Stormcellar at the Royal Hotel Bondi, Saturday night 28th April!
Back to Bondi! 8pm on Saturday night, 28th April. Will we have to erect crowd control? Who knows! Come along and find out!
Back to Bondi! 8pm on Saturday night, 28th April. Will we have to erect crowd control? Who knows! Come along and find out!
Who knew Music was a contact sport?
We had a rather enthusiastic dancing moment last night . A shout out to my Irish Doppelganger Big Eddie (dude, can you get me some Corrs tix on the low low?).
The dancing was in full swing, which is great. We encourage it.
As Hillary and her partner swung, the arcs began to get wider. And wider and...yep, the gentleman in question lost it and fell backwards over the fold back monitors, straight into Rosie's Pedal Board.
I stepped forward to try and grab the bloke before he hit the deck, whilst still singing, and managed to catch his outstretched hand, haul him up, push him back out and still keep my place in the verse. Am I feeling a tad smug? You betcha. That would have only been improved if I had managed to catch him before he hit the fold back monitor...oh well, next time :-)
On the downside, my harp cases went flying, the boys were a little perturbed and the crowd sucked in a collective breath of surprise, but the show must go on! I maintained a solid foot stance and prepared to repel boarders just in case it was repeated as the chap in question continued to dance, but after bumping into a few more patrons who gave him an earful, he sheepishly retreated to his beer in a safer place near the bar. I recommended a chair!
Strangely, the two glasses of water I had at my feet remained un-spilled during this whole time. Amazing.
I am not sure that the my bandmates were quite as forgiving, but given our band history of hickeys, dry humping, threats from bikers, naked hens nights, stage invasions and the occasional band car theft and torching, this was pretty low key, but I think there is at least one member of the band who would have preferred that I had clobbered the guy with a mike stand. One of our regular patrons expressed his surprise at my lack of anger.
I can understand why Musicians get a bit mad at this kind of behaviour, but this was just enthusiasm + a bit too much beer, as opposed to other, less forgivable social sins. I think the poor chap in question was a bit embarrassed and I didn't want the rest of the crowd to be afraid of dancing. It's not the first time its happened, my harps went flying a few weeks ago after another lass danced, tripped and fell into me, so I guess I am just used to it.
I would like to send a special thank you to the wonderful lady who came over and collected all my gear and put it back in front of me whilst we continued playing.
I am glad we motivate people to strut their stuff, it's part of the enjoyment we derive from a gig, and I must say, last night Rosie was on fire. He's due to record some solos for Feel So Blue and if last nights version was anything to go by, it ought to be smokin'
We send our shout-outs to Lucky, Mary, Howard, Hilary, Claudette, our Canadian friends, Robert and all the folks who came down to hang out with us last night. It's never dull :-)
Howdy Folks.
Well it was my turn in the barrel today, boy what fun.
A musical truism appears to be that the songs you think will be easy and the songs you think will be hard, turn out to be the opposite of your original assessment.
Yikes. I was worried about 'Feel So blue' and not worried about 'Even in a lifetime', and as you can guess from the thrust of this article, it was the other way around. Even In A Lifetime took an hour and a half to arrive at a conclusion that we're still not sure of and Feel So Blue took 10 minutes.
The most interesting moment of the session was 'Country Radio', which jumped out of the starting gate with a whole new vibe after a couple of vocal treatment ideas.
I'm about halfway through re-doing the vocals - seeing if I have a better take in me than the stuff gathered at Bawley Point during the location recording.
We'll take the next few days to review the current stuff and prepare for the next sessions.
Howdy Folks.
Our studio sessions recommenced today with Guitar stuff with Rosie.
As per usual, I dropped by to get a few minutes of blog footage and wound up sticking around for a while.
Rosie has threatened me with excommunication if I publish any Flubs, so I have to walk a delicate line between getting the inside scoop and a well deserved thrashing. Fortunately, Rosie was in fine form today, as was Mr Pete.
I am constantly fascinated by the technical terms such as 'Rawl', 'Gnrrr' 'Fwang' and other Don-Martinisms, as Pete and Paul helped Rosie work ont he chord patterns and sounds.
I was glad I stuck around for some work on Even In A Lifetime. Sometimes songs take on another life in the studio and this song is one of them. I only caught the first bit of rosies guitar fills so I can demonstrate the way that the song is evolving into something with a much richer sound, without giving up the surprise of the finished product.
It's my turn tomorrow for some Vocals, wish me luck :-)
@
Need we say more?
8:30-11pm Mansfield St, Rozelle, Sat 21st April.
Here are some important tips for harmonica players that I was reminded of last night
Harmonica Player Important Reminder notes:
1. Avoid eating things with seeds. They will come back to get you in the middle of gigs.
That's right Oat Muesli Bars, I am talking to you. Mid way through a song last night, a teeny, tiny, omega three, vitamin filled kernel of goodness popped out of somewhere and proceeded directly to the back of my throat on inhale.
It's not the initial seed swallowing that's the problem. Its the tickling at the back of your throat , that phantom sensation that the seed remains! It's barley/soy/burgum/wtf and it's trying to kill you.
Or, more specifically, trying to make you perform a complex series of swallowing motions, hopefully assisted by the beverage you have to hand (Tip 2 - keep something to whet your whistle on stage) but you cant reach for it, you're mid way through singing/breathing/playing and the words to the song/awesome power harp chord sound a little strange when your phrasing commences with 'Yeegaarrghhblechh'. (Tip 3, place your beverage where you wont knock it over) So despite the urgent tingling, the need to swallow, you bravely struggle on making the occasional Daffy Duck noise, hope like crazy for a guitar solo and dive for your drink. Two sips, a swallow and problem solved. Hurrah!
A big cheer to Charity, Lynn, Claudette, TInker, the Fitzgerald Clan,Vertical, Big Daddy and Uncle Geoff, who came along for the evening. What a great pleasure to play with both Fettler and Jo.
I was looking forward to that for some time :-)
We're on at the Bald Rock in Rozelle this coming weekend and we'll miss our guests, but I guess that's what makes occasions when you can get friends and family together that make them special. (Yes I am getting all gooey, hey I almost choked! It was a near breath experience!)
EDIT: I just remembered a few other Harp Player rules;
Tip 4: Make sure all your harps are in the appropriate cases or are clearly labelled. Getting an F when you want a C is no fun.
Tip 5: And this is a biggie - Remember to check which way your harp is facing, and/or that it's not upside down. This can lead to some very interesting melodic patterning.
Figuring out which side to blow through can be done by feel. the big open space at the back is not for you. Try the front. It seems to work for me.
However, determining which way is up is a little harder. If you've had your harps awhile, the engraving on the top can get rubbed away, or , if like some of us (Hi, my names Michael) you aren't paying enough attention during the the critical pick-up-the-harp-and-snuggle-it-in-your-hand-while-still-talking/breathing/reaching for your drink phase, you may find that the first few notes of soulful intensity become a rather quizzical dance to the opposite end of the harp, followed by a quick flip of the wrist, a smirk of chagrin and then another go at it, this time, right way up.
Engrave'em, put braille on them, neon signs marked THIS WAY UP would be a plus. If you come up with a good solution, have pity and drop me a note :-)
Stay tuned for more amazing insights, updated at point of failure!