ReTrio at the Blue Boar Walsham le Willows

Torrential rain was promised as we set off in warm but cloudy conditions for the 10 mile run North to Walsham le Willows.  It's a long straggling village and it seemed like ages before Chris the bass indicated right and we pulled into the pub car park. We parked conveniently for the front door and entered a quite old pub - oak beams and the like!  Liz the landlady said sorry but they weren't ready for us just yet, they had been re-arranging things to open up the back bar.  But she got one of her guys started on shifting furniture to make space for us in an alcove with a small area of wooden floor suitable for dancing.  We had most of our gear in when Chris the drum arrived all in fluster.  His work hours have changed and he doesn't finish 'til 6pm so just time for a shower and a bite and then on the road! I organised a beer to help calm him down and Chris helped him in with some of the drum bits.   In the meantime, they had pushed a long settee right to the back and we were to play in front of it.  The great thing was I could sit in comfort sorting out the PA wiring instead of bending double in a dark corner as normal! 

 

I powered up just as Chris was finishing drum set up and it all worked except the guitar synth.  I tried all the obvious things before I realised I hadn't plugged the synth output into the PA.  With it all working I looked around and  the pub was surprisingly full - a good omen?  I looked outside and it was raining torrentially  - maybe not,  I started to hum "Bad Moon Risin".  We decided not to bother with a sound check.  Liz came over while I was having a beer and asked for us to start at 9pm and play through to midnight:  she advised us to keep it rocking and guaranteed there would be a full dance floor if we did.  Oh dear I thought - the first set only has a couple of dancey songs in it.  When the boys came back we discussed how we might respond to this and agreed to start off as usual but drop in some of the rock n rollers if we did get some dance action.  Actually quite a few of the people arriving were dining as well as drinking.  We enjoyed another beer and with the pub being rather busy I wasn't surprised when Liz came over at 8:30ish and said we could start as soon as we were ready.  By the time we were changed and plugged in it was 8:45pm and it took them a while to switch the house music off.  So it was about ten to 9 as we opened up with "FBI".  It sounded OK and looking up I could see we had clearly grabbed the audience's attention.  Apart from Chris missing the change to D in the high guitar bit we played it well and got a good round of applause as we finished.  "Hello North Walsham?" I quipped and got a laugh.  Applause is rare in pub gigs so I relaxed into usual show mode and carried on with our bantery, easy listening, history of retro music set.   By and large it went down well.  There was no dancing but lots of applause and even some laughter in the right places.  I did drop in "Alright Mama" in a dancey pace but there were no takers.  Things sounded well enough and at the 50 minute point,  I chose to finish with a short version of "Nights in White Satin" for a change - seemed to go alright and I was relieved my voice was in good fettle for the high notes after the last several weeks of a phlegmy cough.

During the break Liz came over and looked me squarely in the eyes and said the locals were bemused by the entertaining show and we needed to 'rock it up'.  I said we would do our best and I briefed to boys to be prepared for something different.  Chris the bass said he needed to sort out the compressor on the bass amp which he didn't think was working right.  I explained that he would need to turn the volume up if he was using compression i.e. it squeezes sound down in volume and you then need to raise the master volume -  but he still wasn't happy with it as we opened with "Do You Wanna Dance".  No they didn't want to dance to this!  And I muddled the words in slight despair.  We need to lay down a stronger on the beat rhythm to get them dancing to this stuff I thought to myself.  I had high expectation for the next song "You Really Got Me".  We did indeed 'rock it up' and I did a good solo over a powerhouse bass line (so good we did it twice);  but we got no dancing and even the applause was getting a bit muted now.  Actually the pub was now pretty full - some younger people had gathered near the bar and most of the over 40s were still there at the tables. Nothing to lose by trying a bit of sing a long?  So we tried "Daydream Believer and Delilah" - these worked quite well and we got a good response - but no dancing. We tried "Bad Moon and that got some dance action at last. A couple of ladies came over and started jigging around. I jumped eagerly into a rock n roll sequence of "Move It, Summertime Blues and Jailhouse Rock" to keep them going,  but we never had more than 4 people dancing at any one time?    We lost them with "Proud Mary" which I got going in the wrong key - doh!  Fortunately, we were able to fix it by the time we got into the main singing bit.  Our dancing ladies came back for "Don't Stop and Hot Love" and were quite enthusiastic about the latter.  We dropped in "Honkey Tonk Women" from the reserves and that went so well I called for "Shakin All Over" to finish the set.  This was strangely ragged.  I couldn't say any of us were particularly bad,  but it was quite untogether.  We staggered on to the solo and Chris forgot to do the drum break.  I started to count us back in and he threw a desperate fill in to get us back into the song.  I was glad to finish this one and take a break.  As we stopped for the break the two ladies (Julie and her friend) came over and started peppering us with requests for numbers by bands I do like e.g. Led Zeppelin,  Pink Floyd,  Eagles,  Genesis, The Who - of course none of these we could play as a band even if I knew a bit of guitar. I plinked a couple of beginning riffs on guitar and they got excited so in the end we negotiated that we would have a go at "Peaceful Easy Feeling"  if they would dance.  So it was that, after a well earned pint of water, we returned to open with "Peaceful Easy Feeling".  We had only once played this once before -  at our first try out band meeting a couple of years previously.  Chris the drum was confident,  but Chris the bass said best he could do would be to just have a go at playing along in E - 'OK lets do this' I implored!   Actually we got off to a good start and the ladies were singing along and clearly pleased we had gone out of our way to play their song.  Chris wisely kept things low on the bass as we entered the chorus with a few minor chords in it that he didn't know.  I managed to forget the words to verse 2 but made something appropriate up.  I recall the harmoniser sounded quite good in the chorus. The solo went well apart from one muffed note and we finished in good enough order for a little round of applause.  Our little group of dancers were delighted and stayed with us as we played the more dancey sequences from set 3.  Strangely we managed to miss "Sweet Caroline and Mustang Sally" which had been on my lips as we started,  but we did fit in Status Quo's "Caroline".  Most of which I remembered and the boys followed OK.  Even though we played it at the right tempo, it was too fast for the dancers who went to get another drink!  The pub had emptied after 11:30pm and we wound down towards the finish with "All Right Now".  The two Chris's asked for "American Trilogy" pointing out we had nothing to lose; I thought my voice was still in rather good shape so we will do it.  Currently I do have a problem negotiating the sound changes as we approach the flute solo and on this occasion I let the strings go too early;  but I did get the flute bit spot on.  Vocally I was fine.  After that, at ten to midnight,  with only a few people left,  I called "Johnny B Goode" as our last number.  We rattled that out and earned our bits of applause from our few supporters then it was all over.  I popped out to the car to change my shirt and came back strangely elated.  I put this down to it being the first performance in two months I hadn't been wrestling with voice problems from that cold back in April!  We fielded a few more questions and comments from our little band of supporters as we packed up.  Julie asked if I had enjoyed it and I had to answer 'Yes I had.  And, even though I thought we weren't the right band for the venue,  I had enjoyed the challenge and thought we played pretty well considering'  Chris didn't push Liz for another gig as we packed and loaded up.  Chris the drum rightly said 'leave it for a week or so;  some people liked it and their comments will be absorbed; and then try her again.'  But I don't think we will be back - we are too sweet for the place.  However, she does now know what we are like and some folks there clearly enjoyed the change,  so who knows?  Easy run home, then cocoa and toast before bed.  I remained strangely elated for a few days after!

ReTrio at the Limes Hotel Needham Market

Drove round to the Chris the bass's house for a 6:30 2 car convoy to the gig.  Chris has recently acquired a Ford Kuga which has a lot more room than his previous gigging car - i.e. Bridget's Corsa!  Nice sunny and warm evening as we pulled into the parking space in front of the Hotel.  Not too bad a load in from there;  a few steps lead into the Hotel front door,  then it's a few yards down a corridor and left into the performance bar.  Quite small really but you could squeeze 50 in I suppose.  There is a much bigger function room round the back and we used that to store bags and get changed.   We were well advanced on set up when Chris the drum and Trudy arrived and filled the room up with drums. He had found a car park at the back- a longer load in but no steps.  We completed set up and it all worked first time! We sound checked with a couple of verses of "Smilin" as usual.  The alcove we were playing in had some bassy resonances,  (a bit like the Tyneside at Sheringham).  Given more time I would have filtered them out on the DEQ,  but there were people already in the bar enjoying a meal and I was being a bit lazy;  figuring a bigger audience would absorb it or we would play at a slightly lower volume.  The audience didn't materialise however.  There were only about 10 in the bar as we opened up with "FBI".  We got a bit of applause for that,  but not much response on the next few.  I thought the sound was OK and eventually I got some response to my between song banter!  Jacqui had washed and combed our wigs for the Beatle duo-dley,  so we could banter round that - straight out the dishwasher I quipped!  It was during the follow up Searchers duo-dley that the power went off.  Strange -  I didn't notice a noise limiter?  It turned out that our power breaker had tripped.  I reset it -  the PA took a minute to reboot and then we were just starting the next song when it tripped again.  So I took it out and we plugged straight in the mains.  That got rid of the problem and we finished off the set with "Runaround Sue".  In the break one of the couples that had been enjoying the show apologised but said they had had a busy day and had to go - so we were down to 8 as we opened set 2 with "Do You Wanna Dance".  Although the sound wasn't great we were playing well enough and I did make a point of engaging with the few people there when the opportunity arose - but it was fairly heavy going. One wag said he would like Johnny Cash's "Walk the Line" 'cos he was likely going to prison!  We obliged with "Folsom Prison"  - I effected a Telecaster sound by using the bridge / mid pickup and a short echo on the Roland FX unit.  It all sounded not too bad at all considering it is not a regular in the set.  The 2 Chris's are clearly at home with this railroad country rhythm. The same guy then asked for "Hotel California" but we had to decline with this band.  We played a fairly long set 2 and a few more people arrived so instead of finishing with "Hot Love" at the 45 minute point I added "Wonder of You".  Both of these went down very well with the 12-15 in the audience and singing "Wonder" at full voice I felt I was largely over the vocal problems of recent weeks.  In the short break Chris explained that we had strict instructions to finish at 11:45; it was already 10 past so we agreed to get straight back on.  We bashed out a good half an hour of the faster songs in our set 3 list then finished bang on time with "Johnny B Goode".  Not a good night for the hotel - they had bar staff and 2 bouncers to pay as well as the band.  Chris reported that the landlady was relieved the band on Saturday had cancelled and largely blamed the football for the poor attendance.  But it seemed that none of the bands were bringing in much in the way of crowds and it was likely she would stop the live music.  Shame really,  it could be a nice intimate venue with about 40 people in there.  From our point of view it was 'paid practice' - and we are still making too many unforced errors so we do need it! Tear down and load up went very quickly so I was on the road by 12:30am and home just before 1am.

Sian's Doctor Party at Bar Humbug Bristol

Niece Sian had asked for some muso performances at her Doctorate party and I had willingly agreed to join in.  I came prepared with a small PA and my Levinson Blade Strat-a-like.    Bar Humbug has a small function room and Carl from the 'Controversials' set up a small (looked like Behringer) PA.  Claire's boyf' Nick (a BBC Sound Engineer) helped set it up soundwise and I plugged the guitar in to get a muddy sound.  Nick reported a dodgy tweeter,  so I switched in the top-boost pre-amp on the Levinson and 'lo and behold'  there was an acceptable Strat sound albeit at lowish volume - but enough for the gig!  After a few beers, I joined in the 'Sanders Band' (Joey Cahon,  Paul Acoustic Guitar,  Roy Harp and Simon Vocals) playing Robert Palmer's "Doctor Doctor" to open the proceedings.  We followed with "Hoochie Coochie Man" and then "Rescue Me" featuring a young lady called Liz.  Then I did 3 of my selection with Joey: "Alright Doctor" (a version of 'alright mama'),  Guitars Cadillacs and I got Simon up to sing "Brown Eyed Girl" with me a la my own party in 2013.  Next up was Carl and Matt from the 'Controversials'  Matt had a tasty Yamaha APX 700 11 12 string and the aim was to do some Beatles songs.  I found out that Matt is a real Beatle enthusiast and plays them in the original keys so I joined in on guitar and harmonies on "One After 909,  Can't Do That, Love Me Do / Should Have Known Better (with Roy on Harp)".  Next they did a "Teenage Kicks" by the Undertones.  I just checked chords with Matt and joined in that as well.  Once in the swing we carried on with  "Sunny Afternoon,  Saw Her Standing There and finished with A Little Help from my Friends"  I reckon I got 90% of the chords right but had to sing most of the harmonies low 'cos the Beatle keys are so high!  We carried on drinking to midnight then got a taxi back to Roy's house.  We had a slight hangovers the next morning and we set off for Bury after a big fried breakfast.  Got home about 5pm and was tired for a few days!

ReTrio at the Owners Lounge Hopton Holiday Village

Chris had set this gig up with Lee Derbyshire, the Entertainment Manager at the park, to demonstrate our potential for the various performance stages across the whole site.  We wouldn't get paid as such,  but In return we would receive 3 big caravans for the Friday and Saturday and we could bring family / friends to enjoy the facilities for the weekend.  As it happened I had a party in Bristol to go to on the Saturday,  so I donated my share of the caravans to the two Chris's to invite family.   This particular gig would be in the owners lounge on a 'World Cup Special' evening with a mix of quiz,  comedy and band.  Moreover,  we were asked to come prepared to play the "Match of the Day"  theme to introduce the compere and other performers.  We had had a couple of practice sessions prior to the gig where we ran this through and tightened up some of the show to be able to play a slick 60 minutes on the night.  The only snag was, nearly 2 months after the cold I had,  I was still suffering a low grade infection around my voice box and low fitness - but I was confident I could do an hour before my voice gave out. 

On the day it was sunny and warm and Ms J decided to enjoy a spell at the seaside and accompany me.  We set off at 2:20pm aiming for a 4pm arrival.  It was a good trip and, even though I took a wrong turn ending up at Great Yarmouth and having to head South to Hopton, it was just a few minutes after 4pm as we rolled up at reception.  I rang Chris the bass and he came round to escort me to the gig.  Good job too 'cos its a big park!  The two Chris's gave me a lift in with the gear;  we had to carry it around a bowling green into the Owners Club and upstairs to the lounge.  Chris did find a lift to shift the bulk of it. It was a nice surprise to see that Chris had picked up the 2 Ashdown 4x10 cabinets he had ordered (trading in the Harkte stack) - it looked gorgeous with a slight blue sheen to it.  It does add a little something (a bit more toppy jazz bass click) to the already excellent bass sound but the main thing is that it really looks the part with its retro badges and dials.  With the boys already set up it only took me an hour to get things working and we were doing a sound check with "Smiling" at 5:30pm. 

 

 

 

All sounded good and everything worked so we retired for some free tea and coffee courtesy of the Owners Club.  Jacqui and I went off for a walk round the site while the boys retired to their caravans.  We were well limbered up by the time we got back for a final relax and sandwich before our briefing meet up at 7pm.  Chris the bass led the discussion with Lee as to what we were to do and I appointed him stage director for the night.  Then we went downstairs to the unisex toilets and changing room and got changed into red,  white and blue patriotic colour tees for the World Cup Event starting at 8pm. As we took our places the band had at least 10 family and friends in the audience and the rest of the upstairs lounge was filling to capacity.  At 8pm we opened up with the "Match of the Day" theme to bring Lee on to start the show.  He made a brief intro of the event and then asked the band to play a couple of songs.  We obliged with "FBI" which went well enough (if a little nervy).  We finished to good applause and I briefly acknowledged how delighted we were to be playing to them on this special night. Then I quipped about the band that was riding high in the charts last time England won the World Cup in 1966;  this linked us into a wig up for a little Beatle medley of "8 Days a Week into Can't Buy Me Love".  All in all this was a bit nervy but we got a very good response from an audience clearly out to enjoy themselves.  Finally it was "Match of the Day" theme to hand back to Lee.  The event got underway proper and it was a mix of facts and comedy:  every time Lee brought someone up we played the theme music and Chris the drum finished it with a loud 'goa a l'!  The show finished with an anarchic 'French?' pizza making demo - we were prepared for some dough to fly our way but it was all ok - with just a sprinkling of flour on the floor in front of us!  Lee put some muzak on for an artistes 10 minute break and we got changed.  We put on black shirts,  white ties matching the white belts on our black trousers and returned for a 50 minute set. 

We started off with "Apache" with a bit of a Shadows walk in the flour sprinkles on the floor in front of us.  The guitar sounded good and the boys were nicely balanced.  (later Jacqui told it was a really good band sound in that hall)  Nice applause from an experienced audience.  We linked Sir Cliff's backing band into "Do You Wanna Dance" and then did a bit of country with Chris the drum singing "Ring of Fire".  I could see that was going well by the tapping along and we did get a big round of applause for it.  Next was some rock n roll with "Rock Around the Clock".  I got off too fast on this,  but there had been no dancing,  so we played it through at this pace - I managed the solo somehow!  However, it was well received and I carried on to do my bit about "Is Sue in the room?" to link us into "Runaround Sue"  Nerves had settled somewhat and we did a good performance.  I had been working on the boys to join in on a 'do wap' vocal arrangement - no harmonies as such but with the 50s echo the unison vocal backing helps build the atmosphere.  I was pleased with the response and we progressed into the 60's with "Happy Together".  Chris the drum and I had agreed an 8 bar intro at the previous practice,  but on the night he carried it on too long - I think he has trouble getting his first vocal phrase teed up in his mind?  But,  once in the song proper it was a creditable performance with the harmoniser doing sterling service to create a good illusion of Turtles harmonies. Again very well received.  Next we did our little Searchers medley of "Needles Pins into Walk in Room".  As the audience applauded,  Chris the bass called for "Delilah" I signalled 'soon' and introduced "Daydream Believer".  Now this got the crowd singing along nicely -  but then I messed up the arrangement finishing the song a bit early.  Nothing the audience would notice and they clearly loved singing along.  So now it was time for "Delilah".  I am pleased to report that,  after many performances, we finally played this through as arranged with no muffed chords or words and all the strings and echo effects in the right places.  Chris the drum sang it really well on the night and, of course,  the audience joined in and we got a massive round of applause as we finished!  I skipped "Saturday Night" and took us into "Sweet Caroline" to keep the atmos going.  It was the right song choice and the audience joined in enthusiastically;  but it was in this song that my voice started to gum up. I had trouble getting the low and high notes.  However,  being aware of the problem I could back off at the right places and the audience would fill in - so not too noticeable and very well received!  I made my mind up to tackle American Trilogy" while I still had some voice.  I got into a difficulty getting it started as I tried to clear my throat and then forgot the opening words.  But once that was through I sang it OK.  I had to delay the flute solo a bar because of poor hand co-ordination switching sounds at the bottom of the Godin,  then It was into the big finale which I was delighted the audience were singing 'cos my voice was getting quite croaky.  I needn't have worried because we got a fantastic response - as good as I get with any band and most rewarding!  We were on the homeward straight now with a dancey sequence starting with "Pretty Woman thru Hey Baby, Hi Ho and All Right Now"  As it happened we didn't get any dancing but we continued to go down really well as we approached the end of the set.  Lee signalled last number so we finished with "Johnny B Goode".  My voice was really croaky now but we had a good rhythm.  We did our outro's with each of us getting big applause and we got another big response from one table when I mentioned we were from Bury St Eds.  I skipped the final guitar solo and we ran through to the end getting a massive roar of approval and shouts for more as we finished.  Lee the compere took over and got us to encore with a final "Match of the Day" and we were done.

I left Chris the bass to manage the post performance meet and greet while I took a few minutes to recover in the dressing room.  Chris reported that the management were most impressed and were keen to book us back and he had given a lot of cards out!  They boys very helpfully pitched in to tear down and load up my gear  (they were leaving theirs overnight) and Jacqui and I were on our way before midnight.  It was a smooth ride home and we were in bed with cocoa by 1:30am.  Bit of a lie in the next morning before we set off to Bristol.

ReTrio at Home Guard Club Bury St Edmunds

We had been booked to play here again just over a year since our band debut.  With the closure of a couple of pubs in the immediate area,  the club was doing well apparently - and it was cup final day.   I met up with Chris bass en route and followed him to the club.  Lovely sunny warm day as we drew up.  Chris the drum already had the fire door open and was just completing load in (assisted by his son-in-law).   Chris the bass parked on the pavement and started his load in and I waited briefly for Chris drum to finish before reversing into his place.  It's an easy load in straight onto the playing area and we soon had everything up and running.  We didn't bother with a sound check 'cos we were still confident after the previous night and I was soon enjoying a lager watching extra time between Hull and Arsenal. 

 

 

There was a bit of a changeover of people as the football finished and those that came in seemed motivated to be there to see the live band.  Chris the drum advised white tees and black waistcoats and an 8:45 start.  We were following the same set list as the previous night and we were relaxed about the gig.  There were about 30 in the room as we opened up with "FBI".  From the off we got a good reception and the improvised bantering worked as well as the night before.  I think the on stage sound here was even better and we were a tad slicker through the set.  A few more people arrived as we approached the end of the set and,  as we had a good repartee going and my voice was still not 100%,  I went for "Green Grass" to finish.  A lot joined in so we finished well pleased with the set.  Trudy, who hadn't seen the re-vamped set 1 before came over and said how improved it all was. It being quite warm Chris the drum had soaked his tee shirt and needed a change!  They adopted red tees but I only had blue so we weren't quite matching for our return. Wow a few more had arrived and the place looked busy!
 
We opened with "Apache and got a great reception for the walk.  The sound was spot on when I was out front.  And the rest of the night went much the same pattern - we had a very good gig with lots of audience interaction,  bits of dancing, general good atmosphere and a very sweaty drummer. One mistake I must note was my loss of a brain cell at the start of "Sweet Caroline" - I just couldn't remember the starting note was A in the key of C.  We had to stop and re-start but the audience, all lined up for a dance, took it in good heart.  We encored with "Born to be Wild" which was even wilder than the previous night, but well received despite that.  As we were packing up the club chairman came over and thanked each of us for a very entertaining night.  Then it was a 10 minute drive home, cocoa toast and bed!  Voice was a bit shot the next day but I was in good heart.  We have a few weeks off now for hols and will resume in early June!

ReTrio at Toppers Hemsby

It was a virus! A particularly nasty one that first made me lose my voice, second gave me a stinking cold and finished with a dose of the Norfolk cough.  I was still suffering with a phlegmy voice box 4 weeks later when a last minute gig came in to replace a failed duo at Toppers.  We thought about doubling up into two cars,  but in the end we elected to do a convoy of the 3 vehicles meeting Chris the drum en route to Thetford.  It was a nice sunny warm day for a trip to the coast.  Chris the bass and I got away on time at 5:30pm but soon ran into traffic at Ingham meaning we were late at our rendezvous (Indian Restaurant near Barnham on West side of A134)  But Chris wasn't there - being stuck in the same traffic!  We saw him rolling towards us a few minutes later and we sneaked in ahead of him to form the convoy.  Chris the bass led us over the Nun's bridges and it was a smooth if somewhat slow, run from there to Norwich.  Chris the drum wants to avoid strain on his old Mondeo engine so we potter along about 60-65mph.  Once on the A47 we picked up again but then ran into road works.  We made fair time after that so we arrived at the Sundowners caravan park at 7pm as planned.  It took a couple of false trails to actually park up at the club - but it wasn't open yet.  Chris went in search of the guvnor when he appeared from a nearby caravan and opened up the back doors for us.  He soon found Chris at the front and we started an easy load in. 

The performance hall looked more the part than when I played there 4 years ago with a pro lighting set up and furnished much more for dancing and drinking.  Mathew the guvnor explained they were an adults only club and we would need to be prepared to play through to midnight.  No problem we said - we'll do three 45s from 9 ish.  Fine he said!  We got the gear in and Mathew was very interested to see we were using Bose - only seen it with solo artistes so far he said.  Mick the compere arrived,  introduced himself and said he would take care of house music; and there would be a Cardingo session after 10pm to fit in.  A handful of people had drifted in as we set up. Chris the drum would be using my spare Shure SM58 'cos I wasn't happy with his mic last time out.   I had a bit of trouble powering up the PA - turned out I had forgotten to switch the Bose's on!?  But once over that we did half of "Smiling" to test the PA.  Sounded OK to me and I spotted Mathew listening intently at the back.  He didn't say anything which I took to be a good thing? 

With that all working we were able to get beers in and relax for an hour.  I asked for a lager and Chris the bass came back with a Kronenberg.  He didn't know it is strong stuff - so I would have to watch it and just have a half next time.  Had a laugh in the dressing room when Chris the drum put a kid's entertainer bear's head on.  We got changed in a relaxed manner into the red shirts n black waistcoats (no ties 'cos Chris the drum was hot).   There were about 40 in as we came on stage just before 9pm.  Mick gave us a good intro and we were off.  I had changed the set around a bit to liven it up and we opened with FBI,  the idea being to waggle the guitars a little as we play fairly up tempo.  Actually it went well and we got a good round of applause for it.  Next up was "Heartbeat" again (slightly more up tempo than usual) and it garnered a good response.  We eased it down for "Smiling and Groovy Kind of Love"  But I picked up on the announcements.  I was pleased with the response - the people out there must have been able to hear me well and I could hear their comments back enough to banter a little.  So far so good.  We did our 3 songs to introduce the members of the band ("Ring of Fire, Act Naturally & Eyes at Me For") and we all got good rounds of applause.  We followed with a bit of banter about rock n rollers slashing cinema seats then into "Rock Around the Clock - Blue Suede Shoes".  Again well received.  Next up we pinched the start of the old Foot Tapper Beatle medley by putting on the wigs for Eight Days A Week - Can't Buy Me Love"  and we got a good audience response to that bit of old showmanship I thought.  We followed this up with a well received medlification of "Needles and Pins into Walk In the Room".  There hadn't been much dancing up to this point and as the lead into the next number,  I asked if there were any ladies named Sue in the room.  'Yes' said one of two ladies towards the front.  So we bantered for a few seconds before getting underway with "Runaround Sue"   And a few got up to dance through this and the following "All Shook Up"   Time was up signalled Chris.  I didn't fancy any of the high singing finale songs so I announced "Green Green Grass" as the last number  -  also it seemed right for this crowd to sing-a-long with,  and so it turned out.  We finished the set to good applause - job well done I thought.
 

During the break Mick did his Cardingo session - he is pretty good at this compere / gaming role and it seemed to go well. By now there was probably over 60 in the hall and, although it was far from full, by our standards it was busy.  We came on for Set 2 starting with a well trodden walk through "Apache".  We definitely got a good round of applause for this and as usual I was able to gauge the sound which I thought was impressive: guitar and bass pretty spot on maybe mic up the bass drum next time?  Chris the bass had been using Dan's old Warwick bass amp at practice and I had set a more Fender Jazz bass tone on it with a hint of toppy click. I think he has set up his Ashdown amp similar 'cos it sounded very Fender Jazz but with a really solid bottom in this hall - I thought it was great!    We carried on with "Do You Wanna Dance,  Happy Together and Daydream Believer" as sing-a-longs and then I introduced Chris the drum for "Delilah".  Well of course the audience joined - very loudly too!  Chris later blamed the audience doing chicken noises in the chorus for throwing him out of kilter with the arrangement.  He completely missed the second verse and I had to hurry into the solo to keep things going.  The audience were perplexed 'cos they were singing it correctly!  Anyway Chris, a bit panicked, then went for the final verse,  got the words wrong again and we drew it to a big ending close.  We bantered our way out of it saying 'they knew it better than Chris';  but it was clearly one of those errors the audience did notice!  We quickly got underway with "Bad Moon, Move It,  Summertime Blues, Proud Mary".  My voice was beginning to break so I elected to do "American Trilogy" at this point.  It went really well and we got a massive response for it.  Following up I made a few mistakes with "Dont Stop" but the last few numbers went pretty well.   I still had a quite a tight throat,  so,  rather than do the usual "Wonder of You", I was happy to finish with Chris the drum singing "Achy Breaky Heart" for a change.  I thought we played it OK for first time out with Chris singing it and there were a few dancers. 

Mick took over smoothly while we had a short break  (reminds me to note how good he was at subtly changing lighting as the show progressed). As set 2 had progressed I had developed a bit of a bantering relationship with the two sisters Sue and Pam right at the front, so I went over to thank them for their support.  It was Sue that said she was delighted to hear us doing "Proud Mary" the Tina Turner way,  'cos she had chosen it for her funeral!!  But they said the band was great,  loved the song choices and entertainment and thought we were very good!  We came back on about 11:25pm for a shortish set 3.  This is mainly dancey and the songs link in so there's not so much banter.  After our last number around midnight: "Johnny B Goode" we got a big round of applause (by our standards) and Mick asked us if we wanted to do another.  'Yes' we said and we asked the audience if they wanted a fasty or a slowey.  It came back fasty so off we ventured into "Born to be Wild"  Chris the drum has some weird tempo changing heavy metal interpretation that just makes it a freak out. Still we had an enjoyable jam session and the audience was merry enough to appreciate it this time - but I will have to get the band more disciplined on this one!

We were quite elated with the gig after so many unresponsive pubs but,  in truth,  we had fared no better than the Foot Tappers would have and my voice was well below par; so it would be the guvnor's view as to whether we would get booked back - he told Chris he would ring but that could mean anything.  Once loaded up we set off and I looked in my mirror expecting to see past my suit bag if Chris the drum was following.  No suit bag!!  Fortunately, we had only gone a few yards and I was able to dash back and get the bag which had fallen under a table.  It was about 12:45am when we got going again and caught up with Chris the bass waiting at the entrance And then we set off on the long drive home.  Chris the drum was even slower on the way back and Chris the bass lost us by Norwich, so I trundled along at about 60mph with Chris the drum in tow.  It was about 2:30am when I got home and still quite mild.  But I was ready for bed so skipped the cocoa on this occasion.

 

Good Friday ReTrio at The Lucky Break Bury St Eds

We had the grandson and family over for Easter,  but somehow I managed to avoid getting diverted into a pub on the gig day.  However, I was feeling viral with a bit of a sniffy nose - could be tree pollen borne down to Bury on the Northerly wind from Thetford Forest?  Nephew Phil helped me load up and at 6:15pm I followed Chris the bass down town to the gig.  We were able to park up close to the short flight of stairs up to the club.  Chris the drum was already parked and setting up.  Getting the gear in wasn't too bad;  but we wasted a bit of time looking for Chris's keys (left on a table upstairs!) before looking at set up.  We needed to run power quite a long way down from the bar and over the fire escape for the band amplification.  For the lights Chris ran a lead over the other side of the club from the TV socket.   Without looking too closely we could see there would be floor space for a Bose each side of a rather large alcove; and we positioned the Bose bases one each side before loading the bass stack into position.  So far so good.  Then I came to fit the speaker poles to the base unit and it became immediately apparent that the Bose poles would be an inch too tight to fit in under the low ceiling.  I took a few minutes to think through the options and decided we would try it with the half poles.  The room wasn't massive and if we needed more oomph I could bring in a Line 6.  So we completed set up and sound checked.  Despite the half height Bose there was a definite feedback ring that we would have to work within.  Actually, it sounded OK in our playing positions and listening out front to the mics I thought it was a bit less toppy but it would be a good enough!   One problem emerged though:  Chris the drum's SM58 clone mic sounded excessively bassy and I couldn't fix it with the simple EQ on the Stagescape mixer.  Eventually I had to drill down into the advanced EQ and fix it there.  Whilst I felt it was good enough for this small gig I made a mental note that it would benefit from a complete re-set up when we get the opportunity.  In fact I am wondering if this particular mic is failing and changing characteristics on the way because it sounds much bassier than Chris the bass's identical mic?  I reckon I might get Chris the drum to use my spare Shure SM58 next time out.

 

 

In the meantime, several of Chris the drum's band supporters had arrived and with Jacqui and nephew Phil arriving about 8:30 there were about 25 in the club as we approached 9pm show time. Not full for sure,  but there was a positive atmosphere of enthusiastic anticipation.   I found an alcove near the toilets to get changed into our home strip of white tees and black waistcoats / trousers.  As we took to the stage.  I spotted that the mixer had entered a rare software glitch phase I had occasionally seen before.  It doesn't affect the sound,  but the mixing sensors glow blue instead of the green and not all of them light up.  Not good for making adjustments on the fly so I powered it down and re-booted without fuss as we took our positions.  We opened with Flingel Bunt and I thought the guitar sound was a bit weaker than normal.  I put it down to the half poles but then noticed that the guitar pick up selector was in position 4 rather than 5 - so I was getting the blend of the neck and middle pick ups rather than just the neck which has a commanding sound.  I switched it for the last verse and we ended in good order.    "Just One Look" and "Heartbeat" allowed me enough time to make some adjustments to Chris the drum's mic to kill hints of toppy feedback.  At last I was able to take stock of the audience reaction - actually we were going down pretty well and getting appreciative applause!  I relaxed into a good bantery frame of mind as we progressed though a typical set 1.  I did pre-warn the boys that we would link a couple of rock n roll songs together in this set.  On the night I chose "Rock Around the Clock" in G then straight into "Blue Suede" in A - and I am pleased to report it worked a treat!  I elected to finish the set with the debut of "A Little Bit More" that we had been rehearsing recently.  I find it is quite demanding to sing with the lead line sitting just lower than falsetto. I had arranged it such that the harmoniser would do high harmony in the second part of the verses and through the chorus; and Chris the drum would add a low harmony just in the chorus. Despite a slightly nervy and hurried performance,  I thought it went pretty well for first time out - and we got a good response for it!

 

Taking soundings in the break,  I was assured that the band balance was OK.  Mind you we weren't playing very loud and volume would have been limited by feedback in this boxy alcove anyway.   We had a beer and returned for set 2 starting with "Apache".  I was able to take a 'walk' out front and the guitar sound was fine and solid.  Not a bad balance;  if anything the rhythm section was down in the mix,  but I thought it better to lower the guitar a tad rather than ask the boys to get louder. We followed up with "Do You Wanna Dance"  and I could see a bit of audience at the bar wriggling even if they didn't actually come up for a dance.  Next up was Chris the drum's vocal on "Happy Together".  I bantered a suitable announcement which went down well,  then I got us underway with the guitar intro.  I glanced round and Chris didn't look like he was ready to sing so I added a couple more riffs and then entered the song proper expecting to hear his vocal.  Nope not there - he had switched the mic off and was having trouble switching it back on.  So I went back through the intro and finally we got going.  I think we were all a bit rattled by it as we messed up the coda to end the song - not fatally,  just got at cross purposes with the words.  But we followed up with a well played "Daydream Believer";  I have taken to using just the hi harmony on the harmoniser in the chorus and I think it works better than the muddier full harmony I was doing.  Chris the drum was back on form with "Delilah" which went down well with this audience who sang a long in all the right places.  We followed up with a dancey sequence of "Bad Moon Rising, Move It,  Summertime Blues and Jailhouse Rock"  There were a few up and dancing in places and we got good applause.  Chris the drum did his version of "Proud Mary next; following a slow start with a fast song body.  It was a tad nervy I thought,  but it went well with the audience.  We started a 70's sequence with "Don't Stop Thinkin About Tomorrow".  Apart from the odd word juxtaposition on my part I thought we played it the best we have done so far - shows it can take several months for a song to truly bed down.  Then it was straight into "Yellow River".  The rhythm section in this song always sounds weak to me and,  being brutally honest,  it just doesn't suit Chris the drum's voice.  Not a massive crowd pleaser either.  I am going to propose we drop it and find something more meaty for Chris to sing there.   Chris the bass signalled a 5 minute warning so we finished with a well played "Hot Love" and "Wonder of You".

I felt unnaturally tired (viral) as we returned for set 3 but I was determined to give it a good shot.  I was toying with opening with "Dance the Night Away" but I could see the guys were geared up for "Great Balls" so I went with that.  Wish I hadn't - we were a little fast and off the beat I thought. So next I did call for "Dance the Night Away" and we played that pretty well and even got a bit of dancing going.  I think we will open with this for the next few gigs.  Chris the drum had another delayed vocal start with "Saw Her Standing There" - mic switching problems again.  Once into it,  it was another nervy,  slightly off the beat performance.  Things improved with "Pretty Woman" and I did notice Chris the drum had done a bit of homework putting in some of the catchy drum tweaks that are on the record - well done!  Then we played through a well established continuity sequence of:  "Saturday Night at the Movies,  Come on Over to My Place,  Sweet Caroline, Hey Baby,  Hi Ho Silver,  All Right Now".  We got little bits of dancing and singing going through this sequence and I had livened up considerably as well.  But I still decided to skip "Trilogy" as I was a bit under par on vocal stamina,  so I called for "Mustang Sally".  I sing the verse and Chris the bass sings the chorus.  It went well:  we kept the dancey sing a long vibe and I had the opportunity to bring Chris in with the phrase 'and now all the ladies sing'.   There was just time for "Hippy Hippy Shake" (a tad fast - my fault!) and "Johnny B Goode" to wrap up.  It was midnight so no time (or call) for an encore. I got changed and set about tear down. I was now exhausted,  it was a good job I had help shifting the gear out!  We loaded up but there was only one spare seat in my car so Chris gave Jacqui a lift back.  It was about 1am when we got in.  I felt like boxer must feel after a hard fight;  I slept for over 8 hours and still recovering a couple of days later. Must be a virus?