Saturday 14th saw the debut live show of My Attorney at Retreat @ St. Dominic’s (the venue used by Pop Klubb), where we supported No Fit State and British Lichen Society in a triumphant show that finally got one of the projects closest to my heart off the mark. We played as well as could be expected for a first gig: plenty of mistakes but also lots of passion and grit, and I’m proud to say that I don’t think there’s anything else in the region that does weird pop music quite the way we do. The next step is to hunt for that elusive fifth member that can add the depth we so desperately need to our arrangements… The night as whole was successful; I covered my costs and was able to pay the other two bands enough to cover their fuel, not to mention the fact that we had over forty people in to see the show which was startling when one considered the other events we were up against that evening. I would say this however: running a gig, doing the sound and performing a set all at the same time is quite a challenge. Luke did a sterling job on the door and stepped in on the desk while Attorney were attempting their four part harmonies on Moon & The Sea, without which the whole trifle would have fallen off the table. Photo below is of No Fit State with their Desperate Housewives-inspired washing line and domestic garb.
Luke had his own promotional duties around this time: The Wave Pictures visited the Star & Shadow Cinema in October, to a great reception. Very pop, very indie, very sweet - but with the songs to carry it off.
The week beginning Monday 16th November was spent working on Gx3, trying to rescue the difficult guitar tones out of the gutter. I’ve resolved to minimise the compression around the kit so that less ambient white noise from the guitars feeds into the drum track; hopefully clarity will improve as a result of this method. No doubt I’ll post more on this in the future.
Week beginning the 23rd saw the first concerted effort begin on mixing the Shin Jin Rui stuff. Giddy with elation after seeing them perform at the Head of Steam that evening, I was all over their stuff now that I have the hard disk space to store it on the Mac. They more than upstaged Wavves; they played 12 hits in less than twenty five minutes, which left the audience reeling. It feels as though a new band has suddenly emerged, fully formed and completely in control of their faculties. Brilliant to see them tread the boards once more. Have been tinkering with the space ship guitar sounds and thunderous drum takes on their recordings ever since.
Saturday 28th saw the live debut of Blue Screem of Death, in the safe environment of the rehearsal rooms. Despite the load-in taking almost two hours, we managed to play our seven songs without any obvious disasters or howling errors (with the possible exception of our Shellac cover Prayer To God). Our audience of eight people was actually quite appreciative, though it was such an intimate environment that I found myself feeling quite self conscious. The biggest challenge was getting all the changes in settings between songs right. I play eight different devices during the set, with Luke mastering four; requiring a lot of fiddling around between tracks. We managed this ok though, which was encouraging... leaving only the musical proficiency of the three band members to cause us any difficulties. For example: I appear to be playing bass on four songs. This troubles me. Thanks to Attorney bassist Ian Leaf for the photos and film.
Luke and I finished the show itching to play a “proper” gig at a show where unsuspecting punters can be exposed to our mad ramble.