The Soloists Dream/Nightmare
You never know what its like till you do it. I've been playing in bands for nearly 18 years yet only been singing for the last 3. I've always been confident and assured, not afraid to speak my mind, in fact its a huge benefit in my day job as most of what I do revolves around talking to people and influencing them. So why was my first solo gig so unbelievably terrifying?- I was on my own, no-one else to blame should it go tits up (yorkshire (english) slang for all going wrong))
- Should I start to cock up then everyone would be able to hear it
- They were songs that no-one else had ever heard before - so what would they all think.
- I'm a sh*t guitarist, always been a bassist, never really understood the six stringed devils
- First time I've ever played harmonica live.
So there's my itemised list. My actual track list went something like this (with a narrative of my actual thoughts at the time)
1. White Horse (Hmm not bad, acoustic playing well, actually remembered the lyrics, flowing well. Damn why did I open with a song that also has harmonica and even worse I'm using my G Harp which is the worst one I've got. Bollocks its going to pot, quick wrap it up)2. Breath Me - Sia cover (starts well but I've changed to electric and my Vintage strat copy is not as comfortable as my Ovation acoustic, fingers not warmed up, bum notes wringing out from the amp. Supposed to be an atmospheric song and I'm warbling away like Nick Cave with a bad dose of wanker thrown in)
3. The Venerator (Supposed to be quirky but its sounding like a dead dog now that my confidence is shot from the previous two. Bum notes galore. Quick wrap it up.)
4. Hogman (Why the chuff am I playing a song I wrote at work without a guitar ONLY TWO DAYS AGO. You nob. Hang on.....its actually working. Thank chuff for that.)
5. Monza (at last something I can play. Feels like I'm singing it as a nursery rhyme to my kids (which I frequently do))
6. Mother (at last I've relaxed, this actually sounds pretty good, bugger its dark in here, can't quite see the crib sheet to remind me of the next verse, oh well just repeat ad infinitum).
The songs are pretty good representations of my own thoughts and remind me of things that I have done, places I've been and thoughts that go in my very crowded and quite possible slightly deranged head. Strangely a few people in the audience actually clapped although I'm not sure if that was a) because the throttled cat on stage was actually shutting up, b) they were humouring the village idiot or iii) that they actually found something in what I was doing that was actually good (maybe it would work as a comedy sketch).
Out of all this I've learnt a few home truths - I'm not a great guitarist but I think thats because I am a good bass player and my mentality is that of a bass player, the playing is to accompany the singing and not the other way round. And I am a pretty good singer.............. ish!
Anyway here's a few links for the other GOOD bands that played that day/night. Give them a listen. There's so much cack out there that every now and then you need a pointer toward something new and interesting played with passion. Go on, put down the JLS CD and click one of the links!
www.suicidebycop.com
www.facebook.com/WhenIdolsFall
http://www.skullfunk.com
http://www.oldschoolenemy.co.uk/
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Guilt-Charm
www.myspace.com/idiotboxok
www.myspace.com/thresholdshift
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