Untitled

[bathroomlaughter]

So, a third gig! Feels like Aberdeen is going to be much more like home that Edinburgh is musically. Woke up with a disgusting hangover at 10.30 or so after having been out until 3am with old school friends that I hadn’t seen since the start of the year. It was a very great time as always but I don’t think I could do it that often. There seemed to be slightly less nostalgia based conversations which was refreshing as well… maybe we’re all growing up a little. Anyway, after that, went to meet Kirsten as she came in from Edinburgh at around 12ish; by this time I had Lucozade and crisps so was feeling on the road to recovery, the pizza in the Bridge of Motherfuckin’ Don helped as well. We gathered together at 4pm on the Saturday for a brief hour-long practice before the show, which seemed to be on the verge of selling out… or at least whatever selling out Cellar 35 is anyway. Regardless, practice went very well and we all left feeling confident about how the new song would sound. When we first started playing it in practice a couple of months back it sounded like a direct rip from Japandroids’ album Celebration Rock, but it has taken on a bit of a life of its own, which I’m very happy about. We went down to Cellar 35 and waited for Craig, my friend who was putting the gig on, to arrive. He got there around 6 and brought CHOCOLATE COOKIES WHICH WERE AMAZING, SO AMAZING THAT I HAD TWO AND THAT WAS MY DINNER.

Other bands gradually showed up, along with other people, and sooner or later Lord Leper, the first act, came on around 9pm or so. He was visibly nervous but he shouldn’t have been as his songs were very enjoyable – I normally can’t really abide “man with acoustic guitar” but he kept me interested for thirty minutes which is a hell of a lot longer than most of these types of people do. I’d like to see him with a full band as well as many parts from his songs seemed to require that. Next up were Pinact, who were excellent. Saw them about three months ago at Jekyll and Hyde in Edinburgh and I think it was just a combination of bad sound/ tiredness but I didn’t really get the fuss at all. However Cellar seemed to suit them just fine and they were on fire, despite the disgustingly loud guitar, they clearly know how to write really good pop songs. Definite highlight was watching the guitarist/vocalist during the last song, as a drunk fuckhead decided it would be a great idea to jump on his back – massive respect for not chinning him and kicking the fuck out of him – anyway they were great.

Third on was tom, a wonderfully talented multi-instrumentalist from Stonehaven. I was at the very back with my parents when he was on, but I knew from soundcheck that he had a laptop and a couple of keyboards with him, as well as an acoustic guitar. Sadly there were a lot of people talking around us (we definitely weren’t!) but the sound carried throughout the venue regardless and he has obviously written some wonderfully accomplished songs. I need to listen to him at home more, and hopefully he’ll continue with what he’s doing!

We were on next and were fine, I think. I had the usual problems with sound and with a lead or two, but on the whole we had a lot of fun, beyond me making my usual 1928709183 mistakes on bass! People seemed to dig it too but I can never tell in who is actually being sincere with their praise/unpraise. Well I know some people do genuinely enjoy it but others always just seem to be polite, I wish there was more honesty but I guess it seems to be a difficult thing to do at 11.30pm when we came off stage… on a Saturday night! After that, the final band came on, Farewell Singapore, and I wasn’t the biggest fan of them. To be honest I don’t know why the kind of music they do is particularly popular, but they all seemed to really get into it, which I suppose is what matters really. By this point I was too tired/hungry to pay attention to anything that was on, let alone a band I wouldn’t have been too interested in whilst in my best mental frame of my mind. So that was that.

Overall – we had 140 people through the door throughout the night, not including the bands. Craig did an outstanding job, and we had a radio 1 DJ through at some point? as well as the gig of the week in the Daily Record. A sweaty, intimate, but unarousing experience.

[bathroomlaughter]

a second gig

So on Saturday night we played Henry's Cellar Bar, just off Lothian Road. It was an odd experience. We weren't really quite sure what the deal with the gig was, who was booking it, who we were playing with and all that. Davy described it as “drawing blood from a stone”... I'd forgotten about this whole side of being in a band again! Regardless, as it turned out, we were going on second for the second gig of the night, at 11pm.

Had a quick practice earlier on in the afternoon, which as it turned out was probably unnecessary as nine months of weekly practices will generally make any group of people proficient at making a racket with each other. Still, it probably helped just for confidence, given this was only our second gig. We went to the excellent Hanging Bat on Lothian Road for a drink before hand. I love that pub but I hate the fact that it's frequented by people who think that “being into beer” is a wonderful, completely unique personality trait to have. I mean yeah it's all well and good expanding your tastes beyond Tennent's, just don't try and convince yourself that it's an interesting trait to anyone but yourself. Anyway. Went across the road at about 10.15 to find about five people in the venue, listening to the first band, a fifth-rate Art Brut. These kind of gigs where nobody talks to each other are always uneasy, but more folk showed up by the time we went on.

Our set itself went pretty well although I wasn't happy with my own bass playing... I over-complicate things so I only have myself to blame. The other two seemed to really enjoy it though, and we managed to get another gig out of it, on the 9th of June in Edinburgh too, so it was worth it for that alone!  

[bathroomlaughter]

a first gig

So this was a day that I had been looking forward to for what seemed like a stupid length of time, and then it arrived out of nowhere. Woke up at half 10 or so in my parents' house in Alford and had a couple of cups of terrible coffee for breakfast, followed by half of a leftover lamb biryani for my lunch, forgetting that I was going to Kirsten's parents' house in the Bridge of Motherfuckin' Don and that they would give me too much food as well. Journey to Aberdeen went quickly and sure enough, after another two bacon rolls I went to our hour long rehearsal we had booked at Captain Tom's studio at 3pm. I hadn't been there for at least two years for any kind of practice and sure enough it hadn't changed a single bit, although I did have an Ampeg stack for our hour – heaven! The same posters and bits of graffiti daubed around the place, it's nice to know that it will be there for another good length of time.

Practice went well and nerves were eased! We even had time to run through some ideas for new songs, one in particular is really great... sounds like a heavier version of something from Thee Oh Sees' 2011 album “Carrion Crawler”... although maybe the other guys wouldn't necessarily agree with that. Anyway it wrapped up well, we went down to Cellar 35 to drop off our gear and saw the greatest power couple in the universe, Jan and Claire, who were putting on the gig itself. I used to play in a shoegaze band called Seas, Starry, with them, and the world's most handsome man, Mike Blair. I always felt lucky getting to play bass as they are all far more talented than I could ever hope to be. That ended when I moved to Edinbro for University though. But yeah, we all got to catch up and talk about everything from Thatcher's death to weddings.

We had a quick line-check, and after some difficulties, Liam, the sound man and Claire's wee brother, fixed it all. After running through a couple of other bits and pieces, we decided to go upstairs to the Noose and Monkey for a quick pint to calm our nerves... first gigs are always terrifying and when you add the fact that none of us had played live for two years at least it was a big thing... well certainly for myself anyway! Came downstairs to find the venue filling up as hoped. We went on just before 9.

I think it went quite well from what I can remember anyway. The fucking rush of playing a gig again meant that I sort of lost knowledge and awareness of what I was doing, but we seemed to go down relatively well. We all made wee mistakes and I remember thinking “I can barely hear myself therefore nobody else can, so it doesn't really matter”... forgetting that the mix was totally different out front than where we were. Despite that it was a great atmosphere and playing to friends is always fun regardless of mistakes, which really helped us pull through.

The three other bands were all great too. Das McManus have improved considerably since I saw them at a sparsely packed Cafe Drummonds a good few months ago. There's a lot going on with them, but they seem to have settled on a good little Husker Du/Replacements/Mission of Burma type vibe. First song, a new one, was a particular highlight. It's worth the entrance money alone to see their drummer Woods's face when they play. Never have I seen a happier person in any other band. The almighty Shithawks from Dundee were up next and they fucking rule. A hyper-charismatic mix of the best parts of the Descendents, Ty Segall and Coachwhips, it is impossible to watch them and not have a great time. Despite it apparently being touch-and-go on whether or not they'd make it, they arrived and put a smile on almost everyone's faces. Sidca finished off the line up, and it was the first time I'd seen them in a few years. Although I really enjoyed them too, I think they'd have done better with a bass player, despite this being seemingly out of their control as well. Still, it was a suitably shambolic end to what was a great night... hopefully I'll get to see them with the full line up at some point soon!

After another all too brief catch up, the venue began to close down and we were off home to the haven of the Bridge of Motherfuckin' Don... an excellent night all round and we couldn't have asked for a better way to start playing shows after seven months practicing. All we can hope for now is another gig soon and to meet more like minded folk in Edinburger.