New Years Eve at Roman Camp Inn Almerton

Technically this was to be the last performance by the Foot Tappers. Although the name may get used by some promoters next year we will be fulfilling gigs with our new Sky High Showband. Very cold day, had a good drive over on quiet roads via Swaffham making good time to the Hotel arriving about 6:15pm. Found my way to reception and was shown the small dance / dining area for the band. I worked out the best way to load in was from the front door into the lounge and then I brought my car round. I had just parked up when I saw Nige and Alex arrive so I met up with them and briefed them on load in. Then we went to inspect the gig. It was quite a small playing area, so Nige and I elected to use his Bose for PA and bass and I would use my spare Marshall 50 watt 10” combo for guitar. We got set up with Alex in the corner, Nige next to him and me slightly ahead and to his left. Both Nige and Alex were slightly under the weather with coldy symptoms and I was a little tired, so we downed a couple of pints as we got sorted and that raised spirits a bit. I met up with Vanessa and briefed her on our intentions for the night giving her a copy of the set plan and asked her to please let us know if there is anything special she wanted us to do (or not do). She seemed happy so we went off to get changed for the 7:30 start. We were a few minutes late starting up very quietly with a jazzy 12 bar warm up. We played through quietly for about and hour featuring jazzy buskables such as “Ipanema, Summertime, Sleepwalk etc”. Along the way we started a bit of bantering with an American family and promised to do "Green Door" and a Michael Jackson number as requests in the next set. Jenny and Laura arrived in the middle of the set and towards the end we opened up a bit with some light rock'n'roll e.g. “Be Bop A Lula” and “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” and the Everlys “Walk Right Back” sequence. After a break to say hello to Jen and Laura we resumed with a couple of 'normal' Foot Tap sets with added requests for “Green Door” and “Rockin Robin”. Although there were only about 15-20 in the dining room we were playing in, the band sound was carrying through to the lounge and entertaining them there. We tried a bit of country with “Crystal Chandelier” and that was appreciated. In general the rock'n'roll got them up and dancing and the other stuff got them bantering. I did a Shadows walk demonstration to good applause and we closed the set on a high with “Rockin Robin” which filled the floor. In the next set we tackled: “The Wonder of You” which Nige sang really well and “Sweet Caroline” where I hit the low notes – all very well received with the audience singing along, dancing along and having a good time! Jen and Laura had set off for Sheringham mid set, so we resumed after a few minutes break for the big midnight set. Starting with “Dance the Night Away” we followed the party dance sequence through to “Hi Ho” keeping them dancing all the way. Then we picked up “Johnny B Goode” to take us through to 11:55. Nige then called appropriately for “Midnight Hour” and we were all set for the countdown on my radio controlled clock. We set off into “Old Lang Syne, Okey Cokey, Knees Up” with the audience singing and dancing along enthusiastically; and then we had a go at the longer version of “Unchained” - a good choice at this point. We got a request for "Tiger Feet" which I was batting into touch when Nige offered to give it a go in D - and apart from some missing chords on the guitar it went well considering we had never played it before. We played on for another half hour or so eventually signing off with “Wonderful Tonight” to a great reception and shouts for more; so I got the boys to encore with “Shakin All Over” and our year had been completed. Nigel and I could take pride in our handing of the situation following Dave's untimely departure. With the aid of Martin, Alex and Marty on drums we had continued to deliver versatile, entertaining performances right up to the end of the Foot Tappers; culminating in this fine New Years Eve performance under the adverse conditions of a small room and troops under the weather. We were all troupers on the night, but I thought Nige, in particular, had given his all on this gig – well done lad! With not a lot of gear out we soon got packed up. I took my leave of Vanessa who was very happy with the band and the way the evening had gone. The band wished each other all the best for the New Year. Nige and I can look forward to resuming in 2010 with “Sky High”. It had snowed a little and was very cold, so I took it steady on the way home getting in just before 3am.

Caravan Rally Old Buckenham High School.

It had been raining all day and I set off in poor visibility deciding to take the main roads to Attleborough rather than attempt cross country. I found Abbey Road easily enough and then the Junior School, but couldn't identify the High School. So I ventured out into the country about a mile going through a serious bit of flooding on the way; but it didn't seem right. I came back and, noticing an open gate on the other side of the road to the Junior School, drove in and parked. There were vans parked there labelled Old Buckenham High School but it still didn't seem right? I rang the organiser to see what was what, but only got an answer machine. It was after 6:30pm now so I rang Nige – no reply! But a few minutes later he rang back to say he and Alex had arrived and were loading in? We decided I must have missed the main entrance so I set off back down Abbey Road and in a bit of a layby road there was indeed another entrance; I drove in and soon met up with the boys and Willy the organiser. It was a quite a long load into the large main School hall. Got set up on the main stage, there was loads of room. Nige had set up the backdrop curtain to absorb unwanted reverb and it seemed we would have a good on-stage sound. They are a really nice friendly crowd who try to help us out. For example we had a little crisis – it was a bring your own do and we had no beer! But one of the chaps donated some bottles of Becks: lovely job. And then we had some tea (and some had cake) as well so the band was well watered and looked after! We got changed into the usual Xmas wear, avoiding some broken glass on the floor; then we were set to go. Opening up with “Foot Tapper” it was indeed a good on stage sound. Our bantering is getting more confident nowadays, I tend to be on the ball more at the start of the performances whilst Nige keeps going all evo. On this night we set about some energetic bantering and audience reading to play a varied and entertaining 3 sets. They liked the rock'n'roll and the Country and responded well to all the banter. We dropped in “Rockin Around the Xmas Tree” and several slowies which went well. Even got some folks up to waltz to “Around the World” and quickstep to “Lady is a Tramp”. I was only using the harmoniser sparingly e.g. on the Beatles but it went really well I thought (apart from the last chord which I muffed). I think both of our voices are getting stronger from having to do more singing and we are more confident about busking. Nige slipped in a couple of Everly 'try outers' with “Price of Love” and “Lucille”; these showed good potential; just need to get them rehearsed up a bit on guitar and my harmonies. We had a go at "I Believe" for old time's sake; a bit ragged but appreciated by the crowd. We played on through to about 11:30pm then gave them a dress rehearsal for New Years Eve by doing Old Lang Syne, Okey Cokey, Knees Up Mother Brown. Most of the audience got up to join in singing and dancing, and it went down really very well, Then we signed off with “Wonderful Tonight”. Thankfully it had stopped raining by the time we started loading. Willy and his team organised some trolleys to get the gear out and we were soon loaded and on our way out of the gate. Made good time home going back on the A11 and in bed for 1am.

Seacroft East Runton

Made good time over via Norwich on a cold windy night and got a barrier key from the bar. Just got parked up and up comes Nige. We just got the first few bits in and up comes Martin, our dep for the night - for what was probably his last outing with the Foot Tappers? I shifted the Xmas tree and we all got set up neatly on the smallish stage. As we completed set up, the couple in charge of site development came over to say goodbye – they had enjoyed having the band in but would be going on to Brighton in the New Year. The place was filling up so we didn't sound check as such; but we did spend a bit of time restoring PA settings and making fine adjustments to get a quality sound that would carry. No boomyness here! Had a beer and got changed ready for an 8:15 start. We were a few minutes late getting started as we made a few last minute adjustments: Nige and I both agreed to take the Bose masters down a notch so we didn't blast them out – a very good move in hindsight! Made a good start with the usual suspects. It was a good on-stage sound from the off and we got a good reaction from the reasonably full room. So we settled into a bantery, dancey sort of set. I introduced Martin as the Kareoke Kid to do “Lady is a Tramp” and we did the Beverly sisters intro for the Everlys. Got a lot up and dancing with the “Blue Suede/Rock Around the Clock” Rock'n'Roll stuff. Bantered and played through the Beatles and got a good reaction for that. Even treated them to “Crystal Chandeliers” with false “Lilly the Pink intro! We only had two sets to do, so we started to pick and mix through some set 2 stuff such as the Searchers and got Martin to wrap the set up nicely with “The Wonder of You”. While we were off we got a couple of requests for Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond, so I said we'd oblige. Sir Cliff's “Do You Wanna Dance” got them up and dancing, then we fitted in “Fulson Prison” as the Johnny Cash request getting a good round of applause. “Sweet Caroline” filled the floor again and we kept them at it with with another request for “Shang A Lang” followed up by the “Moon of Love” medley. It was soon time to start close down; I asked the boys to play “Pretty Woman” so I could have a go at singing it before New Years Eve. It went down well and I have learned that I'll need a bit of a boost on my mic for the close mic verse vocal on that. We wrapped up with “Walk Alone” which earned a great round of applause and shouts for more. Nige said we'd encore with a 'fasty' and a 'slowey', so we raced off into “ Hippy Hippy Shake” and Martin finished off the night with a stirring performance of “Words”. A great ending to a very good night for the band. As we packed up we tried to work out why the sound is so good there. Nige spotted the absorbent backdrop and suggested that might help? They can be expensive and time consuming to set up but I reckon it would help, even if we simply draped a black curtain in the corners of difficult gigs it would cut down the nasty reverbs we get from certain corners. My contribution to the debate was to propose a review of the linking set up in the new year with the idea of returning feeds from the reverb / mixer into T1 input 4 which would give us some control over the boomy frequencies that we can't get with the analogue input to the L1. I would also like to review reverb settings to make the repeats more pronounced. As we loaded up we were all a bit sad with it being Martin's last session. He has done a great job over the months for the band and he said he would miss the easy Foot Tappery atmosphere. But we all know we must move on to address our separate futures; I wished him well but added that I sensed our paths might cross again in some shape or form. Had a good run home getting about 1:30.

Boxing Day Gala Dinner Maids Head Hotel Norwich

I researched the location on Google maps using street view to ascertain there is a lane leading to the back of the hotel into the car park. We had to be set up early so I left at 4:40pm arriving at the hotel after a good run at 5:40pm. I found my way into reception to find that our contact Lindsay wasn't on duty. But they soon sorted me out and we had just got the fire escape door open when Nige and Martin arrived. So it was a heavy load up the fire escape stairs and into the Minstrel room to set up for a gala Boxing Night dinner coach party. Set up was little tricky because people were coming through the load in door to take their tables for dinner. We ended up routing the power over the door and I moved closer to Martin pushing Nige a bit more into the far corner to leave a clear path through to the door. The on-stage sound was very bassy and we took loads of bass off on the T1's. Martin and Nige decided a beer was needed and they came back with 3 pints of Stella – they must have thought it was a serious sound problem! Eventually we were content (but not happy) and left the room as the meal started up. We were not due on 'til 9pm and we whiled the time away in the bar downstairs watching a girly duo called Venus – very easy on the eyes as we enjoyed a second pint (of Carling). We had been allocated a room for changing and I made sure we were up and dressed in good time. Nevertheless as we arrived in the Minstrel room 10 minutes early it was clear that the dinner had gone very smoothly and they were ready for us. In fact one of the hotel staff asked to get going as soon as possible. So we started to take our positions, but a test of the vocal mics revealed a bassy boom from Nigel's corner. We had to faff around for a few minutes to try and deal. In the end Nige disconnected the Bose link up system and we decided to press on regardless. Actually “Foot Tapper” was very well received, so I took the opportunity to introduce the boys in the band and mention that we take requests. On we went with a sort of cabaret, bantery Foot Tappers show. We did a wide variety throwing in easy listening jazzy specials like “Around The World”, “Phoenix” and “Lady is a Tramp” amongst the usual openers and going down quite well. The “Blue Suede” rock'n'roll sequence got several up and dancing so we kept it going with a key change into “All Right Mama”. At this point a lady came up with a request dedication for Ernie; could we play “Your My Best Friend”. Luckily Nigel knows the words so off we went and it went down real well so, after another couple of numbers, we quickly followed up with some more country - courtesy of Nige. We finished the hour spot at just before 10pm with “Three Times A Lady”. I was a bit out of touch with this but we got through OK and I think it was the right song choice. It was clear there was going to be an exodus as our well fed audience took to their beds[ so we had a very short break and resumed with “Under the Sun”. By this time there were only about 20 left but they were very attentive. A couple of numbers in Nigel received a message from Rob the manager, for us to wrap up at 10:30pm (about 40 minutes earlier than we expected) and we timed our big ending with “Walk Alone accordingly. This got such a good reception with shouts for 'more' that it was a shame I had to explain that 'the hotel has run out of electricity!'; still it got a laugh and the small crowd started to disperse good naturedly. We had carried the gig off well and several people came up at the end so say they had enjoyed it. Then it was the long pack and load down the fire escape. I found that heavy going with a twingy knee exacerbated by the awkward pitch of the stairs, but Nige and Martin 'pitched in' and we were soon ready to go. Luckily Nige spotted one of the staff exiting the car park and got the code for the barrier (1432). Then I remembered we still had the key to the room, so Nige went off to reception to hand it in – apparently it was deserted so it was a good job he got the code when he did; he left the key on the desk. Smooth ride home getting in about 12:20am Jacqui was surprised and asked if I'd “Got the sack?” Overnight Nige and I both started ruminating on the boomy bass problem because this has happened a couple of times now. And before the next gig we had formulated some plans – see the next nights exciting instalment!

Xmas Eve Norwich WMC

Ms Jacqui decided to accompany me so I had advised the boys to be on best behaviour! We set off in good time and, despite the threat of freezing fog we had a relaxed run to Norwich, parking up at the bus stop near 'Keir Hardie Hall'. After a few minutes I saw the club lights come on and I got the doors opened for load in. Just then Nige and Alex rolled up, parking skillfully between the bollards. I moved my car as close as I could, asked Jacqueline to guard the vehicle and began the load in, trudging up and down St Gregory's Alley with the gear. Once we had the gear in Nige and I set off for the multi-storey car park (Alex found a spot on the street). Soon got set up and happy with the sound. The place was done out nice and Chrismassy. Jacqui had been talking to some of the locals including the twins who had come in matching Santa Claus outfits – very fetching!

Jenny arrived and we got changed and on with the show. It was a good on-stage sound. We played a good mix of our usual and Chrismassy stuff; Nige did “Blue Xmas” and I did “Rockin Around the Xmas Tree”. We got the twins up to do the Shadows walk to a great reception. It wasn't packed but it was busy enough, we were going down nicely with the crowd and we got quite a bit of dancing going. Nige and I mixed in some buskable material including “All Right Mama” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” and generally kept things going well continuity wise. We wrapped up with “Words” then took a break for bingo and a beer. We resumed for set 2 with our dedication of “Somewhere Under the Sun” to Dave, followed by “Tambourine Man” and the “Searchers” which both went very well. We did a nice Everlys' “Dream”, “White Xmas” and a bit of country for a barn dance; generally catching the audience mood nicely I thought. Phil the guvnor, came up to do an announcement so we took another break. Jen said goodbye as she set off home at the end of the break – it had been good to see her looking so much better. We got on into the final set doing quite a bit of the party dance stuff. We were bopping along so strongly we managed to get the power switched off by the volume monitor. Confidence was high so Nige took on “Unchained” which went down really well with the crowd. I elected to take on “Sweet Caroline” and again the song went down really well. Having done these we think we could do both of these regularly where required. With the experience of doing it live now, I realise that I need a touch of very close mic work on the verses of Sweet Caroline to get the bass notes through, but I was quite comfortable on the chorus's and pleased with the resultant audience reaction. Nige signed off poignantly saying it would be the Foot Tappers last appearance at the club and he thanked everyone for their support. Then we finished off with “Merry Xmas Everybody”; I'm finally getting familiar with the chords and its nearly time to put the song away for another year! A very good night for us really. A few folk came up at the end to ask if it really was our last time and I explained that we would be re-launching as “Sky High”; so I did look forward to seeing them again under a new name. Doing a bit of name dropping, Alex and I had to explain our fame with our previous bands. But, off the record, I think it will be our last time at the club because the launch of Sky High will be accompanied by a significant price increase. Jacqui packed up my guitar and stands and I got the rest ready for load up. Nige and I went to get our cars, paid the £1.60 fee and, only as we exited, did we realise the barrier was up – they were letting folks out free for Xmas but we had paid – the only consolation being we had helped the night time economy of Norwich!!! (Apparently Marty had got his ticket revoked from the previous gig using this phrase!) We had a good journey home getting in about 1:15am on Xmas morning.

Sheringham Tyneside

6 inches of snow in the week had paralysed UK transport. The weather still wasn't good with sub-zero temperatures and more snow forecast. I decided to allow 2 hours and set off via Swaffham. The journey to Thetford was OK but once I turned off the A11 there was frozen snow on the road and speeds dropped. I was stuck in a queue of slow moving traffic down to about 20 mph for most of the run to Swaffham. Then, losing most of the traffic, I expected a faster run to Fakenham, bit no; I was slipping and sliding, so it was only a steady 30 mph. That was the pattern on to Holt when things improved a lot and I could get up to 50mph; arriving at the gig at 6:45 to find Nigel and Alex already there with a similar tale to tell. We were using a mix of gear, using my Bose L1 with Nige's T1 as the PA. Guitar through the Mesa Lonestar and Bass through Nige's Behringer PA into a single 15 EV cabinet. We put the Bose right at the back, but it took quite a bit of equalisation to get a good sound. The guitar sound was OK, if a bit thin because I took some more bass off it to counter the boom in the corner. Nige wasn't happy with the bass guitar sound and we eventually concluded that we would go back to all Bose next time, but pay particular attention to using the parametric EQ to filter out the low-mid boomyness. There were only a few in by 8pm but duty called so we got changed into the all black with red Xmas ties ready for an 8:30pm start. Just as we went on I could see snow coming down again outside. We played a usual sort of set to the small audience, I dropped in “Rockin Around the Xmas Tree” and we did a bit more rock'n'roll than usual. The sound wasn't good on stage and we were a bit untogether, but going down well enough with the 20 or so in the room. As we got stuck into the Beatles, I could see out the window the snow coming down heavily outside but also the arrival of the Salvation Army. As they came in we stopped the medley expecting them to do a tune: but no they were going to have some sausage rolls, mince pies and coffee first, so we resumed playing through to the end of our set ending with “Words”. Then the very good 'Sally Ann' band did their bit and the club did their raffle, giving us quite a break before set 2. One couple took a liking to the band and we aimed our set at keeping them amused and dancing. Then we had a short break before the final half hour set. After we closed, our little fan club came over and said how much they enjoyed the band and when would we be playing again. We got packed up quickly conscious of the continuing snowfall; actually it eased off as we loaded up. The guvnor told Nige he had enjoyed the band, not our fault there weren't many there and he'd see us in the new year. We got ready for the off. I decided to go back through Norwich. I got away first and by keeping going I was able to get up the hill out of Sheringham coming to a skiddy halt across the A149 at the top. I turned left and headed off toward Cromer, turning right onto the minor Felbrigg road to avoid Cromer. The snow was falling again and was quite thick down this lane. It was difficult to see the road boundary and there was some traffic coming the other way to avoid. Doing a maximum of 20 mph I eventually arrived on the main A140 to Norwich, to find it was snowed up much the same. So it was a slow old drive to Norwich where it finally stopped snowing and the roads were relatively OK. Once I got through Norwich onto the A11 it was steady single lane going at about 40 mph. Then as I got to Thetford it became a lot clearer and I could do the last few miles at normal pace. I was pretty tired as I arrived home at nearly 3 am – normally this journey would take an hour and half it had taken about 2 and half hours on this night. Nigel and Alex had had an equally difficult journey home concluding in Nige slewing his car across the road whilst trying to park the car on the drive - he had to dig it out and apart from being blue with cold the air was a bit blue with expletives!

Hellesdon Wherry Scheme Xmas Party

Up feeling a bit tired, but after a slap up breakfast I was ready for the run over to Hellesdon at 10am. Arrived just after 11am and met up with Tina who briefed me to expect up to 150 in the big room. Actually the big room was smaller than I remembered – why is that? As I came out to back the car to the door, up rolls Mick so I guided him in first. As we started to get the gear in, Nigel arrived so we were triumvirate to go. Got the gear in and set up fairly quickly. We said hello to Dorothy and Nige took the opportunity to ask Tina if she would be wearing her Santa boots. 'Maybe' she said! Tina had a very good looking bunch of enthusiastic helpers and they had the room set up for lunch about the same time as we sound checked very briefly and quietly. Then she emerged in a very fetching Santa outfit complete with the long boots – getting a round of applause from Nigel.

I then made a huge mistake in asking Tina if we could be released to go to the pub next door (for beer and chips); 'cos when we got back we found we had missed being invited to Xmas dinner in the foyer with Tina and her beautiful helpers! As they were finishing their pudding and coffee, we opened up with our first set at about 2:30pm and played about an hour of lowish volume, easy listening, bantery material. I slipped in “Around The World” and “Rockin Around the Xmas Tree” and Nige did a good “Phoenix” (he got special thanks for thsi from a gent in the crowd who enjoyed the jazzy feel) and we continued the running joke about Mick being in the finest Everly's tribute seen in East Anglia this year. In the break a lady came up and reminded me that she helped me pull down my trouser leg at the do earlier in the year! We went on to do another couple of sets featuring Mick doing an excellent Jim Reeves “He'll Have to Go into Anna Marie” and “White Xmas” accompanied by Nige and I doing some nice Foot Tappery busking and harmonising. Nige did a pleasant little country set which was much appreciated. The Searchers went well and actually got a lot up to dance. I slipped in the other couple of Everlys and we did enough of the party dance stuff to get the crowd well on side singing and dancing along. About 5:30pm our audience started to dwindle as the buses arrived to take them home. We started our close down a bit later with “Never Walk Alone, which Mick sang well considering he stretched his voice on it the previous night. Nige has identified a high phrase in this song which Mick needs some support on and will try to join in and double track in future. We were pretty pleased with the audience reaction; Nige and I had been a little concerned that, without Dave's joviality and character we might struggle; but all the feedback we got was very positive. We finished about 6pm playing out the final stragglers to “Saw Her Standing There”. Pack and load up went steadily and I took my opportunity to take my leave of Tina, stealing a peck on her cheek as I encouraged her to book us back for the next event. “Budgets Permitting” she said!