Another gig

Nancy has been playing with a 'weekend warriors' outfit for the past six or so weeks. They are playing a gig this weekend (Sunday the Seventh of August, 2011) at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel on Port Road. The show is from about 1pm, five 'weekend warrior' bands, $15 entry.

On Friday night, apparently, the band she's is in 'clicked' into gear and started to belt it out. I think some of them were presently surprised. Should be an interesting gig.

Brief update

The Negotiators finally folded, rather than put off an inevitable slide into obscurity we took the plunge!

There was a brief coda when Nancy Steve and myself joined up with Mark (drums) and Garry (bass) under the banner of The Haze to play at Greg's 50th in early December 2007. I think it was a pretty fun gig, perhaps my last.

If we get together an original band, which is the eventual plan, we'll do our best to let you know of it.

Brewbar Gig - 23 June 2007

On Saturday night The Negotiators played in the Brewbar at the Finnsury Hotel. It was a private show put on to celebrate 'Craig's' fortieth birthday. If the last gig was 5/10, I would have put this one a shade over 7. No really bad stuffups, some really good music, an audience partying on and the band having fun. Mixed in with that, cameos and audience interaction, nice venue, decent hours (7:45 pm start), and a bit of chaos as we blew our first ever main fuse. It was a good evening!

Again, I taped parts of the show. I'm only posting now because it was only last night that I got to listen to my recordings from the third and fourth sets. What I heard on the tapes (despite its quite different sound qualities compared to the actual performance - it was, afterall, only recorded on a walkman through the inbuilt mike on el cheapo tapes) only confirmed what I thought at the time, which is what you read above.

There were around fifty people there for most of the evening, a few more at peak and a few less at start and finish. A pretty cool and friendly crowd who got into the evening. I understand that quite a few were regulars at The Excelsior where The Duo (Nancy and Steve) has played several times. Not a coincidence, I understand. They enjoyed themselves, and made for a good audience.

The venue could have coped with maybe four or five times that many people. It was one big low wooden room with an island bar in the middle, decent size stage at one end. Comfortably lit and wooden pannels, it also had a similar decore colour scheme to our previous show - Club 168 (a sort of deep-peach-rose). I'd say it had less atmosphere than the pool hall, but what would you expect - it was a function room. The pool table, by the way, was in use through the evening.

We played four sets. The longest break we had was when the power blew half way through the second set. It happened at the perfect point in a song (ie. end of a verse). What is it with electricity recently? The Barman Mr Fixit in the main (gambling parlour) section of the hotel was so rush rush that he didn't say a single word or heed the barmaid after she'd alerted him to our plight. I'd say he was damned rude. Anyway, he got the power going so all is forgiven.

Musical highlights of the evening included (for me, anyway) the psychedelic bit in the middle of Whole lotta Love and a couple other numbers, Evie, Prisoner of Society and Rock'n'Roll (our encore) going off, an audience who went the distance in (Am I ever gonna) See Your Face Again, a cameo by a 'guest' drummer (thanks, Leonard) for Honky Tonk Woman and All Right Now, a folksy guitarist/songwriter/singer who wrote and sang a song for the birthday boy (as well as interactive version of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life) and at least a dozen people doing 'the aeroplane' in our penultimate song!

The sound was heaps better. Sharon lurked on the mixing desk, and provided encouragement and an ear in the audience when it counted. We did a few other things a bit different. Steve's amp was miked so that we could put it through foldback and thus all hear it easier. I think that allows for an improvement. It also allows front of house control of the guitar volume - not a bad thing. Depending upon the practicality of it, we might also like to consider miking Barry's bass and my rhythm guitar so that all can hear all. That would be a novelty for a rock band!

Areas of the show that will do with improvement are our all round co-ordination (miking amps through foldback could really help here), a bit of a heavier sound (not necessarily my own personal opinion), more thought into the dynamics of the ensemble.

As for myself personally, I really need to nail down those chord changes in the score or so of songs where my brain doesn't really know what my fingers should be doing at some point! That's just a matter of practice. Will do.

Finally, there was a real classic moment that happened. We'd just played 'American Idiot', and Nancy was saying something about the words 'fuck america' in the song. You can hear on the tape the voice of a guy, who was nearly six foot, tall, shaven headed and expressively dancing much of the evening. He starts singing 'Short Memory' (a song by Midnight Oil, listen to it if you can!). So appropriate a vignette to the way the mindset is of so many of generation X these days.

Must go. I'll let you know the next confirmed gig date when I'm told what it is.

Club 168 Gig - 1 June 2007

The Negotiators played at Club 168 in Port Adelaide last night. It was a latish starting gig, we kicked off at 10:15 pm. Played though till just after 2:30 am, four sets and none of the breaks over 20 min. Took about an hour to set up, perhaps 35 min to pack up. We didn't need to bring our lights, the venue had its own setup (though Nancy got to use her new battery powered lyric light).A good show to blow off the cobwebs as its been over eight months since we last performed together.

Club 168 was a pretty cool place to play. We got the gig, apparently, because another band had cancelled. They put on bands Fridays and Saturdays, with apparently quite decent crowds on the later. We played on a Friday night, with about a dozen in audience at both beginning and end and a peak of maybe twenty sometime during the third set. This was just enough that the large and spacious poolhall/bar/venue, on 1st floor above old shopping mall entrance on St Vincent Street just down from Blackdiamond Corner, didn't seem on the barren side of empty.

I thought it was really cool that there was a bunch of folk there from the Cumberland Hotel (Glanville) - click here for report from our last gig there. One of them said that they'd not noiced us in gig-guides etc for 9 months. Nice to be noticed (that being the time elapsed since we were last in the gig guides. Genuine fans?

The stairs of Club 168 were neither too steep nor too narrow, the room was big but not echoey, and there was a two layer stage (drum platform slightly elevated) big enough to comfortably accomodate us. Their lighting was neatly done, with some quite trippy sequencing around the dancefloor and stage but calm and subdued light through remainder of venue. A comfortable place.

Sharon was there for the first three sets, kept an ear to our sound and made a few minor adjustments to clarify it for us. Without her feed back we wouldn't have known how we sounded at the far end of a big room (which can be quite scary and sometimes embarassing). Most valuable thing from my point which she did was suggest a few changes to the EQ on Barry's Bass Amp. Pulling down the treble and pumping up the bass in the big space all of a sudden allowed me to hear Steve a lot more clearly for the remainder of the gig, and added a definite bottom end to our music. Thanks Sharon.

It's a bit hard for me to judge how we went as a band, I had a couple real fuckups myself so they tend to dominate my consciousness of the evening. On the other hand, for the rest of the show I held my own quite well. I locked onto Chris's drums as my reference point for most of the night, and relied on Barry to give me hope when I realised a couple times that I'd really messed up a chord sequence.

Chris was cruising really well on the drums. He wasn't laying in as hard in the first set as he was later - which was really good 'cause it then cut through the on-stage noise (which sometimes bears little resemblance to what is happening acoustically in front of the stage). Having spent a bit of time focusing on the drums recently at practice and now at the gig, my appreciation for Chris's style as a muso is continuing to deepen. There's a lot of subtle variation in what he does that allows the listener to 'read him' without too much effort, without it descending into ear candy. And he holds a pretty steady tempo without seeming effort.

Steve and Nancy did well as the lead duo. Steve's leads continue to progress along the rock idiomatic line he has been pursuing over the past year. I also think that his melodic tendencies are again making themselves heard - which is his own stylistic infusion into the leads breaks he manufactures. Is good, because there is a balance between the two aspects of his leads now. As he continues to work with modal theory in his personal practice, I expect this will only continue to develop.

Nancy pumped it out as always. She still has a bandaged hand from last week's electrocution (click here for the story) but, with the exception of the addition of her new battery powered stage light and an infusion of electricity jokes, there seems to be no major effects upon her performance. My favorite electricity repartee from the night was when Nancy introduced 'Rock n Roll is King' as being originally and appropriately by The Electic Light Orcherastra, to which I added that it was just as well she's a good conductor!

The most noticeable addition Nancy has made to her performance spectrum has been a willingness for vocal ad-lib as part of the improvisational mix in the extended instrumental rock hypnotic moments which arose several times through the night.

And I guess it's those moments, which sweep away your sense of hear and now and just drop you in the sonic tides of hard rock, that make this game worth all the hard work. And there were several of them in last night's show. Which says to me that if we can get back into a steady groove of rehearsal and gigging we will get a chance to explore yet another outreach of musical experience. Yay!

We play at what I hear is a private show towards the end of this month down in Pennington. I'll probably post before then with something about that.

The Negotiators Duo (Steve, Nancy and a midi machine) play at Burra this coming Friday (8 June). They always have a good show there.

PS We taped the show with a walkman. Upon listening to the recording several thoughts come to mind which I have posted here.

Cumberland Gig - 20 August 2006

The Negotiators played the Cumberland Hotel (Glanville) on Sunday, August 20th. It was a good gig, albeit of a different character to most of our recent shows (with the possible exception of that at the Hackney Hotel). Audience was appreciative, publican was happy, we had fun. What more could you ask for?

For me, the whole thing was a bit different from normal. Perhaps a narrative of the evening from my point of view (rather than the pseudo-objectivity of my usual ‘report format’) might convey some of the flavour.

As those of you who read my other blogs avidly may know, Nancy and I are in the throes of moving house. From Thursday night on it had been one slow motion conveyor belt from old house to new, with lots of lifting heavy shit upstairs. By Sunday morning I was digging and doing heavy lifting. Nancy was coming down with what has turned out to be laryngitis. By three o’clock I was finished what needed doing. By three thirty we got to the venue. By four o’clock we were playing.

All the gear was set up when we got there. Made it seem easy. I had to chuckle at what some of the audience must be thinking, as all the fellows do all this hard work setting up and then along comes a bearded guitarist in time to plug in for the sound check at ten minutes to go.

If they thought I was going to be the guitar hero, they must have realised that that was not the way it was to be in the first song when I broke a string. Let us hope this is not a return to the bad old days of my old Fernandez guitar. We’ll see…

Anyway, I changed to the Les Paul copy of Steve’s and got straight into the next song, ‘Stuck in the Middle’. Nancy was already into gear, and the guys were fast catching onto the spirit. We played through the set, ending with a cut down version of ‘Ring of Fire’ (due the incipient laryngitis).

The audience was classic cumberland (see various previous posts for what this means). We had a few regular fans, a few friends, and the usual sceptical but openeared regulars. We won over a few more of the locals by the end of the first set.

Sharon ran the sound again. She enjoyed herself amongst the punters, and quite looked the part of rock techie. The sound was good from stage, and I believe was a nice mix from out front, which is pretty important to how we come across to the audience. As she grows more confident, I think she’ll enjoy it even more.

The weird alien lighting rig set up a nice mood, not too distracting and fairly well balanced across the stage. It was a lot closer to us than it was in the bigger venue last week at Rosewater, Steve thought it made it noticeably hotter on stage. It’s a pretty decent light show, a couple floor lights and we’ll be laughing.

We had a few dancers more often than not, and played a fairly on-the-edge sort of gig. Highlights to me included; my first string change on my Cort guitar, making it through the third ‘Beatles’ set on the wing (having not had much chance to revisit these new songs in the last week and having misplaced my ‘memory sheets’ during the move), Barry’s crunching bass in ‘Get Back’, Nancy rocking it out to several of our instrumental sections, improvising a new backing vocal in ‘Jumping Jack Flash’, getting ‘Long Way to the Top’ just right, Chris’s pulsing cymbal rhythms, and sorting and packing all the gear in just over half an hour after we’d done.

But the greatest thing about the show was that, despite the ‘technical deficiencies’, it was still a gutsy gig, an adventure that we all enjoyed. I’m pretty sure that we all felt invigorated after four hours of playing hard rock, despite the fatigue creeping in. It was a workman like devil take the hindmost type of show to play. The newer linup, the technical help, the equipment evolution, all pulled together to make a good show out of what might once have been seen as difficult circumstances. It’s a very cool thing to be part of the evolving collective artistic entity that is a rock band. Everyone should try it some day.

Before going I should mention that Steve didn’t have his keyboard with him. This cut out a few songs from the repertoire, but I think it allowed him to just keep playing rather than think too much about coming instrument changes. It’s absence saved Sharon the hassle of having to factor in the ‘voice’ of the instrument amongst the PA mix. It also further opened up the stage, allowing us that valuable performance commodity – space. Especially combined with the fact that the mixing desk has migrated from side stage to the front since Sharon’s been along with us, it seems we have room to move on stage again – which leads to a more active ensemble.

We’ll see how we go this Friday night at The Squatters Arms Hotel in Thebarton.

Rosewater F.C. - 12 August 2006

The Negotiators played the Rosewater Footy Club last night. It was a great gig. We debuted about 10 songs and the new lighting set up, playing four strong sets to a loud and woolly crowd. There were numerous highlights, of which I'll try and record a few here. Of course, you had to be there.

The day started with Steve and I moving the bulk of the gear in during the final quarter of the footy game, with a little help from a big bloke called 'Brains' who's known Steve over the years. There was a moment of almost horror when the mixing desk fell with a crash to the (carpeted floor). Luck it landed flat, it survived. All credit to Steve for not freaking out.

We were all ready to rock at 7:30. Might have been 3 dozen people there, the bulk of whom were vocally watching Port Power on the big TV. And they were very vocal Port supporters - is there any other kind? I could see maybe a dozen people at the bar, and they seemed to have a neutral/sceptical air about them. I knew High Voltage had played here last, and thought that maybe they were wondering if we were up to it. My thought was that we had to win them over. The cool thing, I saw it as a challenge rather than a chore. Thus, the importance of mindset (found out later that High Voltage had been too loud and brash and had driven a lot of the audience away).

First set was good. The crowd grew, we lost none, and more and more were giving us some of their attention for more of the time (despite their beloved Port hanging on in a close game). We played 'Money' as a soundcheck 10 min before we started, and then again for the fifth song. No problems, great song. The set was a lot more rock oriented than our first set usually is, starting with 'Stuck in the Middle' and ending with 'Ring of Fire'. Had a couple waltzing to this last, and a guy at the bar creeping around and lighting up peoples' shoelaces and trousers. Pretty funny really - especially when at least one of his targets couldn't realise why all his mates were pissing themselves laughing.

Second and third sets were rippers. Second set started with 'House of the Rising Sun'. Co-incidentally, the recorded music we'd played between sets had included this song just before we started (Animals' version - the most famous).Some nights, this would be a reason for a last minute song change. Not at Rosewater!

We proceeded to play the song probably as well as we ever have. It's a powerful song in any event, and we love it. I didn't look at the audience (unusual for me), I was so carried away with what I was doing. It wasn't long and there was that 'magic' when you know you've got the mojo happening, and it didn't go away.

Other highlights of second set included a 'boppy' version of our song, 'Internet Blues', which grabbed the attention of the young ones at the back who came just to check out the band. A mighty version of 'Paint it Black' - very solid sound. This set ended with 'Le Grange' (ZZ Top), which somehow worked its way out in a massive improvisatory lead in a manner true to the original. Steve has come a long way.

Third set was pretty groovy, starting with classic rock'n'roll (Credence, Beatles, Kiss), travelling through some old and simple songs ('Shout' and '500 Miles'), ending with Living End, Greenday and, finally, 'Hey Jude'. Wow. We had them rocking, and probably 60 people in the room. Port won their footy game when we had maybe a dozen people dancing, the next song was the Kiss classic 'Rock n Roll all Nite'. People were boogying and singing along everywhere. Couldn't have timed it better if we'd tried! Had a big footballer called Barry sing 'Prisoner of society' with Nancy. He did good. Hey Jude was a crashing crescendo. Intensely satisfying.

Final Set started with some Dylan, followed by 'The Wall' (we join Parts I, II and III, which appeals to Pink Floyd fans). The dancers stayed up right until the second last song ('Bobby McGee' - where Nancy shows she really can sing like Janis Joplin). The official 'end of the night' song was our own 'Fucked Decisions'. We lost the dancers, but had the listening attention of our working class audience (for a final song, pretty good).

For encores we played Little Aeroplane (when again we had a wanna be punk rock footy player up and singing full on - did good) and Smoke on the Water. We were already getting looks from the manager, having gone over time by nearly 20 minutes - so we couldn't keep playing (which is what the audience were after in a big way). Still around forty there. Management were pretty chuffed about that!

We were all packed up and out of there about three quarters of an hour later, with smiles on our faces and happy memories in our hearts. Well done, all!

A very special thankyou to our friend Sharon who's started doing the mixing for us. It's a bit of work to do it well, and she seems to be getting something out of it. As her ear and technical facility develops, this will add a bit of sweetness to the show. Looking forward to it. And thanks, Sharon. For some further commentary about the 'inner' side of the night, click here or check the post above.

We're next playing at the Cumberland (always have good gigs there) on the Sunday, August 20th, and then at the Squatter's Arms on Friday 25th August.

Gaslight Gig - 15 July 2006

The Negotiators played at the Gaslight Tavern last night. It was a cold wet winter night and audience numbers reflected this. I don't think the show was a 'bad' one, but we have certainly done better.

Numbers were way down from the last time we played a full gig at the Gaslight. There were 13 people in the audience when we started. This peaked at around 20, and there were 8 still there when we finished after 1 am. I've seen bands play to less at the Gaslight, including ourselves, they have usually been fairly open with their disapointment and in some way made the audience feel guilty for the fact that no-one else turned up. Not very wise, when you think of it.

The Negotiators, however, didn't fall down that particular hole last night. In fact, we got better as the evening went on and the numbers declined. When, finally, some non-regulars came in after midnight, we were rocking and they stayed and loved it. So, we have definitely come forward in this aspect of professionalism over the past year and a half. At least we don't take it personally.

For what it's worth, my view is that we should always be playing as well as we can for ourselves, and then for those that are there. It takes one audience member to make an audience, and you have a duty to do your best and give them what you would give a hundred. Fair enough, you won't get the vibe you get with a hundred, but that's not your loyal fan's fault. So don't alientate him or her...

We played a handful of originals across the evening and they were well received. Our friend Mark suggested that I keep the opening riff in 'Killer in a Frock' going for the whole song rather than 'intensify' it, go for the hypnotic effect. Good idea. Will try it out and see if we can juggle the levels to create what I think he was hearing in nascent form.

The opening two sets were too quiet. This wasn't necessarily my opinion at the time, but I was told this opinion by various audience members later. They were not all from the same peer group, so it seems to me that there was something to this. I also know that when we turned up a bit the show seemed to be more coherent. Until then, we seemed to be searching for the flow although remaining tight.

We fell down quite a few times, always recovering. When we'd turned up, we hardly lost it at all. Perhaps this proves my theory that rock music must be loud, and the follow up thought that, if in doubt, turn it up. The trick is to do this as a co-ordinated band, not as individuals who enter a volume competition and distort the relative balances.

Terry was there running the sound desk and lights. He had purchased a couple of radio mikes, so there was less cabling than is usual. Nancy used one in the last set to wonder out into the audience while singing. I think she enjoyed this, in the right gig this will become a real crowd highlight I suspect!

My favorite moments were all in the last set, which really kicked along. Those still in the audience (or newly arrived) certainly got a good 50 min of music then! Closed out with Fucked Decisions, American Idiot and Little Aeroplane - genuine kickarse songs with attitude. The thing that made me most proud to be part of this band is that, after 4 hours of fairly hard work, we still had the go in us to play and enjoy these songs as they should be. Plenty of bands wouldn't have, on a cold, quiet, wet night in July.

Major down of the evening was some stupid fool losing his temper at one of our friend's early in the second set. Could have got nasty if our friend hadn't left at that moment - he came back later and things were civil again. I'm not a fan of violence, especially at our gigs. Mark, you are a dude!

Our next show is at Rosewater Football Club on August 12. It's a public show, so hope to see you there.

Hackney Hotel - 9 June '06

The Negotiators played a short sharp kick arse gig at the Hackney Hotel last night. Asked along by the Mature Students Association of Adelaide University to play for their fundraiser, we leapt at the opportunity to play at this classic Adelaide pub. Three sets in three hours, in front of around forty appreciative audience members.

The 'new' lineup made its official debut and rocked right through the sets. Perhaps a bit more rock oriented than usual, we managed to draw in a few punters from outside, as well as hold the captive audience. Terry wasn't there, but we were able to use the pub's own lighting show to illuminate us. I think Terry is hoping to be able to bring his box of tricks to our next gig at the Gaslight Tavern on July 15. Would be good.

Chris slotted straight back in to the unit, his drumming keeping constant tempo and beat, with sufficient variation in both dynamic and effect to leave the ear satisfied. It's really good to be playing with him again, one always can pick out where he is at and he is quite interactive with the other instruments. Also, him and Nancy seem to be able to follow each other very well.

Barry has thrown away his written memory aids and played the whole gig through on memory and feel. This freed him up to concentrate on his performance and sound. The results were evident to the ear, and he appeared to be obvulessly having a good time. He is able to drive the music, and as time passes he will no doubt build up the ornamentation layers which seem to keep bass players happy on their instrument.

Steve confirmed that he has reached the next level on his evolution as lead guitarist, the transition was almost seamless between lead and rhythm, pace was controlled, enjoyment was plain. Some nice sounds. Keyboard playing seemed precise also.

I had a ball. I think I grinned most of the gig, and was bopping away at stage front. Barry and me played to each other a couple of times, making a solid platform. The Cort guitar continues to keep me exploring into its sound pallette, with various combinations of foot pedal, pick up selection and strum technique providing a wide range of sounds and feels to what I do.

Nancy rocked.

Audience was typical Adelaide Uni crowd, very little dancing, not much applause. If you didn't know how they operated, you'd think they didn't enjoy it. But you only had to catch their eyes, or watch for the smiles, to realise that most of them were quite drawn into the musical journey of the evening. Would have been nice to give them another set. The look of wonderment in several of them was inspirational to me as a musician. Most of the various barstaff made a point at some stage of the evening to express their appreciation - always a good sign.

Room was wooden panelled, in an 'L' shape with us in the angle. This allowed us to set up so that we could all basically hear each other at the low(ish) volumes necessitated by the small size of the venue. We only used three foldbacks, out of the main mixer rather than the separate amp we have used in past, and no kick drum mike - Chris can thump more than loud enough for a room this size.

That's sufficient rave on what was a great little gig. The lineup is going onwards and upwards. Our next public gig at this stage is July 15 from 9 pm at the Gaslight Tavern in Brompton. I'll put up a poster on this site soon.

Till then, enjoy Adelaide's winter and Go Aussie in the World Cup!

Cumberland Gig - 28 May 2006

The Negotiators played the Cumby (Glanville) on Sunday evening. The show kicked off at 3:30 pm, and we were finished at around 7:40. Played 4 sets, no encores as we had already gone over time. Audience was pretty good, in terms of both numbers and appreciation. This was the second show with the new lineup (Sox on drums, Barry on Bass), and again Terry provided his technical wizardry to the sound and light. Band was satisfied, publican was happy, audience were rapt.

Nancy and I got to the pub just after 1:30. Sox and Steve had already brought in all the gear from Steve's van and set up the drums. We all got busy, and everything was hooked up in time for a sound check at around 3 pm. Terry and I then continued on for another 10 minutes to sort out the rear series of foldback speakers, as there were a few problems. These problems continued into the first set, but it wasn't terminal and the audience wouldn't have known if we hadn't let them know. The sound out the front, apparently, was good.

Lighting was pretty flash. Terry set up his full kit, ground and ceiling mirror balls, 2 sets of floor spots (one of three sets of three lights, the other of four individual lights) and two high mounted flood lights. In the compressed space at the Cumby, it was a pretty special light show. With the sophistication allowed by his sequencer and light desk, he was able to construct a 'plot line' for the lights that complemented the flow of the music. From my position on stage, it certainly added to the sensory experience of the music.

The audience was a classic Port Adelaide crowd, keen on good music and beer, and if they like you they will stay. At around 2:30 there were three people in the bar area that we could see. Sox was a bit stressed. He needn't have been. We had over two dozen by the time we started, and three dozen by the end of the first set. These numbers stayed roughly the same then until part way through the final set, when the number had dropped back to around 30. A fair few of them had seen our name in the Messenger Press gig guide (local paper) and came specifically because it was we who were playing. We picked up a few new fans on the day, and I expect we'll see them in the next month or two. Out of interest, we probably have two females for every three males in our audience, not bad for a pub band.

For a report of the previous Negotiators gig at the Cumby, click here.

Musically speaking, we weren't as good as we had been at the Glynde (For a report of our most recent Glynde gig, click here). This was partly expainable by the fact that it was an afternoon/evening gig (you just don't get the same 'vibe' as you do on a Saturday night).

There were other factors though. For example, I was dog tired and Sox's arm was fairly fatigued, leading to the occasional lapse of concentration on my part, and the dropping of the beat a couple times on his. To both of our credit, however, we recognised the failings as they happened and rapidly corrected.Another problem was that we weren't able to hear each other as we had at the Glynde. That was partly because we didn't have the luxury of setting up on the walls to each side of a corner, with all our amps and speakers pointing at each other. Also, I had to have my amp set up in front of Barry which means he only heard a little 'splash' of sound out the rear, and Sox and Steve couldn't hear me at all (rhthym guitar doesn't project out the sides of an amp at all, which is the part of the amp that was 'pointing' towards them). I can set up a small 'monitor' amp for Sox to hear if that would assist, but it still doesn't address the underlying issue. I will have to think about it a bit. It is important because, while I was trying to play to their instuments, they couldn't reciprocate. This leads to issues affecting the sponteneity and improvisatory potential of the combo.

Steve (lead) reckoned he couldn't hear me (rhythm), and only partly hear Barry (Bass). Same with Sox (drums). Barry could hardly hear myself or Steve. I could hear everyone (although sometimes its more of 'sensing' rather than 'hearing' - stage sound can sometimes bear little example to that at front of house). Everyone could hear Nancy (lead vocal) and Sox. You can imagine the potential for disaster that loomed through the gig in the background.

More than once we fell off the cart as a band. That isn't too surprising considering the limitations described in the previous paragraph. What was very good was the way we always covered the glitch, and several times used it as a starting point of an improvisatory coming back to the music that expressed wholly new sounds (being improvisatory). This was great fun, and entranced several in the audience who are familiar with our standard fare as they joined us on the adventure. A few (they know who they are) have heard us enough to experience the evolution as it occurs. Must find out what they think ...

The other issue which we need to deal with is tempo. I felt we were going too fast, although audience didn't seem to mind. If there's one thing we can work on that will bring results, it will be this. Also, need to work on interaction of vocal and backing singing - one of us sounded too loud (at least, through the foldback) for us to record it.Barry seemed a bit nervous musically, not as 'out there' as he seemed to have been heading at the Glynde. Again, something that will only be resolved with regular band rehersal and individual work (listening to music and hearing what others do, as well as personal practice). He's keen enough, however, that the workload won't be beyond him. Flying hours.

Okay. I've got all that off my chest.

I enjoyed the gig. My Cort guitar continues to show new layers of sound to me as learn more of it in action. I seem to rarely use the bottom two pick up selection positions, mainly the middle one, and to play about half of what I do on the upper pickups with the overdrive peddle on. I like the thick, but distinct, sounds I get can out of my axe, and the fact that between strong chords it can still produce sweet individual passing notes.

Here's what we did right. First set was excellent, disciplined and tight (because we knew we had to be). We also all played at relatively lower levels than we have recently, and it led to a sound in which all of the instruments were filling separate spaces. Thus, there was a new 'level' available with which to communicate musical expressions. The diversity of music was great. Nancy rocked. It got pretty intense at times. The audience was noisily appreciative. Not a lot of dancing - but pretty wild rock n roll when it was. Our breaks were disciplined and shorter than almost all bands I know. The lighting show was harmonising with the sound show. The set lists fitted together well. There was good moments of chaotic flow on stage, and I knew we had taken the audience with us on our reverie.

What more can I say?

We get a cameo in the near future at The Hackney Hotel, and our next public gig is at The Gaslight on July 15 (Saturday). For a report on our most recent Gaslight gig, click here.

More details when they come to hand.

Glynde Gig - 13 May '06

The Negotiators rocked the Glynde last night before a relatively small but appreciative audience. Started at 9.00 pm, finished the encore around 1.15 am. Over fifty songs spread over four sets with three 15 minute breaks. The new line up finally got it together, and it worked well!

As foreshadowed in my last post, the new Negotiators line up debuted publicly last night. Sox made it through without any noticeable slackening due to injury, Barry held it together well, his bass finding its own rock idiom to work with. Terry also came along, and ran the mixing desk and light show.

Stage set up was the new improved version, with Mark and Barry on stage left, Steve on stage right. Continuing the evolution of our Glynde setup, we had less of a footprint on floorspace with the new lineup, fitting comfortable into what had once seemed a very tight space, with more gear! We had Terry projecting out further along the wall at stage right, with a light desk and mixing desk surrounding him. Tech heaven!

Sound quality on stage was excellent, with full clarity of all parts from all points on stage. This was achieved as a result of a combination of careful balancing of sound (amps and foldback) and stage set up (with all amps pointing across front stage centre due the fact we had set up on both walls of a corner with Sox at the apex). Apparently the sound in the audience was “as good if not better” than it’s ever been according to a long term follower or two. I think having Terry advise on and tweaking the sound through the evening helped with clarity also.

Probably the most we had in the audience at one time was between two dozen and thirty people (in the second set). Around sixteen people whom we knew came in three distinct groups, the earliest any of these left was at the end of the third set. For the second set we were graced with the presence of around eight young women dressed to the max for a night out after their Glynde sojourn. They loved to boogie, if they weren’t off elsewhere I reckon they would have stayed. In the third set had a group of two couples of well dressed uni student types, initially hesitant but had them all toe tapping within a song of settling down. Again, I don’t think they would have stayed (they had in fact popped in and out of the pub earlier) if they hadn’t been drawn in by the music (‘Satisfaction’, if I remember right).

There were perhaps a half dozen locals left at stumps, two sheilas that ate up each song from when they arrived during the third, several men who were individually seated and a quiet addition, and a couple who had been there since the second set and having a great time. ‘Tup’, the male half, was effusive in his compliments at the end of the night, and had partied to the music throughout. He even drew out ‘the rhthym guitarist’ (me) for particular comment later – a rare thing.

The Cort guitar continued to reveal its worth. I played maybe two thirds of the show with the pick up selection in middle position, the remainder split evenly with the selector in either top two or second bottom setting. It tended to cut through the other guitar/keyboard without overwhelming or covering them. This was good, as it allowed me to monitor and adjust what I was doing with the rhythm scape between different parts of various songs. As I am quite familiar with all that we played, I was able to concentrate a fair bit on tying up the other instruments with my guitar, as well as interacting musically with them. I’ve been bored before by other rhythm guitarists who seem to only know one way of strumming and one pattern of beats, so it was nice to add a layer of steady variation underneath the more prominent instruments and vocals. I think Tup’s comment reflected this.

Sox reminded us that he’s a good drummer with a solid performance. Although he says he ‘lost it’ a couple of times, he obvulessly hasn’t forgotten how to get back on the horse quickly because the band never lost the beat or slid into a mess of searching for sounds. He’s a very solid drummer, puts a lot of thought and concentration into what he does. Too much sometimes, as his eyes are closed and he’s off with the muse and there’s no way of getting his attention short of shouting at him (and who’d want to break that reverie?). He runs quite a rack of cymbals, which allow him a large dynamic range and numerous effects (a percussive equivalent, perhaps, of what I search for in the beat of the guitar part). It was great to play with Chris on drums, but it's very cool to have Sox back!

Steve’s leads were crisper than they’ve been before, and he seemed to have pushed his technical limits out sufficient so that nothing sounded forced. Again, this impacted upon what I do as I could concentrate more on backing him and emphasising elements of his playing, rather than providing a support for him to navigate around if all got too much. Thus, progress on many fronts.

It took us about two hours to have everything set up (of which around 15 min was spent trying to locate and sort a problem with foldback). Still too long, but getting there. And it’s a hell of a lot of equipment! Take down was down to 40 min before packed and gone, which is getting better and close to optimum.

We had A3 posters placed around the pub, but you had to look to find them. They had been placed under the TVs, and not on the walls in prominent blanks spots. Thus, they were lost in the visual clutter that often surrounds tellies. I reckon we missed a few of the Glynde’s regular punters (I know of at least one) because of this. Maybe we need to take more control of in house promotion in future?

While on the subject of promotion, we have let ourselves down during the last two shows by not having our 'Negotiators' name board up on stage. It might not seem much, but we are exposing ourselves to new punters everytime we play these days, and we need to know we've done all we can to help them remember the band's name. It's a long haul to build a following, we need to keep our name up there.

The saddest thing of the evening happened after the show, when we learnt that the pub is now under new management and that they will likely be doing bookings through an agent in future. Which tends to cut us out of the equation – agent equals someone making money out of you by telling you what to do and they tend to react badly to the fact that we don’t have the classic profile of a rock band (we’re not naïve, twenty and easily exploitable). Equally sadly, it seems that we may not have much choice about this in future, as that seems to be the way that most corporatised venues in the post pokie era tend to run.

Finally, during one of the breaks between sets Terry slipped in a few old Requiem songs amongst the other 'background music'. Gotta say, sounded good! Not only did I immediately think we should be playing our originals, but, viewing the audience, I could see that they quite liked the songs they were hearing (and some of them didn't know it was us until they worked it out). Some of the audience also told me that we should be playing our own music as well as covers. Something for our marketeers to consider. And, just to prove you learn new things all the time, we might want to put harmonica into the song "Butterflies and Fairytales" as I heard checking his harmonica out while the song was coming through during the break and it sounded just right...

Loretta's 60th at the Lockleys Hotel - April 29 06

For details on our next gig, at the Glynde Hotel, click here.

The Negotiators just played a 60th at The Lockleys Hotel for a long time follower of the band, Loretta. She had a ball through the evening, was nice to be able to give her back something for the loyalty she has given us. She had something like 120 people there, aged from (say) five to somewhere in the seventies - the bulk being in the later middle age bracket. Didn't lose many til after the third set, and still had around thirty left at the end, so we held the crowd fairly well. Apparently the exodus occurred shortly after a fight, which none of us in the band had been aware of until well after the gig.

Generally we did pretty good. Tempos were a bit quick in the first set, but that can be expected and it wasn't so fast that it sounded forced. After that it settled down well. Had around 15 min per break, with a last set that went for an hour and twenty.

The Cort guitar played well, was able to distinguish its various sounds quite well. Strangely for me, I played with the pick up selection in either the centre or the setting next closest to the bridge. Thus I was playing somewhere between a acoustic and a humbucker fuzz sound for most of the evening. I even managed to pull a couple of 'effects' out of the guitar, can't remember which song but I noticed that Chris heard and appreciated whatever it was I had done (I think it was in the Kinks 'you really got me', making the key chords 'warp'). Apparently we sounded good out the front in terms of mix, which is pretty fortunate as the rhythm section only heard Steve on the other side of the stage in patches.

Chris and Barry did really well, keeping up with what was for us other three a fairly well worn series of songs. At least half of them were open to experimentation on my part, so it was a fairly fun time that went quickly.

We had the privelege of Terry being there on the mixing desk through the evening. He pulled a bit of the bass out of Nancy's voice, which created some 'space' between it and Steve's guitar. This led to greater clarity of sound. He also pumped the keyboard when it took a lead role, and joined in the backing vocals as appropriate. What the audience would have most noticed was the lighting. Terry has continued to expand his lighting desk and capabilities, with a couple of mirror balls and set of floods on top of the two series of coloured lights he already had. My favorite light was the fire red flooklight on a mirror ball near the wall at ground level by the drums. Out of the corner of the eye it looked like the room was on fire, it was a very rich ruby coloured light.

We had Loretta's son, Peter, get up and sing six songs with us. These songs were his choice, and we have had three rehersal sessions with him over the past month. They were distinctly punk sounding - couple Green Day songs, Blink 182, Johnny Eat World, Living End and Oasis. During 'Holiday' we had someone come flying into the the stage and knock over stands, lights etc - she even managed to break a microphone stand when she landed on it. Quite a bit of chaos which we managed to keep performing though without missing a beat. Pretty cool for a punk song!

Probably the weakest side of the night's performance was the vocals. Nancy did great, as always, and many came up and complimented her at various stages in the evening. In the last set, however, her voice broke a couple of times which is unusual. My voice went in and out of being vocal and in tune. I think that's because I hadn't been too well the previous week. Steve seemed to be out of key several times, which was magnified by his putting his voice right up to his mike as though he were a lead singer.

Barry pulled it off. Nervous as hell to start with, I think his country origins show in the way he uses the bass to basically accompany the rest of the music. This is a different approach to the driving bass associated with modern rock. The songs where he did this, he did it well. Will be interesting to watch as his confidence develops.

The bar staff seemed to be impressed, by what I overheard of them talking as we were packing up (which task we will need to get more proficient at), and I believe we left several cards with them.

That's enough for now. See you at the Glynde on May 13.

Cumberland Hotel Gig - 26 Mar 2006

The Negotiators played the Cumberland, at Glanville, earlier today. We played from 3.30 to 7.30 pm. We had four days notice for the show. We had little opportunity for publicity. The audience was pretty good never-the-less. It was Barry's first show with us as bass player. Chris is still playing drums with us. Stage layout was the new improved version. We used the 'new' PA and all the equipment for the first time and, also for the first time, it was up to Steve and me to hook up and operate the PA. Surprisingly, it all worked. It was a good fun gig.

We got called up on Wednesday to see if we could play Sunday. We had hoped to have the weekend off, after a busy month. But, when someone wants you to play, what can you say? A couple phone calls, and we were all on board. That night, get the add up on this blog and take a copy of the poster down to Steve so he could photocopy it and get copies of it down the pub itself. That night, enter us onto a couple of gig guides on the web. And that was the limit of our publicity.

We had around one and half dozen people when we started, up to 3 dozen at peak in third set, and around thirty at the end. Publican was happy. Around half a dozen were loyal fans - lovely to see them again. The rest were locals. Of these, I recognised around half of them from previous shows, the remainder were of a younger group and stayed right through. We didn't lose very many through the day, quite a few seemed to have initially 'planned' to stay for a beer, and ended up staying for three sets. Cool.

Barry had only played with us for one rehersal. Steve had jammed with him for about five hours this week. He was game to get up though, and thus this was the gig Barry was blooded on bass with The Negotiators. It worked well, in the songs where he was confident, his bass certainly provided a heartbeat and harmonic skeleton to the piece. In the songs where he wasn't so sure of himself, he didn't crash them and the audience didn't seem to mind. So, all is good on this front. And best of all, he was having a great time and enjoyed it immensely. That is a key requirement for playing with The Negotiators.

Chris seems to have grown into his role behind the drum kit, there's quite a lot of binding of the music together. And he did it without fold back tonight. Considering how helpful fold back is to hearing, it will be interesting to see how it flows when so provided.

Barry was stage left rear, Chris centre rear, Mark left front, Nancy centre front, Steve stage right. The keyboard was nearly ninety degrees to stage right, at the front. The mixer was on table along the wall between keyboard and his amps at stage right rear.

We had the amp and gear set up within an hour, and even a sound check left us 15 min to play. No feed back through the night, and the mix was relatively even. I know that we were performing well within the mixer's limits, and should be able to get a fair bit more 'sparkle' out of it with practice. Terry, who was there around the last hour, reckoned we should put up the midrange for Nancy a bit. I think we should unmuddy Steve's guitar just a shade on several songs, it has to play a bit more open or risk muddying our basically clear style. One can use distortion in a 'clean' manner. I busted a shitload of strings, can't wait to get a new guitar in a few weeks...

She was a good gig though. Brought the audience along with us musically from the poppy first set though the rocky third, and into the anthemic final set. Sound was a bit thin at times, that will pick up with more flying hours in current lineup. That means, rehersals. But, that's fun. And I think we need to get the originals happening again, there are actually people who have stopped coming to see us because we never seem to play many or any of them at present.

There's some food for thought.

Gig Poster for the Cumby

For a report of our previous Cumby gig, click here.

Gaslight Gig - 11 March 2006

The Negotiators played the Gaslight Tavern in Brompton last night. It was a pretty good gig. We played well, and the audience was both of a good number and disposition. Publican was happy, punters were happy, band was happy. All was well. We didn't make a hundred, but did bloody well to make half that considering what else was on!

The show kicked off at 9pm sharp. First set went 50 min, even though it had more songs in it (fifteen) than any other. Tempo was generally a bit quick, but within tolerance levels. Stage setup was a variation on what we had last time we played here on a Saturday, with keyboard at edge of stage on far left, drums a bit off set to the right in centre rear, Terry at stage right, me at stage, mid centre left (sounds like the ALP!).

The sound was good, loud but not overwhelming. In fact, at times on stage there almost seemed to be the muffled boom box effect (when you know what's going out is mixed and loud, but what you here is the discrete componentry of it and not the final effect). Sox was there in the audience in the first set, and was able to give some direction to mix levels. Surprisingly, only I had to alter my level (up a notch). At the end of the night, several people told me of their impressions of the mix, no complaints. While we're on 'technical' stuff, I should record that I broke no guitar strings. As regular viewers would know, it's been awhile since that's been the case!

Second Set was a bit more in your face, with very tight versions of Eagle Rock and High Voltage, and very involving versions of The Wall and Roadhouse Blues, being my highlights. Nancy's kick ass version of River Deep Mountain High was a great way to wind the set off on a high.

Third set was the most ecstatic, with a fair bit of audience dance and song, a lot of applause, and a steadily building momentum from song to song over the middle ten of the set (fourteen in total). My highlights, the vocal music psychelic mix in Satisfaction and Jumpin' Jack, the guitar momentum in Good Golly Miss Molly and Travellin' Band, and the punchy choruses of a couple of Divinyls songs. Ended the set with Sox drumming a couple of songs. Sure knew we had our old drummer behind us for them...much heavier thumper than Chris (who is still playing with us while Sox recuperates, he's still enjoying every moment of it - thankyou so much Chris).

Fourth and final set kept up the momentum. We tended to move from one song to the next within seconds, vocal introduction coming over the musical. As stage technique, worked well. Pity it wasn't planned that way! Paint it Black entranced many in the audience, who haven't heard the way we concentrate on the aspect of looming catastrophe in the song's soundscape (which the Stones' most heard version very much downplays). Blew away the younger members with American Idiot (fun!), and the older with Bobby McGee (best and most coherent version we've played for ages - very climactic as the last song before goodbyes and encore). Caroline pumped like Status Quo should, Kiss rocked along all nite and we even got The Romantic's "What I like about you" in there with a nice bit of improvisation through the middle passage. Concluded with Casey Chambers as encore.

A very successful night of fun, thanks to everyone who shared it with us and who's continued support makes it possible for us to keep on doing what we love.

Our next public shows are around a month away. We need to pick up some more material, and have several weekends back to our 'other lives'.

Make sure you visit this site by late March when I'll have confirmed dates posted.

Gaslight Gig Poster - March 2006

Cumberland Hotel Gig - 26 Feb 2006

The Negotiators played the Cumberland Hotel (Glanville) on a lovely Sunday afternoon from 4 pm to a bit after 8 pm. In that time we played around 55 songs in four sets. It’s been many months since we last played here, it was nice to return.

Of special interest was the fact that area we set up had had a concrete floor added since our last visit. The acoustic effect of this was quite marked, no longer did the sound ‘boom’ and echo along the long and narrow room. Instead, our sound held its coherence from amplifier at back of stage to wall at other end of pub. Which added to the enjoyment of all.

The first two sets were a bit tough. Technically, they were fine and the audience enjoyed them. On stage, it was a constant exercise in management and restraint, keeping it together as we fitted into our groove for the day.

Again, I had drawn up the set lists. I only added around a dozen songs that we hadn’t played the week before, and I deliberately kept in the ones we were having some difficulty pulling together. Just to make it harder, I had concentrated many of them in the first set. So, we did pretty good nailing these sets with no crashes.

The third set kicked off with a Paul Kelly song, and we were off. Particularly in the harder rock numbers, we found ourselves jamming out some very solid rock. Again, Nancy was belting it out and holding the audience with the power of her voice and her obvious enjoyment of what she does.

Steve continues his stage evolution. As he doesn’t use the keyboard in as many songs as he does guitar, he has put the keyboard on an angle so that it doesn’t form a barrier between himself and audience when he plays his leads. This is opening up his playing in more ways than one. It’s beginning to sit within the music now, rather than on top of it (except for when he wants it on top).

Sox rocked up in the third set, which was really cool. I think it’s important he does this while he’s out of action. Firstly, to remain connected to the band’s experience. Secondly, to fly the flag. Thirdly, to hear us and get a better picture of what it is that we do (drummers, sitting at stage rear surrounded by noisy drums, usually have a relatively limited idea of how their band sounds).

Sunday arvo gigs are always a special challenge. Regular readers of this blog will know that audiences can vary significantly, and the energy levels on Sunday evenings are often relatively ‘down’. You’re also much more likely to have a much more diverse audience in terms of age than on (say) a Saturday night. Being typical rock’n’roll sceptics, we never expect too much in terms of either audience or reaction.

Which made it a nice surprise to find ourselves playing to sixty odd people in the Cumby for the third and fourth sets. Coincidently, these were also the sets where we really kicked into gear – so everyone got something out of it. Personally, I’m happy playing to a wine barrel, but it sure adds to the enjoyment as a performer if you have a decent sized crowd rocking along as you do it. Even during the first set, I don’t think we had less than twenty people in the audience, and there were around forty left at stumps, so it was pretty successful show for the pub.

I should say the Cumby social club, a strong element in the pub, had been out for a bus trip that day and arrived back between the second and third sets. They made for a great audience, obvulessly enjoying themselves and quite willing to have fun. On reflection, it’s a credit to us that we were chosen to be playing at their party. They got right into the music. A fair bit of dancing of pretty cool standard, makes it extra fun when you're pumping along and the audience is right there with you.

'The Portside Messenger' published an article on us this week, complete with photo. Another milestone! I will get it scanned and posted sometime soon so you can see it.

Blackdiamond Hotel - 19 Feb 2006

The Negotiators played again at the Blackdiamond Hotel in Port Adelaide this afternoon. I've called it Buff's Bar for earlier gigs, but I don't know if that's still the case 'cause I don't think Buff is there anymore. I gather there are other people involved in the running of the pub, as it was business as usual today.

We are still soxless, not sure how long he's out of action for as I haven't seen him recently. Chris, meanwhile, is doing mighty fine in Sox's stead. Today I could hear and feel him beginning to spread his wings as he gains familiarity with us and our music, and confidence in playing along with it. Buff's has a wooden floor, covered in vinyl, and is a long chamber of a room. Chris was really laying deep into his floor tom, which was setting up some dead zones for Terry's base. They fixed that in the third break.

We played four sets, and a total of 55 songs. Nancy tells me that 23 of them are songs we didn't play last week. So we're turning over about half a show from week to week. That's good. We played 45 - 50 min sets, had two ten minute and one 15 minute break. The encore was four songs, took us to 7.10 pm. We started at 3 pm. Nice day's work, was all packed up and ready to go at 7.50 pm. Having no lights to pack up was cool.

Numbers were good, I think pub was happy. 2 dozen at start of first set and end of last, 3 dozen through the middle sets. Steve's crowd numbered about a dozen, there were another dozen that we either knew or recognised, and the third dozen were drawn in from the street. Roughly. Which is a nice mix, would have been a bit crowded for a Sunday arvo if there had been too many more.

Had 'Betsy', a bit of a port adelaide character, dancing from first song to last. Mind blowing that someone could do that, and be able to pass through the fatigue and still be smiling at the end of it. At 58! Puts most younger people to shame in terms of Stamina...

First set was a bit strained to my ear, but others enjoyed. Second and third sets rocked along, with constant influx of technical problems. The worst of which was a major feedback problem, which shows how the acoustics of a place can change between shows for no obvious reason as we haven't had that problem here before.

Last set was a ripper. Might have been 'dumb things' as a starting song, but it certainly kicked off to a great start, and then drifted through high energy until stumps. Nice to see Nat turn up for the fourth set.

Gig at The Glynde - 11 Feb 06

The Glynde – 110206

The Negotiators played The Glynde Hotel on Saturday night. Four sets, each of 12 or 13 songs, and an encore (of four songs) made for a fairly busy night. Publican was happy, rebooked us for two months’ time by the end of the third set. This was our third gig at The Glynde. As always, we started at 9 sharp (that is, those times we are supposed to start at 9!).

Numbers were never less than twenty, and there were around forty during the second and third sets. Around fifteen were sometime-regulars of our gigs, the rest came and stayed. Not bad for a suburban pub which hasn’t put much energy into promoting the fact that it occasionally has bands on a Saturday night.

Chris played drums again for us. He is a pleasure to play with. Quite attentive, able to improvise to what works, keeps a steady beat. Especially when you consider that several of the songs he has only heard once or twice (when we played/practiced them!). We played Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” for the first time last night and put in a mini drum solo before the final chord. Audience ate it up. Many thanks Chris, if you ever read this, for helping out The Negotiators while Sox is out of action.

There were some very nice moments musically. Did a Bass, Drum and Vocal number at the start of the third set, ‘Fever’. Us guitarists sat it out in the audience. This is the first time I have ever been in the audience while the band plays. And I gotta say, The Negotiators were pretty cool!

Several of the new numbers landed with a bang in the audience. There may have not been much dancing (with the exception of the rock’n’rollers), but there was plenty shaking going on.

First set was technically fine, but it was fairly hard work on stage. The band really got in the groove during the second set, and then kept it going 'til stumps. Highlights were an extended (!) version of “Shout!”, ghost vocals in “The Wall”, structured psychedelic interludes in several songs, and times when the music was almost so solid you could stand on it (always a good veneer for Rock music). We didn’t crash once, despite the number of ‘new’ songs (seven?) and resurrected oldies we played. Our experience is beginning to show.

Now also, when we have gigs on four weekends out of five, comes the other benefit of all the hard work and heartache that goes into rehersals over years and years. We know lots of songs (though still nowhere near as many as our audience!). We are also learning them at an increasing rate. Thus, by being careful with our set lists, we can keep the variety and newness for our regulars that they so appreciate, as well as introducing those who hear us for the first time to the way we do what we do through the classics. We have never yet repeated a set list (I hear Radio Birdman didn’t for over 360 gigs!).

Our posters are getting interesting. Current one has a couple charlie chaplin types reading a newspaper with our bill on it. Recent ones have included UN security council discussing our next gig, and the folk in the 1920’s Jules Verne sci fi epic movie looking out their spaceship window to see where we are playing next. Perhaps if I can get hold of a couple e-versions I’ll post them here.

Blog Note: I will now keep posting mini Gig Updates between these more substantial posts – make it easier for those who only want to see where and when we next play, rather than all this cogitation.

Buff's Black Diamond Bar - 13 Jan '06

The Negotiators played at Buff’s Bar again last night, Friday the 13th. Just after a full moon. With a drummer who we’ve never played with before as a band. On the same night as the Schutzenfest (a big Adelaide german culture, sporting (shooting) and drinking festival, very popular). Not a big crowd. Not a big pub. Great show.

Played with Chris on drums, filling in for Sox who is incapacitated for a while. Steve knew Chris. He and Nancy jammed a bit with Chris on Monday evening. Terry and I first met him 45 min before we started. Nice guy. He did pretty good, it being a four set four hour gig with a few songs he’d never heard before. Engaged well with the music and the band on stage.

Playing with different musicians is a good experience for me and, I presume, all musicians and singers. It forces a degree of reflexivity on the playing, and exposes the articulation of a band’s groupthink – something of which we’re normally unaware. Thus, a level of sponteneity. And that is further encouraged (as long as the chemistry is there, which it was last night) by a level of reduced expectation – an expectation and, sometimes, an embracing of difference and error.

Not a large crowd, maybe a dozen or so locals for most of the evening (occasionally more), and half a dozen or so of our faithful few – who would probably have a very interesting perspective on sounds, faults and extensions every gig, every musician. I know that there were several locals and a few travellers who came in and/or stayed significantly longer than usual. I think Friday nights aren’t the biggest times of the week at Buff’s (or, the Port in general), especially with a start time of 7.30 pm. I haven’t heard one person complain, however, about the audience or its size. For once, the truth of its irrelevancy to how much one can derive from a gig (as opposed to what can be derived) has been demonstrated.

Tempos were mixed up a bit, need to learn a vocabulary (‘very slow’ through ‘moderate’ to ‘very quick’) so that we can set it up quickly with new musicians. Also for ourselves! A few songs were a touch slow. That’s better than too quick. Forces one to think about the spaces and allows the body a chance to process and play those thougts. Then again, I always was a cereberal muse.

The performance highlight was, I think, the second and first bit of the third sets. Nancy was really pumping along and right in the middle of the music, and the band played confident platform of music beneath her. Lead played around the voice, rather than compete with it. Favorite songs of the evening for me included, ‘Bobby McGee’ (wild and fast finale to the vocal ‘out’ section where Janis/Nancy is really belting it out, a modification of Pete’s Gaslight acceleration (see posting for Jan 5 gig)), Eagle Rock (nailed it), I’ll make you happy (in your face rendition, Chris accented the beat pattern similar to the vocal); Ring of Fire (got the harmonies right in the backup) and Shout (rocking along, co-ordinated, high energy). There were no real crashes except for maybe ‘Out of the Blue’ (we’d all forgotten the pattern – but faked it enough to finish). Levels were good until somewhere in the third set when I think Steve turned up (according to a bloke in the audience who’d been there from start of second set and ‘complained’ about having ‘lost the vocal in the music’).

For the record, the Gaslight grapevine had produced at least one other drummer willing and able to gig with us, Steve called Chris half an hour before we would have made the call. Also, my guitar was ‘serviced’, but still managed to break a string. Hmmmm….

Future gigs include Buff’s Bar on Feb 25 plus another Sunday Arvo (3 – 7 pm) which will be at fairly short notice as we’re expecting a newspaper write up soon. Feb 11 at The Glynde from 9 pm. But these will be confirmed later …

Buff's Bar - 18 Dec '05

On Sunday afternoon The Negotiators played a return gig at Buff’s Bar in Port Adelaide. In case you’ve looked but can’t find, it’s in the fantastic old wreck of a building on the main corner just before you get to the Port Markets. Apparently there’s restrictions on what the publican can put up for publicity (ie nothing). It’s also just up the road from Cash Converters (plenty of ugly signage there), but more on that later.

We were booked to play from 3 – 7 pm. It’s been a while since we played a daylight gig. We usually reherse on a Sunday arvo (when we reherse), in my mind at least there was some of the relaxed informality of our show that goes with weekly practice (which we have been known to do in the ‘off season’). Which was good because, for me at least, quite a few things went wrong and it would sometimes be quite a battle to remain focused on the show. Being in the less-self-conscious mode that goes with practice certainly helped. More of those things-that-went-wrong later as well.

A good thing about playing Sunday arvo in summer time is that it doesn’t get dark while we play so we don’t need to set up the light show. The front of stage looks barely defined without all the lighting cables. Conversely, one of the sad things about daylight gigs is that there’s no light show (nothing like coloured lights to make you know you’re a rock star). Still, less time to set up and take down, less gear to cart back and forth.

Nancy and I got there around 2 pm. We were half an hour late, which isn’t as bad as the group of ‘fans’ who’d walked from Hendon the night before, thinking we were playing then. The publican was pretty impressed, said they stayed all night. Apparently they’d seen us play here last time and liked us. Quite an honour.

Terry had already brought in most of the gear from his van (as had sox and steve). We were all set up and ready to do a sound check with about 10 minutes to go. There were around a dozen people there already (I didn’t know any, I think Sox knew at least one). With five minutes to go, we’re out the front getting some fresh air, greeting some fresh arrivals we knew. What does Terry do? Wonders off to have a look in the pawn shop (no more free advertising), comes out without having bought anything, and we’re playing a couple minutes later! Almost surreal. And very Terry.

From my point of view, the gig was interesting. I broke my record of breaking strings, busting 2 B strings and a D on my guitar, and a D on Steve’s. I think I busted one at the end of the first set, two in the third (beginning and near the end, on stage change while Nancy first sang solo and then the band started ‘I’ll make you happy’). I broke the last in the final set. Normally busting one string can rattle a guitarist, let alone breaking four! I was moderately impressed with the way I changed the one on stage and joined the song in the first chorus during the third set. Perhaps the unprofessionalism revealed by the breaks was countered with the way we dealt with it. Perhaps I need a new guitar (I’ve never had a new guitar before).

The other thing of note for me was that it took a while for my ear to sort out my guitar from the general mix where I stood. We have a fair bit of room in this venue, and when I stood stage left (near my amp) I could hardly hear myself to start with. My ear started zoning in after I’d played while standing near the drums at stage centre several times. I sorted out my sound better as the gig progressed, even though I think Steve was turning up behind me (at least, I was hearing him as ‘louder’ as the show progressed). I know I consciously had to resist the temptation to turn up. I could hear Terry pretty clear all along, Sox and Nancy also.

Nancy put in a ripper gig, despite the fact it was an afternoon she gave a great performance. She nailed a few songs we’ve not quite nailed before. That was satisfying. Our interaction on stage was coming along nicely too, I think that some in the audience would have enjoyed the looks on stage. Hard to describe, but a communicative exchange of expressions in a song can add to the song for observant viewers. A friend of ours brought along a video camera and filmed a couple songs. Not planned, but it will be interesting if he caught some of the interaction.

The audience was an interesting cross section. We had around a dozen friends and family rock up. They range from one year old to somewhere in the seventies. There were around a dozen ‘classic’ port types – working class men and women of varied age, gender and shape. Had three members of an outlaw motorcycle club there for most of the show (lots of tats there), several ‘old digger’ types, and a handful of passerby that stayed. At least six times I saw someone on their way home from the market poke their heads in, surprised to see a band and, I suspect, that there was a pub in the building. I caught several people dancing outside out of the corner of my eye.

And we had an honoured guest, Santa, pass through. We welcomed him at the christmas pageant, and now he turned up for a few songs at a gig of ours. We must be doing something right!

At most, we had around forty there. At the end, around fifteen. Not bad for the trade I suspect.

We now have a few weeks off to enjoy the festive season. We play Buff’s again on the night of 13 January, a Friday, starting around 7 pm. On 11 Feb we play the Glynde (start around 9). On February 25 we expect to be playing Buff’s again (this gig to be confirmed). We then have bookings for 1 and 29 April, venue to be announced. Those, anyway, are the gigs I know of so far for 2006. Please note, however, that this is rock’n’roll and thus subject to change.

If I don’t post on this blog in meantime, I wish all my regular readers a safe and fun festive season! I hope to see you at The Negotiators next gig!

Bush's Bar 19 Nov '05

Last night The Negotiators played at Bush’s Bar from 7-11 pm. Bush’s Bar has only recently opened up in the site of one of Port Adelaide’s landmarks, Black Diamond Corner. It is a vast rambling ornate two story edifice, mainly run down, of which the present bar is only a small part of the structure. The publican is working on renevating the rest. The locals are right behind him. Good luck to them.

We played at the conclusion of the Port Adelaide Christmas Parade. Maybe ten thousand people were lining the streets that the parade passed down, and there would have been close to a hundred different community groups which each put their own float or marching group together. Brilliant. They passed by right out front of the pub so we got a great view of Santa.

Again, we set up at floor level in a corner in the front bar. Used less space than the last couple of shows, but it was much cleaner on stage (not having cables etc crowding the stage space). We must be getting better. Sound check before 6 pm. Had Steve and Sox in the back row, with my amp under the keyboard (and thus accessable to me in front of it). I, at least, could hear everyone (including myself!).

We had between 50 and 60 people in there when we started, between 40 and 50 for second and third sets. Maybe 30 left when we stopped playing after a long fourth set and encores. On top of this, perhaps a dozen kids aging from 1 – 15, some of them to the end. The kids loved it, often had three or four dancing away. Particularly our youngest grandson kicking on was cool to watch. The teenagers all got up at some stage to dance together.

Opened the first set with “Stuck in the Middle” for a change, aim being to get straight into lively music and warm everyone up at the same time. Worked fine, drew quite a few in as they were leaving the official festivities down the road. This seemed to be the way of it, we would only have known around a dozen of the audience and the rest were drawn in. I noticed that there were quite a few who stuck their heads in, but had to go because of their kids. Also saw several people dancing on the footpath outside on several occasions, either waiting for a bus at the bus stop or walking past. Haven’t seen that since we played ‘The Federal’ a couple summers ago.

Four notable members of the audience for the first set were some clowns that came in. They were having a ball. Quite surreal to see clowns rock’n’rolling to ‘Waterloo’, even stranger to see them headbanging to ‘Smoke on the Water’. We finished the set with ‘Ring of Fire’, one of our better harmonised performances of it this year.

As if four clowns weren’t enough, we had ‘Tweety Bird’ and ‘Slyvester’ come in for the second and third sets. The kids loved Sylvester in particular, especially as he stalked and played with them in front of stage. ‘Tweety Bird’ got up on stage with Nancy during ‘Eagle Rock’. Weird.

Sound was pretty good throughout. No need for drum mikes in this venue (narrow, high, deep room with pillars and vinyl flooring). I noticed Terry adjusting Steve’s amp in the final break. Added sparkle to his guitar in the last set, but the volume was a touch too loud in my opinion. Although we played several pieces a bit quick, it was only marginal. Some of the music got a bit muddy in the final set, not sure why. It was disjointed parts, even though we were all coming down on the same beat notes. Will have to work out why.

All in all, again a good gig. Better performance than last week, rolled from one song to the next without long breaks. Instrument changes very smooth, even me picking up Steve’s spare guitar when I broke a string (haven’t done that for ages – will have to get clear of D’ario strings). So we’ve pulled off three weeks in a row of good gigs. We know we can do it with the covers. Next challenge, bring in the originals.

By the way, we played two encores. Well done.

Next Saturday we are off to a studio recording a demo disk of covers, hopefully to help get us more work. Will fill you in on the joys of recording once it has happened.

Glynde Hotel - 12 Nov '05

Last night we played the Glynde Hotel for the second time. Again, good gig. Relatively large audience greatly enjoyed performance. The Negotiators played within their limits, extending themselves twice over periods of four or five songs into what we appear to have the potential of becoming. No major falling downs (except for one in the audience).

We’d met to set up by 7.30 pm. We learnt from our last show here (when we had competed on a cold wet night with a ‘Showdown’ footy game), by setting up at a bit of an angle, effectively utilising our space better. Big advantage was a bit more ‘focus’ of the amps at stage rear, I think allowing each of us to hear each other better. Biggest disadvantage to me was my distance from my amp controls, I had to wonder right around Steve to get to them. So, if I couldn’t hear myself properly and I couldn’t correct it from my spot on stage, I was stuck with the fact until either the problem removed itself as the music mix changed or I found/made time to dart around and make the change myself. Not a major issue …

We played until a few minutes after 1 am. Played four sets, with around 13 songs in each. First set again was definitely more steady and stately music, again starting with Stand by Me and ending with Ring of Fire. Lost about three people that I know of (they came back later). Sets two and three were the most lively, both in terms of audience participation and band dynamics. Definitely created a high. Final set fell back a abit, perhaps partly due fatigue, definitely affected by inappropriate settings on amps. Ended with a chopped up and distorted Little Aeroplane. Failure to take up the audience on their request for encore (which upsets me a little, in future we need be more respectful of our audience for who they are and what they want).

Had around seventy to eighty people in the room at peak. Maybe thirty odd left at the end. Publican was happy. Although there was no advertisement in the paper there were some great posters up, and we had spread the word that we were celebrating Nancy’s birthday. About half of the crowd made a point of coming for that reason (nearly all of these folk have seen us before, some of them many times, so it’s not quite ‘rent a crowd’). Also, there was someone (‘Adrian’) there for his 25th birthday, with around a dozen mates. So it was a fairly unusual crowd for a public gig, but that’s Rock’n’Roll. The teenagers who were there seemed to enjoy it, always something special to us.

As I had to control my sound a lot more from front of stage (not with the amp itself), I readjusted my pedals and guitar settings (I use Boss Distortion and Chorus pedals with a generic ‘Fernandez’ guitar) a lot more than usual. This will probably have good consequences long term, but detracted from my ability to immerse myself in the music on the night. I think I did alright at it, but found myself using the overdrive in places where I shouldn’t and had to compensate in strum. It’s nice to know I’m up to recognising and responding to the challenge on this level. It will be nicer to master it. Rest of the band kept pretty tight. Only criticism would be that the bottom heavy chunk of Steve’s guitar was a bit overwhelming at times. The levels overall, however, were pretty good. I think this important aspect of the band was much better than the week before at the Lockleys.

I borrowed a digital camera that day, getting the owner to take a few snaps during the third set. I should get them back soon. If any are up to what I imagine a Rock Photo should look like, I’ll post them on the web somewhere and tell you. I saw the ‘proofs’ on the camera and liked what I saw.

I know that overall the audience enjoyed the performance. You just had to look and listen to know that. I know that there were a couple of stretches when we were really grooving along as a band for several songs in a row (that we had it happen twice in a gig, and were able to prolong the experience is a good sign). Despite the ‘heaviness’ of the last set being inappropriate at times, I think we’ve got the distorted Nutbush et al up to the level we were trying for a year ago. We played a song (Voodoo Child) together for the first time, for the first time in a gig, and pulled it off! Audience loved it. Not enough originals (we need to start writing again).

We play again next Saturday down the Port, as part of the Port Adelaide Pageant celebrations, at Buff’s Bar (corner St Vincent St and Commercial Road) 7 – 11 pm. Third gig in a row. Busy season already.

(Photo, courtesy of Wayne)