I'm sitting like a zombie and thinking like a slug. Why? A weekend of gigs and a day of recording and rehearsal following on from that.
On Saturday, I was invited by Elodie Ginsbourg, the force of nature behind Da DA DA fanzine, to a really lovely birthday party. Despite transport problems, I didn't miss too much of it. When I got there, the Middle Ones were just finishing their set, and Crumbs took to the stage to play a loud, punk-inspired and lively set that completely redefined the link between party dresses and music.
The venue for the party was upstairs at the immaculately Victorian Channing Hall in central Sheffield, whose large windows illuminated a spacious room filled with round tables hosting excited families. Elodie's many friends circled around helping: Pete Dale of Milky Wimpshake was on sound desk duties, and although I have known him as an academic colleague, I've never actually seen them play. They are a trio who play powerful guitar-based songs and I really enjoyed their set too. Before theirs, I'd been on to play and at Elodie's request, finished with a singalong of The Bathing Pond. It's been this summer's song of the set, which I never really expected.
I think one of my favourite parts of the party was the quiz. Jamie from Crumbs had written a special song to introduce the interlude, Is This The Quiz (I think). Every quiz should have this! It was exciting; I have always avoided them, but this felt like it would be fun. Joined by the two guys from Sassyhiya (our team name was HiyaSassy), we blundered happily through it all and scored eleven out of sixteen. Not all the mistakes were mine!
Finally, Sassyhiya played a set with seven new songs in it. They were very good, and rocked the evening. I particularly liked the lead guitar playing, which due to distortion effects sounded like a crazy string quartet snaking through the songs at times. I was sitting chatting to Duncan at the time (thanks for coming along) and he enjoyed that too. There was some great DJ-ing from Steve Dore and from Madeleine.
Later on, some of us ate pizza at those round tables. The spotty balloons were popped, everything was packed up and we headed back to Elodie's very stylish home. Next morning Elodie, her daughter Madeleine and me walked to the bakers to collect pastries. Outside there were benches, and on the benches were her friends from the party drinking coffee in the sunshine and chatting. What a friendly city it is! She told me about a garden taken over by badgers, sharing of frogspawn, all sorts of positive ways of making a community that are a thousand million miles away from Elon Musk's bleak techworld.
Sadly, I had to leave and train it over to Halifax, which was a thankfully much less eventful journey than the nightmare of Saturday's St Pancras St Panic. I got to the Grayston Unity a little early, which Thomas was delighted by, because the sound check time was a bit short. I had time for a wander after that before going back, and there was my friend Alison who loves music with a passion and goes to loads and loads of gigs. Phil Fowler was also there, and they had already met before in Todmorden market. I don't think Alison knew that Phil could saw people in half as part of his magic act- or at least he could long ago, when Lester Square and I organised rambling variety shows that we took to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Musically, this was an utterly different gig. Matthew (The Silver Reserve) plays quiet, intense songs that he mediates through a series of vocal mics, loop pedals and so on. He's been on tour with Gordon MacKinney, who hails form Oklahoma and who had a pic-up band of keyboards, cahon, fiddle and guitar alongside him. Both artists sang reflective, quite blue songs. I was sandwiched between and felt rather brash in comparison (but maybe I'd carried a bit of punk from the day before in my guitar case), but actually there was a very, very rousing rendition of... The Bathing Pond at the end of my set. I had to slip out before the end of Gordon's set which was a shame, but getting home on a Sunday on the train could have been a nightmare. Again though, I was struck by how people want to be a community. The Grayston Unity is a lovely venue, such a welcoming place to play, and the people who go to gigs there really treasure it.
Home not too late, and glad of it. The following day Clémentine March came to record guitar on one of my new songs. It didn't take her long to settle in to the track and play some really fabulous stuff. I was so delighted that she agreed to do this: I've got great limitations as a guitarist, and listening back to what she did later on, I could see how much difference it makes to include guest musicians on songs. And she has another song from the album which she will add something to and send over later today.
Just as Clémentine was leaving, Ruth was arriving. Yes, we were rehearsing for Sunday's festival gig! Karina couldn't come because her van played up on the way back from Hereford, but Lester Square could, and we had a concentrated rehearsal of the three songs he's going to play on. Boy, has he done his homework! He's made a very Cramps-ish riff to wriggle through Three Cheers for Toytown, and again I was blown away by what can be done by a complete craftsperson on a guitar. He upped the game for all three of us, because Ruth's bass playing took on a slinky feel. Home rehearsals have that same relaxed vibe as home recording sessions- there is time for chatting and eating and getting to know things about each other that you just wouldn't be able to do in a rehearsal studio. I am convinced that my kitchen has some sort of magic 'trust' bubble that makes people able to speak honestly and safely when they are together. Ruth had to tolerate Lester and me talking about our past exploits, unfortunately! I hope we aren't to boring and old-daysish. Sometimes you forget just how much creative time you spend with people, and in the case of Lester Square, we have done a lot- TV sound tracks, musicals, you name it.
Tuesday, yes Tuesday was zombie day. I actually did the ironing and even that felt exhausting. But I listened at last to the Radical Friendship Theory album that Robert Rotifer has created. It showcases Kenji's vocal contributions beautifully. There are not enough recordings of his gentle, silky voice and I deeply regret that the project I asked him to sing on was let down by literally everyone else (apart from Michel) being totally flaky. Everyone. Scroll up again, and you'll see how much energy Elodie put into her party: it was a fantastic thing to be part of. But all these things are balancing acts of goodwill ad faith in people's contributions. This is what Robert is celebrating with his album: he asks his friends, and we say 'yes'. Hats off to Robert for having the idea and bringing it to fruition! Gideon Coe has already played a track on his show, one with Kenji's singing. I hope he plays more.
I also listened to the latest album by Pete Bentham and the Dinner Ladies, Art, Religion and Chocolate Biscuits. I'll be interviewing Pete on the Literary Stage at the Rebellion punk festival, and he kindly sent me the album to listen to. They are from Liverpool, and their sound varies from complete punkiness to much more reflective tracks. So far, my favourite is the song about not jamming. This strikes a deep chord within me because I can't do it at all. I am going to play that track to death.
A million years in a few days! Real people, playing real music, talking, having ideas: making life and making culture despite the seemingly determined efforts of spoilsports and miserygutses to ruin everything. Thank you to Elodie for inviting me to play at her party and to all of the people who played so fabulously well on Saturday, to the people at the Graytson Unity, to people who go to gigs, to Clémentine, Ruth, Lester and Karina. This is the way we create hope. Toot toot!
