Yours acoustically

Hopefully, youhave noticed my recent attempt to spam-rally writers and written contributions for the R-T-Y-D-Webzine. Well, I'm pleased to report an enthusiastic response from a number of members who have put forth a variety of proposals, all of which sound very exciting. I look forward to reading their finished pieces and regular columns.

In other news: I continue to work my way through my repertoire of acoustic songs in preparation for the RTYD Acoustic Afternoon gig on Sunday 15th November at The Libertine. I mentioned the gig to my old saxophone player the other night, in the hope that he would agree to play on two or three (older) songs with me. Songs that he played on ten years ago, or so. It was hard to gauge his reaction, though. He diarised the date and told me it was a question of whether he had the time to rehearse hard and get it spot on, or whether he totally winged it on the day. Bearing in mind the problems I'm having getting my own band to rehearse I wonder whether trying to rehearse another act is further folly.

We'll see. I shall prepare without him and keep my fingers crossed.

I plan to play a mixture of older and newer, upbeat and down-tempo songs from Pocket Rocket's acoustic era, circa 1998/9, and other less well known, even yet to be aired, compositions - if I may call them that. It's been a while since I've performed acoustically. My only recent reference point is of course the infamous Guildford gig, where in lieu of an acoustic guitar (and a headline act!), I played a sedentary set on a Fender Strat. I actually rather enjoyed doing this. But I had very little time to think about it, which probably helped.

Back in the late-90s, Pocket Rocket were quite at home on the chilled acoustic circuit. We were essentially an 'unplugged' or acoustic band for a while there. We became very adept at playing with the dynamics of an acoustic sound. If you listen to A Transitful of Broken Hearted Rhymes, you can hear some of the songs we performed as an acoustic band, and us making a transition into an electric one.

Tomorrow night, Pocket Rocket begins rehearsal for its gig at the Monarch on 11th November. Its a corporate event arranged by our drummer and we're going on early-ish. There should be a guaranteed audience of ad-men and women, enjoying a few thousand quid put behind the bar for them. If you want to blag your way in, let me know and I'll explain how. We are however returning to The Libertine on Saturday night 5th December to play. Watch this space for more details.