The last gig of 2008 and the last gig for our longest serving bass player, Mike, who is off to pastures old in the new year, mixing it with the current Mrs Pidge and assorted other ex Marines in a new venture- we wish him well, so well in fact that he may well be seen in selected venues with The Shine following his official demise! Watch this space!
Ah, the gig. Well, the pre-Christmas visitors to Edinburgh had nabbed all of the parking slots around Victoria Street, despite Neil and Iain having arrived at their usual time when a decent spot can usually be guaranteed. Neil found a dubious space at the top of the road while after unloading, Iain, Andy and subsequently Mike got parked in Belgium, Bolivia and Outer-Mongolia respectively. Iain also had a serious case of "man flu" and was sweating his ass off, as well as wondering if his throat would last the gig out.
The load in and set up complete, we did the now usual from the bottom up sound check, only to be hassled by a very drunk female (I think, genetic testing would be required to truly confirm this diagnosis) who was very "out there" and keen to invite herself onto the stage. More of her later.....
We kicked off with "Come up and see me" and from the off the crowd were warm and appreciative, if seemingly intimidated by the dance floor. In an absolute first, Danny the manager came across and asked us to turn up! Apparently, Neil's vocals could not be heard and some people think this is a disadvantage. Vocal levels sorted, we went on to deliver a pretty rounded first set with good crowd reaction and a large collection of Santa's on the dance floor from about the 5th number. Half way through, our biggest fan, in every sense of the phrase, returned with more attempts to join the band and following a heated exchange with a doorman who bravely got in her way, she was "helped to leave" the area. She apparently continued to protest vehemently and indeed physically long after we lost sight of her for the final time. I hope she enjoyed the hospitality afforded her by Lothian and Borders until Monday am and her date with the short man in the long black robes....
The pants monitor mix was fixed by ensuring the bass was plugged into the bass channel on the desk as it should have been and not into the vocal channel which pumped major bass volume through the monitors to the detriment of everything else. Iain's ears were so blocked anyway that he didn't notice.....
The first set over, the Santa's departed in search of lands anew and we kicked off into our now legendary, in our minds at least, indie orientated second set. Fear of our friend the munter gone, we had a great crowd of people on the dance floor giving it big licks throughout the second set, taking photos and generally having a great time- it's why we like Finnegan's so much. The set ended with the ubiquitous "Heroes" and we left the stage to catch the flights to get the cars to the echo of "One More Song, One More Song". I love that bit.
A long and sweaty breakdown and load up and that was that for 2008. Still, with the diary already filling nicely for next year, we'll see you in 2009? Hope so!
Greetings of the season and I hope that Santa endows you with a significant portion of the contents of his sack!
All the best
The Shine
Monday, 15 December 2008
Sunday, 31 August 2008
History of The Shine
OK, so what do you do when you wake up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning? Well, from my point of view I had a coffee and started thinking back through a kind of "timeline" of The Shine... On this basis, I reckoned it may be quite interesting (if only to us Shinies) to atually log this down before memories fade completely... Here goes....
4th January 2004 - Andy and I met for the first time in Nicky Tam's in Stirling following my finding his wee "want ad" in a Falkirk music store. I had left Must Hang Sally in September 2003 following the band's break up and was bursting with new but definite ideas. Through meeting with Andy, and a few pints, we discovered we wanted the same thing - a working band with no material limits, playing what we wanted to play and with no conflicting egos. We agreed to give this a bash with Andy on lead guitar and vocals, me on lead vocals and guitar.
January 2004 - I gave Iain a call, Iain being a mate of mine and long time conspirator with Unfinished Business. Iain was up for giving it a bash at being our drummer from the outset. With Iain on board, we set up a deal with the Railway Tavern in Dollar as a practice venue and started working up material, auditioning bass guitarists etc. First bass player we tried was Stuart Grant who was to feature strongly throughout the band's history (although he didn't take up our offer to join, going on to form Soul Inferno around this time).
March 2004 - Andy, Iain and I had our first live outing at a jam session at the Weir Pumps Social Club in Alloa with a dep bass player from the bunch of people there.
April 2004 - Colin Nelson joined the band as our bass player. A solid, thoughtful guy, Colin also had the coolest "want ad" I'd ever seen in Sound Control and a WAL bass - the first time I'd ever seen or played a WAL close up. Around this time, the Railway closed, never to reopen. I struck a deal with the Twa Macs in Alva and we had a new free practice venue (whenever it wasn't full of assorted crap, timings & agreements fucked up etc.)
November 2004 - First couple of official gigs as The Shine as a four piece. First was a freebie at the Twa Macs, the second the Dunfermline Christmas light switch on.
January 2005 - Colin decided to leave. We were unaware of any musical differences but Colin had a lot going on aside from the band. We wished him well, he was (and probably still is) a great player.
March 2005 - First properly touted / sourced gig at Forresters in Cambusbarron - WITH NO BASS PLAYER! First re-entry of Mr Stuart Grant!
June 2005 - We are introduced to Mark (TSD) Palmer by Lynz Hepburn of Soul Inferno (Stuart Grant link No. 3). Mark immediately gelled with where we were going AND HAD A VAN! This started one of the most inventive period in the band's history where (1) we gained a circuit of prestige gigs (2) developed our sound - turning Mark from a talented bass player to an unadulterated rock monster (or was it the other way round) (3) recording our first "proper" demo CD in Andy's home studio (4) conquering the internet with a diverse web presence (5) following Mark's lead and adopting silly pseudonyms! Andy is deemed the sexiest member of the band by female audience members.
August 2005 - Our first Gig In The Glen in Dunfermline as headliners (with Soul Inferno as second on the bill). This was followed by the conquering of Edinburgh, a city we still love playing.
June 2006 - Just before a gig in Edinburgh, Iain feels a TWANG and amuses us all by showing us that his thumb's got no movement and closely resembles a piece of lifeless rubber! He goes on to play a 3 hour gig only to discover the following day that his tendon had snapped and started it's ascent back up his arm! Thus followed 6 months of surgery, complete rest and then physiotherapy. At this time, Iain was told that he may never play drums, knit or masturbate again (OK, I made up the last two...)
August 2006 - Mark decides to leave the band and concentrate on his other band The Screaming Meemies. Bass recruitment begins again....
August 2006 - Mr Stuart Grant, believing Soul Inferno were about to fold, joins The Shine officially as bass player. As a result, we pretty much drop the silly pseudonyms and discover that we can be just as powerful (or in fact even more) with a funky drive from the rhythm section.
February 2007 - Reports of Soul Inferno's demise appear to be grossly exagerated and there is a conflict of gig dates. After huge heart searching, we suggest to Stuart that he'd be better concentrating on rebuilding Soul Inferno - his baby.
March 2007 - Before leaving, Andy, Iain, Stuart and I head off to Craigmont Studios in Glasgow to record a new professional album. If this was to be seen as Stuart's swansong, it's a fucking cracker! Back to the recruitment process... Andy and I placed various want ads and came up with a few options.
April 2007 - On one night in Rosyth, we auditioned a couple of guys, the second being Mike Gudgeon. Now, here's an interesting one... Mike had previously contacted me about the bass position just after we'd appointed Stuart, Mike's married to Lesley of David Beattie's Lucky Tile who we were vaguely associated with (and who knows my mate Martin) and, in fact, Mike was one of the local cops who put an untimely end to Gig In The Glen 2006 (although he was the innocent party of the couple of cops).
Anyway, back to the audition... There was no comparison! Mike was offered the job right there and then. We were ready to "Set a Pidge on ya!". Mike is also, without any offense to those who went before, the most talented bass player we've ever heard - bringing power, funk, rhythm and a musical knowledge WAY in excess of any of us. Andy has also lost his crown, in audience terms, as sexiest member of the band - this having been claimed by Mike!
May 2007 - Mike's first gig with us (after only a couple of practices) at Alloa Town Hall for the CAMRA Real Ale Festival.
February 2008 - Back off to Craigmont Studios, Glasgow to record our third album (with third consecutive bass guitarist).
August 2008 - Mike is not only the longest standing bass guitarist in the history of The Shine, he's also the most prolific as we pick up regulalrly prestigious gigs. Mike is also the most in tune with the rest of us as he shares the ethos of fun without ego and is a normal decent family guy.
4th January 2004 - Andy and I met for the first time in Nicky Tam's in Stirling following my finding his wee "want ad" in a Falkirk music store. I had left Must Hang Sally in September 2003 following the band's break up and was bursting with new but definite ideas. Through meeting with Andy, and a few pints, we discovered we wanted the same thing - a working band with no material limits, playing what we wanted to play and with no conflicting egos. We agreed to give this a bash with Andy on lead guitar and vocals, me on lead vocals and guitar.
January 2004 - I gave Iain a call, Iain being a mate of mine and long time conspirator with Unfinished Business. Iain was up for giving it a bash at being our drummer from the outset. With Iain on board, we set up a deal with the Railway Tavern in Dollar as a practice venue and started working up material, auditioning bass guitarists etc. First bass player we tried was Stuart Grant who was to feature strongly throughout the band's history (although he didn't take up our offer to join, going on to form Soul Inferno around this time).
March 2004 - Andy, Iain and I had our first live outing at a jam session at the Weir Pumps Social Club in Alloa with a dep bass player from the bunch of people there.
April 2004 - Colin Nelson joined the band as our bass player. A solid, thoughtful guy, Colin also had the coolest "want ad" I'd ever seen in Sound Control and a WAL bass - the first time I'd ever seen or played a WAL close up. Around this time, the Railway closed, never to reopen. I struck a deal with the Twa Macs in Alva and we had a new free practice venue (whenever it wasn't full of assorted crap, timings & agreements fucked up etc.)
November 2004 - First couple of official gigs as The Shine as a four piece. First was a freebie at the Twa Macs, the second the Dunfermline Christmas light switch on.
January 2005 - Colin decided to leave. We were unaware of any musical differences but Colin had a lot going on aside from the band. We wished him well, he was (and probably still is) a great player.
March 2005 - First properly touted / sourced gig at Forresters in Cambusbarron - WITH NO BASS PLAYER! First re-entry of Mr Stuart Grant!
June 2005 - We are introduced to Mark (TSD) Palmer by Lynz Hepburn of Soul Inferno (Stuart Grant link No. 3). Mark immediately gelled with where we were going AND HAD A VAN! This started one of the most inventive period in the band's history where (1) we gained a circuit of prestige gigs (2) developed our sound - turning Mark from a talented bass player to an unadulterated rock monster (or was it the other way round) (3) recording our first "proper" demo CD in Andy's home studio (4) conquering the internet with a diverse web presence (5) following Mark's lead and adopting silly pseudonyms! Andy is deemed the sexiest member of the band by female audience members.
August 2005 - Our first Gig In The Glen in Dunfermline as headliners (with Soul Inferno as second on the bill). This was followed by the conquering of Edinburgh, a city we still love playing.
June 2006 - Just before a gig in Edinburgh, Iain feels a TWANG and amuses us all by showing us that his thumb's got no movement and closely resembles a piece of lifeless rubber! He goes on to play a 3 hour gig only to discover the following day that his tendon had snapped and started it's ascent back up his arm! Thus followed 6 months of surgery, complete rest and then physiotherapy. At this time, Iain was told that he may never play drums, knit or masturbate again (OK, I made up the last two...)
August 2006 - Mark decides to leave the band and concentrate on his other band The Screaming Meemies. Bass recruitment begins again....
August 2006 - Mr Stuart Grant, believing Soul Inferno were about to fold, joins The Shine officially as bass player. As a result, we pretty much drop the silly pseudonyms and discover that we can be just as powerful (or in fact even more) with a funky drive from the rhythm section.
February 2007 - Reports of Soul Inferno's demise appear to be grossly exagerated and there is a conflict of gig dates. After huge heart searching, we suggest to Stuart that he'd be better concentrating on rebuilding Soul Inferno - his baby.
March 2007 - Before leaving, Andy, Iain, Stuart and I head off to Craigmont Studios in Glasgow to record a new professional album. If this was to be seen as Stuart's swansong, it's a fucking cracker! Back to the recruitment process... Andy and I placed various want ads and came up with a few options.
April 2007 - On one night in Rosyth, we auditioned a couple of guys, the second being Mike Gudgeon. Now, here's an interesting one... Mike had previously contacted me about the bass position just after we'd appointed Stuart, Mike's married to Lesley of David Beattie's Lucky Tile who we were vaguely associated with (and who knows my mate Martin) and, in fact, Mike was one of the local cops who put an untimely end to Gig In The Glen 2006 (although he was the innocent party of the couple of cops).
Anyway, back to the audition... There was no comparison! Mike was offered the job right there and then. We were ready to "Set a Pidge on ya!". Mike is also, without any offense to those who went before, the most talented bass player we've ever heard - bringing power, funk, rhythm and a musical knowledge WAY in excess of any of us. Andy has also lost his crown, in audience terms, as sexiest member of the band - this having been claimed by Mike!
May 2007 - Mike's first gig with us (after only a couple of practices) at Alloa Town Hall for the CAMRA Real Ale Festival.
February 2008 - Back off to Craigmont Studios, Glasgow to record our third album (with third consecutive bass guitarist).
August 2008 - Mike is not only the longest standing bass guitarist in the history of The Shine, he's also the most prolific as we pick up regulalrly prestigious gigs. Mike is also the most in tune with the rest of us as he shares the ethos of fun without ego and is a normal decent family guy.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
The Orgasmic Scribbler's Picnic - 24.8.08
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Well, I guess you could class this as "yetanotherdoubleheader"!! Esteemed God of Thunder Iain and King of the Six String brought a great sense of hooliganism to Soul Inferno on Friday 22nd August where they depped at the brilliant O'Neill's in Merchant City, Glasgow. I had the "pleasure" of bein there to witness the spectacle of 2 outstanding rock musicians bringing their own form of lunacy to a perfectly respectable soul band... Why the "pleasure" in inverted comments? Well, the sound was absolutley rank! This particular muso was dying to get his hands on their soulie knobs!!
So, a quick sleep, rub down with a couple of freshly squeezed virgins and the boys were made Shiny again! This time it was a Sunday afternoon gig at the Scribbler's Picnic festival in Stirling - a gig we've been trying to land for 4 years!
So, why orgasmic? Well, these festival type gigs are fantastic for us - really our forte - but we tend to run on 30 minutes of extreme pleasure and then a climax!!! Get the point?
Anyway, we launched into high energy version of Kids In America... then straight into Highway To Hell. A quick welcome and we were into Andy's brilliant Inspiration. Not to be outdone, I had to bash out my own one Saturday Night. Strangely, and very welcome, the originals went down a treat! We then launched into the guaranteed crowd pleaser Chelsea Dagger before rounding off with American Idiot.
Thanks to Anita and Carrie for taking some photos (all featured in the various galleries) and videoing the whole Shinyshow! I just wonder whether my comment of "You're coming home with me!" to the bird in the Moulin Rouge type outfit came out on video...? I couldn't hear it, but there again I didn't hear ANY monitor!
Big thanks to Ted Christopher for having us... Hopefully we'll be back next year??!!
So, all in all, within an hour of unloading the cars we had played, sweated a couple of pints, loaded the cars back up again and were on our way out!
A good time had by all!!!
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Killin - 15.8.08 - View From The Front!
Well well well... Beaten to the Blog by the God Of Thunder himself!
What more can I say... As always, particularly big thanks to Jan and David for just being such geat people! These are the kind of clients we REALLY appreciate playing for!
Notable phases for me from this gig? :-
Delivering the goods after two consecutive 20 hour days (as pointed out below)
Forgetting the opening line to Monster... Damn!!
Ledderhosen and Alpine hats - VERY scary!
Seeing Maria / Waitress again for the first time this year!
Wishing Jan & David a Happy Christmas....
Being scared driving home 'cos I was physically, emotionally and mentally so knackered.
Having to be up again at 8am to roll down a Perthshire hill in a Zorb Ball....
Ah, the joys of being a rock and roll legend!
What more can I say... As always, particularly big thanks to Jan and David for just being such geat people! These are the kind of clients we REALLY appreciate playing for!
Notable phases for me from this gig? :-
Delivering the goods after two consecutive 20 hour days (as pointed out below)
Forgetting the opening line to Monster... Damn!!
Ledderhosen and Alpine hats - VERY scary!
Seeing Maria / Waitress again for the first time this year!
Wishing Jan & David a Happy Christmas....
Being scared driving home 'cos I was physically, emotionally and mentally so knackered.
Having to be up again at 8am to roll down a Perthshire hill in a Zorb Ball....
Ah, the joys of being a rock and roll legend!
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Coachhouse Hotel, Killin, 15/08/08
Our last visit this summer season to the land of the bat-sized midges saw us again looking forward to an unpredictable night, audience wise. Killin is one of those gigs where you really have no idea who will be in and what set will go down well.
As usual, we hedged our bets. The bar was pretty busy with the post teatime crowd when we kicked off with our now traditional acoustic set. The crowd were warm and responsive and very appreciative, which is always nice. We had a bit of a rash of guitarists starting songs too fast in the middle of the set, but hey ho, if you don't want to wait for the drummer, then hell mend you! Stand out tune was our best to date version of Andy's new self penned "Different Day" which is seriously classy.
First set over and a quick break and we launched into our electric set with Highway to Hell, expecting to cause a mass exodus within the first few power chords, but no, the crowd stayed and wanted more. Never being ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, we graciously obliged and got "tore in". Neil had a bit of a unique moment, forgetting the first line to Monster, but considering he had been up since 4am and opened a multi-million pound shopping centre development already that day, the fact that this was the only aberration in the night was laudable. We also managed to play "Learn to Fly" in the agreed structure for the first time all the way through- like I say, Killin is never predictable!
Towards the end of the set we were joined by a group of well lubricated Bavarians who livened up the place no end. Neil struggled manfully and finally managed to get through the rest of the set without mentioning the war and we ended the night with one of the best receptions we have ever had at a gig and people offering us money to play on... We obliged with an encore for no money and ended the night with great big knackered smiles and the thought of a drive back down the road in the rain, fog and post gig glow...
Roll on next week and our debut, finally, at the almost legendary Scribblers Picnic, 2.30, Sunday 24th Aug in the Thommo Tent, in the grounds of Stirling Rugby Club. See you there?
As usual, we hedged our bets. The bar was pretty busy with the post teatime crowd when we kicked off with our now traditional acoustic set. The crowd were warm and responsive and very appreciative, which is always nice. We had a bit of a rash of guitarists starting songs too fast in the middle of the set, but hey ho, if you don't want to wait for the drummer, then hell mend you! Stand out tune was our best to date version of Andy's new self penned "Different Day" which is seriously classy.
First set over and a quick break and we launched into our electric set with Highway to Hell, expecting to cause a mass exodus within the first few power chords, but no, the crowd stayed and wanted more. Never being ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, we graciously obliged and got "tore in". Neil had a bit of a unique moment, forgetting the first line to Monster, but considering he had been up since 4am and opened a multi-million pound shopping centre development already that day, the fact that this was the only aberration in the night was laudable. We also managed to play "Learn to Fly" in the agreed structure for the first time all the way through- like I say, Killin is never predictable!
Towards the end of the set we were joined by a group of well lubricated Bavarians who livened up the place no end. Neil struggled manfully and finally managed to get through the rest of the set without mentioning the war and we ended the night with one of the best receptions we have ever had at a gig and people offering us money to play on... We obliged with an encore for no money and ended the night with great big knackered smiles and the thought of a drive back down the road in the rain, fog and post gig glow...
Roll on next week and our debut, finally, at the almost legendary Scribblers Picnic, 2.30, Sunday 24th Aug in the Thommo Tent, in the grounds of Stirling Rugby Club. See you there?
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Finnegan's Wake, Edinburgh - 9.8.08
Finnegan's Wake... What can we say...!!?? Finnegan's Wake during the festival... Into orbit!
Edinburgh during the festival / Fringe is always great. What an atmosphere! So many great people out to have a great time.
We knew this was going to be a tough one logistically as (1) the bar would be jumping by the time we arrived and (2) would STILL be jumping by the time we left due to the 3am closing time. Not to worry, we were expecting it. We weren't expecting the parking ban in Victoria Street but thanks to my schmoozing a traffic warden and Willie the Security Guard's constant lookout we were fine.
Oh, and it rained... Fucking hell it rained!!! It was torrential when we arrived for the load in, let up during the night and was torrential again when we loaded back out.
As for the gig, yet again - stunning! We'd decided on a high energy, rocky and fairly modern set thanks to our illustrious Mr Keates and, I think, totally hit the mark. From the outset we were supported by Suzanne's friendly hen party (featuring a VERY hot Welsh girl). These girls parties their cute little asses off for the entire first set and totally spurred us on.
By the break, the hen party had moved on (reluctantly) so, quick 10 minute break, and we were off again into Chelsea Dagger. We thought the party could boogie? This was NOTHING compared to the full dancefloor in the second set!!! They were even dancing in the main body of the pub, in back areas, down the sides... AWESOME GIG!!!
Danny asked us if we could play for a bit longer than the 1am finish rather than lose punters - suggesting a 1.15am finish. We were more than happy to oblige, playing until 1.30. Danny seemed happy, the crowd seemed happy and we were more than happy!
Every silver lining has a cloud....
(1) Two weeks previously I'd said to Andy "What happens if the power amp fails". Last night was the night it chose to fail! Thankfully we managed to rescue it with flicking the switch.
(2) First trial of my new Sennheiser headset mic. Possibly not the best idea at a prestige gig. The feedback was horrible from the front monitor. Mind you, a £20 mic into a Sennheiser wireless system? Maybe that was the problem... The in ear monitors were stunning though.
(3) Andy's "Bug" wireless system decided to be downright tempremental at times, leading our stunning lead guitarist to have to resort to {gulp} a WIRE!
(4) Various drunk punters who decided to both use our gear as things to fall into and to stick full pints on. As a result, thanks to some dickhead from obviously the clan McMohammed (what the fuck was that all about), a bass bin, my effects board and half of Andy's floor gear soaking up about 2 pints of finely brewed beverage!
The classic line of the night, however, came from one of the hen party girls. After we did Proud Mary she said "Ah, that's the Tina Turner one!" I said "I'm hardly Tina Turner - I don't even have a vagina!". The response came right back "You will have by the end of the night!" SCHWING!!!
Edinburgh during the festival / Fringe is always great. What an atmosphere! So many great people out to have a great time.
We knew this was going to be a tough one logistically as (1) the bar would be jumping by the time we arrived and (2) would STILL be jumping by the time we left due to the 3am closing time. Not to worry, we were expecting it. We weren't expecting the parking ban in Victoria Street but thanks to my schmoozing a traffic warden and Willie the Security Guard's constant lookout we were fine.
Oh, and it rained... Fucking hell it rained!!! It was torrential when we arrived for the load in, let up during the night and was torrential again when we loaded back out.
As for the gig, yet again - stunning! We'd decided on a high energy, rocky and fairly modern set thanks to our illustrious Mr Keates and, I think, totally hit the mark. From the outset we were supported by Suzanne's friendly hen party (featuring a VERY hot Welsh girl). These girls parties their cute little asses off for the entire first set and totally spurred us on.
By the break, the hen party had moved on (reluctantly) so, quick 10 minute break, and we were off again into Chelsea Dagger. We thought the party could boogie? This was NOTHING compared to the full dancefloor in the second set!!! They were even dancing in the main body of the pub, in back areas, down the sides... AWESOME GIG!!!
Danny asked us if we could play for a bit longer than the 1am finish rather than lose punters - suggesting a 1.15am finish. We were more than happy to oblige, playing until 1.30. Danny seemed happy, the crowd seemed happy and we were more than happy!
Every silver lining has a cloud....
(1) Two weeks previously I'd said to Andy "What happens if the power amp fails". Last night was the night it chose to fail! Thankfully we managed to rescue it with flicking the switch.
(2) First trial of my new Sennheiser headset mic. Possibly not the best idea at a prestige gig. The feedback was horrible from the front monitor. Mind you, a £20 mic into a Sennheiser wireless system? Maybe that was the problem... The in ear monitors were stunning though.
(3) Andy's "Bug" wireless system decided to be downright tempremental at times, leading our stunning lead guitarist to have to resort to {gulp} a WIRE!
(4) Various drunk punters who decided to both use our gear as things to fall into and to stick full pints on. As a result, thanks to some dickhead from obviously the clan McMohammed (what the fuck was that all about), a bass bin, my effects board and half of Andy's floor gear soaking up about 2 pints of finely brewed beverage!
The classic line of the night, however, came from one of the hen party girls. After we did Proud Mary she said "Ah, that's the Tina Turner one!" I said "I'm hardly Tina Turner - I don't even have a vagina!". The response came right back "You will have by the end of the night!" SCHWING!!!
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Woodside Inn, Glenrothes - 2.8.08
Round 2 of our latest "Double Header".... No, I don't mean that certain "bucket of inanimate cogitating hippocampi" (edited by Iain- work it out!) that Iain favours....
So, off we go to the Woodside in Glenrothes. Strange how I get all gramatically correct sometimes. When I arrived a drunk punter who was out for a fag growled at me "Ur you ra band?". Well, if it was just me I'd be the artist, the musician. A band, in terms of basic vocabulary, is a collection of musicians. I just responded "Well I'm 1/4 of a band". This seemed to confuse him so he just grumbled and leaned at an acute angle against the wall... C'est la vie...
Anyway, Iain and I arrived early to claim the stage as there had been a slight double booking confusion. No worries there though.
Strange place The Woodside - it doesn't really come alive until about 10.30. We launched into a much higher energy set than the previous night at about 9pm and immediately had the handful of punters in the palms of our hands. No mentions of dogging (like the previous night) as I'd decided to behave tonight. We tore through the first set at a rate of knots, so much so, we were running ahead of time and had to stick in some extra material. Sometimes it's great to have shitloads of material!!
By the time we took a break at about 10.15, the venue was starting to fill up.
Quick break, fill the glasses, and we were back on about 10.30 with a rousing Chelsea Dagger. By this time, despite some overheard comments that some punters were there to see the "other band", we had them dancing in the ailes.Again, we must have been playing at breakneck speed as - checking my watch - we had played for 45 minutes with 45 to go and three songs left. Out came the extensive setlist again.
All in all an interesting night... Solos where solos had never been before (both Andy and I guilty), solos missing where solos were meant to be, songs done which hadn't been off the shelf in 6 months ("what key's Ziggy in?")...
All in all though, another great performance as usual. When we're running at 60% we're great... When we're at 100% we're unstopable!
The night concluded with the audience screaming for more but, as it was past the witching hour, we did the fastest stripdown of our 5 year career and loaded up.
Thank God for Sunday and the chance to chill with coffee (and web blogs!)
So, off we go to the Woodside in Glenrothes. Strange how I get all gramatically correct sometimes. When I arrived a drunk punter who was out for a fag growled at me "Ur you ra band?". Well, if it was just me I'd be the artist, the musician. A band, in terms of basic vocabulary, is a collection of musicians. I just responded "Well I'm 1/4 of a band". This seemed to confuse him so he just grumbled and leaned at an acute angle against the wall... C'est la vie...
Anyway, Iain and I arrived early to claim the stage as there had been a slight double booking confusion. No worries there though.
Strange place The Woodside - it doesn't really come alive until about 10.30. We launched into a much higher energy set than the previous night at about 9pm and immediately had the handful of punters in the palms of our hands. No mentions of dogging (like the previous night) as I'd decided to behave tonight. We tore through the first set at a rate of knots, so much so, we were running ahead of time and had to stick in some extra material. Sometimes it's great to have shitloads of material!!
By the time we took a break at about 10.15, the venue was starting to fill up.
Quick break, fill the glasses, and we were back on about 10.30 with a rousing Chelsea Dagger. By this time, despite some overheard comments that some punters were there to see the "other band", we had them dancing in the ailes.Again, we must have been playing at breakneck speed as - checking my watch - we had played for 45 minutes with 45 to go and three songs left. Out came the extensive setlist again.
All in all an interesting night... Solos where solos had never been before (both Andy and I guilty), solos missing where solos were meant to be, songs done which hadn't been off the shelf in 6 months ("what key's Ziggy in?")...
All in all though, another great performance as usual. When we're running at 60% we're great... When we're at 100% we're unstopable!
The night concluded with the audience screaming for more but, as it was past the witching hour, we did the fastest stripdown of our 5 year career and loaded up.
Thank God for Sunday and the chance to chill with coffee (and web blogs!)
Waverley Hotel, Callendar - 1.8.08
We had a great time back at the Waverley Hotel in Callendar on Friday night - 1st August. It's strange but, despite all the high profile city centre gigs (Behind The Wall, Finnegan's Wake etc), it's great to do the "semi rural" gigs like Killin and Callendar.
I arived at steak pie o clock to find Iain still tucking into his chilli stir fry... around half past fish supper, we decided to do one of the worst load ins on the circuit - people tend not to appreciate a bass drum in the back of the napper as they're tucking into their tea... Still, no injuries...
We were joined by 3/4 of the "Shine WAG Club" for this gig - the only one missing being Gwen - and the first gig attended by my wife Fiona. We were also honoured to have Kim Shepherd of Cut The Cake along with Mike's wife Lesley (who sings with David Beatie's Lucky Tile).
Being Callendar, we decided to try the half acoustic / half electric set that we developed for Killin. Good choice! All in all, a really great gig and a great audience!! Obviously not the same kind of people as the young venues we do where they swing from the rafters... However, big up to the couple from Warrington who were staying in Callendar and opted to disregard the lockout from their hotel to stay and watch the band!!
I have to say, however, that the highlight for me was when Les & Kim joined us on stage to do backing vocals on Mustang Sally!! It's always been an ambition of mine to work with female vocalists - this was a dream come true! The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up! What stunning singers!!!
All in all a cracking night, although I'm not sure Kim thought so in the morning as I believe she was "driving the porcelain truck" when she got home! One thing, however, Fiona's now an official "Shinette" - the club for gig attending Shine WAG members!
I arived at steak pie o clock to find Iain still tucking into his chilli stir fry... around half past fish supper, we decided to do one of the worst load ins on the circuit - people tend not to appreciate a bass drum in the back of the napper as they're tucking into their tea... Still, no injuries...
We were joined by 3/4 of the "Shine WAG Club" for this gig - the only one missing being Gwen - and the first gig attended by my wife Fiona. We were also honoured to have Kim Shepherd of Cut The Cake along with Mike's wife Lesley (who sings with David Beatie's Lucky Tile).
Being Callendar, we decided to try the half acoustic / half electric set that we developed for Killin. Good choice! All in all, a really great gig and a great audience!! Obviously not the same kind of people as the young venues we do where they swing from the rafters... However, big up to the couple from Warrington who were staying in Callendar and opted to disregard the lockout from their hotel to stay and watch the band!!
I have to say, however, that the highlight for me was when Les & Kim joined us on stage to do backing vocals on Mustang Sally!! It's always been an ambition of mine to work with female vocalists - this was a dream come true! The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up! What stunning singers!!!
All in all a cracking night, although I'm not sure Kim thought so in the morning as I believe she was "driving the porcelain truck" when she got home! One thing, however, Fiona's now an official "Shinette" - the club for gig attending Shine WAG members!
Sunday, 1 June 2008
He followed us home.... Can we keep him?
Well, after more than a year with us - and two gigs away from being The Shine's most prolific bass guitarist - Mike's finally made it onto the mixing desk!! Mike was extremely forgiving about being TSD for the past year, however, he's made it!All the cables are now also labelled to make sure all the electrons get to the right places on a hot, dark, sweaty stage when we're under pressure to set up - surrounded by beautiful women!
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Finnegan's Wake, 05/04/08
The second gig of our first double header, all I can say is what a stormer!
We arrived early as usual, just to be sure we could get our gear through the usually thronging crowd easily, to be greeted with Victoria Street in a bit of disarray and parking in very short supply. Neil was in a nice wee space, seemingly having just driven there the previous night from Behind the Wall!.....
Anyhow, parking sorted, thanks to the chief security chap- sorry, don't know his name- who moved his car to let me park mine, all the gear was in and set up by 8.40. All we had to do was wait until the time when people find the transmitted sound of a sweaty band to be palatable with their Chicken Korma- 10.30 apparently. The one benefit from the delay was that from full, the venue went to packed to the rafters! It was truly heaving!
Into the first set of two- the traditional 3 sets being impossible now with the later start time- and from the first delay ridden chords of "Another Brick", the crowd were in our palms and a good night was pretty much guaranteed!
We held the crowd throughout- it was great to have such good feedback for once, pub crowds being traditionally reticent to applaud, regardless of how much they are enjoying themselves- it's difficult to clap with a pint in your hand you see- but this was a real revelation. It was fully warranted though, we were playing like men possessed!
So all in all, a particularly satisfying couple of nights. Roll on the rest of the year.
Take it real easy
Percussion Maestro
We arrived early as usual, just to be sure we could get our gear through the usually thronging crowd easily, to be greeted with Victoria Street in a bit of disarray and parking in very short supply. Neil was in a nice wee space, seemingly having just driven there the previous night from Behind the Wall!.....
Anyhow, parking sorted, thanks to the chief security chap- sorry, don't know his name- who moved his car to let me park mine, all the gear was in and set up by 8.40. All we had to do was wait until the time when people find the transmitted sound of a sweaty band to be palatable with their Chicken Korma- 10.30 apparently. The one benefit from the delay was that from full, the venue went to packed to the rafters! It was truly heaving!
Into the first set of two- the traditional 3 sets being impossible now with the later start time- and from the first delay ridden chords of "Another Brick", the crowd were in our palms and a good night was pretty much guaranteed!
We held the crowd throughout- it was great to have such good feedback for once, pub crowds being traditionally reticent to applaud, regardless of how much they are enjoying themselves- it's difficult to clap with a pint in your hand you see- but this was a real revelation. It was fully warranted though, we were playing like men possessed!
So all in all, a particularly satisfying couple of nights. Roll on the rest of the year.
Take it real easy
Percussion Maestro
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Knee Trembler Behind The Wall - 4.4.08
So here we are once more...
Yep, we made our triumphant return to one of our favourite venues last night following a lay off since last October... Back in October we suffered from some exceptionally painful sound engineering, compounded by not knowing how to operate the house PA. By the time we'd decided to switch to our own rig, it was too late - we'd emptied the place, removing the audience's collective heads like a guillotine of sound. Not good...
So this time we had everything to play for! Big thanks to Neil and Bobby for having us back and proving October was a "one off" and not one to be repeated! It's ironic as EVERY previous visit to Falkirk's Finest saw us drawing a great crowd, keeping them and having them eating out the palms of our hands.
Last night was a triumphant return to form. We were on fire!! When we arrived and set up, the venue was pretty empty - well, it was early. By the time we hit the stage at around 10pm, the trickle started... The trickle turned into a flood of people.... By the middle of the first set, the flood turned into a deluge!! WE WERE BACK!!!
We absolutely stormed through a couple of stunning sets with every single one of us playing our socks off. It's not often you'll hear this, but even I was in particulalrly fine voice. From the opening OTT delay of Another Brick In The Wall's into to the final notes of Heroes left hanging in the air, we were tight, we were funky, we were powerful... Face it, we were on form!
Without going on and on, again big thanks to Neil - we're playing with fire and will be back on Friday 13th June 2008. Do we believe in superstition? Do we fuck! We'll be back to rock the rafters again.
Right, off for some more strong black coffee to kick the system back into hyperdrive - we're off again tonight to another stunning venue - Finnegan's Wake in Victoria Street, Edinburgh (home of some of the best looking women on our circuit - until we break Glasgow)!
Until later, take care, have fun and keep rockin'
Neil
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
The birth of Godiva
She is born! She is here!! As the bulge in Andy's trouser department will testify, I have successfully customised my Peavey guitar (now re-christened Godiva).
For the technically anally retentive (yup, Andy again), here's a brief overview of what I did... This could almost be subtitled "Don't believe what you read"... All will become apparent.
Initially, I thought I might buy yet another guitar (number 8) with some deeply offensive graphics and a rock 'n' roll image. Then I thought, why buy another when I could do up an existing guitar to sound perfect - and, as it turned out - look perfect.
Rather than simply change the pickups, I decided to remove the whole pickplate assembly and replace everything from the wood up.
Business end - I bought a Seymour Duncan Cool Rails pickup for the neck, a Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails for the mid and a Seymour Duncan 'Lil 59 humbucker for the bridge. After extensive research, apparently this would give me a '63 Strat sound with the neck / mid positions and a '59 Les Paul on the bridge... Hmmm, nice. Add to this, I couldn't just connect these to any old crappy electronics, I added brand new American pots (a push / pull on one to coil tap the 'Lil 59), an American 5 way selector and top of the range Sprague Orange Drop capacitors (a 0.1uF on the neck and a 0.047uF on the bridge). All of this was connected with new American Fender spec replacement wiring.
In terms of "don't believe what you read" - I followed Seymour Duncan's wiring diagram to the letter... And ended up with a non-operational tone circuitry. After much tearing of hair, gnashing of teeth and emails to Andy, a flash of inspiration came to me while driving to work one day! Seymour was wrong! I then copied the layout on the original Peavey plate and VOILA! Perfect.
Looks - I had commissioned a custom designed new pickplate after Googling for "Naked girl on a horse" (hence Godiva). I then added to this new chrome hardwear, stainless steel screws and abalone topped knobs.
Add to this the Grover locking machine heads I had already installed, the job was done....
UNTIL NEXT TIME!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you GODIVA!
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
On the Road Again...
After our long winter of discontent and few gigs, we're back out there with a vengeance, with another CD in the bag and a fresh taste for the land of the leather trousers and OTT introductions!
Our time in the studio over Feb/March was well spent with a new 7 track CD produced at Craigmount Studios care of our now almost fifth member, our pet engineer, Colin and Shug, our progressive pal and studio owner. The tunes are up on our Myspace if you fancy a listen (just follow the link in the links section on this site). Quite addictive this studio lark. I feel like a seasoned old pro, but you can never fiind one when you need one....
So, to more recent happenings and our first live outing of the year, a new venue for us in the Waverly Hotel, in deepest Callander. as we arrived, the early crowd were still eating their steak pie, but in the setup period, the crowd changed from Teatime to Playtime and by the time we hit the stage on the stroke of nine, the joint was jumpin' and packed to the door.
We started as we meant to continue and hit them with our usual first set barrage. Despite the fairly long winter lay off, we were on form from the first note and it was like we had never been away. it was like putting on a really comfortable pair of old shoes that you had not seen for a while and just instantly knowing that they were right!
A short break later (and the discovery that a couple of groups in the audience had seen our name, checked us out on line, listened to the uploaded tunes and STILL come to see us!) and into the second set and all of a sudden we had a crowd of dancers infront of us, digging everything we played. This continued to the witching hour when we signed off in our traditional manner- Heroes with ridiculous intros!
A great night- roll on next weekend and our first ever double header!
Keep on rockin'
Percussion Maestro
Our time in the studio over Feb/March was well spent with a new 7 track CD produced at Craigmount Studios care of our now almost fifth member, our pet engineer, Colin and Shug, our progressive pal and studio owner. The tunes are up on our Myspace if you fancy a listen (just follow the link in the links section on this site). Quite addictive this studio lark. I feel like a seasoned old pro, but you can never fiind one when you need one....
So, to more recent happenings and our first live outing of the year, a new venue for us in the Waverly Hotel, in deepest Callander. as we arrived, the early crowd were still eating their steak pie, but in the setup period, the crowd changed from Teatime to Playtime and by the time we hit the stage on the stroke of nine, the joint was jumpin' and packed to the door.
We started as we meant to continue and hit them with our usual first set barrage. Despite the fairly long winter lay off, we were on form from the first note and it was like we had never been away. it was like putting on a really comfortable pair of old shoes that you had not seen for a while and just instantly knowing that they were right!
A short break later (and the discovery that a couple of groups in the audience had seen our name, checked us out on line, listened to the uploaded tunes and STILL come to see us!) and into the second set and all of a sudden we had a crowd of dancers infront of us, digging everything we played. This continued to the witching hour when we signed off in our traditional manner- Heroes with ridiculous intros!
A great night- roll on next weekend and our first ever double header!
Keep on rockin'
Percussion Maestro
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