Gig number one is the birthday party for Da Da Da zine, run by Elodie Ginsbourg. It's in Sheffield and starts at 3 p.m.
I'll be on at 5.30
Tickets here: https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Sheffield/Channing-Hall/DA-DA-DA-party/42375316/
Tomorrow's gig is in Halifax at the wonderful Grayston Unity. Again, it's an afternoon gig (starting at 2 p.m.)
Tickets here and also available on the door: https://www.seetickets.com/event/afternoon-of-storytellers/the-grayston-unity-hx1-1pu/3631481
I'm tired, mixing socialising with working on the music. Mixing music.
Still there is so much to learn; timbre is so absorbing. I've learned that the difference between playing a ukulele with a pick and with your thumb makes a massive impact on the sound- and also that uke chords sustain for much longer than I'd thought. I am going to have to divide my playing between tiny fingers (uke), medium fingers (banjo) intermediate fingers (guitar), and large fingers (bass). If there are any of these I can't manage I'll have to draft in the music troops.
I have a guest musician coming this afternoon, another on Monday, and another on Wednesday. This has involved Snacks Purchasing and House Cleaning and running the washing machine at unholy hours.
Yesterday I met Rowen, my friend from long ago. It was really nice to catch up with her and her positive news, and to take a holiday from recording, although at one point I inadvertently steered the conversation towards music technology!
Last night we had a really great ladies rehearsal at my old workplace. I love rehearsing with Ruth and Karina, it's always surprising how well our voices go together (well, particularly theirs- I can't hear mine!). I bent down to pick up my guitar lead earlier in the afternoon before I left and thought 'I'll just do a little bit of editing before I go', and forgot the lead. Nobody in the electronics shops in Stratford knew what a guitar cable was. In one place they looked so disappointed not to be able to help that I had to explain 'It's a specialist cable'.
All that concentrating: it was tiring, but we sorted a lot out. It's a mini-band for the High Tide Festival on the 26th of July (The Eel Pie Pub in Twickenham, on at 1 p.m. and it's free!). Lester Square will be joining us too. And thanks to Karina, I know know what a Fluffy is!
I spent this morning re-doing a tricky guitar part, then these books showed up. I now have some to sell at gigs and so on.
I've just done some backing vocals on the track that will be the last one on the album. Terribly self-indulgent, doncha know! The plan for finishing everything is crystallising out very slowly. It includes a lot of re-playing (grr), doing all the lead vocals as soon as the weather has cooled down, a guest guitarist coming on Thursday and another on Monday, a guest vocalist on Wednesday, and then picking up Gran's banjo from Maggie to try to pick a few bars on one of the songs. I feel like Gran should be there on the record, because her spirit (or her genes, Chris Packham) has been with me during my whole life like reinforced steel in my bones, and kindness encircling my mind whenever times have been tough. And times were very tough at the end of the 1970s.
Live in or near Halifax? Join us next Sunday afternoon at this lovely venue, @graystonunity with @mckinneygordon and @thesilverreserve
Tickets: https://www.seetickets.com/event/afternoon-of-storytellers/the-grayston-unity-hx1-1pu/3631481
Who's coming to the @dadada_fanzine party on Saturday in Sheffield? with @sassyhiya @milkywimpshake @crumbsband @steve_dore_ and The Middle Ones.
And me! I'm on at 5.30
Tickets here: https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Sheffield/Channing-Hall/DA-DA-DA-party/42375316/?
I'm doing too much work on the songs because it's so hot that it's impossible to do anything else. One good thing is realising that in some cases what I hear in my head is not possible. That Hofner bass guitar sound with reverb? You actually need a Hofner bass guitar for that, and I haven't got one any more.
But two songs that I thought sounded awful now sound great. And the clever little chord sequence that I inserted into a simple song sounds terrible. And one song that I spent ages putting a bass line on sounds better without it.
One day, I might think it's stupid to go backwards songwriting-wise. But there's a driving force behind these songs that is making me feel really strong when perhaps life issues could be making me feel weak.
The most ironic thing is having spent almost a lifetime bringing the stories of punk women into visibility in ways that mean that they couldn't be swept under the carpet ever again, there is currently a large powerful broom sweeping me under the carpet. Me and my big ideas!
Yesterday was a reminder that you need not only a different mindset but different fingers (same hands) to play bass guitar. Long strides instead of tiptoes. Needs a couple of days of immersion!
You open the door and in come the bluebottles, wasps and gnats. Today though, despite the heat, I am totally focused on playing bass.
In my head, the songs have had basslines playing alongside them for days, if not weeks. It's just that they didn't seem quite ready.
I've just recorded bass on to a song, and suddenly the whole project seems grown-up. What I played was really simple, but sound is so complicated. In an instant, the resonance of the backing vocals came to the forefront, sounding positively aeolian. The dodgy lead vocal became entirely acceptable and the slightly 'off' guitar sound made sense, reaching down from its perch to invite the bass into the song.
I threw out an irrelevant section straight away.
With bass you can dance your body as you play, even if it's just in your head. I'm going to have a busy afternoon.
Get on with your own business, buzzy things, and I'll get on with mine.
This morning's task has been to continue editing the guitar parts for the album. I've discovered that if Flextime is used too much, you can hear it really obviously on the tracks. There's only one track where this is a problem- in fact the track has been a bundle of problems right from the start because of it's odd, stilted rhythm. The rhythm may well dictate the fact that the whole thing is going to be slightly offbeat, but that might be nice. Maybe!
For an ears rest I go out into the back yard and listen to next door's down-talking. The dog barks quite a lot, but then that's what dogs do. At least it doesn't sound hysterical, like the poor Springer Spaniel that used to be shut in all day by itself in the house on the other side. That dog used to try to get out through the letterbox, and you could hear it yelping from the bottom of the street. I spoke to the owners about that, just once. 'No, you can't', they gaslit.
Probably like a lot of people, I've been trying to avoid Mr Frogface the Tedious Bulshitter ever since... always. Tennis, football and Frogface: the tellybox is having a rest for a bit. I'm roaring through the terrible crime paperbacks like nobody's business, although I've read an actual novel this week, which seemed to be very dull until the last few pages, which suddenly became incredibly sad. Was it worth the emotional labour? I'm not sure. Life is full of emotional labour at the best of times anyway without a novel rubbing your face in the nettles (that was a village punishment meted out by the village bully to little boys that she didn't like) (and no, it wasn't me!).
