Saturday, November 05, 2011

Pedal to the metal

I'm not well. I've got ManFlu. Again. Bah!

How rough do I feel? Well earlier today I asked former Awaken guitarist Pete to stand in for me at tonight's Upper Cut gig at The Misty Moon in Bethnal Green - I don't remember the last time I missed a gig through illness... and I was due to be rehearsing tomorrow for Ash Bash 5 (I played at Ash Bash 4 back in June 2008, you can read about that by clicking here) but I'm not doing that either. The show is next Sunday afternoon so I'll do some work on the songs in the meantime.

I started to feel unwell yesterday - by the time I got to The 12 Bar Club where I was playing with T.V. Smith I was feeling rough and it got worse as the evening went on. As soon as the show started I felt fine then within a few minutes of the last song finishing I felt terrible. This can only mean one thing - T.V. Smith cures all ills! We'd not had chance to rehearse together but despite the odd mad moment it was a good show in front of an enthusiastic audience of familiar faces and new converts. I'd like to have seen a bit more of Eastfield who were on after us as they sounded really good so I must make an effort to catch them next time.

I've spent much of this week rehearsing with Ruts D.C. at The Music Complex in Deptford. Even though I say so myself it's sounding good - we're getting together again next week for one more session before Segs begins rehearsing with The Alabama 3 for the tour. I guess going to South London and back every day with little time for a decent meal or much sleep most days has contributed to my downfall? Still at least I was able to leave my guitar and effect pedal board at the studio for most of the week although I took my electric guitar (the Lemon Drop) home on Thursday evening and took my acoustic guitar with me yesterday for the T.V. gig so Segs leant me his (excellent) Gibson 335 for the rehearsal. It still seems a bit unreal to be playing with Ruts D.C. - there were a lot of people there last night who are looking forward to the shows almost as much as I am!

After last night's show I got the tube home; as it was late I had to get a train to West Ruislip then a U1 bus rather than getting a train directly to Uxbridge, I felt so awful when I got home that I didn't bother putting any of my stuff away, I just left it all in the front room with a view to sorting it all out in the morning. As I was in the shower this morning I realised how ill I was feeling - I also couldn't recall seeing my effect pedal board when I came upstairs last night. I went downstairs fearing the worst - I couldn't see the board anywhere. I must have left it on the train. Or the bus. Or something. Bugger.

It's Sunday morning and I've just read this posting through; sorry that it's not very well written but I really wasn't feeling too good last night... incidentally the Misty Moon gig didn't happen as it was double booked again! And I asked at Uxbridge Station about my pedal board - they told me that I'll have to call the lost property office on Monday morning...

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