Going to the pub...
Entry posted by mark555
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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. But something was still not right and we decided to meet up together and see what plans we could make to go forward.
So, we decided that this week, instead of having a practice, we would all get together at a pub for a drink and a chat, and chose a nice pub in a nearby village to us called The Foxglove (see picture) and see what direction to go in. There was no way we were going to waste the investment in time we had all made in the band, so a way round the mountain had to be found.
The mountain, so to speak, is the fact that I am the lead guitar player and singer, and to be honest, it is too much to deal with, unless you are Mark Knopfler or some one else with such a high level of ability. I never wanted to be a singer, although it is true to say that I do enjoy singing and always have done. When I was six years old I got out of bed early one morning, got on my bike and woke the street up by singing Manfred Man's Doo wa Diddy diddy at the top of my voice. But mainly, I just want to play guitar. When I was about five years old I say a sparkle red electric guitar, I can't tell you what make it was, but I just knew at that point I was going to have an electric guitar one day, it was what I wanted. I knew one of our neighbours had an electric guitar in his downstairs bedroom, I used to sneak round the back of his house to look at it through the window, it was probably a cheap one, but I didn't know, or care - it was a real like electric guitar, I can see it now propped up against the wall, some sort of sunburst finish if I am right.
Anyway, to get back on track. I can sing (not the worlds best, I grant you) and I can play. I can do both on many songs, but in fairness, not too brilliantly. Any other guitarist worth his salt would pick up on this. So, we all met up at seven in the evening and had the autopsy and see what we could do to improve. Pete, our Yellow telecaster owning guitar player and general nice guy, was taking the attitude that as so much was on my shoulders, what could the rest of them do to help and contribute more? I told them that I never really wanted to be a singer and if that part of the job could go to some one else, I would be able to contribute much more by way of guitar playing, and that I would play much better with just the odd song to sing and the opportunity to concentrate on lead playing.
As there are no real vocalists in the band in the other three members, we have decided to look for a singer to take care of vocal work, leaving each of us to concentrate on our own field of playing, be it bass, lead, rhythm or drums. There will be three of us capable of singing some good backing vocals to help a singer. We formulated a plan to recruit a singer as soon as possible, each of us taking some area of responsibility, mine is to contact some of the music stores and see if there are any singers in the area looking for a band. Pete is going to get some ads out on websites, Shaun and Allen are also doing various things such as putting ad's in music stores near their homes.
What has been great is that there was never one suggestion of my singing and playing not being good enough, it was totally supportive of the fact that I have had most of the work to shoulder and they all wanted to make things easier for me, and the first question they asked last night was what did I want to do? The answer was just play guitar, and they are all now doing everything they can to help me do that. For me to just play guitar in a band is my life's ambition!
I have attached a picture of the pub we met at, we sat round a table just to the right inside the door way, the pub is about 150 years old - it's great just to sit down with the guys and just sort things out. I am really fortunate because each one of the guys in the band is a really decent person, not one of them has an ego and we just help each other try to succeed. As far as people go, I could not be with a better bunch of guys, they are all good friends.
Watch this space, and thanks for reading, Mark.
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