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

Post gig rehearsal

I didn't quite manage to get the Foo's 'Times like these' together in time for this practice, but brought along Bowie's 'Hang on to yourself', the Damned's 'New Rose' and 'London Calling' by The Clash, all of which we got into fair shape. We also played 'Pump It Up' by Elvis Costello, which is a keeper. And the Sex Pistols 'God Save The Queen' just for the heck of it.

Shattered when I got in, the wide awake till 3a.m, which had an impact on a competition at work...

Well, I enjoyed it: Scuzzbuckets play Hydro

I don't look forward to gigs. In fact, I hate playing live, but it's better than not playing live, and tonight was good one.

A few days before the gig I changed to a fresh set of strings because I was expecting another guitarist to use my guitar, and didn't want a string breaking mid set for either of us, but in the end he had his own guitar. The new strings gave me grief, though, and I ended up having to tune the B string in the intro to 'Can I Sit Next To You Girl...', and fought to keep them in tune for the rest. Ah well, shit happens. The rest of the gig was great, with a good turn out, and the other four bands rocked. and the only thing that could have made it even better would have been if a certain someone had turned up, but c'est la vie (although I do have to say thank you for the DVD).

A bit too much...

Scuzzbuckets

A long long Friday night, a lost Saturday, a very heavy Sunday, and then a practice tonight which felt like the whole weekend again squeezed into three hours. Not sure I can keep this up.

But the set is a lot tighter, and Gary was on form, getting the sound together and tweaking the arrangements. We were beat by 9pm, and I was a bit gutted we were going to call it a night without adding anything new, but pestering Gary to show me the bass line for Elvis Costello's 'Pump It Up' meant we ended up giving it a go (after plugging everything back in), and I while I doubt we'll get a chance to practice it again in time for the next gig, I'm sure it'll be in the set soon. Probably sounding somewhere between the original and The Wildhearts version.

Been lusting after this guitar...

I had a look in a couple of guitar shops in the States for a Gibson BFG, but they weren't shipping yet. Mores the pity, as the usual £ = $ price hike in the U.K means that I can't justify buying one for the foreseeable future.

But I love the look of this guitar. When you hand over your Les Paul to another guitarist who's broken a string you end up worrying about the pounds being knocked off by his belt buckle. Hand over a BFG and he'd be adding character.

So I'm blogging it here to get it out of my system. And in case anyone gets a sudden urge to buy me a surprise present ;)

(photo courtesy of Gibson Germany)

Practices for upcoming gig

A couple of practices under our belt, with a couple of new songs (including one I wrote many years ago currently getting reworked as a Scuzzbuckets song) in preparation for a gig on the 23rd of September.

Boys Are Back In Town

Well, almost. My hike in the States for a month, Jamie's work/holiday in Brighton and the States, and Gary's trip to Spain has meant we've all had an extended break and are itching to get back gigging.

Gary's due back in a few days, so hopefully we can hit the studio again and get back to speed with some new songs (covers and originals).

But family in Australia mean Gary will only be back for a short while, so chances are we'll only squeeze in a one gig somewhere.