Sep 28 2008

Down and Out in Paris and Denmark (Part I)


Well it’s been a rollercoaster of a week folks and I thought it was about time I filled you all in on what’s been happening.
One of those classic situations arose where three of my main acts decided to go out on the road at the same time. Some early intervention and juggling meant I was able to play with two of them out in Europe, but was sadly unable to make Clare Teal’s week at Ronnie Scotts. This was the first time she played a long run at the club, and I hear it was a resounding success. I’m sure she’ll be appearing there again soon, so fingers crossed I’ll be there with her next time.
I started out rehearsing with The Divine Comedy in town last Friday. We had an awful lot of new material to get through. Neil had decided to perform about fifty percent of the show in French, singing French pop songs by various artists ranging from Serge Gainsbourg to Vanessa Paradis.
For those of you who really want to know (and don’t know already!), this was the setlist;

1. Amsterdam (Jaques Brel)
2. Europop
3. Poupee` De Cire, Poupee` De Son (France Gall)
4. Generation Sex
5. The Songs That We Sing (Charlotte Gainsbourg)
6. Becoming More Like Alfie
7. Les Playboys (Jaques Dutronc)
8. When The Lights Go Out All over Europe
9. Anita Pettersen (Vincent Delerm)
10. Songs Of Love
11.  Home (Jane Birkin)
12. Our Mutual Friend
13. Les Copains D’abord (Georges Brassens)
14. A Lady Of A Certain Age
15. Sexy BB (Neil’s medley of Serge Gainsbourg’s Initials BB and Air’s Sexy Boy)
16. If..
17. L’amour Est Bleu (Vicky Leandros)
18. The Summerhouse
19. Je Changerais D’avis (Francoise Hardy)
20. Tonight We Fly
21. Joe Le Taxi (Vanessa Paradis)
22. National Express
It became apparent fairly early on in the rehearsal process that this was going to be too much material to learn properly in the short time we had available, so I decided that I would read the bulk of the new material on the gig rather than trying to bluff my way through. The shows were also being recorded which added bit a pressure to the proceedings. I usually hate reading in these situations but the last thing I wanted was to have all my little cockups from the gigs perfectly preserved for all to marvel at in the future.
We left for Paris on the tourbus late on Saturday night, arriving early the next morning ready for another day’s rehearsal at the venue. Cite De La Musique is a fantastic venue in Northeast Paris. Don’t ask me exactly where it is because frankly, I don’t know that particular corner of Paris and I didn’t feel much like exploring further than the street it was on while I was there. Lazy I know. But it was going to be a busy week and I thought I’d use my spare time wisely and do what the Parisians do.. essentially sitting around outside cafes reading, drinking too much coffee and chain-smoking to pass the time.
We met our two guests at the Paris rehearsal. The first was Vincent Delerm. We were playing a cover of his song Anita Pettersen from his 2004 album Kensington Square (check it out if you haven’t heard that album). He was singing Neil’s Songs of Love with us. It ended up being a great version of the song, although changing the key did put our backing vocals up into the stratosphere! Luckily I’d recently invested in a couple of pairs of (very) skinny jeans. I remember thinking, if I was to do an impersonation of a Frenchman singing that song, it really wouldn’t have sounded dissimilar to Vincent’s interpretation! Priceless and perfect.
The second guest was the lovely Daphné. Sometimes referred to as the French Björk (according to her Last.fm biography), she has a fantastically delicate voice. She sang on two songs; Sexy BB and If; which she performed as a duet with Neil….


…wearing a rather fetching outfit I’m sure you’ll agree. Made me feel a little underdressed.

She gave us all a copy of her album Carmin, which I’m listening to right now. Go forth and purchase, people! It’s a great record. Some fantastic songs and lovely production. Tinges of Fiona Apple too… Sounds a bit like Extraordinary Machine in French. Which to me, is a good thing.
The Divine Comedy performed two shows at the Cite De La Musique on the 22nd and 23rd September. Neil had even worked out some hefty inter-song banter in French to wow the crowd (I use the term ‘wow’ in it’s loosest possible sense; for one thing, most of the audience were probably British anyway and would’ve had no clue as to what he was saying. And I shouldn’t think the locals had a much better idea either). In fact, his French teacher from Dublin came to the second show and gave him a glowing report afterwards. He did very well.
Paris is such a great town. You can get fantastic food and great coffee pretty much anywhere and the Parisians are such a great audience to play to. They really got into the music and the response we got at the end of the shows was really encouraging. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we make another appearance…
Everything was going swimmingly for me until after the second show, where it soon became apparent that I was in store for another Journey From Hell (and as any of my regular readers will know, I am no stranger to the Journey From Hell). I had four shows with Maggie Reilly starting the following night in Denmark and all my various cunning plans to get to Beauvais airport in an elegant and cost-effective fashion gradually came unstuck during the last day in Paris. I had no hotel booked for after the show (computer/TDC said ‘No’), and quite frankly I wasn’t up for blowing the entire gig fee on hotels and taxis. Now, I was under the impression that Beauvais was just outside Paris. I was very wrong. It is in fact bloody miles away. Probably further than Stansted is from central London. I eventually found out that a cab to Beauvais would be around 170 Euros, around the same time that I was told I wouldn’t be getting a lift on the tourbus with the rest of the band who were heading to Calais. Nice.
The bus left the venue just after 11 pm. I managed to hook up with a select bunch of TDC fans for a few post-gig drinks (in my case, coffees!) and a late night binge in the 24-hour McDonalds (Oh, the glamour!). By 2 am I was left wandering the streets of Paris alone in the wind and rain, lugging my bass around in it’s less-than-lightweight flightcase.
I decided that with no hotel room to stay in, I’d start ambling towards Port Maillot, where the 13 Euro shuttle buses to Beauvais leave from. I was expecting some kind of bus depot, not unlike the Victoria Coach Station. Sadly, I was met with a glorified bus stop with a little kiosk (shut) when my cab pulled up at outside. By this stage, there really would have been no point in booking into a hotel as by the time I’d have fallen asleep I would’ve had to leave again for the airport.
I found myself sat on my bass case, parched and starving in the cold and wet for about three and a half hours in that bloody bus stop. I was accompanied by two drunken Polish chaps who spent the entire night arguing with each other at the top of their voices, and a couple of sleeping backpackers. Visions of Jaco Pastorius sleeping rough on a Floridian basketball court clutching his bass sprung to mind. After about an hour and a half I really did feel like some sort of vagrant. 
Interestingly,  at around the 4 am mark, a series of rather lovely girls started arriving one by one at the bus station. Which at least made the general scenario rather more pleasing. It also calmed down the Polish guys. I managed to get on the first bus at 5 am and arrived at Beauvais at around 6.30. Coffee and croissants helped ease the pain and the knowledge that I still had 2 flights ahead of me, followed by a 90 minute drive to Maggie’s first show. It seems there were no convenient flights from Beauvais to Billund that day, so I had to fly via Dublin (yes, Dublin!). Deep joy, I’m sure you’ll agree!
So anyway, that’s the end of the first installment of the road diary. I shall follow up with Maggie’s shows in part II sometime over the next few days. For those of you following my Podcast, expect a deluge of new tracks in the near future. I accidentally bought my dream bass (a Warwick Thumb VI NT, from now on to be known simply as ‘The Beast’!) at GAK in Brighton when I was at the Komedia with Clare a couple of weeks ago. Martin Peterson is currently working his special magic on it at The Gallery this week, so we’ll be back in action next week. Can’t wait!

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Aug 25 2008

Duke Special, Dublin, Dorchester and the Downfall of Aunty Lil…


Well it’s been a busy few days here in the Little bass world….

On Friday night I performed with one of my all-time favourite artists, the sublime Duke Special at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. I’ve been looking forward to this show for quite some time now. Myself and Tim Weller were drafted in from The Divine Comedy to play with Duke Special’s band and the RTE Concert Orchestra, under the baton of conductor David Brophy.
Tim and I met up with Peter on Wednesday afternoon to have a quick run-through of all the material. I was recording a charity song with Clare in the morning at Air Studios (watch this space) and had to rush across town to make the session. The next rehearsal was to be in Dublin at the RTE building. Our flight was, surprise surprise, so early in the morning from Gatwick that I had to stay up all night again in order not to miss it (I left my house at 3.15 in the morning!).
The rehearsal with the orchestra went pretty well, although the room wasn’t ideal acoustically for our setup. It was a big hall and we were set up facing a big wall so everything the band played at the back of the orchestra bounced back a fraction of a second later than everything else. And we couldn’t hear Peter or his piano.  So we came away having no idea what this was going to sound like, but did manage to ascertain that the various parts worked (Luckily I’d spent all day Tuesday working out parts for myself).
We spent the rest of the day strolling around Dublin. I really do love Dublin and it was great to have the time to take a look around again. It’s not often in a gig/touring situation that you have any spare time to actually see anything of the town you’re in. Having said that, our hotel was up in Rathmines and it was a bit of a schlepp to get right into town, but luckily we had quite a long time. We ended up in Whelan’s twice (!) and got some food on the way into town. Incidentally, we came across a fantastic Chapman Stick player in Temple Bar. No idea who he was but he was great to watch. Hopefully our paths will cross again sometime so we can have a chat.
We soundchecked and ran through the set again on the day. The show was sold out (I think the venue holds about 1200, but I can’t say for certain). 
It can be quite a tricky situation when a band goes out to do a show with what is essentially a pickup orchestra (in other words, one which does not tour with the band and hasn’t necessarily seen or indeed even heard the material before). I’ve done a number of these kinds of shows with The Divine Comedy and to be frank, they were a mixed bag. The whole show really does depend on the attitude and motivation of the orchestra and the conductor (if there is one). TDC have had a few issues in the past with some rather stuffy orchestras and orchestral managers. We were so lucky with the RTE folks and David Brophy. They were so enthusiastic and energetic. It makes such a huge difference when the orchestra really get into the music and they did a great job, both in rehearsal and at the performance.
The show consisted mainly of tunes from the Duke’s debut album Songs From The Deep Forest 
with five brand new songs from his forthcoming album. Let me tell you, the new album is going to be amazing.  It’s due for release in Ireland in October. At the moment, since Universal bought up V2, Duke Special only has a record deal in Ireland. This is a bloody travesty folks. Peter is one of the best singer-songwriters to have emerged in the last decade and deserves much better than this. Still, we’ll all just have to buy the album from Ireland; that’s what I’ll be doing the moment it comes out!
The show was a resounding success and one of the best gigs I’ve done in a while. The new songs were incredibly well received and the audience were fantastic. Really hoping to do more shows with Pete some time soon.
I had to fly back the following day and peg it down to Dorchester for a little function giglet. When the bandleader called me up for the gig during the week, the call went something like this….
“Yeah man, it’s gonna be great. It’s in this swanky manor house, loads of food and free drinks all night. We’ve all got hotel rooms for the night and there’s a big swimming pool so bring your swimming gear. It’s gonna be great fun”.
Hmm…(!)
Well, the wedding was indeed held in a manor house, which was indeed swanky. Sadly, at some point in the 50’s or 60’s, the estate was bought by the police who turned it into a training college and threw up (literally) a selection of hideous yellowy utility buildings (including the aforementioned swimming pool) all around the back of it. Let me tell you, if the planning consent had been applied for by anyone other than the police it never would have been approved. Absolutely putrid and horrifying. And guess where we were staying? Yep. I’ve stayed in swankier Travel Lodges.
As usual in these wedding gig situations, everything was running rather late. About an hour late. We were just about to go on when the father of the bride (a rather portly Scottish gent in a kilt) came up to us and asked for the mic. He wanted to make an announcement…
Apparently Auntie Lil (a lady in her late seventies) had slipped down the stone steps on her way out and had been quite badly hurt having bashed her head. The ambulance was on it’s way and could we please have ten minutes of quiet time? O my god. Needless to say, that killed the mood at the wedding in an instant. And we were about to go on. Couldn’t believe he’d just announced this to the whole party over the mic. Neither it seemed could the bride and groom by the looks on their faces. Neither indeed could Aunty Lil who I discovered earlier had insisted that nobody tell the bride as she didn’t want to spoil her big day.
Well as you can imagine, the gig was a bit of a challenge after that. We did somehow manage to drag the mood back up again and by about halfway through the first set everyone was having a good time once more. 
Anyway, enough of that!
I will be performing with Duke Special again this Friday with the London Gay Symphony Orchestra at The Roundhouse in Camden. Let me know if you’re coming along and I’ll come say hello afterwards. Really looking forward to it.
And just before I go….
I’ve mentioned to several people over the years about the funny signs at Dublin Airport. The ones about unfamiliarity with escalators or lifts. Nobody has believed me thus far, so here is the proof…. (you might have to zoom in a bit!)
How anyone who was unfamiliar with either escalators or lifts would be perfectly happy jumping on a plane is utterly beyond me.

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Aug 13 2008

Maggie Reilly Sommersted Festival: A Field Report

Well it’s been another hectic weekend folks.

On Friday night I drove out to Wells to play a little jazz gig with sax legend Pee Wee Ellis. This was the first time I’ve played a gig with Pee Wee (we met a couple of weeks previously when he came to sit in on Clare’s gig at the Frome festival) and, I must say, I was a little nervous. Now, I don’t normally get nervous before a gig but I am a big fan of Pee Wee and I really wanted to make a good impression. Gareth Williams was on piano and he was fantastic. I’ve wanted to play with Gareth for a long time now; he’s one of my favourite pianists. Pee Wee was great fun and sounded great. We were playing at Cafe Piano, a gorgeous little venue in Heritage Courtyard, just off Sadler Street. The place was sold out (this was the forth gig Pee Wee had played there) and the trio went down a storm. Really hoping to play with Pee Wee again in the near future, it was a real privilege and a pleasure.

It turns out that Wells was a lot further away than I originally thought and it took an incredibly long time to get back home after the gig. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem but I had to get up early the following morning in order to catch a plane out to Denmark for a festival gig with Maggie. As I may have mentioned before, I find it very difficult to sleep if I have to get up early to catch a plane. It’s that terrible thought of waking up late and missing the flight. So no sleep for me!
We arrived at the airport in Arhus (in the middle of ar street) to be driven out to the festival site. Now I’m not overly sure of the exact whereabouts of the gig, but I’m guessing it was Sommersted as that was the name of the festival. It was an outdoor show for about 1800 people. We were headlining at around 9pm following a rocky blues band. After us was to be a well-known Danish covers band who would be playing on late into the night. I’ve discovered that having a covers band on festival bills is quite common in Denmark (you may recall my mentioning a similar band at the Struer festival in one of my previous posts). Still doesn’t sit quite right for me…
We went to check in at the hotel as we discovered they weren’t quite ready for us at the festival site. Very odd hotel this one. It really wouldn’t have looked out of place in the middle of the Slough Trading Estate. Imagine something resembling a low-rise office block crossed with a dodgy backstreet pub and you’ll be halfway there. We retreated straight to the bar for a little drink, but the promise of a decent meal at the festival site quickly lured us back into the van. 
Back at the festival in the dressing room, we eagerly awaited our evening meal. In came the cheese and speckled ham platter. Should have seen that one coming really. 
They did keep the coffee flowing though so we were at least awake for the show if a little under-nourished!
Having been a rather fine day, the heavens opened up as soon as the previous band came off stage. Luckily our gear had already been loaded backstage so we managed to avoid the rain whilst setting up. The audience seemed really excited to see Maggie and refused to be beaten by the rain. Fantastic stuff. This was to be Gordon’s second gig with the band (we’ve still yet to have a proper rehearsal all together!) and Chrys had improvised a keyboard stand with various bits of metal bolted together. As we set the stage up it lasted about 10 seconds after the keyboard was lowered onto it! A couple of empty flightcases were swiftly dragged on as a last-minute replacement. Wish I’d had my camera at that point, it was quite funny watching the little frame slowly buckle under the immense weight of the keyboard!
The show itself went down a storm (Literally. It was pouring down by this stage). We played pretty much the same set as Slupsk, with a few of the quieter numbers taken out to save time. Probably about half of the audience had retreated under cover towards the back of the site, but the rest of them braved the rain in a sea of anoraks and umbrellas. Chrys had decided to drive all our own gear over to the show this time. It was great to finally have both my basses to hand as well as my pedalboard (I use quite a lot of bass effects with Maggie). I much prefer playing the little solo spots on my fretless, although my chorus pedal decided to emit it’s sporadic ‘I don’t like 120 volts’ hum, as did my amp. O well, at least it was my hum!

I had to leave alone early the next morning in order to get back to England for a gig with Symeon Cosburn at the RAC club in Epsom. This was no mean feat as we were in the middle of nowhere in deepest Denmark on a Sunday. Chrys had very kindly organised a series of train connections in order to get me to Copenhagen airport so I could get back in time. The hotel’s one saving grace was it’s being situated opposite the local train station. As I sat on the platform at 7.45 in the morning the station attendant informed me that the train times are completely different at the weekend and I’d have to get on a much later train. Bugger, I thought. Luckily the train I eventually caught an hour later went straight through to Copenhagen, so with a bit of last minute improvisation I was able to get to the airport on time with only one change. 

It took me nearly nine hours in total to get to my gig in Epsom (phew…), but it was well worth it in the end. It was a great little quartet gig with Dave Ohm on drums and Anthony Strong on piano. Symeon isn’t doing too many shows at the moment so I was really pleased I could make it. The RAC club in Epsom is a beautiful place. The main building is like a huge mansion in the middle of some stunning grounds. We were playing in a huge ballroom for a crowd of about sixty people, most of whom ended up buying a CD in the break. I swear this must be some kind of record; almost four fifths of the audience bought one of Symeon’s CD’s. A fantastic result. Hopefully we’ll be doing some more in the near future. Keep an eye on my gig list on my MySpace page for updates.
I’m going to be playing at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Maidstone on Saturday with Clare Teal if anyone’s in the area. Do let me know if you’re coming along so I can say hello. I’m off to play an orchestral show with Duke Special in Dublin the following week, with another gig at the Roundhouse on the 29th. Seriously not to be missed. 
Hopefully see you at a show soon.
Simon

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