Glanville Wharf Hotel Gig

Jan 14 – 2005

We hadn’t played at this pub before. Steve had noticed the fact that they have bands when he drove past every day. So, one day on a delivery job, he called in and got us a gig. In the week before the show the publican showed himself a stressball nervous nellie. We only put up posters with a week to go, this worried him. Even when Nancy got the show advertised in the various gig guides, the publican was not very nice about it. Oblivious, we determined to do a good show, and put out the word to a few friends.

We were scheduled to play from 8.30. We were set up by about 7.45. At five to eight, there were no new faces in the pub. Steve and Sox were working each other’s nervousness, thinking we’d be playing to no-one. I don’t think the worry wort publican helped. Nancy said don’t worry, they’ll be here and even if they’re not we’ll put on a good enough show for him to know it’s worth it. Me and Terry just plodded on, it’s nice to have a crowd but as long as you do a good job is the main thing.

By 8.30 there were a dozen or so in the room we played, and maybe twice this filtered in through the first set. A few more drifted in later. Very few left before the end of the night. So we played, again, to somewhere between forty and fifty people. Pretty good considering. We would have known about 1/2 of them, and some of those we knew brought friends. It was particularly pleasing to me to see Ben, our original lead guitarist from 1999, in the Audience. He was pretty impressed with what we have become and enjoyed himself. A compliment from Ben is worth ten from most. My other favorite viewers were a couple that came in at the start and stayed the whole night, after hearing us as they drove by and liking what they heard.

This pub regularly puts on live music. Judging by the flyers around the place, the standard is two middle aged men with guitars and a drum machine playing covers in a technically correct manner. We would have been a nice change.

First set was very smooth, we were smiling at its conclusion. The following three just built on this. Our set up on stage was different to usual, Sox and Nancy were back and front centre, Terry and Steve were stage right and left. That left no room for me on the wings where I normally hang, so I put myself in front of the drum, behind nancy, with my amp under Steve’s keyboard. For once I was happy to have a baby amp. In retrospect, this would have created a tighter visual focus for the audience and, by putting me in centre stage, allowed my natural enjoyment and performative nature to show itself more than usual. One of our regular viewers commented on it in our first break, he thought the ‘presentation’ was much better than the past.

Steve seemed much more relaxed and pulled off a few good leads, Sox held the speed to a constant, Terry was smiling more often than not, Nancy was rocking. I managed to lose myself in the music several times, and am working out how to work ‘rhythm’ guitar into the deep fabric of the music, whereby through different strokes and emphases the effect is almost of continual riffs in the background. Great fun.

At the end of the evening, the publican was also relaxed and pretty glad about his selection of band. He wanted to hire us regular, ‘especially if you always bring a crowd like this.’ I made sure he knew that audiences are fickle. Also seems that there is a chance of Sunday arvo gigs here. And I think that getting our nose into a pub in the region will lead to other work, as they all compete and share clientele.

Good gig, satisfying musicianship, rock n roll improvisations pulled off, covered old songs in our own unique manner. Finally, the fans are starting to push for a return of originals. Now, all we have to do is convince Steve and Sox that the fans are right!