Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Open Mike - March

Great night last night, we had a very busy stage with lots of musicians coming and going. Including the largest combo to grace the stage at our open mikes yet: Uncle Meat and the Highway children

Liam Glen was also a new face. 

I reckon I sang about 6 songs which is a pretty good record for me.

Stephen attended his first open mike and along with Javier we brought a much more "jammy" feel to the proceedings. 

Monday, March 29, 2010

Practice, Mollys, Tricky Theatre...

Sandra came round for a run through of the Open Mike setlist.... she was in good spirits and brought a muso friend with her. Afterwards we took Leah to Mollys and then a quick trip over to Cindy´s session at the Tricky Theatre

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Open Mike Prep with Stephen and Javier

Javier, Stephen and I had our first session outside of the mine at my place today. We prepped some stuff for the Open Mike and the Jam session. It was sounding pretty excellent. Almost felt like I was in a band again.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Open Mike Prep with Sandra

Today I had very productive 'prep' session for the open mike with Sandra. We have the setlist fixed and we'll go over it again once before Tuesday. 

Friday, March 26, 2010

I find it unbelievable, but a year ago today. Fraser and I had our first gig together in the Jet Lounge:

It was a pretty mediocre, but it marked my return to the stage after 8 years away from it. So I thought I’d bum myself up a little and look at what I’ve achieved in the past year.

  • I’ve played 27 gigs in 8 venues across 2 countries(26 of them were in the Netherlands)
  • I host 2 regular events; one weekly, one monthly
  • I perform regularly as twiddley electric guitarist, an acoustic rhythm player, and a reluctant vocalist
  • I’ve bothered my arse enough to get a website
  • I have moved my repertoire beyond covers of 90’s grunge bands.
  • I have written at least 2 songs with Sandra.
  • I’ve engineered, recorded and mixed several songs to a pretty decent level.

This past year has given me the confidence to call myself a musician again, and not just play to my bedroom walls with little ambition or direction. The difference this makes to my life cannot be underestimated and I question why I’ve waited this long to get back into it.

So. What next?

I’ve got to the stage that my week is so filled with music things that I have to manage my time quite cleverly. The open mike nights and jam sessions keep me active, but they also give me a great excuse not to be creative. This and the lack of a consistent band means that songwriting continues to elude me. It is still the one thing that I want to do which I can’t seem to achieve. 

 

 

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Busy Busy Busy Jam Session.

Last night's Jam session was packed. There was a great vibe.. Following a Les Claypool concert, Stephen has taken to Bass playing with a tad too much fervour, but we had stellar performances from all the usual suspects and I even managed to keep folk in their toes by slipping in a Tina Turner cover sung by yours truly in between the inevitable funky jams, and it wasn't Acid Queen!!! 

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Home Alone.......

Karolina is off in Greece, and I feel I should be achieving stuff, but I don't seem to be very creative or productive. I take the opportunity to redesign the living room as a recording studio, but the hour I can snatch after work to try and do something feels like a chore. All hugely frustrating.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Rickrolling Jam Session

was a great Jam Session last night attendance was reasonable and there was something in the air - we were on fire. 

 

Monday, March 15, 2010

Writing with a Bass

I wrote a few song ideas with just voice and Bass in an attempt to use simplicity to  overcome my recent uselessness -  I'll need to go back to them with a fresh head to decide if they are any good or not. 

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Writing with Sandra

Sandra was round and we recorded a few ideas before heading out on the town. I messed about on some slide guitar blues in open G on the Kay Les Paul, which was a lot of fun. 

 

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Jam not really flowing

The quietest Jam Session we've had last night; Who knows why... altogether it was a bit of a jumble... no one seemed to be in the mood.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Jam Night @ the Mine

Pretty good night again... it amazes me how sucessful these nights are. There weren’t so many musicians this time, but there were still plenty punters…my self indulgent highlight of the night was Maggot brain…If I honestly thought anyone apart from me would want to hear it I’d just play it all night. 

Anicdote of the night was a guest guitarist who kept on asking where the pickup selecter switch was on my one pickup guitar... 

 

Monday, March 1, 2010

Monday Blues

Despite the good weather, I wasn't in a great mood when I got home. Went for a massage to combat the Monday blues, then recorded a few nice chord structures for later perusal... that was about all i was good for this evening.
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