Two gigs in one weekend should be an exciting proposition for any nattily-dressed purveyors of professional musical entertainment – and for our intrepid, well-oiled machine this meant a cocktail of pulsating blues, soul and rock ‘n’ roll, motorway service station sandwiches and macho-sounding sports drinks, which also have to be blue by the way. Dan T’s Inferno? It really is just a whirl.
Our first night was at The Blue Lagoon on Gloucester Road in Bristol, a trendy continental-style coffee bar with friendly staff, great homemade burgers, and the rare luxury of a soundman. This is a novelty for us of course, as we’re naturally a self-sufficient, very sharply attired unit who will quickly and uncomplainingly set up our complete sound system, PA and stage in record time at your wedding, party or corporate event without a single hitch. But when you have a soundman, that means you can say things like “More foldback”, and “Let’s put the kick drum through the PA”, and “Let's reduce the mids on my mic” – this is all good stuff.
The gig went well from where we were standing: lots of dancing, loud applause, and a couple of bookings for weddings as a result. Brilliant. Plus, we debuted a couple of new songs – Louie Louie by The Kingsmen and Land Of 1000 Dances by Wilson Pickett. What did we learn? A] That people like those songs and B] That we should all end them together in future, rather than one person at a time.
Most importantly of all though, the gig resulted in a morale-boosting compliment for Owen’s Japanese-made 1962 reissue Fender Telecaster with Bigsby, tilting the balance to 4-3 in its favour over its sworn enemy, Daniel Thomas’s modified 1990s Epiphone Sheraton with Bigsby. More on that later.
Our second gig was a wedding at The Cadbury House in Congresbury. We were treated to the venue’s amazing onstage lighting for this one, which phased from brothel purple to Mars Attacks green, with various ultraviolet hues inbetween. Drummer Alex and singer Sarah had both been sunning in Australia for two weeks before so we must’ve looked a bit like Posh and Becks plus three ghosts, but it was a lively dancing crowd, the bride and groom strutted their stuff too, and we provided a sterling support act for the buffet. Next up – rehearse the new songs...
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