I had been looking forward to this gig as our first 'club' gig in a long
while. SInce we got underway on the pub
circuit we had all been concerned at the lack of reaction to the band and questioned
whether the repertoire was right. We had looked at going more country, thought about more rock n roll, dipped into
ska and dabbled with more modern material from the 80s onward. I personally was
pushing the latter because I believe it keeps us versatile. Towards the end of
2013 I had sensed a touch of band friction and paranoia emerging as our
confidence was sapped by some of these gigs:
but we had also been hardened to deal calmly with lack of reaction - and
let's not lose sight of the fact that the main reason for playing pubs was to
season the band. In my opinion we had
largely achieved that aim and I thought we were now well enough organised with
50s 60s 70s focussed sets to have a good Saturday night at a British Legion (remembering
how Norwich BL was always a success for the Foot Tappers with a similar
repertoire).
Chris the drum arrived with wife Trudy about 6pm at my place just in time for a coffee prior to hitting the road. At 6:12 we set off in convoy to Chris the bass's house arriving there bang on time at 6:15. We were about a minute late on schedule as Chris the bass led the band convoy of me and Chris the drum for a trundle down the A14 to Ipswich. It was still dusk with an ominous, large moon hanging low in the sky as we arrived at Bramford at 6:45pm. Not much parking outside the venue, so Chris the drum and I ended up parking down the street, a fair walk back to the club. When we arrived at the door it was still closed so we had time to examine the band promo on the chalk board outside.
The club opened up at 6:55 and we started the physically demanding task of bringing the gear up the road, up the steps and all the way through the club to the to the stage at the back. A good sized stage beckoned for the 2 Bose set up. By the time we had it all in and set up we were all feeling a bit shaky from the exertion. The governor showed us a kitchen we could use for cases and changing = luxury!! He also pointed out the sound limiting system and that influenced my decision to set the PA a couple of dB below feedback and switch the Behringer DEQ 1024 graphic / limiter / gate to hard bypass - figuring 'less would be more' in the signal chain. It was a reasonable sized hall and quite absorbent, so I pushed up the vocal echo a little. We would be aiming for a quality hi fi sound at modest volume at this gig. The club had filled up quite well as we set up and it looked well over half full as we sound checked with a verse and chorus of "Smiling". All seemed well with a very clear on stage sound and the audience looking unperturbed by the band warm up!
Despite downing a lager I still felt a bit shaky from the exertion and we only had about 15 minutes before show time. Chris the drum, exercising his role as wardrobe mistress, told us to get into the white shirts and black waistcoats for the first set - while he wore his gold 'wedding' waistcoat!
We did a quick change into coloured T shirts and waistcoats for the next set and strode on manfully to open with a walk to "Apache" - it went down a bomb even though my feet were out of time most of the time! As this set progressed we were still going down the best we had ever with this band. However, the very clear on stage sound and the unexpected reception introduced some nervy edges to our performance. More missed words, some forgotten chords (suitably fluffed over), drum break errors and arrangements going awry e.g. I missed a whole section from "Hot Love" (band followed me though!). I know Chris the bass was making a few errors as well but they are hard to pinpoint being so deep. But none of these annoying foibles were fatal and we continued to sound good and keep the dancing going with a good mix of slowies, rock n roll, and 70's stuff. As usual we wrapped with "Wonder of You" and it got a great round of applause (even though I am still going for the easier low last line).
We changed into all white Ts in the break. The lady governess did the raffle and we heard her wish a happy birthday for a lady at the back. So when we resumed we opened with "Happy Birthday" and they all sang along! Opening with "Great Balls", we continued with a typical set 3; but I avoided the heavier songs with the exception of "All Right Now" which filled the floor and still didn't trip the sound meter. Pretty much everything we did went well and kept them dancing. Chris the bass called for "Achey Breakey Heart" at one point and I could see he had spotted a line dance vibe. 'Don't know the words' I said so I opened up with "Dance the Night Away" instead. I did muff the opening horn lines but kept to time and quite a few dancers enjoyed the song even if they didn't line dance it. After "Hey Baby" Chris the bass called for "Twist?". I set off into it but Chris the drum continued the rhythm to "Hey Baby" so we were all forced to fall in - a strange song mix that strangely kept folks dancing. But on the whole there were a lot less nervy errors in this set and continuity was good. As we came to the end I presented "Johnny B Goode" as our final number and, because we had been asked to finish no later than 11:30pm (for the neighbours) there would be no encores. So we used this to say good night and we all got big rounds of applause as I outroduced us. We got changed and we were definitely walking taller as we packed the gear up and interacted with well wishers. You only need a few gigs a year where you go down very well to keep your confidence up and this was the best reception by far we had had to date. For me it cements that we are an alright, approaching good band and confirms my suspicion that no matter how well we perform at some of the gigs we do we will never get any reaction and its not our fault. However, I am still of the view that we need to dig deeper to widen the repertoire to include numbers from the 80s 90s etc. These 'perfect' British Legion audiences for the 60's vibe band won't be around for much longer. After a long tear down and gear shift down the street, I was pleased to get in the car and take a relaxed motor home on a clear, but not too cold, night. Couldn't resist toast and cocoa when I got in though.
Chris the drum arrived with wife Trudy about 6pm at my place just in time for a coffee prior to hitting the road. At 6:12 we set off in convoy to Chris the bass's house arriving there bang on time at 6:15. We were about a minute late on schedule as Chris the bass led the band convoy of me and Chris the drum for a trundle down the A14 to Ipswich. It was still dusk with an ominous, large moon hanging low in the sky as we arrived at Bramford at 6:45pm. Not much parking outside the venue, so Chris the drum and I ended up parking down the street, a fair walk back to the club. When we arrived at the door it was still closed so we had time to examine the band promo on the chalk board outside.
The club opened up at 6:55 and we started the physically demanding task of bringing the gear up the road, up the steps and all the way through the club to the to the stage at the back. A good sized stage beckoned for the 2 Bose set up. By the time we had it all in and set up we were all feeling a bit shaky from the exertion. The governor showed us a kitchen we could use for cases and changing = luxury!! He also pointed out the sound limiting system and that influenced my decision to set the PA a couple of dB below feedback and switch the Behringer DEQ 1024 graphic / limiter / gate to hard bypass - figuring 'less would be more' in the signal chain. It was a reasonable sized hall and quite absorbent, so I pushed up the vocal echo a little. We would be aiming for a quality hi fi sound at modest volume at this gig. The club had filled up quite well as we set up and it looked well over half full as we sound checked with a verse and chorus of "Smiling". All seemed well with a very clear on stage sound and the audience looking unperturbed by the band warm up!
Despite downing a lager I still felt a bit shaky from the exertion and we only had about 15 minutes before show time. Chris the drum, exercising his role as wardrobe mistress, told us to get into the white shirts and black waistcoats for the first set - while he wore his gold 'wedding' waistcoat!
We got on stage and I was making final adjustments prior to go, when up
comes my business partner Marlon, his
missus Magda and also accompanied by Craig from work to say 'hello' - Marlon
had recently moved to Bramford and thought they'd come and see me perform at
the local beer house. Marlon has known that
I gig since we formed the company in 1996 but he had never had the opportunity
to see me in action before - a nice surprise for both of us! As it ticked over to 8:30 I lowered the
musak, Chris switched on the lights and
the lady governess announced: 'give a
friendly welcome to first timers at the club - ReTrio' and off we went into an uneventful
"Flingel Bunt". This was very well
received by our standards and I sensed we were in for a good night. I told the
crowd we were 'delighted to be there playing our brand of retro music' and then
we opened up with the first vocal: "Just One Look". I had been fiddling with the harmoniser sound
and at this gig the dry hall allowed us to hear the PA clearly. I was quite impressed actually and thought
the harmoniser on this was as good as I was likely to get it. Despite not warming up my voice I did a
pretty good job of the solo high line in the bridge and we got a really good
round of applause at the end. Sound
quality was good and levels were about right as we were only just clipping the
red on the sound meter. I did a bit of
quality bantering on Sunday night TV as a link into "Heartbeat" and
it was sufficiently clear that the audience got the joke and bantered back a
little. I counted us in a bit quicker than usual (more TV show pace) and off we
went, and this time we even got a few up and dancing (a rare sight for us over
the last few months!). Next was
"Smiling". I use a longer 450
mS vocal echo on this and with the very clear sound in the hall you could just
hear the final echo as a high quality ghost of the original. I was slightly distracted listening and mixed
up the words from the different verses a bit.
With the harmoniser and strings coming in on the "she gets her way
its true...." lines I thought it sounded real good and we got a very good
reception for it. We bantered into
"Groovy Kind of Love" as a romantic ballad and as we got underway the
floor filled with slow dancers - fantastic for us after all these months! We have little ritual of introducing each
band member with a song at this point.
Chris the drum does his "Ring of Fire" dedicated to a day
after curry the night before: and that Johnny Cash country sound went down exceedingly
well at this venue. Then Chris the bass
sings a bit more country with "Act Naturally", and he also got a real good round of applause
for it. He then announces me as one of
the Checkmates and we do "Wanna Make Those Eyes". This night I was astounded by the audience
singing along so lustily at this early stage in the show. "Blue
Suede" was up next. I took it a tad
faster than normal (maybe a little too much):
but it still got some rock'n'rollers up and dancing. After a bit of Merseybeat banter about the
river Gipping, we continued with "Ferry, 8 Days and Walk in the
Room". Next up was "Tambourine
Man". Earlier I had issued Chris
the drum with a tambourine specifically for this song, but with guidance to use
it as he saw fit to widen the percussion pallet generally - this would be its
first use! Actually it worked well and
apart from a momentary footwork glitch with the harmoniser we played it well -
and we got a good round of applause for it.
We continued with a fairly standard set with good reaction. Chris the bass gave the nod for last number
and, with things sounding so good, I elected to do "Nights in White
Satin". This was a good choice as
the dance floor quickly filled with romantics.
It is a demanding song vocally, but I had recently worked up a harmony
line with Chris the drum for the chorus.
Coupled with big echo, strings and harmoniser, it sounded very full and symphonic. I still have to vocalise the flute part in
the solo but I can't see a way round that.
As we brought it through the big ending,
I could see the sound meter red lights were on; but it didn't cut and we
got a really good round of applause for it. We had completed a very good
set. True there were some minor errors -
e.g. I had occasionally mixed up words and verses and Chris the drum had missed
or added the occasional break, but
nothing the audience would take issue with I think. I caught up with Marlon et al in the break
and they said it was awesome! They thought the sound was superb and my vocals
unexpectedly good (the only time Marlon had heard me sing prior to this was a
few carols one Christmas). I could see
they were genuine, as were some others who came over to say how much they
enjoyed the band. One of these well
wishers, Barry, turned out to be a
guitarist (a Telecaster toter) with 'The Houseshakers". He was very impressed and loved my guitar
sound. I explained how it runs through
both Bose (not recommended) and he said it had sounded great at all angles as he
moved round the room. Their band had
recently acquired a single L1 model 2 with B1s and a T1 with a view to using it
for PA and he was wondering how it would all work with a back line etc. I explained that we had had a bit of trouble,
at busier, medium sized pub gigs, getting enough volume out of a single system
and how we had successfully tried using a Line 6 2t to bridge the gap. Food for thought! He had taken a couple of pics in the set and
posted them on www.suffolkbandarchives.co.uk the next day.
We changed into all white Ts in the break. The lady governess did the raffle and we heard her wish a happy birthday for a lady at the back. So when we resumed we opened with "Happy Birthday" and they all sang along! Opening with "Great Balls", we continued with a typical set 3; but I avoided the heavier songs with the exception of "All Right Now" which filled the floor and still didn't trip the sound meter. Pretty much everything we did went well and kept them dancing. Chris the bass called for "Achey Breakey Heart" at one point and I could see he had spotted a line dance vibe. 'Don't know the words' I said so I opened up with "Dance the Night Away" instead. I did muff the opening horn lines but kept to time and quite a few dancers enjoyed the song even if they didn't line dance it. After "Hey Baby" Chris the bass called for "Twist?". I set off into it but Chris the drum continued the rhythm to "Hey Baby" so we were all forced to fall in - a strange song mix that strangely kept folks dancing. But on the whole there were a lot less nervy errors in this set and continuity was good. As we came to the end I presented "Johnny B Goode" as our final number and, because we had been asked to finish no later than 11:30pm (for the neighbours) there would be no encores. So we used this to say good night and we all got big rounds of applause as I outroduced us. We got changed and we were definitely walking taller as we packed the gear up and interacted with well wishers. You only need a few gigs a year where you go down very well to keep your confidence up and this was the best reception by far we had had to date. For me it cements that we are an alright, approaching good band and confirms my suspicion that no matter how well we perform at some of the gigs we do we will never get any reaction and its not our fault. However, I am still of the view that we need to dig deeper to widen the repertoire to include numbers from the 80s 90s etc. These 'perfect' British Legion audiences for the 60's vibe band won't be around for much longer. After a long tear down and gear shift down the street, I was pleased to get in the car and take a relaxed motor home on a clear, but not too cold, night. Couldn't resist toast and cocoa when I got in though.
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