14/08/26
Well, its nearly two weeks since I decided it was time to reinstate these updates.
What’s happened? Physically I am still hobbling around (due to the broken ankle) and waiting for the all clear to start driving again. It’s been so frustrating being stuck in, reliant on other people and taking a long time to move around for things that are normally second nature such as making a cup of tea or getting up and downstairs. I do feel like I have lost nine weeks of my life really but hey ho. It’s made me realise though how many things we take for granted and how things can change in the blink of an eye, at the risk of a rewritten version of “Day to Day” I can feel a song in there somewhere.
The isolation of being stuck in is also something to think about, yes people have visited me, and I have been taken out a few times for which I am very grateful, but many people don’t have that support, it must be soul destroying.
So, I have said I had lost nine weeks of my life but thinking about it as I write this I actually haven’t, I have really had nine weeks to think about how life can go, about there are many people less fortunate than myself and generally it has been a learning opportunity which I hope I can apply in a positive way moving forwards.
Physio next week which will be a new experience for me, hopefully another positive.
Ok what else?
Band news. When I first injured myself, I requested a Full English Playlist on Paul Anthony’s Planet Rock radio show. I renamed it to the full broken and chose three songs with the word broken in the title. Anyway – Paul played the selection and mentioned my name as well of course which proved to be catalytic.
By coincidence, an old friend of mine who used to play Bass in my band “the Switch” a long time ago heard the show and contacted me asking if I was the same Craig from the aforementioned band. Following my confirmation that I am indeed the very same Craig, we had a chat on the phone and further communication and it turns out that he is still playing bass, not currently in a band, wants to be in a band and has virtually 100% availability.
He came round to my house a few times, well I was not going anywhere, and we went through a typical Clan set list which all went very well. I always got on with him and neither of us has really changed, the only reason he left the Switch and we lost contact all those years ago was due to him relocating due to his work. So, it was all good. I introduced him to Jim and Roland and despite that he was still interested haha. We managed a rehearsal this week, me still hobbling around on crutches, everyone was happy with the way it went musically and equally as important how we gelled as people.
Therefore, it gives me immense pleasure to announce that Steve Lewis is the new Permanent Bass player for the Clan and will be playing all Clan gigs moving forwards.
We would like to pass on our great thanks to Colin Hynes for holding down the position for the last few months. Colin put a lot of time and effort into learning our material and we played some good gigs, nice guy, great bassist however as many of you will know Colin has limited availability due to other commitments and we have had to use Stand-in bass players on a number of occasions, not an ideal situation for band continuity and not without its fair share of stress and effort in trying to find and prepare deputies for gigs.
To be fair Colin did inform us when we started with him about his availability constraints however I do not think any of us really realised the full extent of them and the restrictions it would place on band gigs. No hard feelings, he lives locally so no doubt we will still partake in a beer or two with him in a local hostelry.
Personally, I am now looking forward to the next chapter of the Clan, catch us at Porters Resurrected in Warrington on Sunday 30th August. It is the first time there for us and first time with the new line-up, what can possibly go wrong haha. Hopefully, I will be back on my own two feet and able to get an actual shoe on my right foot!
***Since I started writing this, we were actually offered a gig supporting The Alarm at the Tivoli so we played last Saturday. Well done to Steve, a baptism of fire after one rehearsal. We had a few gremlins at the soundcheck, but the gig itself was a cracker. Personally, I wasn’t too sure about playing with the Alarm as their music is not really similar to ours, but it all worked out very well, and we had a good response from their loyal fans and some great feedback afterwards. Thanks as always to Roki and everyone else at the Tiv. I managed to make it through the gig on my own two feet, but my leg and foot suffered afterwards though. Perhaps not the best idea.
Other than that time marches on and there are always more things to be done! I really need to do a full check of my stage rig as it has been used a lot and hasn’t really had a good overhaul for a long time. I think my Badcat unleash attenuators are now reaching end of life, one packed up a while ago even though it had been repaired once and the other didn’t work when I checked it prior to Saturday’s gig, I had a an alternative, but I wasn’t overly happy with it. Time to do some research.
One of my amps needs repair as well. It’s all money though isn’t it. It will have to wait for now, I have spares.
Well it has taken me over a week to write this so I am going to post it otherwise it will be months out of date.
Catch up next time
Keep rockin’
Craig