Bugger, it’s been a few weeks since I updated. Life gets in the way…
We’ve played a few shows recently. Back in late March we played a show at the Cowley where we ended up headlining, pretty much because we had a smoke after the first band and the original headliner decided he had to play immediately in order to be able to leave early. We hope we didn’t piss him off by, you know, having a cigarette. The side-effect of headlining at the Cowley, after arriving first to sound-check (we were the only full band), is that we were pretty wrecked by the time we played. Fortunately, the vibe was so good that we had an awesome time, played a great set and didn’t even fuck up too much. Awesome! It cannot be understated how much of an effect on a band a good vibe has. A bunch of people dancing around, getting into your music, and enthusiastic applause in between? Makes you feel great and play better as a result. Big up to the Cowley and everyone who caught us there. Hope you had as much fun as we did.
Our last gig, just the other night, was also at the Cowley. Unfortunately this one wasn’t quite as good. Both Ben and I were sick and I was prone to random outbreaks of a hacking cough, so singing was a bit of a challenge. The (small) audience mostly hung as far back as possible except for one guy who danced around on his own for half our set (cool guy & I’m glad he did that!). A few songs got an enthusiastic response, whilst others seemed to fall kind of flat. So not our best but a few people did say posi things afterwards and the headliner, Rita Lynch (who was great – not many people can carry a long set solo with just their voice and an electric guitar that effectively), apparently wants to gig with us again, so that’s cool. Just goes to show that even the so-so gigs are worth doing, huh?
Between the two was a show that I put on at the Hope, featuring myself, Brighton noiseniks Kellar and Oxford’s Listing Ships. I was pretty nervous as I’ve never put on or promoted a gig before (I’ve been aware for years just how much work is involved and how hard it is too get people down and to make money, especially here in Brighton, so never wanted to get involved). Fortunately everything turned out really well – great bands, great sound, great times and a great crowd! We even had enough people through the door that I could pay all the bands a little bit. There were a few potentially hairy moments – WTPF started a bit late while I was sorting out people to cover the door for me, which I’d foolishly not planned ahead for, and we then played a bit too long, which fucked up the stage times I’d planned, but everyone got the set length they wanted and the show only ran on a bit late and POSITIVE ATTITUDES were experienced. It was a damn good time and maybe I will do it again some time.
At the last two shows we played our newest song (see title of this post) which I am really into, though we need to get it a bit tighter. We’ve also got another one that’s almost gig-worthy. Who knows, maybe this marks the beginning of an era in which we write and gig new songs more rapidly.
