mark555

Thanks for the kind words, manners maketh man is the old saying. You would think the support act would be more respectful to the main act. I really like Wishbone Ash and listen to their music at least once each week.

For those of you kind enough to read my last blog entry you will recall that we had lost our other guitar player to another band, and that had come at a bad time, as we were all about ready to gig, just working on a final few song ideas to get up to the magic number of thirty songs in the set list. So, we have had to look hard and find another guitar player good enough to fit in. I had placed several ad's on websites and was getting little response when a guy from Doncaster (about fifteen miles from where we practice) replied. So, we had a chat on the phone and arranged to get together for a session. That was this afternoon. We were very pleased when that he was happy to turn up so quickly and we had sent him our set list during the week. It's always a good sign when the guy you are auditioning actually prepares for the audition and has taken it seriously. He turned up with a PRS Swamp Ash Special with a trem and what looked like mini humbuckers without covers. The guitar certainly sounded very nice. Anyway, after an hour we had a break and offered him the gig. He was very pleased to be invited to join and accepted right away. He had brought his wife with him who was a very nice lady, and she enjoyed what we did. We immediately went back to playing with a serious look at the set list and started to play and gel together as a unit. The sound was as tight as you can expect for a first time get together, and a few of the songs we played sounded as though we had rehearsed them for a few weeks. So, next Saturday rehearsals start as a new line up in earnest. It is often the case that something you initially think is bad news (in this case our previous guitarist letting us down and leaving) can turn out to be a blessing in disguise given time. Dave, our new player is less highly strung and his choice of songs is more in keeping with the rest of us and I think, that given a few rehearsals, we will have a better band and will progress faster. Terry, our drummer, actually went to see our old guitarists new band and said that although they seemed to have a good following, they were very unprofessional in their attitude, going on stage half an hour late, letting their "followers" come on stage and mess with their guitars etc when the band should have been on, and their language on stage was very bad and their attitude was poor. Dave, (the old guitarist) told Terry that he had gone for the money, but they had not told him if he was in or not even though he was gigging with them that night. they have since lost their drummer. So the grass is not always greener on the other side. Last night Shaun (bass player) and I went to see Wishbone Ash as they were in town. They were nothing less than Superb! Afterwards they did a meet and greet and were very nice to talk to. We got some stuff signed by Andy Powell and the rest of the band, for me the three high spots of the night were Blowin' Free, Jailbait and Pheonix, all three were fantastic. HOWEVER.... The support band had come to the back of the theatre where we were and were making a lot of noise with some people who had come to see them and this was while WA were playing Pheonix. Now, if you're not a Wishbone Ash fan, you have to understand that this is an epic number that just builds and builds, and the noise this band were making as they talked loudly with their friends was just too much, so I walked over to them and told them that they were spoiling the night for all the WA fans, and that we had come to see Wishbone Ash and not them. They didn't like it, but they needed telling. The trouble was that they didn't shut up, but several people said "well done" to me afterwards. Their conduct was certainly unprofessional, let alone rude and inconsiderate. But I also thought it was very disrespectful to Wishbone Ash who are always very considerate of their fans. When I spoke to Andy Powell about it he was very disappointed about that. But it just goes to show that professional courtessy is a must, and if you are going to play live in any given situation, a professional attitude is required at all times. Thanks for reading, Mark.

Life is full of surprises, and I love a book or a film with a twist in the tale. However, I don't always appreciate real life's twists. Believing that all was well and that things really were heading in the right direction, I was ten minutes away from home on Wednesday evening when my phone rang in the car. As it is blue tooth and hands free, I could speak with no problems. Very unusually, it was Dave, our other guitar player. This was unusual because friendly fellow though he is, he never calls any of us between practices, so I was wondering why he called - the answer was soon to become very clear. "There's no easy way of saying this, so I'll cut right to the chase - I'm leaving the band" It turns out, so he said, that (to use his words) he had been head hunted by another band who were playing lots of gigs and earning a lot of money and he couldn't turn it down. So, all I could say was good luck and I'll see you as and when. And, that was it, just like that we lost a key member of the band - on saying that, I value each one of the other band members as key people. I knew I could not change things, so there was no point in falling out. I was not upset, but was extremely disappointed because of the extent of hard work we had put in, and also because of how we had accommodated Dave and some of his music choices. He knew we were so close to getting gigs. But what can you do? There's no point in getting upset, the upside will be that who ever joins us will have to go with the flow of what the three of us want. So, what can you do? The three of us who remain are getting together this coming week to decide how we move forward, I have looked at the set list and was pleased to see that I can handle 75% of the lead playing, but it does mean taking out a couple of really good songs that Dave played lead on, he being slightly a better player than myself, but we will replace them with other numbers. I don't want to carry on as a three piece either, another guitar player is a must. But the glass is always half full, we are much further down the road than we were when we first held auditions and Shaun (bass) , Terry (drums) and myself are all happy and very comfortable with each other and our style of playing, so intigrating a half decent player won't be very hard. We have put some ad's out on the net and we have had three guys enquire so far. I had a good chat with a really nice Indian guy today who go's by the fantastic name of Kishore Budha - Fabulous or what?? Anyway, I care not about where a guy comes from, as long as he is a really decent guy and he fits well in the band. So a first audition will be held soon, but we want to get a few so we can see who is available to us. Meanwhile I think we are going to have a couple of practices as a trio and see what happens. Once again, many thanks for reading and the kind comments you leave.

After a few weeks of not making an entry into my blog I am back to keeping those kind enough to read it up to speed on where we are at and the life and times of a would be semi pro player here in Northern England. Life in the band has been interesting, my Fender Hot Rod deluxe had valve issues and was horrendously noisy. It turned out it was a pre amp valve. This particular amp has three of those so I decided that as one of them was on the way out and causing so much trouble, I might as well get them all replaced. The guitar tech who worked on my guitars recently had recommended an engineer only a couple of miles away from where I live in the next village, so that was excellent in that there was no distance to travel, and on top of that the guy was very honest and very reasonable in his costs. I had used our other guitarists old amp, a Peavy Valve King for one rehearsal. It was as noisy as my fender before it was repaired. I think it also needs to go to the engineer. Anyway, we have moved our practice time from Saturday afternoons to Thursday evenings. Mainly because Dave, our other guitar player has met the woman of his dreams and moved in with her and wants to have weekends free for now. It's fine with me because it frees my time up on a weekend to do some jobs round the house that are in need of completion. We are almost at the point now of having enough numbers ready to play a gig with. We are aiming for thirty. It has taken quite a while on this journey to get here, but we have all put our families first and there have been times when we have all had to cancel rehearsal for various reasons. Another thing is that we have discussed what sort of songs to we rehearse: a) easy ones that we can get six of down in two weeks, or do we: do some that will be more challenging but perhaps give us a much better set. We have gone for the latter, the most recent one being Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. I have never been a big pink Floyd fan, but I have to say that this is a stellar song and credit to Dave for nailing the two guitar solo's in it. We are also finding that the midweek practice makes us focus more, as we don't have a full afternoon to go at. One thing that is happening now is that plenty of people are wanting to know when we are going to play so they can come and see us, which is a good sign for us. Of course, in the back of my mind I am thinking "are we going to be good enough"? Yet I know for a fact we can play some knock out songs in our own style. I Keep telling myself that we are not going to be playing to people who are saying "Go on then, impress me". The people I want to play for are just your everyday people who want to hear live music, may be they might want to dance a bit. I think we all have to remember that this thing we love, the guitar, if we choose to get up and play live gigs, that the we are paid to entertain people. I really hope that the songs we have thus far chosen will do exactly that for the cross section of people that we get in our British pubs that put bands on. When our set list is complete I will post it here. So, there we are, five more numbers and our set list has enough for a gig, then all we have to do is rehearse it until it is sharp enough to play for money! Thanks for reading and best to all.

Another Saturday and it's band practice - after a week of being up at 5.15 every day and lucky if I am home for 6.30 every evening, Thursday was horrendous. The motorway had been shut at a key point where two motorways merged and guess where I was. It took me three and a half hours to drive the 52 miles home from our offices. But, other good hings have happened within our family, my wife, Helen has secured a new job at a practice in the area after putting with dreadful treatment from the husband and wife team of doctors who have taken over the surgery where she has worked happily for thirteen years. She is very highly qualified in her nursing and was snapped up after a half hour interview. The people at the surgery where she is going to work could not be more different and the pay increase will be significant. On top of that, all our children are making their way in the world and we have a beautiful granddaughter who is a delight to us. As we were not rehearsing last week because I had too much to do at home, I took my Strat and Tokai (Les Paul) to the tech to get them adjusted and repaired. The strat trem block thread had completely gone rendering it useless, (it's twenty six years old and I have had it from new) the stop bar posts in the Tokai had lost their ability to hold the posts upright. It turns out that they were made of aluminium and not up to the job they were made to do. So, new parts were engineered and fitted, the trem block was drilled and a brass sleeve inserted and threaded. I also had some minor adjustments made, a set up etc on both guitars. If you read my last blog entry, you will recall I mentioned a guitar player who had made his own strat and the bass players precision bass. I took my guitars to him last Saturday lunchtime and they were both ready for me the following afternoon. They were superbly done and are a joy to play. While I was at the guy's (Dave) house, he showed me some of the other guitars he has made and I am seriously considering having him build a Tele for me. He has made a pink Strat that would rival Kuz's Kern Tele, with a stunning flame neck. He even winds the pick ups himself and builds them from scratch, they sound excellent. So, against a backdrop of good things happening, I was really up for practice today. Today we were going to learn Sunshine of Your Love and Lola, the old Kinks hit. Well, wouldn't you know it, that sometimes it's the easy songs that just won't work, and we couldn't make make Lola work for love nor money and after ten minutes scrapped it. So, on to Sunshine of your Love, which went so well it was great to play. We were so pleased with it, out of the blue I said wouldn't it be great to do Crossroads? Right away, Dave, our other guitar player went into the intro, we all hit it immediately and played a stonking version, we were all on a real high with it, we could not believe how well it went. There are not many bands with Crossroads in their set, but it's in our now, and we are very proud of how we play it. So, two really good Cream numbers in our set, so we just rehearsed some songs we had messed around with in the preceding practices. Those of you from the States will very probably never have heard of Cliff Richard, but he was Britain's first true rock and roll star and had a huge hit with a song called "Move it", which still stands up today, it is a terrific number. We revisited it and it was perfect. It was recorded with a Strat playing lead and I nailed the song perfectly. On saying that, it's not too hard to play, but you do need a specific "touch" to get it right. We also ran through a few of our other numbers to keep them fresh, one of our own favourites is Riot in Cell Block Number 9, but we play it with somewhat of a kick compared to how the original version was recorded by The Robins way back in the day. Look for Doctor Feelgood on youtube and watch their version of it. So today we are all really pleased with how things are going and very soon it will be time to start looking for gigs. The city of Sheffield is thirty miles south of here and has a lot of venues, so maybe we will be playing down there. We will soon be choosing two sets to play from our list, and polishing them until they are at a high standard. Meanwhile, Wishbone Ash are playing in our town in October, tickets will be bought!! To all of you who take the time to read my blog, thank you for doing so, and a thank you for the kind comments which are often posted, I still haven't worked out why I can not replay to them in the comments box. Once again, thanks for reading.

Another Saturday and it's band practice - after a week of being up at 5.15 every day and lucky if I am home for 6.30 every evening, Thursday was horrendous. The motorway had been shut at a key point where two motorways merged and guess where I was. It took me three and a half hours to drive the 52 miles home from our offices. But, other good hings have happened within our family, my wife, Helen has secured a new job at a practice in the area after putting with dreadful treatment from the husband and wife team of doctors who have taken over the surgery where she has worked happily for thirteen years. She is very highly qualified in her nursing and was snapped up after a half hour interview. The people at the surgery where she is going to work could not be more different and the pay increase will be significant. On top of that, all our children are making their way in the world and we have a beautiful granddaughter who is a delight to us. As we were not rehearsing last week because I had too much to do at home, I took my Strat and Tokai (Les Paul) to the tech to get them adjusted and repaired. The strat trem block thread had completely gone rendering it useless, (it's twenty six years old and I have had it from new) the stop bar posts in the Tokai had lost their ability to hold the posts upright. It turns out that they were made of aluminium and not up to the job they were made to do. So, new parts were engineered and fitted, the trem block was drilled and a brass sleeve inserted and threaded. I also had some minor adjustments made, a set up etc on both guitars. If you read my last blog entry, you will recall I mentioned a guitar player who had made his own strat and the bass players precision bass. I took my guitars to him last Saturday lunchtime and they were both ready for me the following afternoon. They were superbly done and are a joy to play. While I was at the guy's (Dave) house, he showed me some of the other guitars he has made and I am seriously considering having him build a Tele for me. He has made a pink Strat that would rival Kuz's Kern Tele, with a stunning flame neck. He even winds the pick ups himself and builds them from scratch, they sound excellent. So, against a backdrop of good things happening, I was really up for practice today. Today we were going to learn Sunshine of Your Love and Lola, the old Kinks hit. Well, wouldn't you know it, that sometimes it's the easy songs that just won't work, and we couldn't make make Lola work for love nor money and after ten minutes scrapped it. So, on to Sunshine of your Love, which went so well it was great to play. We were so pleased with it, out of the blue I said wouldn't it be great to do Crossroads? Right away, Dave, our other guitar player went into the intro, we all hit it immediately and played a stonking version, we were all on a real high with it, we could not believe how well it went. There are not many bands with Crossroads in their set, but it's in our now, and we are very proud of how we play it. So, two really good Cream numbers in our set, so we just rehearsed some songs we had messed around with in the preceding practices. Those of you from the States will very probably never have heard of Cliff Richard, but he was Britain's first true rock and roll star and had a huge hit with a song called "Move it", which still stands up today, it is a terrific number. We revisited it and it was perfect. It was recorded with a Strat playing lead and I nailed the song perfectly. On saying that, it's not too hard to play, but you do need a specific "touch" to get it right. We also ran through a few of our other numbers to keep them fresh, one of our own favourites is Riot in Cell Block Number 9, but we play it with somewhat of a kick compared to how the original version was recorded by The Robins way back in the day. Look for Doctor Feelgood on youtube and watch their version of it. So today we are all really pleased with how things are going and very soon it will be time to start looking for gigs. The city of Sheffield is thirty miles south of here and has a lot of venues, so maybe we will be playing down there. We will soon be choosing two sets to play from our list, and polishing them until they are at a high standard. Meanwhile, Wishbone Ash are playing in our town in October, tickets will be bought!! To all of you who take the time to read my blog, thank you for doing so, and a thank you for the kind comments which are often posted, I still haven't worked out why I can not replay to them in the comments box. Once again, thanks for reading.

What a week it's been, the hottest week of the year so far, but when we get heat in England it can also get very muggy and can drain you and make you very tired. Last Friday a friend I have known for thirty five years or so invited me to go and watch his band as they were playing in the local pub in our village. I was very pleased to meet another of my friends who was also at the gig. Pete, owner of the yellow telecaster had come back from his place in the south of France for a week or so as he was going to a Neil Young gig in London later the following week then back to France. However, it was nice to see him and to learn he is actually gigging as a duo in France with another English guy. Our mutual friend, Rob, was the drummer with the band we had gone to see and each musician was of a good standard. What was interesting was the the guitars and bass had all been built buy the guitar player in the band, and were of a high quality. I was interested to see the band as we will play many of the gigs they play and I wanted to know how we would compare. They did play a few of the songs we play, but although this band was very good, I am pleased to (modestly) say, that the songs that both bands play, we play them better! However, I have to say that they were very good and did some songs that we wouldn't have done. they were nice chaps. At the pub there were two couples in their mid 20's and the girls were rather tasty, we had chatted to them on and off during the evening and for the last half hour of the final set, one of them came and got me up dancing with her! Now, I have no false hopes, but I have to say that it was very nice to dance with a rather attractive woman of half my age!! I am still basking in the glow of it! So, the next day was band rehearsal. We were all tired, I had stayed up too late the night before and could hardly stay awake for band practice. We were disorganised, too tired and just out of sorts. We weren't learning anything, just wondering which song to play next. Dave, our other guitar player was not a happy camper, and when we asked him what was the trouble, he said he was fed up. So, we all sat down and had a chat. He said we weren't accomplishing anything, just playing songs. He was spot on, we had got 24 or so songs in the bag and we needed to get down to it again. So, we kicked some ideas about and decided that we would learn a Snow Patrol Song "Chasing Cars" and Brown Sugar by the Stones, both his choice. Well, I am great with Brown Sugar, but my music tastes seemed to end with Bad Company back in the seventies! So a Snow Patrol song was a very new idea to me. But, as we all have input, we said OK, lets go for it. Well, today we had our usual Saturday afternoon practice and we kicked of with Brown Sugar. I had taken my 555 specifically to use on this song, tuned it to open G and away we went. The first two times we played it was so so, but then all of a sudden, Bang! We were in there rocking it like we were born to do it. Mick and Keith would have been proud of us. Terry, our Drummer was putting down a perfect beat. I must admit, I was very pleased how the snow patrol song went, and I really enjoyed playing it. We might be a bit slow getting to gigging level, but we are purposely ensuring each song we play can be done to the standard we expect of ourselves. Our one weakness is the vocal set up, but we are getting a sound engineer in to help us with that, we think we need better PA speakers. As for next week, we are letting Terry the drummer chose a couple of songs, which he will e mail to us. He's a big Stones and Kinks fan, so maybe something from them. Now then, about that rather shapely woman at the pub....... Thanks for reading and best wishes to all, Mark

Nice blog Pete, always great to hear some guitar playing history - keep going, when you stop you vegitate....

There is a saying that go's "While the cat's away, the mice will play". Now I am not saying Mrs 555 is a cat, that would not be nice! But she and our youngest daughter went to Liverpool on Friday and got home at Midnight on Saturday, and I like having the house to myself! Friday night I watched what I wanted on TV and found that a Billy Joel concert from back in 87 in Moscow was being shown, and it was very good, so after that i climbed into bed and read for half an hour. Normally on a Saturday morning, after a week of getting up at 5.15am five days a week, I like to surface at a time of my choice, but not today. I was awakened by the sound of high pressure jetting going on at seven, not too far from the bedroom window where I was sleeping soundly. What had happened was that the sewer that tuns under our garden and the neighbours garden, had blocked up, and our very good neighbour had called out the water authorities to get it cleared. Those poor guys have an awful job to do, but I was glad that they came, even if it did cost me my lie in bed. So, after a morning of shopping for the family groceries for the week and going to the garden centre for new hanging baskets, it was time to set of for band practice. We always say that family comes first, and because of commitments we have had among the band within our own families we haven't rehearsed for a couple of weeks. And I was dreading the rehearsal because I ad not picked up a guitar since our last one. But how ironic, the first song we ran through was Whiskey in the Jar (I play lead on this one) and I played flawlessly! Would you believe it? Maybe two weeks of not playing unscrambled some of the wiring in my head and allowed my brain and fingers to communicate with each other a little better than usual! I was very surprised. We learned two more songs, Tom Petty's Running Down a Dream, and the Gary Moore version of Thin Lizzy's Don't believe a word, both great to play. And here's where the strength of this bands line up was showing, I could concentrate on playing as Dave, our other guitar player took the vocals on both songs. Just playing guitar is great, you do so much better, on saying that I take the vocals on Whiskey in The Jar. Today we had our first practice at our new rehearsal venue, which is our church in another town, about ten miles away from where we rehearsed previously, but this building has much better access than the previous one, and for some reason, we like it much better. I think that there was a very positive vibe going on between us all, it worked to our advantage and we were all pleased with the days results. We finished off with Rock Around The Clock, just for a bit of fun. By five pm we were all away heading for home. Last Thursday, Allen, the drummer from our old band dropped me an e mail inviting me to meet up with him at a gig he was playing about eight miles away across town. I always liked Allen, and when he left the band we parted on the best of terms and have stayed in touch. His band is called Roller Coaster. So after getting home, cutting the grass and getting a shower, off I went. The Venue was what we in England call a club, but is not anything remotely like the LA club scene that became famous. This is what you would call a Working Men's club, which are places where drinks are usually less expensive and the place has bands and other entertainment on at various times of the week. This was quite a nice club, but the concert room was not so big. The stage was triangular in shape, across one corner of the room and was very full with five people on it. I was interested to see this band because they work regularly and it would give me an idea of what was about as far as other bands go. They were very much what I would call a "Clubland Act", any Brits reading this would know exactly what I mean. In the 50's,60's and 70's the working Men's club scene was huge for bands to play, bands would work all over, sometimes playing what was known as a "Noon and Night gig" where they played at lunchtime and again in the evening. You got varying quality of acts and bands, but some were really good. Some bands came off the club circuit and made a good living. Anyway, Roller Coaster would fit in the bracket of "clubland" very easily. The youngest player would be about fifty, with the eldest two being 70. However, they were warmly received and what they played went down well for the audience they had. Twenty minutes before the end of their second and last set, the rhythm player broke an A string and didn't have a spare guitar with him, so as my own guitar was still in the boot of my car, I offered it to him to finish off the set with, he was very grateful. I was pleased to note that as a band we were much better. Now I don't mean that in any way big headed or egotistically, but when they played some songs such as Bad Company's "I can't get enough" and a couple of Stones songs, we would not have played them at that level as we would want them played correctly, and though they were obviously playing the songs, they weren't played correctly and some of those songs were lacking something. You can't play "I can't get enough" and not let that solo rock, it was like the Carpenters were doing a sacarin sweet version of it, there was no "Go" in the guitar. But I have to say, these were lovely friendly people who made me very welcome at their gig and also as we all sat together. I felt as though I made some new friends and they thought it was extraordinary that I would let their guitarist borrow my own guitar. I now know that we can really go out and offer a good quality show in comparison to some of the bands. However, please understand that I am not being big headed. I am also aware that many other bands are far better than us. But given what we have decided to do, we do it very well and no other band in the area will do it any better. Once again, thank you for reading my blog. I really appreciate the kind words and comments often written but just now for some reason I can not reply to them within the blog page.

It's been a busy day. Usually on a Saturday morning I treat myself to a lie in bed and get up when I want to and not when the alarm go's off. However, this morning I had to be at church to take my turn with some other guys to clean the building. It's quite a large church building with two wings away from the Chapel area and also the hall, when those two area's are opened it will seat 800 people very easily. So it was a very busy morning and with the early start I was tired before I went to band practice. I work 52 miles away from from home and the 5.15am alarm clock gets to you by the end of the week - I don't suppose I am young any more. So afterwards, it was strait home and load the car up for a noon start for band practice. We went to our usual rehearsal venue, which happens to be the church hall of one of our churches in the next town. We get it for free and no one disturbs us, plus the fact it is ideal. I didn't really want to have a practice today, but when I met up with the rest of the guys in the band it was good to see them, they are all great guys and we get on really well. Dave had done a self build telecaster and it sounded pretty good, so he had brought three guitars today. We didn't try to learn any new songs, just play some of the ones we've already learned as we need to have them perfect, although the next song we are going to learn is the old stones hit ""paint it black". I am getting real grief from my amp right now, it's a fender Hot Rod 40 watt valve amp and I am wondering if it was modded before I had it,(it was bought used about 12 years ago. It seems to be incredibly loud just set on 2 and has no gradual sound increase. I am going to have it looked at as soon as I can afford some spare cash. This month I have so far had to pay £330 for auto maintenance, £200 for our gas boiler to be repaired and that still hasn't cured the fault. So we will have to be patient. I am wondering if the previous owner put different valves in it than it should have. I have decided to get it to a good amp tech as soon as I can afford. Dave, our other guitarist is convinced some one messed with it before I got it. While we were rehearsing today we got a real compliment. A guy we know who used to see our old band saw us today and said that he was really impressed, he said that two years ago we were just another garage band (Thanks...!!) but now we are streets ahead and sounding fantastic. (It's because we have a new line up and hte dynamics are better). That is good because he isn't a musician but is really into his music, so good feedback from a guy in our target audience age who knows his music. We had to vacate the hall today pretty early because there was a birthday party for an eight year old girl. This kid was hyper - as if she had drunk a crate of Red Bull energy drinks. The first thing she said when she saw us was "are you the music for my party?" When we said no she almost demanded that we were!! I was just glad to pack away and leave her with her worn out parents who looked desperate to get rid of her for a few days respite! Thanks for reading, it's much appreciated. Mark.

After our first gig when we really fought the sound gremlins, we decided that we would devote our next practice to sorting out the problem of sound so that we are ready next time. So meeting up at our rehearsal venue, instead of our usual rehearsal positions facing the drummer and each other, we lined up and started playing as if we were on a stage, we even allowed ourselves only a small space to play from to replicate smaller stages. How ironic though that on this day when we wanted to sort out sound problems, Dave, our other guitar player then had problems with his brand new Fender Valve amp and could only get sound from the power amp, not the inputs for guitar. So being a bit of a genius with engineering and such, he managed to got some sound out of it but more of that later. We're a bit of a traditional band in that we are back line plus an old Peavy 600 watt pa amp, after all, our money has gone on guitars, and as we're not singers we don't have enough budget for a huge pa set up with monitors. However, we are going to have to do something because we have difficulty in hearing the vocals. I actually own a 150 watt 6 channel pa amp which although would be run seperately, we could use as fold back with a pair of monitor speakers. We had been playing too loud if the truth was known, so we set a level that would be pleasant for an audience and worked from there. We had two hours and it was time well spent. We now need to continue practicing the numbers we have learned over the previous weeks and perfect them, then start learning some more songs. We were messing with the Stones old hit, Paint it Black. Getting back to Dave's amp, at four pm he shot off back to the shop he bought it from where they offered to repair it. He said that as it is under 30 days old he is entitled to a new one, so they are ordering one in for him which should be here next week. Thanks for reading and best wishes, Mark.

Many thanks for all the great comments, they are very much appreciated.

Thanks for the kind words Tim, and for taking the trouble to read my blog. As two of us are attending family events next weekend we are taking a weekend off rehearsals, but I will let you all know how we get on sorting out the sound.

After only being together for about four weeks, we were playing our first gig. We all looked forward to it, having rehearsed as much as we could. We had arranged to meet at the venue at 5pm because that would be the only time we could set up and get a sound check (more of the sound check later). On the way to the venue, I decided to stop into a guitar dealer in Leeds and pick up a couple of guitar stands for the gig as I don't have any, and I bought a new mic clip to take my mic as the one on the stand I use is too narrow. While I was there I had a look at some PRS guitars as I may have to sell my 555 because the neck is too narrow and thin for my left fore finger to cope with when the tendonitis (well, I think that is what it is) flares up and it becomes painful to play). So, I am looking at a double cut PRS with a trem as a possible replacement. I really like PRS. So, on to the gig where we all met up and proceeded to set up. The stage wasn't particularly big, but not too small, we all managed to get enough space to play. However, we could not get a sound check because of the way the event was organised and that caused problems from the word go. The venue was very nice and we were made very welcome. The event was not as supported as well as the organisers would have liked and instead of about 150 minimum attending they got about 45, and about half of those people were 60 plus, some in their late seventies. Our target audience is people anywhere between 35 and sixty, and there were not many of that age group there. But, we were approached by the organisers who knew exactly what music we play. We played two sets, a mix of Rock and Roll, R&B (Proper R&B, not this awful stuff the kids call r&b toay) and some good plain classic rock. I am pleased to be able to say that the feedback we got was that we went down really well and that on the whole, the audience really enjoyed our playing. And, we can honestly say that there were people on the dance floor all the time when we played. However, there was another side to the gig that made it one of the hardest gigs I have ever played. From the word go we had sound problems, none of us know why, but we were getting signals that our vocals were not getting through. We were not playing any louder than we do at rehearsals where we have no trouble hearing ourselves, the drummers powered monitor was feeding back, it was as if every gremlin there is was coming out of the box. However, undaunted we carried on using a secondary sound system in the building. It worked fine for the audience, but we could not hear our vocals at all which made it very difficult. We know we have enough sound equipment even if it is not the latest technology. So we used the gig as a learning curve, and when we practice next we are going to spend our time set up as if we were in a gigging situation and get the sound right, taking note of all the amp and PA settings. The next time we gig we want everything correct right from the word go, even if we can't get a decent sound check. It was hard work all night, but on the whole well worth it. Thanks for reading, Mark.

You will get more replies if you post questions like this in the family tree. Good luck with getting a good guitar, I know a jazz player who makes a telecaster sound fantastic.

Ron, Most of Live at Leeds was recorded in the City of Hull! I doubt if we will record because we are a covers band and have no original songs. I don't think there is anything wrong with the post studs, I think that the guitar body has parhas not been as dry as it should have been when it was (probably)kiln dried, and what I am experiencing is some sort of shrinking on a minute scale which is enlarging the drilled holes the posts were fitted into. Thanks for the encouragement about the blog, I enjoy writing it.

Thanks very much for reading and commenting, and also saying kind things about my blog. I am enjoying writing it, I hope that I can keep it interesting. I am a bit disheartened about the posts for the stop bar moving, but hopefully they can be sorted out soon enough. For some one like yourself who gigs at such a level, I can see that having guitars and amps that can easily replace ones that breaks down is important. Maybe I need to get another amp before I get another guitar.

Today was our final practice before our first gig. Thankfully the gig is a friendly environment for us, which is good. We got next weeks gig when we had only been together two weeks and only had eight songs in the bag. So, we have done our best to get as many songs as we can together. The gig will be good for us because we can treat it as a shakedown gig and see what reaction we will get. Our bass players brother got us the gig and actually invited us, we didn't go looking for it. The audience will be perhaps 200 to 300 and will be in the city of Leeds, if we are not ready now then we will just have to do it right on the night. I am looking forward to it, my one fear is getting the sound right. We can be a little loud a rehearsal, I am keen to get things right for our audience who deserve the best we can give them. This week I had my first attempt at making speaker leads for the PA. You have to understand that I am pretty ignorant about doing this kind of thing, having never done it before. We needed some decent length speaker cables for the PA, so I bought a 25 metre reel of twin core heavy duty pa cable, each core of copper being 2.25mm. I didn't realise the soldering such thick core to to a 5mm jack plug was going to be so difficult, and being unskilled, I just had to try until I got it right. The end result was successful, and I am quite proud of myself! I could enjoy doing something with electronics, maybe developing a new skill as a hobby. I have a friend who builds replica AC30 amps that are really excellent - I'd have one from him but he lives in Canada. Mind you, he is really skilled, he builds aneasthesia machines for a living. So today we learned Sultans of Swing, and as it's all bar chords it doesn't half get your left forearm! But we did a great job of it thanks to Dave our other guitar player nailing the guitar parts and the vocals. One thing we did discover though, is that because we have had such a short time to get over twenty numbers together, although we got them down to gigging standard when we learned them, we need to revisit them and replay them. However, I am confident that we will get them right on the night. There's enough talent to make a good night of it. My main two playing guitars, my strat and my Tokai Les Paul both need some attention. The Stop bar is being pulled forward in the Tokai, so I will have to get it to a good tech. The Strat just has some wear and tear issues that are the result of 24 years of good use. It needs a new nut and the frets stoning, along with the thread inside the trem block. The Tokai needs seeing to as soon as I can it done. How ironic that they both need attention a week before our first gig, but isn't that often the case in these things? Thanks for taking the time to read, it's much appreciated.

We finally gave our band a name! We have opted for "Route 62" which is a spoof on Route 66. The M62 motorway runs from the east coast to the west coast and passes just north of my home town by about three miles or so. It is actually Englands busiest motorway. So, as we travel along it on a regular basis, we thought why not? the last band Shaun and I were is was given this name but it didn't get off the ground. I think (and this is only my personal opinion) that so many bands start rehearsing all the stuff that can at times take for ever to get done and no momentum is gained. Once again we have rehearsed songs which although simple are very effective, some more so than I thought would be. This week they were very easy, so we got five in. On saying that though, sometimes the ones you think will be easy end up throwing a spanner in the works. Terry, our excellent drummer, was having quite the time sorting out the beat to Wonderful tonight, which is our obligatory end of dance "bum squeezer". How ever, we came up with a good version of it and we were all pleased. As our first gig is a dance, we have put a lot of sings in that folks can dance to, including some good old fashioned rock and roll, my personal favourite being the old JOnhhy Kidd and the Pirates number, "I'll never get over you". One number I really like that we put in as an extra that took us no more than two goes to nail was "Knife and Fork", which is an old Rockpile number, really good. One thing we now need to do is get some pictures taken of us. We have started a facebook page just last night, so it is really early days on that. Our bass players son is really good with computer stuff so he is going to help us build a web site, I don't know how long it will be before we get it up and running, but sooner rather than later. We have not looked for gigs yet, but we have two to play so far. One on April 26th and another in May. We've now had four rehearsals and we have 19 songs in the bag, next week will be our last practice before our first booking, we have worked out that we will have enough material for two forty minute sets. I myself would rather play one longer set but the event organizers want two, so two it will be. Next week the main object will be to run through our set and just add a couple more. I now have my strat back from my son, he has neglected to wipe the strings clean after using it so the first thing I will do is put new strings on. We are getting very tight now, which is great, and we are getting to know each other really well "musically", if you know what I mean. Thanks for reading.

Another four songs in the bag today, once again rehearsed to gigging standard. We practice every Saturday afternoon, meeting up at 12.30 and after setting up we work until 4pm. And in a good rehearsal session, it really is work, getting all the mistakes ironed out until it is right. Last week it was my fingers and brain which were not connecting, this week, Terry the drummer was having a difficult time by his standards. All I can say is that if that was a bad day, he must be incredible on a good one. As is often the case, drummers are the butt of jokes. However, Terry is the bedrock of the band laying down a very solid beat. His fills and endings are superb, and Shaun and I offered him the job in the driving seat after only two numbers and we have been proved right at every rehearsal. We have been given a gig at a private function in the Yorkshire city of Leeds, an event run though the church Shaun and I belong to. It is regional and means that there could well be more gigs coming as a result. The gig is in April 26th and we now need to work out how to give a one and a half hour show at standards we set. #We have three weeks to get 12 more songs. So, we will be upping the pressure on ourselves. Dave, our other guitar player is a great guy, easy to get on with and willing to do what's best for the band. But today he did say that he wanted to sing more and give more to the band. He said it in a positive way, he was just being enthusiastic. I told him that he had come from a band where he was the best in the band by far and every one else probably depended on him to hold it together, to which he agreed. I then said that he'd joined a band where there are four strong musicians who can all do what is needed, and that is a lot different to his last band. He smiled and agreed, and I said that we have only had three rehearsals and over the next few weeks he will have those opportunities. He was happy at that. He wasn't complaining, I just think he wants to contribute to the fullest extent he can. Buying a 600 watt pa was a master stroke, it enables the band members with weaker voices to be brought into the mix. This was shown to great advantage in two of our choice of songs for this weeks rehearsal, Riot In Cell Block Number 9 and Hi Ho Silver Lining. You may know Riot in cell block number 9 by the Robins or from the Blues Brothers film. Those two versions are two slow for me and don't cut the mustard, so we beefed the song up a bit and put more fire into it, playing the Dr Feelgood version. It was superb, and I do not know of any other band playing this song. Hi Ho Silver Lining is a great number for an audience to dance to, and even of I say so, we did a great version of it. With three of us singing the chorus, it really made a difference. The other two numbers we rehearsed were I'm Hog For You and Tulsa Time. We are purposely looking for good numbers to play which other bands in our area are not covering. We know that we need to have a unique selling point, and as there are good bands out there, we need to be good but also different enough in our set list that we will get attention without being turned away. My good friend and fellow forum member Peter Alton, always uses a guideline for buying a new guitar which is "do I have a job for it?" So far in this band I have only needed to use my Tokai, which is performing admirably. But soon I will need to get my Strat back from my son and use that for some of the songs that we are planning to do in concert gigs. Also, there is a need for a Telecaster and I am sure that at some point in the near future I will be posting pictures of one, it's just a case of finance right now. Hopefully we will get gigs which will provide the funds so that I don't take the money out of the family budget. I know this band is going to be very good. There are better guitar players than Dave and I out there in the band world, but our two styles are very complimentary and Shaun and Terry are excellent in their own rights as bass player and drummer. The band's strength is that it is turning out to be greater than the sum of its parts. The timing is spot on and we are getting very tight. After three weeks we have twelve songs down to gigging standards, so it won't be long before we are good to go. Thanks to all for reading and best wishes. Mark.

I wish I could write songs, it is something I have tried my hand at, but every time I do I instantly recognise my so called original song is more or less a copy of another song I've been listening to for years. I wish you all the best in your quest for creativity.

thanks for reading and commenting, this coming saturday we are starting to rehearse The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy, amongst others, including the old hit Riot in Cell Block Number 9.

Thanks for the nice comment Doc, Love the "not enough drugs" suggestion!

Just an up date on the band and how things are progressing. One thing I did during the week was to buy myself a new mic lead. Thankfully that was all that was needed and not anther microphone. I like decent equipment and just right now I don't have a lot of spare cash for band equipment. We bought a 600 watt Peavy pa amp a few weeks back, that proved a good investment. It's old but good and kicks out the power nicely. A bit like a big V8 engine, gets you there nicely without putting your foot down to the metal. Our goal was to get another four songs down, Black Magic Woman, Before You Accuse Me, Rock and Roll Music and The Promised Land. All good rock n roll that will get your feel tapping even if you don't want to get up and dance.Today though, I just kept tripping over my fingers in the lead to Black Magic Woman, which I can normally play straight off. It was just one of those days. So, another target reached, which is nail down four songs a each rehearsal. We are purposely learning easier songs in our early days, so that we can get a momentum going, we want to get twenty songs down quickly. When we've done that we will go for some that take a bit more effort and maybe only learn two at each practice. The only problem we have now is thinking of a name for the band. Once again, thanks for reading.

I have never been able to write much, well done to you on that. You seem to get great satisfaction from your recording project, keep it going.