Yes, it's been three months or so since my last post - I guess that means I've been busy, right? Well, I guess you could say that. Let's recap, shall we?
Let's start with the end of my last post: the audition went very smoothly and I've now been playing with that band for three months. I slotted in pretty quickly, so much so that we had gigs organised almost right away - and the first one was just two nights ago! That's right, I've now played my first gig in London. It was so much fun, the crowd was surprisingly large (in the end a smidgen over 60 people showed up specifically to see us - the venue fits 100) and we all had a brilliant time. But hey, don't just take my word for it - here's a couple of videos!
The first one is from a song called Cut:
This next one is from a song called Turn. It has a really cool bass line, so naturally I like it a lot:
There's also heaps of pictures on my flickr page, so if you're interested check them out. We have another gig scheduled for November 10, then we're going to do some recording and hopefully a couple more gigs - unfortunately, our lead guitarist has decided to head back to Australia at the end of December so I'm not quite sure what's going to happen after that.
On to the next band. Well, a couple of weeks ago I decided to quit the first band I joined. Things just weren't working out, I was becoming very bored with it all and I was becoming less and less impressed by Dave's intentions. For some reason, I just happen to think that the most important thing a band needs more than anything else is songs - not a tailored image dictated by costume designers and DJs. I guess I don't know anything about the music industry in the UK though (at least, that's what Dave tells me) because he was far more interested in these things and completely neglecting to write new songs. After five months together we only had three songs, which if you ask me is a bit pathetic. I hope he manages to get the success he's desperately craving, but I'm afraid he's going to have to do it without me.
Funnily enough, the night I'd decided to quit Dave's band I thought I'd take a look on Gumtree to see if there were any interesting offers going. After a short search I came across another band looking for a bassist, so I took a listen to their tracks - and was totally blown away. I instantly wrote to them expressing an interest, and the next day I had an audition scheduled for the next weekend. I was also sent three songs to learn, but I was so into them I went ahead and did a fourth as well.
I turned up to the audition around 10.15am on a Sunday morning, met the band and plugged in - then played as if I'd been with them for years. It was pretty much perfect, and it was the same for all four songs. After we played, we chatted for a while and I had a good feeling about how it was going - I'd been shitting myself all week, I really wanted to be in this band. They told me they had a couple of other guys to see and they'd let me know later in the week. I said my goodbyes and headed home. Not 30 minutes later my phone rang - it was the guitarist, telling me they decided I was perfect and they didn't want to see anyone else.
I'm beyond excited about this band, the singer has an amazingly strong voice and she writes really interesting and slightly quirky lyrics that I like a lot. The guitar work is fantastic, the drums are cool and, most importantly, they have really solid bass lines that I enjoy playing. I'm already perfect with half a set's worth of songs, I should have the other half ready by our next rehearsal.
That's the exciting stuff out of the way. Work is much the same, although it's been a bit busy the last couple of weeks (and frustrating at times), but I'm still pretty happy there. Not a lot else to talk about there, really.
Haven't done a lot of travel lately, mainly due to work and the bands. I did take a trip to Dudley to see the Aussie Pink Floyd Show which was kind of interesting. The main attraction in Dudley appears to be the zoo, which has been constructed around the ruins of Dudley Castle. Sadly, the zoo was quite a depressing place - most of the animals were in some pretty small and shabby cages - the orangutans in particular had a truly awful area and they looked miserable.
At least the gig was good: I met up with my mate Brian and we hung out for most of the day, having a few pints and some food before the show. And wow, what a show! I know I'm never going to see the real Pink Floyd, but these guys do a pretty damn impressive imitation - at times you could close your eyes and you'd swear it was the real thing. They also had a massive light show complete with multiple lasers - but no inflatable
I also recently spent the night in Brighton so I could go and see vileevils playing - which I think was worth it, in the end. As it turns out I could've easily made it back to London after the gig, but it was nice to have a day off work and just chill out by the seaside.
So now I'm digging through my memories to try and recall any other important events and nothing is sticking out, so I guess that's about all to tell for now. I've had a couple of people tell me they're not as interested in these music posts, but I'm afraid you're going to have to bear with me as it's pretty much all I've been doing. The good news is I've just booked a week's holiday away for the end of November - I'm going to Berlin! I had to take a week off before the end of the year otherwise I was going to lose my holiday time, so I was racking my brains where to go. In the end my flatmate said I should go to Berlin because she had a brilliant time when she was there, so I did a small amount of research and decided it sounded good to me! So fear not, faithful readers, there will be more travel posts coming soon!
Until then, you're going to have to put up with a couple more music posts - Carter USM is next week, plus the Young Gods are coming back to the UK for a lengthier tour than last time so I'll be going to see them a couple of times again. Oh yeah, and EMF are doing a one-off show too - with Richard Poppie on bass!
In the mean time, I'll leave you with this:
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