Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for g
Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for g
Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for g
Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for g
Just when I was beginning to wonder how long I could hold this band together, as we had recently lost our very new singer, out of the blue I get an e mail from a guy about seven miles from me asking if we are still looking for a singer. Well, of course I e mailed back and said yes, with my telephone number. I am careful about giving my phone number away on the internet, you don't know who is taking it down with some nefarious thought process going on in their heads.
So, I spoke with the guy,
Here we go again. As you will know, if you have been reading my blog, that we worked really hard to find a singer to front our band, Route 62.
One of the essential criteria for the singer would be his willingness to buy a vocal pa. After all, I would not join a band and expect them to buy me two or three guitars and a nice valve amp, but when it comes to singers, they seem to expect the band to provide their equipment. After all, we are not asking any one to buy a mega rig, just something t
Our quest for a singer has ended. The last guy who came to audition was not very good at all, and he left somewhat dejected looking. However, after putting posters up in every guitar shop and web site we could find advertising for a singer, we finally found the right guy. I must say though, that very very few singers got in touch with us, and I think that is because here in England the live scene is not very healthy for bands like ours. In years gone by, we used to have what we called Working Me
OK, the gig was played, the autopsy was performed and we have hunted high and low for would be singers. We have put ads on internet sites, in music shops, and asked around. We are auditioning for a singer!
One guy called us up, and wanted to come for an audition, but when we said that we would expect a singer to bring a pa with him to the band, he said he was going to buy his own mic and stand, Well, I suggested to him that when the rest of us have spent a lot of money on guitars, amps and d
Our first gig was played, and we were not 100% happy with it, gremlins in the works the week before for me. As I said, I really went for it, but as I have reflected on it over the past week, I know I was way below the standard I should have been at on the night. I had too much stuff going on in my head - unemployment, a lousy job interview the day before, and other stuff. In truth, I did not feel personally ready to play live. But as I said before, we were well received by a welcoming audience.
This entry tells of the week leading up to our first live gig and the gig itself.
Did you ever have one of those weeks where after you have practised, practised and practised till you got your parts right, had some great rehearsals, then for some reason, you seem to just not be able to get things right. Well, that is what exactly happened the final week before our first gig. The catalyst was that we started to practise as a band line up would be on stage, with some borrowed monitors which we
Since my last entry on my blog, the band, Route 62, has had two practices. Last week we added the final two songs to our set list for our forthcoming gig, and now we have the luxury of just polishing them up and bringing them to an acceptable level for public performance. As this is going to be our first gig, I am sure that we will be ok, but not as sharp as we are going to get through playing a few more live situations. The one pain in the neck though is almost having to re learn the earlier so
As I said in my last blog entry, our band, now officially known as Route 62, is getting close to our first gig, which although is being done for free as a thank you for some very excellent rehearsal facilities which we enjoy without cost, we are expecting some sort of spin off one way or another via a couple of paid gigs. However, on a personal basis, I have not played live for a few years, so it will be good to dip my toe in the water again. Also, it will give us a chance to see which songs wor
The weekly practices are happening and things are moving forward nicely. However, we found that our success and work ethic of the past few weeks was the result of a really good plan - we had the first fourteen songs pre selected so we knew exactly what we were doing. As the main lead player in the band, I could work on solo parts weeks in advance and be ready when they were needed at rehearsal. It was an excellent method and was working really well. Anticipating the arrival of the day when we wo
A new year starts and we are back to getting the show on the road. Our new drummer has settled in and is now a part of the band fully. For a couple of months I have been very dubious about his commitment to the band, that he was just testing the waters and seeing how it goes with us - if he liked it he would stay, if not he would clear off and get another gig elsewhere when it came up. So, we are now a permanent set up as a band and I feel that I won't be having to get a new drummer again and br
This entry the story continues of our band trying to consolidate with a new drummer, Allen, an old hand enjoying retirement from work. You can see pictures on the thread I started entitled Band Practice.
We very sadly had to let our last drummer go. We liked him very much as a person, who ticked the essential box as being a nice guy. He could play well and we all liked him. However, he was the weak link in the chain and was the reason we were not going forward. Alongside a lack of communicat
It's been a while since I last updated my blog here on the HOC, Been meaning to, but I have been waiting until some developments came along so I had something more to write about.
Our band of four more was seeming to grind to a halt this year, Pete's daughter's brain tumour surgery took him out of action for two months, then he ended up in France picking grapes for three weeks, came back insect bitten but sun tanned and having a good time. He has a house of some description down in France an
So here we are, with a band up and running that can play some half decent songs, we have a superb practice facility which is free to use and the two guitarists and bass player duly spend our spare time practicing at home so we can at least get things done at rehearsals. We are fortunate, our drummer is a guy we get on really well with and has constructive input and good timing, knows his job and does it well.
But why do drummers seem to think that they can just turn up at a few practices and
It's 5pm here in very sunny Yorkshire, which as you may or may not know is the centre of the universe as we know it. And as I have been tidying the house for when she who must be obeyed arrives home from the surgery, I have been thinking about various guitar related stuff.
Since the arrival of my brand spanking new Tokai Les Paul, which I thoroughly believe to be better than the current Les Paul Standards I see in the shop, I haven't been able to put it down, and as a result, my playing is s
We all love to make live music with our guitars, and it has been a good nine months since the last band I had put together called it a draw when all of a sudden the other guitar player decided that he didn't want to play in a band anymore. But I can respect that, he was after all, coming a long way and was working some long hours. So, we called it a draw and that was that. However, after a few months had gone by, Tony, our drummer, who incidentally had been brought in by Mike, our old guitarist,
After a couple of months our trusty little band of four is now rehearsing once again. Having to deal with the problems life throws up at you can put things in perspective. For example, Pete, our other guitarist, has a daughter who has had surgery to remove a brain tumour, so he has been down in London where his daughter lives to look after her and make sure all has been well. Thankfully the patient has had a tremendous recovery and is doing well.
However, all this time off has slowed progres
I have been having a sort out lately of some stuff in the house and came across some old pictures which I had lost track of a long time ago. Among them was this picture of my first band. We were a trio, and it is a funny story how we got this band going. I met Shaun and Louis, two brothers, when they moved to Wakefield from Belfast because of the 'troubles' as they are known over there. Originally from Rochdale, Lancashire, just over the pennines from me. I hit it off well with these two friendl
