Spirit of Play Xmas Song - Details!

Good Times - Spirit of Play reveal details of their Xmas song! http://bit.ly/tmlIlk @spiritofplay1

Spirit of Play at Green Man Festival

1:30pm next Saturday 20th Aug: Spirit of Play @GreenManFest Crickhowell, BreconBeacons, Wales http://bit.ly/nu1JS5 @spiritofplay1

New Spirit of Play blog post

'Merci bien, Pop Goes The Revolution' - A new Spirit of Play blog post by Wendy Texas: http://bit.ly/lXN5Kq @spiritofplay1

Spirit of Play

Geekpopsters Spirit of Play record themselves: http://bit.ly/dOYLXs RTYD

The wonderful Spirit of Play at play: ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP, 4, Denmark St (Nov 2010)

http://www.spirit-of-play.co.uk/

The right notes in the wrong places

So, Pocket Rocket, once again reduced to three pieces (the last time it was thus was circa 2002), took to a West End stage on Saturday night, playing its first gig in nearly a year. In support of the wonderfully witty and harmonious Spirit of Play, we played the eight songs we have been rehearsing with our new drummer Nigel over the last 2-3 months.

In the last few months I have been trying to add a new lead guitarist to the line-up, but have not had any success in finding the right man for the job. In my heart of hearts I want my old guitarist back, but the time isn't right for him. So in his, and any other guitarists, absence, I have had to take over lead guitar duties.

I've had to learn some of my former lead guitarist's solos, which have been an education and a challenge. I didn't even know you could bend a G-string that far! So Saturday was going to give me a good idea about whether I could manage to add lead guitar to lead singing and rhythm guitar duties. One of the complications is pedal volume settings. But that's the subject of another blog all together

The response to the 3-piece sound we made was positive, however, this coming from two Grapefruits, and others in attendance. As a result I feel inclined to continue taking on the responsibility. I may even become a better, more confident guitar player, you never know.

I fluffed parts of the lead solos that I shouldn't have, but there were no howling bum-notes just the right notes in the wrong places. Like a good game of Mastermind, I'm sure in good time I will be get all the right ones in the right places.

And then there were three (but not for long): The re-launch of Pocket Rocket

 

My band Pocket Rocket is playing on Saturday night at 4, Denmark St, in the West End. Soon to be re-branded The Alley Cat, it is a basement venue that occupies the same space that many great rock bands and icons have recorded some very famous music: The Stones, the Beatles, the Sex Pistols and Black Sabbath, to name a few. Mark McKendrick of the Dipsticks and I think they should cash in on all that history, so that's my attempt, as a player-promoter, to do so.

Saturday night's a ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP night and the headline band is Spirit of Play, who I have been a fan of since I first saw them, and whose singer Michael Caines has been an enthusiastic contributing member of the RTYD network since its early days. If you like Belle & Sebastian, you will like them.

Pocket Rocket, which is temporarily at least, a three piece, is just about match fit. In the absence of a lead guitarist, I have taken over lead guitar duties. I have risen to the task, but after over fifteen years of not having to add these duties to my lead-singing and rhythm playing, it has been challenging. I've enjoyed practicing my guitar at home. Re-familiarising myself with a few scales, and generally trying to get better at my instrument.

But last night at our final rehearsal before Saturday, for the first time I felt overwhelmed by all I had to think about. I was singing on auto-pilot, which I hate doing. Basically, because I was too busy worrying about my guitar tuning, my amp and pedal board settings.

Now that Nigel, our new drummer, has his parts down and is familiar with the songs, the next step is to tighten things up and perform the songs. But I couldn't last night, 'cos my attention was so divided. I have enjoyed turning up the distortion, but in doing so, some of the funkier guitar playing has been compromised. I miss the dynamics that two guitars can create, one cleaner than the other; one strumming, one picking; one funky, one playing power chords. I don't miss not hearing myself so well. And a lead guitarist who can't get his levels right. I do however miss the man and his playing, when it was great, which it could be.

We also need another backing singer. A couple of birds (or mums, even), would be nice. Mike, my lifelong friend and bass player, sings, but he's not a natural. He comes up with some good  BV ideas, but his tuning can be a bit suspect, so we need a third singer with a strong voice.

In 2011, I intend to spend more time focusing on Pocket Rocket, without deluding myself about what we can achieve. I'd like to record another EP, and add members to the band, while continuing to gig more regularly. I won't be putting on as many RTYD gigs in 2011, but I hope to be booking Pocket Rocket with other RTYD-associated bands at London venues.

That's the Spirit... take a Gamble.

Thankfully, organising this weekend's Libertine gig didn't take any gambling. Just some salvaging. All that was needed was a bit of luck, some courage and good spirit. The result was a blessing which arrived in disguise at the last minute to kick off a great evening of acoustic and electro-acoustic pop.

That blessing was Claire Gamble, who stepped in to fill the gap in the bill left by The Flakes who cancelled their appearance a few days before the gig (Alright, I think we can drop that one now - Ed). Without her own band, who were unavailable to perform with her at short notice, Claire courageously offered to play with just a little help from her friend Abby.

Planet Claire is a place where one travels to find meaningful relationships and true love. A place where one is safe from disingenuous friend-requests and endless scrolling activity feeds. Planet Claire is a place where people still talk to each other. There, young people still write love letters and carry pencil cases scrawled with band names and intials in love hearts. It's a coffee-less, iphone-less, email-less, technologically-static place in a past-future. Claire herself is an heterosexual Aimee Mann for the reluctant Facebook generation. She is tall, with late-70s Roxy-LP-cover-girl looks and presence. We love her.

Spirit of Play are the young end of the RTYD demographic. They are thirty-something professionals who contacted me back when RTYD was only weeks old, hoping to become involved in my little community of parents and professionals who continue to rock and roll. Thankfully they are now a well established part of it. They make quirky witty intelligent pop. And tonight due to a turn of events they get the headline slot they should have had without fate playing any part in it. The place on the bill that they deserve. They also get 45 minutes to pull out all the stops. It's their last gig of the year. Their last gig of this decade.

For a moment I dream. You know me, I like to. I dream it's 2010, and they're playing on Later with Jools Holland. And why not? It's entirely possible.

If you haven't seen or heard Spirit of Play, imagine the three flatmates in Shallow Grave played by Ewan McGregor, Kerry Fox and Christopher Eccleston. Then imagine the West End musical version of the film, in which the protagonists are renamed Michael, Lucy and Will. They all work at the Times Literary Supplement, and they have a rock band that includes their friends J. and Tom.

As they attempt to dispose of the body of their dead flatmate Hugo and decide what to do with the large amount of cash that they have found by it, they periodically break into song, harmonising about human burial practices, Homebase, hacking up a human body and the resulting post-traumatic stress.

Get the picture?

Better out than in: October's Acoustic Afternoon at The Libertine

Another fine afternoon was had by all those assembled for music, beer, roast and colouring-in, at the Libertine yesterday.

Colin Gillman opened proceedings by sitting down with a cup of tea and playing his first ever solo acoustic gig. And why not? I really enjoyed his set, which included new songs Elvis Night at Andy's and Goodbye Ophelia, as well as songs that he composed for his former band Magic Ship.

A bespectacled Patrick Begley, he of Dipsticks fame, also sedentary, performed an engaging set of songs with guitar playing that wouldn't have seemed out of place on Led Zep 3. His bold a capella rendition of a Leadbelly song, was a highlight, and silenced the room.

Tracy Picardi, upstanding, lightened the mood with a set of upbeat songs, and the sweetest voice of the afternoon. Toes started tapping and children downed colour pencils and started dancing and whooping.

Brian Caulfield (pictured above), stalwart of the RTYD scene, and his new guitarist Matthew Quinn (united by RTYD itself, I'm proud to say), were next up, performing under the alias of the Lone Groover and Wonder Boy. Brian's playfully lyrical musical commentaries on modern life and his nostalgic reminiscences kept the adults amused and the ankle-biters on the dance-floor. Between his set of self-penned songs was sandwiched a well-chosen Lone Groover-ised version of The Jam's Eton Rifles, which cleared up one or two of Weller's lyrics that the modfather himself has managed to masticate into incoherence since 1979. Thanks Brian.

Finally RTYD member and professional musician, Jay Stapley, demanded quiet and got it, by wowing the audience with his technical ability and his witty, narrative songs. Delivered with aplomb and mid-song banter, he made it all look so easy. Which, of course, it isn't.

Virtually all of the musicians playing yesterday afternoon, we're nervous about performing. I know 'cos they told me. But they we're all rising to a challenge that they had set for themselves. This challenge involves disconcerting one's self and laying one's self and one's songs bare. It's one of the hardest gigs a musician can play. Either the audience are hanging on your every note, or you need to try to impress them into doing so.

But if you don't have a band (yet), it's better to be playing and developing your songs and craft in this sort of situation, than doing fuck all with 'em. Songs need to be sung. Songs, as Michael Caines of Spirit of Play reminded me at the show yesterday, don't come alive until you perform them and you project them in a room like this. Better out than in.

If you do have a band, though, sometimes you can feel the need to break out of its mould. Of the trappings of it genre, or instrumentation. To make music that differs from that which you play regularly. This is my reason for wanting to book myself to play The Libertine. The challenge for me, is to do it next month. As it is for Graham Hunt, alias mature musician blogger Furtheron and writer of the Guitars and Life blog. Check out his blog, as he too rises to the challenge.

'Take the old gits gigging, take them gigging..'

Okay. The Dublin Castle. I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout. I was so pleased Colin Gillman came with his bassman Adam Donovan in tow. I was pleased to meet John Rigby - lovely guy, and local, and knows about web sites, and wants to put together a post-punk type band, if you're interested. I was pleased that the band Creak came along, it was nice to meet them, and Gray Dourson came too, as you may have noticed from his discussion on the subject entitled The Dublin Castle: A view from the floor. Colin too has written a review of his experience of the night and in particular seeing 14 Carat Grapefruit. I couldn't beat it, so read his blog Hats off to the Grapefruit here.

Now Colin arrived too late to see the Dipsticks so his blog doesn't include comment on their performance. So I will. Led by the blue suede shoed Patrick Begley, ambulance driver by trade and songwriter and guitarist by nature, and supported by the rock steady rhythm section of Mark McKendrick (who incidentally hadn't played or even been in the Dublin Castle for 32 years!) and Angie Thedrummer (who's could well have been born that same night, judging by her youthful looks), the band entertained a home crowd with their mid-tempo blues rock and Patrick's lyricism. They even had the females in front dancing in the first few minutes. It was an early goal for Rock-Til-You-Drop. Did this mean it would all go down hill from here? It did for Everton over the weekend. Thankfully it did not.

Spirit of Play also brought a decent crowd, and entertained them successfully with their witty lyrics and four-part harmonies. And Wendy wowed the McGuinn fans among us with her electric twelve string.

While I defer to Colin's review of 14 Carat Grapefruit, I do have to say what a lovely bunch of guys they were, and like all the bands on the night, punctual, reliable and very friendly. They had us all in stitches for just over 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, the division between live area and bar took it's toll on the last band The Great Outdoor Experience who played to a fairly empty room. Apparently, they'd played on the Saturday previous and therefore shot their load for that week. Naughty. Oblivious though, they played a blistering set.

Dove Jones was a wonderful MC as usual, and Steve 'Dog-Headed Man' Musham, left me singing Holiday in Cambodia and Take the Skinheads Bowling for the next few days.