Well, we know that its Christmas, and so especially for you, we've uploaded a track onto Audioboo.
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.
I won't go into a long story about it.. I shall let the song speak for itself...
Merry Christmas to everyone and peace and goodwill for 2014..
Boatswain's Call
Enjoy
:-)
Here you will find out all about us, what we do, gig dates and general internet loveliness.
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Its all been happening here.. well, almost.
Hi folks..
Time for another blog update (I hear a few groans at the back... ), now listen up here.. there's stuff to tell dontcha know..
Saturday 23rd November - The New Empire, Swadlincote
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..
Overall then, not too bad a gig really.
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.
Thursday 5th December - Arthur's Table Showcase, The Glebe
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.
Sunday 8th December - Late Selector Christmas Open Mic, Nakatcha, Nantwich
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.
Monday 9th December
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.
So, that's us up to date for now. More gigs and stuff coming up.. so watch this space.
Time for another blog update (I hear a few groans at the back... ), now listen up here.. there's stuff to tell dontcha know..
Saturday 23rd November - The New Empire, Swadlincote
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..
Overall then, not too bad a gig really.
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.
Thursday 5th December - Arthur's Table Showcase, The Glebe
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.
Sunday 8th December - Late Selector Christmas Open Mic, Nakatcha, Nantwich
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.
Monday 9th December
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.
So, that's us up to date for now. More gigs and stuff coming up.. so watch this space.
Thursday, 21 November 2013
Remember 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.
Friday 8th November
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.
Saturday 9th November
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..
Friday 15th November
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.
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.
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.
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.
Friday 8th November
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.
Saturday 9th November
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..
Friday 15th November
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Baby Just Cares For Me - Rain - Nakatcha Live
Check out our version of My Baby Just Cares for Me, recorded at Nakatcha in Nantwich for The Late Selector radio show.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did performing it :-)
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
Beer 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:
Thursday 17th October - Stoke Beer Festival
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)
Thursday 24th October - The Freebird Freehouse
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.
Wednesday 30th October - Frank and Friends The Swan, Burslem
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..
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.
Thursday 31st October - Arthur's Table - The Glebe, Stoke
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!
Saturday 2nd November - Rode Hall Farmer's Market
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.
So, there you go.. gig diaries up to date.. wonder where we'll turn up next??
You'll just have to wait and see. :-)
Thursday 17th October - Stoke Beer Festival
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)
Thursday 24th October - The Freebird Freehouse
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.
Wednesday 30th October - Frank and Friends The Swan, Burslem
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..
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.
Thursday 31st October - Arthur's Table - The Glebe, Stoke
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!
Saturday 2nd November - Rode Hall Farmer's Market
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.
So, there you go.. gig diaries up to date.. wonder where we'll turn up next??
You'll just have to wait and see. :-)
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Studio line.. studio time
You 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.
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.
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.
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!
Anyway... we're getting closer to finishing the CD, which is what its all for!
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.
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.
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!
Anyway... we're getting closer to finishing the CD, which is what its all for!
Monday, 7 October 2013
Its 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.
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.
Check out This is the Cat Radio at: http://thisisthecat.com
Tuesday 17th September.
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.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.
Check out This is the Cat Radio at: http://thisisthecat.com
Saturday 21st September
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday 25th September
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.
Saturday 28th September
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.
Sunday 29th September
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.
Friday 4th October
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.
Sunday 6th October
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!
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