Country Boys!
Mar. 17th, 2006 02:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shermaramaCountry boys rule. I don't know whether this is a reason to avoid moving to London or what - it's not like you get that many country boys in Brighton, but they do go to London now and then. Yeah, anyway. We were playing at the New Cross Inn tonight, meant to be second on of four but the first band didn't show so first on of three. It was possibly the most together gig we've played, what with Monday's paid practice, although the setlist didn't work as it could have, it being built out of Jodie's ire at ex-tame soundmen as much as anything. Still. The soundman then present still loves us and bought us a round. Mmm, beer.
The band on after us were called Just To Annoy Ray which is a stupid name. They are a sort of folk band. This should have me running for the hills, should it not? But they're from somewhere near Gloucester, they are as unaffected a bunch of people as you could hope to meet and they did what they did extremely well and what more can you ask for? I was chatting to the drummer, who is thinking of moving to London, and he asked me about practice room fees. We pay 27 quid for three hours at our place in Acton and by London standards that's a good deal - the drum kits are a bit ropey but what do you expect at that price and all. Country Boy was appalled, being used to paying a tenner for four hours in the local youth centre. Bless! But yes, an unusual band. I had the usual damn deja vu when I first saw them but with the long hair I'd assumed they were a metal band; the soundcheck set me right on that and I assumed I can't have met them. The drummer and lead guitarist have a metal band, though, so perhaps I have, but we couldn't pin down a place or time. But the city boys, if spotting you watching them on stage, would continue to do their best on-stage cool persona, while the country boys mug at you like you're the only one watching. Yay.
See it's a band I should dislike for so many reasons. Female singer, and I'd take a running guess at her being the bassist's daughter from the looks, and one of those tiresome guitar wardrobes on stage with two acoustics and a twelve string in it, up to three guitarists at once including the singer on half the songs, drummer with a profusion of tiny cymbals, lead guitarist with an array of pedals, three mikes to butcher vocals on. And the twelve-string lad had, would you believe either it or the soundcheck hassle it caused, a dulcimer. But sometimes these things are used as they should be, see? Sudden attacks of delay from the lead guitarist were used *tastefully*, to chime over the ends of songs, and he did no crashing of anyone. Both the singer and her dad had excellent voices, harmonising superbly, and what I could hear of the twelve-string lad on his mike was only adding to it. On the songs with the dulcimer in them (nuts thing to see played) the sound was spiralling and merging so well with the lead sometimes it was hard to say who was doing what. And the drummer was at it with beaters and all sorts and being very good. Just, yeah, still a style I don't like but I'll never see it done better.
And there were these French blokes, Jean-Jacques and I didn't catch the other bloke's name, who said they were into photography like we're into music and who were taking pictures, ones involving actual discernment and eye where I saw too, of us all evening. They reckon they're going to show up to tomorrow's gig too. Just as a philosophical aside (two philosophy students from Sussex, exactly as skinny, fey and Guardian-reader as you could wish them to be are sat across the train aisle from me as I type, discussing second languages and whether they should learn Russian, I believe) I wonder if being an all-female band helps in terms of triggering fewer competition reactions amongst male watchers? Blokes watching bands full of blokes may like a band but are likely to be more aware of being sad fanboys if they then go and talk to and enthuse at the band themselves. Blokes watching bands full of girls will be far happier to go and enthuse and be fanboys at the girls, I suspect.
Anyway, I'm supposed to be carrying on writing this portfolio, this is allegedly why I've got this damn laptop with me. This assignment is demanding a total of four increments of self-analysis, is worth more marks towards our final degree than the courses from last year that took a whole semester and taught us actual skills, which pisses me right off, and generally requires me to fit my head further up my own arse than it's ever going to go. I'm working on how not to fly off the handle in the total four minutes each this will be assessed in tomorrow, but I don't think I'm going to be able to avoid it.
The band on after us were called Just To Annoy Ray which is a stupid name. They are a sort of folk band. This should have me running for the hills, should it not? But they're from somewhere near Gloucester, they are as unaffected a bunch of people as you could hope to meet and they did what they did extremely well and what more can you ask for? I was chatting to the drummer, who is thinking of moving to London, and he asked me about practice room fees. We pay 27 quid for three hours at our place in Acton and by London standards that's a good deal - the drum kits are a bit ropey but what do you expect at that price and all. Country Boy was appalled, being used to paying a tenner for four hours in the local youth centre. Bless! But yes, an unusual band. I had the usual damn deja vu when I first saw them but with the long hair I'd assumed they were a metal band; the soundcheck set me right on that and I assumed I can't have met them. The drummer and lead guitarist have a metal band, though, so perhaps I have, but we couldn't pin down a place or time. But the city boys, if spotting you watching them on stage, would continue to do their best on-stage cool persona, while the country boys mug at you like you're the only one watching. Yay.
See it's a band I should dislike for so many reasons. Female singer, and I'd take a running guess at her being the bassist's daughter from the looks, and one of those tiresome guitar wardrobes on stage with two acoustics and a twelve string in it, up to three guitarists at once including the singer on half the songs, drummer with a profusion of tiny cymbals, lead guitarist with an array of pedals, three mikes to butcher vocals on. And the twelve-string lad had, would you believe either it or the soundcheck hassle it caused, a dulcimer. But sometimes these things are used as they should be, see? Sudden attacks of delay from the lead guitarist were used *tastefully*, to chime over the ends of songs, and he did no crashing of anyone. Both the singer and her dad had excellent voices, harmonising superbly, and what I could hear of the twelve-string lad on his mike was only adding to it. On the songs with the dulcimer in them (nuts thing to see played) the sound was spiralling and merging so well with the lead sometimes it was hard to say who was doing what. And the drummer was at it with beaters and all sorts and being very good. Just, yeah, still a style I don't like but I'll never see it done better.
And there were these French blokes, Jean-Jacques and I didn't catch the other bloke's name, who said they were into photography like we're into music and who were taking pictures, ones involving actual discernment and eye where I saw too, of us all evening. They reckon they're going to show up to tomorrow's gig too. Just as a philosophical aside (two philosophy students from Sussex, exactly as skinny, fey and Guardian-reader as you could wish them to be are sat across the train aisle from me as I type, discussing second languages and whether they should learn Russian, I believe) I wonder if being an all-female band helps in terms of triggering fewer competition reactions amongst male watchers? Blokes watching bands full of blokes may like a band but are likely to be more aware of being sad fanboys if they then go and talk to and enthuse at the band themselves. Blokes watching bands full of girls will be far happier to go and enthuse and be fanboys at the girls, I suspect.
Anyway, I'm supposed to be carrying on writing this portfolio, this is allegedly why I've got this damn laptop with me. This assignment is demanding a total of four increments of self-analysis, is worth more marks towards our final degree than the courses from last year that took a whole semester and taught us actual skills, which pisses me right off, and generally requires me to fit my head further up my own arse than it's ever going to go. I'm working on how not to fly off the handle in the total four minutes each this will be assessed in tomorrow, but I don't think I'm going to be able to avoid it.