We set off for the annual Checkmates re-union gig weekend at 11:45 am on a typical dry Autumn day. I was keen to get round the M25 before 4pm to avoid being stuck in a Friday afternoon jam, but I planned to make a few stops to walk out the sciatica en route. First stop Birchanger services near Stansted. A worn out road surface leading into a jam packed car park almost made me head immediately for the exit - but it was already jammed with people trying to leave! The reason we were travelling on the Friday was because with a week to go, Raye rang up to say he had taken an extra gig at Hassocks British Legion on the Friday night. Ms J and I thought it too much to spring it on the friends we were staying with that we needed to stay an extra night at short notice. So we booked a room at the Hickstead Hotel near the gig where I aimed to have an hour or two resting before set up. After a brief walk round the services we set off again - heading West round the M25 to avoid the tolls, a predictable source of jammed up traffic on a Friday. I decided to skip the next services at South Mimms because that also is difficult to get into and we carried on round the M25 to the new services at Cobham where we stopped for a Kentucky chicken meal and coffee. These services are new; and easy to access and park so we returned to the journey in good humour expecting a quick run down the M23 towards Brighton. But hopes were soon dashed as we joined a tailback off the M25 into a 30 minute queue to get onto the M23 proper. Major road works! After that delay we had a fast run past Gatwick and onto the improved A23 towards Hickstead pulling up at the hotel at just after 4pm - so not too bad in the end. It was a stormy early evening with plenty of thunder about and Jacqui decided to come with me to the gig for set up; so we set off at 5:45pm getting to the Legion car park at just after 6pm to find Raye and Graham already parked waiting for the place to open. I had just got parked when Barry the barman came over to open up - we started our load in. Not too bad here just have to watch out for 'elf n safety' issues in the back yard. Actually set up didn't take too long and we were able to run through a few numbers before people started coming in. We ran through 3 special songs Raye had requested. "Brand New Cadillac" by Vince Taylor from his 2 i's coffee bar days, "Sea Cruise" by Frankie Ford (that I had elected to sing) and "Reelin and a Rockin" another number Raye did in his Soho days. I was surprised how well these went - particularly "Cadillac" which we really caught the pre-Beatles British Rock vibe with.
Janice and Val (the other wives) arrived about 7:30pm and some other folks drifted in, including Harvey Smith our long time supporter at this club. But the club room was only about 70% full by show time.
We got changed into our green shirts and appeared a few minutes late to open up the show with "Eyes". Good sound - a bit dry though so I pushed the FX return up, then good applause at our false ending. The first few numbers proceeded on OK - a few errors here and there but nothing fatal! I thought Raye was more on the ball than the previous year and he was playing a bit louder. I had held the rest of the band levels down so we had a good overall balance. After "Walk Right Back" we did "Brand New Cadillac". For a first time performance this was good and we all enjoyed playing it. Despite learning the solo like the record, I couldn't quite remember it on the night and I ended up modernising it subtly; and considering the audience probably didn't know it at all, it went down well with the crowd. A couple more numbers on we arrived at "Smiling". Graham knew I was doing this with ReTrio and kindly offered me the lead vocal on it. It suited me because I could go on auto-pilot a bit more so off we went. Raye pushed it along a tad faster than I am used to, and it may have come across as a bit hurried; but it was well received by the crowd. I announced it retrospectively as one Raye played with Jimmy Justice and the ExCheckers in 1962 pushing it up the charts to number 2 (I wasn't sure if this is true and I since found it was number 9 in March 1962). Then it was rock n roll business as usual through to the end of the set with "Wipe Out" - always a great finisher with the Checkmates.
We were disappointed with the attendance. One of the reasons people may have stayed in was a massive storm over the area. We found out later most of the power had gone off in Hassocks but the British Legion was spared! We started set 2 with our usual rendition of the Checkmates Hits which the audience listened to politely. This included "Never Know What You're Missing and Counting Teardrops" which are less ingrained in our psyche and harder work to remember. We got through OK but Graham and I made mental notes to re-visit before the next outing! Raye forgot the beginning to "Them There Eyes" but somehow we got underway on the restart without anyone noticing! After a few more standard songs from our set we finished with "Drums". A bit ragged here and there, but it was interesting to see the house lights dim and Raye bashing out a rhythm on the floor tom out front with a pair of those sticks that light up! A great reception as usual.
We agreed to stay in the green shirts because, by the start of set 3, a few had left. We tended to go through the motions in this set. Second number in we came to "Reelin and a Rockin" one of the new ones. Graham had asked me to hold the D rather than drop to the C as per a usual 12 bar in G. I remembered it most of the time I think. After a very well received "Saw her Standin There" we came to another new song "Sea Cruise". Raye started with the bells on the bell of his ride cymbal; I brought in strings on a low E to simulate a ships horn. As I start the riff in A, Raye shouts 'All Aboard' and then we are into the sax riff to open the song. In that sense it was similar to the Frankie Ford record - we did it faster though. I did quite enjoy doing it but had trouble remembering the words; however, Graham and I had the 'oooh ee baby' harmonies spot on - just loved doing those and they are so catchy. Jacqui said later it was stuck in her head as an ear worm for a couple of days. The 25 or so folk that were left by 11:30 kept us encoring with "Eyes" and my choice of "Hound Dog" to finish a mostly satisfying performance by the band.
Raye received some welcome assistance in pack up and we were soon loaded and ready for off. I had to be guided out of a tight spot in the car park, but soon Jacqui and I were on our way to the hotel. Slept well and long after a busy day and the took our time over an excellent breakfast before driving up to Haywards Heath. We called in Tesco on the way and Jacqui suggested we had enough time to spend an hour at the Bluebell Railway before we were due at Jenny and Miles for lunch - so we did!
The long suffering wives!
We were disappointed with the attendance. One of the reasons people may have stayed in was a massive storm over the area. We found out later most of the power had gone off in Hassocks but the British Legion was spared! We started set 2 with our usual rendition of the Checkmates Hits which the audience listened to politely. This included "Never Know What You're Missing and Counting Teardrops" which are less ingrained in our psyche and harder work to remember. We got through OK but Graham and I made mental notes to re-visit before the next outing! Raye forgot the beginning to "Them There Eyes" but somehow we got underway on the restart without anyone noticing! After a few more standard songs from our set we finished with "Drums". A bit ragged here and there, but it was interesting to see the house lights dim and Raye bashing out a rhythm on the floor tom out front with a pair of those sticks that light up! A great reception as usual.
We agreed to stay in the green shirts because, by the start of set 3, a few had left. We tended to go through the motions in this set. Second number in we came to "Reelin and a Rockin" one of the new ones. Graham had asked me to hold the D rather than drop to the C as per a usual 12 bar in G. I remembered it most of the time I think. After a very well received "Saw her Standin There" we came to another new song "Sea Cruise". Raye started with the bells on the bell of his ride cymbal; I brought in strings on a low E to simulate a ships horn. As I start the riff in A, Raye shouts 'All Aboard' and then we are into the sax riff to open the song. In that sense it was similar to the Frankie Ford record - we did it faster though. I did quite enjoy doing it but had trouble remembering the words; however, Graham and I had the 'oooh ee baby' harmonies spot on - just loved doing those and they are so catchy. Jacqui said later it was stuck in her head as an ear worm for a couple of days. The 25 or so folk that were left by 11:30 kept us encoring with "Eyes" and my choice of "Hound Dog" to finish a mostly satisfying performance by the band.
Raye received some welcome assistance in pack up and we were soon loaded and ready for off. I had to be guided out of a tight spot in the car park, but soon Jacqui and I were on our way to the hotel. Slept well and long after a busy day and the took our time over an excellent breakfast before driving up to Haywards Heath. We called in Tesco on the way and Jacqui suggested we had enough time to spend an hour at the Bluebell Railway before we were due at Jenny and Miles for lunch - so we did!
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