I don't know why it's gone bright blue, Blogger can be an infuriating tool at the best of times. I was going to call this one Babies/Gigs/Jobs/Horizons which has a much nicer ring, don't you think!
BABIES
Yo everyone, just to let you know, we've had an
amazing baby girl!' came the text to all close friends and family. The
guitar player had become a father. The 'baby girl' has remained nameless to
this day, indeed it's been rather difficult obtaining any further updates. His
phone is off. I daren't call his missus. Not because I'm scared of her, but
knowing me it would ring at an inappropriate time, like breast feeding, or
nappy changing, or sleeping. And seeing as all newborn's do is eat, sleep and
poop, I rest my case. So, a father he is. Like me. And the drummer. We now
outnumber the other two offspring-less band mates 3-2. But unlike the drummer
and I, he has produced a girl. A gentlewoman. A mademoiselle. A princess or a
tomboy, only time will tell. My son bangs the drums, and the drummer's boy,
well you guessed it! Next generation OddFolk will line up with two drummers and
a girl without a name. The future's bright.
GIGS
We returned to Don't Wake The Fish for the 5th consecutive year. We smashed it.
Original lineup; welcoming back the finger picking dexterity of the guitar
player. We performed to a packed tent of fans and the atmosphere was up there
with the best we've had. We reveled long into the shoulder of the night. In the
eerie mists that cloaked the Zennor Moors, we sipped fine Antuigan rum with old
friends and new fans.
The
following weekend we traveled up to Dorset and Gloucestershire with a
completely new lineup. The guitar player was replaced by Louis Gulliver King
and the drummer was replaced by my feet. And it worked surprisingly well. Not
my preferred formation I must say, but for an Arts Centre it worked a treat. We
sat back, more acoustic, keeping in time with the cajon kick, while Louis
Gulliver King played the cymbol and the accordion at the same time. And the
accordion does add something different. A new tone. A little lift. The drone of
the bass notes and the high squeeze of the right hand as it dances on the keys.
Louis is a great addition to our band, playing his 7th gig with us now, and he
will be used more as the guitar players learns his trade with a newborn. So the
above weekend; or rather 2 gigs in a day, 600 miles travelled, 10 ales, 4
pizzas, 12 hours on the road. The glamour of life in a band. We played at a
festival in the afternoon, somewhere in the pretty green fringe of Dorset. We
played outside a huge stately home. Our audience made up of wild children and
hung-over parents lulling on the perfect lawns. We packed up, excused ourselves
and drove north forgetting two boxes of CD's with a resale value of £600. Bad
form. That night in Wooton-under-edge; a quaint Gloucestershire town; we played
a sit down, atmospheric gig to a very attentive audience. We soared. Pin drop
moments and swelling chorus'. We bought some fans to tears with a particularly
moving rendition of Plastic Trees
which one lady said was "the most beautiful song ever written!". We
sold the remaining box of CD's, packed up and drove 300 miles home again.
JOBS
Since May
I have been performing in a play all over the place. A different town each
night. I haven't had a day off in 6 weeks and won't till we wrap in July.
The bass player has moved back down
to Cornwall, quitting his job in the capitol. This is pretty big news and as I
type this it seems almost insulting to refer it it in a passing comment.
It could well command its own blog! How does one turn his back on a great job (for which he's
won an award) and return to the end of the land and build a garden shed!?
Catchy title don't you think!
The piano player, as you know, also
moved back to Cornwall, quitting his job as a paintball seller. He now cleans
seagull shit off the walls under the guise of a painter and decorator. I saw
him the other day, dressed in white dungarees with an apron and a flat
cap on. he looked like a cross between Mario and Luigi!
The guitar player, apart from
becoming a father, is still running his gardening company, and building his
house. Two incredibly grown up things I must say.
And that leaves the drummer, who as
stated in the last blog, is parting company with The Odd Folk in September.
Although, after some positive talks he has agreed to come and play some futures
gigs with us.
HORIZONS
You may all be wondering what's in store for the future, without a drummer and
with an increasingly absent guitar player. It's something that's tickled us
too. Stick or twist. Had it not been for the success of our recent adventures
in Dorset and Gloucestershire, and the positive talks we had with our departing
drummer we may well have called time on a career stretching 6 years and 120
gigs. Louis Gulliver King has helped to smooth over the cracks. He has made
smaller, more intimate Art's Centre's a realistic option. And we'll have to
secure the drummer for the bigger and bolder ones. It's become apparent that
the summer of 2014 can not be repeated, where we played 31 gigs which is
exactly 60% of all the weekend's available to us that
year! That was as close to burn out as we've been. Which is kinda cute. Some
bands spend years on the road, rarely going home. But then they don't have
babies and business's and houses to build and full time jobs and needy
girlfriends. We know our limitations. As much as we'd like it to, this band
will never be able to pay us a decent wage, we will always seek income from
other avenues. There is no money in this game. It must remain a hobby. And so..
we'll pick and choose what to do and where to play and in what formation. I
know another tour of Europe is on the cards next spring. Opportunities will
arise. We're never short of them. It's them that are short on cash!
This
summer? Sea, Salts and Sail Festival. Lafrowda Festival. Little Orchard.
Shambala. In September we team up with The Peoples String
Foundation for an end of summer party at The Acorn. In October it's
Acoustic Haven, Chapel Arts and Prima.
That's enough to be getting on with for now. We're all rather busy building
garden shed's and trying to name our daughters!
PS; apparently the title hasn't gone bright blue on all mediums, you may be lucky!
The next week the Siberian wilderness continued. Stick or twist? We had organised a big finale; A farewell to arms, at The Acorn on September 10th, welcoming back the drummer and guitar player and with an awesome support act in tow, it was going to be big leaving party, the start of hibernation, certainly for the winter, it's pretty cold in Siberia! Although, after we played a packed Coyote Moon stage at WOMAD festival and performed live on BBC Radio 3, once again as a timid trio, our head's were turning. And then again at The Knut in St. Just, an unplugged performance to an over capacity crowd, the biggest they'd ever had, and it was a Tuesday night! With fans crammed in like sardines, with pin-drop moments and raucous laughter, our ears were definately bending. Could we really walk away? Could we really hunker down all winter and further into a brave new year? The answer is YES... And NO. Which is nowhere really. Limbo. Oblivion. Siberia.
