Monday, March 22, 2010

25 x 4 - The Continuing Adventures Of The Price

Well - that was the weekend that was. Here are a few thoughts and reflections on the last 48 hours written quickly at the times when I could get near a computer. Hope it all makes sense...

Saturday midday

Meat Loaf is on the telly (hang on, I'll just turn it over... ah that's better, LFC TV - well, they won this week so I like 'em again!) and I'm starving. I shouldn't be as I had some beans on toast at the excellent Frank's Cafe in Uxbridge Station earlier but I am. Or maybe - just maybe - I'm nervous?
I re-strung my guitar last night and I made a right mess of it. I've restrung guitars hundreds, thousands, even countless times but it was like I didn't know what I was doing. Weird. While I was attempting to resurrect my ailing SG I got a text message from Malcolm who had just been singing along with some of our songs to practice for the gigs - he felt like he had 'no control' over his voice. Seems I'm not the only one feeling the strain
This day may go slowly; days like these often do. We planned a surprise birthday party for my dad's 65th birthday (incredibly that was 13 years ago!) and when the day finally came it seemed to last forever. About an hour before we were due to leave for what he thought was to be a night of boxing nostalgia I felt as though my stomach was connected directly to the mains electricity; when we finally got him through the door to where everyone was waiting for him I was instantly ok. Amazing. But there's no subterfuge today - we all know exactly what's involved.

Saturday 3 p.m.

Right! I'm about to leave to meet up with everyone at East's for a quick acoustic run-through before going to the venue. I've checked everything twice. Three times. Several times. I don't know how many times. I know I've got everything but that doesn't matter, I'm going to check it one more time. Argh!

Sunday 10 a.m.

I've not long been up. My head aches. Not from drinking (honest!) for once as I only had a few pints; it was almost impossible to get to the bar such was the number of people in the building. No I think this is probably due to dehydration - I don't remember the last time I was sweating so much after 3 songs let alone at the end of a gig. Loads of people, so many surprises (Colin who used to come to the gigs with his brother Gary, Wayne who last saw us 20-odd years ago, Squirrel from the CBB band, and many many more) and more handshakes after the show than I've ever done before. Looking out and seeing practically everyone singing along with practically every song - how do they do that? My SG covered in sweat - or is it condensation? Grown men with tears in their eyes - and that was just the band. We're doing it again tonight. Why can't we do it every night?

Sunday 6 p.m.

My headache's gone. Good. I've checked all my gear again. And again. Time to go back to the venue. Good.

Monday 11.45 a.m.

Another headache, although this one can be accounted for... just spoken to East - he woke up feeling guilty. I told him that I don't think he did anything too untoward although I'm probably not the best person for him to ask... another amazing, emotional, sweat-soaked night. Despite working perfectly the previous night the power supply to my pedal board started to only work intermittently so I called the long-suffering Shirley who bought some PP3 batteries with her - good job it was such a local gig eh? At least that happened before the show - Huggy's bass amp stopped working (possibly overheated?) during our 4th song 'Crazy Times' so we unplugged my microphone and plugged him straight into the P.A. system. Well, it wouldn't be a Price gig if some things didn't go wrong would it? But plenty of other things went right, in fact it's hard to think of how the weekend could have been any better. If you were there you'll know what I mean.

'It's crazy what you could have had' as someone once sang, and it looks as though they were right. I don't know what I'm going to do tonight. Why can't we do that every night?

Well we might not be able to do it every night but here's the next night that we can - Friday 16th April at Tropic At Ruislip where we're supporting The Members, with local legends The Attendants also on the bill. It should be a great night, and there's a downloadable flier on our website that gets you in cheap! Excellent!

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