I used to use it with the Foot Tappers for maximum power and clarity!

 

3.  The guitar battery was OK but I changed it to be on safe side!

ReTrio at The Chequers Feltwell

The start of our run up to Xmas tour.  I had enjoyed the couple of weeks off but it was time to get back to work!  We had a practice in the week and passed a few Xmas songs as suitable for broadcast;  and I intended to try out "Rockin All Over the World and The Road to Hell" at the gig if opportunity allowed.  I checked the pub out on the internet and the pictures were full of jolly white haired country types enjoying nice looking meals / beers. Looked like 'our kind of gig'!  Chris the bass rolled by to pick me up at 6:10 and we formed a duo convoy to the 3 Kings at Fornham where Chris the drum joined in a deft manoeuvre slipping in between us to make it a trio.  Then it was a case of simply following Chris to Lakenheath and then a few miles further to Feltwell.  Strange approaching a gig in the dark after the Summer - but it was relatively mild.  Chris went in and sought direction as to the best way to enter and soon we were reversing up to the back yard to take the gear straight into the bar playing area.  The bar was really busy though so we had to wend our way past folks to drop the gear off at the end wall.  The management cleared the pool table to one side and that cleared the folks back to the bar itself.  I must say that even at 7pm this lot looked 'well oiled'.  Many of them were in wellies and ordering more rounds.  As we got the gear in Chris the bass whispered 'its a gypsy shooting party'.  'Crikey' I thought, 'Gypsies,  guns,  drink,  women = all the ingredients for a wild west fighting night!'

Actually there was quite a bit of room now the pool table was over to one side and set up went well. Chris restricted the lighting set up 'cos we were running everything off one 13 amp supply.  I thought that low voltage might have made the PA a bit weak 'til I realised the Bose on my side wasn't even switched on - easily fixed!  I ran the PA up to and into feedback but the suppressors were having to work hard to deal with the changing frequencies of a busy bar.  Chris the bass got the drinks in while I made last minute adjustments and fielded requests for songs by 'Dexy's Midnight Runners'.  Still, we had best part of 45 minutes to while away before show time and I hoped that maybe they will quieten down a bit as the drink takes hold.  I put some Rod Stewart American Songbook tunes on the PA to relax things,  but, fortunately, most of the arguments seemed to taking place outside the pub.  As 9pm approached the two Chris's proposed just changing into white Ts and waistcoats, we'll stay in our jeans and trainers. I agreed - so we 'made it so'.

We came on just before 9pm to have a last PA check and tune,  then opened up on the dot with "FBI".  This got no reaction,  so we carried on quickly with "Heartbeat".  It must have been the atmosphere of 60's English countryside evoked by the TV series,  but that got several of them up and dancing in their wellies.  Non too steady on their feet either but the atmos was calmer. Singing was proving to be hard work 'cos the PA level before feedback was low,  and this continued to plague us all night.  Next song was "Smiling".  My banter went straight over their heads,  so I thought I'd not bother too much more with banter and just slick through the numbers.  But I did try out "Rocking Around the Xmas Tree" (even though it was a bit early in the year!)   Unfortunately I started it much too fast - but the crowd seemed to like the thrash version and weren't too fussed about dancing in time! We carried on with more rock'n'roll which kept them all up and dancing;  so much so that we did all 3 songs rather than the usual perm any 2 from 3 of:  "Rock Around Clock, Alright Mama,  Blue Suede". Next up "Act Naturally and Ring of Fire" introducing the Chris's went well and engaged the crowd a little;  but I signalled to skip "Eyes" and we proceeded into the "8 Days a Week - Can't Buy Love" Beatles sequence (without wigs) which again filled the floor with welly dancers.  We lost them with the Searchers Medley,  but they did join in by singing along in "Runaround Sue - All Shook Up".  We were quite pleased at our efforts in crowd control as we finished the set with "Halfway to Paradise" with some gropey dancing and squiffy sing-a-long"

We took our break in the restaurant which was peaceful.  But when we returned 10 minutes later the bar was much less rowdy.  'Aah' I spied - a buffet had arrived and the food and drink must be having a soporific effect.  We set about a fairly normal set 2 and after about 20 minutes things were even calmer as the shooting party began leaving.  They were replaced to some extent by some old boys who were appreciating the music a bit more than our set 1 crowd.  Things were going well enough for me to call for Chris the bass to sing his debut of "Rockin All Over the World".  His vocal was a bit rough but we definitely captured the rhythm and flavour of the song and he got a good reception.  As we cruised to the set end with a rough and too fast version of "East Anglia Girls" I pondered what to finish with.  I wasn't in the mood,  and the venue wasn't right for, "Trilogy";  so I called for "Wicked Games".  I thought we did a good effort on this. I was pleased with my vocal and we created a good closing atmosphere for this mixed audience.  For in the last 10 minutes the old boys were drifting away and the bar was filling up with the under-25's!

We opened set 3 with "Great Balls" as normal and I took us straight into "Saw Her Standin There" and so we played on doing a continuous sequence of several numbers all the way through to "All Right Now".  Somehow I forgot "Another Brick in the Wall" but I called for the debut of "Road to Hell" instead.  This went surprisingly well with the younger audience and we played it fairly well. I was happy with my vocal but I need to sort the detail of the solo's out.  But I think it was convincing enough.  Strangely enough the young crowd had been asking for something by Lionel Ritchie?  I was almost tempted to do a few bars of "3 times a lady",  but strumming it while I was talking I couldn't even remember the first 3 chords,  so I abandoned that and made my apologies to the requestor.  We carried on with our run down to midnight with:  "Hippy Shakes, Mustang Sally and Johnny B Goode!  We had 5 minutes left and someone called for more so we set off into "Born to Be Wild".  Something good happened at the first "Born to be Wild" - Chris the Drum didn't slow it down!  But second time around he did?  We finished in good order and I thought it was about the best version we had done to date. As we packed up I told Chris I was pleased with his playing of it, especially first time around,  and he said he got lost and forgot to slow it.  I said why not keep it like that in future?  So fingers crossed for the next outing.  Load up was tricky with people in the way but we finally got going about 12:40pm.  Not a bad trip home on a dark, misty night.  Chris the bass led and set off at speed and lost us somewhere near Lakenheath.  I was home by 1:30am a bit sore with sciatica,  but it is on the mend.   Chris the drum texted the next day to say we should call Chris the bass 'Speedy Gonzalez' to reflect his driving style.  I replied saying we should make it his theme tune!  Reflecting:  I wasn't too happy with the band sound on the night,  but apparently,  the pub manager was impressed with the band and its professionalism and is keen to have us back in 2015.

ReTrio at Bramford British Legion

Chris the bass had been on holiday in Tenerife and was landing back at Stansted in the early hours of Saturday morning.  Thought he would have a lay in so I exchanged texts about 10:30 and we agreed I would motor round to his place for a 6:20 departure to the gig.  Once in convoy he set off at such a pace it took me to Stowmarket to catch up.  It was a clear night as we arrived in Bramford at about 6:45.  We could see Chris the drum parked up outside - and the place was open!  After a bit of juggling we got parked up close enough to the entrance and started the load in.  By the time all our gear was in Chris the drum was set up,  but then he had to move it forward to make room for the back line.  Set up went well until I looked round for my mic stand.  Shock horror - I had forgotten both it and the guitar stand.  Nephew in law Simon had helped me load and I was so busy telling him everything had a place, and by doing it that way I knew everything was aboard that I then went and forgot the stands - doh!  I went back out to the car and retrieved the spare mic stand.  Chris the bass kindly offered to let me use his boom stand and he would use the spare straight stand. 

It all sounded good and Chris the drum did a couple of loud runs round the kit to see how the sound meter responded. Chris the bass took some of the boom out the bass and, as I strummed in keeping a respectable volume, we seemed to be just clipping the red and there was no hint of feedback - so: 'good enough for rock n roll' I declared as we omitted a formal sound check.  The venue was filling up quickly and as we went to get changed there were only a few spare tables left.  And as we came out for an 8:30 start even they were filled!  Tracey the governess was just completing some club announcements as we took our places. It seems there were a few birthdays and Pearl was having a bit of a do at the club!  Tracey announced the band and we set off into F B I.  Maybe I was a bit stiff on the guitar but overall it sounded good and got a great reception as we finished.  Before we got on with our show we did a couple of rounds of "Happy Birthday" and that set a relaxed vibe,  because when we did get going with "Heartbeat" it was well together and the floor filled with dancers. We finished to a very warm response so I introduced the band. We were wearing our poppies,  but Chris the drum had a small tie pin version.   So as I introed the band I mentioned Remembrance Sunday and Chris the bass and myself posed our poppies forward;  then I pointed back at Chris the drum and said 'he's only got a little one'. He posed his tie forward.  Of course this innuendo generated a big audience response and I did repeat the joke a couple of times later as the evening progressed.  But now we had to play some more music.  I had briefed the boys in the dressing room to expect some changes to the flow and I chose the Everlys "Walk Right Back" next.  This really suited the dancers and I carried on into "When Will I Be Loved" to keep it going.  Next up I had teed the boys up to drop in a waltz "My Only Possession" and this went really well considering we only ever ran it through a couple of times in the early days.  The dance floor was so busy I did an instrumental round as well - just strumming the chords.  I was well pleased with the way we had done this -  the boys in the rhythm section had come on a lot over the last few months to be able to do things without warning.  They looked ready for another slowey so I called for "Groovy Kind of Love" and,  considering we haven't played it for a while we did a good job and it went well down well as well.  I took things back on track for a well received and danced to rock n roll section with "Rock Around the Clock into Alright Mama".   Then we did the two Chris intro songs "Act Naturally" which was surprisingly well received and "Ring of Fire" which went down very well.  Chris advised we were getting on time wise so I skipped my intro song and went straight to the Beatles routine.  The wigging up hasn't changed much over the years but it still gets a good laugh and we played the two songs well and continued to keep the audiences attention and dancing!  Next I took us through our tribute to the Searchers.  I usually get the audience to guess the name of the band I am 'searching' to remember and they did.  We played it pretty well and I was fairly pleased with the transition from "Sugar n Spice" into "Needles and Pins" with the exception of Chris the drums strangely timed accents (I have since asked Chris the bass to look Chris the drum in the eye and conduct with his bass neck to get it right).  But the audience clearly enjoyed the sequence and, as we finished, a chap came out of the dance floor specially to say to us: well done for a great tribute medley!  After "Halfway to Paradise" we had run out of time so we finished with "All Shook Up" to an enthusiastic reception.  A very good first set!

We came back on for set 2 and I did the Shads walk for "Apache" to entertain the audience.  Chris built it up a bit saying 'it would be a risky dance demonstration 'cos of his sciatica'  While I was out I could gauge the sound and it was good.  Excellent balance with solid bass and drums underpinning a sparkly guitar sound and even a dose of smooth strings at the end fitting into the soundscape nicely.  I was very pleased.  We carried on through our normal set 2 with "Do You Wanna Dance - Happy Together - Daydream Believer - Delilah" and got them singing along,  dancing and applauding just great.  I sensed we needed a slowey so I called for "Albatross".  We havn't played it for a while but it sounded good,  no errors and we all finished together - and well received!  Next I did a dedication to the fruit machines near the bar by performing "Penny Arcade".  We played well and the audience loved it.  Some of the dancers even seemed to have a routine worked out to do the pace changes.   I took the band on through a little rock n roll section with "Move It" but hit a glitch with my pedal right at the start.  If you tread on two switches together by accident it starts recording (and not changing the FX).  The reliable way to get rid of this is to reboot which does take 30 seconds or so.  So Chris the bass bantered away about it until we could get going.  Then the dance floor filled.  We took them on through "Summertime Blues as normal and then "Rip it Up".  I tend to let Chris the drum go with the flow in this nowadays 'cos I can't get him to remember the jungle beat under the verses that I prefer.  Next was "Proud Mary" which I was pleased to get right after a few gigs where Chris and I were at odds on the arrangement.   With time racing away we carried on with the "Hot Love - East Anglia Girls" sequence successfully (but still a bit ragged and rushed on the latter) and kept the dance floor busy.  One couple of a certain age I spotted had danced energetically through out the whole set.  But now it was time to finish - with "American Trilogy"  and this went down just great.  A really strong audience response put the sound meter into the red!  A good second set!

We got changed into the white Ts and black waistcoats and came back on after the raffle to start with "Dance the Night Away" for a change.  That got 'em all up dancing again and we continued with "Saw Her Standing There".  It was approaching 11pm as we took them through the sing-a-long party dance sequence and the audience had thinned a little,  but the crowd still sang along enthusiastically and the stalwarts were still dancing.  We finished the sequence with "Hi Ho" to avoid the soft rock 'hardness' (and volume) of "All Right Now" and we brought forward "Make It Through The Night" to be a mid-set slowey.  Once again the slowey filled the floor and I felt obliged to follow up with another so we embarked on "Wonderful Tonight".  On both these songs I had thought Chris the bass and myself were at odds on what I thought were semi-tone starting run downs;  but we checked it in the week and all was fine so it must have been a bit of dodgy tuning?  Next up was a slow paced  version of "Mustang Sally" to get them moving again.  Then we rocked out  "Hippy Hippy Shake"  before calling "Johnny B Goode" as our last number - mentioning that we were over time so it would be our last.  And it was,  there wasn't much call for the encore - we were about 10 minutes over time as we finished.  It had been another good set and several people came up at the end to thank us, including Pearl the birthday girl.  Got changed,  packed and loaded still feeling good about the night's work. Then it was a half hour run home for cocoa and toast before bed.  Chris the bass and I had a session in the week to correct some errors and sort out arrangements for some new material.  But now we have a couple of weekends off to enjoy.