12 Bars Then Home
- A Skegness Blues Festival Diary
London
9am: “I woke up this morning, had a real bad cold:…..it’s
Skegness tonight at the Blues Festival. Our 5th time there on Jak’s
stage, and yes, I have a stinking cold. Worst luck.
Each year the festival has got better and better for my band, The
Mustangs, and word seems to be spreading that Jak’s stage
– the smallest of the three venues there – is the place
to be when we are on. Tonight is extra special as we are launching
our new album, Cut Loose, and will be playing a set made up entirely
of our own songs.
10.30am: I’ve barely had time to scoff some toast when Derek
and Ben roll up outside my place. I grab my guitars, my stage clothes
(unveiling a new look tonight!) and load up and on we go.
10.45am: Gridlocked in London traffic. Grrrr! London is FULL of
roadworks, and the route that we planned to get out via is chocca.
My tummy is rumbling.
11.45am: Still gridlocked in London traffic. Losing the will to
live. Try to keep sprits up by asking Ben and Derek stupid questions.
“Would you rather have a vegetable for an arm, or a road sign
for a leg?”
12.30pm: Finally on the A1 and with clear air around us and Nick
Drake on the stereo, we can start to relax and plot the day out.
Drummer Jon is making his own way there with his family so we text
and make plans to meet on arrival. Ben sits in the back practising
backing vocals. Derek keeps asking me the keys of all the new songs…he
rarely picks up the right harp anyway, so I lie to him just to amuse
myself.
1.30pm: Lunch! All bands love routine and establishing traditions
when they are on the road, and one of ours is to always stop at
The George, in Stamford, for lunch en route to Skeggy. This year
we are not disappointed with our Olympic sized Club sandwiches and
fine guest ales.
Over lunch we argue about who is the grumpiest member of the band
(Ben) and the most reasonable (Jon). For some reason I am voted
the most mercurial. I pretend to know what that means and just nod
in a quiet way.. which seems to only prove their point.
3pm: Time for something a little louder on the stereo. My AC/DC
gets vetoed by Derek for the football, which is a cue for Ben to
catch some Zzzzs. When I realise it’s my team playing I spend
the rest of the journey shouting excitedly at the radio, putting
the kybosh on Ben’s attempts to sleep. As we approach Skeg
he is even grumpier than usual.
4pm: Arrive at Skeg. I pop straight into Jak’s to speak to
Bruce the sound man and bump immediately into Suz, from Roadhouse.
Jason from The Brew is on stage doing the jam. The place is packed,
the sound is good, and already I have seen two old friends…the
vibes feel really good. Then I bump into Alan Pearce, our label
head. It’s astonishing that Alan, who has been seriously ill
for years, has even managed to make it up this year. Though he won’t
be well enough to watch the show, it’s a pleasure to see him
after some time... and on the road to recovery.
4.30pm: Ben, Derek and I check into our chalet. This always feels
like luxury to me as they are bigger than my flat and always warm
(unlike my flat) . Ben puts the tea on, Derek gets out some of the
new copies of our new album, Cut Loose, for us to have a look at
and we chill for an hour or two. There’s a pic of me from
years ago on the festival TV adverts and the lads tease me how much
I’ve aged. With my cold, I feel it!
6.30pm: We head out to make contact with Chris and Debbie, from
the Musician in Leicester; two friends who always help us with a
bit of Skeg promo by putting up posters and handing flyers around
the place. We help by handing out flyers personally and inviting
people to the show. Loads of people say they are already intending
to come and it starts to feel like it could be a packed night. We
all grab a drink. Guinness.
7.30pm: I make contact with Christine at the Blues Matters stall.
Hand over a load of new albums and run into the festival DJs, all
of whom say they will play a track or two over the weekend. Nice.
8pm: I had arranged to meet up with Tony and Barry from the Nottingham
Blues Society but on checking my amp I notice some valve issues,
so I text to say I won’t be free until after the show. Tony
& Barry, if you don’t know, are two guys who love the
blues passionately and have done fantastic things to help promote
the blues, and blues bands in the UK. Tony is, of course also a
wonderful photographer and his pix grace the booklet of our new
CD. I also wanted to catch some of Chantel’s set in Reds,
but my dodgy gear has put paid to that too. D’oh!
9.30pm: Showtime looms in an hour. Jon joins us backstage at Jak’s
as the place fills up. Elephant Shelf are on stage and well into
their stride. We flit about in the dressing room talking about song
links, intros, endings and practising solos. I confess the correct
song keys to Derek. “I knew it”, he sighs, and then
deliberately, I think, knocks my pint on the floor. He may look
a bit older than us, but he’s a child at heart.
10.30pm Line check – this is where bands get their instruments
plugged in and levelled by the sound man. Unless you have roadies,
you have to do this yourself, so there is always an awkward 20 minutes
or so where you are ambling on stage together in front of a growing
crowd, testing your gear. It’s not quite the entrance you
hope for but needs must. It seems to go well and quite a few familiar
faces come to the front of the stage and wish us luck. Roadhouse
have turned up, and the girls make camp at the front of the stage,
which none of us complains about! We finish, go backstage and get
the ‘band uniforrms’ on. My new look seems to meet with
approval and I even get a few wolf whistles as we head out. Maybe
I haven’t aged that badly after all.
10.45pm: SHOWTIME. We launch into Put Your Money On Me –
a brash, swaggering rock song that sets our stall out from the off.
The sound is crisp and tight and the place is standing room only.
It feels fantastic. I have a couple of guitar strap/lead issues
that prove only minor glitches through the first few songs, but
everything seems to be going well until….
Five songs in and I decide to do one of my leaps in the air to
end the song. I want it to be a biggie so I make sure I come down
with an almighty thud. My feet hit the stage, the place goes wild
and something in my left heel gives way….agony! I don’t
know what’s happened but I spend the rest of the show trying
to hide a serious limp. The adrenalin carries me through, but as
we come off stage 90 minutes later to huge cheers, I know I’m
going to be feeling the pain for a few days to come.
12.30pm: Backstage everyone is really pleased with the show. Not
our tightest but the energy and dynamic of what we are all about
was there in spades. It was great to hear the packed crowd singing
along to our tunes and there was a palpable excitement in the air
at the end. Debbie pokes her head round the door with CDs for us
to sign and says she has been doing great business on the merch.
I decide to dull my foot pain with alcohol. I get changed and head
into the crowd.
1am: Lots of congratulatory handshakes as I head towards the bar,
and it feels like we did a good job. I hope so, we love playing
Jak’s and really feel like we have made a lot of friends in
there over the years. I see Suz and Jason and we spend some time
catching up. Jason’s is a rare talent; his explosive guitar
playing now propelling the Brew to great success in Europe. He is
also a lovely, humble guy and it is great to see him. I’m
happy to hear he is now also lead singer in the Brew. I feel like
advising him to never do huge stage leaps at the end of songs.
2am: Tired and in no small pain I finally head back to the chalet.
It’s warm and cosy and after a cup of tea and a few jaffa
cakes (who says the rock’n’roll lifestyle is dead?!!)
we all get our heads down. It’s been a great day.
Next Morning: We head for home, with a stream of texts from Christine
telling me the CDs are flying out. It’s the icing on the cake.
With luck we will be asked back again to play Skegness next year.
I hope so, it has become a fixture in our gig guide and one we always
look forward to and enjoy. If we make it, I hope even more of you
come and enjoy the show with us next year.
Thanks for reading
Adam,
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