Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Monday, 20 September 2010
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Video of FATKAT at RTYD 4 Denmark Street last Saturday, courtesy of Gigvert.com: http://ping.fm/OLxgo
Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be....an Outburst.
The Outbursts guitarist Neale Muldowney is out of action so the band have been forced to employ a series of guitar deputies to fill in him for him. Steve Istvanski of the Stabilisers picked up the first gauntlet, learning the a set of songs, with Mick Taylor-virtually-over-night efficiency. However, he is unable to commit temporarily to the role. His replacement is a small army of guitarists including Andy Golding and Paul Warwick of Trad Arr. and myself...of er, Pocket Rocket.
Last night was our first and only rehearsal before the Punk Rock-Til-You-Drop gig next week, Thursday 23rd October at the Hope & Anchor in Islington (Tres Retros, Live Wires and The Lone Groover also play). I haven't played in a punk band since the Playschool Barmy Army, my school punk band split circa 1983. It was an honour to be asked, and a pleasure to play with the band, who I love dearly.
I get to play the first two songs in the set next week, Law 'n' Order (an original) and Good Guys Don't Wear White (I don't know who this is by originally, but I am familiar with the Minor Threat version). The other boys have more songs to play, and are committing to further dates with the band. I better get my own house in order, as it were. House of PocRoc.
It was funny though being in someone else's rehearsal space. It was a bit like seeing a friend's bedroom when you were a kid. It was cool. New space. New toys. New sounds. And interesting to see how other bands rehearse. It was fun for me not to have to sing a lead vocal, and play simple conventionally-tuned bar and open chords in a straight ahead fashion with a lot of fuzz. I enjoyed it. And Matt Outburst kindly gave me a lift home from Tottenham Hale to Chalk Farm, during which we talked non-stop about our experiences of being in bands that both nearly made it in the 80s and 90s.
Forgot to get someone to take a photo me, though. Bummer.
A short review of the RTYD Acoustic Afternoon at the Libertine last Sunday
It was the first Sunday back after the summer break and the sun shone down on the Borough and threw a beautiful light upon the small stage at the front of the Libertine pub in Great Suffolk Street.
Wheres Spot, comprising Chris, Jan and Dean, as pictured above, opened proceedings with some proper singing and three-part-harmony-heavy cover versions including a Beatles medley, An Englishman in New York and....er, Lindisfarne. I must say, I don't know who they are, or why they want to buy dreams from a dream seller, but I'm a little too scared to find out.
The whole event was being broadcast live to the web by RTYD member and Kryptic Klu guitarist Liam Barnes, whose video gig promotion enterprise Gigvert.com is using RTYD gigs as a testing ground for a proper business in the near future. I am honoured, and it's also good because it shows RTYD to be employing all the latest in digital media to promote itself.
Paul Chatterjee AKA 'Chats', lead guitarist with London's leading covers band Creak, was up next, to challenge himself to his first ever solo performance, about which he was suitably anxious. He was chatty, as his name suggests, and the audience's reception of his song choices seemed to tranquillise him somewhat. Though not too much, or he'd have had to sit or lie down.
The Lone Groover is a regular at the RTYD acoustic afternoon as well as a RTYD gigs in London. He has grown in confidence as a solo performer and since I first met him. His songs are rife with romanticism, nostalgia and protest at the current state of the world. They are protest songs for the RTYD generation.
Finally, Aaron Zimpel is Antipodean. Nothing wrong with that. Nice bloke. Great voice. He knows the boys from Creak. He sang soulful renditions of funky songs including Sexual Healing, Superstition and MissYou which were enthralling. Great stuff.
See you next time.
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
FATKAT & The Beast at ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP 4 Denmark Street.
Peter Parker has taken off across the rooftops of the West End in search of a new home for his Rock 'n' Roll Club. The is a shame because I liked how ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP at Peter Parker's Rock 'n' Roll Club sounded. And I liked the guy. I hope we can co-brand events further down the road.
However, the good news is the new manager Isabelle is lovely and ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP will continue to put on events there on the first Saturday night of the month between 8-10pm.
The inaugural gig there on Saturday night went very well. Both bands made an event of the evening. The Lone Groover, Matt Russell of the Outbursts, Dove Jones and Liam Barnes of Kryptic Klu all turned out, too.
Liam's created a RTYD backdrop which was projected on the stage and looked great, and he took some film of the bands, which you can check out at ustream.tv/channel/gigvert.
FATKAT were super-professional and you can see why they are getting the supports to the likes of Eddie & the Hotrods and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. They, like The Beast (above) before them, have been going on and off since the 80s. They also have all their hair - more than their fair share in fact. So, as well as feeling inspired, I have to confess I also felt a tiny bit envious.
I videoed my bands rehearsal last night and had to sit through extended coverage of the back of my head, which I did not enjoy. I wouldn't mind losing my hair if I had a nice shaped head. And good teeth.
Note to self: Keep hat on at ALL times. And keep my mouth shut.
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