The Times they-are-a-writing

It's 6am on Saturday morning, and this is the first time since Thursday that I've had to sit down and blog. Which is good, of course, because it is a sign that I am busy. And I like to be busy.

I'm always worried about the ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP nights at Fiddler's because, for whatever reason, people don't flock to them. The venue is five minutes from Chalk Farm tube, past The Enterprise pub, and down Crogsland Road, NW1, but this seems to be too far for many, or simply venturing into the 'unknown'. And as you know, most people don't like the 'unknown'. Those that do venture there, discover a great venue, with a good stage, sound and layout, and friendly staff. So I do hope it gains popularity. It deserves to.

Anyway, Thursday night's gig at the Fiddler's was made a bit special by the arrival on Thursday afternoon of an email from a young journalist from The Times, who wanted to talk to me about a piece she is intending to write on mature musicians, and to attend the gig with a photographer. Fantastic! We all know there's a great story in 'mature musicians'. It was just a matter of time before someone had the enthusiasm to write it. Apparently, another London promoter had given our young journalist, Mary, a heads-up about ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP, and being a musician herself she was sufficiently intrigued to listen to music by some of the bands associated with site. She said she was so impressed by what she heard, she felt there was a good story in it; a story about what motivates the mature musician to continue making music past the point that they are too old to 'make it'.

Man! My specialised subject. So I rang Mary and she interviewed me for 25 minutes. I couldn't say enough. I was virtually gushing. She was already aware of 14 Carat Grapefruit and Punks Not Dad, who she had already emailed but was was keen to come down to the Fiddler's to talk to, and photograph, more mature musicians and bands. And she came! Remember the days when you put A&R and journalists on the guest list, and they didn't turn up!

She came down with two associates, one a photographer, and so I fed her mature musicians throughout the night, and she proceeded to take them to a quiet place and eat them. I mean, interview them.
 
First I introduced Mary to Phil Ram of The Great Outdoor Experience, whose story, as some of you may know, includes a short spell in punk band The Vibrators in the early 80s. Tox from 14 Carat Grapefruit came down to show his support and was happy to talk, so I introduced him next. Then it was Luke Toms, who was playing with his band The Luke Toms Vanity Project. Now, Luke also has an interesting story, because he had a contract with a major record company (I think it was Virgin), for whom he made an album that was then 'shelved', and has never been released. I'd put him in his mid 30s. And finally, I sent in Conal Cunningham who fronts Loose Fruit Museum, the headlining band, which is remarkable for fact that they have been going, with various personnel changes since the 80s, or was it the 90s? A long time anyway.

I have to confess I was buzzing about it all. Even the next day.

Anyway, more about the gig in my next blog. There are a few photos here. And I have videos to post to YouTube.

Blues-Rock-Til-You-Drop at the Fiddlers

I have to confess I was dreading the soundcheck for the Blues-Rock-Til-You-Drop gig last night; 4 bands, 18 musicians. 1.5 hours. Guitarists plus-plus, Keyboard players times-two. It would have been a total nightmare, if Creak and Dove Jones hadn't boldly forfeited their soundchecks, the former due to the late arrival of their drummer, and the the latter because they are so used to a 'plug and play' approach to gigging.

Thanks to them then, the evening kicked off on time with Bang To Rights' whose take on the blues, included a great rock cover of You Keep Me Hanging On by Diana Ross, before it edged towards that less-well known sub-genre, disco-blues. And why not?

This got Creak thinking that now they were in, and once they were on, their version of the blues could follow this liberal view. Fairly well oiled, as a result of hanging around for about three hours to set foot on stage, they proceeded to romp through a set of blues-rock classics, throwing in the odd T-Rex number - in this case 20th Century Boy - and ending with their customary set-closer Creakin' All Over.

It is always a pleasure to watch my friend Dove Jones performing, and last night he was on fire as usual, offering up a set of blues-covers and throwing in an original at the end for good measure, appropriately entitled I Got The Blues. Imagine Mick Jagger fronting the Stones while playing keyboards and sweating like Joe Cocker at Woodstock, and you get an idea of the energy and passion of Jones's semi-sedentary performance.

It's 11 o'clock before the final act of the night take to the stage. Unfortunately, the room empties by half. It's not personal. It's just bed-time for many of those here, including The Beast. But those who exit don't know what they are about to miss. The Beast come on stage after a twenty year break and play the loudest, ballsiest, filthiest rock set I've heard in a while, crossing the vocals and drums of Led Zep with the dirty blues riffola of early AC/DC.

With 22 paying customers, 18 musicians, 10 or so non-paying barfly regulars, one of which tells me "at last we got some decent music in 'ere", and a few WAGs who blag their way in, there were enough people at the gig that the place wasn't rattling; a handful were even dancing at points during the evening, which was great.

So it was not a great night door-takings-wise. Bar-takings-wise, maybe? But I'm not out of pocket, which is good, and the whole night is worth it simply because it is both a musicians' social-networking opportunity and a chance to hear some great music and see some great musicians play. It was a chance too for some of those who know each other on-line to meet in the real world.

Patrick Begley of the Dipsticks comes down to support his former band-mates, Toby and John from The Beast, and in the process ran into a former brother-in-law, who is drumming for Bang To Rights. Small world. I put two and two together and realise that Maggie Brown for whom Mark McKendrick of the Dipsticks plays bass occasionally, is the backing singer in Dove Jones' band. Small world, again. Stephen Denholm and John from local blues band The Mighty Caretakers are also in attendance. You'll be seeing more of these two in the new year.