Another week another gig to tell you about.
Ok this week is an important one for us.
Saturday 5th March
Stanleys Cask
Rake Lane
Wallasey
Wirral
Important? Well basically this is pretty much a hometown gig in a good well known respected music venue. Yes we have played there before but not for four years, in fact it may even be five? I know it was New Year’s Day the last time we played there but was it 2011 or 2012? I could look it up but suffice to say it’s been quite a while.
I know we have played in West Kirby a couple of times in the last twelve months and that has been good but Stanley’s has a reputation for being a music venue.
We are looking forward to it and hoping that all the folks who keep asking when we are going to play locally turn up. If they all do then the place will be packed which would be great. Obviously the more people there, buying drinks the more chance we have of being asked back, that is how it works in pubs folks. We are there to sell beer :-)
So you can still watch Ant and Dec and then come and see us whilst having a few drinks.
Last Saturday was a first for us at the Pilgrim in Liverpool.
A very well received gig as it turned out, Bourbon Toulouse played a good tight set of their punk/indie type music and also had quite a few people along especially to see them. They stayed for us as well.
We played at just after 9:30 and went right through to the 11:00pm curfew. Mainly a cover set as that seemed to be what the audience wanted but we still threw in Rock For you, Night Ride, the Few and Waxworks which were very well received. A good few friends in the audience however a lot of new ones as well judging by the comment afterwards.
The only slight downer on the evening and it is really more for consideration should we think of playing there again was the bar manager complaining later that we were not packed up and out by 11:30 as she wasn’t getting paid after then? Given we didn’t finish playing until 11:00pm and it always takes us on average 45-60 minutes to strike down the gear and load the van anywhere we play that was never going to happen.
The other thing was that I hadn’t been made aware of was that the gig was effectively a private function in the upstairs lounge, not a general pub gig. This means many people may have remained downstairs possibly not realising they were allowed upstairs. If we have known this was the case we would have carried out more promotion downstairs throughout the night.
The suggestion that “next time” we need to be out by 11:30 would mean that we needed to finish playing at 10:30 – half an hour before last orders. That is not a good idea. It is therefore unlikely that we would return on those terms. Nice venue but logistically not great. Having said that I have not spoken to the boss and he was not there on Saturday.
Next Week we are scheduled to be back in Parr street Studio to record another new song for the album. For once I have almost completed the lyrics ahead of time, somehow I seem to thrive on writing them the day before so this is a turn up for the books. No doubt they will change between now and the final mix.
I took my Craig Mac Customised Blackmore Strat on Saturday, didn’t use it of course it just sat on the guitar stand as my spare. Always a good idea to have a spare though in case of string breakage, electronics issues etc.
So what else has happened this week? Lost a couple of pounds which was good although the kitchen is being revamped at the moment so unfortunately take-away meals and eating out seem to be the order of the day which is probably not good. Trying to control it.
Rants
We were in a restaurant the other night, we were the only two people in there. The waiter wrote my order correctly but somehow between it being passed from him to the chef a different meal was prepared? Come on, we were the only two people there! To be fair they made good with the bill and I will go back as I like the place but it does make you wonder.
No time for any more – sorry
Music
I mentioned it last week so I decided to put my money where my mouth is and acquired the debut album from the much hyped and lauded “Inglorious”
It’s not bad at all although it’s not really anything I haven’t heard a lot of other bands doing just as well (Stormzone for instance). The singer who seems to be the main focus of the band definitely sounds like David Coverdale quite often (no bad thing) and as I mentioned last week I believe he was on “the Voice” so there is no denying the guy can sing. Having had it over a week though it hasn’t exactly been on “Heavy Rotation”
I have noticed though that there seems to be a current trend for vocalists to push themselves into what is almost shouting nearly all of the time, I find Blackstone Cherry and Nickelback are the same. Yes they remain in tune but it gets on my nerves after a while. Maybe they just have very powerful voices? Having said that so do the likes of Bryan Adams, David Coverdale, Robert Plant and Ian Gillan but they don’t sound like they are shouting all the way through every song.
Anyway – I suspect they will be good live so if they come anywhere near I will probably go and take a look.
Other listening this week is Saxon’s latest offering Battering Ram, you get what you expect from that one, more heavily played has been the bonus “Live at Sweden Rock” Set from 2011 so you get the hits plus promotions of what was then their latest album “call to arms”. All very enjoyable.
Anyway – Got to go
Until next time – keep Rockin’
Craig