Howdy Folks.
We covered a fair distance this weekend from The Shire up to Newcastle.
Saturday night saw us at the Gymea hotel which was pretty busy.
I've seen pool tables in pubs but this is the first time I've seen a ping pong table..
Unusually for us, we had ample space to setup in this time.
Bill V has been helping out with stuff and he took care of the merch table, very tidy Bill!
We were joined by 'Double' Bill Williams on bass for the evening and the boys played particularly well. Cheers to C, S, and all the folks who came out to hear us, plus the locals who made us so welcome.
And now for a momentary Segue...
As a band playing in pubs and clubs, we are often handed notes. Here's some from the Jannali Inn a few weeks back:
When we first started this band our choice was to focus mostly on the original material.
All things considered, we have survived pretty well in environments that usually only cater to Cover/Tribute bands. Yes, we do a few covers but not many.
Mind you, we now have 5 albums of material to choose from so we're not short of a song, and we've been a little spoiled as it's been quite some time since we heard the comment 'Play something we know'.
On Sunday Night one lass was very keen on us playing a few of her favourite songs. She decided to try and tell us this whilst we were playing and chose the delightful medium of tearing up the contact sheet we put out at gigs for people who'd like to join the newsletter so she could hold up these bits of paper in front of me whilst I was singing.
Whilst we'd be happy to oblige if we could, i often point out that the boys spend a lot of time rehearsing the songs from our albums and we're kind of fussy about covers - getting 5 people to agree to which covers to play is a job in itself, but in addressing the particular requests outlined here..
1. We won't do the Devil Went Down To Georgia unless we have a fiddle player (I mean really, it's a song about a fiddle fer crying out loud). She very kindly offered to hop up and do it for me and when she realised she was not going to get her way had some choice words for me, none of which I will reprint here.
2. Chisel? I often put this logic puzzle to people who ask this question. I ask 'If you were at an early Cold Chisel, would you be asking them for some covers? Maybe something by the Beatles?'...the actual answer is 'yes' :-) If I ever get the chance, I'll ask them what covers they were requested to play..
3. 'Tits Out'? I am not sure what that meant but I applaud the sentiment in general. Thanks for the mammaries.
The lass in question was not content to pass notes or wait until in between songs, she wanted to have a chat with me whilst I was singing, which is kind of hard to do. I do my level best to remain polite and friendly but sometimes the urge to use a less polite reply is strong.
I know that as a band playing in peoples local watering hole that we are there on sufferance - we're there once in a while, they're there every week, and that people like cover bands and tribute acts. I also accept that if our songs are good enough and the performances good enough, we should be able to assuage their need for Copperhead road.
Even so, it makes me wonder how folks expect new Australian music to be created or to survive and maybe the actual answer is they don't. It's not their problem, this is their pub. I get it.
(sigh)
Rant over.
Right, back to the gig
On the plus side, the trip up to Newcastle for the night enabled us to see some awesome cloud formations and you know we're keen on those.
We played until 11:30, the crowd danced, I read the occasional note and all was well.
Cheers to Chris and George for dropping in.
We're on a break for the coming weekend and then back to the Taverners Hill Hotel where we look forward to playing some songs you know :-)