The Checkmates Reformation Plan

After the Checkmates gig, Graham and I swapped thopughts on doing some more gigs in 2012. We were delighted when Raye bought into the idea as well. Of course anyone who knows me knows I have to have a master plan, so here it is:

CHECKMATEERS DEVELOPMENT CAMPAIGN 2012 +

1) BACKGROUND
Following a discussion Adrian and Graham had about the possibility of doing occasional gigs together with or without Raye, this document has been drafted to set out a development campaign outlining aspirations / issues to secure buy in by the parties.
2) STRENGTHS
Adrian and Graham have many years experience playing in and operating bands leading to ‘know how’ in:
· Playing and singing
· Vocal harmonies
· Repertoire selection sensitivity to audiences
· Showmanship and bantering
· Music Tech
· Sound quality
3) MISSION
To efficiently put together a musically versatile and entertaining small combo capable of successfully playing a wide range of club, dance and function gigs.

This ‘band’ will gig occasionally as:
a) “The Checkmates” with Raye as now
b) A version of the “Checkmates” without Raye if he is not available
c) A Rock’n’ Roll group – specialising in pre 1962 repertoire e.g. “The Rockmates”. Graham can use double bass and Mog a semi-acoustic?
d) A versatile group with a quality repertoire mix from the 50s-60s-70s eras + function and some contemporary e.g. “The Beatmates”
Raye needs to “Buy In” to this concept if we are serious about using the “****Mates” name!

We are in it primarily for enjoyment so let’s cultivate a democratic band culture around a good atmosphere of mutual respect and tolerance.
4) MARKET
Social clubs, dances, functions. The band is aiming for a few (say up to 9 ) gigs per annum. Gigs to be sourced from existing contacts e.g. direct with clubs and promoters or people who know the band members; or via agents. The band doesn’t mind travelling for gigs. Band fees are not too important but we should aim to at least cover costs with concessions for good causes.
5) REPERTOIRE
a) Specialising in 50s-60s-70s eras. The existing Checkmates repertoire can be built on with classic songs from those eras: e.g. Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, Searchers, Hollies, Animals, Eagles, Queen etc. Band members should put forward some of their favourites for inclusion in the repertoire and feel free to veto a few artistes / songs they particularly don’t like.
b) We want to develop an additional repertoire of about 20 Dinner Dance and Country Function songs I.e. low key guitar instrumental features and do some vocal waltzs, foxtrots, samba etc
c) We are up for bringing in some contemporary hits e.g. Take That, Comic Relief!
6) PERFORMANCE:
a) We want to be slick in performing.
b) Strict Set Lists vs Freeform: Propose we combine the best of both worlds by having some fixed sequences of several numbers coupled to a freeform approach to reading the audience and exercising the repertoire.
c) The vision is to gig using a double Bose L1 PA; but we have loads of music equipment between us so gigging even large venues will not be a problem.
7) KEY ISSUES
a) Default is existing 3 piece format – but we can increase band size if there is a good case!
b) If Raye is not available, we want an experienced, versatile drummer (ideally with some vocals) to dep for occasional gigs. Graham contacts? Can Raye recommend someone?
c) Getting gigs. Propose we source several in Sussex at known venues (e.g.Hassocks Social) to exercise the concept before taking it further afield – Graham’s existing contacts?
d) Timing: other than taking selected Checkmates opportunities that may crop up, it is proposed we make the new band a project to commence from Spring 2012
8) OTHER ISSUES TO ADDRESSED AS WE TAKE IT FORWARD:
a) Stage Wear: Black trousers, shirt / waistcoat policy?
b) Props: Wigs and Other Dressing Up Stuff?
c) Web Site, Photo’s and Marketing Collateral.
d) Demo CD DVD: We have the gear to record the band at home or in a hall
e) Agents and Gigs: Each member of the band to look after their contacts for gigs and agents.
f) Practice and Rehearsals: Efficient Approach: The aim is to achieve a clear understanding of a song before the band meets for rehearsal. Song arrangements to be set out in writing and communicated along with sound tracks for home practice first. Then aim for a handful of constructive whole band rehearsal sessions based on individuals having done their homework.

Checkmates Re-Union King Edward Hall Lindfield

After several months off the road it was time to do the Checkmates re-union gig. Although I had done quite a bit of practice to backing tracks, I didn’t feel that match fit guitar or vocal wise. Nevertheless I ramped up the practice in the week before and was reasonably confident by the weekend. Jacqui and I spent the Friday afternoon with Dan and Michele dining at the Park Hotel Wymondham and I was all fired up for the gig on the Saturday? That was until I remembered it was a 40th Wedding Anniversary actually on the Sunday this year! Never mind – on Saturday I took the time to set all the gear up in the conservatory and make sure it was working. Next day we set off after lunch and had a good trip down arriving in Lindfield about 4:30pm. Jacqui and I stretched our legs nostalgically on Lindfield common for 20 mins or so then I parked up at the hall. The anniversary celebration was in full swing but Bryan and Carol welcomed me in and offered food. Raye was next to arrive and by then we had the curtains closed so we could set up on the stage without distracting the guests dining in the hall. We had about half the gear in when Graham arrived boasting a hernia – so I had to help him in with his bass amp which (mercifully) was just his Trace Elliott 2 x 10 combo. Set up went pretty well and I had the Mesa Lonestar as guitar amp and Bose L1 as PA all ready to go by about 6:30 pm. It was a smaller scale event than previous years with about 60 guests so we were aiming for a smaller sound. I had taken advantage of the test set up the previous day to set the T5 mic equalisers fairly flat (apart from some bass boost). Raye’s mic was quickly diagnosed as faulty with hardly any output so I set him up with my spare SM58 Beta. I also set up a SM58 for speeches! I left the Bose master about “5 to midnight” i.e. 45% of full power meaning that we were going to be relatively quiet compared to previous years. Once I got some volume on I went round the three mics and checked them all personally. No tweaking, other than volume, was needed. We ran through a couple of numbers behind the curtain - you couldn’t tell how it would sound in the hall but it reinforced the need to be on the quiet side to be safe. My MP3 player needed a bit of attention to get it to play the background music play list but I persevered and then we took a break for an hour of beer drinking and buffet indulgence before our 8pm debut. Jacqui had gone off to see one of her friends in the village but she was back by 7:30 pm. Raye’s missus Val had also arrived and Janice (Graham’s other half) came in about 7:45pm. The band gathered in the dressing room to don the green shirts and discuss the addition of the Anniversary Waltz as second number in the show; and the introduction of Summertime Blues and Walk Don’t Run into the repertoire. I didn’t have the music for Anniversary Waltz, but Graham did! So I copied the chords out in my spidery handwriting thinking that would do! It was soon show time and we gathered behind the curtains for Bryan’s introduction. As he finished we opened up with “Eyes” to a good reception from the 50 or so in at the start. This went reasonably OK. Interestingly, because Raye was using a decent mic, you could hear him quite strongly for a change. Only snag was he joined in on my harmony line rather than holding the lead line on the doo wappy doos. My harmoniser covered it up to an extent, but it meant that the 3rd above harmony was a little too pronounced in the mix. Also the echo was a bit strong? I quickly realised this was because we were running the T5 mixer relatively low, but the echo unit outputs into the analogue input straight into the Bose L1 which had been left at last New Years Eve volume! I made a few adjustments while trying to announce “Anniversary Waltz” and we set off into that with Bryan and Carol dutifully taking to the floor. Needless to say I couldn’t read my handwritten chords and had to busk it! The echo was still too heavy but I couldn’t get away from the mic to pull it down. Anyway, with the focus on Bryan and Carol, it all went down OK and I took the opportunity to fix the PA proper as Graham announced “Stand By Me”. This was going well until, as we approached the guitar solo, I realised this song wasn’t on my rehearsal list and I couldn’t remember the starting note for the solo. Never mind I thought; head for G and it will fall into place from there. So I went for the G at the right time and although it was in tune I could tell in the first few milliseconds it didn’t feel right? So I slid up until my fingers found the D it should have been. From then on the fingers remembered it well. Next up was “Heartbeat”. I had re-learned this during my time off to make the middle 8 link chords more like the record, but I hadn’t remembered to tell the others and I could see the guys were gonna do the old “doo wap” version. Well we hit both versions and it kind of seemed to work out OK – phew! As we picked and mixed our way through a selection of vintage material, it gradually gelled better and by the middle of the first set we were singing and playing well with a good balance. I did a great Shadows Walk inviting Bryan and Carol to join in on toy guitars with "Apache" and we played “Summertime Blues” as though it had always been in the repertoire. We brought the set to a close with “I Believe” which we bantered as being ‘Ibuleve the pain relief gel us old Checkmateers were advertising at the moment!’ Unfortunately Graham forgot the arrangement and in the confusion we ended up shortening it by a verse so it wasn’t quite the big finish we aimed for. Still the crowd was happy and we went off to a great round of applause. After a break for more food and speeches we came back on for set 2 in our blue shirts. We opened with “Lady is a Tramp” featuring Raye. I switched the key to A to suit but then promptly made the mistake of looking at the guitar finger board and losing my way a bit. I don’t think anyone noticed though and I nailed the solo! We played the end pretty much as Raye had asked for so he was a happy drummer. We then played through the Checkmates greatest hits (other than Eyes!). These I had rehearsed; and things went really well through “Slow boat” and “I Wonder whose Kissing Her Now”. “Red Sails” opened up well and, although I knew the solo inside out, I expected Graham to do it a verse later – so I muffed that. (Jacqui said she didn’t notice when I asked her later so maybe not too bad). The rest went well and we played a fine “Walk Don’t Run” considering we hadn’t done it before together! “Move It and All Shook Up” went well filling the dance floor. We just finished “Halfway to Paradise” when Raye caught my attention saying ‘time for “Drums”’ So, suitably announced by Graham and myself, off we went into that – it’s always amusingly different and this was no exception. Graham and I got in a muddle on the synchronised tom tom rhythms out on the floor, but we laughed it off! Then Raye had a bit of trouble getting on his back to play the bass guitar and tom tom. Graham and I finally got back on stage to play out the piece in good order and, even though it took Raye 3 attempts to catch his bounced stick, we earned a huge roar of appreciation as we finished. Time had marched on so Bryan suggested we cut our final set down if we wanted to. So we did about 30 minutes of mainly rock’n’roll starting with “Saw Her Standing There" (with Graham and myself wearing Beatle wigs) followed by a tight "Great Balls of Fire”. Next up was “Bye Bye Love” I was quite pleased with this because I worked some extra guitar riffs in the verses without distracting myself from the vocal too much. We did “Route 66” as a request for Val and followed with “Shakin All Over”. Then we slowed things down for “American Trilogy”. Graham couldn’t remember the start and we got a bit confused in the ensemble verse, but after that all went well. I even managed to switch to the flute sound for the solo successfully! We got a lot of shouts for ‘more’ as we finished so we encored with “Lucky old Sun – Early In The Morning” Raye went out front to play snare and cymbal for both numbers and we sped up nicely to a climactic finish – earning a great roar of appreciation. Raye shook hands with ‘his accompanying musicians Adrian and Graham’ and Bryan made his goodbye speech; then we were off to get changed. I was a bit achy after toting the Godin for about 2 and half hours, but it hadn’t been so bad that I’d had to pick up my reserve lightweight PRS Hollowbody. No time to relax as we set to packing up before we ran low on energy. Eventually we had the gear in the cars and said our goodbyes. Raye looked a bit shell shocked as he got off home but Graham and I were still buzzing and exchanged some thoughts about doing it again occasionally. Then it was in the car for the long run home. Actually that went very well. I stopped at the services for a toilet break but, that included, we did Lindfield to Bury St Edmunds in about 2 and half hours. Pretty tired and achy on the Monday as I got to work about 11 am. Finally, as I set about this blog I realised we hadn’t taken any photo’s - I had forgotten to give the camera to Jacqui!

Valediction

Of course it is possible the band could re-unite for occasional gigs, but most would think it has run its course working a gig circuit that is mostly in decline. In drawing up some valedictory remarks the first thing I must own up to is that I was one of the founders of the band in 2002 and played right through from its first gig in 2003 through to its last gig in 2010. I can only recall one gig (Gressenall in 2009) that I didn’t play in all that time. I had a real affinity in our approach to repertoire, vocals and entertainment with founder member Dave Lemon who passed away in Summer 2009. Our other founder Dan is a lifelong multi-talented friend who I have played with in many bands since we were teenagers; and I’m sure I will play with Dan again before we get called to the big gig in the sky. My thanks go to all the other dep’ musicians who worked with us over the years; particularly Charlie Steadman and Dave Ainsworth who both helped out on bass for several gigs in the mid-years of the band and Martin Richmond on drums and vocals who kept us going for many of the gigs in the immediate aftermath of Dave’s passing. Thinking about the final line up of the band I can say I have been privileged to work with Nigel over the last few years. Apart from being a damn fine musician to play with, he is a trouper and top bloke who never lets you down. Nige always went the extra bit to keep the band on the road fulfilling its commitments in a most professional way. Nigel is very well respected and connected in the world of East Anglian music. He sourced all 8 drummers we worked with after the trauma of Dave’s passing and sourced many of the gigs we enjoyed. Since Nigel joined in 2008 we played many different types of gigs together and I can’t recall a single gig that we didn’t play well at, whatever the circumstance - even those with no audience! And, of course, I have many fond memories of those special gigs where it all worked really well. I learned a lot from Nigel: It started with attention to musical detail, it continued with repertoire selection and I certainly learned a few things about stagecraft, sound system management and audience psychology. Nige remains a valued friend and, of course, I will be up for working with him again if circumstances allow. Young Greg joined the band in its last few months and immediately surprised us with the quality of his drumming. He is very easy to get on with and I felt there was a lot of untapped performance potential in Greg - I’m sure we would have extracted it if we were continuing! Greg lifted the band emotionally in its final few months when it became clear the band had run its course – it is a pity we didn’t find him earlier. I sense Greg will move on to greater things but I would more than pleased to work with him again.

So the Foot Tappers / Sky High finished 2010 in good form and are now enjoying a well deserved rest. It may be some time before I resume the blog, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the blogettes and blogateers who have followed the band over the years.

And to quote from Nigel’s excellent band web site http://www.foottappers.co.uk/

“The Foot Tappers are now on extended leave but whatever happens, the web site remains as our online tribute to Dave Lemon.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen and goodnight...”

New Years Eve at East Runton Seacroft

Nige and I had had a lot on our ‘plates of life’ for several months and New Years Eve had finally crept up on us. I always find New Years Eve is less about performance and more about crowd control and I couldn’t help thinking sadly that this would be our last performance. We were on with a DJ and I hoped that would work out well – we had mixed experiences of working with DJ’s in the past! Jacqui kindly offered to accompany me on the 'Foot Tappers Last Stand' as she called it. She had arranged we call in to see Dan and Michele for a New Years Eve meal in the afternoon. So we set off early in quite misty conditions to drive to Dan’s via Swaffham. It was steady going and we arrived at East Runton about 4pm. We enjoyed a slap up feed and I was excused the washing up so I could go to the gig only about half a mile away. I arrived at just after 6pm to find the barrier already up and Nige already there starting to unload. He had done the meeting and greeting with Sarah (the manager and chef) and got a green light to work things out with the DJ. He had been suffering from a migraine and hadn’t had anything to eat, so I was pleased to donate some sandwiches Jacqui had prepared before we sealed the meal deal with Michele. Next to arrive was Rollo the compere / DJ for the night. We recognised each other from Searles holiday park and he immediately set to work to clear the stage of DJ gear and set up just off stage on the right hand side. Rollo was just great at working out our performance plan for the night. We would start at 8:45pm and do three sets including the crucial 11:30 – 12:15 set. We asked Rollo to compere the countdown at midnight - so all was set. Greg arrived at 6:30pm disappointed not to be first to arrive (he had missed my email bringing timings forward half an hour)! The Xmas tree on stage meant it was a bit of a squeeze and my mic ended up being a bit too close to the Bose for my liking, but we eventually got sorted and left the stage for a beer. Folks had been queuing up outside the club house and they were now let in to fill the concert room up and start brewing a jolly atmosphere. The changing room is also the washing machine room and it was very steamy with the tumble drier venting into the room - I opened the window but then it got very cold, so we got changed into the white shirts and black ties in the steam. As we came out Trevor from the Sheringham High School gig came up to wish us well and then we took ourselves off to the games room and set up camp on some leather settees. A few minutes later Dan, Michele and Ms Jacqui arrived and we passed the time with them until showtime. We took to the stage on time but Greg had lost his drum sticks so there was a bit of a delay before Rollo introduced us and we got underway with the usual “Foot Tapper” Intro. This went well (if a tad fast), the instrumental sound was fine and we got a good reception from a full room. We did our customary intro of the band members; I explained that Nige spoke the local dialect if any translations were needed and that Greg was very young as drummers go and I was to be regarded as their ‘wicked uncle Mog’ keeping them working and under control! This banter went down well and the evening looked promising. We carried on with a typical set 1 show flow. I was having a bit of trouble with feedback on my mic and I purposefully avoided anything too complex. We included a short waltz with “Around the World” and a final airing for “Rockin Around the Xmas Tree” with the red hats. We approached the end of the set with the Beatles medley which went down very well and finished with “Words” which brought quite a few slow dancers onto the floor. Rollo took over and we took a break decamping to our leather settee zone. Greg couldn’t resist a trip to the buffet and despite Nige’s old warning about ‘keeping hungry to play gigs’ ringing in our ears, we soon all joined in tasting some excellent party food. Everything was running a bit late but we were trying to get timings back in track so we were soon back on for Set 2. We opened with “Flingel Bunt” and followed up quickly with “The Searchers”. We had quite a few up and dancing so Nige took us on into “Do It Again” which went pretty well considering it hadn’t had an airing for a while. Greg had requested “Under the Moon of Love” so we set off into that next. Despite having the words and chords open in the book front of me, I had a bit of trouble remembering the verse run down chords but we got there in the end; and rhythmically it was fine and kept the crowd dancing. We took the set on with “All Shook Up” and the audience dutifully sang the answer backs on the punch line. Nige took things on again with “Lets Dance – Mony Mony” and then it was time to slow it down a bit. We did the Shadows walk for one last time with a couple of reluctant lady volunteers.

Then I announced “Halfway to Paradise” Nige did his manly answer back in the middle 8 so, for the last time, I stopped the band and made him wear the blonde wig to sing it like a girl! We were close to time now and I called for “Sweet Caroline” to finish: a good call ‘cos we got a lot of people up dancing and singing along as we finished the set. Rollo took over smoothly and we took another break until 11:30pm. We came back on to resume with Sir Cliff’s “Do You Wanna Dance” which got a few people up to dance then we went straight into “Amarillo - Hey Baby – The Twist – Hi Ho Silver Lining sequence. This filled the floor and got them singing along nicely, There was just time to do “Hippy Hippy Shake and Rip It Up” before we started the New Year countdown with the appropriate song: “Midnight Hour” at 4 minutes to – fortunately Nige spotted I was about to start in the wrong key and gestured me into the correct one. As we finished we had about a minute and a half to go and Rollo took over marshalling the crowd into a circle. Ms J was invited to join in as well. Then we did the countdown from 10 arriving at a mass ‘Happy New Year’ a few seconds late by my radio synchronised clock!




Then we started up “Old Lang Syne”. The dance floor was heaving and Greg wisely declined to speed it up much for fear of injury or riot. As we finished Nige took it on quickly to the “Hokey Cokey and Knees Up Mother Brown” and the job was all but done. We just needed a couple of numbers to finish. Nige called for “Saw Her Standing There” which went a bomb and I started “Johnny B Goode as our last number. We brought that to a fine climax for Rollo to take over and for us it was all over. We all wished each other and Rollo a ‘Happy New Year’ then we fought our way through the crowd to regroup in the foyer, getting many a well wish en route. We posed briefly for an emotional group hug then it was off to get changed.




When we emerged, Rollo was still DJing about 20 dancers who had stayed on so we kept clear for 10 minutes while he wound up proceedings. As we came back into the hall one couple wished me all the best saying the band had been just brilliant doing songs they remembered and playing and singing so well! Well it had been a good night to finish on, we had had some good gigs in the last few weeks and we could hold our heads high for a job well done. Then it was pack’n’load. A few minutes later Rollo was on his way. We bantered away a bit as we packed up – with echoes of Shakespeare’s ‘when will we three meet again’? Greg got away first – he had a young persons party to go to in North Walsham and he even declined a Werthers original in his haste to get off. Nige and I finished load up and went to sign off with Sarah and Sally who were nearly ready to close. We all agreed it had gone really well and wished each other all the best for the New Year, then Nige and I trudged back to the vehicles for a final handshake. As we set off about 2am. Ms J and I decided to go back via Norwich and made reasonable time because the fog had lifted. We finally got in at about 3:40am tired but pleased with the job well done.

Norfolk Centre Caravan Rally - Old Buckenham High School

Earlier in the day Greg had intrigued me by email announcing there would be a surprise at the gig? Carl elected to accompany me after I told him it was free beer (in the shape of cans of Carsberg). We set off in good time in very misty conditions and made slow progress to Attleborough on the A 11. There we took the Diss road southbound. It was very hard to see road signs in the dark and mist and I missed the turn for Abbey Road at Old Buckenham. Unwisely I decided to take the next turn left and see if it brought me back – it didn’t! We ended up in a dead end and we had to turn back. Finally got into the school and found my way through to the main hall where I met up with Willy the promoter. A couple of burly fellows volunteered to help us in with the gear so we set off back to the entrance and had just started to get organised when Nigel arrived followed a few minutes later by Greg. Greg revealed the ‘surprise’ by handing me a packet of Werthers Originals as the prize for being first to arrive. The gear was got in very quickly. It is a very big high stage in an echoey main school hall but no significant resonances. We were able to set up in great comfort toward the front of the stage with me reverting to my old position on the left. I set up a mic and agreed times with Willy and he showed us a large disabled toilet which we could use as a dressing room. We had a few minutes to relax in the canteen and, after a can of beer, one of the ladies there offered to make me a cup of tea – just the job. A chap called Colin came over to say how he enjoyed the band last year and could he request a country song. I agreed we’d do “Crystal Chandeliers” for him and started to glad hand another well wisher. This delayed me setting off to get changed with the boys. A few minutes later I found my way to our luxury disabled toilet dressing room to find Nigel and Greg already there with Colin the country requestor who had decided to pop in for a wee (he admitted not knowing there were several other toilets down the hall). So we stood around and bantered a bit while he relieved himself! Then we got changed into the black shirts and white ties and took to the stage a few minutes after 8pm to open up with our usual “Foot Tapper, Just One Look, Heartbeat” opening sequence.

The onstage sound on my side was just perfect. I could hear lots of musical subtleties from the Bose and it made for a better performance. The audience were very obliging giving us a good reception and, by the time we did the Everly’s “Walk Right Back – When Will I Be Loved”, we got some dancers going. We donned the red hats for “Rockin Around the Xmas Tree” and that got a very good response so we did a bit of rock’n’roll with “Blue Suede – Whole Lotta Shakin”. At this point we did our country request with Nige doing the false beginning a few times: starting with “Lilly the Pink” then “Sundarise” and some more obscure ones before we finally got underway with “Crystal Chandeliers”. The floor filled nicely with dancers and Nige took us on into “Cheating Heart” to give ‘em a run for their money! We gave them some slowies in the shape of “Ferry Cross the Mersey” and the Monkeys “Daydream Believer”. We donned the wigs for a well received “Beatles Medley”. It was all going down very well and we were confidently bantering and performing. I announced “Take It Easy” and took it into a slightly slower start. The slight easing in tempo gave me a few extra milli-seconds to make the harmoniser and guitar changes more confidently and resulted in the best we have played it. We got a warm reception from the audience which was most pleasing. We finished the set with “Words” and took a break while Willy did the raffle. Carl confirmed that the good on stage sound also producing a really great sound in the hall. Then that nice lady in the canteen offered me a coffee and I took a request from another lady for a Rolling Stones number. Some more ladies came over to ask if we could do a tango and even showed us some steps! We returned to the stage to open set 2 with Ace’s “How Long”. We hadn’t done this for a few weeks and it took me a while to get into it. But Nige was confident and in fine voice, Greg had a nice 16 beat rhythm going, the guitar solo went well enough and our performance must have sounded good in the hall ‘cos’ we got some ‘whoops’ of appreciation as we finished. We carried on with the Searchers which got the dancers going again and then I did “Jumping Jack Flash” as the Rolling Stones request. This was pretty good rhythmically but Nige and I were feeling our way through the chords for the first verse. As we came to the second verse I forgot the words and had to make something up not unlike the first verse again. I didn’t play a solo as such but we did a funky rhythm build up back to a repeat of that verse I couldn’t remember! It got a surprisingly good reception. Willy asked us to ease off on the volume and as it happened I was planning to do a strictly session with "Around the World - Lady is a Tramp" so that allowed a perfect lowering of volume while we did the waltz and quickstep. Next up was “White Xmas” so we donned the red hats and the slow dancers came up to do their bit.

Actually Nige and I finally got the vocals much as intended and it worked very well. We continued with “Raining in my Heart” to keep the slow dancers going and that went down really well as well. I took the boys on into “Move It – All Shook Up” and we started to get a lot up and dancing, so Nige took them on through “Lets Dance – Mony Mony”. We concluded the set with our usual “Halfway – Wonder – Sweet Caroline” sequence which was perfect sing’a’long for this audience. As we came off for the break a younger chap came over to tell me the band was tremendously good – he hadn’t expected anything like that and he was amazed at our versatility. We had a few minutes off and came back on to open the third set with a request for “Summertime Blues”. This got them dancing from the off and we followed up with the “Amarillo – Hey Baby – Twist” sequence to get the crowd in party mood. I warned the crowd we would be rehearsing New Years Eve at 11pm. So we got them all set up in a circle for a countdown at a minute to 11. Then we wished them a ‘Happy New Year’ and set them off singing and dancing to “Old Lang Syne” in key of G and then on into the “Hokey Cokey” in key of C. Nige started the Hokey Cokey an octave low but soon got it right; otherwise it all went very well and we carried on playing mainly dancey stuff up to 11:30pm when I announced “Johnny B Goode” as the last number. We rocked that to a conclusion getting enthusiastic applause and shouts for ‘more’; so I called for “Merry Xmas” as the encore. We played that pretty good and finished to more wild applause. Willy came up to talk the evening down and we made our way off stage to a heroic reception from well wishers from the audience. Despite the uncertainty over the band’s future I was asked for cards by several people including a fellow musician who thought we would be great for the holiday parks at Hemsby (he took all my spare cards). Willy was keen to book us for next New Years Eve, but I explained the price would be very high and, with uncertainty over the bands future, it would be best to think about it for a couple of months. Pack up went OK with Carl helping on some bits, then the brawny fellows from the club helped us out with the gear. We loaded the vehicles, I passed round the Werther’s originals, we shook hands and we hit the road. It was very misty as we set off. I chose to head back via Diss. This turned out to be a ‘long and winding road’ so we made fairly slow time in the mist only getting home at about 1:30am. On reflection I thought we had played and performed really well at this gig and the sound was obviously spot on. One of our best efforts in the year I thought – it’s strangely all coming good at the end of the band’s life cycle!

Norwich Ramada Jarvis Hotel

The weather was still very cold as I loaded up. We were playing a Xmas Eve dinner for guests at the Norwich Ramada. The brief from our agent, Mark Buller, was: arrive by 5:45 so we could be set up by 7 pm when the guests arrive for dinner. I set off at 4:30 pm allowing plenty of time to cruise over. I’d got a couple of miles to the roundabout near the sugar factory when i remembered I hadn’t picked up my sandwiches - Shock Horror! So I went right round the roundabout and set off back home. I rang up Ms J on the way and Carl was waiting outside the house with them. As I arrived I opened the passenger window and he threw the bag of food onto the passenger seat as I passed by at about 2 mph! I soon got back on route but things were running slow up to Thetford. Once on the A 11 I got up to cruising speed and made good progress to Norwich. As I arrived in Norwich the traffic was still light, but frustratingly in my way a lot of the time. So I was a few minutes late as I parked up outside the Ramada ‘City Suite’ where the event was being held. As I got out the car up comes Nige. He knew the layout of the gig from the old days and we were able to load all the gear into a big goods lift. We had all of our gear upstairs when Greg arrived. Nige went off to help him while I started set up. Just got the mains wiring in place when up comes our compere and agent Mark Buller.

He advised us to mix friendly chat with easy listening and some lightweight dancey material. We wouldn’t be playing until about 9pm so he suggested we got changed and spend time in the bar. Great acoustics on this stage. We finished set up and loaded the bags into a very cold store room where we got changed into the white shirts. We had a word with a few early arriving guests as we came out, then we headed to the bar. The people we spoke to seemed up for a mix of 50’s 60’s 70’s - things boded well.

The bar was very quiet and we were soon making ourselves at home and enjoying a beer. After a while Nige went out for a smoke and came back to report it was snowing - we had another beer! Mark came round to pick us up about ten past nine and we got on stage ready to go by 9:15 pm. Mark gave us a fantastic introduction so it was about 9:20pm as we opened up with “Foot Tapper”. It was a really good instrumental sound on-stage and we got a warm reception from a fairly full room. I introduced the band and we carried on with “Just One look”. The vocals sounded great and I could see we had the volume pitched right for the audience. We worked through “Heartbeat” and I announced we would do some songs from some well known brothers with a weight problem – the “Heavily Brothers” quipped Nigel. As we got underway with “Walk Right Back” the dance floor filled and stayed full through “When Will I Be Loved”, so I took the boys on into “Cathy’s Clown”. I meant to stop after that but Nige and Greg carried on into “Bye Bye Love” and the crowd loved it – it had turned out to be a fortunate band judgement to play an extended Everlys medley. Next up I tried “Around the World” as a waltz but there wasn’t any dance interest so we kept it short. But they did sing’a’long and gave it a good round of applause. At this point I asked the boys to don their red hats ‘cos we were gonna do a Xmas song – “Rockin’ Around the Xmas Tree” This went very well and Nige called for the Beatles to continue the entertainment angle. So we hatted down and wigged up. The audience reacted well to the Beatles intro banter and even answered back ‘John Lennon’ when I invited the people in the expensive seats to ‘rattle their jewellery’ We got underway with “8 Days a Week” and, surprisingly, the dance floor filled again. Most of them stayed with us as we bashed through the medley and it got a great round of applause. We bantered our way through the Monkees “Daydream Believer” and Ferry Across the Wensum”. We had a few slow dancers up and Nige took us on into “Raining in my Heart” which filled the floor. Then tried out some rock’n’roll with Sir Cliff’s “Move It” and “Blue Suede Shoes – Great Balls of Fire”. After rocking them around the dance floor we got them to take a break while we did the “Halfway-Wonder-Sweet Caroline” sequence to a good singalong response. I was thinking about the next number to get the dance floor busy again. I had lined up the Searchers in my mind but it was getting close to an hour and just then Mark signalled last number. I made a quick judgment to carry on with the “Searchers” as our last number for this set - this turned out to be a good call. The dance floor was packed, the band was playing with passion and I sensed that the audience loved our medlification of the hits. As we left to loud applause, Mark took over smoothly and started his Xmas Eve competition. We took to the bar for a round of tap water! We re-grouped at 10:30pm thinking most people would drift off after the competition; but to our surprise, they were still there looking hungry for a dance! So I briefed the boys to open with “Amarillo”; Mark did his introduction and we were off. Still a good on-stage sound and the dance floor filled nicely. As we finished I took the boys into “Hey Baby” which turned out to be the right choice. The audience, particularly the ladies, sang the chorus with gusto and nicely in tune. We ran on into the “Twist” and I altered a spoken ‘whats that up there’ line to ‘Is it a Santa Claus?’ to get a great ‘Yesss’ response! Nige slipped in “Lets Dance – Mony Mony” to keep them going. We played on with some more audience involvement pieces including “All Shook Up” and “Apache”. A couple of ladies came up to do some strictly come Shadows Walk dancing with me. Unfortunately I was a bit too vigorous in the last verse and I played a few ‘avant garde’ jazz notes by mistake as my Hank Marvin glasses fell off my nose. But we got through to the end in good order after that incident and we got a great response from an appreciative crowd. We did don the red hats to do “White Xmas” as a slowie but there weren’t many takers for slow dancing so we kept it short again. I wanted to do an Eagles number so we could run the Norfolk eagle banter, but I picked the wrong number with “Peaceful Easy Feeling” because that late in the evening I had real trouble hitting the high vocal notes and ended up resorting to a weak falsetto. But we still got good applause for it. I was surprised to see it was coming up to 11:30pm already so I called for Johnny B Goode as the last number. We rocked that through doing a drum and bass solo as well as a few guitar solos. The crowd had danced it through with gusto and there was a good enough response for me to call for Slade’s “Merry Xmas” as the ‘planned encore’. This went pretty well (actually I thought the best we have played it over the years) and they were still shouting for ‘more’. At this point Mark took over as compere and asked us to do one more. A lady dancing nearby asked for “Rock Around The Clock” and off we went straight into it. Since Nige took over this song I have always been caught out surprised at the ending because his ending comes up (like the record) without a repeat of the last line. After many months of only getting halfway there with the twiddly guitar ending, this was the night I got it right!!! As we came off several people came up to congratulate us on a wonderful night, saying how great it was to hear so many memorable old tunes. Mark was pleased with the good job done and we went off to get changed leaving Mark to play out the last 15 minutes with some disco. We noticed Mark had a bit of a problem with a speaker cutting out but it was too late for him to do anything about it really. As he finished we started pack up and Nige acquired some supermarket trolleys from the kitchen so we could move the gear into the lift in just a few movements. We soon had the gear down and in the cars and shook hands to a gig well done, and wished each other a merry Xmas. There was a light covering of snow on the cars but the roads were clear as we got underway. Just as we left my daughter, Claire, rang and asked me if I could pick her up in Bury on the way home – no problem I said I’ll be there in an hour! But as I got out of Norwich I ran into fog mostly OK to continue at 70 mph, but some patches I had to slow down for. I was able to test out the inbuilt hands free and voice recognition phone technology in the car to call her as I approached Bury so she could be waiting outside the night club ready for me to pick her up. It all worked perfectly and we were home by 2 am.

Wensum Community Centre Norwich

Ms J decided to come along. We had a good run over in cold, slightly damp conditions in the S-Max to Norwich. As per the last few visits I missed the turning for Hotblack Road but this time when I turned back I missed it again; so I came at it the other way off the Dereham Road finally getting to the gig at 6:45pm to find Nigel already parked there. As we got out to say hello, Richard the promoter arrived to open the club. We got the gear in quickly to keep the heat in the hall. It’s a boxy stage and I set about putting a blanket and the gear covers around the back and corners, and the acoustic tiles over the front valance, to absorb some of the adverse sound reflections at this gig. By the time Greg arrived I was set up on the right with the Bose well back. As I started my soundcheck Nige had a listen out front. He thought it was too quiet and he and Greg inched my Bose forward to give it more dispersion. Even though Nige was chesty on the night, I was let off shifting things ‘cos my sciatic leg is still troublesome - one of the benefits of being the ‘old man’ in the band! Satisfied with set up we settled down for a beer when Jen arrived with her daughters Suzy and Theresa along with Dave’s ex wife Valisha, their daughter Laura and her man Pete.

This was an excellent boost to our audience making well over 30 in total. We got changed into the white shirts and took to the stage a few minutes late to open with “Flingel Bunt”. The on-stage sound was poor as expected and I had to fiddle a bit with my settings through the first few numbers. Alan Cannell and Hilly arrived a few numbers in. Unbeknown to Greg, part of Alan’s reason for visiting was to check him out as a potential drummer for his band ‘Shake rattle and Roll’. Meanwhile we continued with a relatively dancey set 1. In fact the only mid-set slowey we did was: “Ferry Cross the Wensum”. After the first few numbers we had quite a few dancers up: these were people who knew how to dance (particularly the modern jive) and I adjusted the set to cope; bringing in “All Shook Up” and “Rockin’ Around the Xmas Tree” (complete with Santa hats) to keep things rock’n’roll. We followed up with a wigged “Beatles Medley” getting a big round of applause. Things were going reasonably well and I slipped in “Take It Easy”, which got a good response. Then we finished with “Words”. During the break we had a bit of socialising to do: the younger ladies were knocking a few drinks back and were dressed up Christmassy: with glowing earrings, antlers etc. While we were off, I was approached by one of the dancing chaps who had a few requests. Great - we could do most of them and I promised we would slip them in the next set. We opened with Raymond Frogatt’s “Under the Sun” dedicated to Dave. This was well received and we carried on straight into “Tambourine Man”. This too went down well and we got stuck into a good performance of the “Searchers Medley” before starting a sequence of requests starting with “Love Potion No Nine”. We played this close to perfect then carried on with another request for “Brown Eyed Girl” in a slightly cha cha cha rhythm. After a little break while we established the key, we continued with yet another request for “Under the Boardwalk” which filled the floor nicely. Next up was a relatively unsuccessful attempt to do “White Xmas” in C in which Nige and myself were confused as to who was singing Bob or Bing’s parts. Must discuss it before the next outing! I took it up a bit tempo wise with “Move It”. This filled the floor again and we followed up with another request for “Rock Around The Clock”. We continued with the two requested Johnny Kidd and Pirates numbers: “Shakin All Over and I Can Tell”. These went pretty well and kept the dancers going but we only had a few minutes left on my set timing so we went into our usual set 2 closing sequence with: “Halfway to Paradise, Wonder of You and Sweet Caroline”. Despite my pushing it, we again started to rally before the final guitar break in “Sweet Caroline” – we managed to look around and I think Greg has got it now! We came off to great applause and took a long break for the raffle. The band didn’t win but I one of our band of supporting girls did. The girls had enjoyed several drinks by now and were getting ‘quite lively’. Greg enjoyed a long chat with Theresa and Jacqui did a bit of counselling for most of them. Richard came over as we resumed for the final set, he requested “Johnny B Goode” and could we keep it going to 11:30pm. No problem I said and we opened up with Sir Cliff’s “Do You Wanna Dance”. Greg got the start and tempo spot on and the dancers filled the floor. We carried on with “Rip It Up, Hippy Hippy Shake and Hi Ho Silver Lining” to keep things going then I called for: “All Right Now” ‘cos I had the guitar FX already set up. This went well and kept quite a few on the floor. Next up was “Pretty Woman” dedicated to the ladies. With confidence high we had a go at “Uptown Girl”. At the last moment I realised I would need the music for this and was busy turning pages as Nige and Greg got underway. I ended up joining in without the music and, we were soon at the dreaded middle section. I got hopelessly lost and played some howlers – sorry boys! About halfway through I got on the right page and we played the second half of the song in good order. Good job most people had had a drink and didn’t notice too much! Actually, I looked up, and I could see the audience had thinned out quite a bit after the raffle, and we were close to time, so I called for “Johnny B Goode” to finish. As I started the intro riff, Richard came out to have a dance. We rocked along nicely and as we ended there were a few lacklustre shouts for more. But there weren’t many paying people left so we decided to call it a night. Theresa and Laura came up and asked if they could sing something, so I said OK and left them to it on my mic. They’ve got nice voices but had had too much to drink to do anything proper. Meanwhile we got changed. The word had got out that the band was splitting up and we had to field a few discussions from well wishers as to why and when. Richard said it was a pity because we were such a good band. Apparently, in the early days of the club’s re-launch Dave had helped him a lot with ideas and advice and he was grateful to the band for a great re-launch a few years ago. We finally got packed and loaded at just after 12:30am. I handed out Xmas prezzies for the boys, thanking them for their loyalty (and saying don’t get me anything please lads!) Greg needed to be directed to a garage to fuel up ‘cos he was on empty. Jacqui and I got away next. We had a quiet run home in the cold with occasional patches of freezing fog. Finally got to bed about 2am. We have a weekend off now before we have to all pull together for the last few gigs.