ReTrio's Final Gig at Bramford British Legion

Chris had booked me a few months previously to do this gig as ReTrio because Steve would be on a cruise.  I was hoping to have a good last night but I was still recovering from a sniffy cold.  However, I put together a special set list to include a few instrumentals,  old timers and Xmas songs to get us through the night.  Jacqui kindly said she would accompany me for moral support so we set off at 6:10pm to make the 40 minute trip to Bramford.  It was quite dark and, when we arrived,  turning round on the main street was very difficult do with lots of traffic wanting to use the side street I chose for the turn.  Even though we weren't in convoy, Chris had appeared right behind me to add to the confusion.  We eventually lined up to park outside the club and my wing mirror clipped another wing mirror as we attempted to pull into the curb in the face of another bunch of vehicles - fortunately no damage done and for once I was parked right outside the club!

We just got loaded in when Ian and Sharon arrived.  Chris said hello to the governess who said she might be back later - but the word from the bar was she and most of the other club members would be attending a big 60th birthday elsewhere in town on this evening and we would be looked after by the lovely Chloe (on a break from college?) who was to perform the role of concert secretary for the night.

Set up went well,  the stage seemed bigger that our last visit and we easily fitted on.  We put the Bose on Chris's side forward where a normal PA would be and mine was at the back as usual.  Tonight I was using my Audix OM7.  The OM7 needs an extra 12 dB or so over the OM5 because it is transformerless.  Because it runs through the VoiceLive the adjustments to trim are done in there,  the mixer trims receiving the VoiceLive outputs remaining the same. 

Had a brief moment of panic when the mixer didn't boot up right.  I found I had to unplug some of the mics to get it to boot up.  May be something to do with rural electricity voltage?  Despite that, set up time for me is much quicker than my previous arrangement which had lots of send and receive cables running to and from the foot switch area.  This club has the dreaded sound meter controlling the mains system.  There were only a few in the room as we sound checked.  It sounded quite loud to me but the meter was well in the green.  To be on the safe side, I reduced the PA a couple of dB to get us well below the feedback ceiling.  Chris reminded me to put some background musak on and it was only after the third play of Rod Stewarts "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" that I realised the player was on 'repeat tune' - it took a couple of minutes to work out how to fix that!  There were only 20 ish in the room as it approached show time.  Chris said don't bother with ties as we got changed and we were soon lining up to be introduced by Chloe. 

Bang on 8:30pm we struck up with "F B I" which sounded fine and didn't disturb the sound meter.  We progressed on through a set that worked well for this small audience.  I was able to engage them in banter from the off which helped;  and I remembered from previous visits they like slowies early in the night.  So I had lined up "My Only Possession",  "Halfway" and "Albatross" to slow things down and in amongst the Rock n Rollers we did "Rockin Around the Xmas Tree" to set a Xmas tone to proceedings.  I was very happy with the guitar and vocal sound.  True I had a cold and sounded a bit nasal; but I was able to sing my usual range and the throat was free of gunk thanks to a LemSip taken just before we came out.  The VoiceLive effects on voice and guitar all work well for me now and I am 90% there on smooth FX transitions through nimble footwork, so show continuity is good.  Chris and Ian looked like they were enjoying it so I sprang a surprise on Ian by calling for "Ring of Fire" as the country song for the night.  I thought it went well despite Ian never playing it before!

ReTrio - Ring of Fire

After the Beatles and Searchers medleys, we got them up and dancing with "All Shook Up and Runaround Sue".  We finished, what felt like an hour's set, with "Wonder of You" inducing good audience sing-a-long participation from the 25ish attending.  It went well despite me chickening out with the easy vocal finish.

Set 2 came quickly as there weren't enough to run a raffle on the night.  We opened with "Apache" but not a lot of walking tonight with my short guitar/synth lead restricting movement. After a few sing-a-long numbers and early in the set we did a special request for Ian in the shape of "Penny Arcade" - he loves the change in beat and he finds it so catchy he uses it in his drum tuition sessions. 

Penny Arcade

A few got up to dance so we carried on to play a typical dance selection up to "Bad Moon Rising".

Bad Moon

After this we fitted in "White Xmas as the mid set slowie and followed it with "Raining in my Heart to keep the slow dancers going.  Then we finished with "Hippy Shakes and Hot Love"  Considering we only had a small audience I was pleased most of them danced through to the end.  We had a few requests in the break and,  because they were mostly already on our play list I was pleased to fit them in - but one was for a drum solo!

Chloe introduced us for Set 3.  I chose to open with "Flingel Bunt" on guitar and bass which was a surprise for Ian but it maintained continuity and saved explaining the drum intro to him.  Next up it was the request for a drum solo.  I had promised someone from the audience Ian would attempt "Let There Be Drums".  Ian set off and I talked Chris through some chords as we joined in.  We were just coming to the bit where the band would come back in when Ian double handedly switched the power off with some mighty cymbal bashing. 

ReTrio - Let There Be Drums Power Out

I couldn't get the power to restart so I plugged the band into a none controlled socket and we finished the number off to big applause.

Then it was right through a typical set with just a few breaks as I led the band through to the big finale with one of our requests for "American Trilogy".  Although the voice was a bit shot we got through to the big end and then rounded off the night with "Johnny B Goode"

Johnny B Goode Play Out

I thought we had had a good night to consign ReTrio to history - the band all enjoyed themselves and we did the best we could with a small audience.  Pack and load went well and meant we were home by 1am - Ms J and I both had a well deserved cocoa.


 

Still Depping with Coast - at Horringer Casino Charity Event

I was looking forward to this gig 'cos we had a good time last year and were able to take the time to get set up properly in a good sized village hall. 

We would be using my PA.  Mainly because Steve was departing on a cruise the next day and needed to be away early,  but also so I knew everything was working for our ReTrio re-incarnation the following week at Bramford.  So on the Thursday I ran the PA up to make sure all was OK.  It did need quite a few tweaks to accommodate my new VoiceLive FX unit so I left the old settings as ReTrio in case I ever need to go back to them and saved the new settings as Band for the preferred set up going forward.    I had been trying to fix the piezo under the 'g' string on my Koa Godin XTSA. The volume from it had dropped dramatically following a recent restring where the cap containing the piezo element had worked loose.  When I re-fitted it the piezo was hardly working?  I took it apart and its very fiddly but it seems the piezo element may need fixing in place with glue?  Looking on the net it seems this is not uncommon and I had a go a re-fixing it with mixed success.  I decided to use my 'spare' red XTSA for gigs for the time being and will see if I can find a guitar repairer to have a go at this fiddly job.

I had hoped that I would be finished with the sniffy cold by now but 'no' I would still need plenty of meds to keep the coughing and sneezing at bay on the night.  I left home at 4:40 to get through Friday traffic in Bury to arrive at the gig at the target of 5pm. Chris arrived a few minutes after me,  so I had prime position at the doors!   I was pleased to see the hall was open and the chap doing the janitoring turned out to be fellow guitarist.  We swapped stories as I loaded in - he plays in a Killers tribute band and another band doing original material.  Chris took the opportunity to ask him if he fancied taking on the guitar role in Coast and he said he'd have a think!

Set up went well on the big stage and I took some time to get my stuff all optimised before looking at the band mics.  They went smoothly apart from Ian's vocal which didn't work?  I proved the mic was ok and then delved deep into the settings on his channel.  It turned out I had set a gate on the drum vocal mic so it closed when he wasn't singing and the threshold was much too low which resulted in switching off the mic completely.  For a quick fix I switched the gate out of the set up and all was well!  Steve was using a Shure PG58 which was quite a middley tone compared to the rest of the mics but he said he liked the sound so I didn't faff.  The feedback suppressors took some high end out anyway! We put in Steve's spare radio mic into the spare drum overhead channel on the mixer to give the compere a roving mic.  It worked and delivered a good sound first time! 

Chris and I had been discussing how we might improve what he hears from the bass when stood in front on the stack.  I hear it fine on my side and we know it sounds great out in the hall.  Ian said: 'Slade used to have a bass speaker cab each side in the 70's why not try that!'  So we did.  Chris brought a cab over to my side and I sited it on the far side of the Bose.  Well, this simple change had a radical effect on Chris's hearing of the bass.  For me it was slightly louder and clearer,  but for him it was a huge improvement.  And there is room at most gigs to do this if you put the guitar amp on top of the remote bass cab.  And raising the guitar amp would also aid guitarist's to hear their own sound.  Be interesting to see how we get on at next weeks small stage at Bramford.  Finally,  we put Chris's phone on a back ground music playlist and I took his minijack into the mixer and we were set to go.

Probably about 120 in the hall.  About 80% of the attendees were 6th form students;  with teachers,  parents and band wives (Jacqui,  Bridget and Sharon) making up the senior element!  There was no buffet as such,  but the tables were populated with pots of nuts and crisps so we filled our boots with them and beer.  We had got changed into our Dinner Jackets so the ladies could inspect us - for tidiness not dry rot!  Bridget's teacher son Nathan was the organiser and he had got a few colleagues to run the gambling casino attractions and compere the night.  The compere was very good explaining the flow of the evening and he had a good line and relaxed manner with banter I thought.

But there was some confusion between the compere and the band.  He started announcing the band before we were even on the stage so that left a gap of a few minutes whilst we got sorted.  Once up and running we opened with "FBI".  I was happy with the sound of the band but just needed to roll back the guitar volume a little.  I'd asked Steve to stay on the dance floor to listen for any balance issues.  He remained impassive out there but when he came on to sing "Heartbeat" he said the band sounded good.  We brought him on by playing a few bars from the "James Bond Theme".  I was really very pleased with the on stage band sound over the first few numbers.  The problems I faced were operational - i.e. me getting used to the new approach to changing sounds with the VoiceLive 3.  In the light of this performance I'm going to move the tremolo sound next to my standard pop sound so I can select it without passing through any other sounds. We weren't doing any bantering,  just following the set list with 'as quick as we could manage' changes into the next number. I was able to cue Steve through some of the arrangements;  some we had to follow him though.  Folsom went a bit awry - here's the strange ending but I guess this one was mainly down to me!?!

But,  on the whole,  performance and continuity was a lot better than previous gigs.  I brought the harmoniser in on the "Searchers" medley and that subtly and successfully filled out the vocal sixties sound.  We were getting some good audience response from the seniors in the crowd who you could see were impressed with the sound and applauding well.  I think some might have been fearful of a loud unbalanced noise (like it really was in the sixties).  Jacqui later reported the band sound as excellent - loud and clear enough to command attention but not so loud it precluded conversation, just perfect for this gig.

We sat out the gambling.  The youngsters looked like they were enjoying it and the compere was doing a good job of holding the event to time. Thinking Chris would have learned from out late arrival on stage for set 1,  I was surprised that he hadn't rounded us up by the time we heard the announcement " And now back to our excellent band - a big hand for Coast".  We scrambled back to the stage and opened a few minutes late again with "Apache".  Steve and I went out front and started the walk.  A few girls also joined in which was pleasing to see.  Another nice touch was that as we approached the end I was able to walk up the stairs (still playing) and get to my stage position for the next number.  We got a great response anyway and then got going 'fairly' smoothly into "Do You Wanna Dance" - I had to remind Ian of the starting drum fill!  Once underway the dance floor got quite busy so I made Steve go round another verse and chorus to finish.  We carried on with some sing-a-long in the shape of "Daydream Believer and Sweet Caroline" but the dancers drifted away.  Ian called for a slowey.  Catching the band mood,  I started "Nights in White Satin".  This went unbelievably well as I added big dollops of strings and harmoniser and the band started to feel and play the dynamics of the piece. Steve did a creditable flute sole substituting some focussed vocal 'oohs' for the flute.   I kept the song short pushing Steve into a big finish after the solo.  Actually I thought he sang this song quite well as well.  But the response the band got was fantastic (even from the youngsters) - it must have sounded really good out there.  Jacqui later confirmed that even though she didn't care for the song she thought the band sound, vocals and light and shade were excellent.  Chris called for "Albatross" to follow - which we did well.

Then we got back on with some dancier stuff culminating in "Proud Mary" which went down very well and filled the floor.  I was just about to start into Bad Moon when Chris called for "Johnny B Goode" as the last number for this set.  It turned out to be an inspired choice.  The youngsters and oldsters all knew the song.  As we came to the solo's Steve had organised the youngsters into a conga line of duckwalkers.  So there I was centre stage playing the iconic solos as about 25 6th formers duck-walked across the dancefloor in front of me. It was like a scene from Back to the Future - it was just brilliant!

Then there was another spell of gambling and then the raffle was drawn.  Jacqui won a bottle of Prosecco and I won a few numbers later but asked for the prize to be awarded to the next number.

The band went on to play the third set opening with "Honk Tonk Women" but the hall started to empty so we didn't stay long just playing a couple more numbers. 

As we packed up Sharon introduced me to Ian's bass playing son (from Reading).  Apparently he is quite accomplished and plays esoteric jazz fusion in weird time signatures - he plays a Sandberg bass.  He made my night by saying what a great guitar sound I had and how he liked my style which fitted so well within the confines of the line up and repertoire.  I showed him the gear as we were packing up and I think he was quite impressed an old codger like me would dabble in such modern techniques.

Pack up was tortuous as my cold symptoms returned.  Jacqui and I were pleased to make the short journey home and I took a shot of Lemsip as soon as I got in.



      

Dep for Coast at the Dolphin Felixstowe

Went down with a cold just before this gig.  Jacqui and I went out for a strong curry on the Friday hoping it would cure it before it took hold,  but I was still very rough and sniffy Saturday morning.  I loaded up under the influence of Lemsip and, to keep things simple at a small gig, I decided to try the Mesa Lonestar for guitar amplification with the new TC-H Voicelive3.  I got changed into black shirt, thermal vest, and trousers so there would be no need to change at the gig.

Windy evening as I set off about 6:20pm.  Arrived at the gig to find Chris and Ian loading in.  I wheeled my amp in and then one small case of leads and FX.  Another trip brought mic, guitar and music stands in and I was ready to set up.  Only problem was a Xmas tree right in the way on my side,  Still I was able to work round it - good job I brought the small Mesa amp.  Steve arrived with the PA.  Instant decision = no room for monitors. 

I set my stuff up. It all sounded OK in an empty room.  No sound check so we got interested in beer which was good for my cold.   There weren't many in the "concert lounge" but there was an interesting fancy dress party going on in the sports bar in the next room. e.g. a chap was dressed as Wonder Woman!  Meanwhile, we agreed to abandon ties for this performance.  By show time there were still only about 15 in our room.  But,  at least one couple had ventured out from our old residency at the Felstowe Arms specifically to see us which was good to see.

We played a selection from the Set 1 listing.  As soon as we struck up with "F B I" I was distressed with the guitar sound which was thin and trebly with a toppy break up spoiling the clean Shads sound I was hoping for.   Strangely as Steve came on he said "great sound".  Nevertheless,  I dropped the treble and presence a notch and pushed up mid from 5 to 6.5.  This now sounded more clear and commanding but it was only when I ventured out on to the dance area that I could hear just how clear the guitar sound actually was.  Standing in front of the amp it seems you just get the distortion and other artefacts wafting up.   My sore throat and lack of monitors precluded any heroics in harmony singing but,  by trying out VoiceLive FX such as doubling and harmony we were delivering quite a full sound vocally.  With minimal audience interaction,  poor continuity between songs;  and strange arrangements and melodies when actually playing songs, I expected a poor reception.  However, as we warmed to the task, we seemed to go down alright with the small crowd? 

Set 2 continued the same theme.  I was getting increasingly irritated with the compression setting on the VoiceLive which didn't seem to work well with the Mesa's natural valve compression delivering a flat squashed solo sound.  As I was only using the compression settings to boost the guitar for solos,  I made a mental note to eliminate compression from the guitar FX patches but use the compressors 'make up gain' to boost the guitar solo sound when I get time.

We came on for the final set and a few numbers in I mucked up the chords in the second verse of "You Say Nothing At All" trying to play the arpeggios like the record. But the VoiceLive harmonies in this song were rather good and we got a good response to it - some wag in the crowd said it sounded like "El Divo".  A few numbers later I think we were all pleased to finish with "500 Miles" - but there were enough shouts for more for us to do "Johnny B Goode" as an encore.  And I was pleased we did 'cos this was a better final memory of the gig.  I was able to crank the guitar up enough to get the Mesa to 'sing' a little with some nice sustain and just a slight halo of distortion.  So, by the end of the night I had got the guitar sound sorted and knew what to do on the next FX programming session.  But,  feeling rough,  I packed up and loaded quickly and took off for home ahead of the boys.  I was home by 12:45 am which was good because the next morning we were driving to Bristol to visit brother in law Roy in hospital following his bike fall earlier in the week.

Postscript: the cold got worse on the Sunday trip to Bristol and back so I took the day off work on Monday hoping to get fit for the next gig at the weekend.  Steve's on holiday after next Friday's gig and we are going to use my PA so he can get away early.  I'll have to fire it up in the week to make sure all is working.

Dep for Coast at Home Guard Club Bury St Edmunds

Preparing for this local gig I decided to try out another 'music tech toy' I'd got hold of earlier in the week - a TC-Helicon VoiceLive3! I hoped this single unit would replace 3 floor based units to provide Vocal and Guitar effects processing with a much smaller foot print and simplified wiring. I'd spent a couple of days checking it out and building a set of sounds for gigging. Inevitably there are a few compromises in how to operate it but the sounds seemed good to me. So I loaded it in the car for the gig along with my trusty Boss GT100 as insurance if it didn't work out.  a 6:30 departure on a dark, windy and wet evening got me to the club by 6:50.  Chris and Ian were loading in so I only needed to back up to the fire escape door to join in.  I was only carrying my Bose L1 T1 single B1 bass cab system with just one guitar for this compact gig,  so load in was easy.  Steve arrived about 20 mins later with the PA

Setting up was straight forward except for a couple of issues with the new FX unit.  I had colour coded two vocal XLR leads to the PA, red for dry voice and yellow for vocal FX. First issue was these leads were tight in length to reach the PA - balanced on top of Chris's bass stack.  I re-routed to gain enough length for health and safety purposes (of course these leads will be plenty long enough when I operate my PA on my side).  The second issue was,  ignoring my colour code,  I had put the leads in wrong way round in the FX output XLRs,  so initially all I was hearing was the fully wet echoes!?!  That was soon fixed and I threw a basic PA setting together  -  it all worked!  The guitar sounded ok ish though the Bose but it was only when I pushed the jack fully home in the back of the FX unit that the sound level came up to expectation!

All well and good, we sound checked with half of "Heartbeat" which I thought was nicely balanced for the room.  I tried out some of the vocal and guitar FX in this and they sounded good to my ear.  The main challenge would be operation which was somewhat different to what I was used to.  The concert sec came over and bought us a beer and indicated that band beers would be on the house all night - brilliant!

It was soon show time and as we opened with "FBI" I could tell the guitar sound was improved. I had based it on TC's Fender Bassman amp model and it was producing a tighter,  clearer sound than the GT100.  Maybe it will need some EQ tweaking for mid and hi's but the bass end was spot on with a tight low end roll off that kept the band soundscape uncluttered and the guitar well defined.  We carried on through the set relatively smoothly.  I was finding operation of the FX on basic guitar duties of rhythm and clean soloing straight forward,  but I was learning stuff as we progressed e.g. you can switch the FX footswitches between vocal (the switches light up blue) and guitar (they light up red).  My default tends to be blue so I can switch vocal FX in and out on the fly.  But sometimes you want access to all the guitar FX and I switch to the red guitar layer leaving vocals to take care of themselves.  I had thought that switching to a new preset would reset to the default vocal blue,  but it seems selection of vocal or guitar layer is a live user operation that is not stored in a preset.  Actually I soon got to prefer this approach and, by the end of the set,  I was happy on pop and rock n roll stuff.  

Chris introduced a young lad 'Eddie' in the break.  He'd come to see the band (with his mum) with a view to taking on the guitar role.  I reckon he was under 20,  but,  talking to him, he had a good grasp of what was needed in a covers band and seemed to have the skills.  Commenting on my guitar sound he said it was just great.  I was pleased to hear this 'cos you don't always know what it sounds like out front.  I explained how I was doing it.  He understood the principles and I think he was impressed that an old fella would take on such a challenge.  His own style was old school:  using a valve amp (Laney) with a Gibson /  Fender set on the edge of break up to allow a mix of clean and crunch sounds.  And,  most importantly,  he said, unlike some of his compatriots, he recognised how important it was to be able to produce a good clean sound for rock n roll and covers.  But when he played the blues he preferred a crunchy sustain.  Much in line with my old head thinking as well!

We got back on for set 2 with demo of the Shads walk to "Apache".  This was well received and Eddie's mum came up to join in the dance - all a bit 'Strictly'.  We followed quickly into "Do You Wanna Dance".  Like many of the other numbers we do,  Steve carves his own arrangement out and its different every time.  But we did see the first few folks to come up and dance to this.  Things carried on well enough through a mainly pop set.  Cunningly,  when someone called for "Freebird" we did a bird related number: "Albatross",  and got a good round of applause for that.  It was when we came to do a rockier toned number I ran into trouble.  Chris called for "Honky Tonk Women" and I selected the drive setting on the FX unit.  It was quite poor - more of a bassy fuzz tone than overdriven, middly break up!  I had to carry on with it because I couldn't see an alternative I could switch to but I knew I would have to find a solution in the next break before we tackled "All Right Now".

So during the break,  I cranked up the middle EQ on the pre-amp model a couple of dB and that was enough to force the Bassman simulation into break up using full volume on my Godin XTSA.  I was still able to maintain a clean sound by winding the guitar volume back 10% or more.  We opened with "Great Balls" which proved the clean sound worked (actually it did break up a little as I dug deep but it fitted).  When we came to "Alright Now",  to be on the safe side,  I started on the powerful bridge humbucker pick up.  But it was too much and when I switched immediately back to the single coil middle pick up it was about right - maybe I'll increase pre-amp gain a dB or two when I get home.  I drew the conclusion there is no need for the drive switch with its old fashioned and unpleasant fuzz tone - I'll probably re-configure it to deliver volume gain for solo's.  The rest of the night went OK,  the audience were forgiving for the continuing arrangement mess ups.  I made a few cock ups as well but hopefully nothing too noticeable out there.  We finished with "Johnny B Goode" and encored with "Mustang Sally" to a good reception - despite the errors it had been a good night for the band.  We were in a good mood as we did glad handing - Chris reckons he got another couple of gig leads out of it.

As we packed up Ian said he wasn't too sure about taking on Eddie - would he have the commitment?  But Chris was keen and I urged them to at least try him out.  Chris asked me would I host a session to try him out?   I said yes - so its up to them now.  I was home by 12:30 am,  time for cocoa and a snack before bed.  Reflecting on the VoiceLive guitar sounds I think it does make sense to have one set of ultra clean sounds for Shads etc and another based on break up when pushed for rock n roll and rock.  Vocally, it might need a few touches as well.  I reckon it will take another gig or two to tweak the unit to satisfaction.



 

Dep for Coast at Burwell Social

The next gig in this run of deps was at Burwell,  not far from last weeks gig at Bottisham.  I had played this gig before but memory was hazy as to exactly where it was.   I took a look on Google Maps.  I couldn't actually find it on Street View,  but I knew the street it was on and decided no Sat Nav necessary.  Come 6pm I loaded my guitars in and set off about 6:10 on a dark, windy,  rainy night heading West along the A14.  I had pin pointed the junction I needed to come off at but for some strange reason,  driving along,  I re-fixed in my mind to aim for the junction after!?!  So the junction I came off at was actually the Bottisham exit of the previous week.  I thought 'strange that they make the roads all look similar in Cambridgeshire'.  But as I followed the signs to Burwell I felt disorientated because, still believing I was a junction back,  Bottisham and Burwell were signed posted in the 'wrong' directions.  I stopped after a bit but not enough signal for the phone to show location on a map and looking at my paper map I couldn't make sense of it at all.  I wondered if some youths had switched the signs!  I decided to follow the signs to Burwell regardless. It was considerably longer than the 6 miles I thought it should be and all the places I passed through were unfamiliar. But eventually I arrived in Burwell and spotted the club 'on the wrong side of the road?'  I had clearly approached it from the West rather than the East and was about 20 minutes later than intended.   Anyway I put all that to one side and concentrated on load in.  Chris and Ian were already there setting up and as I came out to get some more gear Steve arrived so we were quorate!

I was using my Bose,  Godin XTSA and PRS 12 again.  This is a much more absorbent hall than Bottisham and after set up we did a soundcheck with "Folsom"  and I went out front on a long lead to assess it.  After adjusting the PA and bass to match up with the drums I thought we had a decent sound and a nice overall level for the 20 or so mainly seniors already in the hall.  I had brought my Jazz bass copy for Chris to try through his rig.  It sounded very classy but didn't have quite the 'big bottom' of his G&L bass.  Mind you he pointed out that the controls on the amp had plenty of scope to sculpt the ideal sound.  With the G&L he doesn't use sub-bass and even his bass control is only on 25%.   I left him the copy bass in case he wanted to try it in the sets (he didn't actually do that though).  I turned my attention to the monitors - they seemed to be ok if a little muddy.  Good to go I declared and went off to enjoy the club's beer -  the band's first drink is on the house!

We opened set 1 with "F B I"  and it sounded fine and we got a good round of applause from the (by now) 30 ish in the concert room.  Steve came up to do "Heartbeat" and almost immediately the monitor on my side started distorting.  I just bent down and turned it off! We completed the set.  Steve was better than the previous week and close enough for me to tap him on the shoulder to alert him to the various solos.  He has his crib sheets in front of him but, reading the words, he doesn't scan correctly on some songs - but "Smiling" was a lot better this week.  Mind you we in the band were making odd fluffs  e.g. I was so concentrated on getting Steve to do the gap and scream before the solo in "Can't Buy Me Love" that I missed the start of it on guitar!  We carried on through to the end of the set with good applause and bits of dancing and finished with "Runaround Sue" which Steve does a good job of.

In the break I replaced the dodgy monitor with a spare Behringer 1x10 monitor I had brought along to try and diagnose where the fault was.  I connected it up using one of my jack to jack leads and it sounded good and clean (brighter than the other monitor).  I told Steve that therefore the fault was either in his lead or the monitor itself. He said he'd check it out but I resolved to keep bringing the Behringer to be on the safe side!

Set 2 we opened with "Apache".  This always goes well at these clubs and Steve joining in the dance sells it even more.  This time we had a few come up and do the 'Shads Walk' along with the band and it got a great response at the end.  We got back on stage to start "Do You Wanna Dance".  A good rhythm driven by Ian was rewarded by the dance floor filling.  Steve carved his own arrangement out which would have shortened it so I made him go round another verse and solo before we brought it to a finish.  Then there was a bit of a band discussion on what to do to follow it up (I sat this debate out 'cos I was the hired hand)   - but by the time that had been sorted several had left the floor.   And that set the pattern for the rest of the set which lacked the continuity and slickness I like to see.  Despite this,  the band was doing well and responding to audience mood.  For instance,  after "Raining In My Heart" they needed another slowey and Steve called for "Nights in White Satin".  This went down much better than I would have thought and we played it well.  Mind you I missed the synth strings and harmoniser of the good old days!

There was a long gap before the final set and I noticed Ian was on the whiskey chasers.  Some folks had drifted away by the resumption.  Nevertheless, the band did well doing a rockier set that wasn't excessively loud and Ian, myself and Chris put in quite a few accents and tight ends to spice it up. Mind you I reckon some of Ian's fills were noticeably 'under the influence'.   We finished with an unexpectedly good rendition of "Summer of 69" and encored with "Mustang Sally"  rather than the usual J B Goode and that worked well enough. 

We set about packing up in broadly good humour but there was slight atmosphere I couldn't put my finger on.  I think Ian was struggling with a combination of a lot to drink and his own concerns about the band quality.  In my opinion he is now the 'top dog' in the band and the others toe his line to an extent.  As a dep I am clear of all of that;  but I did think it had been a good night for the band and when the guvnor came over he was happy and will be rebooking.  A few folk on their way out chatted kindly about the night,  but in general there is an air of the club in decline and needing new blood to continue in the longer term.

I left the others eating burgers sourced from a van outside the club and set off home.  Well,  I set off on the right road in the right direction,  but I missed a turning in Exning and ended up going over the A14 into Newmarket and then back out from Newmarket to join the A14 a junction further East than intended - adding about 15 mins to the overall journey.  It was only when I saw Bury in the distance that I realised I had forgotten my bass.  I called Chris who was probably about 10 minutes behind me on the A14.  His car is similar to mine so we established a complete Ford hands free connection!  'Yes he'd found it but no room in his car 'cos it was full of Ian's drums'  so Steve had taken it.  That was a relief and I continued home getting in about 1:30 am.  Ms J was till up catching up on Strictly so we had cocoa together.



 

Deputizing with Coast at Bottisham British Legion

Chris from Coast asked me if I would deputize for Coast up to Xmas because their guitarist,  Glyn,  had resigned after becoming somewhat disillusioned with the band - particularly its singer Steve.  Chris also asked me to host a practice session to look into Glyn's criticism of Steve.     Chris also asked me if I'd mind looking into Glyn's criticism of Steve.  So in the week we had a session in my back room and it is true Steve does have some timing and consistency issues and some songs just don't suit.  I suggested they drop a couple of the worse ones and pad out the sets with some Shads instrumentals while I'm depping with them.   

 

On a windy, mild Autumnal evening,  Jacqui and I set off for Bottisham at 6:25pm arriving at the gig just after 7pm.  Chris and Ian were already there and Chris gave me hand in with my gear.  I had decided to give my Bose system with T1 mixer and single bass bin an airing and that set up and sounded just fine with my usual Godin XTSA gig guitar.    I planned to to use my PRS 12 string for some songs in set 1 and I gave that a good sound test in the empty hall.  Interestingly,  what sounds too toppy near the Bose sounded good in the hall.  I had in mind a comparison with the Rickenbacker which is quite a toppy, compressed sound and was quite pleased with the PRS which I think is more strident and less compressed.  My view is that it fills the guitar spectrum better in a single guitar,  bass and drums line up;  but I see how the Ricky could work better sharing the soundscape in a 2 guitar band set up. 

Steve arrived and the boys swang into action with the PA  which seems to be a combination of Ian's Behringer Europowered mixer with (Steve's) 15" plus horn speakers (not sure of the make).

To be fair the vocal mics sound OK through the main PA but the monitors are crackly,  slightly distorted (and later on cutting in and out).  The whole thing could do with an overhaul in my opinion.  They don't make much use of FX which was OK for this lively hall.  Even with maximum bass EQ the bass drum mic wasn't deep enough for me (miss that sub-bass on my Line 6 mixer).

We sound checked with "Smiling".  Steve carves his 'own' melody out but it was fine sound wise.  I suggested bringing the volume down to help deal with the lively hall,  then it was off for beer!

Probably about 25 in the room by 8pm.  We got changed and poppied up for an 8:30 start (Remembrance Day on the way!).  I was happy to start with FBI - it sounded OK to me and we got a good round of applause,  Steve came up and opened the vocals with "Heartbeat".   About 3 numbers later Chris broke his D string.  We decided to continue with "Alright Mama and Folsom Prison" while he changed it. Then we continued with a typical Coast set. I enjoyed playing the PRS 12 string on the Beatles and Searchers numbers and they went down well.  After a few unexpected spells of Steve singing over solos and coming in early or late making for strange arrangements,  I found I was having to signal him from afar as to when solo's and middle 8s were coming.   We finished with "Runaround Sue" which he sang very well - nailing that Dion over saturated vocal sound.  In the break Jacqui let me know the band was too loud and my harmonies were too low in the mix,  so I pushed up my mic volume a bit (Steve has a very middley, penetrating voice and is very loud to compete with).  

We returned to open with "Apache"  to which Steve and I did the Shadows walk.  It was quite fun 'walking' with another person and we got a truly great reception for it with thunderous applause from the 30 or so in the hall! 

The set continued the patterns of before but I was stronger in conducting than before and we tightened up quite a bit to get some dancing going.  Right at the end we had a request for "Moon of Love" so I took the boys into it.  Steve knew enough words to karaoke it and it went surprisingly well.

In the break a local DJ had come up and talked about recently departed musicians and said he'd love to hear "Diamonds" from Jet Harris.  I had told him about my time with the Checkmates and he said do "Eyes" as well (even though Emile is still about).  So when we returned we duly obliged with a verse of "Diamonds" then into "Eyes" which Steve knew enough to improvise the words (and Chris remembered from my time with him in ReTrio).  We now had the audience well onside and we rattled on through the set to "Johnny B Good" to finish.  We got a lot of shouts for 'more'  so Chris called for "Mustang Sally as the encore.  As we came off my ears were ringing - the band had been very loud in the last set.

Looked at Chris's bass as we packed away.  On the night, I couldn't see any sharp edges that would have led to the D string breaking.  He said he'd restring the bass in the week and asked if I would give it a onceover and check intonation before the next gig.  No problem I said.

Jacqui and I were able to get away quickly and made good time home - in for cocoa at 12:40am!  Headachey the next day.



 

 

 

Depping for Coast at Searles Hunstanton

Chris the bass,  old bandmate from ReTrio,  asked me If I could stand in at Hunstanton for their new band Coast -  guitarist Glynn was off unwell.  They would provide PA and I would only need to bring a guitar amp,  mic and stand. Steve would do lead vocal and if I was up for it could I sing a couple as well.  Fine I said.
Come the day I loaded up my big sounding but physically small Mesa Lonestar valve amp,  Boss FX,  OM6 mic and stand.  And a music stand 'cos there were a couple of songs in the set list I wasn't familiar enough to busk.  As well as the usual Godin XTSA, I took my Rickenbacker 620-12 to give it a live airing.  Jacqui kindly agreed to accompany me and we set of for the North Norfolk coast at 6pm on a fine day.

Arriving at the gig I spotted Chris sorting the trolley to load in the gear and within a few minutes the gear was in,  car parked and I was ordering drinks!

Set up was easy and my stuff worked OK.  But the band had some problems with the PA monitors - in the end they settled for one monitor and we did Heartbeat as a sound check.  Time was short so just had time to down a beer and then we got changed for the 9pm start.  I would say the venue was about 70% full as we took to the stage.

We kicked off with "Heartbeat".  I found it a bit odd with Steve singing because I am so used to singing this song and lots of my performance cues are tied into doing that.   Despite the sound check,  the guitar sound was a bit toppy and when I switched to clean lead it was more so and a little distorted as well.  As the set progressed I decided to adjust amp levels to make it more power amp and less pre-amp but it didn't make much difference.  But it was good enough to play the gig and I don't think the audience would have been bothered. 

I picked up the Rickenbacker to do a 5 song Beatles / Searchers sequence.  Now the toppy problem was exacerbated!  Although it was interesting to play the Ricky live and it did sound very 60s,  it wasn't really the sound I wanted and I wasn't happy with the 2 volume controls. The band was going down Okish with a relatively quiet audience but the show was a little disjointed in places as they worked out what to do next. I was familiar with every song but some of the arrangements were strange.  I remember at one point playing "Albatross" which I jokingly renamed "Seagullross".  I felt I played it well and we did finish to some good applause.   We closed with "Runaround Sue.  I had finished the set on the 6 string and, with nothing jangly coming up next set,  I decided to pack the Ricky away.  As I came off Jacqui told me the guitar needed to come up a bit so I had a good look at the amp settings before we resumed.  I decided to take the treble down 10% and put up the mid 10%.  The way tone controls work on the Mesa is strange -  a reduction in treble seems to automatically boost mid and bass,  so this was a more than subtle change!

As we got going with set 2 it was clear the changes had fixed the toppy distortion and I was now happy with the sound.  I had to concentrate a bit 'cos some of Steve's arrangements were different from the record and I soon learned to keep an eye on where he was going with the song.  (Chris and Ian had mentioned that Steve's arrangements change every night!)  So there were a few mistakes and misunderstandings going on - but nothing too fatal.  I got to sing "Penny Arcade" as a request and it went down well.  A slowey followed:

The audience livened up for set 3 but the entertainments staff asked us to turn it down.  The set was not as slick as it used to be in ReTrio but Steve does a good job of working the crowd. By now Steve's missus Julie had enjoyed a drink and was joining in on lots of the dancing.  We approached the end doing "Johnny B Goode" which was interesting 'cos I could concentrate on guitar;  but again the arrangement was not what I expected.  We did try an encore with "Caroline" but it was a bit slower than it should have been.  Mind you it suited the crowd at that time of night. As we finished Ian gave me a big hug and asked me to consider coming back - they missed the leadership!  He asked Jacqui to work on me too.  Pack up was easy and we were on the way home by 12:15 getting in about 1:40am.  Tired the next day!  Reflecting on things,  its nice to be appreciated now I've gone but I'm pleased to be out of this set up.  I need some new challenges and I like things to be slick.   I had told Chris I'd be happy to dep with the boys again and he has already booked me to stand in for Steve in mid-December at Bramford so I'll need to keep in practice.

Proposed Rickenbacker Mod

After living with the new Rickenbacker 620-12 for a while I have become a little frustrated with the control system.  For a start tone controls are at the top,  but more importantly there is no master volume.

So I propose a mod' as per diagram below.  This will convert the two pick up tone controls into a master volume and master tone,  leaving the volume controls of the individual pickups as they were  -  but will I have the courage to actually do it???

 

A New Addition

A couple of weeks ago I was in a good mood following birth of grandson.  Had a day off and I was tinkering on 12 string guitars and realised I was finding it quite hard to hold the strings down across the full width of the neck.  This was particularly the case on my acoustic Takamine JC120 but even my PRS 12 string was relatively hard going.  Some of this is down to lack of musical fitness and some down to losing muscle strength as you get older.

Rickenbacker 12s are renowned for being strung opposite to most 12 strings with the bass string of the pair first on a down stroke,  and they are also known for their thin necks and close action!   I had tried a Rickenbacker 6 string a couple of years ago at friend Jack's house and remembered it being different with a very thin neck and a low but quite playable action.   A bit of research later revealed that neck nut width on most Ricky 6s and 12s is small at 41.4mm compared to a more typical 44 - 46mm from other manufacturers.  Of course with a 12 string 'real estate' on the finger board cramps fingers much tighter than a 6 string!  During this piece of 'guitar porn' research I found I was most attracted to the image of the 600 solid body series.   The Ricky 660-12 is a relatively new model and, in response to customer pressure, has a wider 44.45 mm nut width - but it is quite expensive.  In the end I decided to look for a more common and cheaper 620-12 with the thin neck to try out.  I particularly liked the Mapleglo models and, looking on the net, I found a Mapleglo 620-12 in stock at Music Warehouse Colchester.  So next time I went to the Ipswich office I finished a bit earlier and took a trip down to Colchester to try one out.

Well it looked fabulous and I immediately noted the price in the shop was lower than the web price ;-)   I plinked away for about half an hour and concluded:  + Easy action. + Perfect intonation.  + Love the sound,  its less strident than a normally strung 12 string and delivers a sort of natural chorusing sound when strummed. + The acoustic and amplified sound was very even across all the strings,  and  with a slight natural resonance,  I would say it was nicely compressed acoustically!  - The big playing drawback is the neck width cramping fingers.  Its easy to strum but hard to pick out notes to create arpeggios etc.  The neck depth comes across as feeling deep and chunkily full in the hand but with a nice silky feel. 

Rick's have a quirky control system!  You can select neck and bridge pickups individually or combined like a Les Paul - not my preferred system, I like one volume control!  There is a blend control which seems to combine pickups to give a more semi acoustic sound at one extreme and a trebley single coil sound at the other extreme.  There is a stereo "Rick-o-Sound" output which splits the pickups across two jacks,   its unlikely I'll use that.  Even in the shop it was clear that the hi gain pickups deliver a good sound level and lots of treble when you need it.

So it became 'make your mind up time'.  I could see just by playing I was getting more used to the thin neck and fingerboard so I decided if the price was right I'd go for it!  I cut the deal I wanted with the shop and left with the guitar in a strong but light Ricky case.

Here it is at home:

Now I've lived with it for a few days my playing on it is improving and, importantly, not really affecting how I play on a normal neck width guitar.  A bit like driving different cars?

This photo shows a comparison of the two necks side by side.  You can't really see much difference?   But they feel sooo different!

Soundwise I'm really happy with the Ricky and I'd love to try it on a gig sometime.  Maybe I'll work up a recording to demo it - something Beatley perhaps?  I'd also like to try out a semi-acoustic 360-12 or,  if money was no object,  the Pete Townshend 1993 12 which has the wider neck.  Dream on Mr Mog!

Family Band at Jo and SImon's Wedding

The wedding weekend approached and there was still no baby from Claire so we were a bit on edge as we prepared to set off on the Thursday.  I loaded up the Jazz Bass copy and red Godin XTSA along with the Phil Jones Suitcase bass combo and small 30 watt Vox Valvetronix for the gig.  Come the Friday evening we shifted the gear down to Simon's offices adjacent Temple Meads Station and had a bit of a practice in a basement there.  I met up with eldest son Jon who had travelled down form London to was play bass and a bit of guitar and we set up the gear keeping it simple.  Apart from the regulars in the family band,  Simon /Carl/Liz Vocals;  Roy Harmonica;  Paul Acoustic Guitar;  we had Brian (from the Flatmates) on Drums,  Jon on Bass and me on Guitar.  Echoey basement sound at the practice but we managed to get thru the half hour family band set so we left the gear there and made our way home / hotels for a pre-wedding drink hoping it would be alright on the night.

Come the day,  Brian kindly offered to move all the gear about 100 yards to the wedding venue:  "The Tunnels"  and set up with their sound man while we were at the wedding.  When we arrived by boat around 8pm all was in place and just a bit of set up needed for a 9pm performance.  There were over 150 guests waiting and the venue looked full and lively.  And we started playing pretty much on time!  Simon declared that the sound check number "Folsom Prison" was worthy of also being the set opener so we didn't need to do that again - good call!  To be fair Rich the sound man did get a reasonable on stage sound quickly and out front it was reported as very good.  Part time band members Brian, Jon and myself formed the electric rhythm section at the back of the stage and Paul, Carl, Roy, Simon/Liz formed the front talent row leading the show.  After "Folsom" we got straight on with "Jackson"  featuring Liz playing June Carter to Simon's Johnny Cash.  Next was "Bird Dog" with Carl and Paul singing the Everly parts and Simon doing the Bird Dog answerbacks.  Simon then led us into the Big Bopper's "White Lightning".  By now the band was cooking and us chaps in the rhythm section started to relax and enjoy it more.  Roy, Paul and Liz did a couple of sloweys next:  "Rather Go Blind" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine" both bluesy classics from the day.  Then the band regrouped for "Love Me Do"  Paul did an interesting introduction of "Hoochie Coochie Man" and then we were away into it.  I got to do a solo in this and the band chugged along nicely.  Roy's nephew-in-law (Simon - a jazz bassist) sat in for the next couple of songs starting with "Mojo Working" - quite fast like Canned Heat.  Then Simon R started us into the last number:  "You Never Can Tell".  As planned he leapt off the stage to dance with Jo and we brought the set to a rousing conclusion.  The audience had been very on-side throughout,  the muso's had thoroughly enjoyed it and it had worked really well compared to the practice. 

Hoochie Extract

Never Can Tell

We all took a break for a drink before the open mic session started.  A couple of local musicians started it off with quirky renditions of some well know numbers.  Then I came on with Jon and Brian to do a mini-dancey set starting with "Alright Mama".  That got the dancers going but "Bad Moon Rising" really got them going and I ramped it up a bit more with "Johnny B Goode" which encouraged some even wilder dancing.  That finished my little set and we got a truly great response at the end.  I was tempted to do another rock n roller but couldn't think of the right one so we continued with "Brown Eyed Girl" with Simon R singing and Simon the jazzer on bass.

Then I was recruited to play bass in a scratch version of the Controversials with Matt on guitar,  Carl on vocals,  Brian on drums.  We did creditable versions of "Sunny Afternoon",  You Can't Do That and an Oasis number: "Cigarettes and Whisky"  which Matt had to coach me on a little.

I continued my bit by backing Liz on "Dream a Little Dream" which went well apart from the fizzle out ending which was par for the course considering we had never before played it together thru to the end!

I thought I had finished my stint but a couple of locals asked if Jon and I would back them with Paul playing drums.  Of course I said and we got underway with a good version of "Sweet Home Alabama".  "Oh Boy" followed but there were some timing issues with the vocals coming in oddly around the 11th bar of the verse.  They signed off with "Wonderful Tonight" which was pretty untogether and that was me done.

Jon then went on guitar,  with Simon on bass and a chap I didn't know on drums to back Roy doing a very good version of "Traintime"

A bit of Traintime

We were all pleased with the way the night had gone and lots of people on the crowd said how good it was and some even wanted to book the band for weddings!  I was patted on the back a few times for my guitar work and Ms J said the guitar thru the little Vox amp was 'singing nicely' out front. 

It just remained for us to shift the gear back to Simon's office at the close at 1:30am.  Brian,  Roy,  Carl and myself did that in a couple of journeys.  Then,  tired but happy,  we got taxi's home.  Most of us met up the next day at Wetherspoons for a brunch and catch up and we were still buzzing.

My Last Night with ReTrio at Bottisham British Legion

Well the day finally arrived for my final night with ReTrio.  They had recruited Glyn on guitar and so they expected to do the next gig at Burwell with him and Steve. 

5:15pm I ran round to Chris's to meet up with him and Ian sharing a car to the gig.  We made good time to Bottisham arriving about 6pm aiming for an 8pm ish start.  Modern building with a reasonably large concert room with vaulted roof - usually good for vocals.  Right from the off the lady meeting us explained that they didn't expect many to turn out tonight.  We were to set up on the dance floor in front of some curtains which would be good to absorb slap back from the rear wall.  As we set up I tweaked the Bose analogue input levels down half a notch to 5 to de-risk input overload - they had crept up at the last couple of gigs!  Ian had forgotten his mic stand so I lent Chris my spare straight stand and Ian used Chris's boom.  Otherwise set up was without incident and it all checked out well sound wise if a little loud.  I decided to take the volume down a notch on the PA for the performance.  My throat was still a little bunged up several weeks after the onset of my cold and I kept my mic up a bit to give some scope for close mic low volume singing if things got worse.

As we got some beers in a few folks arrived including a character dressed in 1950's 'teddy boy' gear.  I asked him if he was expecting some rock and roll and he revealed he was the local retro DJ specializing in analogue sound based on his massive vinyl collection.  He  reeled off a few numbers he would like to hear and as we did most of them so it seemed we were on the right track for this gig.  There were probably only 10 in the room as show time approached and Chris was all for doing the gig in civvies.  I persuaded them to get changed saying that even if there were only a few we should give them the best show we could.  We compromised by making ties optional!

At 8:15 we struck up with FBI playing to maybe 15 spread round the room and standing at the bar.  The sound was ok but not great with a slight middley harshness (from the hard floor?) - but quite workable.  We got a good round of applause from the few and pressed on with a typical set.  We continued to be well received and a few more arrived so I stepped up the bantering.  They seemed to like this and we got some good audience interaction going and towards the end even a few dancers came up to "Runaround Sue".  Even though we would be a little over time I kept us going through "All Shook Up" to prolong the dancing and try out some audience answerbacks - which they got the idea of towards the end.  We finished to strong applause from the increased crowd of about 20 now!  The ted DJ came over to me and said we were really good and could we fit in "The Wanderer"  - yes I said if you can feed me some words.  He reeled off the first verse and I tried to run that through my head as another chap came up to say the band was great and could we do a Stones number - 'Honky Tonk Women. I said?  'Fantastic' he said! 

As we resumed I was determined to make my last gig go well and resolved to do a strong last walk with "Apache"  The dance floor was ideal for this - slightly slidey!  So I announced I would show the audience how to dance and took to the floor.  I found for the 'guitar up' bits on F,  I could do the walk and then slide towards a table of ladies on my left and then alternatively slide to another table of ladies on my right.  I could see this was getting some traction and I hyped it up (slightly tongue in cheek) right up to the end.  We were rewarded with such big applause from such a small audience that it genuinely surprised and delighted us in the band.
Apache End
I bantered us on through the set fitting in the requests and doing generally dancier material.  I do recall that "Wanderer" went well enough despite lots of mumbled words!  I got some strong sing-a-long going with "Daydream Believer - Sweet Caroline"  And some dance action with frenetic Creedance performances,  e.g:
Proud Mary Solo
We finished the set with "Hot Love into East Anglia Girls"  again to very strong applause.  The word must have got around the venue as we now had about 25 people to play to!

We opened with "Great Balls|" for set 3  Good choice as we got some sing-a-long join in from the teds at the bar.  Somehow I messed up the beginning of "Dance the Night Away"!!  Not that noticeable out front but it put me at odds with the bass line.  I suppose my re-synching gave the dancers a little more time to get up before I started the vocal!  Anyway they loved our long non-stop sequence and we had lots of dancing and singing from our small audience out to enjoy themselves.  As we cruised towards the end Ian asked for one last rendition of "Penny Arcade"  and that also went down well with the sing-a-long crowd.  I opted to do a number from a 'local band made good' next with "Another Brick in the Wall" - this was as close as we got to a ballad on this night! 
Another Brick Extract

Next it was "Mustang Sally" to fill the dance floor again and then. as we approached 11:30pm, I announced "Johnny B Goode" as the final number.  Well they surprised us again with just about everyone out on the floor doing wild dancing.  We did our outro's for the final time with Chris showing off his 'well rounded bottom' and Ian 'rattling his pots and pans' and me getting the timing right on my final guitar solo as we hurtled to the end and a fantastic reception.  For such a small crowd they made a lot of noise so I told 'em they were "Born to be Wild"  and we encored it with gusto.  We were well over time as we finished and had to decline more encores as we left the playing area on a high note. 

Even though it was late we were inundated with well wishers who were making kind remarks about the professionalism and sound of the band.  Chris issued some cards to prospects and the ted DJ thanked us for a great song selection.  I was amazed at all this and put it down to the thought that they must be used to having downbeat old country acts at this gig.  Eventually we were able to get away and get changed and set about pack up.  We got all the gear in the cars and then I found Chris and Ian at the bar negotiating a return gig.  I had to be driving to Bristol the next morning so I organised a little round of handshakes we wished each other well and I left them to it.  Strange feelings of relief mixed with nostalgia driving home - thinking of the many bands I had been in over the last 50 years and how they had usually ended amicably.  The vids were rougher than I expected but give a flavour!

Chris texted the next day to say I would be a 'hard act to follow' and hoping we can remain buddies - which was just the ending I wanted!  But 'no rest for the wicked' as,  in the morning, I had to unload the band gear and load up some back line and guitars for my niece's wedding band practice in Bristol. 

Vid of Checkmates doing Cadillac Car at the Borderline

I received a video today of The Checkmates performance at the Borderline in February.

One number we don't do regularly was this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ9dcChchk0&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share
 

ReTrio and Steve at Seacroft Harlequinn Ballroom Hemsby

Good job Chris reminded me about this gig 'cos I had completely forgotten it was coming up and on a Monday I usually have a long day at work.  I was able to cut work short and got home at 1:30pm to find Jacqui was out lunching with the sewing ladies.  But she had kindly left me a shepherds pie dinner so I could have my main meal at lunch and the pack up bag of sandwiches in the fridge was for later for on the road.   She was back in time to say goodbye!  I set off at 4:58 to try and avoid the traffic that builds up at 5pm.  I made the tactical decision to head out on the A143 to take the Garboldisham route to the A11 rather than the usual run through Thetford.  This was a good decision as Chris later reported traffic was bad in Thetford and he had to take the Nun's bridges rat run through to the A11. After Norwich I found I was running well on time on a cool but sunny evening and I eased up for the last 9 miles to Hemsby.  Arrived at the gig and found the Harlequinn ballroom down near reception.  Some young ladies from entertainments directed me back through the car park to the back for load in.  I had just got back to the car when Chris and Ian arrived with Bridget and Sharon in tow. We did a bit of carobatics to turn round and head back to the car park.  Then left at the 'deliveries only' sign and run all the way down to the back entrance to the ballroom.  Chris undid a safety barrier that prevents people falling down the big step onto the dance floor and then we were able to make a short load in and on to the stage.  Quite a large stage but I had to shift the bingo table to develop enough room to fit my stuff in.  It is quite a long hall - the audience sits at the far end and dances on the big floor in front of the band. Similar to the previous gig we set one Bose up out front to project into the audience.  This set up is now our preferred method.  Can't think why we didn't try it in the past - my natural conservatism I suppose? We were set up with a few minutes left to check things were working before the bingo started. 

Whilst we were having a beer Steve arrived with his stuff. Chris and I discussed with him how we would set him up.  In the end we agreed he should concentrate on vocals and we would set his Tanglewood acoustic up through the PA on low volume so he could play along or not as he felt it.  We got changed ready for a quick start after the bingo.   Then I simply plugged Steve's guitar into the spare MP3 input and boosted the pre-amp a few dB 'till we got a reasonable level.  I had already set up the spare OM6 mic for him so it we were all ready to rock!

A couple of minutes later we were underway with FBI.  It was good to see Steve doing a few Shads moves to it as he strummed along and we finished to good applause from the over 60's audience.  Good on stage sound if quite loud.  After "Heartbeat" we carried on with Steve doing most of the vocal duties on a set he and Chris had drawn up.  Early on we came across their choice of ballad: "Nights in White Satin".  We did OK just losing the way a little in the flute solo which we 'da da da-ad'  We recovered from that to do the repeat verse (like the record) and a real big ending courtesy of Ian.  It did get a good reception.  Couple of newbies in there that I coped well enough with e.g.  "Stand By Me" - fortunately in the same key we do it in the Checkmates so I was able to rattle my usual solo out to it.   We did get a few dancers up most of the time and the audience clapped every number.  Steve did a good job singing many of the numbers I had been doing - but he introduced a few minor arrangement differences which we just played along with.  A high pitched feedback developed a few numbers in and I had to reduce the PA volume - it was quite loud!  Later when I was able to look at it properly I realised I had set Steve's mic too loud compared to the rest.  He has a powerful voice anyway so it would have been no bad thing to sort this at the beginning. But,  hey ho, these are the things you learn as you begin to work with a new member.  We finished with "Brown Eyed Girl" in the original key of G rather than the F I was more used to.  But apart from a fluff on the guitar intro it went very well and we finished to a strong reception as the Entertainments manager outroduced us.  

Then there was a long break for us (about an hour) while the entertainments staff put on their singing and dance show.  Really very good !  We could see they had put a lot of work into it.  There were 3 chaps and 3 young ladies;  they all got to sing and dance in a continuous show with lots of costume changes. 

We resumed about 10:30pm.  I plugged in a long lead so I could go out front for a Shads walk. I was able to go a long way out and strut my stuff.  The band balance was very good and not too loud.  I got as far as halfway down the hall and it was a perfect level.  The guitar sound was good and dominant, but not quite as 'shiny' as on stage.  This could be down to the panning of guitar away from the front of house projection Bose on Chris's side which I had set up for when they were both behind us.  It was very well received with lots of warm applause (as it has been recently at most gigs).  We played on through a Steve and Chris's choice for the set. Steve's choice of "Save the Last Dance" came early in the set and I was able to busk that happily in E - I added some harmoniser backing vocals which filled it out nicely. I came to grief shortly after in "Hippy Shakes" which I was singing.  Somehow I brushed the off switch on the long guitar lead.  I had done this several months previously at a Bury gig so should have remembered quicker,  but it took most of a verse for me to find the switch whilst singing and get it back on just in time for the solo!  We played on.  Another newbie was "Lets Work Together" an old Canned Heat 12 bar with Steve playing quite a decent mouth organ solo on. Ian got a tight beat going at the right pace and it went very well.  As we approached the end of the set Chris called for "Hi Ho Silver Lining". It was written in key of A in the set list.  This is the key I had been doing it in but, as we got underway,  Steve sang it in another key.  There followed a period of complete confusion with Chris dropping to G while I searched around C and D for Steve's key.  I eventually worked out he was in D but couldn't get Chris to move from G.  Ian wisely brought it to an end and we moved on quickly to "Alright Now" with me singing.  That went well and then (well over time) Chris announced Johnny B Goode as our last number.  A good choice - we did really well with it!  With Steve singing I was able to concentrate on guitar and Ian set a cracking pace.  Steve did all 3 verses before I was able to lead the band through shorter outroductions than normal.  I now outro Chris by saying.  "Ladies and gents he's been showing off his big round bottom all night (bass sound I mean)  big hand for Chris on bass!"  Then for Ian  "He's been rattling his pots and pans for you all evening - its Ian on drums"  Then I did a big hand for Steve on vocals and harp.  He then outro'd me and we went straight into the J B Goode intro solo followed by one round of chorus and Ian's massively big finish to this which adds at least 30 secs to the piece.  Finally, the entertainments manager outroduced the whole band as we waved to the audience.  He wisely suppressed any call for an encore and we were done.  All very professional I thought.  Overall I would say we weren't as slick as on Saturday and the sound was a little rougher - but we had had a good time with a kind of end of term atmos emerging.  Chris showed me some complimentary email remarks from the agent on our performance at Hunstanton on the Saturday which was good to see confirming my perception that we connected really well with the audience that night.

Pack and load was hard going with it being so soon after the Saturday gig.  Steve is a most helpful chap and insisted on bringing my gear out.  He thanked me (genuinely) for my big effort to make it all work on the night and asked again why I was leaving.  I stuck to my line about it all getting too much but I did mention I wouldn't give up completely e.g. continuing with the Checkmates a few gigs a year.  Good run home getting in about 1:30 am - really tired the next day though.   Looking forward to what I think will be my last gig with ReTrio on Saturday at Bottisham.  Steve is pre-committed so we are back to a trio for that I suppose.

ReTrio Back at Searles Hunstanton

We had got back from a successful but exhausting family trip to Belgium on the Sunday and I was back to work on Monday.  Chris popped round mid week to check I would be OK for the return trip to gig at Searles on the Saturday.  The new singer Steve was pre-committed so we would be doing it as a trio.  My voice was a lot better but I still suffering the back end of a minor chest infection - I thought I'd be fine by Saturday. 

On the day I was about 95% match fit and set off at 5:30pm in the rain - a cool evening after the thundery warmth the previous day.  With a good run over I arrived just after Chris who was getting the trolley organised.  We shifted the gear in in the rain. Ian / Sharon arrived while we were finishing so the trolley was immediately available. 

We are well used to setting up here and the only incident was Ian needing to do a Meccano style repair on his snare drum where something had worked loose.  Setting the PA up,  I gave a bit more volume to my mic than the previous visit to allow me some scope for easing back on my first long singing night in a while.  With everything working we had best part of an hour to while away to show time at 9pm.  I got a round in - the young chap serving was from med school in Cardiff where he was training to be an Army medic.  What a good fellow - I bought him a drink!  The room gradually filled up, it was about 80 % full by the time we went to get changed.  We returned to start and we opened with "FBI".  I introduced the band;  Chris had forgotten his hat so I made a joke of that as I put mine on to "hide the lack of hair" and we got underway with "Heartbeat" to commence a typical set 1.  The audience were appreciative and growing as we played through an "ever so slightly nervy" set.  The sound was good and there was plenty of headroom on my mic so I didn't have to push hard vocally.  My banter was on good form.  No dancing as such but lots of warm applause and bits of laughter e.g. for the Beatles wigs (I even gave Ian one this night). And really good audience sing-a-long as we got to final few numbers.  They did most of the 'All Shook Up's and, as we finished with "Wonder of You",  they joined in enthusiastically which was helpful 'cos my voice was struggling on the harder projection numbers.  As we took our break and a chap came over to request "Penny Arcade" for Maureen which I said I'd be delighted to do. 

We made a bigger build up of the Shadows walk than usual and it was only as we got underway that I realised I hadn't set the 'Shads' sound on the FX.  So I had to nimbly step back from the dance floor and then resume my posture for the dance.  But once underway I posed,  strutted and walked and we got a huge round of applause at the end.  Chris did the right thing in taking up the announcement to credit me which gave me time to get back and reset for "Move It".  We got underway with this a bit haphazardly - Ian and I got at cross purposes rhythm wise and it was only when I started singing that we got into onto the same beat.  We proceeded on through the planned set until I did the request for "Penny Arcade".  The audience were tapping along to the 2 beat sections and gave a good round of applause.  Ian made a remark about us turning up in Lederhosen to do more of the oom pah beat next time which went down well.  We did both the Creedance Clearwater songs but I found myself varying the arrangements on both - fortunately the guys followed me just fine!  I think it is the absence of dancers that increases edginess on the faster numbers when you haven't got time to think about what's coming up.  I tried a ballad in the form of "Rainin in My Heart".  I found this hard going vocally because I needed a big cough and had to suppress because I couldn't fit it in until the solo.   One couple came up to dance which was good and so we in the band applauded them at the end.  We finished the set with "Hot Love - East Anglia Girls".  This time it went as well as I could hope.  The band got the key transition to East Anglian Girls.  I got my "Florida -Hawaii- East Anglia?" tag line in well (and without echo)  and then we got underway with the song proper in good form. Chris lost his way on the bass on the first line and towards the end,  but not that noticeable and,  hooray,  Chris and Ian both joined on the chorus.  Ian treated us to a tight end as we finished with an extended  'girls-----'  And we got a great response from the crowd who had clearly got the joke!

The audience thinned out a little as we took our break.  It was a few minutes after 11pm  as we resumed to my favoured Searles announcement about Ian leading a conga into the Wash when we finish at 2 am!   And off we went with our usual set 3.  We finally got some dance action with "Dance the Night Away"  and at the end of the long sequence to "Another Brick In the Wall" (where I did a good take on the solo for a change), one of the dancers requested a 'Quo' song.  Off we went straight into "Caroline".  Wisely, Ian set the beat a little slower than the record and folks were able to do the Quo dance to it.  We improvised the ending,  I do know the Quo end,  but 'cos we hadn't done it for a while I wasn't confident and had to slur the notes to the tight finish.  But it worked and dancers and listeners were happy.  We kept them dancing with an extended 'all the ladies sing'  "Mustang Sally".  Again we got into a confusion on beat at the start and it was only when I started singing that we tightened up.  But once underway it went well.  We did get the ladies in the audience singing the 'ride sally rides'  and Ian joined is as well.  I indicated a solo was called for and the boys followed me through a spikey 12 bar.  Chris indicated last number at the end and I announced "Johnny B Goode".  We got off to a good start at the right pace, the floor filled and we did all of our outro's in a professional way. A great finish to a good night.  There were a lot of shouts for 'more' - but we had to politely decline on the basis the management had given us strict instructions to finish at 11:45pm.  We got several compliments as we left the room to get changed - on my return in civvies the bar was still buzzing and I overheard one fellow telling his mate how brilliant it was they had found this live music bar on the site with such a good band.   The young medic to be behind the bar came over and said he loved the old music and had been singing along with us as he was serving!

But now we had to get on with pack, load and drive home.  We were all in a good mood as we packed and Sharon was as well.  She said the band had been very good and she had had an enjoyable night.  She even helped with a bit of roadetting as she helped Chris with his speakers off the stage!!!  The security guys are keen to get it all closed down as soon as possible.  Just for the record I note that after midnight they start to close the toilets down so you need to get in for a last wee quickly!  The lights went off behind us as we got the gear off the trolley and into the cars.  I had a moment when I couldn't find my keys in my pocket.  Theorising they must have fallen out in the suit bag I found them in there before panic set in.  Ian and Sharon boarded their taxi and then it was a steady drive home for me and Chris.  I got in at 1:45am tired but happy from the nights work.