Chris had booked the band for this do several months previous. Now the band was in a state of flux we agreed it was a good place to debut Paul Kent. Also, we had worked up a few songs for Lewis (Bridget's son) to sing on the night - so it would not be business as usual. We agreed a play list which would start quiet with just ReTrio then after food we would bring on Lewis to do his bit and Paul debuting towards the end of that set to close it off. The final set we would start with ReTrio, bring on Paul to do a dancey half an hour and fit in a reprise for Lewis on a couple of songs. Got that sorted when, sadly, my mother passed away on the 3rd March and I was run ragged sorting things out over the next week or so. I was well out of practice and fitness by the 14th.
Come the day we had my adopted son Phil and family staying over and they would bring Jacqui over at 8 ish whilst I got on with set up and sound check in the afternoon. I met up with Chris and Ian at the club about 1:30pm and we loaded in and set up. I set up my 'old' Audix OM5 for Lewis and Paul; and Ian borrowed an SM58 and stand from me so he could join in. We didn't do a sound check as such, just made sure all was working. Then we retreated home for the afternoon returning to the venue at 6:30pm to do a sound check and final rehearsal with Lewis. There seemed to be a dodgy lead into the OM5 so we replaced that. It seemed OK and we had good headroom for Lewis to try out a few of his songs. I ran through "Smiling" to make sure synth and harmoniser worked. Guests started arriving from 7:30pm and we were all clear by then. Paul had been driving back from Barcelona but he arrived in fair shape and we had chance to brief him about a few things. He agreed best to use the OM5 we set up for Lewis. We got changed in the golf dressing room; Chris suggested we have loose white ties with the black shirts and I lent Ian my spare. The room filled quickly and Chris, Ian and I took to the stage as a trio to start proceedings with a 30 minute easy listening / country set. "FBI - Heartbeat - Smiling" all sounded fine to me, but my voice felt tired from the off so I was glad I wouldn't be doing the whole night. Jacqui and family arrived as we embarked on some rock'n'roll and they brought grandson Ethan up towards the playing zone to see his old Grunkle Mog at work - I nodded him a wink as I hit the solo for "Rock Around the Clock"! Audience reaction was a bit muted - but we were merely the background for meet and greet so I wasn't bothered. We did a bit of country with "Act Naturally and Folsom Prison" and then ran "Albatross" as a slowey. No dancers as such but this was actually received quite well. I was making the occasional error on guitar but nothing too noticeable out front (I hope). I had asked Chris to run the show as the 'do-meister' for the night and he called for "Penny Arcade" to finish. That went quite well, my voice had loosened up a bit and Ian is easy to play with on this changing rhythm song. I thought we did OK.
After a long break for food and circulation, we resumed with "Apache". No walk tonight. I was listening so much to Ian who was playing nice little touches as per the record that I didn't spot I had set the wrong guitar sound: short echo rather than long - doh! After a well received "Tambourine Man - Daydream Believer" we carried straight on into "Sweet Caroline". I nearly made it 'Sweet Bridget', but it didn't scan too well.
There was a natural break after this whilst Chris introduced Lewis to sing some songs for his mum - aaah. We opened this little spot with "Dream Lover". He sang it well. We were a little mixed up arrangement wise where the run downs came and went and whether some of the harmonies should have been aaahs or words; but overall it went well and he got a very good response. He carried on with a creditable version of the "Green Grass of Home" and then "Wonder of You". He does have a good voice and considering the modest amount of practice held he and the band gelled well on both of these. Lewis loves Bryan Adams and we had worked up "Run to You" for the night, but in the end he felt it was too big a deal and asked to do his banker: "Summer of 69". This went really well and garnered a big audience response. Several of the younger friends and rele's were mobbing him and I could see he was getting into it as we carried on with "Achy Breaky Heart". Vocally we did quite well on this with me singing the hi line on the chorus with added harmoniser above that. Lewis completed his set with "Runaround Sue" and left the stage as a hero!
We resumed with our Searchers medley. The idea was that Paul would come on as we completed the transition from "Needles Pins" into "Walk In the Room" and he did. I just had to cue him in and away we went. One immediate snag was the volume on the OM5 Lewis had used was suddenly a lot lower. Still we got through the song and tried to remedy it. Having already changed the lead, I assumed the mic was faulty so Paul borrowed Chris's mic for the next few numbers. This cured the volume problem but the tone wasn't great, however it seemed best thing to do as we went for "8 Days a Week - Can't Buy Me Love". Paul seemed ok with my key choice for "8 Days" so I dropped into double track mode and let him lead it. The harmonies were a bit ragged mainly down to my lack of vocal practice in doing these hi lines. We finished the set with "Nights in White Satin" which I thought Paul sang well even though I could tell he was making some of the words up!
During the break Paul got his own SM58 from the car and we tried that out instead of the OM5. Now that seemed to fix the problem so we were set for a long last set. We got changed into white tees and black waistcoats and took to the stage to open with a few that I would sing: "Dance Night Away Great Balls Move It" to get us warmed up. It was a friendly party as opposed to a dance party, but there were a few dancing from time to time! Next up was "Alright Mama" to set the scene for Paul's return. As that finished I set the riff to "Mystery Train" going and cued Paul in for a rather good version of "Hound Dog". He really performed this well, getting into the audience and moving around. He even sang the 'aahs' under the guitar solo. Now, I had worked a solo up for this number in the week and it too went very well. So we were well pleased with this as we finished - a number that showed the potential of the new line up. Oddly enough we kind of lost the plot in the follow up "Blue Suede Shoes". Just lack of disciple as to the tacet stops and played at reckless speed - I did manage to get the solos out somehow, but I much prefer the easy pace we usually do it at. Next was "Crazy Little Thing" and this went quite well up to the end of the solo where the boys forgot to do the accapella bit. I must say that Paul did a great job on the vocal and posturing though! It seemed we had a request for Status Quo 'cos next up was "Caroline". I was a bit unfamiliar with the guitar on this but he band performance was good and I thought the harmonies on the chorus showed potential. Chris called for "Hippy Shakes" next I had insisted on remaining in the key of B 'cos that works for my solos at the mo' and Paul sang it no problem. Paul conferred briefly with Chris and announced a Stones song "Honky Tonk Women". Ian and I got going with the intro in the agreed key of A and then strangely Paul opened up by singing "All Right Now"!! So we went with it and switched to that. A bit ragged but enthusiastically done none the less. The obvious next choice song was "Honky Tonk" and we did that quite well with a rough edge a la Stones.
We continued with "Do You Wanna Dance" - Paul has the same trouble with words that I do and my voice on the hi line sounded strained; but it did fill the floor. Ian called for "Mony Mony" by starting the drum beat. I couldn't remember which key we had settled on and peering at the set list I thought it said D so we went for it. Actually this worked really well once we got going. I could grumble about some of the subtleties being lost (e.g. missing bass riff) but the effect of the song on the crowd was just great. Then we had a go at "No Particular Place to Go". I hadn't had time to work the solo up and my improv on the night was horrible. But the basic verses were fine - good driving beat and sound.
Paul took a break for a reprise from Lewis doing "Johnny B Goode and Summer of 69" which went down a storm. We played on to the end with Paul pick and mixing through a few more songs until we encored with "Born to be Wild" which we rocked out really well. I was tired and sore throated and for once pleased to be finished. We had been playing loud and I had what I hoped would be a temporary hiss in my right ear. Glad handing, pack and load took an age, but with only a short drive we were home by 1:30am. Reflecting on things the next day: there are some pros with Paul in band - more exciting and visual. Cons: on the night we lost slickness of show building, we might be a bit too loud for some gigs? But its early days yet and we had agreed a 'loose' style at this one off event. So next gig is Searles on Saturday. No chance to improve anything before then and we will trust to luck and judgement on the day.
PS ran up the mixer to set a flat line in for Paul's Bose T1 and I found that the channel 7 the OM5 was plugged into was faulty - some kind of dry joint effect? You can blow it off by increasing gain but a low level signal for any length of time and it reverts to about 10dB below expectation. So the mic must be OK and maybe the lead as well? Easy workaround on the mixer to use another channel!
Come the day we had my adopted son Phil and family staying over and they would bring Jacqui over at 8 ish whilst I got on with set up and sound check in the afternoon. I met up with Chris and Ian at the club about 1:30pm and we loaded in and set up. I set up my 'old' Audix OM5 for Lewis and Paul; and Ian borrowed an SM58 and stand from me so he could join in. We didn't do a sound check as such, just made sure all was working. Then we retreated home for the afternoon returning to the venue at 6:30pm to do a sound check and final rehearsal with Lewis. There seemed to be a dodgy lead into the OM5 so we replaced that. It seemed OK and we had good headroom for Lewis to try out a few of his songs. I ran through "Smiling" to make sure synth and harmoniser worked. Guests started arriving from 7:30pm and we were all clear by then. Paul had been driving back from Barcelona but he arrived in fair shape and we had chance to brief him about a few things. He agreed best to use the OM5 we set up for Lewis. We got changed in the golf dressing room; Chris suggested we have loose white ties with the black shirts and I lent Ian my spare. The room filled quickly and Chris, Ian and I took to the stage as a trio to start proceedings with a 30 minute easy listening / country set. "FBI - Heartbeat - Smiling" all sounded fine to me, but my voice felt tired from the off so I was glad I wouldn't be doing the whole night. Jacqui and family arrived as we embarked on some rock'n'roll and they brought grandson Ethan up towards the playing zone to see his old Grunkle Mog at work - I nodded him a wink as I hit the solo for "Rock Around the Clock"! Audience reaction was a bit muted - but we were merely the background for meet and greet so I wasn't bothered. We did a bit of country with "Act Naturally and Folsom Prison" and then ran "Albatross" as a slowey. No dancers as such but this was actually received quite well. I was making the occasional error on guitar but nothing too noticeable out front (I hope). I had asked Chris to run the show as the 'do-meister' for the night and he called for "Penny Arcade" to finish. That went quite well, my voice had loosened up a bit and Ian is easy to play with on this changing rhythm song. I thought we did OK.
After a long break for food and circulation, we resumed with "Apache". No walk tonight. I was listening so much to Ian who was playing nice little touches as per the record that I didn't spot I had set the wrong guitar sound: short echo rather than long - doh! After a well received "Tambourine Man - Daydream Believer" we carried straight on into "Sweet Caroline". I nearly made it 'Sweet Bridget', but it didn't scan too well.
There was a natural break after this whilst Chris introduced Lewis to sing some songs for his mum - aaah. We opened this little spot with "Dream Lover". He sang it well. We were a little mixed up arrangement wise where the run downs came and went and whether some of the harmonies should have been aaahs or words; but overall it went well and he got a very good response. He carried on with a creditable version of the "Green Grass of Home" and then "Wonder of You". He does have a good voice and considering the modest amount of practice held he and the band gelled well on both of these. Lewis loves Bryan Adams and we had worked up "Run to You" for the night, but in the end he felt it was too big a deal and asked to do his banker: "Summer of 69". This went really well and garnered a big audience response. Several of the younger friends and rele's were mobbing him and I could see he was getting into it as we carried on with "Achy Breaky Heart". Vocally we did quite well on this with me singing the hi line on the chorus with added harmoniser above that. Lewis completed his set with "Runaround Sue" and left the stage as a hero!
We resumed with our Searchers medley. The idea was that Paul would come on as we completed the transition from "Needles Pins" into "Walk In the Room" and he did. I just had to cue him in and away we went. One immediate snag was the volume on the OM5 Lewis had used was suddenly a lot lower. Still we got through the song and tried to remedy it. Having already changed the lead, I assumed the mic was faulty so Paul borrowed Chris's mic for the next few numbers. This cured the volume problem but the tone wasn't great, however it seemed best thing to do as we went for "8 Days a Week - Can't Buy Me Love". Paul seemed ok with my key choice for "8 Days" so I dropped into double track mode and let him lead it. The harmonies were a bit ragged mainly down to my lack of vocal practice in doing these hi lines. We finished the set with "Nights in White Satin" which I thought Paul sang well even though I could tell he was making some of the words up!
During the break Paul got his own SM58 from the car and we tried that out instead of the OM5. Now that seemed to fix the problem so we were set for a long last set. We got changed into white tees and black waistcoats and took to the stage to open with a few that I would sing: "Dance Night Away Great Balls Move It" to get us warmed up. It was a friendly party as opposed to a dance party, but there were a few dancing from time to time! Next up was "Alright Mama" to set the scene for Paul's return. As that finished I set the riff to "Mystery Train" going and cued Paul in for a rather good version of "Hound Dog". He really performed this well, getting into the audience and moving around. He even sang the 'aahs' under the guitar solo. Now, I had worked a solo up for this number in the week and it too went very well. So we were well pleased with this as we finished - a number that showed the potential of the new line up. Oddly enough we kind of lost the plot in the follow up "Blue Suede Shoes". Just lack of disciple as to the tacet stops and played at reckless speed - I did manage to get the solos out somehow, but I much prefer the easy pace we usually do it at. Next was "Crazy Little Thing" and this went quite well up to the end of the solo where the boys forgot to do the accapella bit. I must say that Paul did a great job on the vocal and posturing though! It seemed we had a request for Status Quo 'cos next up was "Caroline". I was a bit unfamiliar with the guitar on this but he band performance was good and I thought the harmonies on the chorus showed potential. Chris called for "Hippy Shakes" next I had insisted on remaining in the key of B 'cos that works for my solos at the mo' and Paul sang it no problem. Paul conferred briefly with Chris and announced a Stones song "Honky Tonk Women". Ian and I got going with the intro in the agreed key of A and then strangely Paul opened up by singing "All Right Now"!! So we went with it and switched to that. A bit ragged but enthusiastically done none the less. The obvious next choice song was "Honky Tonk" and we did that quite well with a rough edge a la Stones.
We continued with "Do You Wanna Dance" - Paul has the same trouble with words that I do and my voice on the hi line sounded strained; but it did fill the floor. Ian called for "Mony Mony" by starting the drum beat. I couldn't remember which key we had settled on and peering at the set list I thought it said D so we went for it. Actually this worked really well once we got going. I could grumble about some of the subtleties being lost (e.g. missing bass riff) but the effect of the song on the crowd was just great. Then we had a go at "No Particular Place to Go". I hadn't had time to work the solo up and my improv on the night was horrible. But the basic verses were fine - good driving beat and sound.
Paul took a break for a reprise from Lewis doing "Johnny B Goode and Summer of 69" which went down a storm. We played on to the end with Paul pick and mixing through a few more songs until we encored with "Born to be Wild" which we rocked out really well. I was tired and sore throated and for once pleased to be finished. We had been playing loud and I had what I hoped would be a temporary hiss in my right ear. Glad handing, pack and load took an age, but with only a short drive we were home by 1:30am. Reflecting on things the next day: there are some pros with Paul in band - more exciting and visual. Cons: on the night we lost slickness of show building, we might be a bit too loud for some gigs? But its early days yet and we had agreed a 'loose' style at this one off event. So next gig is Searles on Saturday. No chance to improve anything before then and we will trust to luck and judgement on the day.
PS ran up the mixer to set a flat line in for Paul's Bose T1 and I found that the channel 7 the OM5 was plugged into was faulty - some kind of dry joint effect? You can blow it off by increasing gain but a low level signal for any length of time and it reverts to about 10dB below expectation. So the mic must be OK and maybe the lead as well? Easy workaround on the mixer to use another channel!
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