Monday, November 23, 2009

It's Still Rock 'n' Roll To Me

Well, we did it!

From our humble, uncertain beginnings in late July, the nine-piece TMC (Teligent Music Club) played our first gig on Friday - a benefit concert for Children in Need, that raised in excess of £200.

We settled on five songs that we've just about mastered; Make Me Smile, Wonderful Tonight, New Shoes (Paolo Nutini), Baker Street and Santa Clause is Coming to Town - all of which went down very well. In fact watching the DVD over the weekend, the musical performance was really good - although what we lack is a PA system, so trying to get nine instruments plus vocals mixed using a bundle of practice amps was a bit of a challenge.

So that's the first hurdle out of the way. We play another low-key private show for the WaGs in three weeks time, then we'll reconvene in the new year to start working on a whole load of new songs. Now that we have confidence in our musicianship I think we'll be getting a little more ambitious and even diverse - I'm floating the idea of trying Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle (wonderful synth solo for me to get my teeth into), and given the common musical taste I share with the vocalist (and first rhythm guitarist) I think some 70s Genesis or Floyd will get an airing.

4 comments:

petercmoore said...

Ah - sounds good! Not that I can hear it...
I'm jealous!

Jon Sandys said...

You'll have to ask Chudz - he's seen some of the DVD, although I didn't get as far as showing him "Baker Street", which as a showcase of the band's talent is definitely the most impressive thing we do.

It's hugely satisfying to be out there performing again after such a long time - it really brings out the best in me musically.

Cyberkim said...

Bravo!

I'm delighted to read that you managed to get up and running.

Getting any band to gig-fitness is an achievement, but to put together a nine-piece band must have been damn nearly impossible; working out availabilities for rehearsals must be a total nightmare.

Good luck with the new material. If you're considering Genesis, I'd suggest that you don't attempt "The lamb lies down on Broadway" in its entirety. ;)

Jon Sandys said...

Thanks for the encouragement, Cyber Kim. It's nice to know you've been keeping an eye out for our progress.

It's funny, but a week on and I'm still thrilled at what we achieved as a band in such a short space of time, and perhaps more significantly, for myself the sheer joy of reliving an era of my life that I thought was well in the past. I think it's much better when you aren't distracted by the delusions that one day you'll be rock stars.

We have a practice on Wednesday night, so hopefully we'll start work on some new material then. I do have the complete score to The Lamb, but I think you're offering good advice there. Perhaps we'll just try Carpet Crawlers for now.