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!
Here you will find out all about us, what we do, gig dates and general internet loveliness.
Sunday, 27 October 2013
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!
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Holidays in the Sun and the start of the Autumn cool down
Once 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...
Saturday 17th August, 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?? :-)
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..
Saturday 24th August 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 ;-)
Sunday 25th August 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.
Monday 26th August 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.
Saturday 31st August 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...
Sunday 8th September 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.
Tuesday 10th September 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..
Thats us up to date again.. I'll try and remember not to leave it too long until next time..
Saturday 17th August, 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?? :-)
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..
Saturday 24th August 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 ;-)
Sunday 25th August 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.
Monday 26th August 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.
Saturday 31st August 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...
Sunday 8th September 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.
Tuesday 10th September 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..
Thats us up to date again.. I'll try and remember not to leave it too long until next time..
Monday, 5 August 2013
Summer Fun
Well 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..
Anyhoo, without further adieu...
Saturday 13th July.. 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!
Wednesday 17th July...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!
Friday 26th July 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.
Saturday 27th July 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.
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.
Sunday 4th August, 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!
Right, that's it from us for now... As you know, we never rest on our laurels and have more things in the pipeline.
Anyhoo, without further adieu...
Saturday 13th July.. 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!
Wednesday 17th July...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!
Friday 26th July 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.
Saturday 27th July 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.
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.
Sunday 4th August, 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!
Right, that's it from us for now... As you know, we never rest on our laurels and have more things in the pipeline.
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Its oh so quiet.... Its oh so still... well not really.
Hi folks,
You may be wondering why we've not updated for a while.. well, its cos we've been busy doing stuff.
We should have played The Imp at Crewe on June 27th, but sadly Graeme had the lurgy, which prevented us from playing.. watch this space, or check out the gig guide page for details of where we're playing next! Hopefully we'll rebook for The Imp soon.
Saturday 29th June took us to The Bank Corner pub in Alsager for the Pre-gig warm up for Alsager Festival. What a great evening it turned out to be... starting with Maddy Storm, who plays a number of heartwarming songs in her own unique way proved to be an excellent opener, followed by us, we gave them a number of original and covers and went down brilliantly. Following us were the excellent Sea Based Turtles, who really brought the place to life, with their funk rock numbers. Leading the proceedings were the truly marvellous Sugar Rush who kept the venue dancing into the night with a splendid array of covers. Might I just add that Stath from Sugar Rush is one of the main organisers of the Alsager Festival and that he's a top bloke, along with Pete Weatherburn, who was taking photos for posterity.
It proved to be an excellent warm-up to the Festival, which starts on 13th July.. we'll be hitting the Acoustic Stage at 6.15pm!
Thursday 4th of July, and we made an appearance at Arthur's Table Open Mic night.. a truly fabulous night, with the cream of the talent in Stoke in attendance. We'd recently learned another couple of covers, and decided to play them to the ever appreciative audience.. Showcasing that evening were the veritable bastions of chapness "Sons of Clogger"..who delivered their usual rambunctiousness to the delighted crowd. They never fail to please and are gearing up for their upcoming CD official launch parties!
After this we took a well earned and deserved break to the south coast, just a couple of days to de-stress... well and for Graeme to acquire a new guitar.. which I have to admit is really rather nice and I'm looking forward to him airing it at the next gig.
So we'll hopefully catch you all at Alsager Music Festival on 13th July!
You may be wondering why we've not updated for a while.. well, its cos we've been busy doing stuff.
We should have played The Imp at Crewe on June 27th, but sadly Graeme had the lurgy, which prevented us from playing.. watch this space, or check out the gig guide page for details of where we're playing next! Hopefully we'll rebook for The Imp soon.
Saturday 29th June took us to The Bank Corner pub in Alsager for the Pre-gig warm up for Alsager Festival. What a great evening it turned out to be... starting with Maddy Storm, who plays a number of heartwarming songs in her own unique way proved to be an excellent opener, followed by us, we gave them a number of original and covers and went down brilliantly. Following us were the excellent Sea Based Turtles, who really brought the place to life, with their funk rock numbers. Leading the proceedings were the truly marvellous Sugar Rush who kept the venue dancing into the night with a splendid array of covers. Might I just add that Stath from Sugar Rush is one of the main organisers of the Alsager Festival and that he's a top bloke, along with Pete Weatherburn, who was taking photos for posterity.
It proved to be an excellent warm-up to the Festival, which starts on 13th July.. we'll be hitting the Acoustic Stage at 6.15pm!
Thursday 4th of July, and we made an appearance at Arthur's Table Open Mic night.. a truly fabulous night, with the cream of the talent in Stoke in attendance. We'd recently learned another couple of covers, and decided to play them to the ever appreciative audience.. Showcasing that evening were the veritable bastions of chapness "Sons of Clogger"..who delivered their usual rambunctiousness to the delighted crowd. They never fail to please and are gearing up for their upcoming CD official launch parties!
After this we took a well earned and deserved break to the south coast, just a couple of days to de-stress... well and for Graeme to acquire a new guitar.. which I have to admit is really rather nice and I'm looking forward to him airing it at the next gig.
So we'll hopefully catch you all at Alsager Music Festival on 13th July!
Monday, 24 June 2013
Its Studio Time!!
Crikey, doesn't time fly, there we were doing loads of gigs, suddenly we found ourselves with a bit more time on our hands! So, rather than waste it, it was time to go back to Tremolo Studios and set to work on trying to finish off the tracks we'd started.
Saturday 22nd June, there we sat with Dan mulling over recordings and deciding over what we should do next to the tracks we'd already put down. So, Graeme set to work putting bass lines down on a couple of the songs and adding some extra twangy guitars to Alone. The main job of the evening was to lay basslines, guitars and vocals on Mary Go Round, one of our newer songs. Surprisingly it all went smoothly, overlaying guitars and vocals, harmonies, etc and weaving what started out as quite a plain sounding track into something rather beautiful. In 3 hours we'd completed work on 2 other songs and pretty much completed Mary Go Round.
Sunday 23rd June, Back into Tremolo, despite thinking we wouldn't get back for a couple of weeks.. More basslines completed, so there's only 2 songs requiring the skillful dexterity of Kris Grainger and his amazing fretless bass.. Not saying that Graeme isn't skillful, or dexterous, because he is, but in a different way, plus one more requiring a banjo part, which is yet to be written!
The idea of using other musicians on the tracks, not only means that someone else gets some credit somewhere, but that we like organic instruments. Synths and the like have their place in the music scene, just for us, this time around, we decided on an organic approach, and when you have such talent around Stoke, why waste it?? Why not put it to good use. So where we can, we've allowed the other musicians free reign to construct a piece of music to fit into the songs, allowing them to shine as brightly as us. Plus, it helps them too, they can say "Hey I've played on such and such".. Not saying that we'll become millionaire's off it, but you never know.. stranger things have happened, what's more likely, is that they'll become famous and we'll end up saying "Hey, they played on our CD"..
Its all coming together nicely, and hopefully the finished product will be ready very very soon.
Saturday 22nd June, there we sat with Dan mulling over recordings and deciding over what we should do next to the tracks we'd already put down. So, Graeme set to work putting bass lines down on a couple of the songs and adding some extra twangy guitars to Alone. The main job of the evening was to lay basslines, guitars and vocals on Mary Go Round, one of our newer songs. Surprisingly it all went smoothly, overlaying guitars and vocals, harmonies, etc and weaving what started out as quite a plain sounding track into something rather beautiful. In 3 hours we'd completed work on 2 other songs and pretty much completed Mary Go Round.
Sunday 23rd June, Back into Tremolo, despite thinking we wouldn't get back for a couple of weeks.. More basslines completed, so there's only 2 songs requiring the skillful dexterity of Kris Grainger and his amazing fretless bass.. Not saying that Graeme isn't skillful, or dexterous, because he is, but in a different way, plus one more requiring a banjo part, which is yet to be written!
The idea of using other musicians on the tracks, not only means that someone else gets some credit somewhere, but that we like organic instruments. Synths and the like have their place in the music scene, just for us, this time around, we decided on an organic approach, and when you have such talent around Stoke, why waste it?? Why not put it to good use. So where we can, we've allowed the other musicians free reign to construct a piece of music to fit into the songs, allowing them to shine as brightly as us. Plus, it helps them too, they can say "Hey I've played on such and such".. Not saying that we'll become millionaire's off it, but you never know.. stranger things have happened, what's more likely, is that they'll become famous and we'll end up saying "Hey, they played on our CD"..
Its all coming together nicely, and hopefully the finished product will be ready very very soon.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
London Road Festival weekend and studio times.
So, the time of year was upon us, London Road Festival weekend, we'd played there last year on the main stage and were looking forward to playing again... anyway, here's the weekend, broken down into bitesize pieces :-)
Saturday 8th June, we decided it was time to return to Tremolo Studios and do some more work on the tracks for the CD. It had been some weeks (11 to be precise) since we'd had enough free time to book a spot and do some work, such are the joys of gigging regularly! Still, can't complain, as its what we love to do. Anyway, back to the studio. Basically we were going back to overdub on the tracks that we'd laid the bare bones down to and to add in extra bits to some that needed it. Also in attendance was Katharine Luff, a rather talented brass player who had written some parts for one of the songs, all I'll say is we had given her the song and the remit "mariachi style please" and as before, she delivered, bringing life to a piece that we would have struggled with otherwise. The song "Falling" has a kind of Spanish/Spaghetti Western feel to it, rather like "Alone Again Or"..or something in that vein.. for those of you that have heard us play it live, maybe you can hear it too, or maybe not?? Anyway, its sounding really rather good, just some final touches and it'll be complete.
What I like about being in the studio, is the being able to break a song down into its component parts, and then glueing them back together, adding in flourishes, touches, depth and colour, where there was none before. The beauty of being in a duo is that, yes it can be as simple as just us two, guitar and vocals, or as complex as we like. We're adding in so much at the moment, we know that at some point during the editing stage we'll have to start taking away too.
We also worked on "That Brief Encounter", Graeme adding in Spanish guitar (some very nice pieces, if I say so myself) and the vocals..including some nice harmonies. So the newer tracks are beginning to take shape.
Another few sessions in the studio and we should be done with the CD.. but don't hold your breath anytime soon.. I know we keep saying we'll get it done, first it was May, then June.. now we're thinking September.. But we'll see. We need to record a couple more tracks for it and work on them, finish off the ones that we already have and then set about mixing them.. so who knows, maybe it'll be ready by Christmas!!
Sunday 9th June, Wow.. London Road Festival. There had been a few mix-ups with this festival initially. We'd said from the get go that we were interested in playing the main stage again, seeing as we did it last year and were looking forward to going back and initially we weren't booked to do that, nor were we booked to play in any of the pubs, then within a few days before, we were asked, could we play The Oak Tree and then 2 days before.. could we play the main stage. Being us, we said yes!
On the main stage we decided to try something a bit different. Graeme, who was trying out his friend Raj's Rickenbacker 330 (it needed fixing and Graeme fixed it so needed to try it out) and me.. with hair extensions in, did a couple of our numbers, followed by The Who's "1921" and "Pinball Wizard", which went down well with the crowd, following with "Northern Lights" and ending our set with the usual "Je Ne Regrette Rien"... The assembled crowd were incredibly receptive and even in the hot sun saw to give us tumultuous applause. The newly eletrified Rain had arrived :-). We were sandwiched between The Jake Leg Jug Blues Band and The Legendry Lonnie Band, so knew we had to pull off something different to make an impact. If the sight of me in my hair extensions wasn't enough, Graeme was even wearing shorts.. :-O
Later that day, well 7pm to be precise, we set up to play The Oak Tree, however the poor landlord was feeling a bit down, he had put on a craft fair during the day as part of the Festival, but sadly no-one had come to it.. we played for about 40 minutes and he said "Look guys, lets call it a day".. so we summarily packed up. We played well to the few folk, who were stall holders for the craft fair, that they were supportive, but we were flogging a dead horse and we knew it. Not one person put their foot through the door, which was such a pity, as The Oak Tree is rather a nice pub inside.. recently having been refurbished and looking quite contemporary now. Once packed we said our goodbyes and rather than go home discouraged took ourselves off to The Swan in Burslem for Arthur's Table Open Mic. Where we stayed for a while, listened to the delights of Arthur, Tony Roberts, Trent Vale Poet and some guy called Keith (I think, terrible memory for names!) and then played a few songs for the crowd. It was a pretty good end to a pretty busy day.
While this weekend has had ups and downs, I would say the ups have definately out weighed the downs an its all a learning curve, eh?
Anyway, we'll get back to you with more news as and when we have some..
Saturday 8th June, we decided it was time to return to Tremolo Studios and do some more work on the tracks for the CD. It had been some weeks (11 to be precise) since we'd had enough free time to book a spot and do some work, such are the joys of gigging regularly! Still, can't complain, as its what we love to do. Anyway, back to the studio. Basically we were going back to overdub on the tracks that we'd laid the bare bones down to and to add in extra bits to some that needed it. Also in attendance was Katharine Luff, a rather talented brass player who had written some parts for one of the songs, all I'll say is we had given her the song and the remit "mariachi style please" and as before, she delivered, bringing life to a piece that we would have struggled with otherwise. The song "Falling" has a kind of Spanish/Spaghetti Western feel to it, rather like "Alone Again Or"..or something in that vein.. for those of you that have heard us play it live, maybe you can hear it too, or maybe not?? Anyway, its sounding really rather good, just some final touches and it'll be complete.
What I like about being in the studio, is the being able to break a song down into its component parts, and then glueing them back together, adding in flourishes, touches, depth and colour, where there was none before. The beauty of being in a duo is that, yes it can be as simple as just us two, guitar and vocals, or as complex as we like. We're adding in so much at the moment, we know that at some point during the editing stage we'll have to start taking away too.
We also worked on "That Brief Encounter", Graeme adding in Spanish guitar (some very nice pieces, if I say so myself) and the vocals..including some nice harmonies. So the newer tracks are beginning to take shape.
Another few sessions in the studio and we should be done with the CD.. but don't hold your breath anytime soon.. I know we keep saying we'll get it done, first it was May, then June.. now we're thinking September.. But we'll see. We need to record a couple more tracks for it and work on them, finish off the ones that we already have and then set about mixing them.. so who knows, maybe it'll be ready by Christmas!!
Sunday 9th June, Wow.. London Road Festival. There had been a few mix-ups with this festival initially. We'd said from the get go that we were interested in playing the main stage again, seeing as we did it last year and were looking forward to going back and initially we weren't booked to do that, nor were we booked to play in any of the pubs, then within a few days before, we were asked, could we play The Oak Tree and then 2 days before.. could we play the main stage. Being us, we said yes!
On the main stage we decided to try something a bit different. Graeme, who was trying out his friend Raj's Rickenbacker 330 (it needed fixing and Graeme fixed it so needed to try it out) and me.. with hair extensions in, did a couple of our numbers, followed by The Who's "1921" and "Pinball Wizard", which went down well with the crowd, following with "Northern Lights" and ending our set with the usual "Je Ne Regrette Rien"... The assembled crowd were incredibly receptive and even in the hot sun saw to give us tumultuous applause. The newly eletrified Rain had arrived :-). We were sandwiched between The Jake Leg Jug Blues Band and The Legendry Lonnie Band, so knew we had to pull off something different to make an impact. If the sight of me in my hair extensions wasn't enough, Graeme was even wearing shorts.. :-O
Later that day, well 7pm to be precise, we set up to play The Oak Tree, however the poor landlord was feeling a bit down, he had put on a craft fair during the day as part of the Festival, but sadly no-one had come to it.. we played for about 40 minutes and he said "Look guys, lets call it a day".. so we summarily packed up. We played well to the few folk, who were stall holders for the craft fair, that they were supportive, but we were flogging a dead horse and we knew it. Not one person put their foot through the door, which was such a pity, as The Oak Tree is rather a nice pub inside.. recently having been refurbished and looking quite contemporary now. Once packed we said our goodbyes and rather than go home discouraged took ourselves off to The Swan in Burslem for Arthur's Table Open Mic. Where we stayed for a while, listened to the delights of Arthur, Tony Roberts, Trent Vale Poet and some guy called Keith (I think, terrible memory for names!) and then played a few songs for the crowd. It was a pretty good end to a pretty busy day.
While this weekend has had ups and downs, I would say the ups have definately out weighed the downs an its all a learning curve, eh?
Anyway, we'll get back to you with more news as and when we have some..
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