Post by DAVE HURRY on May 26, 2008 14:11:45 GMT
HI-ON MANSFIELD & NARBERTH
I set off from sunny Dartford at around half past twelve, headed for Mansfield. The first gigs in a month had me a little concerned, not because of the time since the last gig but rather because of what happened the last time we tried to play in Narberth. Essentially, Mother Nature intervened and decided that such a thing should never happen. I wouldn't need to worry about that until tomorrow, so I didn't let it play on my mind too much.
I arrived safely at The Diamond to find that the rest of the band hadn't quite made it yet. Speed “spooge duster” Harris was stuck in a little traffic just outside Mansfield, while the rest of the chaps were stuck in Doncaster. This was particularly frustrating as I've recently acquired an entirely new amplification setup, and was looking forward to a little tinkering time with it. Sadly, it resided in the van with the rest of the band. Bugger. Still, check out the gear page of the website (when I get round to updating it) – one part of my new gear came from rather interesting source!
Nicko “not there” McBrain Jnr couldn't make the gigs this weekend due to girlfriend's family commitments (hen-pecked!), and as such we were treated to a stand-in in the form of Jonno “I wondered what that taste was” Lodge from Biomechanical (www.biomechanical.co.uk/). Honorarily dubbed Clive Blurr for the weekend, he joined the madness that is Hi-On Maiden.
Speed arrived first, and we sat around musing future gigs and having a laugh at the local fish-rag (which has a fine line in non-linear news articles!). Adrian “it's a lot bigger than I imagined” Swift soon pulled up in the Van Of Terror and presented me with my new toys. Superb! Bruce “it's like an acorn” Dugginson would have to disband the idea of two outfits at this venue as the route to our dressing room was through the crowd. After set-up and sound-check we moped around the venue until show-time. Speed, by quite staggering coincidence, found some psychedelic artwork on the walls of the diner area which was painted by none other than his sister! We were all suitably gob-smacked, not only by the coincidence but by the quality of the work – top stuff!
The gig was pretty good – for some reason the crowd seemed to be a bit tougher than most, tending to stick around the walls until any particular song is played at which point they come down the front only to disappear off again afterwards! Such is life – the performance went over very well and my new gear was a great success. A couple of dropped bollocks occurred, most notably during the intro to Moonchild (where one of us made the mistake of Counting rather than Feeling – instant musical death!) and 22 Acacia Avenue, where I had the opportunity to extend the solo a bit! Some excellent photos were taken by a local, and hopefully those will wing their way into my email box and be posted in the gallery A.S.A.P.
We packed down and drove off to our digs. Bruce heroically inflated my inflatable (ooh err) and we kipped down. A long drive to South Wales awaited, and given last year's failure to attend by 3/5ths of the band we were taking no chances.
We set off around 11am for the long jaunt. The roads were actually pretty clear, the M4 proving particularly unjammed (a rarity on a bank holiday weekend, according to Mr Harris who has been driving up and down that road for years). We arrived into Narberth early, and sat about listening to Hull City cling onto a 1-0 lead at Wembley, much to the delight of Swifty. We loaded in and got sound check underway, which was a bit lengthy due to some unexpected interference on stage left. Speed naffed off home and the rest of us pottered about watching the other bands, one of which fronted by Speed's mate Ally The Hat (my own internal name for him in the absence of knowing a surname!). Ally kept us entertained with Welsh humour, including some classic Taff Wars stuff which I will be investigating as soon as I get back home!
We had to be offstage by about 11:15pm due to security staff needing double-pay after 11:30.We were aiming for a 9:15 / 9:30 start, but the late start and over-running of the first band, coupled with a watery crisis at the Harris household pushed this back to 10pm. We would all like to apologise for the truncated set – sorry Narberth! It seems we are cursed when it comes to this venue! Rest assured, we'll try again!
The gig was FECKING STORMING, and the crowd put most of our recent audiences to shame. We love you Narberth! Speed was legging it around like a man possessed onstage, and the rest of us were energised by the crowd reaction. It really raises your game when you're getting something back from the audience – it is a two way process, no doubt about it. It was a shame we had to cut it short, but we still managed to stuff Mariner in there (after all, someone did yell for it after the first number!).
After greeting some lingering admirers, we packed down (with a few beers) and headed off to a slightly moist basement dungeon at Castle Speed. Over a sausage sarnie we reviewed the weekend and were all pretty pleased with it. Two well-played gigs, an awesome crowd, luckily clear roads and no appalling accidents to speak of.
Ipswich next week, where Mr McBrain Jnr returns to the fold and my new rig should be replete with flight cases and a specialised midi footswich (as opposed to my GT-8 which does lots of other things but can just about manage midi switching as well!).
Until then, I remain your faithful servant;
Dave “got a bit of Welsh in me” Hurry
I set off from sunny Dartford at around half past twelve, headed for Mansfield. The first gigs in a month had me a little concerned, not because of the time since the last gig but rather because of what happened the last time we tried to play in Narberth. Essentially, Mother Nature intervened and decided that such a thing should never happen. I wouldn't need to worry about that until tomorrow, so I didn't let it play on my mind too much.
I arrived safely at The Diamond to find that the rest of the band hadn't quite made it yet. Speed “spooge duster” Harris was stuck in a little traffic just outside Mansfield, while the rest of the chaps were stuck in Doncaster. This was particularly frustrating as I've recently acquired an entirely new amplification setup, and was looking forward to a little tinkering time with it. Sadly, it resided in the van with the rest of the band. Bugger. Still, check out the gear page of the website (when I get round to updating it) – one part of my new gear came from rather interesting source!
Nicko “not there” McBrain Jnr couldn't make the gigs this weekend due to girlfriend's family commitments (hen-pecked!), and as such we were treated to a stand-in in the form of Jonno “I wondered what that taste was” Lodge from Biomechanical (www.biomechanical.co.uk/). Honorarily dubbed Clive Blurr for the weekend, he joined the madness that is Hi-On Maiden.
Speed arrived first, and we sat around musing future gigs and having a laugh at the local fish-rag (which has a fine line in non-linear news articles!). Adrian “it's a lot bigger than I imagined” Swift soon pulled up in the Van Of Terror and presented me with my new toys. Superb! Bruce “it's like an acorn” Dugginson would have to disband the idea of two outfits at this venue as the route to our dressing room was through the crowd. After set-up and sound-check we moped around the venue until show-time. Speed, by quite staggering coincidence, found some psychedelic artwork on the walls of the diner area which was painted by none other than his sister! We were all suitably gob-smacked, not only by the coincidence but by the quality of the work – top stuff!
The gig was pretty good – for some reason the crowd seemed to be a bit tougher than most, tending to stick around the walls until any particular song is played at which point they come down the front only to disappear off again afterwards! Such is life – the performance went over very well and my new gear was a great success. A couple of dropped bollocks occurred, most notably during the intro to Moonchild (where one of us made the mistake of Counting rather than Feeling – instant musical death!) and 22 Acacia Avenue, where I had the opportunity to extend the solo a bit! Some excellent photos were taken by a local, and hopefully those will wing their way into my email box and be posted in the gallery A.S.A.P.
We packed down and drove off to our digs. Bruce heroically inflated my inflatable (ooh err) and we kipped down. A long drive to South Wales awaited, and given last year's failure to attend by 3/5ths of the band we were taking no chances.
We set off around 11am for the long jaunt. The roads were actually pretty clear, the M4 proving particularly unjammed (a rarity on a bank holiday weekend, according to Mr Harris who has been driving up and down that road for years). We arrived into Narberth early, and sat about listening to Hull City cling onto a 1-0 lead at Wembley, much to the delight of Swifty. We loaded in and got sound check underway, which was a bit lengthy due to some unexpected interference on stage left. Speed naffed off home and the rest of us pottered about watching the other bands, one of which fronted by Speed's mate Ally The Hat (my own internal name for him in the absence of knowing a surname!). Ally kept us entertained with Welsh humour, including some classic Taff Wars stuff which I will be investigating as soon as I get back home!
We had to be offstage by about 11:15pm due to security staff needing double-pay after 11:30.We were aiming for a 9:15 / 9:30 start, but the late start and over-running of the first band, coupled with a watery crisis at the Harris household pushed this back to 10pm. We would all like to apologise for the truncated set – sorry Narberth! It seems we are cursed when it comes to this venue! Rest assured, we'll try again!
The gig was FECKING STORMING, and the crowd put most of our recent audiences to shame. We love you Narberth! Speed was legging it around like a man possessed onstage, and the rest of us were energised by the crowd reaction. It really raises your game when you're getting something back from the audience – it is a two way process, no doubt about it. It was a shame we had to cut it short, but we still managed to stuff Mariner in there (after all, someone did yell for it after the first number!).
After greeting some lingering admirers, we packed down (with a few beers) and headed off to a slightly moist basement dungeon at Castle Speed. Over a sausage sarnie we reviewed the weekend and were all pretty pleased with it. Two well-played gigs, an awesome crowd, luckily clear roads and no appalling accidents to speak of.
Ipswich next week, where Mr McBrain Jnr returns to the fold and my new rig should be replete with flight cases and a specialised midi footswich (as opposed to my GT-8 which does lots of other things but can just about manage midi switching as well!).
Until then, I remain your faithful servant;
Dave “got a bit of Welsh in me” Hurry