tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42351729896010796422024-02-18T20:28:57.127-08:00Rain Acoustic DuoHere you will find out all about us, what we do, gig dates and general internet loveliness.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-41140323544843738592015-03-17T09:49:00.001-07:002015-03-17T10:00:58.732-07:00The Video - Boatswain's CallHi everyone.. Phew!!<br />
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Life is hectic as per usual and finding time to blog is getting harder.. However, undaunted, its time to do a website update and bring you the finished product.. our video....<br />
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The video was a long hard slog for us, started as an idea in Graeme's head and ended up an epic of vast proportions, well, OK.. of reasonable proportions. We filmed it at various locations throughout the country.. including a fair bit during a 10 day stretch in Hampshire, which included visiting Old Portsmouth, Southsea, Old Winchester Hill, then on the way back, The Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire. Graeme's parents, David and Margaret, very kindly allowed us to use their conservatory for the green screen shots.<br />
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Filming consisted of two side by side shoots, a story element and then a performance element. Both requiring very different ideas and requiring two separate story boards (which Graeme created).. to allow us some consistency.<br />
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I (Sheena) made sure that costumes were appropriate for the time. Seeing as it was set during the Battle of Trafalger, around 1806 then the characters costumes needed to reflect that. It involved some improvising in part, and having to make a period dress on my part, but we both agreed the overall finished look was quite accurate.<br />
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I would love the filming went brilliantly, instead it involved lots of hard work, long days and sometimes improvising shots on location. We filmed so much footage and extra green screen footage so that Jon Aldersea would have a lot to play with.<br />
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Filming wrapped sometime at the end of 2014, but wasn't until early this year that we managed to find a slot with Jon to sit down and discuss post production and editing.<br />
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Discussing the post production/edits with Jon proved to be a breeze, he really got to grips with the vision for the finished piece and we knew that we could trust him to come up with some brilliant work for it, which he did. Lots of overlays, transitions and his general magic bought the piece to life. Once we started to see the work Jon was doing, we knew we'd made the right choice for this video, to bring it to life.<br />
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This video represents the culmination of four years work, of writing a song from scratch, recording it and finally giving it a visual.. We've learned a lot about video making along the way (we filmed it all ourselves using standard digital video cameras... no fancy hi-tech cameras here!) and are very pleased with the results.<br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjAnF0BZGm0rH6bspfLGBMgelmTX00NRF0aYKdbeVUzoG8NHJvAHMpcWdsU2CtO7qKRNt4JAi5fFguqZFUFnzHRlZTlluC8NtPCGcHTCG4objhK6JJiDf4jhKpWSnro82Lq_CMFSo9TMg/s1600/11009554_10153095091274519_914320265_o.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></div>
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<a href="https://youtu.be/bZL3l5nOC4o" target="_blank">Boatswain's Call Video</a></div>
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Please click on the link above.. not the picture..;-)</div>
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Hope you like it...<br />Please feel free to offer feedback...</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-72690918485793334612015-03-01T14:56:00.002-08:002015-03-01T14:56:57.304-08:00Coming Soon... The VideoHere's a little sneaky peek of some of the stills from the footage for our video...<br /><br />Tune into You Tube next Sunday (March 8th) and you'll get to see all the hard work that went into making our video for Boatswain's Call.<br /><br />I've just put together this vignette to whet your appetite...<br />
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enjoy<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-42926126705154530172015-01-28T02:28:00.000-08:002015-01-28T02:28:01.021-08:00Rain Updates...Hi folks...<br />
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Its been a while since we blogged anything... We had a quiet November, but December picked up., which was great... we did 3 gigs over Christmas and New Year, and I'm proud to say they're the best we've done... Really got the crowds going and had a great laugh to boot.<br />
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All the hard work before Christmas of learning some new songs to put into the set really paid off and have thankfully got re-bookings for 2015...<br />
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So, what else.. Graeme worked hard on getting the storyboard finished for the video, all the footage is now in order and ready to go to the producer.. Just waiting for a date from him to get together and discuss what needs doing to it all.. So, its not done yet.. but it will be soon (ish)<br />
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We make a welcome return to the Boughey Arms on Saturday 31st January, of you fancy coming along and lending your support.. We do love the Boughey and everyone there, so it'll be nice to come back and give them what we do best...<br />
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Rightio.. not really any more news at present... :-)<br />
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Take care<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-61806076946786197172014-11-10T06:13:00.000-08:002014-11-10T06:13:08.278-08:00We're still number 1Well folks, its defied belief on our part.. But we're still number 1 in the Reverbnation local chart!!<br />
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Would like to thank every single one of you lovely people for helping us to maintain our position.<br /><br />:-)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-5650994810323902612014-10-13T10:28:00.000-07:002014-10-13T10:28:40.112-07:00We're Number 1!!!Hi all,<br />
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Just have to share this amazing news with you all...<br /><br />
We're number one in a chart!!! In a reverbnation chart.. Here's the link.. Go and see for yourself!<br />
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<a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/main/charts?artist_id=1878024&genre=Other&genre_geo=Local&login_key=7ce80e1c064944a42030e87bbd584e663cdb09d9bf026dfbd973fbdc8583cd226153199b471adf59b8caa6949cf8cc2c&mestatid=7231_Artist_1878024&send_time=1413216503&user_id=3351620&utm_campaign=weekly_email_view_local_charts&utm_content=link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=txn_artist_weekly_update">'Other' Chart on Reverbnation</a><br />
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Have to say we're both utterly delighted at this and would like to say a great big thank you to all our friends who have helped out over the past 3 and half years!!<br />
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You guys rock!!!!<br />
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Thank you so much!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-64027936639193443612014-10-13T02:46:00.001-07:002014-10-13T02:46:55.865-07:00Forever AutumnThe chill is in the air, the nights are drawing in and its beginning to look a lot like Halloween/Samhain everywhere. Cool crisp mornings with long shadows followed by golden light everywhere. Or as is the case here in Stoke, cloudy days with lots of rain. Oh well, can't have it all ways, eh? So what have we been up to? Lots to be honest. We've played a few gigs and are planning a couple of side projects, which will hopefully come to fruition in the next year or so.<br />
<br />One thing that many people don't know, is that if you're a musician you don't just get up and play music, or sing songs. It takes weeks and months of preparation, learning songs, writing, composing, so much goes into the 'act' that is booked by a venue to play. You don't just turn up off the street with a guitar in your hand and play, it might look that way, but it takes skill, dedication and hard work to perfect your 'act'. Anyway, I'm not moaning, just stating the facts as I see them. Anyone who thinks its the 'easy option' should really try it sometime ;-) Particularly jazz.. Jazz is infernal. It sounds great, lots of modalities, odd time signatures, weird melodies, all that takes practice. Jazz musicians didn't just get up and play and still don't. It all takes hard work and dedication and its what shows when you go out into the world and gig. You can knock something off and busk it, or you can work hard to put on a good show. Personally I prefer the latter.<br />
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Anyway, on with what we've been doing gig wise.<br />
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<b>Saturday 20th Sepetember 2014 - Fundraiser for Kemball Special School and Crohns Disease, Joiners Square Community Centre</b><br />
This event was considered an 'all dayer' and it certainly was! Rachel who put it all together worked tirelessly to ensure there was a constant flow of music for the people attending. There were intially acoustic acts during the day, with the odd band, then as the day progressed and as everyone moved inside, the bands took precedence. Mainly metal bands performed, which made a nice change to be amongst a different crowd and what a great crowd they were, all digging deep to support the charities. The venue has a proper stage too, which is always nice to play on. We were sandwiched between two metal bands (Adrenalize and .. erm... Oh, I forget now, I've such a rubbish memory!), which was kind of cool. We took to the stage and knocked out our Who songs, we only had a 20 minute slot, so knew we had to make an impact. The numbers were well received and it was a pleasure to play. Sometimes a short set can be as much fun as a full set to play. I know they raised loads of money for the charities.. Here's hoping that Rachel organises some more.<br />
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I know this isn't a lot of gigs, well, only one since last time it doesn't mean that we haven't been busy. We've still been filming some of the final scenes for the video. I've been working hard with the online side of the band and getting our presence felt all over the world. We're now on <a href="http://www.numberonemusic.com/">Number One Music</a> which is a brilliant website promoting original new music across the globe. It allows us to write newsletters, post videos and music and generally get ourselves out to a wider audience. Which, as far as I can see is a great thing!! I've been twittering on my personal account too, which has seen an increase in traffic, so all a good thing.<br /><br />The music side, well, Graeme worked really really hard and has condensed The Who album Tommy down to half an hour for a gig we have this week. Its not been easy, not at all. In fact, he's put in so many hours, he really deserves some time off. However, its workable and is sounding great. We've even been working on harmonies, just to add an extra dimension to the duo, hopefully there'll be more of that in the future too, but we'll see how it goes. We're playing for a great charity on Saturday called <a href="http://www.theextraguest.com/">The Extra Guest</a> (click on the link to find out more), hosted by the very lovely Moyra at The Hayes in Stone. Looking forward to playing this spooky venue. We're also opening for a folk act on Thursday at the Beer Festival, which should be a good one. We played last years Beer Festival and it was enormous fun, so be really chuffed to play again. A few other gigs coming up, though we still have a few slots for the end of the year and are taking bookings into next year now too. So, if you want us to play for you, better get in quick!!<br />
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Rightio, that's it from me for now.. Take care, check out the links and I'll see you soon<br />
x<br />
<b><br /></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-60587563761886382332014-09-09T09:27:00.000-07:002014-09-09T09:27:02.426-07:00Summers Almost Gone...where will we be, when the summers gone?To quote Jim Morrison (no doubt much to the chagrin of Graeme, who doesn't like The Doors)... I however, rather like them and seeing as I write the blog, tough.. lol<br />
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Gosh things have been really busy in the Rain camp again, including exciting things and that. So much to tell you from the past month really and I kind of don't know where to start. So I'll start at the very beginning (its a very good place to start)...<br />
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<b>8th August</b><br />
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We ventured 'Darn Sarf', taking ourselves off for a working holiday. I can't say too much, but I will anyway.. in order to begin filming a video for one of our songs!! Graeme came up with the idea of us being in period costume, seeing as the song relates to pressganging and the Battle of Trafalger, I'll leave it there as I don't want to give too much away, other than it was flipping hard work! We were blessed with the end of Hurricane Bertha, which added lots of blusteriness to the proceedings and well, made things very interesting.. Here's a little cobbled together piece of video made from stills from the shoot, just to give you a taster of what's to come.<br />
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I will say that I enjoyed myself throughout the shoot, not sure Graeme enjoyed it.. But, its the price you pay for being an artiste!<br /><br />While on our sojourn we played 3 very different Open Mic nights, the first was at The Brewery Bar in Botley, which was well attended and the level of professionalism was outstanding. The calibre of musicianship was outstanding...Including a young girl who is definately destined for big things (who's name escapes me now!). The second one was at the Barn, which is a venue attached to a pub (who's name also escapes me), a rather different affair, but we were well received which was nice. The third was at The Fountain Inn, Rowlands Castle, a quieter affair, but still enthusiastic and full of talent. Overall the South East is littered with Open Mics/Acoustic nights and they're well worth checking out if you find yourself down there.<br /><br />Back to gigs...<br />
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<b>Saturday 24th August - Lightfest</b><br />
Lightfest was the first in a series of fundraisers for The Birmingham Children's Hospital, held in the brand spanking new village of Lightmoor in Shropshire. Anyone who tries to find it will be challenged, including us, we went around in a circle to start with, then managed to safely arrive after a swift call to the organisers. We played in the village square outside the very lovely 'Home' cafe (you simply have to try their food, its amazing!!!) We played our usual repertoire and were well received then stayed for the main act who were the very lovely 'Driftwood'.. a kind of folk/rock affair, with stunning harmonies, and melodic flute. They were also really lovely people and keen to chat too, we discovered that we had 2 songs the same in our set, but as our approaches were different, we kept them in. Looking forward to more events put on by this lovely village and its people.<br />
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<br /><b>Saturday 30th August - The Boughey Arms Music and Beer Festival</b><br />
We were called in to headline the Music and Beef Festival at last minute, but that was fine for us, we love The Boughey and always go down well there, which is encouraging. This night was no exception. We decided to dish out the singalongs, which got everyone cheering and singing along... A group of rather rowdy young men arrived, somewhat worse for wear, but we managed to keep them in check until they left. Bless.. the folly of youth! We had to wrap up the night as my voice started to pack up, thankfully it seems to have recovered, must have just been an 'off' day. Looking forward to going back again..<br />
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<b>Saturday 6th September - Golden Lion, Middlewich</b><br />
Our first outing to Middlewich and the lovely Golden Lion. We received a very warm welcome, but discovered that someone in the village had a 60th birthday party, our punters very kindly apologised and said they looked forward to seeing us again. However, we were left with 4 very enthusiastic audience members, who were amazed it was so quiet. Apparently a bunch of folks had gone on holiday too. The crowd that were there enjoyed what we did, which is always nice to hear and hopefully we'll be going back again to play to a relatively full house (with a bit of luck!)<br />
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<b>Sunday 7th September - Music Wirks - Wirksworth Arts Festival</b><br />
Taking ourselves off to the Derbyshire peaks for this wonderful Festival is always a delight for us. We gained 3 slots (and were told the venues were 'fighting' over us.. ) playing at Hatfield Farm, The Stable Block and The Star Disc, playing to a moving crowd can be challenging, but we here love a challenge. Encouraging people to stay and listen is hard, when people generally are milling about looking for the art on display and following the famous Art Trail. Hatfield Farm was our first slot, playing in the drive, luckily no-one wanted to drive down it, so we were safe. We then played The Stable Block, which we've now played 3 years in a row and spotted the Radio 2 DJ Mark Radcliffe along with his missus and a couple of friends. Graeme scolded me after, as I 'should have shouted him and given him a CD'... Oh well, there's always next year! lol. The Star Disc was our last session of the day, played at an amazing spot high above the village, in the sunshine, we caught up with our old friend from Wirksworth, Brian, who performed there earlier in the day and who managed to not leave the Star Disc all day! lol. It was a gorgeous day weather wise, they always seem to do it on a good weekend, which is possibly, just sheer luck.<br />
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More stuff coming up, more gigs and the video!!<br />
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Just you wait, its going to be great!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-91326932658914600392014-08-05T05:25:00.000-07:002014-08-05T05:25:46.013-07:00Time flies by when you're the driver of a train... or not.. as the case may be. Flipping heck!!!<br />
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How long since the last blog post?????<br />
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"Far too long" , I hear you cry!!,<br />
Gosh, we've had such a busy time of it catching up with the blog has been the least of our worries..<br />
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From releasing the CD, its been a steady stream of gigs, working on other projects and well, generally being very very busy!! We're not complaining, no, we're not. Its good to be busy.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;"><b>Saturday 17th May - The Boughey Arms, Audlem</b></span><br />
Well, a welcome return for us at The Boughey, always a good night, and this one definitely was.. A favourite of ours, as well you know..<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;">Sunday 18th May - The Gresley Arms - Folk and Ale Festival </span></b><br />
The Gresley held their usual Folk and Ale Festival, but this year arranged the event themselves, we were there along with Esther Brennan, sharing her new toy with us as part of Brennan and Buchanan, always very lovely to see them and the evening was taken by ever wonderful Slippery Hill Boys.. so all in all a great little festival, well attended, the sun was shining and the beer flowing.. <br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;">Saturday 31st May - The Fox, Elworth, Sandbach</span><br />
First time for us at The Fox in Elworth. A delightful venue with a lovely crowd and a very welcoming manager. We're not their usual kind of act, but that's OK, as you take a chance sometimes and sometimes it pays off. Was a nice place to play. <br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;"><b>Saturday 7th June - Wirksworth Farmers Market</b></span><br />
Invited back by Brian, who is a stalwart of the music scene in Wirksworth, we played once more at the Farmer's Market. Always an appreciative crowd there, even when it started to rain. The usual jokes about weather started. But we were dry under our tarpaulin. The rain drove people away.. but not our rain.. ;-)<br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;">Saturday 14th June - The White Hart, Tean</span><br />
Returning to the White Hart, in the middle of the World Cup.. the White Hart, usually teeming with people took a while to fill up, but it did eventually.. Our usual friends were in and it was delightful to be able to play some requests from last time for them, which, as you would expect, went down really well! Back there in December folks.. <br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;">Saturday 28th June - Royal Exchange Beer Festival, Stone</span><br />
Michelle, who manages The Royal Exchange is an amazing lady, she worked so hard to put together the Beer Festival at St Dominic's Centre in Stone. She really deserved the award she has just won for her pub.. Anyway, we played during the afternoon, we should have played outside, but opted for inside due to the weather looking a bit ropey. As I said, we should have played outside, because the sun came out and everyone sat outside.. not because of the music, but because it was such a lovely day!! Never mind.. we enjoyed playing there anyway and it was nice to see a few folk singing along as well plus a few faces from the Lymestone Brewery Festival earlier in the year.. <br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><br style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: #1c1c1c; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.545454025268555px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.899999618530273px;">Saturday 12th July - Alsager Festival</span><br />
So nice to be invited back to play the Alsager Festival, which is an absolute 'must go to' event for anyone who loves music.. There was 4 stages this year, the acoustic stage, the main stage, the Greenway Stage and the SOPHIE stage.. each one delivering different music to different audiences.<br />
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Here's picture of us doing what we do at Alsager.. spot the flowery dress, cos it was hot and sunny again!!<br />Its a free event, with loads of things to see and do.. so is a must for families.. Really looking forward to 2015's event too!!</div>
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<b>Saturday 14th July - The Red Lion Nantwich </b></div>
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You know when you book something months in advance and you get a reminder a couple days before.. well that is what happened to us!! I thought the gig had been cancelled by Graeme, Graeme couldn't remember and luckily the very lovely Sam called me and asked if we were still free.. Of course we said "yes" and promptly threw the gear in the car for a lovely night out at The Red Lion.. We threw in some more new songs and had a jolly good night.. We all enjoyed it and we'll be back in September! </div>
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<b>Thursday 31st July - The Greyhound Penkhull - Acoustic Night</b></div>
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Shh, don't tell anyone, but did you know, in our spare time and when we're asked, we can be available to run Open Mic/Acoustic Nights.. The very lovely Paul Gibson asked if we wouldn't mind running it, and how could we refuse? We love The Greyhound and had a stonking night in there, loads of players turned up and made it a night to remember. </div>
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<b>Saturday 2nd August - The Boughey Arms</b> </div>
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I've told you before about how much we love the Boughey.. well, we were invited back to play.. so , again, we couldn't refuse.. etc etc.. A lovely night, as it was also the bosses wife's birthday, so she was in with her friends, singing along to the tunes we played and generally having a brilliant night.. </div>
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We'll be back there again soon.. ;-)</div>
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<b>Sunday 3rd August - The Red Bull Music afternoon</b></div>
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Organised by the ever lovely Slippery Hill Boys as a thank you to the landlord of The Red Bull, Church Lawton, we were invited down to do a set in the sunshine, by the canal. Made a real change sitting under a parasol, sipping a cool drink and watching the boats go by as we were listening to the dulcet tones of the SHB.. A few other acts joined us, a lovely girl called Emily, who writes her own songs, the very lovely Graham Dawson, who was joined on stage by SHB, which filled out his songs brilliantly.. and Hayley Strangelove and Baxter.. who were their usual boisterous selves..A really lovely afternoon, chance to catch up with a few folk and sit basking..</div>
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Ta taa for now.. </div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-20719286733563291802014-06-02T08:58:00.000-07:002014-06-02T08:58:32.940-07:00April Showers and the Merry Month of MayPhew!!<br /><br />April and May have been hectic to say the least with lots of gigs and general Rain stuff...I'd better get on with it then, eh?<br />
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<b>Wednesday April 2nd, The Swan Inn, Stone</b><br />
A wonderful return trip to a very lovely watering hole in Stone, as ever the locals had a great night and the not so locals were friendly too, chatting about Who songs with a couple of Telecoms engineers and general chit chat with another couple at the bar.. This really is a very friendly venue and so lovely to play.. I simply can't recommend it enough. We performed well and went down well, which is really what its all about...<br />
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<b>Saturday 5th April - Rode Hall Farmers Market</b><br />
After playing in November and it was cold and rainy, we thought we'd spy our chance with a lovely spring morning at Rode Hall... and guess what? It flipping well rained, rained and then rained some more... the pun being entirely intended. We were sharing a gazebo with the very lovely Raggedy Anne, who makes the most amazing headgear and knitted stuff.. each minute bought a new challenge of trying not to get the gear wet.. We played superbly under the circumstances and thoroughly enjoyed it, the tea stall bringing us hot cups of tea certainly helped, as did the bread donation by London Road Bakehouse, graciously received.. Its really something different to play there and really lovely.. Just a pity the weather was poor.. Oh well, can't pick the weather. Our gear ended up a little soggy, but our spirits weren't dampened.<br />
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<b>Sunday 6th April - The Berwick, Sneyd Green</b><br />
Oh dear...we've all done it, played to an empty room. The landlady was terribly apologetic and really was very lovely about the whole thing. In fact the pub was empty anyway, which was a tragedy for them too. One very lovely lady did come through and watch the last few songs and was enormously supportive, finding out that she was a fellow musician after was cool. She explained she was a drummer with punk band, and really enjoyed our set, getting up on the keyboards to show how she could play a couple of classical pieces that she learned by ear!! At least we managed to get home early after a hectic weekend!<br />
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<b>Saturday 19th April - The Royal Exchange, Stone</b><br />
From and empty pub to a relatively full one. The Royal Exchange, a new venue for us, was another lovely venue to play. Michelle, the landlady runs a tight ship (its a Titanic Brewery pub, you see.. lol) and the assembled crowd were in strong voice, singing along to some of their favourites, we have been invited back to do their Beer Festival in June, which bodes well.. definately a great night.<br />
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<b>Saturday 26th April - Freedom Feed'em cafe, Longton</b><br />
The Freedom Feed'em Cafe is a brilliant idea, and serves the people of Longton simply scrumptious food and only as for 'what you can afford to pay'... which is very noble, staffed by enthusiastic volunteers it made a pleasant change to play there. We played acoustically and were joined in on a couple of songs by a few folks.. which was nice.. We were supplied with ample cups of tea and in our break were fed a delightful Veg Biriani with rice and apple crumble for pudding. Its nice to see something good for the people of Longton and to see it so well attended too.<br /><br /><b>Saturday 3rd May - The White Lion, Penkhull</b><br />
Another return trip to The White Lion in Penkhull, another favourite of ours with a great crowd, including some of our friends who turned up to lend their support, which, as always is gratefully received. It was good to hear some feedback for some of the new songs in the set and just simply a smashing night!<br />
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<b>Sunday 4th May - The Lymelight Festival, Newcastle under Lyme</b><br />
A relatively new festival held in the centre of the town and one to watch.. There was a full size outdoor stage, which was nice to play on, tbh, and the everso lovely Nigel on the sound desk, with Clive, who's gear it was.. made sure our sound was perfect, even when we had a glitch and lost the sound, they were swift in their execution to put it right. We played to the few people milling around, and waved to Viv from Lymestone Brewery, who was frantically putting up the beer tent ready for the hoards of people who were promised to arrive. Being the first on has its pluses.. means you can get off stage early and get on with the day, the downside is not many people were there.. however, those who were there seemed to enjoy what we did, so it was a success, imho. Vouchers were handed to us to get a free drink from the Hippy Hippy Shake co. or Lymestone Vaults... It was a tad early for a beer.. so I made do with a rather tasty blueberry smoothie, which was divine...<br />
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<b>Saturday 17th May - The Boughey Arms, Audley</b><br />
A last minute booking at The Boughey, another favourite venue, meant that we were caught on the hoof, as it were. Still, we managed to set up and perform our usual delightful range of songs for the assembled crowd. A number of diners were in, sampling the fine foods served there and a couple of people who'd been there all afternoon, who stayed to chat. It was nice to be back there, hopefully we'll be back again before the year's out.<br />
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<b>Sunday 18th May - Gresley Folk and Ale Festival, Alsagers Bank</b><br />
Having played this event last year, it was lovely to be invited back to play again this year. However, things had changed, last year there was a rolling stream of acts, this year, not so many.. however it didn't quell the spirits of the people in attendance, who were joyfully entertained. Was nice to catch up with a couple of fellow musicians too, Tim from the Slippery Hill Boys and Ian Buchanan and Esther Brennan (who followed us), plus assorted people who listened from the Beer Garden (who were taking advantage of the weather and soaking up the rays while sampling the fine ales.. Definately a good gig and well worth waiting for.<br />
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<b>Sunday 25th May - The Horseshoe, Crewe</b><br />
Another short notice arranged gig, at this delightful Robinson's house in Crewe, arranged by the lovely John, who had seen us previously at The Nags Head and decided we were the right folk for the job. The landlady and her family took front row seats and bopped along and sang along to a large proportion of the set and certainly seemed entertained, much applause followed, and a mystery guest in the guise of Mr Kev Orbisounds in the audience ensured that this will be one we won't forget easily.<br />
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<b>Saturday 31st May - The Fox, Elworth</b><br />
Elworth, for those of you that don't know lies just outside Sandbach and was easier to find than Googlemaps suggested, thankfully Graeme was at the wheel and knew where it was. The Fox is a really really nice looking pub, its recently been modernised and it definately shows. However, trying to sing when you have a cold isn't easy, so a few bum notes were hit tonight, which I'm not proud of, but the show has to go on!! We were made very welcome by Graham and Sally and yes, a few of the crowd were reminiscing as they sang along.. which is a good sign. We were greeted at the end by a lively fellow, rather the worse for wear and who danced in front of us, suggesting that we try "You've Got to Show Me Love".. duly noted, though getting the chords to a dance track may prove tricky...<br /><br />
That's the gig round-up for April/May.. what else??<br /><br />Well we have loads of ideas in the pipeline, including video shoots, new songs, new cover songs and, well, just loads of stuff...<br /><br />We've also been confirmed for Alsager Festival in July and Cloggerfest in August.. which we know are going to be great events!!! More gigs coming up.. so just keep your eyes peeled!<br />
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Until next time... tatty bye..<br />
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<b><br /></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-44885136761155206222014-04-30T13:46:00.000-07:002014-04-30T13:46:18.582-07:00We're on the radio in Scotland!Yes folks, you read that correctly. I have some lovely friends who moved to Scotland many moons ago and now they do a little radio show.. and have decided to include some of the Rain songs in their show..<br /><br />Here's a link: <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/edradio/through-the-seasons-show-12/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.563634872436523px;" target="_blank">http://www.mixcloud.com/edradio/through-the-seasons-show-12/</a><br />
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Obviously there's been other stuff that we've been doing recently, but this is quite contemporary with the season...<br />
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Enjoy..Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-60112607246457913702014-03-25T07:16:00.000-07:002014-03-25T07:16:00.986-07:00The Mad Month of MarchHi folks.. Its been a while since I blogged.. Just getting busier and busier, as is the wont of any musician during the warmer months. Gigs getting booked, Festivals being arranged and well.. all manner of exciting stuff underway. Our CD was released at the end of February and have been finding their way off to new homes... Really must see how many we have left.. Oh, another time...<br /><br />Onto the gigs..<br /><br /><b>Saturday 1st March</b><br />
Saw a welcome return to The Greyhound in Penkhull, having recently changed ownership and brought about some welcome changes with the new management, it is, once more a delightful venue to play. We were rather pleased to see a load of our friends at this one, our first 'local' gig for a while. We barraged the audience with a load of new covers, which all went down well.. and as seems to be the habit in The Greyhound the dancers enjoyed it too.. We put it down to Stoke having won that day, but it was nice to be appreciated by a lovely crowd and to see so many friends there. We started a game of 'guess the song/artist'.. which went down well with everyone.. and it prevented getting mobbed on stage and asked the usual 'who's this by?' questions. One table got 4 points and were well chuffed with themselves.. and quite rightly so!<br />
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<b>Saturday 15th March</b><br />
An early doors gig at The Lymestone Brewer 20/20 Beer Festival was simply wonderful.. We'd sneaked in early the night before to watch Sons of Clogger perform their delightful blend of roguery and charm, which they did with their usual aplomb, so knew what we were letting ourselves in for.. Including making some new friends and meeting up with some old ones who promised to come along.. Saturday arrived and as it was an 'early doors' gig, we set up early.. the Beer Festival was already in full swing, ale was being quaffed and we got to performing. Despite the brilliance of the venue, with its wonderful high ceiling.. it was freezing!! Now, something I didn't realise is that fine ales need to be in a cold climate.. I thought the warmer the better, but that would just explain my lack of knowledge of brewing.. Apart from the cold, it was a stunning event to play at, everyone there was happy, as the early evening descended and the sun set, the crowds began to arrive, no doubt fed up with shopping and needing a night out. We certainly received a warm response from everyone, and enjoyed every second of the acoustics of the room! We were followed by Elvis Fontenot and the Sugarbees.. who are a 'must see' band.. playing a blend of Cajun and Zydeco beats to get everyone dancing.. had I not damaged my knee a few days prior.. I'd have got up and danced away too..<br /><b><br />Friday 21st March</b><br />
Took us to the Flying Lady in Crewe.. Before I start, I should tell you, I'd had a migraine for a few days before the gig, so wasn't at my best, but was prepared to soldier on.. Graeme packed the car.. I followed him out.. arrived at the gig, unpacked the gear... "Where's the mic stand?"... We were running late anyway, so poor Graeme had to drive all the way back to Stoke to retrieve said stand. I was unpopular.. Its part of my gear and I forgot it.. I glanced on my way out at the corner where it was propped up and it never registered with me. I was in trouble.. 20 mins to the start and we'd no mic stand. Ordinarily with a standard mic, it wouldn't be too bad, but with my huge whopping heavy thing.. no chance, I'd have no arms left.. so the mic stand was needed. Graeme finally arrived back and we just plugged in without sound checking first... Graeme's pedal board was playing up, people were complaining they could hear the vocals.. We finally got it sorted when we took a short break.. By which time we were both feeling less than our best, but soldiered on through the second set, determined to carry on... With apologies to the venue, and clientele, who were very good about it really. Not one of our best gigs.. But any musician will tell you, 'we all have bad gigs'... :-(<br />
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<b>Saturday 22nd March</b><br />
To make up for being late the day before, we set out extra early for our show at The Black Swan in Leek, only to be told by Pam.. 'You don't need to go on until 9.30'.. Which meant having to prop the bar up.. which is a hard job, obviously. Was lovely again to see some friendly faces turn up to see us.. the one thing about being a musician that sucks, is the majority of your friends are also musicians, and therefore, actually having a full house of people that know you is rare indeed. Usually Friday and Saturday, which are generally gig nights, tend to be when everyone's working and therefore, not available to come and see you.. However, we had two groups of musician friends in, which was nice.. Charlie (from Crawlin' From the Wreckage) had played a gig earlier on and had sneaked in later, whereas Terry and Sharon turned up early and went elsewhere, as they weren't sure what time we were on!... Saturday was a much better night than the night before, we played well, sang well, and generally had a really lovely gig, even getting thanked for including a song which was a personal favourite of one of the girls in the crowd.. who said "I've never heard anyone do that before.. it was brilliant"<br />
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So, that's the gigs up to date..<br />Don't forget you can still get a copy of the album through Ebay, should you wish.. and we are preparing to get everything ready for downloads too.. Just we needed to fill in some forms and send some stuff off and are in the process of getting that ready.. Seeing as so many of you have moved on from actual 'L.P's' and cassettes onto 'downloads' we figured we would have to bring ourselves into the 21st century kicking and screaming. Don't worry, I shall blog it to death once its done!<br />
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<b><br /></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-85080497703752677642014-02-26T06:55:00.001-08:002014-02-26T06:55:11.489-08:00February made me shiver... well, not quite... <div style="text-align: center;">
"February made me shiver, with every paper I delivered..." sung Don Maclean in American Pie.. But it didn't for us.. why not?? Because we've been far to busy to get cold! While we've been hard at it finishing off the CD, approving artwork, mixes and the like, we've also been attending Open Mics and generally getting ourselves out there a bit, working on new projects with other people and just generally staying out of mischief!</div>
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I can now tell you that I have in possession some very lovely CD's... </div>
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Yes.. that's right, our first album 'Life in a Landscape' is now available.. We're so excited to be able to bring this to you as a completed 'thing', its been a long time in the making as we have spent a fair amount of time working on this throughout 2013/14, taking songs from their raw acoustic form and bringing a full musical vista to you. Its had blood, sweat and tears poured into it.. all we hope is that you like it. </div>
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We'd like to thank so many people for taking part in this.. I think we may do a separate piece on that.<br /><br />Anyway, there you go.. the CD is out now!!</div>
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So other news from our camp...</div>
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<b>Friday 14th February</b></div>
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Took us to The Express in Crewe, not a venue we've played before, so we were excited to get ourselves in there and do what we do. It being Valentines Day, we kept the set full of romantic classics, all of which went down really well with the assembled crowd.. Even bumped into someone who'd seen us in previous times at The Nags Head, was lovely to catch up with him again.. if only I could remember his name! lol It was nice to play on a stage area, proving that Crewe has several venues for live bands (The Nags Head and The Imp being a couple of other places we've played in the past), proving that this Cheshire Town is still a good place to play for many bands. Thoroughly enjoyed our night there.. here's hoping we can return</div>
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<b>Saturday 15th February</b></div>
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We sidled over to Tean and played The White Hart.. once more a lovely welcome from a fantastic venue, landlord and crowd. Its a joy to play The White Hart as Andy, the landlord, is a real music lover, as are his clientele.. which shows in their appreciation. The evening started sedately enough, there was a birthday party in the function room, with disco,etc, so most of the folk were up there. However, during our second set the place livened up with the party moving downstairs and the singing of Happy Birthday to one of the regulars.. (done in a blues style.. just cos we can!) Encore followed encore, as we feared that we wouldn't be allowed to leave.. all in good fun though. The White Hart is definately a good place to check out anyway, with a great menu, real ales and a warm and friendly atmosphere. </div>
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We're also going to be rehearsing some new covers for the set.. We've had a few requests and rather than say.. 'nah'.. we're going to give them a go and smother them in a bit of Rain magic. </div>
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Anyway, hope you like the CD.. if you've heard it, then please let us have some feedback, we're interested in what you think about it. If you've not heard it yet, then you'll have to just grab a copy from us when you see us! :-) </div>
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Take care lovely people..</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-67954317646884163472014-01-28T01:20:00.004-08:002014-01-28T01:20:52.542-08:00The mix is final!!Well well well.. its looking like the time we've spent in the studio mixing and mixing has paid off. We've now agreed that the mixes for the forthcoming cd are final.. We've dotted the 'i's' and crossed the 't's' and its sounding brilliant. We decided to spend our time in January being productive.. and its definately paid off.<br /><br /><div>
The final studio session on 24th January went more smoothly than expected, just running through and nipping and tucking here and there to finalise the mixes.. realising that when you hear something 10 times, it has to be right. There's a school of philosophy that suggests it should be "right first time"..which would technically make life easier in the long run, but, imho, makes it slightly dull.. there's something about hearing the variations in the various takes, the somewhat slightly out of synch pieces, which brings and adds colour to the piece, making happy accidents along the way.</div>
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We've used the studio as our third band member really, only when we had the basic tracks down were we then able to get creative and 'see' what the songs needed to give them a full and productive life.. rather like feeding and nurturing the songs to allow them to develop their full potential. Its the creative process in full flow.. with there only being two of us, its not always easy at first to hear what a song can become, only by getting it down, and hearing it back have we found additional pieces, decided on the theme of the song and coloured it in as each song starts out as a sketch and develops over time to become what you hear live, then in the studio it develops its wings!<br /><br />So, we're now flying... we're awaiting the masterful and supremely creative Jon Aldersea to create the cover for us, then we'll be sending it off to get it produced and will hopefully have some available to buy soon. Don't worry.. we'll keep you updated!!<br /><br />Gigs.. well, its been a bit quiet.. the start of the year normally is, tbh, but as I've already said, we've put our time to good use, spending it in the studio. Things will pick up, as they inevitably do.<br /><br /><b>Saturday 25th January - Rubber Soul Session, The Roebuck, Leek</b></div>
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Having played the Rubber Soul Session at The Old Brown Jug, we asked Rob if he'd slot us in for the Roebuck in Leek, as well.. and what a superb evening it was. Kicked off with the local lad Dom Morgan, who sung his usual brand of covers and originals for the assembled crowd (and what a crowd, standing room only!).. we followed doing a set of original numbers, all of which went down well. We were followed by Jacey Rayne a lovely girl doing an acoustic set, very powerful voice and excellent songs (she's going a long way.. ) A bot of stage jostling and moving equipment around brought us Faux Pas a bunch of guys from Keele, who have a kind of Franz Ferdinand thing going on, though I suspect they were a touch loud, but good at what they do.. followed by the excellent Longwave, who's sort of Prog rock/New wave/whatever sound carried us off into the night. For a three piece, they certainly sound like they have a lot more going on. So, it was a great night, a chance to catch up with old friends (The Longwave) and new friends made, made it a much welcomed great night out.<br /><br />Right, that about wraps it up for another blog... I wish I could give you a date for the CD release.. promo versions should be ready in a couple of weeks (for radio stations and venues).. then its only a matter of time before the real life, all singing, not much dancing CD is ready.. Can't wait.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-28767492876969539122014-01-18T03:40:00.001-08:002014-01-18T03:44:19.927-08:00Studio musings...I promised myself that I wasn't going to blog anything yet.. But I'm bursting to tell you how excited I am about the CD.<br />
We spent last night (17/01/14) Mixing again at Tremolo Studios. Going through each song, tweaking things like reverb and volume levels and generally scrutinising it to find any slight blips that can be ironed out (or erased).. It really is something watching Dan work, he listens intently with a very fine tuned ear if you suggest "this doesn't sound right".. .or"There's an extra note there"... and will swiftly, like a bird of prey swoop into the mix and pull it out and work his magic. With a light touch he tweaks levels..and we discussed amongst ourselves as to whether we (by that I mean Graeme and myself), find it suitable. "No, needs little less reverb".. "Oh now the volume needs dropping".. "No, that's too much, you can't hear the.... (insert whatever can't be heard)". So we discussed, decided and now have a load of tracks to listen to again, to see if we've managed to iron out the wrinkles.<br />
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One song, we really thought we would have to spend all night on, re-recording vocals and adding flourishes and.. well, pretty much everything too, was listened to in isolation. The recording booth was set up for the vocals, Dan played the first few bars... and... "Hold on, do you want to come and listen to this in here first?".. The words came through my headphones from Dan. "Yeah, its sounding OK to me".. I uttered as I slid off the headphones and sloped back into the control room. We listened to the whole song, there were gorgeously presented vocal lines with lovely harmonies where I was expecting some snot fueled gobbledegook. I was certain I'd had the sniffles when I'd recorded the vocal lines.. yet, hearing it last night, I realised that it didn't need doing.. It was perfect just the way it was... How very strange. So as to make full use of the time we set to adding in the rest of the instrumentation. Building it up from the bottom.. "It needs something, its too.. samey" suggested Graeme, "Maybe remove the guitars and bass from the start"... Suddenly it was taking shape.. half way through I suggested "Tympani"... Dan set to work adding in some Tympani (I know, I know... using digitised sounds.. But it was all played in, as if we'd had real Tympani... Just without the struggle of getting a set from somewhere and struggling to get it into the studio!).. "Put some more of the oboe here".. "Yeah, now drop the bass in".. The song was taking on its own life, as each of them do. "I'm going to do this effect".. "I don't think it'll work".. a stalemate.."Trust me, its going to sound great".. "Hmm, not sure"... levels were balanced and yes.. I could see what was happening.<br />
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I'm not going to name any of the tracks and what we've worked on now, because I want to wait until the final versions are ready. Some people will love it, some people will no doubt hate it.. But you know, it doesn't matter, because its the work of everyone who is a part of it, in whatever way. How I look at it, you can go into the studio and record the songs as they're played, and that works for many bands and many people and I think they're brilliant. Then there are some songs that come to life and come into their own when they have studio production and extra instruments can be added, they become more than what they start out as and develop little lives of their own. With different producers, you get different sounds. With different musicians you get different music. I'm not saying every song has to have heaps of production, some stay simple, but when you have the toolbox of a studio at your disposal, why not pull out a few toys and have a play with the sound, its how albums like Seargent Pepper developed. I'm not suggesting we're anything like the Beatles, cos we're not, but that the toys are there to be played with, if you like, there's no pressure to use them, but its nice to know they're there.<br />
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Right, better get listening to the rushes.. and see what it all sounds like now.<br />
Hopefully its sounding good.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-25904383827406384452014-01-14T10:54:00.000-08:002014-01-14T10:54:24.622-08:00January..I'm sure there's a song about you somewhereHi folks.<br />
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Well We're well into January and the frenzy for booking gigs is underway.. We have some nice ones coming up, but we're not going to tell you just yet.. Cos we want them to be a surprise. Well, that, and we know with things in this current climate that the pub trade is deeply affected, with venues closing left right and centre... What can we do about it?? We can support our local music scene all the more... And that's kind of how we've kicked off 2014..by popping along and seeing other people perform, attending Open Mic nights and generally getting out there when we can.<br />
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Without a local music scene, there would be no national music scene and, well, no music being played outside of people's homes. There's nothing better than hearing live music, its thrilling, exciting and just as much fun for the people on the stage as in the audience. I will say that of course not every band is to everyone's taste and that's a good thing. If every band were the same, if all musicians played the same way, if all singers sounded the same, wouldn't it be boring??? I prefer to live in a place where there is an infinate variety of music, played by an awesome range of people, all putting in the hours to perfect their techniques and develop their style. I might not like all of it, but I like some of it and that's a start.<br />
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So, back to Rain.. well, we popped along to The Blacksmiths Arms in Alton to attend their Open Mic, a lovely affair organised by Geoff Smith.. a really nice bloke, with a penchant for Willie Nelson... It was a great night, jamming with some of the guys and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.. a reminder of why we do it.. because its fun.<br /><br />Anyway back to real Rain stuff.. the CD... eeek.. Its coming along so well, on Saturday 11th we popped into Tremolo to carry on the long job of mastering the songs... We'd mastered a couple on our last visit, so we got stuck into the rest... Dan tweaking and twiddling to our request.. "Put a bit of reverb on that bit"... "No too much, can we turn that down?"... "Can we drop this bit out, but bring it up at this bit"... We listened and listened and mastered away. We were joined later by Katharine, who has already put brass on two tracks, but we felt we needed some on a third, and she,as always, didn't disappoint, coming up with a truly delightful piece that has really brought the song together. We were finally ushered out at 11pm, with 8 tracks mastered.. Just two more to complete and master, then the exciting stuff begins, with the design work of Jon Aldersea, adding his magic to the proceedings. Its all getting a bit real now. Its taken nearly a year so far of gigging, writing, recording and the like, its hard to believe the end is nearly here and we'll finally have a copy of our CD.<br />
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So, lots going on behind the scenes, I've written something close to 19-20 songs that require the Beardmore treatment, due to his amazing ability to transform a rough sketch into something beautiful. So this year will no doubt involve us airing those at some point.. But not until the CD is finished!! So, you'll just have to be patient!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-35247190988516136272014-01-08T01:16:00.000-08:002014-01-08T01:16:36.463-08:00Happy 2014!!!Well folks, the New Year is well and truly under way and I thought it time to update the blog.. Been busy over the festive period, doing the family thing, eating and drinking far too much and having a general lovely time with friends and family. However, it meant that little things like blog updates were put aside for a while... Though we did share "Boatswains Call" with you as a sneaky peek at the CD.. You can expect music that sounds at least as good, if not better than that, with a wide range of styles and substance..<br /><br />So what did we do during the rest of December, I hear you ask.. well, here goes:<br />
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<b>Thursday 19th December - The Imp, Crewe</b><br />
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Acoustic gigs are on Thursday evenings at The Imperial (The Imp) in Crewe, and we were really pleased to be able to play there, having heard so many good things about the place. The place was rather busy when we arrived, so we unpacked , set up.. then received apologies. A large group of folks were off on their work's Christmas meal, but were apologising profusely, they'd seen the sound check and wanted to stay.. But had tables booked.. Ahh, well, such is the way, sometimes. However, those that were left got into the swing of things nicely, singing along to some old favourites and some of the new covers.. receiving rapturous applause and plenty of interactions with the assembled groups.. Mainly discussion over who the song was by. I've wondered if it might be an idea to hold a "pop quiz", to see if anyone can guess and maybe give away a prize to the person with the most answers.. Then again, maybe not.. Its not about pop quiz, but about performing the music. The bar person was most accomodating, supplying us with an ice bucket with some cider in.. which was most appreciated and rather sweet. Overall a really lovely gig was had there.<br />
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Things went a bit quiet over the Festive period, as is the way sometimes, so it just meant lots of time spent with family instead, which has its bonuses and has made up for the busier times of the year.<br />
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<b>Tuesday 31st December - New Years Eve - The Shroppie Fly</b><br />
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We'd initially approached The Shroppie Fly with a view to getting a gig in 2014, and were really stunned when Tracy asked if we could do New Years Eve!! Considering we'd not done a lot during December, we jumped at the chance.. New Years Eve is a kind of Golden gig date for a lot of people, and now, we had been asked if we could do it.. How could we refuse?? We didn't.<br />We rolled up there early, in order to set up before it got busy and were welcomed by the staff, who went out of their way to accomodate us. We knew we were in for the long haul, so with sets sorted we began the evening. The crowd in the Shroppie Fly were brilliant, such a delightful place to play... Lots of people singing along to the covers they knew, our original material well received and simply a really lovely, chilled night. During our breaks we received lots of very positive compliments, which is always nice to hear and is the main justification for doing it. Knowing that you can do something well really inspires confidence. We were slightly disconcerted at around 11.30, when the pub emptied... literally two or three people left.. then we overheard someone say something about the firework display.. We continued playing, and ended shy of midnight, when the firework display was in full swing, illuminating everywhere with greens, reds and bright whites. The chimes of Big Ben on the TV screen, Gary Barlow and friends singing Auld Lang Syne.... a perfect end to 2013 and a huge welcome to 2014.<br />
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What will 2014 bring for us??<br />Well, our resolutions are:<br />
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1) To bring you even more excellent music<br />
2) To bring you our CD.. all finished and ready to buy<br />
3) To play even more gigs than we did in 2013<br />
4) To just keep going from strength to strength<br />
5) To work on some more new music to bring you some excellent new and original material and some classic covers just to keep you on your toes.<br />
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Happy 2014 everyone.. Hope it brings you all that you wish for...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-86057865501025880522013-12-24T10:59:00.000-08:002013-12-24T10:59:20.180-08:00A sneaky peek...Especially for you for ChristmasWell, we know that its Christmas, and so especially for you, we've uploaded a track onto Audioboo.<br />
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The track from our forthcoming album is called "Boatswains Call" and is one that we've played here and there for a while now. Its a song that started out at around 8 minutes long, but we trimmed and chopped, shuffling things around and eventually settled on the version you'll find in the link.<br /><br />I won't go into a long story about it.. I shall let the song speak for itself...<br />
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Merry Christmas to everyone and peace and goodwill for 2014..<br /><br /><a href="https://audioboo.fm/boos/1816835-boatswain-s-call">Boatswain's Call</a><br />
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Enjoy<br />
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:-)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-61981125620570115112013-12-10T08:54:00.002-08:002013-12-10T08:54:54.899-08:00Its all been happening here.. well, almost. Hi folks..<br />
Time for another blog update (I hear a few groans at the back... ), now listen up here.. there's stuff to tell dontcha know..<br /><br /><b>Saturday 23rd November - The New Empire, Swadlincote</b><br />
Always set out with a keen sense of adventure, is something that could be said for Rain. We'll try our best never to pass up an opportunity to play, so when the opportunity came to play The New Empire, I thought, why not?? I thought, ooh, its close to Ashbourne... erm.. well, not really.. Its closer to Burton and therefore a bit of a trek to get there. Thankfully due to Graeme's keen map reading skills and ability to memorise said maps we successfully arrived in "Swad" (as its known locally). The New Empire used to be a cinema, and in that respect its quite a large venue, well, largish, with a nice stage area, lighting rig and the like. We set up our gear and looked somewhat lost on the stage, we had far too much space to play with.. Still it made a nice change. The venue itself is a rock/metal pub, though in the words of the bar staff "We just like music here, so just play and we'll enjoy it".. *gulp*.. With this in mind, we set to playing our first set, replete in the knowledge that the jukebox had been pumping out Metallica, Korn and Slipknot prior to our taking to the stage. Poor Graeme felt a little ill at ease.. How I looked at it, its a venue, if they want us, then great.. If they hate us, we'll soon find out. So we kicked in and did our first set... With only one round of whinging from one particuarly drunken individual. During our break we chatted to a fella who was an IT/Telecoms engineer (sorry fella, I forgot your name, think it was Martin.. Oh heck.. me and names..) who was very enthusiastic about our set of songs.. and he was looking forward to the second set... The rest of the room seemed nonplussed, well, it wasn't heaving, so the pool table saw more action.. During the second set, our more lively set, we were treated to several groups of people coming in, and the mood lifted.. Several ladies around one table astutely singing along.. which was really encouraging to hear. We finished off with our usual Who numbers to rapturous applause and lots of very positive comments from the assembled crowd..<br />
Overall then, not too bad a gig really.<br /><br />
The dreaded "lurgy" struck me then.. meaning we had to cancel a few events that we were hoping to take part in :-( There's no point in me singing when I'm wheezing, snotty, coughing and grotty, so some evenings have been postponed until new year.<br /><br />
<b>Thursday 5th December - Arthur's Table Showcase, The Glebe</b><br />
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I still wasn't feeling 100%, but because we'd been asked to do the showcase meaning it would only be a 30 minute set at most.. then I agreed to it.. Tried out a few "new" songs on the crowd.. which contained its usual motley crew, but with the addition of a friend who I'd not seen for around 20 years... who is a fellow musician.. It was rather pleasing knowing that I had completely blown his socks off.. as he'd never known I could sing. As always Arthur's Table is a stunning night, filled with amazing talent and well worth just going to and admiring the musical talent of Stoke on Trent.<br />
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<b>Sunday 8th December - Late Selector Christmas Open Mic, Nakatcha, Nantwich</b><br />
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So the Festivities have started.. Stevie P Abbott, DJ extrordinaire hosted the Late Selector Christmas Open Mic.. the proviso was to do a Christmas song.. sadly, the two songs we would have done, were chosen by other people.. and we couldn't be bothered to learn some more.. so we just played 3 new songs to the crowd.. It was a great evening though.. with some brilliant performances all round.. plus it all gets recorded and played on This is the Cat Radio on Thursday 12th December!! I was getting ready to go and I was asked by Scott D Thompson to do some backing vocals for him.. along with the eminently talented Hayley Strangelove.. we whooped and howled our way through Earth Song.. heaven knows what that's going to sound like.. Guess we'll find out on Thursday.<br /><br /><b>Monday 9th December</b><br />
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No gig.. but a chance to return to the studio to do some mixing of the tracks.. well 3 tracks to be precise, namely Goodwood (which we've been invited to put on a movie soundtrack!!.. which is enormously exciting news!!), Bosun's Call and Mary Go Round.. with my bed calling me, I voted to leave the studio and we've booked to go back in January, to get the rest of the tracks finished, mixed and hopefully mastered ready to get the cd's done!! Of course artwork and all that has to be considered, and we'll be employing the amazingly talented Jon Aldersea to do that, he's done some brilliant work down the years..so we know it'll be in good hands.<br />
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So, that's us up to date for now. More gigs and stuff coming up.. so watch this space.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-50255969839355098842013-11-21T08:29:00.000-08:002013-11-21T08:29:00.214-08:00Remember remember the 8th of November onwards...Well folks, never one to sit on my laurels, its about time I updated the blog again.. giving you a clue of what we've been up to.<br />
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<b>Friday 8th November</b><br />
We received a call from Viva Music, who very kindly offered us a last minute gig at The Longton and Meir British Legion club.. Not being our usual kind of venue, we thought, "why not?".. and duly set off. We were received with slight caution, as another band had been booked, but sadly couldn't make it, and we were the replacement. Of course, they were cautious, they had never had an acoustic night before.. Turns out we'd been asked to sort out an acoustic night.. So we waited for other folk to turn up.. and ended up doing our usual round of covers for the assembled crowd. What was quiet caution soon turned into warm applause.. With people asking if we knew various songs.. which was usually met with us saying, "we don't know that, but we do know this!"... Anyway, we did our bit and chatted to the assembled crowd after, who were very appreciative and grateful for a great evening of entertainment. Hopefully we'll get booked to play there again soon.<br />
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<b>Saturday 9th November </b><br />
We'd been booked for a few months to play at The White Lion in Penkhull, so were pleased when our chance to play came around. Its a fairly local venue for us to play, and we've seen a few people play there, so knew it would be good. Anyway we did our thing and received applause, and had a generally lovely evening, people came, people went.. as is the way with many pubs, rarely keeping a steady audience..anyway, its a great venue to play and after the locals all gave their positive support and looks like we'll be going back again..<br />
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<b>Friday 15th November</b><br />
Viva Music once again pulled out the stops and provided us with a gig at short notice, which is brilliant really and always welcome, espescially if we're not booked to play somewhere. Anyhoo, we were so chuffed, as we'd never played Sandbach before.. the evening was made more special by the turning up of our good friend Thomas Schultz, the amazing double bass player, who had a rare evening off and decided to join us, adding an extra dimension to our set! Immediately we were noticeably different, giving a fuller sound and a more "band like" output, made the gig something else really. One of the locals adopted us and spent the evening chewing my ear about The Stone Roses, music in general and spending Christmas alone.. which was rather sad, some people really go through it at this time of year and it was a timely reminder of how lucky some of us are that we have family and friends who we can depend upon to be around. Anyway, we had a new fan, which was lovely and made sure we acknowledged Martin when we wound up the set.<br />
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As always we have been busy learning new songs, adding in some absolute corkers into the set, which are an absolute joy to learn. OK, they're covers, but covers have their place and played well and interpreted in our way, makes them special, to us, at least.<br />I've had an hiatus from writing.. writers block, I suppose, but that seems to have let up and have managed to get another one written.. Graeme now has a backlog of around 15 songs to work through and make "our own"... its been such a challenge writing, but also great fun and somehow liberating.<br /><br />We had to cancel a gig on Tuesday 19th, due to my not being well.. even I succumb to illness from time to time, I'd much rather cancel a gig than sing it badly because I'm not well..Nothing worse for me than a chest infection/cold/manflu for really taking the wind out of my proverbial sails.. however I'll bounce back.. I always do and you'll be seeing Rain out and about again soon.<br />
<b><br /></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-18907612576696759492013-11-13T14:27:00.001-08:002013-11-21T11:24:23.948-08:00Baby Just Cares For Me - Rain - Nakatcha Live<br />
Check out our version of My Baby Just Cares for Me, recorded at Nakatcha in Nantwich for The Late Selector radio show.<br />
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Hope you enjoy it as much as we did performing it :-)</div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3lwruHq-KSY" width="560"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-66168012310504267002013-11-05T08:57:00.001-08:002013-11-05T08:57:55.798-08:00Beer Beer we want more Beer..Oh and nice things to eat.September and October have proved themselves to be quite a busy time in Rain-land.. Lets cut to the chase and get on with the gigs:<br />
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<b>Thursday 17th October - Stoke Beer Festival</b><br />
Invited to play a showcase at The 33rd CAMRA Beer Festival in Stoke on Trent, what a thoroughly enjoyable event to play..Neon Tiger promotions had organised the entertainment and invited ex- Spinner Hughie Jones down to entertain the crowds, then we, plus several other acts were to be his support.. A wide mix of acts occcupied the stage.. the lovely Nichola Jayne Chirnside kicked things off with her rather upbeat and funky set, such a young girl with such amazing talent, she deserves to go a long way, up next were Wenglish Urban Cowboys, delivering their usual mix of covers and some orginal songs in their own unique manner. then Hughie Jones came on and did a set of folk tunes.. the guy is amazing, in his 80's and he held the crowd in the palm of his hand. We were up next doing our usual brand of stuff, followed by the ever amazing Hayley Stranglelove.. who had to do the "Barley Mow" song with her jug of ale in hand... Its a Beer Festival.. of course you have to have a drinking song!! And she does it so well! Hughie then returned to the stage for a few singalong numbers with the crowd before the doors closed and we were all ushered out. I have to say I've not been to a proper CAMRA beer festival for a few years, and this time being allowed to play the Opening night was a priveledge.. we were given a card each with some "free" beer .. well in our case, cider and perry.. including the amusingly titled "Fanny's Bramble".. and some rather tasty Elderflower Perry. Overall it was good to see old friends from CAMRA, Lyn and her team of Ale Angels, plus Neon Tiger's Rich who managed to pull the sound off despite a few hitches initially... and deliver a really enjoyable evening all round.. Thanks to Sarah for recommending the perry's..(hic)<br />
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<b>Thursday 24th October - The Freebird Freehouse</b><br />
The Freebird, owned by the rather curmudgeonly Buff (and he'll happily admit to that too.. lol) wasn't our usual venue to play either.. so, we thought.. why not.. we were warned beforehand "Its club night, so the bikers will be in".. which was cool, being a bit of a rock/metal chick in my wild tempestuous youth, I just shrugged and said "no problem".. Well, what a night it ended up being in there. The bikers kept themselves to themselves, which is primarily their way, imho, and those that were in the bar throughly enjoyed our two sets.. we decided to liven up our set a bit anyway and take out some of the slower numbers.. instead throwing in "Queen Bitch" and the Who songs.. and we literally got people dancing!! Hurrah!! Chatting with the crowd after was lovely, so warm and welcoming and engaging, making new suggestions and praising our abilities.. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get my head out of the door!!! We made some new friends, which is always a bonus and even made Buff smile a few times... which was worth it. Definately enjoyed playing there. Oh the Freebird is a Freehouse.. and had some very nice ale on.. Ginger something or other.. which was a dark porter with a hint of ginger.. very nice it was too.<br /><br />
<b>Wednesday 30th October - Frank and Friends The Swan, Burslem</b><br />
Frank Cerioni is one of the really nice guys on the music scene. He writes whimsical songs, with a twist and delivers them in a style unique to him, which is refreshing. There's no posturing with Frank, just a genuine, honest love of music. Both he and Dee, his GF, were sporting matching colds, so much snuffling was going on during the evening, however undaunted we all trooped on. We'd been invited to do a showcase, and how could we refuse, with the promise of beer and shepherds pie..<br />We performed for around an hour, doing what we do best.. and coming off to applause and positive comments, which are always lovely to hear. Well, the evenings events took an interesting turn shortly after Dave took to the stage..another customer, decided to make it his business to get on everyone's nerves and started shouting abuse at people.. Luckily for us, Kay, the manageress, took things into her own hands and evicted the offender, leaving us to enjoy a now undisturbed night.. So Dave started playing, and I joined in on backing/harmonies, and we enjoyed a set, singing and harmonising into the night. This is definately a night to get to, Frank makes a very gracious host, and The Swan have beer offers on, plus the added bonus of a hot meal makes it well worthwhile a visit.<br />
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<b>Thursday 31st October - Arthur's Table - The Glebe, Stoke</b><br />
Considering we'd not been for a while, we figured it was time to pay a visit to Arthur's Table.. Hosted by the ever charitable Arthur Righteous. With it being Halloween, the theme was Rocky Horror.. so there were ghouls and ghosties abroad, the place swarming with Transylvanian party goers... However, always being ones to go against the crowd.. we went as ourselves.. only topped by Gaz Williams, who turned up as Dylan Moran in Black Books.. replete with dodgy hair (wig) and a "on phone" label stapled to his lapel. The pub was heaving, and it was also Jason and Sally's 3rd anniversary in the pub, which was worthy of celebrating in its own right. Everyone took turns to sing songs, some with a horror/Rocky Horror theme...the showcase was by Baxter, who turned up as Brad and Janet and did a marvellous rendition of "Dammit Janet".. worthy of a prize all by themselves. All in all a pretty usual night at The Glebe, loads of food available.. hot chilli and chips for everyone too.. Arthur's Table, just keeps going from strength to strength!<br />
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<b>Saturday 2nd November - Rode Hall Farmer's Market</b><br />
The delightful Rode Hall is set in the Cheshire countryside, close to the border with North Staffordshire and it plays host to a Farmer's Market on the first Saturday in the month. To say that Rode Hall is beautiful and its grounds stunning, is an understatement. Its a relic of bygone days, but is still a family home. To say that Rode Hall Farmer's Market is a small affair does not do it justice, its not that small, 2 barns hold the stalls, with a courtyard and path area holding stalls too, there's plenty to see and buy, from gifts to locally produced food, game and cakes. Playing there was a pleasure, despite the weather, which consisted of freezing breezes and eventually bucketloads of rain! Overall we played for 3 hours, with a couple of short breaks to grab a quick cuppa. After 20 minutes I couldn't feel my toes.. but carried on in the manner of a true professional. Each song bringing praise from the crowd with several singing along for good measure to the covers. Once the skies opened, we were half way through "Alone".. and decided enough was enough as all the equipment was getting soaked.. so we packed up in superquick time and then bought some scrummhy foods from the Farmer's market. The bread stall kindly gave us a bag of bread each, which contributed to lunch when we got back home. Definately one for the diary.<br />
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So, there you go.. gig diaries up to date.. wonder where we'll turn up next??<br />
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You'll just have to wait and see. :-)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-1786745180159198342013-10-27T11:43:00.001-07:002013-10-27T11:43:09.760-07:00Studio line.. studio timeYou know how it is, you plan and plan and then life gets in the way.. well that's how its been for us recently, we hadn't been in the studio for ages and thought about it. I (Sheena) decided that it would be wise to book in advance, as either the studio wasn't available, or the other people we wanted to work with were.. So after a few weeks of chasing people down, we managed to synchronise diaries and set a date for 26th October.<br /><br />Seeing as we were planning to put down a couple of tracks with Drums of Clogger, Rich, we needed to get him rehearsed up.. so we did that just before going into the studio. Considering that he'd never played the songs before he managed to come up with drum parts that were just the ticket in an incredibly short space of time.. so still warm from the rehearsal we all sidled off to Tremolo studios to pester Dan for a few hours.<br />A couple of run throughs and a couple of recordings and we had the basics of the tracks "Better View" and "Let's Go Out" down and Rich could go back home to his lovely wife.<br /><br />
Meanwhile we set to adding guitars and vocals, including harmonies and bass parts.. suddenly the tracks have developed in a way we wouldn't have thought of. Including changing chords to one of them to give it a different feel and return it to something like its original format. We left the studio, shattered and ready for bed!<br /><br />Anyway... we're getting closer to finishing the CD, which is what its all for!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-25371865748823669882013-10-07T11:45:00.001-07:002013-10-07T11:45:51.548-07:00Its been a long time coming....Its gonna be a long time gone...I know I know, I promised not to leave writing the blog too long and I've kind of gone back on my word somewhat... but that's what happens when you're a busy person! I'm only one (well, OK there's two of us in the duo, but only one doing the blogging!), so only have a finite amount of time on my hands, so, between looking at High Schools, rehearsing, writing and generally doing the day to day stuff.. I finally found a smidgen (my current favourite word) of time to dedicate to updating...so without further adieu I shall carry on where I left off last time.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Tuesday 17th September.</span></b></h4>
Well.. this day, well evening found us sloping off to Nantwich to appear on This is the Cat Radio, more specifically the Late Selector radio show. After navigating the country lanes (I lie.. the Bypass!) we found ourselves roaming around an estate of very nice buildings. "We're definately in the right place, its ..... House" (the name escapes me at present, no doubt I'll get reminded later). The car park was a tad deserted, which was worrying, so I suggested parking next to the Porsche Carerra, inferring that should anyone wish to steal a car, or break into one, they would be better off with the Porsche than Graeme's Fiat Panda. After texting our host and simply being told "Press the button".. we searched for light to find the said button. There's not a great deal of lighting on said car park... Anyway, cutting a long story short.. we gained access, then had to work out where we were going, taking the option of climbing as high as we could until we hit civilisation. Luckily we found our way to the studio, with literally minutes before we were due on air.<br />
The evening descended from there.... Fortunately not in a bad way, but in a rather hilarious, riotous, giggling chaos of a show, for which Steve is famous.. well, I say famous, certainly on This is the Cat Radio he is. We managed to play a few songs for good measure and equally descended into more hilarity. The whole experience was incredible. Steve put us completely at ease, enouraged Graeme not to swear.. which of course didn't last long, and played some incredible local music. Overall it was a brilliant night and one we hope to repeat soon.<br />
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Check out This is the Cat Radio at: <a href="http://thisisthecat.com/">http://thisisthecat.com</a><br /><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Saturday 21st September</span></h4>
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We received a call on Friday 20th September, "Can you do a gig for me? You'll be helping me out of a mess, if you do!". The call came from an agency, "What sort of stuff do you do?".. which was met with our stock response "A bit of our own stuff, a bit of this, a bit of that, some 70's singer/songwriter tunes and a few Who tracks".. "Great, I'll tell the pub you can do it".<br />I hasten to add, I'm not going to name the agency, nor the pub, as I presume it was a case of crossed wires... we're Rain Acoustic Duo from Stoke, otherwise known here and there as "Rain"... well, it turns out there's another duo called "Rain", well, they call themselves a duo, which is technically true, however, they utilise backing tracks, so they're technically a duo with a full band in a box. I can presume this is where the mishap may have started. </div>
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We arrived at the venue, pleased to have a gig booked, but felt rather uneasy after chatting to the manager and bar staff. However, not to cause a fuss, we set up and began playing.<br />We played a full usual 2 x 45 minute slots, but it felt much longer. The room was virtually empty (I blame Strictly and whatever current real-life become a celeb show is on TV on a Saturday night). The people that were there were hard to crack, we've all had crowds like that. Lets just say they were less than impressed with us and we were less than impressed with them. We were simply the wrong band for the venue. As we'd not booked it ourselves, I suppose we could gain some satisfaction from it. However, it was not anyone's fault, simply a misunderstanding. The agency thought they were booking another act, the pub were expecting another act and we were not it! Apparently someone who walked out said to the landlord "We came out to have a great night out, instead we had someone that would go down well at a funeral!". I hasten to add, we might go down well at some funerals, but equally we usually go down very well wherever we play. The landlord did apologise and so did we. To add insult to injury the agent turned up and apparently fell out with the landlord and his staff too, which wasn't good. We bid a hasty retreat and vowed never to return to that particular venue. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Wednesday 25th September</span></h4>
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After the previous weeks problems we decided to make ourselves feel better by going along to The Open Mic at The Nags Head in Crewe, one of our favourite venues and one of our favourite Open Mic nights. Run by Al Dean, a man who defies description, who is so generous to everyone who turns up. We found ourselves in a moderately quiet one, which made a change. Its a very intimate venue is the Nags, rather akin to playing in someone's lounge, but with a stage, lighting rig and full PA! We shared a stage with such greats on the scene as Rivers and Kelly, the utterly awesome Angus McTwangstick and someone called Sandy (who's name I've forgotten).. when she got up to perform, half the audience performed with her.. which meant she didn't play to as many as everyone else..But still a lovely mix of music, surrounded by cool people and the usual treat of a hot meal provided by the very lovely Jacqui. We do enjoy playing there, hopefully we'll be back there soon enough. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Saturday 28th September</span></h4>
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The Boughey Arms decided to have a a Beer Festival and we were called to provide the entertainment. Again The Boughey is another favourite venue to play, its a lovely place with lovely people and well worth the trek. The audience were so receptive, singing along to some of the newer songs in the set list and pleasantly surprised by a few, one table playing "Name that Tune".. but without Tom O'Connor. lol. (Showing my age, I know!) Once we did our thing we ended up chatting to one table and another, everyone fully appreciative of what we'd done and singing our praises, which was lovely to hear and I'm always humbled by. Turns out one of the couples at a table live in the house next door and thoroughly enjoyed our rendition of Pinball Wizard at the Acoustic event there, they were pleasantly surprised to find out that we were the "couple with the great guitar playing and beautiful singing voice" who had indeed played the Acoustic Festival. I remember thinking back to the Festival and there were two heads peeking over the wall. They commented that they were a little worried when the Festival was on this year as the previous year they'd been witness to another act,who, in their words "the noise was so bad, we had to close not just our patio doors, but the whole of the rest of the doors and windows to escape from the racket that the singer was making". I was saddened to hear that, as I always figured the Boughey were good with their music policy and they said "Normally we don't have any issues with it at all and enjoy live music, but that was just awful" It left me feeling heavy hearted as no-one should have to feel that they're cutting themself off from great music and The Boughey is usually very good at picking its acts to play. Maybe the act in question was having a bad day, maybe the sound wasn't quite right. Could be a million reasons. However the couple have a renewed faith in The Boughey after this years festival and after seeing us perform, so its all good. We made some other friends too, a great couple, the husband of which used to live around the corner from me when I was growing up. Ever a reminder that its a very small world we live in. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sunday 29th September</span></h4>
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Still full of enthusiasm and with a night off we decided to go along to Arthur's Table Open Mic at The Swan in Burslem. We also like the Swan, a beautiful pub, which is an incredibly stylish place, rather akin to a European cafe bar. Anyway, the night started great. The pub across the road had a karaoke night that descended into chaos.. no, worse than that, tables were thrown, chairs and stools were thrown, people were crying and shouting. The bar staff from The Swan went to the aid of some of the injured and the police arrived swiftly, arresting offending individuals and drawing the excitement to a sudden end. Oh well, life goes on, and so we played there, alongside Arthur, Gaz Williams, Frank Cerioni, Bill, and loads of others, a wonderful night.. made more special when we played "Won't Get Fooled Again".. at which point, during the opening bars, the place erupted. Fortunately it didn't erupt in the same way as the pub across the road, but people started bopping about and singing along.. always good when you know you've done something right.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Friday 4th October</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Back in the studio. Phew, we'd been meaning to get back in the studio for a while, but had put it off as we'd reached an impasse with the CD, we knew we wanted to do more, but were stuck on what to do with the songs we had. Then Graeme had a brain wave, "I want it to be an orchestral piece".. Seeing as we're rather lacking in the orchestra department, being only an acoustic duo, we only had one choice "Daaaaaan.... can you play us something for this track"... Dan, of Tremolo Studios is a truly unassuming guy, utterly brilliant behind the mixing desk and a true genius, "What? Oh, you mean something like this"... Dan placed his fingers on the keys, caressing them gently, he came up with exactly what we'd been looking for. Simply without the need for direction, he simply played a piece and it fitted beautifully. "Now do the same with violins".. which he did.. "Now, we want something else, not a trumpet.. no flute... so Oboe!!!!".. up he stepped once more and played a piece "Is that OK?" "OK???" chimed Graeme and I in unison, "its brilliant!!" However, I was sleepy and needed to get home to bed... we promised to return on Sunday.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sunday 6th October</span></h4>
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We returned as promised on Friday, to Tremolo studios with a view to finish off the track we started on Friday.. which we did. Adding in electric guitar, bass guitar, vocals, harmonies and a few bits of percussion.. It was starting to sound complete "Do you think we need drums on this?" asked Graeme, "I think its a bit late for drums now!" I replied "anyway, its sounding amazing as it is and we don't want to overegg the pudding". (which has become the stock phrase for the studio). We walked out with a rough demo to listen to in the coming weeks to see if there's anything else needed.. We'll do that with the other tracks too.. Only 2 more tracks to record and only when Drums of Clogger Rich Raizada is free to do it. We're in no rush to finish it, we've been working on it since February and rather than rush it in a weekend, with their only being two of us, we can't really rush it. We have to do a bit, step back from it, listen to it, then prod around in its internal organs until it becomes something else, something greater than the sum of its parts. Its been a great journey so far, it would be a shame to rush the rest of it. We've decided that February might be a good time to release it..By which time it should be finished!! :-) We hope! </div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-57682680329314806652013-09-17T01:48:00.003-07:002013-09-17T01:48:34.041-07:00Holidays in the Sun and the start of the Autumn cool downOnce more its been a while since I sat behind the laptop and wrote a blog for Rain.. I'm getting a bit slack in my old age (no jokes please!!).. Graeme and I took a few days well earned holiday in mid August, taking in the sights, smells and tastes of the Highlands of Scotland. Staying at the marvellous Glen Nevis, just at the foothills of Ben Nevis... I shall say no more other than I was utterly rendered speechless by the awesomeness of the place... anyway, without further adieu.. lets get onto Rain's news...<br />
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<b>Saturday 17th August, </b>fresh from our visit to Scotland saw us once more in Alsager, this time performing a set at The Farmers Market... The legendary Stath Kyrantonis rigged up the gear, and sorry to say the weather got the better of everyone, it was cool, breezy and most unlike the recent hot and sunny weather we'd been having.. However, undeterred we carried on and played to the various shoppers who stood, applauded and were incredibly appreciative. Was lovely to be back in Alsager, a couple of people recognised us from the recent Alsager Music Festival, which is encouraging... or is it?? :-)<br /><br />
We did our usual trick of being booked to do more than one event in a day, and undeterred by the cold windyness of it all, took ourselves off to the Freespirit Festival in Newcastle under Lyme.. a small gathering of like minded souls, apparently there had been workshops all day, but we'd not been able to get there earlier due to Alsager.. however we were made warmly welcome and managed to see a lovely set by Mel Ellis.. In fact I (Sheena) jumped up and added some harmonies to a couple of her songs.. which went down well.. What also went down well was the delightful fruit crumble that had been created that day by the people taking part.. it was divine, there was also vegan food samples, a tent which housed information and stuff to buy (recycled stuff rather akin to a car boot stall).. then were up. I neglected to mention that during Mel's set the heavens opened and it threw it down.. so the PA was quickly unplugged and we did our set acoustically.. received some lovely feedback from the crowd, some of whom had never seen us before, others who had only ever seen us "plugged in" as it were and were very positive about an unplugged Rain..<br />
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<b>Saturday 24th August </b>took us to Nantwich and The Leopard.. We'd been asked at short notice if we could fill in the slot, and us being us didn't refuse, we'd got a night off, so thought.. "why not?".. Anyway, it was quite quiet, for which the manager Steve, was apologetic.. However, we went down really well with those who were there. Bank Holiday weekends are hard to judge, places can either be heaving or quiet, we were told that there was an event on in Nantwich town, which most people had apparently gone to.. Oh well, it was a great place to play.. so much so we went back the following night ;-)<br />
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<b>Sunday 25th August </b>we returned to The Leopard in Nantwich for the very excellent Late Selector radio shows Open Mic night, where various acts turn up, do a spot and get recorded and videoed for the show. The place was packed and there were some amazing acts on... Just proving that music is for everyone and everyone received a great response from the crowd. We did our more up tempo songs.. and were persuaded by Steve Abbot to get back up and do Pinball Wizard.. joined on keyboards by the fabulous Markus Aurelianus (what a genius behind the black and whites!!) and Steve the landlord on Cahon... the crowd were shocked, stunned and then just let their hair down and joined in... A truly fabulous night, with new friends made and an invitation to go on the radio show as guests in September.<br />
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<b>Monday 26th August </b>took us to The Boughey Arms Acoustic Festival.. Flatbed truck and hay bales in place.. hog roast cooking away and some awesome music...plus gorgeous weather.. a reminder that it was still just about summer! We agreed to open the Festival, figuring that someone has to. It was nice to be back at The Boughey, its one of our favourite places.. the atmosphere is delightful, everyone friendly and just a lovely place to be. We were followed by the Boat Band, who delivered their usual Cajun inspired revelry and several other acts, including Slippery Hill Boys, The Mill, Providence Jug Band, Barrelhouse Jukes and many more.. all in all a lovely day.<br />
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<b>Saturday 31st August </b>meant only one thing.. Cloggerfest!!! Blythe Cricket Club was the venue for this amazing mini Festival.. with the sun shining and cricket being played, it was a rather English affair. The gurning competition was entered by many.. including us.. with me coming 3rd and Graeme not even being placed.. (how does that work??)... anyway it was riotously funny. The evening descended and the music began.. I can't remember the running order, but the music, as ever was awesome... Arthur Righteous, Gaz Williams Trio, Rain, Clair Brennan, Pickering White, Headsticks and headlining.. Sons of Clogger... there was dancing, singing and definately a festival atmosphere, it was lovely to be among our friends.. no agendas, no nastiness.. just everyone coming together to enjoy a good time.. Lets hope the do another one next year...<br />
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<b>Sunday 8th September </b>back over the border and into Derbyshire for the Wirksworth Arts Festival.. If you've never been to Wirksworth.. I encourage you to go... and if you've never been to the Arts Festival.. likewise.. the whole village is taken over by artists and musicians.. gallery's are set up in people' houses and people's gardens become live venues! We played there last year and thoroughly enjoyed it, and consequently jumped at the chance to play again. The first slot we played was at The Old Lock Up, which is now a bed and breakfast, but was once the local constabulary.. it has a nice stable block out the back, which had been converted into a mini beer Festival.. the area was dressed with hay bales and it gave it a definate vibe. A great place and we played to a full house! Received loads of compliments upon our finish and made some new friends.. which is always a bonus.. Our second slot was at The Stable Block, which is a courtyard performance area, and the acoustics are incredible.. lovely stone walls created a fantastic resonance chamber.. again positive feedback received.. definately went away glowing with pride.<br />
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<b>Tuesday 10th September</b> and we visited The Boughey Arms Open Mic.. if you've never been, then you simply must.. some of the best musicians in the area play there, its hosted by John Askey, who's a lovely fella, and I've been assured used to play bass for Sandy Shaw (back in the day)... One thing that sets this apart from a lot of other Open Mics is that its in a function room, away from the main body of the pub and the audience actually listen.. you can literally hear a pin drop when someone's playing.. which is encouraging..<br />
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Thats us up to date again.. I'll try and remember not to leave it too long until next time..<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235172989601079642.post-16858578005207054322013-08-05T09:30:00.001-07:002013-08-05T09:30:50.390-07:00Summer FunWell folks, its been a while since I sat down at the laptop and wrote the blog for Rain.. Its been all "go" here.. well, not so much "all go" as go a bit, stop a bit and reflect on what, where and how we go about things. Yes, we've had a few gigs.. all needing blogging about and working behind the scenes, writing new material and the like..<br /><br />Anyhoo, without further adieu...<br /><br /><b>Saturday 13th July</b>.. a blisteringly hot day and the everso brilliant Alsager Music Festival. we were billed to play at 6.45 on the Acoustic Stage, which was set in a lovely sunken garden, away from the main stage area. Was such a delightful event to play, lots of folks we knew were there, The Slippery Hill Boys, Rick Ford, Bitter and Twisted and Sugar Rush.. the hard work of the team who put together this wonderful event really paid off, the park area was packed, we received a healthy audience and went down well, which, is as ever encouraging, with lots of positive feedback... reckon we'd be hard pressed to not do it again...should there be another one.Its definately one to go for when the weather is right... such a great space and used to its best. We were interviewed by Red Shift Radio too, asking us what we thought of the day, and well, what could we say, other than amazing!! Big thanks to Stath and his team for pulling it off.. well done guys, you deserve a medal!<br />
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<b>Wednesday 17th July</b>...Saw us taking part in the Rubber Soul Session at The Old Brown Jug, supporting Hannah Robinson, a very talented young lady from Bournemouth.. who has definate star quality (Jools Holland's show next year, we reckon!), we also shared the stage with a young girl called Hollie.. overall a delightful session and big thanks to Rob form Rubber Soul Records for booking us and to Gaz Williams for providing the sound.. Its always a bonus when you get a good sound guy!<br />
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<b>Friday 26th July </b>took us to The London Road Tavern, once quite a venue, but more recently being known for its food.. however, the owners were keen to put some entertainment on.. so we played, doing our usual 2 and half our set.. including a bundle of Who songs, which went down a treat with the crowd!! Was lovely to see some old friends in the audience too.<br /><br /><b>Saturday 27th July</b> took us all over the place!! Firstly we played as part of Bidstock 13, a metal festival held in The Commercial Hotel, Wheelock, quite literally in the middle of nowhere! Well, in the village of Wheelock.. The Commercial Hotel was like stepping back in time, we played on the Snakey Jake Acoustic Stage following the utterly brilliant Hayley Strangelove. The Snakey Jake Acoustic stage was rather akin to playing in someone's living room.. old comfy sofas and chairs around the room, a welsh dresser against one wall.. very strange, but very lovely... We had a lovely crowd, who were very appreciative. Bidstock wasn't our usual kind of event, but never say never, there were some brilliant musicians there, who were undaunted by the rain and who had practically drunk the place dry!! Looking forward to working with the Bidstock team in the future too.<br />That evening, despite thunderstorms and driving rain, we managed to escape to Derby.. It had been a while since we'd supported The Longmen, and they invited us back for a long overdue visit. Well, we were in Bar One, which was entertaining a disco night when we arrived.. a short walk through to the beer garden revealed a covered oasis, with its own stage.. absolutely perfect for playing on.. with heated lighting, meaning it was toasty warm and dry, despite the thunderstorm overhead... Need to bring The Longmen to Stoke, as they are a cracking band.. sort of bluesy with a veritable Hugh Lloyd Langton on guitar in the shape of Ferrit! They really are a great bunch of guys and deserve to come this way soon.<br />
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<b>Sunday 4th August, </b>once more into Tremolo Studios to do some more work on the tracks we've recorded. This time joined by the mighty Kris Grainger.. who works magic on the fretless bass.. he's added the finishing touches to two tracks.. you don't realise what's missing from a song until you hear the final parts being added in, unfortunately we weren't able to stay there as long as we'd have liked, as its meant having to leave the rest of the songs too... We're unsure whether to add in any more songs, or whether to just leave it at 7.. The songs have begun to take on a life of their own, each having a depth and intricacy that we never imagined possible when we first went in. Heaven knows when the CD will be ready... Its looking likely that we may have to put the release date back again!! I hope not though!<br /><br />Right, that's it from us for now... As you know, we never rest on our laurels and have more things in the pipeline.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843799664893293801noreply@blogger.com0