Venue: The Blackfriar - Newcastle under Lyme
Other acts: Tez and friend, Rain.
The plan was to go to The Unicorn Open Mic night, via the Blackfriar in order to watch Tez (formerly of Discharge) doing his acoustic set. As things rarely go to plan, we watched Tez and friend doing various covers until they decided after about 8 songs that it was time for a break. Tez had motioned to Graeme earlier in the evening to "come up and have a go". So Graeme asked the bar staff if we could get up a "do" a set during the break. The staff were tremendously supportive and allowed us to get up and play. We played/sang all the songs in our current repertoire, to a rather surprised crowd. Not sure what they were expecting but it was encouraging again to receive warm applause and kind comments. The bar staff were enthusiastic with their praise and have encouraged us to try their open mic night, which is on a Tuesday, which we have agreed to do, once the other songs are finished.
Currently working on some original material and some other covers. Time to expand the repertoire and take over the world!! (I'm joking, of course!)...
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Thursday, 25 August 2011
The Rigger: Bearfoot Live! Open Mic night 24/08/2011
Venue: The Rigger, Newcastle under Lyme
Other acts included: Bearfoot (our hosts), Someone who was new.. can't remember their name, Kayleigh, Slug, Gaz Bennett, Martin (from Dead Radio Society), John Mcleod, Rain, Sarah Hood and John, Paul. (May have been others, but I, Sheena, can't remember)
Arrived a tad late to this night, due to mix up over babysitters, and general lack of communication between Graeme and I. Still was able to see Bearfoot mid flow, doing their usual brand of Country/Rock a couple of members down, they still held the stage and proved how professional they really are.
Managed to catch up with a few folk and Graeme approached Joe, with a view to try and get us on earlyish... Obviously arriving after everyone else meant that we had to wait a while, we couldn't just expect to walk in and go straight on, plus a couple of the others who had turned up early were needing to get off early too.
Kayleigh was on form, can't wait to see what she's like in a few years, she has the chance to do really well, if she keeps working hard.. suppose its easier when your dad is in Bearfoot!! lol
Then a guy, who's name I can't remember stepped up, apparently he's only been playing the guitar 8 months, but he did really well.
Slug performed a rather unusual version of"Take on Me" with a kazoo solo.. definately had to be seen to be believed!!
Gaz, laid everyon'e bladder to waste with his didge... though one can't help wondering if open mic nights are really the best place for didge's... and they are pretty much a one trick pony.. Shall encourage Gaz to get his flute out!
After a short spell from Bearfoot, it was our turn. In no particular order we performed "Another Suitcase", "Rosemary Lane", "Fever" and "At Seventeen". Graeme having taken his Fender Jazz down to show Matt the Sound engineer, meant that the dynamic to fever was enhanced. After coming off a chap by the name of Kieran approached and said "you did that song from Evita really well, you've got a great voice"... which was lovely. Our performance was videoed by Glenn Amos, so hopefully the footage will be up on YouTube before too much longer.
The night continued with Martin from Dead Radio Society... I could hear harmonies in the songs he performed and wondered if they were band songs that were converted to solo use...
John McCleod did his "new songs" very well... it would appear that he has new songs every week, which shows how prolific he must be!
Sarah Hood stepped up with her guitarist John and did a couple as did Paul to finish the night..
Overall the usual high calibre of performances that showcase at The Rigger really raise the bar, there are some fabulously talented people out there and I'm glad that Rain are a part of it!
Though Graeme and I have agreed, while we love doing the cover versions, there is a number of original songs we'd like to do.
Other acts included: Bearfoot (our hosts), Someone who was new.. can't remember their name, Kayleigh, Slug, Gaz Bennett, Martin (from Dead Radio Society), John Mcleod, Rain, Sarah Hood and John, Paul. (May have been others, but I, Sheena, can't remember)
Arrived a tad late to this night, due to mix up over babysitters, and general lack of communication between Graeme and I. Still was able to see Bearfoot mid flow, doing their usual brand of Country/Rock a couple of members down, they still held the stage and proved how professional they really are.
Managed to catch up with a few folk and Graeme approached Joe, with a view to try and get us on earlyish... Obviously arriving after everyone else meant that we had to wait a while, we couldn't just expect to walk in and go straight on, plus a couple of the others who had turned up early were needing to get off early too.
Kayleigh was on form, can't wait to see what she's like in a few years, she has the chance to do really well, if she keeps working hard.. suppose its easier when your dad is in Bearfoot!! lol
Then a guy, who's name I can't remember stepped up, apparently he's only been playing the guitar 8 months, but he did really well.
Slug performed a rather unusual version of"Take on Me" with a kazoo solo.. definately had to be seen to be believed!!
Gaz, laid everyon'e bladder to waste with his didge... though one can't help wondering if open mic nights are really the best place for didge's... and they are pretty much a one trick pony.. Shall encourage Gaz to get his flute out!
After a short spell from Bearfoot, it was our turn. In no particular order we performed "Another Suitcase", "Rosemary Lane", "Fever" and "At Seventeen". Graeme having taken his Fender Jazz down to show Matt the Sound engineer, meant that the dynamic to fever was enhanced. After coming off a chap by the name of Kieran approached and said "you did that song from Evita really well, you've got a great voice"... which was lovely. Our performance was videoed by Glenn Amos, so hopefully the footage will be up on YouTube before too much longer.
The night continued with Martin from Dead Radio Society... I could hear harmonies in the songs he performed and wondered if they were band songs that were converted to solo use...
John McCleod did his "new songs" very well... it would appear that he has new songs every week, which shows how prolific he must be!
Sarah Hood stepped up with her guitarist John and did a couple as did Paul to finish the night..
Overall the usual high calibre of performances that showcase at The Rigger really raise the bar, there are some fabulously talented people out there and I'm glad that Rain are a part of it!
Though Graeme and I have agreed, while we love doing the cover versions, there is a number of original songs we'd like to do.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Denry's Bar - 21st August 2011
Venue: Denry's Bar, St John's Square, Burslem
Found out that this "Acoustic Night" was on from 3pm on Facebook, so we decided to pop along.. knowing that The Nanateras had played the night before, and Nemo had played on Friday night, we figured it worth checking out. Denry's has been set up as a purposeful music venue for Burslem, by Pete Carney, who felt there was a need for a venue in Burslem.
Pete did say that the Acoustic night wasn't due until around 7pm, but seeing as we'd turned up, then we could play.
We decided to do all the songs as a demo of what we're capable of to a very receptive audience.
Started with "Know", just to let Pete balance the sound, the continued onto "Fever", to which Pete joined us on Guitar, which added an extra dimension to the song.
Switching to Guitar, "At Seventeen", followed by "The Poacher", "Sunrise", "Another Suitcase",
"Rosemary Lane" and ended the set with "Je ne Regtrette Rien".
Flawless set! And plenty of encouragement from Pete!
Now to learn some more songs!
Found out that this "Acoustic Night" was on from 3pm on Facebook, so we decided to pop along.. knowing that The Nanateras had played the night before, and Nemo had played on Friday night, we figured it worth checking out. Denry's has been set up as a purposeful music venue for Burslem, by Pete Carney, who felt there was a need for a venue in Burslem.
Pete did say that the Acoustic night wasn't due until around 7pm, but seeing as we'd turned up, then we could play.
We decided to do all the songs as a demo of what we're capable of to a very receptive audience.
Started with "Know", just to let Pete balance the sound, the continued onto "Fever", to which Pete joined us on Guitar, which added an extra dimension to the song.
Switching to Guitar, "At Seventeen", followed by "The Poacher", "Sunrise", "Another Suitcase",
"Rosemary Lane" and ended the set with "Je ne Regtrette Rien".
Flawless set! And plenty of encouragement from Pete!
Now to learn some more songs!
Friday, 19 August 2011
The Victoria - 18th August 2011
Hosted by: The Acoustimass Project.
In attendance: No Redemption, Paul Heeley, Rain, Thornleaf and Stokey Mark
"We're videoing this tonight".... crikey.. the unflappable Mr James Earnshaw had set up a camera in order to video some "timelapse" of the bands, and another camera to film the audience, in order to do a timelapse montage for everyone's perusal on You Tube! (Good job we were dressed up then!!)
Started the set with "Know" - seemed to be well received by the majority, follwed swiftly by "Fever".. Graeme playing on his 20 something year old bass... sounded good.. For a cheap bass (once upon a time).. it sounds better than some new instruments and lended a nice intonation to the songs.. I like the set up of bass and vocals, its interesting and think it should be an avenue other artists should consider.
Next, after swapping to the holey Takamine six string acoustic, we gave the audience "At Seventeen".. one of the best that we do, imho. Its a song I'm very comfortable in singing.
For the last song in the section we chose to do "Je ne Regrette Rien".. which we right royally messed up... so we went for a second go and managed to squeeze it out, despite some odd moments. Phoenetically learning French songs is all well and good, as is learning classic songs.. but mistakes tend to show like the open wounds on a rubgy players face when they've had a bad tackle.
We put it down to tiredness. This was the third Open Mic we'd done this week and we were fit for nothing really. It showed up our need to practice almost continually and rest adequately too.
It also highlighted our need to get to grips with the other songs we've got on the back burner and our desire to move forward with things too.
In order to be remembered we have to get out there and "do" as equally as spending time rehearsing, writing and the like. If this is to be a success, then we have to make it so!
In attendance: No Redemption, Paul Heeley, Rain, Thornleaf and Stokey Mark
"We're videoing this tonight".... crikey.. the unflappable Mr James Earnshaw had set up a camera in order to video some "timelapse" of the bands, and another camera to film the audience, in order to do a timelapse montage for everyone's perusal on You Tube! (Good job we were dressed up then!!)
Started the set with "Know" - seemed to be well received by the majority, follwed swiftly by "Fever".. Graeme playing on his 20 something year old bass... sounded good.. For a cheap bass (once upon a time).. it sounds better than some new instruments and lended a nice intonation to the songs.. I like the set up of bass and vocals, its interesting and think it should be an avenue other artists should consider.
Next, after swapping to the holey Takamine six string acoustic, we gave the audience "At Seventeen".. one of the best that we do, imho. Its a song I'm very comfortable in singing.
For the last song in the section we chose to do "Je ne Regrette Rien".. which we right royally messed up... so we went for a second go and managed to squeeze it out, despite some odd moments. Phoenetically learning French songs is all well and good, as is learning classic songs.. but mistakes tend to show like the open wounds on a rubgy players face when they've had a bad tackle.
We put it down to tiredness. This was the third Open Mic we'd done this week and we were fit for nothing really. It showed up our need to practice almost continually and rest adequately too.
It also highlighted our need to get to grips with the other songs we've got on the back burner and our desire to move forward with things too.
In order to be remembered we have to get out there and "do" as equally as spending time rehearsing, writing and the like. If this is to be a success, then we have to make it so!
Monday, 15 August 2011
Rain the blog goes live
Here it is.. the real time, live blog for Rain.
So, why a blog.. why not?
So, we are getting ready to level the world with interesting sounds and unusual songs to touch, delight, and simply generate something tricky in the landscape of acoustic music.
Genres do not define us.
Rain simply levels the playing field for everyone
When it rains everyone gets wet!
:-)
Next gig: The Rigger Open Mic Night on Wednesday 17th August.
So, why a blog.. why not?
So, we are getting ready to level the world with interesting sounds and unusual songs to touch, delight, and simply generate something tricky in the landscape of acoustic music.
Genres do not define us.
Rain simply levels the playing field for everyone
When it rains everyone gets wet!
:-)
Next gig: The Rigger Open Mic Night on Wednesday 17th August.
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