'You don't have to be mad to work here...'

Well that's another busy few days been and gone - it all gets a lot quieter in a few weeks time which I don't mind admitting that I'm not looking forward to. In the meantime...

Thursday then, and time at last for Back To Zero to take to the stage for the first time in getting on for 33 1/3 years. You couldn't make that up could you? 'It feels like we've been rehearsing for ages' said Squirrel a few minutes before the show was due to start, 'and yet I'm not sure that it's been enough'. I knew what he meant but decided to tell myself that it was all going to be brilliant - which I'm pleased to say that was how it all turned out to be, but more about that in a minute. 

Your humble narrator
in mod mode.
I must buy myself
a better shirt!

I arrived at The Fiddlers Elbow in Camden around 6.30pm just as Eat This were soundchecking with 'Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand' - always nice to hear a Who track being played! The evening (which also featured The Duel and The Phobics) was to promote the recently released 'See You On The Other Side' Paul Fox tribute CD, with all money raised going to The Michael Sobell Hospice where Paul was cared for towards the end of his life. As you might expect on an evening such as this there were more than a few familiar faces in the building - punk promotess Sarah Pink and John 'Football Factory' King among them - as well as a fair-sized crowd, all of whom saw excellent sets from all the bands. The Phobics sounded tight and powerful as did The Duel (who finished with a fine version of 'Babylon's Burning') and although I missed a bit of Eat This due to packing gear away and getting changed what I did hear sounded good to me. I described the Back To Zero set to Andy the drummer as 'a loosener' - his comment that he considered it to be 'a strengther' probably gives a better view of the show, which saw Sam coming into his own as a guitarist / frontman and the rest of the band (Stuart on keyboards, Squirrel on bass and your humble narrator on the electric guitar) matching him moment for moment. The first show by a band is always an odd one - it's often a mixture of 'let's get this one out of the way' and 'right, we've done the rehearsals now let us get at 'em!' which certainly describes how this one felt for me. One thing we all agreed on was that it was a good start but the best is yet to come - and that wasn't a bad feeling to have.

And here are a fine set of BTZ photos taken by Rhiannon at the show, while Joe's Gig Vids has a song from each of the bands ...

On Friday Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks returned to The Swan in Iver. A good-sized audience saw a good-sounding show - Bob did a good job depping for Dave on drums, Pete joined us on guitar for a good few numbers and some very good looking young ladies had a good time dancing, particularly in our second set. Hmmm... some nights are just 'good' aren't they? This was one one of them!

And so to Saturday and The Mods Mayday 2013 in Cambridge. The evening also featured Squire and The Killermeters and took place at The Ida Darwin Social Club (in the grounds of the Ida Darwin Hospital, which itself is part of The Fulbourn Hospital a.k.a. The County Pauper Lunatic Asylum For Cambridgeshire, The Isle Of Ely And The Borough Of Cambridge - oh yes!) which for the evening became The Alley Club. Paul the promoter distinguished himself immediately by bringing out cases of lager and promising imminent pizza and chips (top man!) and with Squire arriving later The Killermeters were first to soundcheck with us close behind. Craig was joining us on vocals for a few songs (he was one of the band's singers first time around) and although we were initially too loud on stage (whoever heard of an electric guitar being too loud?!?) we got things sounding good in the end. Or did we? Our first number was dogged by feedback which threatened to all-but-scupper the song - we got through it and I for one found the burst of audience applause at the end something of a relief. From there on in things improved dramatically, with our version of 'Making Time' by The Creation upping the ante and the last song 'Your Side Of Heaven' bringing the proverbial house down. A quick encore of 'Land Of A Thousand Dances' and it was all over - but it turned out to be a great show after a shaky start. Well - that's better

Back To Zero at Mods Mayday Cambridge 2013 -
Leigh, Sam, Andy, Squirrel and Stuart

than a shaky show after a great start... back at the bar a very nice chap called Bryan comes across and says that he saw Ruts D.C. the previous weekend in Minehead and thought we were great. Good man! A young lady comes over with a copy of the BTZ single and asks me to sign it, she looks disappointed when I tell her that I wasn't in the band then but she cheers up when I direct her to Sam and Andy. In the meantime The Killermeters are playing a fine set of mod-pop songs (once again good to hear a Who song or two) and I see Mike Herbage from Department S for the first time since I depped on bass with them last year - I also met Mark the bass player for the first time at our Camden show. 'We should get a gig with the two bands shouldn't we?' is his cheery suggestion - well, I'm not going to tell him that he's wrong... by now Squire are on and 'Walking Down The Kings Road' sounds as good as I remember it sounding all those years ago. We all reflect on what a great night it's been - and it has, even with a 'we are the mods' chant or two. Well - they are!

And here is 'Back To Back', our second song from the show...

Sunday's duo show with Big Al Reed at The Coy Carp in Harefield could easily have been something of an anti-climax after that but I'm pleased (and not a little surprised!) to say that it wasn't. It was the first live music evening at the pub - always good to see another place trying to put a band or a duo on - although I remember going to The Mystery Blues Club to see bands like The Hamsters play Sunday lunchtime shows there back in the 1980s. For this show we were joined by Pete for a fair bit of the evening (as well as joining us on Friday he also depped for me with the band on Saturday evening while I was off modding around) and after a quiet start the second set saw much dancing and merriment all round with the promise of a return show, maybe with the whole band. A successful evening's work - and last night I made another visit to The Three Wishes in Edgware for their jam night. Big Al, Pete and myself played a couple of songs with the houseband before the venue bought out the sandwiches to honour Al's birthday this week. All good stuff, although I don't half feel tired now...

Early morning cold taxi

Another busy few days in mad-guitar-land - good! I'd be lying if I didn't say that it's also been a rather tiring few days, but it's better than having nothing to do...

In the wake of the Vive Le Rock article and album review there were two Ruts D.C. shows late last week. Thursday night saw the band visit The Brook in Southampton. Support came from Miss Jewels who sounded good to me although I did spend much of their set behind the merchandise stall and so didn't hear as much as them as I might have liked. I do remember them playing 'Heat Wave' though which is never a bad song to hear. For our show I used a Marshall Vintage Modern combo courtesy of my great friend Paul Cope (there were amplifiers supplied at the next night's show so I'd decided to travel light) which sounded absolutely fabulous to such an extent that I'm going to keep my eye out for a second hand one should I ever make any money (there's not much point in keeping an eye out then!) There's a review of the show on the excellent Aural Sculptors blog which also includes some video clips from the gig - overall it was a boisterous performance that saw the first appearance in the set for 'Something That I Said' (oh yes!) and a great reaction from the audience. 

But if that was a boisterous performance then the next night's show at The Great British Alternative Music Festival at Butlins in Minehead took us to new heights of, er, boisterousness. (Is that a word?!?) We were on Centre Stage at 10 o'clock (which sadly meant that I missed Eddie And The Hot Rods who were on at Reds at the same time - bugger!) and played to what looked to me to be a capacity crowd of around 3,000. An extraordinary incident took place about halfway through our 60 minute set when a couple of girls decided to shout something (I'm still not sure what!) at Molara who reacted by putting them down in no uncertain terms. It seemed to spur the band on, and our set (which had already been going well) finished to scenes of audience hysteria that wouldn't have been out of place in 'A Hard Day's Night'. I went out to watch The Members (who featured the irrepressible Rat Scabies on drums) play after us and must have shaken hands with 100 people. Great stuff all round, only tempered by the fact that we had to leave at 7.30am on Saturday to get the van back to London in time for us to avoid paying for an entire weekend's hire...

I woke up just after 5pm. I'd got home sometime before midday, had a shower and then fell asleep. Rock 'n' roll eh? Still no time to worry about that now, as The Upper Cut are playing in Colnbrook at Ye Old George Inn and I've got to get my things (and indeed myself) together - except, er, we're not. I was just getting changed for the show when I received a text message from Terry the bass telling me that the gig was cancelled. I called him straight away - apparently someone who likes our band (don't laugh, there are a few of them around!) had called the venue for directions and no one there knew anything about the show. Bah! Oh well, at least we found out before we got there - that's fortunately only happened to me a couple of times and is rather depressing. The gig has already been rescheduled for Sunday 12th May (unusually we're on at 5pm) so it does look like a genuine mistake was made. Oh well!

Sunday saw the final Back To Zero rehearsal before this week's gigs - Sam, Andy, Squirrel and myself were joined by Craig on vocals (he's one of the singers from the first time around and is singing lead on three songs at Saturday's show) and Stuart on keyboards for a session at RnR Studios in Uxbridge. Things were sounding so good that we finished the session early - now that's something that doesn't happen very often! After dropping my gear back at home I made my way down to The Crown And Treaty for the latest open mic / jam night. Such was the general jollity of the occasion that I found myself at a similar gathering last night at The Three Wishes in Edgware. It's interesting - not that long ago I'd never attended such an event but I must admit that I've enjoyed the ones that I have been to. That said they almost always have the odd peculiar moment - but perhaps they're the best bits? Hmm... maybe more about that another time...

Alternative arrangements

Time for the second of two gigs depping on bass with Department S, this one on Friday night at the loftily-named Great British Alternative Music Festival taking place at Butlins in Minehead.I took the (delayed) train from Paddington with Eddie and Sam while Mike and Stuart drove down with the drums and amps - by the time we arrived (after a £50+ cab ride from Taunton, which incredibly was the nearest station to the venue) they'd got our room keys and were making plans for soundchecking. We were the first act on Centre Stage, followed by Hazel O'Connor and Ex-Simple Minds while The Anti-Nowhere League, The U.K. Subs and Sham 69 were playing at Reds. As we got to the venue Hazel O'Connor and band were preparing to play 'Decadent Days', they sounded a bit untogether so maybe it's a new line-up? Our soundcheck went without too much incident, although as we were leaving the stage Mike looked out with the words 'this is a big room - I hope there are a few people in it when we're on'.
He needn't have worried - by the time we went on there were people everywhere. We played a better show than in Belgium earlier in the month, and the inevitable 'Is Vic There?' bought the proverbial house down.It's good when that happens. From my point of view I found it quite tough going - maybe I'm hitting the strings too hard or something, but I my right hand was really suffering by a half an hour or so into the set. If I'm going to play bass more often it's time for some practice to build up some stamina; either that or I've got to calm down a bit! That said I'd do it again any time that they ask as I've really enjoyed playing with the band.
By the time we'd put our gear away and got changed The Anti-Nowhere League had finished their set next door, a shame as I've always found them to be an entertaining bunch (either that or my brother playing their records endlessly when we were younger has brainwashed me!) and so would like to have caught some of their set. I did however manage to see a half hour or so of The U.K. Subs who sounded as reliably punky as ever as well as meeting up with T.V. Smith stalwarts Fleagle & Mrs. Fleagle and Steve The Fish (not their real names sadly!) as well as Fast Tony and the man forever known in Price circles as 'Mark-from-the-football-club' before going back to Centre Stage where Hazel O'Connor sounded much more assured than her soundcheck might have suggested that she would. Ex-Simple Minds sounded good but are not really my kind of thing, while Sham 69 (the 'Tim V' version of the band in case you were wondering) sounded, well, good but are not really my kind of thing. However with both bands it was amazing how many of their songs were recognisable even to the likes of me let alone to their fans. And I'm told that  the event was sold out with over 6,000 people in attendance, which just shows what a market there is for this type of thing these days

And you can click here to see some more photos from the show in Belgium earlier this month - excellent!

Saturday morning began with everyone meeting on the main concourse for some coffee before going up to the dressing room to collect our gear from where we'd left it the night before. As I was ordering my drink I heard exactly the same songs from Marillion and Catatonia playing in the background as had been playing the night before when I braved a veggie wrap from Burger King. It must drive the people who work there crazy, or maybe they just don't notice it after a while?
With the financial terror of another cab ride looming large we decided to catch a bus back to the train station, which proved to be a nerve-racking experience as the journey took over 1 3/4 hours rather than the expected 40 minutes. In the event we made it to our train with just 5 minutes to spare, which was fortuitous to say the least as the next one would have been in a couple of hours time. The lads took the train all the way to good old London town whilst I changed at Castle Cary for the Weymouth train where I met the long-suffering Shirley who had gone down the night before. We'd decided to have a couple of days away in Dorset, partly because we like to go there and partly because Wilko Johnson was playing the last show of his Spring tour at The Electric Palace in Bridport on Sunday night. 
The Electric Palace is, I think, an old cinema; it was certainly an impressive place with seats from about halfway back and a dancefloor in front of the large stage. Maybe the seats go all the way to the stage when they show films or have less dance-orientated bands on? Either way it had an atmosphere that a newer venue will never have, if you know what I mean.
Support came from Virgil and The Accelerators. I've seen a few very excitable reviews of this combo, most of which comment on how young they are and what a great musician Virgil is. Both observations turned out to be correct although he's a bit too much like Stevie Ray Vaughan (yes, be influenced strongly by someone, but draw the line at adopting the same mannerisms) to yet have an original style or sound. Maybe that'll come one day, but until then I'm sure that he and his band will be able to carry on doing what they're doing without too many detractors.
Opening with 'All Through The City' (the fact that it's the title of the very-recently-released Dr. Feelgood box set could be significant!) and 'If You Want Me, You've Got Me' Wilko Johnson was clearly not intimidated by what had gone before - indeed he and the band (the always-astonishing Norman Watt-Roy on bass and new-ish drummer Dylan Howe) seemed to be really enjoying themselves as they roared through their set with an infectious energy that had the up-until-that point seated audience on their feet from the word go. I don't remember the last time that I saw Wilko in a seated venue (if I ever have!) and I also don't remember the last time there were so many people turning up to see him - it seems that after years of slogging around in pubs and clubs he's finally getting through to a bigger audience. This is good news, and thoroughly deserved, as he's still playing with as much energy as ever, and you'll rarely see a better band on any stage, big or small. In a way it's a shame that it'll be unlikely that we see him in the smaller venues again, but when he gives a show as good as this it hardly matters. As a guitarist and a live performer he remains an industry standard - miss him (and his band) at your peril.