The next gig in this run of deps was at Burwell, not far from last weeks gig at Bottisham. I had played this gig before but memory was hazy as to exactly where it was. I took a look on Google Maps. I couldn't actually find it on Street View, but I knew the street it was on and decided no Sat Nav necessary. Come 6pm I loaded my guitars in and set off about 6:10 on a dark, windy, rainy night heading West along the A14. I had pin pointed the junction I needed to come off at but for some strange reason, driving along, I re-fixed in my mind to aim for the junction after!?! So the junction I came off at was actually the Bottisham exit of the previous week. I thought 'strange that they make the roads all look similar in Cambridgeshire'. But as I followed the signs to Burwell I felt disorientated because, still believing I was a junction back, Bottisham and Burwell were signed posted in the 'wrong' directions. I stopped after a bit but not enough signal for the phone to show location on a map and looking at my paper map I couldn't make sense of it at all. I wondered if some youths had switched the signs! I decided to follow the signs to Burwell regardless. It was considerably longer than the 6 miles I thought it should be and all the places I passed through were unfamiliar. But eventually I arrived in Burwell and spotted the club 'on the wrong side of the road?' I had clearly approached it from the West rather than the East and was about 20 minutes later than intended. Anyway I put all that to one side and concentrated on load in. Chris and Ian were already there setting up and as I came out to get some more gear Steve arrived so we were quorate!
I was using my Bose, Godin XTSA and PRS 12 again. This is a much more absorbent hall than Bottisham and after set up we did a soundcheck with "Folsom" and I went out front on a long lead to assess it. After adjusting the PA and bass to match up with the drums I thought we had a decent sound and a nice overall level for the 20 or so mainly seniors already in the hall. I had brought my Jazz bass copy for Chris to try through his rig. It sounded very classy but didn't have quite the 'big bottom' of his G&L bass. Mind you he pointed out that the controls on the amp had plenty of scope to sculpt the ideal sound. With the G&L he doesn't use sub-bass and even his bass control is only on 25%. I left him the copy bass in case he wanted to try it in the sets (he didn't actually do that though). I turned my attention to the monitors - they seemed to be ok if a little muddy. Good to go I declared and went off to enjoy the club's beer - the band's first drink is on the house!
We opened set 1 with "F B I" and it sounded fine and we got a good round of applause from the (by now) 30 ish in the concert room. Steve came up to do "Heartbeat" and almost immediately the monitor on my side started distorting. I just bent down and turned it off! We completed the set. Steve was better than the previous week and close enough for me to tap him on the shoulder to alert him to the various solos. He has his crib sheets in front of him but, reading the words, he doesn't scan correctly on some songs - but "Smiling" was a lot better this week. Mind you we in the band were making odd fluffs e.g. I was so concentrated on getting Steve to do the gap and scream before the solo in "Can't Buy Me Love" that I missed the start of it on guitar! We carried on through to the end of the set with good applause and bits of dancing and finished with "Runaround Sue" which Steve does a good job of.
In the break I replaced the dodgy monitor with a spare Behringer 1x10 monitor I had brought along to try and diagnose where the fault was. I connected it up using one of my jack to jack leads and it sounded good and clean (brighter than the other monitor). I told Steve that therefore the fault was either in his lead or the monitor itself. He said he'd check it out but I resolved to keep bringing the Behringer to be on the safe side!
Set 2 we opened with "Apache". This always goes well at these clubs and Steve joining in the dance sells it even more. This time we had a few come up and do the 'Shads Walk' along with the band and it got a great response at the end. We got back on stage to start "Do You Wanna Dance". A good rhythm driven by Ian was rewarded by the dance floor filling. Steve carved his own arrangement out which would have shortened it so I made him go round another verse and solo before we brought it to a finish. Then there was a bit of a band discussion on what to do to follow it up (I sat this debate out 'cos I was the hired hand) - but by the time that had been sorted several had left the floor. And that set the pattern for the rest of the set which lacked the continuity and slickness I like to see. Despite this, the band was doing well and responding to audience mood. For instance, after "Raining In My Heart" they needed another slowey and Steve called for "Nights in White Satin". This went down much better than I would have thought and we played it well. Mind you I missed the synth strings and harmoniser of the good old days!
There was a long gap before the final set and I noticed Ian was on the whiskey chasers. Some folks had drifted away by the resumption. Nevertheless, the band did well doing a rockier set that wasn't excessively loud and Ian, myself and Chris put in quite a few accents and tight ends to spice it up. Mind you I reckon some of Ian's fills were noticeably 'under the influence'. We finished with an unexpectedly good rendition of "Summer of 69" and encored with "Mustang Sally" rather than the usual J B Goode and that worked well enough.
We set about packing up in broadly good humour but there was slight atmosphere I couldn't put my finger on. I think Ian was struggling with a combination of a lot to drink and his own concerns about the band quality. In my opinion he is now the 'top dog' in the band and the others toe his line to an extent. As a dep I am clear of all of that; but I did think it had been a good night for the band and when the guvnor came over he was happy and will be rebooking. A few folk on their way out chatted kindly about the night, but in general there is an air of the club in decline and needing new blood to continue in the longer term.
I left the others eating burgers sourced from a van outside the club and set off home. Well, I set off on the right road in the right direction, but I missed a turning in Exning and ended up going over the A14 into Newmarket and then back out from Newmarket to join the A14 a junction further East than intended - adding about 15 mins to the overall journey. It was only when I saw Bury in the distance that I realised I had forgotten my bass. I called Chris who was probably about 10 minutes behind me on the A14. His car is similar to mine so we established a complete Ford hands free connection! 'Yes he'd found it but no room in his car 'cos it was full of Ian's drums' so Steve had taken it. That was a relief and I continued home getting in about 1:30 am. Ms J was till up catching up on Strictly so we had cocoa together.
I was using my Bose, Godin XTSA and PRS 12 again. This is a much more absorbent hall than Bottisham and after set up we did a soundcheck with "Folsom" and I went out front on a long lead to assess it. After adjusting the PA and bass to match up with the drums I thought we had a decent sound and a nice overall level for the 20 or so mainly seniors already in the hall. I had brought my Jazz bass copy for Chris to try through his rig. It sounded very classy but didn't have quite the 'big bottom' of his G&L bass. Mind you he pointed out that the controls on the amp had plenty of scope to sculpt the ideal sound. With the G&L he doesn't use sub-bass and even his bass control is only on 25%. I left him the copy bass in case he wanted to try it in the sets (he didn't actually do that though). I turned my attention to the monitors - they seemed to be ok if a little muddy. Good to go I declared and went off to enjoy the club's beer - the band's first drink is on the house!
We opened set 1 with "F B I" and it sounded fine and we got a good round of applause from the (by now) 30 ish in the concert room. Steve came up to do "Heartbeat" and almost immediately the monitor on my side started distorting. I just bent down and turned it off! We completed the set. Steve was better than the previous week and close enough for me to tap him on the shoulder to alert him to the various solos. He has his crib sheets in front of him but, reading the words, he doesn't scan correctly on some songs - but "Smiling" was a lot better this week. Mind you we in the band were making odd fluffs e.g. I was so concentrated on getting Steve to do the gap and scream before the solo in "Can't Buy Me Love" that I missed the start of it on guitar! We carried on through to the end of the set with good applause and bits of dancing and finished with "Runaround Sue" which Steve does a good job of.
In the break I replaced the dodgy monitor with a spare Behringer 1x10 monitor I had brought along to try and diagnose where the fault was. I connected it up using one of my jack to jack leads and it sounded good and clean (brighter than the other monitor). I told Steve that therefore the fault was either in his lead or the monitor itself. He said he'd check it out but I resolved to keep bringing the Behringer to be on the safe side!
Set 2 we opened with "Apache". This always goes well at these clubs and Steve joining in the dance sells it even more. This time we had a few come up and do the 'Shads Walk' along with the band and it got a great response at the end. We got back on stage to start "Do You Wanna Dance". A good rhythm driven by Ian was rewarded by the dance floor filling. Steve carved his own arrangement out which would have shortened it so I made him go round another verse and solo before we brought it to a finish. Then there was a bit of a band discussion on what to do to follow it up (I sat this debate out 'cos I was the hired hand) - but by the time that had been sorted several had left the floor. And that set the pattern for the rest of the set which lacked the continuity and slickness I like to see. Despite this, the band was doing well and responding to audience mood. For instance, after "Raining In My Heart" they needed another slowey and Steve called for "Nights in White Satin". This went down much better than I would have thought and we played it well. Mind you I missed the synth strings and harmoniser of the good old days!
There was a long gap before the final set and I noticed Ian was on the whiskey chasers. Some folks had drifted away by the resumption. Nevertheless, the band did well doing a rockier set that wasn't excessively loud and Ian, myself and Chris put in quite a few accents and tight ends to spice it up. Mind you I reckon some of Ian's fills were noticeably 'under the influence'. We finished with an unexpectedly good rendition of "Summer of 69" and encored with "Mustang Sally" rather than the usual J B Goode and that worked well enough.
We set about packing up in broadly good humour but there was slight atmosphere I couldn't put my finger on. I think Ian was struggling with a combination of a lot to drink and his own concerns about the band quality. In my opinion he is now the 'top dog' in the band and the others toe his line to an extent. As a dep I am clear of all of that; but I did think it had been a good night for the band and when the guvnor came over he was happy and will be rebooking. A few folk on their way out chatted kindly about the night, but in general there is an air of the club in decline and needing new blood to continue in the longer term.
I left the others eating burgers sourced from a van outside the club and set off home. Well, I set off on the right road in the right direction, but I missed a turning in Exning and ended up going over the A14 into Newmarket and then back out from Newmarket to join the A14 a junction further East than intended - adding about 15 mins to the overall journey. It was only when I saw Bury in the distance that I realised I had forgotten my bass. I called Chris who was probably about 10 minutes behind me on the A14. His car is similar to mine so we established a complete Ford hands free connection! 'Yes he'd found it but no room in his car 'cos it was full of Ian's drums' so Steve had taken it. That was a relief and I continued home getting in about 1:30 am. Ms J was till up catching up on Strictly so we had cocoa together.
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