Friday 6 December 2013

Lancashire Calling

Next stop on the list is a mad dash up to the Civic Hall, up in Whitworth near Rochdale. It's quite a new place, because Google maps shows just a big empty space, but it looks rather nice in Streetview!

Should be a nice show because we'll get the chance to play more of the popular stuff! The Beach Boys have so many songs, that when we do shorter shows, we have to cut out songs, and of course, the ones that get left out are always somebodies favourite songs.

At least this part of the world is less wet than home. We have had the worst storms for years on the east coast of Norfolk and Suffolk, where we come from, and many roads are still closed because they're flooded.

I'm driving up from Southend so down here, we've escaped the worst of the weather.

I've been to Lancashire quite a few times and the people are always very welcoming.

More coming soon ……..

Monday 18 November 2013

Berlin - the Maschinenhalle at Malzfabrik

Flying by easy jet was er, less pleasant than last week with Emirates. Fair enough, they charge less, but try every trick in the book to get you to pay extra for things like seats, luggage and food.

Worse still is their staff are trained to cope with complaining passengers, so feel no guilt at saying 'No'.

They have a very nice musical instrument policy. It says …

Musical instruments are permitted for carriage as Hand Baggage provided that the instrument, including its case, does not exceed 30cm x 120cm x 38cm.

The snag of course, is that this is rubbish. So we check in - I've been taking musical instruments and electronics abroad for years, and have come to the conclusion that in a decent case, the hold, even when  loaded by people who don't exactly take great care, is the best place. However, other people have more precious instruments, and it's perfectly ok to want to keep them safe. So we turn up at the check-in. I put my guitar through as hold baggage, and away it goes. Ian's keyboard and Ben's guitar, however are rejected as cabin baggage. We get sent to customer services where we explain that we're within the sizes on the website. The customer care person says there is no musical instrument policy, so luckily Ian has printed it out. Ah - a supervisor is needed. One arrives and says that even with the information in black and white, we cannot take the instruments on board. What we can do is take them to the plane, and then the aircrew will decide on the spot, and if they cannot allow them on board, then they can be put in the hold at that point. No point arguing. On to security for the strip down and x-rays. We all know why this happens, but it's very annoying to get your bottle of Coke taken off you before you've drunk it, and then to have to buy another on the other side. By the time you actually get to the plane, moods are sinking.

The only saving grace to the Easyjet experience was the Pilot. A very bright voice comes onto the speakers - Hi! we're currently flying at 37 thousand feet - which is about 6 miles, so I suggest that if you are afraid of heights, looking out of the window is a bad idea. We're doing around 600 miles an hour, which is faster than a formula 1 car, but they pay their drivers more than I get!

This cheered us all up and smiles returned. Once we landed, he popped up again to tell us …..
We're cleared for our usual gate, so will be there very shortly - I have no idea how we do it for the money!

Lucy - our wonderful liaison with the venue takes us to our taxi, and we go to the hotel and check in, then she takes us for a coffee, and a tour of the city - plenty of history and some does make you think. Then it's time for our soundcheck at the venue, so off in another cab to the Malzfabrik venue. It's the German equivalent of a listed building - our stage being in an old machine hall, where in the past all the factory generators would have been. The event is a catered themed evening, with excellent food, and lots of entertainment. They have a duo and a local band first, then have two sets from us to polish the evening off. We do two 45 minute sets, which is a good chance to do a large proportion of the Beach Boys catalogue of songs.

The audience seem to have a good time, although it does go on quite late - licensing laws in Berlin seeming to be quite open.

Plenty of food in our dressing room, but we've all eaten far too much by then!

Back to the airport the next afternoon for our trip home. Usual check-in trouble with the instruments, and Dacre had his bag searched because the X-Ray machine thought a tambourine in his case looked a bit odd. Then - we hear Ian's name being called to go to security. Ben's bag he'd checked in had all his guitar pedals and cables in it and they weren't happy. First question for Ian was "Did you pack this bag yourself, Sir?" To which the answer was of course - No, it's Bens. Then they grab Ben, and he has to pull out all the contents, then pack them away again when they work it all out. Fun it is not!

Rather turbulent landing, and a group of German students cheer when we touch down.

We all enjoyed the show in Berlin, so with the exception of Easyjet, we had a great time - and special thanks to Lucy for all her help.

Next stop is Burnley - although for me the next couple of months gets complicated because I'm also doing pantomime - Christmas isn't usually that busy for the band, so Pete, our old bass player will cover for me if anything comes in the other guys want to do. I'll be in Southend - with Craig Revell-Horwood, in Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.

Friday 15 November 2013

Berlin next stop….

So just after midnight we're off to Luton Airport, heading out to Berlin for the event tantalisingly titled "Summer of Love - a Californian Dream". I'm looking forward to it with two things just giving me a prod in the ribs. 1st - weather. Everyone tells me Berlin is a great city, but the weather today appear to be 5 degrees, and cloudy, with tomorrow being the same. Last week we were in blue skies and 37 degrees in the sun. Wow, what a difference. 2nd is our mode of transport - Easyjet. 20Kg booked in the hold, but my guitar is just about that, so everything else goes in the cabin - or more accurately, it doesn't. 50x40x20cm is not exactly huge, no matter how cleverly Easyjet describe it. If you can use this size, they say, then it's wonderful that you can take it into the cabin, guaranteed. How generous. The only snag is that everything you have then has to be in it - I read the blurb - liquids! trying to find my glasses to read the tiny writing on the toothpaste tube, and as for aerosols - the smallest one I could find was 150ml so in the end, I swapped my guitar strap for a spray can.

Our flight in the morning is at 7am, so we have to be there for 5, and as we don't really live close together, Ian starts in one county, and drives an hour and a half to Dacre, who lives in the middle of nowhere - although he now does have electricity (and a castle down the road).

The venue is the maschinenhalle in der malzfabrik which is a listed building and originally a huge factory. The venue has converted the engine building into a performance space, and it hold many events over the year. It sounds like fun. I really wish that I'd been better at languages - because I still have my schoolboy French, but virtually no German at all. Luckily, every German I meet has excellent English, so hopefully not a problem. We'll let you know how it goes when we get there! Now back to the packing.

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Off into the Sun

The band met at Heathrow and started checking in. One of us had managed to half fill a tiny case, and had no instrument to take (Dacre!) and Ben had a huge case plus his guitar - all important stuff like his pedalboard and enough strings to last a week. We think he leaks acid from his finger tips so he keeps an entire string factory going with what he goes through!  Heathrow's a bit busy so we get off a bit late, but make good time. One of those new double decker airbus planes and they have cameras in the nose, tail and even one pointing down! So you can see what the pilot can see - really great idea. Now keep in mind I had no idea what the climate in the UAE is in November, so Iooked at pictures from previous Grand Prix events there. First mistake was to assume the sky was grey like the UK in November. Blue and grey are very similar. I even brought a jumper in case it was a bit chilly. Somewhere I had read that desert countries were often cold at night, so I assumed 37 degrees was a reference to nighttime chill in degrees F when I discovered it was daytime temperature in degrees C! Walking out of the air conditioned hotel was a shock.

Dubai is a pretty impressive city. The huge Mall near our hotel has a ski slope on the roof! The map we had was. Bit like the map of the London Underground and didn't have a scale so the short walk to the beach turned into a trek that after about a mile we figured was a really bad move so we flagged down a people carrier taxi and discovered how fares are 'negotiated' we told the driver we wanted to go to the beach. He asked how much we wanted to pay so we suggested 50 Diram, which is about ten quid. He took it, so even though he probably would have taken less but for less thana couple of quid each our feet were happy. The beach was nice, with little round male and female changing rooms. Plenty of Europeans looking like lobsters. The beach hotels are all 6 star and above with their own marinas and heliports. Another taxi journey back to our hotel when we'd done the tourist stuff. Next morning we're on the coach with a UK steel band and some martial arts experts on our way to the venue. Everyone has security passes with photos on BUT the coach doesn't have the right pass so eventually we arrive at the 'production area'. We grab our guitars and get ushered in a hurry up a loading ramp onto the main stage. I don't know what Jay Z's band look like, but I bet they don't wear Hawaiin shirts! Confusion over we get swapped to a smaller bus with the correct pass and we get taken to the south stage next to the track and in between the main stadia. For those with a technical interest a Yamaha PM5 with a nice LA flown line array. Our request got us some nice back-line and a decent drum kit, and best of all Jamie who was looking after the sound - and proved to be very good at it too! The logistics of all the entertainment was detailed to the minute. In the huge green room we had endless hot and cold drinks and food and a big spreadsheet showing our stage times and c/o times. First set is pretty good and most of the audience are simply passing on their way to their seats in the stadium but second set is interesting. We had assumed that the odd timings and set lengths were to allow for variety and changeovers between track activity, but we were wrong. Practices, qualifying and races would start early, or finish late so one set we did in competition with a porche race. We lost, although as many beach boys songs at about cars, we just figured it was sound effects! One more internal coach journey with a driver who didn't understand English, Arabic or French ( the only languages available from us on the bus) meant he missed our stop twice and in the end we gave up and walked back to the proper location. So Saturday done - two hours to get to the hotel and bed, then up early for the 7.45 coach back to the track for the main day.

7.45 came around again, and back to the venue through a sand storm. This time we get to our stage without any problems - and we have to hang around until 12 for our first set. This went off without a hitch and we had a great time again. In the entire time we were there we didn't come across one grumpy person, which is amazing. We did discover that watching Formula 1 racing is very difficult. Two of each team, so you can work out roughly who is who - until they start lapping the slowest cars. Once they are spread out, you lose track of who is who and who is in the lead. On the TV, you're fed the race stats so it's much easier. These do come up on the screens around the track, but watching them is even more confusing because sometimes you are convinced you are watching the same car go past, but it's not!

Playing when the racing is taking place is weird. The cars are simply deafening - far louder than TV suggests. Everyone wears hearing protection or ear plugs. You can't play the guitar with ear plugs in, so it's very tricky!

We did our sets, and the last one was really good. We got some compliments from a couple from California, who really liked us and thought it rather funny that we were all Brits!

Monday saw us doing some last minute shopping, then off in the hotel shuttle to the airport. Guitars and cases checked in quickly, and we were on our way home A late night landing at Heathrow, and then the long drive back up to Suffolk. Back in my own bed just after two.

A great end to our Arabian adventure.

Next stop ......... Berlin!

Monday 28 October 2013

Sunnier Climate?

Well, we're off on Thursday to a warmer part of the world. A bit like a spy novel, we can't tell you where we're going, but it's going to be a great event. We have to play on Saturday and Sunday, and our  performances are very short, 30 minute slots. We've produced a set list, which the organisers have approved, and cutting our set list down has been very tricky. The trouble with the Beach Boys catalogue of songs is that they cover a wide time range and are also very different in style. So cutting out a song is quite difficult. That said, we've put together a medley of the surf songs so that should keep everyone happy.

Obviously we can't take everything with us, so we just take guitars and keyboards. As we play live, with no tracks, we don't really have technology issues - so as long as the instruments come off the plane intact, that's pretty well it.

Although we can't say where we're playing, we've got the itinerary and there are some slightly odd things - like the fact our hotel is in a different part of the country, and we have to travel over 100Km each way, each day to get to the venue! We've a great hotel, and the sun is pretty well guaranteed.

So - all planning seems to have come together, and we're on a 9am flight out, on a rather nice airline - so much different from my last long haul flight with United Airlines - which was the worst airline I have ever flown with in 30 years or so of international travel.

So we've got everything sorted for this one, but as soon as we're back we're then getting ready to fly out to Berlin for another show.

We actually had to turn down a request for us to play in Cyprus, which is a great shame - but they wanted us to play Christmas Day, which was just impossible flight wise in the time we have spare. The Christmas period for us is usually the quietest time of the year, so some of us take our break then, as the summer is always so busy.

Hopefully, we'll have some great pictures to put on the website and Facebook when we get back, so everyone can see what we've been up to. Quite a few of our friends and fans know what we're up to - but none of the artistes involved in the event can mention it in advance, so it's all a surprise for the people who attend. It's rather like a scene from 'Allo 'Allo - "Listen carefully, I will say this only once ......."

Monday 14 October 2013

Right - trying to produce some set lists - 6 thirty minute sets, spread over a couple of days - but it seems probable that it will be a different crowd each time. So, we're stuck. Do we just do the favourites and repeat the set, which isn't good for any real fans who come back for the next set, but equally, missing out the favourites is a bad move for the new people. I suppose the real problem is that the Beach Boys have had so many good songs that people think are the popular ones, that finding the real 'core' stuff is so difficult. Even in the band, we can't decide which is our favourite - four people with four different lists. We've asked people to give us their favourites so we can see if their list is the same as ours.

Next step is to have a rehearsal this week and work on a few new songs. We've decided to have a low key rehearsal and spend time on the vocals with food and tea, we always get more done this way!

More coming soon.

Sunday 22 September 2013

Pickering in North Yorkshire

Weather good - so off for the five hour drive up to Yorkshire. First impression of the town was good, and we found the football ground easily. Alan - the man in charge who booked the band came to see us and we had nice easy access into the function room. Slightly odd shape as there are two rooms in a 'L' shape and we would be playing to both, so we set our gear up so we could work both. A little unusual as the people in each room could see us, but not each other. One bar serviced both. The bar staff were clearly in the spirit of the event, as they were in Hawaiian shirts and big Timmy Mallett style glasses. 

When we arrived the cup match was taking place outside the window, and sadly the home team lost. The place was packed by the evening and everyone had a great meal, and we went on stage for our two 45 minute sets at 9.15.

Dacre, our drummer and I went in the van with the PA, and Ian, Ben and Pete were in a car. Ian needed to be home early next morning, so he'd not booked the usual hotel - and we only realised this about 8pm! He's an evening person, so had no concerns about driving through the night - and when we all travel in one vehicle, he always volunteers for the night drive. I'm the opposite, so up early in the morning, but by midnight, I've gone! It never occurred to any of us to check the return details, so Alan the organiser, found us somewhere to stay, just down the road with a couple who will be at the show. Very friendly people - how I wish everywhere was as welcoming to visitors.

We did the usual selection of songs, and again as often happens, the dancers kept us in the fast number list. 

Anorak Stuff

Our usual monitor system is in-ears for bass and drums, and Turbosound floor wedges for keys and guitar - both are 2 x 12", and would probably be fine for a main PA in some venues. Ian and Ben were trying out some small behringer personal monitors - small speakers that fit on the microphone stands, and then have the boom sticking out the top. Amazing little boxes, that because they are close in, are pretty loud to you - but make the stage much quieter. I think one of the questest shows we've done - which pleases the PA people because they get more control over the sound. I turned my bass amp down too, and it made quite a difference. The only drawback Ian found was that he could feel the 'wind' from my basses bottom notes coming out of the tiny little speaker! weird.

More news coming soon.
Paul