Somewhere between Heaven and Earth

It's been three years since I've been on a plane, so this feels like an almost new experience. I'll soon be back in England, half a world away. Touring with the band, catching up with friends and family, and devouring all that The Old Dart has to offer.

It's a longer trip than usual, and there's so much to pack in. Gigs in Scotland and Wales in addition to England, a mixture of festivals and venues. Walking coast-to-coast along the path of Hadrian's Wall will be something special, and I always treasure my time in Belper. Let's have it.

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So, I joined a band...

I haven't played in a serious band since 1989. My experience throughout the course of that year, as a member of a group that made pretty good music but were ill-matched as people, was enough to kill off any desire I had to do any more work in that kind of environment. Since then, the only time I've been in bands is at the occasional party...
I have played in loads of duos over the years and I have found that to be quite an agreeable pastime, but anything involving more than two, in terms of membership, has been less than palatable.

So, when I was approached last year to join a band as lead singer, I had some thinking to do...

PlanB was formed in the early 80s after Dexys-inspired soul outfit Del Webb Explosion split. The new band enjoyed some good times for a couple of years, playing some decent shows and releasing a few singles, before folding in early 1986. As is common these days, after a short 23-year break, four of the original members thought 2009 would be the right time to get back together and reform the band. Since then, the eight-piece, brass-infused PlanB has enjoyed a few tours of South-East Asia and China, and has also released an album.
It seemed to me that the PlanB job offered me things I wasn't doing enough of as a solo artist: touring, making film clips, recording... Plus, I thought it might be good to play with other people again.

My first rehearsal with the band was 21 July 2015. I've been with the band now for around 10 months and we've rehearsed weekly, just about completed the recording of a new album, made a film clip and started work on another. The biggest news is that we are off for a tour of England in July, comprising five festival performances and a bunch of pub shows. Everything appears to be moving in the right direction, and we all seem to be getting along.

Last week we played at The Governor Hindmarsh, the first show with the current line up, and the first PlanB Adelaide show for more than 30 years. I'm very pleased to report that it went extremely well. Good sound, good-sized crowd, good vibes.

Off we go!

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Laura and her friends...

Gigs have been coming thick and fast for a few years now, but I never take them for granted. You never know when the well will run dry. My motto is, wherever possible, "never say no to a show".
One of my favourite events is the Laura Folk Fair. As mentioned previously, I'd passed through the delightful place a few times on my mountain bike, and always thought it was an attractive place.
This year was my second visit to the Folk Fair, after taking my bow in 2015. It was a similar deal for the 2016 fair: five shows, spread across the weekend.
We decided to make the trip a little more of an adventure by travelling up to Melrose first. Another lovely place. I organised a gig at the Mt Remarkable Hotel, and had a great time entertaining a few of the locals on the Thursday night. It was also nice to do a bit of walking around Mt Remarkable itself the next morning. And enjoy a pub lunch.

We stayed in a big old house in Laura, and had a lovely time wandering around and getting into the spirit of things.
I played shows on both stages, kicking off with a two-hour show on the main stage late morning-early afternoon on Saturday. Given the relatively early hour and the duration, it was a fair effort but I enjoyed the vibe immensely. I caught up with the guys from Dirty Frank, who were up there on the Saturday, and watched The BordererS do their thing. The Saturday night fireworks were a hoot.

I had three shows on the Sunday, so I was pretty much on stage all afternoon. Another decent workload, but that's what I was there for. Folks seemed to dig my originals, which is always a good thing, and most of my sets were built around my songs.
Over the course of the weekend, I sold a few CDs, bought a bottle of commemorative port to put in the music room, and made some new friends.

All up, we had a great few days away. I hope to repeat the adventure, most likely in 2017.

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Nepal Earthquake Benefit

The devastating earthquake that hit Nepal in April 2015 was a tragedy of monumental proportions. Thousands died. Many seemingly-unaffected people from outside of the region wanted to help, and wondered how they could do so. The prevailing wisdom was that while the gesture of providing labour, goods etc was appreciated, what was really needed was money. As much as possible.
What better way for musicians to raise money is there than to play a benefit show?
Adelaide musician Ray Smith wanted to help. Within days of the quake, he had crystallised his vision of bringing local musicians together for a special night at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel. He organised a slew of like-minded music makers, found tech and support crew prepared to help out, spoke to The Gov and, voila! The gig was on!

It was, truly, a wonderfully heart-warming night. More than a dozen acts took to the stage, presenting short-ish sets over a five-hour period. All kinds of people, playing all kinds of music.
Everyone present - musicians, crew, audience and staff - entered into the spirit of the occasion. It was one of the the most good-natured and  peaceful nights I have experienced in all my years of playing live music and going to gigs.
The evening raised around $5000 to help Nepalese relief efforts, donated via a few charities. Everyone involved provided their services for free, which meant that every cent raised through the door, in raffles etc was donated to the cause.
Sometimes it takes a terrible thing to help me see the good in people.

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The last eight months (part two)

More adventures...
I road-tested my Billy Bragg showcase, Workers Playtime, at a show at The Gaslight, which was another first. Me, a tribute act, whatever next? I'd been vaguely thinking about doing something like this for a few years, but I was a long way from convinced that this was a direction in which I wanted to head. I love playing Billy Bragg songs, but as a complete set? I decided to throw caution to the wind and have some fun. So I did it. The concert turned out to be quite enjoyable and it went down well will the modest crowd. I'll probably do it again. Very occasionally.
I played 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone?', accompanying Mary Webb and Emma Woolcock, on Three D Radio, as part of the worldwide Armistice Pals project. The project marked the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War and brought many voices together to make recordings of Pete Seeger's classic anti-war song, reflecting the fact that the suffering caused by war doesn't play favourites.
Yours Truly did a three-show mini tour just before Christmas, including a decent night (back) at the Hotel Elliot and another Whitmore show.

On a hot summer's night in February I appeared at A Night on the Green at Sacred Heart College. I was part of a three-act bill which also included Ronnie Taheny and Ben Ford-Davies. It was a happy crowd and a very enjoyable night, all for a good cause.
I've played a couple of shows for Bicycle SA. I appeared on an outside stage at the Dirty Weekend mountain bike festival in late-April, and then at Tanunda in front of 200+ mountain bikers and crew as part of the 2015 Outback Odyssey.
The suburban gigs continue: Nook Nosh, Railway Hotel, Hotel Metro, Gaslight Tavern, Cafe Luna Rosso, The Austral and others all help to fill my working week. Most Sundays I enjoy a couple of hours' workout at the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market, fine-tuning songs while I entertain the patrons.
Throw in Record Store Day and the Laura Folk Fair, and it is pretty clear that I haven't been loafing around.

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The last eight months (part one)

Since Yours Truly wrapped up the Shining Light Tour, I've settled into a fairly busy and regular performing routine.
I appeared at Mr V Music on the Labour Day weekend, as part of the Semaphore Music Festival. It was pleasing to appear in the artists listing, once again, even if it was in a very, very small font. The show went pretty well, standing amongst the bags of fertilizer in the driveway of Semaphore Garden & Pets. I probably wasn't the biggest sack of sh*t on stage that afternoon... It was great to be back at Semaphore, catching up with musical friends.
My annual appearance at the Tarlee Community Markets on Labour Day started out pretty well, but freak winds threatened to blow me, the market and the town away in the afternoon, leading to an earlier finish than planned.
In late-October I was lucky enough to be part of the inaugural Melrose Music Muster, a three-day festival in the mid-north of South Australia. I wanted to make the trip worthwhile, so I worked pretty hard to ensure I'd be playing a number of shows. As it turned out, the rescheduled Rolling Stones' Adelaide concert fell on the Saturday night, so it meant I could only be in Melrose on Friday night/Saturday morning, or Sunday afternoon/evening. I plumped for Sunday and we drove up that morning. I'd organised to play five shows in five different venues that afternoon and evening, pretty much back-to-back. One each in both of the pubs, one at the Melrose Museum, one in the Art Gallery, and one out the front of Over The Edge, the mountain bike shop. I went from the North Star Hotel at the top of the main street, down to the pub at the bottom, playing the three other venues along Main North Road in between. After my pretty solid gigging effort, it was time to sit out on the front verandah of the Mount Remarkable Hotel, kicking back with my fellow performers over a few beers, and watching an amazing storm light up the night sky.
I broke my guitar in November. It happened when the case toppled over and landed flat on its face. I had no idea there had been any damage until I arrived at the Railway Hotel to play a show and opened my case. I nearly fell over when I saw that I'd snapped the head clean off. My first rational thoughts were about how I would get through the gig; luckily my friend and all 'round good-guy Vic was nearby and lent me his old Maton. I soldiered on and the night was pretty groovy, even if I was a little distracted now and again. Thankfully, my Taylor was repaired by Steve Salvi and is still going strong.

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Record Store Day 2015

I've always loved vinyl. Apart from a brief period in the 1990s, I've always bought vinyl. I still do. I'm not so interested in buying modern vinyl, it seems little more than an artistic affectation. I just trawl through shelves and boxes looking for decent LPs from back when 12 inches of black plastic was the only way to go. So I was delighted when I was invited to play three songs to celebrate Record Store Day 2015 at Mr V Music at Semaphore.

We were asked to play songs from the first record we ever bought, or something close to it. My first album was The Essential Beatles, which was pretty lucky for me in terms of song selection. My second-ever album was Touch Me by Gary Glitter, which may not have proved so listener friendly. I was going to play three Beatles songs but that seemed a little too safe, especially after hearing Ben Searcy play crazy versions of 'Jailbreak' and 'YMCA' as part of his set. I decided to broaden my selections. I ended up playing 'Hold Me Close', the seventies' David Essex hit which I've been trotting out from time to time recently, 'What Have You Done?' (one of my latest songs) and 'Norwegian Wood' - I can just about approximate the sitar riff. Great fun.
I managed to avoid the rain that blew in and out through the day, caught up with a few friends and acquaintances, got a Mr V sticker for my guitar case, and earmarked an LP - 1974's Five-a-Side by Ace (it now sits in my collection). Happy Record Store Day!

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