Post Arch Aid

Simon (drummer) has quite a philosophical approach, and after this gig he said "Well, it's all a learning experience". And I learnt that sitting outside for an hour (we were supposed to play at 7.30, but didn't go on until 8.30) meant that my hands froze. And while Simon quickly realized he couldn't spin his drum sticks, I quickly realized I was having trouble playing at all.

And things got worse: my guitar went out of tune during every song. I've no idea why, but first the A string, then the E string, then the B string. I would play a power chord, discover that it sounded shit, guess which string was playing me up, and quickly shift to playing that chord in a different position. Which would have been ok had my hands not been frozen.

After four songs (we were playing a short set - there were seven bands due to play), I was glad it was all over. I thanked the audience, my guitar strap came off, the leads came out, and I looked up to see the rest of the band staring at me. We had another song to go. Sheeesh. Plug back in, strap back on, and we knock out 'Too Drunk Too Fuck'. In this case I was too cold to play. And slightly too wired. But since a disastrous Inn On The Green gig I've learnt to play it cool with getting wasted before playing. Now I've learnt too stay warm too.

As for the Gibson going out of tune, well, that I don't know about. I was weighing up between taking the Fender Strat and the Les Paul before the gig, and Kirk (my son) recommended the Gibson because of the sound. Which was a good call - it sounded great. Just wish it had stayed in tune too. Perhaps locking tuners are in order.

Arch Aid

Scuzzers

Karim (from Firemouth) is trying to raise rent after Railtrack repossesed their studio. We're playing in place of a band that dropped out. If I can get a babysitter...

Gig details here