Getting out and doing it live
Entry posted by mark555
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Having put so much work in to the band, we are now playing live and played our first gig with the present line up, which we feel will be permanent. We all get along together and feel we have a common goal with none of us just tagging along.
Our gig was at a nice pub on the outskirts of Huddersfield, called The Wagon and Horses, which is run by a young couple who seem to be doing a good job of it. With it being what we call in England a "Bank Holiday Weekend" it could have gone either way as to if any one came or not. But without the place being too full, a good crowd of local people of all ages were in.
We went on and started our first set at 9:10pm and played for an hour, we opened our set with "Down At The Doctors" by Doctor Feelgood. At 11pm we played our second set and finished bang on 12 midnight. Our set list is composed of a mixture of rock and roll, 60's music, a couple of blues numbers and basic Rhythm and Blues. Lead guitar parts were shared equally between myself and Dave.
I am really pleased to be able to tell you that we were really well received by the audience who applauded us after each song we played, and towards the end of the night were singing along with us and some were dancing. When we were packing up the gear, Lauren, co owner of the pub, came across to us with her diary and gave us two more bookings at £250 each for later in the year. That sum may not seem a lot, but it is good for the local pub scene. We have a booking for £300 in August. Sadly, over here in the UK band earnings have been the same for fifteen years or so now.
What was really great was the fact that my 28 year old son George is visiting us and he and his friend came to watch and they really enjoyed us, there's something special about your son coming to see you play and having him tell you he thought you were great!
One of the signs of being well received by your audience, as you will know, is that some of the audience will want to come and talk to you. A couple of older guys in their 70's wanted to come and and chat with us, because I was fronting the band I seemed to be their band member of choice! I considered it a compliment, although one old chap wouldn't let me get away and I was desperate to pack up and get home to bed! I finally got home at 1.30am.
For the gig I used my strat, which has a Seymour Duncan JB Junior in the bridge slot, and also my Tokai Telecaster. I was so thrilled how well the Tokai performed and I can understand why so many players love their Telecasters. I used my Hot Rod DeLux amp and a pedal board which contained a pedal tuner, a reverb pedal, compressor, and an overdrive pedal. I found using the pedals an excellent way of controlling volume and effects without having to constantly turn to alter the amp. Dave, our other guitar player mainly used one of his three PRS guitars, a swamp ash special, and also a Les Paul. He uses a Marshall amp. Shaun used his 37 year old fender Precision and also his Precision bass which he built himself - a bass version of a partscaster. The one in the photo I am attaching is the partscaster precision. He plays through a Fender Bass amp with a 4 x 10 cab.
It's been quite the journey to get to this point but the end result has been well worth it. Thanks for reading.
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