Special Bonus Blog - Review of 2008

I know I said it was the last blog of 08 last week, but I thought it would be nice to review the year a little bit, and wrap up the rear end of the year as well.

Firstly, a quick word about last week. The PJ Band did it's last gig of 08 at The Owl, Rodley on Saturday night. Well, after some problems with the diaries there during the summer, I'm pleased to say the night went very well!

It's always good to see a pub where people actually go to watch a band, and this is one of the few where this is still the case. It makes for a better night all round. We also get to play more original material to a more discerning audience. Gone are the ignorant bastards that don't want to know. As a result we played well, enjoyed ourselves, and although it was quite tiring at the time I'm very happy looking back on the gig now. I hope we'll be back there before too long. Scores 7.

Thus the year's gigs are over. I've purposely avoided New Years Eve for the band, we're not really a party band and it's a night that can go horribly wrong-it has in the past. I'll be glad to be on the 'right side of the bar' that night I can tell you. It's the first time since the Millenium I've not worked december 31st.


THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS

Looking back it's been another busy year. There's always times when I think I should be working harder but looking back it's been a very full year and it's only on reflection that I realise quite what I take on at times.

I've categorised a few elements in no particular order:

GIG SCENE/PUBS/THE BAND: Our first full year of gigging regularly with the band was certainly eventful. I knew I was taking on a daunting task to begin with and am glad to say it just about came off although at times my nerves were frayed.

The target was one show a week and we hit this in a roundabout way. The target goes up to 6 a month next year (for the first part) and we're already on 8 bookings for January. So far it seems despite the 'credit crunch', smoking ban and all the other miriad of excuses there is still enough work available for us.

Speaking of the crunch, I'm not oblivious to it's effects of course. A lot of our gigs have been very quiet, poorly supported affairs. In some instances it's a case of 'why bother?' and I wonder how much longer some places will stick at it. Some are still very busy though and people were certainly spending money.

As far as the audience reception is concerned, there's usually a few who are interested, the orignial songs haven't really held us back and we've had some good comments. Of course, there's been a few numpties on both sides of the bar-but that's not going to change whilst we're still playing pubs.

The main thing I'll remember is the chaotic way in which the line-up changed, sometimes it was predicatable, sometimes it certainly wasn't!! It was a close-run thing at times but overall I'm looking forward to next year when we'll attempt to do even more shows, no doubt with even more musicians bailing out at any given in-opportune moment!!


SOLO GIGS: With the band taking more of a priority solo gigs were less frequent compared to 07 when I was dashing here there and everywhere playing open mics and showcases. I still did quite a lot and as usual some were better than others. The back end of the year was particularly slow for solo gigs and given that the last one I did at The Primrose was really good, I'm really looking forward to doing some more shows.

I went into the year aiming to phase out open mics, but having done this I'm now wondering whether to keep them going, as a way of trying out new songs and more obscure covers under no pressure. Also, compared to some of the booked gigs, there's several advantages to an open mic-no pressure and home in time for the pub! Sometimes CD sales are higher at unpaid gigs too.

Another thing I learnt was that I shouldn't fear a younger crowd as often they're more open-minded than the close minded bigots in the band pubs. Granted they can treat me as a curiosity, but if that makes them curious enough to buy a CD then great!!

The first solo gig of 09 will be the New Inn, Barwick-in-Elmet on January 4th. Here I'll be hoping to play more originals, and more new covers-it's the closest thing I've got to a 'home-crowd'.


ALBUMS, SONGS AND THE INTERNET: As usual I spent vast amounts of time adding friends on myspace and building databases etc... As usual I've met some wonderful people abroad who I'd never ever have known about without a tour pre-internet. My 'web-presence' has improved steadily mainly down to the time invested keeping it ticking over. I have limited charisma unlike some on there!!

My frustration at this led me to invest a small fortune on a Cyber PR campaign, of which you can read about in previous blogs. It was useful in getting my music out to more folk, getting me a few nice reviews and some podcasts and airplay. The downside was I had to do even more work and still had to log-in to myspace every day to keep traffic moving. However, one of the biggest long-term benefits has been the germination of the idea to start my own label-given some of the contacts and methods I've learned of. My new Paradise Street album is going to be almost totally web-based, so virtual promotion needs to be a big priority next year.


A FEW AIMS FOR NEXT YEAR:

1) Hit targets for doing more band gigs-moving towards two shows a week, build a live following and try not to have a meltdown in the process.

2) Do more intimate solo gigs playing more choice material, unleash the troubador within and hopefully sell a few CDs to students.

3) Totally revamp my official website (yes-that's this one!) into 'Web 2.0' format, whatever that means.

4) Increase web traffic and web hits and promotion to a much higher degree.

5) Watch more stock car meetings.

6) Win the Brighouse Quiz league.

7) Dance with Christine Bleakley.

8) Do anything with Christine Bleakley.



and finally.... the much-anticipated 2008 AWARDS: The phone-lines are now closed, and the results have been fabricated.

1) BEST VENUE: The Peacock, Huddersfield. It may have a rough exterior but inside it's been the warmest audience we've played to this year. A credit to live music in the old tradition.

2) BEST GIG: The Peacock with the Band March 22nd. I guess it was a little unexpected but it was a good night.

3) WORST VENUE: The Snooty Fox, Oakworth. No fun in playing to an empty room.

4) WORST GIG: The Rock n Heifer December 6th, no fun in playing there either.

5) BEST VENUE LANDLORD: It's got to be Ali at The Plough at Warmfield.

6) BEST SOLO VENUE: The New Inn at Barwick-in-Elmet.

7) WORST SOLO VENUE: The Shepherds Rest at Sowerby Bridge.

8) WORST ADVERTISED GIG: The Abbey Inn Band gig.

9) HONOURABLE VENUE MENTIONS: The Kings Arms, Heaton. Berry Brow Liberal Club. The Owl, Rodley.

10) WORST TOILETS: The Church Steps, Batley.

Happy New Year :)

In the penultimate week before Christmas, things have been pretty busy here. Another 2 gigs played, more experience gained, another argument with a mad woman, just about normal I guess.

My band morphed into 'function-mode' on Saturday night to play to a room full of miserable buggers who were something to do with British Telecom. We played mainly soul stuff, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding... no original tunes. It was good fun and the band played superbly.

A lot of people danced and enjoyed themselves so I shouldn't let the one dissenting voice spoil things. It's just that I'm rubbish with confrontations. It was quite funny with hindsight. We were accused of playing 'niche music...more suitable for university students'. Yes, songs from the 1960s, students are clearly getting older these days. Not to worry, I kept to my basic PR skills...I told her to piss off.

Oh and just for the record we were underpaid by £20. Hopefully this was a clerical error, or perhaps I had some long-oustanding phone bill unpaid.

Sunday afternoon was back to normal fare at The Bridge in Huddersfield. It was very quiet but the band played as if to a full stadium. I exagerate not. The versions of 'Heroes', 'White Room' and 'So Lonely' at the moment are an immense sound. It's just hard to take when the song ends, reality kicks in and you realise you're a nobody playing to half a dozen folk. Still at least nobody complained this time. It scores 5.

The Paradise Street album is now but one mix away from completion. Then it's a quick once-over on the tracks and the layout and we're ready to go. For those that don't know, this is a side project as an outlet for some of my material more suited to female singers (I don't really like singing about my unrequited love for boys). There's 13 songs and the whole thing has been a joy to work on. Brilliant vocal performances and guitar work, I've really grown to love these songs. Hopefully it will sell a few copies too, or at least gain more exposure, I think it's deserving.

One final gig this Saturday (20th) is at The Owl, Rodley. Ironically, it's where we played our first show of the year too. Then it's on to Christmas time. As I'm saying this I realise this will be the last blog of 2008 (barring any major record deals) so it only remains for me to say thank you, merry Christmas, Happy New Year and for those that complain at my gigs: piss off.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I've pointed out before that there's often more to write about a bad gig than a good one. A good one generally is one that goes to plan, therefore not much to comment on other than it went to plan. A bad one however throws up more talking points.

This weekend, for differing reasons, my intrepid band were faced with 2 bad ones. Friday being bad and Saturday downright ugly!

On Friday we played at the Snooty Fox, Oakworth. Avid readers of this blog (both of you) may remember that this once solid venue seems to be struggling from a terminal shortage of customers.

When this happens 2 things usually occur: 1) The pub is quiet leading to a poor atmosphere, obviously.

2) Those that are present tend to be hardcore locals who don't wish to be entertained, or people who have strayed into the cold atmosphere and therefore also don't wish to be entertained. This leads to a situation where the minority of 'anti-band' audience becomes the majority.

In the case of the Snooty, all this is fairly academic. The facts are that the pub was DEAD, we played at one stage to nobody, and rounded off with a crowd of 2 (they were very enthusiastic though!). The last time we played here in August the same thing happened, except that time we also had the stoney-faced locals to contend with. This time they pissed off into the pool room.

Needless to say, not a good night. Predictable if nothing else (and we didn't get any trouble from the staff). I think it's probably time to knock this one on the head before they do. A shame, but there simply aren't enough people to make the night viable.

This one scores 4. It could be less but I felt we did a good job as a band and played well.


Saturday night was where the major problems occured. Again, I can only say that the one consolation was that it wasn't entirely a surprise. We've played at the Rock n Heifer twice previously and had a good night each time. However, on both occasions I had a bad feeling about the Lady of the House, Mandy. She reminded distinctly of a couple of similar characters we've met in the past.

Let me explain. Some pubs, generally ones that don't have regular weekly entertainment, take the attitude that the band is at their disposal for the evening and get over-involved. Usually this can be mis-interpreted as a good thing as sometimes they are over-involved by being over-keen and enthusiastic. This manifested itself at both the previous visits in us getting a good reception and being paid a little extra to play a little longer. No real problem in that except that at this point we're tired and want to go home, as with July my voice is tired too, and whilst it all seems very polite, it's actually very controlling and the band is 'owned' by the venue at this point. Also at these venues there's a need to extract a pound of flesh from the band and part of the entertainment becomes seeing how long the band will play for.

That's the good part. The downside to all this is that I recognised in Mandy the potential for irrational behaviour and trouble-making, sometimes drink-induced. A few years ago we were stung at a venue when after some great nights the landlady, intoxicated, turned on us for no good reason. Here we faced a similar scenario. The first set was fine, no problem. Then about half-way through set 2 I noticed her body language had altered. She began studying our poster intently and I realised what was coming. By now the band wasn't going down particularly well. It was another thin crowd of mainly locals who'd pretty much decided to talk and ignore us. So we finished the set and I prepared for a confrontation I knew was coming about 20 minutes prior.

We were then lambasted for not playing songs by the artists on the posters, not doing an encour, costing too much, having too long a break, playing too many originals and generally not doing as we did before.

All bullshit. I knew straight away this was an argument I wasn't going to win, so I made sure we got paid the correct amount and left. In response to the series of stupid complaints she made I did my best to use logic and defend what we did. This was pointless as logic wasn't really present in the first place.

For the record, the posters contain a sample of the sort of music we do. This is obvious to anyone with a grain of common sense a guide to the sort of music we do, not a programme. We only missed off one artist. I didn't do an encour because the audience didn't deserve one and I knew what was coming: the bollocking would have happened anyway. I specifically asked what time the 2nd set should start and was told it was up to us. We play there for our minimum fee. We played exactly the same number of orignials (4) as last time and the time before.

etc... etc.... it doesn't really matter. The main thing is we won't be going again and I'm glad I'd mentioned to the band previously that there was the potential for trouble with an erratic landlady here. It amused me that her husband, when called for his opinion, thought we were 'fine' and told her to 'calm down'. It didn't work. I only hope there'll be some sort of phone apology but of course there won't be. And I won't get my chance to say 'fuck off' either.

Sometimes I get a 6th sense that there's trouble. I hope I don't sound paranoid. It's perfectly rational because it fits the pattern of previous ugly events. 2 good nights, then one bad one for no reason.

This one could have scored 6 at 10:00pm, but instead will be relegated to the 'room 101' of my gigging career. Score 2.


What about the good you may ask? Well, only that mixing the Paradise Street album is going well and I continue to be inspired by the comments of fans on myspace. Needless to say most aren't British and I only wish I could play to a room full of these people instead. Bookings are also up for early next year despite the credit crunch. I played a magnificent function with Atlanta Soul on the Monday night to 1500 people, oh, and I've joined the local quiz league...see, not so bad after all!

I'm a little bit pushed for time today, not that I want to make you feel rushed in anyway, but I'll catch up on the latest podcasts and things next time-I'm sure you can wait until then!

The band did 2 gigs last week. Tuesday night we were up the Junction at Queensbury, no fog this time just a nice thick frost. The audience was sparse but as this was a chance to play the set as intended I fully enjoyed myself. We played a relaxed set, and I thought we delivered it very well. If there'd been more in it would have been a good night.

I'm happily scoring it a 6.

On Saturday night we ventured down through the ice and fog to The Peacock on Leeds Road, Huddersfield. This is a venue with character. By rights it ought to be one of those places you avoid on a dark night (and it was certainly a dark night), but in actual fact it has a respectable clientelle for bands and we always go down well. It wasn't as busy as previous visits but it certainly maintained it's status as one of my favourite venues. That's now 3 good ones in a row, surely some sort of record!!

The gig will largely be remembered for the fact that I played all the bass lines as we were down to a 3-piece on this occasion. I faced this with some trepidation but after a couple of practice sessions felt it was worth a go. Yes, things got so desperate I had to practice.

So we played the full set with a mixutre of 'split sounds' whereby I could play the bass with my left hand and some piano in the right. I also dusted down my legendary remote 'keytar' for a few of the guitar-driven songs: such as The Police numbers and the Cream ones. All in all, it was a great night and I'm very grateful to Dave and Norm for helping me hold it together. It was a very special night in that respect.

I'm tempted to give it an 8 or 7 and a half but I think we'll say 7 as there's no half-marks under this system!

I've managed to progress the Paradise Street album to the point where there's just 3 mixes to go now. The release will be January, so more details to follow, along with the rest of the stuff, next time.

In addition to the many podcasts currently playing tracks from my latest album there are also various Internet Radio stations who have songs on their playlist.

Recently, blk radio have been playing 'Your Shadow'. And Laughing Dog Radio have been playing the first 3 tracks from the album also.

It's amazing how many of these stations exist, and how organised I'm having to be to keep track of everything! Rather than spending most of my time doing cool artistic things like writing songs and recording them I seem to spend more time building databases and sifting through files. I'm aiming to be the first rock n roll secretary. Of course, it would be nice to pay someone else to do my secretarial work-a leggy Italian girl being my personal preference-but alas that's another matter altogether.

And for the sake of completeness, WLSOfm have broadcast 2 more songs in the last couple of weeks: Money From The Satisfied Man and Your Shadow.

The band played a private party on Saturday night. It's not really the intention of the band but naturally sometimes it's a good idea. We had a reasonably good night, I'm not scoring this one because it's someone's party and it's up to them if they enjoyed it or not, which they did so all was fine.

I mixed another track for Paradise Street, the new album looking more and more exciting, and the end is now in sight. More news of course to follow when it's actually released. It's been in danger of being like a Peter Gabriel album-due out 'Autumn' but not saying which year! I will let you know when it's out, you'd expect nothing less I know.

More podcasts, like peas in a pod

Yes, to start with 2 more podcasts:
I've yet to listen to these, but I'm sure they're well worth it.

Firstly Ed's Mixed Bag have included 'Your Shadow' on episode #162.

And secondly The Mental Nomad Podcast have aired 'Through Heartache And Back'. I think I'm correct in saying this is the first time this song has been picked up. Again, it's from the last album and is perhaps one of the lesser known tracks.

So I think that means we're all fully up to date with the latest web promotions.

I did 2 gigs this weekend. The band were out at Berry Brow Liberal Club on Saturday night. This was a much better night in many ways and we were very well received. We played one or two different covers such as 'Hold On I'm Coming' and 'Sweet Soul Music'. Why you may ask, well we've got a private function this Saturday coming and we'll need to be an all-smiling cabaret unit for that! They're still good songs after all.

Berry Brow scores a very welcome 7.

Then last night (Sunday 16th) I did a solo set at The Primrose in Leeds. It's a while since I've done a gig that comes under the heading of 'solo showcase'. In other words, 30 minute set-unpaid.
I had a great night. Certainly one of the best of the many sets I've done there. There was a good crowd who listened. I'm often a little uncomfortable at the thought of playing to people a lot younger, but actually they're more open-minded. And even if I'm seen as a bit of a curiosity at least it's well-played (hopefully) and delivered with passion. That's what counts.

There are other advantages to the 'Primmy' such as the big PA, and the sound engineer who wacks up the bottom end on 'If He Knew You'-that's fantastic! I did 'Message In A Bottle' as the only cover, plus 'Gods & Angels'. All the songs were well received and I sold quite a few CDs too.

The latter point is very important. Whilst it's hardly a gig I can afford to live off, I do sell myself better than say, Ossett Brewery gigs. It's a hard choice to balance-no wage but more CDs and promo, or no interest but a wage. I guess some sort of combination of the 2 would be best.

One thing is for sure, I'm looking forward to doing more shows like this, and even a few more open mics. I used to think of them as the 'bottom end of the scale'. But think of it this way: I turn up having had time for a decent meal beforehand, can carry all my gear in in one go, I conserve energy by playing only a few songs, and the chances are more people will remember me and appreciate the original material. I sell a few CDs and hand out some flyers and then am home in time to go to the pub.

This compares favourably in a lot of ways with a paid solo gig where I have to take all my gear and possibly not get any reaction at all, let alone sell a CD!

It also raises one final issue about solo gigs in general. A fellow-musician friend of mine was saying recently how he prefers the solo route to the band one. I have to say I've always leant towards the latter but am beginning to see his point more and more. At least all the musicians turn up for a solo gig! And as I scrabble round trying to put a band together for a gig later this month, I have to say it's somehow more appealing at times to keep it simple.

All said, the Primrose gig scores 7.




One final word on a totally different subject. By the time I do my next blog it will be 45 years since the murder of John F Kennedy. It will also be 5 years since I stood on the Grassy Knoll in Dealey Plaza commemorating the 40th. As we move towards a time of potentially more liberal administration in the States, I think it's worth reminding ourselves that the greatest lie ever put on people is still alive to this day. And if you think it's irrelevant ancient history let me list you all that have been persecuted and killed to keep this lie alive-some not that long ago.

JFK blown away, what else do I have to say.

And if we enlarge the image, here's one of the men that did it.

More fantastic album reviews and podcasts

Yes, another member of the human race has given a vote of confidence to my album. This week it's Wildy Haskell at Wildy's World.

Again, it's a very positive review and contains all the correct weblinks!! It scored 4 stars out of 5.

READ THE NICE REVIEW HERE

Following on from this, there's been a further 3 broadcasts of material.

1st is Dalecast, who has already played my material, he's chosen 'Your Shadow' this time.

2nd is Robkast from Holland, who has sent my some lovely messages regarding the songs. As of this moment in time I've not listened to the podcast but can be fairly sure it's worth mentioning to you!

And 3rd is US-based WLSO fm, who have played 2 songs lately. 'Even' and 'Gods & Angels'.

And now onto last week's happenings. On Tuesday I had a very productive recroding session with Paul F on the guitars. This has now put the Paradise Street debut album a large step nearer to completion. I'm still not 100% sure if the record will be out before Christmas, it's possible it will now be January. I hope you're not too upset by this and can wait that little bit longer. But it will be worth the wait, I'm enjoying making it immensely.

The first band gig was on Friday at the Cricketers at Horbury. Not a bad night, we didn't go down too badly at all. Again, for internal band reasons, not a happy event for me but we'll be back there in February 2009. This gig scores 4.

The next one was on Saturday at the Bay Horse, Lindley. Not overly busy, but it was a filthy night (even for Lindley). We managed to keep a small but appreciative crowd entertained until the end of the night. The set went better and I felt far happier driving home this time (plus I live pretty close by!). This one scores a 6.

If you're wondering what these numbers mean, look at the previous blog. But basically it's just a mark out of 10.

Sunday afternoon was the final stock car meeting of the season at Belle Vue, Manchester. After getting bogged down in Man City traffic the rain set in which led to some very boggy racing. So ends another BRISCA season and as with last year it was very wet, resulting in an early curtailment of the action, and a long hot bath afterwards!

Money From The Satisfied Man Single of the Day plus more blog features

I've had a week away in the Lakes (and I really do mean LAKES!) hence no blog last week. Did you miss me? Don't lie.

I'll start with the latest from my Cyber PR campaign. 'Money From The Satisfied Man' has been picked up by a blog called Single Of The Day. He's written an amusing article which you can read by clicking the link below.

READ THE AMUSING ARTICLE


They've tagged the idea of 'money from the satisfied man' onto the global financial crisis. Which is more a case of 'money to the satisfied man'!! Of course, you all know that the song is nothing whatsoever to do with the banking mess-but it gets the point across. Please do read the article as it's a flattering piece in which the tune gets compared in favourbale terms with the likes of Pink Floyd, Gary Moore and Don Henley.

Ironically, there is a song on the new album which IS highly relevant to the 21st century equivalent of the Wall Street Crash. It's track 4: 'The Prisoner'.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A SONG RELEVANT TO THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS.


ANOTHER BLOG FEATURE INCLUDING SOME NICE COMMENTS FROM FOLK:

My second feature this week was on a general blog called 'Bonds Big Leather Couch'. It covers many topics besides music, but has a regular section for new artists.


READ MY FEATURE AND NICE COMMENTS HERE

Or...if you are lazy or pushed for time, here are a couple of things people have said about me. Bear in mind they only got to hear 2 songs from the album.

Dana said: Deep 6? Not feeling it - both songs seemed a bit too similar.But Paul Jeffrey? Definitely my kind of artist!

Bud Weiser said: Jeffrey's first song was average. The second showed off his vocals much better. Talented.

Bud Weiser...I'm not making this up, remember these are blog names! Find out for yourself.

That's enough of those for now, on now to my latest gigs. I'm including an exciting new feature-the all-important *GIG RATING*. This is bascially my mark out of 10 for how the gig goes.

Want to know my scale? Do you really?

10=the perfect gig, like Francium only achievable theoretically

9=very very good gig, equalling or up there with my favourite ever shows

8=very strong night, very enjoyable

7=good night, had fun

6=fair night, solid show

5=below average gig

4=well below average gig

3=poor night, not one to be repeated

2=very poor night, shit gig

1=very very shit night out

0=the worst gig of all-time, totally abortive night

OK...so the first gig to be subjected to this process, also the first gig of my 4th decade is the Paul Jeffery Band @ The Duck n Drake in Leeds, Sat Oct 25.

This gig was quite different to most of ours in that the promoter had added a last-minute support band. Normally it's just us. What was more unusual was that they were a touring German punk band! We used their gear, which made things easier in that respect. We also had a debuting drummer (Kev) so it was a unique night in many ways.

They were a pretty damn good band too. Other bands on the same bill do tend to bring out the competitive instinct in musicians. And tonight I could have done without that, as unfortunately the gig was spoilt for me within 30 seconds of getting in the van. I won't say why, but it didn't help things. Anyway, we played one set straight through, about 75 mins altogether.

We played OK, a lot louder than normal, trying to find that punk energy in the set! The crowd seemed to thin out a bit, and I'm not sure if they preferred a heavier band. We tried to be that band, but it's never that easy. We were certainly loud though. And I got some audience response in the numbers that really need it, like 'All Day+All Night'. In the end, we didn't get a bad reception but as I said it was spoilt beforehand for me. It's a shame too because despite it's rustic interior (the sinks didn't work) the pub is a haven for live music and there's all too few of those remaining.

So I'm afraid the first gig under this new system will score: 5

The following Friday we were out again at The Plough, Oct 31st. And indeed it was a Halloween Special as it was also a local rugby league club's fund raiser. They all wore fancy dress. This gave the night a surreal edge, although I remember certain clubs in Doncaster where this would have appeared run of the mill dresscode.

We are always well-looked after here. The landlord Ali is a real enthusiast. Probably the only one in West Yorkshire! We played OK to a crowd that hadn't come to see us particularly. In the end we had some dancers and by the last song a long overdue roar of approval. We played a couple of encours which cemented it as a 'good response' and went home happier than the previous Saturday.

This one scores a 6.

I'm sure I could think of more to tell you but this is turning into one long blog, so for now I'll say bye and pick it up again next week. Bye.

Album review, Seven Shades becomes an Internet Cult!!

The first fruits of Ariel Publicity!! Well worth a read, it's a nice review of the album and the blog-style means a few others have left comments. Please have a read!

ALBUM REVIEW

Also I've had a song included in a podcast based in the UK. It's 'Money From The Satisfied Man' again from the latest album.

SONG PODCAST: LISTEN HERE!

The last week of my 20's saw just the one gig yesterday (Sunday). Yes, it's the big 30 for me today. Let's hope that the last gig of my 3rd decade is not a sign of things to come. Oh yes, it's another Osset Brewery special!

The Shepherds Boy in Dewsbury. As usual, a lovely pub, good beer, no scrotes, no people. I last played there in March on a Wednesday night-there was nobody there. They said let's try Sundays, still a severe shortage of customers. Worse still, those that are there are totally inept at the concept of live music. It's almost as if they've had a bipass where that's concerned. There are more cheerful funerals. Even in Dewsbury.

Needless to say, not a great afternoon. At one point there was nobody at all in the room I was playing in. I played to a completely empty room. The peak was about 10 people. The posters said 4pm, the managment wanted me on at 3. It made no difference, nobody was interested.

I try my best to think of them as work gigs, they do pay reasonably well. But it's hard on the spot when you've got zero enthusiasm to entertain. It's not like sticking a CD on a jukebox, live music has a human element (obviously), it's very hard work.

On a better note, it seems there's still more local venues to be found for the band. Last week I started booking for January (we have to work around 3 months in advance) and to my pleasent surprise we've already picked up 4 gigs. The target is 6. I also drove out to a couple on Friday night which were new to me, they were fairly promising.

So this week it's my 30th. I'm having a party on Friday-and then it's the start of the PJ Band winter tour on Saturday at the Duck n Drake in Leeds. I'm looking forward to that!

Elsewhere, Paradise Street continues to receive as much attention as I can throw at it. 2 more tracks completed last week, leaving 5 to go. I'm still hopeful of a release before Christmas.

Last week was a very busy one, with 2 more solo gigs. It's a good job I'm used to playing to small audiences as Tuesday at the Travellers Rest, Britannia, Bacup and Thursday at Verve in Leeds were both very thin crowds.

I played 2 short sets at Bacup, it was a wild and rainy night and you have to wonder what chances a pub has of survival when it's as dead as that (on any night). The night was organised by the same team that do the gigs in Hebden Bridge, namely LiveSpace. My sets went well, although I was a little worried about 'Message In A Bottle'. Please tell me you didn't really think I wrote it guys!!

I made a throwaway remark that it was something I'd knocked together recently, and then there was silence....this being Bacup this was hardly a surprise, but afterwards one or two did congratulate me on the new tune. It worried me slightly.

No such problems on Thursday and the small crowd there did at least pay attention. It's a nice venue, a bit young for me, but it went ok.

In between this I went to a Musicians Union seminar on Wednesday in Nottingham. This was entitled 'releasing your own album'. I found it pretty useful, in many ways because it qualified a lot of what I've been doing up to now rather than any new revelations.

The Ariel cyber PR continues it's progress, although at the moment I do wonder who is working who as I seem to be putting in a lot of time on it. On Friday last week I recorded nearly 30 radio station drop-ins ('hi this is Paul Jeffery and both of you are listening to etc etc...) and so I'm hoping this will be worth it. I'll try and update things on here in full, including a nice review I've had. It's early days yet, so we'll see.

The crunch is beginning to bite it seems. Our gig at The Arkle in Morley fell through last week. Apparently some band nights have run at a loss there which is helping nobody, a shame but not a surprise.

My 2 solo gigs did take place, although The Wardrobe on Wednesday was as quiet as I'd ever known it. My set passed off without incident and that's about all there is to say. Last night (Sunday) I was back at the New Inn (Barwick) for the umpteenth time. Scouse Andy provided a really good support act and we did a few duets at the end of the night on 'No Other Baby', 'Saw Her Standing There' and 'Hey Jude'. I played one set straight through and managed to throw in a healthy number of originals. Not a night to set the world on fire but as the saying goes, 'a gig's a gig'.

CYBER PR

I've taken the plunge and joined up with Ariel Publicity for a spot of online PR. This will take full effect over the coming months and should see my internet profile raised considerably. Who knows, I may become something of an internet cult, and also maybe I'll find even more people reading this column. We're hoping for double figures.

You can view my nifty Virtual Press Kit (VPK) and this gives a good overview of where I'm at (sort of). The whole idea is that whereas I can merely keep the wheels moving online they should be able to get things really moving. It's not about looking for a spike in CD sales (althought this would be nice!). It's more about raising my web presence and bringing my music to a wider audience. After all, whereas there's a finite number of people watching live music in pubs (about 10 these days) there's a virtually infinite number of folk online worldwide. And I want everyone's attention.

We shall see in the next few weeks just how things develop. Meanwhile, this week I'll be at Bacup on Tuesday followed by Verve in Leeds on Thursday night.

Have a good week.

A fairly exhaustive week of gigs has just passed. Starting with the first band gig of the month at The Junction Inn, Queensbury. I was very pleased with how this one went, in terms of sound and music. It's not an easy place to play and isn't as busy as it once was, but I thought we got a fair reception and it was good practice for my band of wandering musicians.

The Friday night band gig at the Travellers, Meltham was a case of 'a gig of 2 halves'. Again, not as busy overall as I'd hoped for, this pleasent pub nevertheless pulled through in the end. In the first set, concerns over noise levels blighted things a little, and this wasn't helped by the audience being able to talk comfortably over us, and not clap. I got a little more forceful with them in the 2nd set, (as well as the PA mysteriously getting louder!) and this at last generated a response and turned it into a reasonable night. I could write a thick book on bands and noise but I think it's fair to say 'you can't please everybody' just about covers it all. And with audiences that's not easy.

More exciting was Dave's journey to the gig, encountering some of the many back roads of outer Huddersfield. Email the professor for a full description.

Saturday night was an Atlanta Soul gig in Manchester centre. I'm always worried about parking at these gigs and this again proved the case as I had to resort to an NCP. Luckily it was on a cheap weekend rate of £5 which was a big relief. The wedding we played was at the Victoria & Albert hotel on Water Street. A lively crowd, and after we'd finished one lad did a very fine version of the Shamen over the PA...E's are good, I think they all agreed on that one.

Sunday afternoon at Fernandes Brewery Tap in Wakefield is enough to discourage even the toughest working musician. It's a lovely pub, but no one really wants to listen. I managed to get a reasonably early night on Saturday so was at least a bit more awake. Having dragged myself away from the Singapore night race imagine my disgust when I arrived to find they weren't even aware I was going.

Nevertheless the show went ahead without any problems and actually gained perhaps the best response in a while there. That means a few people listened and clapped. Not a bad afternoon really. One of these days there'll be a really good gig there, it's such a nice place.

Last week there was some commotion on myspace due to the latest attempt by the programmers to re-invent the wheel: a new flash music player for the band pages. Needless to say it didn't work straight away and I wasn't the only person annoyed by this. As I constantly try to attract new fans it does help if people can actually listen to the songs. Why they can't just leave things alone I'll never know. Anyway, thankfully my page seems to be just about working now, but the Paradise Street one is still not right, the counter has been re-set. They should just leave the damn thing alone, but I guess this is the downside of free sites, that and the pop-up adverts.

This week it's very busy again with solo shows on Wednesday (The Wardrobe) and Sunday night (The New Inn, Barwick-in-Elmet), and then a band show in between at the Arkle on Friday night. I'll also be there to promote that one on the Tuesday night open mic.

Come and support us, but don't complain about the noise! (and clap, it won't hurt your hands).

One gig took place last week, which was another solo show on Tuesday at Milo. It was quiet (again) and whilst taking place in a nice venue, there was barely enough people to raise a valid response. I played 'Wish You Were Here' as a Rick Wright tribute, no-one really noticed, and then I went home!

Don't worry. The band will be back with 2 gigs this week, and together with another solo set at Fernandes on Sunday aft, it's going to be a really busy week. We've lost 2 drummers in the last 3 months with the band, so I'm anxious to put all this behind us and get on with the job. Thankfully, it's not cost us any gigs but it's still been a hassle to sort everything out.

The news that Rick Wright passed away was naturally very sad, but also a shock as I'd no idea it was imminent. I remember commenting when Billy Preston died that there aren't many iconic keyboard players who are household names. Well Rick was certainly one of them so it's very upsetting news. God bless and rest in peace.

I've just come back from the World Championships weekend for the stock cars. I extracted amazing fuel economy out of my car travelling around East Anglia, also seeing some of the best weather all summer. It was really very nice. 2 Premier Inns, a slightly burnt neck and 2 sore buttocks later (Grandstand seat at Ipswich? it was a concrete step!) I'm back for a busy week-totally knackered but looking forward to getting back out with the band.

Until next week, enjoy yourselves and I'll let you know how the gigs went.

Would you know my name, if I saw you in Brighouse?

Again it's been a fairly quiet week gigwise, so you're spared again this time. Just the one this week which was last night at Marshalls Bar, Hebden Bridge. It's the LiveSpace night formally run at Bridges Bar in Sowerby Bridge, this being before the latter decided it's scrotes karaoke to 5 people was more important.

Marshall's Bar is a dive in every respect. However, the owners are music-friendly, so the trade-off is the loss of a good facility (upstairs @ Bridges) for a more welcoming ownership.

I was the headliner, going on last. This is something I hate doing because it generally means most people have either left or long since lost the will to live by that point. I find nights saturate so easily and every promoter is guilty of putting on too many acts. Even though they do just 4 songs each, after around 7 acts have done this, you've already heard nearly 30 songs, this is more than you'd pay to see a top act do.

So 3 hours after the night started, I go on. It was a thin crowd by this point but what I did was fairly well-received. I played 'Message in a Bottle' and 'One of us' in addition to my regular set, which this time included the song about a scrotes bar: 'Old Wishing Well'. This song was very apt.

I had a good chat with the promoter afterwards about the pros and cons of these nights. They're looking to putting on 2 nights instead of one and thinning out the number of acts. I think that will work much better. Their advertising is first class, and I got my name in the papers, and their posters are first class too. I hope they don't fall foul of another venue, and that the night continues to prosper.

Other than that, I won't bore you with my trip to Birmingham nor the Atlanta Soul gig on Friday night where Craig Charles was there, it's really not that bigger deal! Suffice to say please keep viewing the myspace page and downloading the songs :)

This Tuesday I'm doing Milo in Leeds which is a new one for me. I'm actually only working half the week due to the all-important World Stock Car finals at Ipswich, incorporating three events in three days. Needless to say I will be absolutely knackered this time next week, but thoroughly thrilled by the experience. Then it's back to the PJ Band with 2 shows the week after...you have been warned!

No gigs in the past week, so while I try and remember on which side of a keyboard the low notes are I hope you've been enjoying all the lovely dry weather in the last few days!

I've had chance to do quite a bit of recording though. Evenings seem to be the best time to do creative work, and that's obviously easier if you don't have to jump in a car and go to a gig that night. The Paradise Street album is getting nearer to completion by the day now. I'm really excited about it. Don't forget to visit it's myspace page to listen to a few of the finished songs.

That's about all for now. Tonight I shall hopefully catch some of the US open tennis, where I'm hoping British sport will have more luck than the shafting Lewis Hamilton got yesterday. Do Ferrari actually control F1?? I hope this explains why I follow stock car racing: here the cars can legally belt one another which makes things far simpler.

Don't forget Sunday night (the 14th) at Marshall's Bar, Hebden Bridge. I'm doing the main slot on the LiveSpace night so please feel free to come along.

Can you believe it's September already?? Well, yes I suppose. I'm not too unhappy to see the back of August-the dullest month since records began. I feel vindicated against all those who said 'we've had bad summers before'....again, yes I grant you that-but I feel that the last 2 summers have been the shittest in my lifetime for weather. In our area, where it's grim up north, we've had around half the normal average hours of sunshine in August. It's enough to make you want to emigrate to somewhere brighter, like Norway, the Falklands or Antartica.

Gigwise it was quite a bright end to the month (a super pun there I'm sure you'll agree). 3 nights out in total, starting on Wednesday with The Grove open mind night. This was my first visit since April, and although I went quite well with 'Seven Shades' and 'Lola' the piano is now so bad it's beyond playable. The tuning is by the by, but the pedal doesn't work and there is a natural sustain which lingers on and on. I was also upstaged by a cute hispanic girl playing something which sounded even worse than the Grove piano, a sort of oboe-sounding wind instrument which put me in mind of those hooters you get at major rugby league finals. Needless to say she went down a storm. There lies another lesson in showbusiness. One I ought to recite more often: no-one owes you their adulation or indeed their attention, and as a performer you are in competiton with just about anybody that can vaguely play anything.

Enough said, the Chemic Tavern on Thursday was better this time. I played 'Shadow', 'Angels' amd 'Life', the latter after a long absence. It was well received and I think the night was fairly succesful.

On Friday it was the latest band instalment at the Cricketers Horbury. Whilst never going to be as good as the previous Friday (see last blog) it wasn't a bad night, the 2nd set in particular doing it's job once the transient audience had settled down into a group more prepared to listen. I think the pub is part of a 'run' through Horbury on a Friday night, which must be an exciting experience. 'If He Knew You' was debuted pretty succesfuly. It's just a shame that we haven't another gig until September 23rd. I've a couple more observations about the night which I'll save for a week or two...just in case the people concerned are reading this, I doubt it, but it can keep for now.

This week will be the first in a long while where there'll be no gigs at all, so next week's blog may be on another of my interests, or perhaps it will focus on recording and writing songs, something I occasionally find time to do!

Great night at the Kings Arms

The first week back has been and gone, and so has the last bank holiday weekend. I normally feel low at this time of year, but seeing as we've had such a shit summer with the weather I don't suppose it really matters. It's felt like we've been permenently in Autumn anyway. Still, plenty of time to go before the end of the year, and last week really wasn't so bad at all.

The middle part of the week saw (finally) some forward process on the Paradise Street album. This being my 'side project' for female songs. There's six songs already posted on the above link and I'm now beginning to round things up towards finishing the album off. When completed it will have 13 songs on and lately I've been doing my best to spend at least a little time each day in the studio working through things. I'll keep you posted as to how things go.

Friday brought great relief in that we had a brilliant night with the band. This was at the Kings Arms Heaton and whilst the last show was merely very good, this one was exceptional! Oh yes, I kid you not, a full pub, an appreciative audience, and altogether a great gig. It was one of the best of this year, with the original material flowing nicely against the covers. It was one of the latter that brought about my highlight of the night, with 'I Won't Back Down' finally sounding like I wanted it to. It's one of my favourite songs, and as the band chugged along, I could see people moving and just for a fleeting moment, a single moment, there was a glimpse of what I envisaged in forming the band. And a glimpse of what could be in the future if all goes well. It was one of those moments of satisfaction that seem all too rare these days. Here's to more good gigs at the Kings Arms and fingers crossed the noise problems don't develop further. So get behind the venue and support what they are doing, believe me it's one of the best at the moment.

Sunday afternoon was the Owl beer festival and whilst there were the expected cock-ups with the programme luckily my set was bang on time. I'd like to thank Simon (the PA man who looks like Jeremy Clarkson) for a)working hard to keep things organised in the absence of anyone from the pub and b) for getting a superb sound for me onstage.
It also was lucky in that the sun made an appearence (do you remember what it looks like?) and I played for about 40 minutes. Not much response but some connections were made, and the crowd was still growing at this point. I reckon if I'd had the numbers Silverlode played to I'd have had a much better response. Still, looking back it wasn't too bad.

Speaking of the Owl, I was quite relieved to hear that I've not been the only one to fall victim of the bookings cock-ups. I can't complain about my slot on Sunday but many others had problems, and the saga of the regular band bookings has seen some people really pissed off. As always, it's a shame as it's potentially a good venue and my band gig in January was first class. Let's hope they get it sorted before it's too late, because musicians get blamed for far too much but they will eventually vote with their feet.

This Friday the PJ Band will be back at the Cricketers Arms, Horbury, at 9pm, so please come and support live music, it's another good venue. I may also be present at a couple of open mics in Leeds so may see some of you there!

Holidays, back to work, back in business

It's always refreshing to go away for a couple of weeks and then come back and get stuck into work. Especially in this industry where you can find yourself very quickly in the scenario of 'running fast just to stand still'.

I've had a wonderful time, thanks for asking. I won't bore you with any holiday photos, suffice to say that over the past 2 weeks I've been to Vienna, Budapest and Prague. All very lovely places, and I did it all by train too, so got to see more of the world. I'm back now for my first full day, knackered but mentally more refreshed.

There was a week missing from here which was the week before I went away. There was one band gig on the Friday (Aug 1st) which was at the Snooty Fox. It was terrible! One of the 2 worst gigs so far, simply because there weren't enough people there. There was this awfully hollow atmosphere as we played songs, got no applause, then played the next one. I do hope it won't be so bad on our next visit in December. It will have to be better.

That said, I'm really looking forward to getting back into things with the band and gigs in general. The PJ Band will be back at the KINGS ARMS, HEATON this Friday Aug 22nd at 9pm. I'm also doing a slot at the OWL RODLEY BEER & MUSIC FESTIVAL on Sunday Aug 24th at 2pm. Please see below for a little statement regarding the Owl at Rodley.

I'm also very keen to crack on with some recording, firstly finishing the Paradise Street album and then marketing that, and everything else, to a higher level. I make no secret of the desire to really move forwards at the moment, I always feel like this first day back! The trick is to ask me again in a week's time!

OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDING THE OWL AT RODLEY

Paul Jeffery and The Paul Jeffery Band would like to make it clear that we had no record whatsoever of any booking on Friday 1st August at the Owl, Rodley. In addition whoever phoned the pub to cancel this booking was in no way connected with our band. It is a mystery to all of us who phoned the venue to cancel a gig that never existed in the first place. I have since cleared this matter up with the bookings manager and am assured there is no problem. The Paul Jeffery Band will be back to play at the Owl on Saturday December 20th, as originally intended. I would be grateful if nobody would spread malicious rumours to the effect that we renaged on a booking with the venue. This is simply not the case.

It's nearly time for my summer break. I'm glad really, as the gigs have been wearing me down a bit this week. I think it's time for a little breather. I did 2 solo shows last week on Thurs (Murgatroyd Arms, Halifax) and on Sunday aft (Fernandes, Wakefield). Both were very easy-going 'background music' affairs, where no-one listened much and the crowds were thin on both occasions. Yesterday was especially tough as it was such a hot day outdoors. Thursday made me laugh a little as Halifax holidays were blamed for the poor crowd, that's an excuse I've not heard for many years! The last time being when only 5 turned up to watch my band at The Bowling Green. The 5 consisted of: My parents, our soon-to-be bassist, and.......a couple on holiday from Aberdeen!

In between, the PJ Band did it's bit in Batley at the Church Steps on Saturday night. This was a lot better than I'd feared, and the crowd were at least willing to be entertained. The new songs are working well and the 2nd half especially was very pleasing from a musical point of view. At one time a gig in this sort of environment would have got me down, but now I actually don't mind. Everyone in the band is very upbeat and we didn't have any trouble.

A final word on these 'background music' solo acoustic free and easy gigs. They're a ball-ache but are at least paid. I'm usually tired before I start, especially the Sunday ones which normally come hot on the heels of a Saturday with the band. There's no adrenalin to be gained from a flat crowd, and unless I prepare in advance, there's no new material added on the spot. So I end up going through the motions. And then forgetting the words to things I've sung hundreds of times, like I did yesterday with 'Your Shadow'. At least I'm home in time for tea though! And after a night's sleep, it doesn't seem half as bad....that's why I'll be playing there again in September.

That's about it for this week. I'm sorry it's all a bit negative, I'm easily bored. Just one show with the band at the Snooty Fox, Oakworth, this Friday, and then 2 weeks off. There was little time for recording this week, but progress is being made on those front, slowly as usual!

A quick review of the 3 nights I was out playing last week: On Tuesday I went along to support the Open Mic night at The Arkle in Morley. My band are playing there in October. The night is thin on supporters but it carries very well. I also got to meet a fabulous blues harmonica player-the whole idea of networking with musicians is so important. Sometimes it's hard to explain to people the value in doing a night like this, unpaid of course, but there's always something, some little connection being made.

I played 'The Prisoner' which went down very well. Then I did my Ben Folds Five cover 'The Battle of Who Could Care Less'. I'm still learning this one but it was good practice for Thursday night's piano gig (see below). I then invited my harmonica friend (he got a great sound through an authentic amp) to join me on 'I'm Coming Out'. This is a strong song of mine off the first album that I've hardly touched live. The title is a bit off putting, even if the song has nothing to do with homosexuality! It also has a bluesey feel which by pure coincidence lent itself to the harmonica perfectly.

I finished with another cover, a song I've been listening to of late, 'How Long' by Ace. It's a number that's never gone down well live in my old sets, but now I'm attacking it more, using more rhythm, it sounds much better. I then guested with Andy, Nigel and co on a few blues standards before returning home.

I mentioned that on Thursday I would be playing a genuine real living piano at the Chemic Tavern. This would be the headline slot for the cloth cat open mic night. I turned up a little late, before going on to play my set. I'd kept 'Coming Out' in, plus the Ben Folds cover, in addition to my usual set-plus Seven Shades made an appearance, and there were encours of 'Somebody to Love' and 'Rocket Man'. I was happy enough with the piano and the sensation of doing something a bit different to normal. But I wasn't happy with the fact that people weren't really listening.

The moment anyone mentions 'headline slot' on open mic nights I begin to get worried! Usually this means going on after 11pm after the audience has long since lost the will to listen after the umpteen open mic slots have passed. It doesn't matter if half of them are rubbish or not, just the sheer fact that after over 2 hours of music people are hardly in a good frame of mind to concentrate on yet another half-hour set of mainly original songs. Not to bother though, I think it wasn't too badly received, the same thing used to happen at Doctor Wu's. Personally I think it's pointless having the booked slot-better just to keep it as a free-for-all then it's not too taxing for everyone.

On Friday night my band made it's debut at Hudsons in Bradford. We had a fantastic night in front of a thinnish but appreciative crowd. The band line-up was different to usual in that we had Paul and Norm back with us, and the whole night was very enjoyable. Not to say that it isn't normally. I was well pleased with the fact we threw in 4 new covers we'd never played together before.

The weekend was all about stock car racing again-this time the European Championships at Northampton. A lovely weekend with some decent weather, the Dutch adding a pleasently tipsy edge to the atmosphere. If it wasn't for being in a really good band, I could do this every weekend. And to add to the fun there was a programme fair on the Sunday, so there I was buying old programmes ten at a time! It's not often you see me spending money. It's also not often you hear about a musician spending his leisure time doing that sort of thing. Mind you, Peter Waterman's got his trains, so I guess I've a way to go for my anorak yet :)

Introducing Paradise Street

OK, I've been mentioning this for weeks now....

I've started up a new project running alongside my own regular music. It's called PARADISE STREET and is quite simply a vehicle for a different batch of songs. Co-written with Cath Walls these are pieces mainly written a few years ago, suitable for female singers as opposed to myself.

The myspace page for the project has been up and running for a couple of months now. It features a selection of tracks from what will be the first album. At the moment I'm busy working on finishing off the remaining songs, and hope to have the album released by the end of the year.

There's a very broad range of influences on this one. You can tell a little from the Top Friends list on the page as to the general style and genre. Basically it's mature female pop, very melodic and drawing on some different ideas to my own solo material. Similar artists include Dido, Annie Lennox and Kate Bush.

The as yet untitled album will be released worldwide in both CD and mp3 formats and will be distributed by all the recognised sources such as Apple iTunes, Napster and Payplay.

Please feel free to have a listen to the songs and stand by for more news soon!

I had an interesting experience on Thursday night. My first EMO gig! One of my band's drummers, Norm, is the driver for a band from LA called The Outline. They were in Leeds at the Cockpit and I was on the guestlist, much to the surprise of the bouncer who must have wondered what the hell I was doing there!! Given that the average audience age was about 15, I can't really blame him.

We arrived to be greeted by a large queue under the railway bridge. The headline band were Rocket Summer, and they were obivously very popular. It was a bit like a school disco. The first band onstage at 7.15 prompt. People were ID'd with Passports. The bar was very quiet as most people weren't old enough to drink, so at least there wasn't a queue there!

I wasn't surprised by the tightness of the bands, all 3 were excellent. The middle band, who I can't remember the name of, had a piano frontman, a bit like Ben Folds. All bands had loads of energy and the lyrical and melodic content came a distant second. As usual in a club venue, the vocals aren't clear and the kick drum and bass guitar receive far too much attention. Shit, I'm sounding like someone's dad. But then again, I was almost old enough.

The other thing that struck me was how the crowd came to know about the band in the first place. They knew all the words, and were certainly prepared for what was happening. Is it an internet following? Or maybe street teams or a combination of many things. I was impressed. Even if the music and the following were totally different to what I do and follow myself, I couldn't help but be energised by the experience.

Back to reality (if you can call it that) at the Rock n Heifer on Saturday night. Our second trip here with the band saw a pattern emerging. A late-set is added on after the normal 2, where we get paid a bit more to do a bit more. I wasn't at my best due to a cold brought on with shouting at the match officials at Warrington the night before. Or perhaps it was the cavern-like atmosphere in the Cockpit, where ventilation is clearly a mystery concept.

The first set featured a couple of noise complaints, but that was all forgotten in the longrun. It is off-putting though. When someone says 'It's too loud' in the middle of your set I tend to panic a bit thinking 'well what's too loud?'. I've done gigs like that before, and there's no real easy answers. It's generally annoying when it's a slim minority who complain, usually because they want to talk over you. But that's free entertainment for you. There's no pleasing everybody.

I used up a bit of anger in the second set and we pulled together more as a band. I even silenced the whole room at one point while a gentleman made a phonecall on his mobile. Will someone please explain what posesses a person to continue a phonecall whilst a rock band is in full flight, in the SAME room. How the fuck do they hear what the other person is saying?! Just one of the many mysteries of performing in pubs. To be fair though they do love us there, and I'm already looking forward to going back.


The same can't really be said of The Drop Inn yesterday afternoon (sunday 13th). A slight improvement on the Shepherds Rest the previous week, but still a long way from being fun. Most people were sat outside, which is fine given it was the only day of sunshine we've had for a while. A few ventured in for a bit of a listen, not many appreciated it. But I didn't really expect that. In the end I reasoned that on a colder day it would have been pretty full, so perhaps I will go back. I just wish they'd put something on at the same time every week, so that at least I've a fighting chance of being accepted.

I've just watched the South Bank Show from last night on Billy Joel. I find it inspiring to hear interviews with these people, it inpsires me to keep going for at least another day or two. One of the most inspiring things was the story of playing the piano and finding Elle McPherson suddenly leaning over the piano. He has this theory that a piano is a better pulling-machine than a sportscar. I say that's bollocks. I've been playing the piano for a long time and it's never done me any favours in that respect. Perhaps I'm playing the wrong songs!

I still haven't had time to talk properly about Paradise Street, my new collection of female songs. Well, old songs that are finally getting an airing to be precise! But just to say for now that progress is being made a bit quicker and that there's now 6 songs finished. If you go to the myspace page for the project, you'll be able to listen to 5 of them in full.

I had 2 very contrasting gigs last week. I always seem to be able to write more about the bad ones, indeed over time they're the ones that seem to stick in my mind more. I think that's human nature, or perhaps I'm just a pessimist. No, that can't be right. A pessimist wouldn't last 5 minutes being a musician!

For example, anyone with a negative outlook on life would have probably packed up for good after Wednesday night! Seriously, it wasn't actually that bad, and at least I got to the pub before closing time.

I'm referring to the Shepherds Rest in Sowerby Bridge. This is an Ossett Brewery pub and like all their pubs it is lovely. In our area there are many crap pubs, so their's all shine out like beacons in a brewery desert. The beer is great, the scrotes aren't there, the decor is tasteful. The only disadvantage is that some are very quiet midweek and that those that are there seem un-prepared and un-interested in live music.

On this occasion it was both. At 9:00pm the pub was completely dead, no customers whatsoever. I've done my fair share of playing to virtually nobody, but drew the line this time. We agreed I should wait a while and see if anyone turned up. If not I was free to go. Unfortunately, depending on your point of view, a few punters came in, indeed by 10pm there was just about a healthy number. But yet again (and not for the first time) there was ZERO interest in what I was doing. No applause, no awareness, just ignorance beyond apathy.

I played one set for 45 minutes then went home. I really do hope it will be better this Sunday at the Drop in Elland, but I doubt it somehow. No-one wants to know. It's such a shame, because the scrote-count last Sunday at the Bridge Tavern may have been high, but at least people were willing to be entertained. It's a tough call on both sides. I only wish Ossett (who I think do a wonderful job) would consider having turns on at least once a week. At the moment, I keep getting looked at like I've got 10 heads or something. It's not very conducive and nobody wins.


I actually returned to Sowerby Bridge on the following night to have a look at The Works. This is the 3rd time I've visited what is always a busy pub, with a big room and a band on every Thursday. Here the interest is not great either, but when it's this busy it's a little easier to take. Unfortunately I feel that it's unlikely to suit my band due to the volume. The entertainment policy seems more geared towards the pretentious than the talented, so we shall just have to see.

Saturday night certainly wasn't pretentious! Back down at The Peacock my band gave it everything in front of a lively crowd. It was the second time here for us, and the second time I've come away feeling rather pleased with how things went. Given even a passing resemblance to a 'good crowd' we now have the material and musicians to really let rip. I've never felt so on top of things in a pub before. We have well-known songs and strong originals, and still enough balance to make it interesting and challenging to perform. We really need to build on these sort of nights, if only there were a dozen venues like this, we could begin to really move forward.

I'm looking forward to this Saturday (the 12th July) when we return to another good band venue, the Rock and Heifer at Thornton. I'm rather more reticent about the Drop on Sunday afternoon, but let's hope it's a bit better than Wednesday in Sowerby Bridge.

Until then, enjoy the rain :)

I did 3 gigs last week. Wednesday and Thursday were solo in Leeds. They were both fairly short notice sets, which shows someone must love me. The Library on Wednesday was better than expected considering it wasn't very busy. There were just enough to make it a show and it turned out pretty well. I even managed to sell a few CDs! I played Shadow, Words, Whiskey, Gods n Angels, Won't Back Down, If He Knew You and These Eyes.

Onto Thursday which was a last minute call-up to The Primrose. It was supposedly for Lynne's birthday but she wasn't actually there! I had another good set, a favourable reaction in front of a smallish crowd. This time I did Old Wishing Well and left out Words. As usual the keyboard had a big sound. I've come to realise that there's more chance of a small crowd listening than a large one sometimes, and this means you get proportionally more attention. I wasn't really looking forward to these sets but they were 2 of the better ones. Oh and Matt Baxter's set on Wednesday was superb!

On Saturday night a ventured out in search of new venues and bands. I scored 0 out of 3! 2 pubs I called into advertised bands but of them there was no sign. The other pub has been boarded up and thus becomes another pub to point out which I managed to close down. (Ok I hadn't played there for 6 years but you get the general idea!). A less than fruitful recee and worse still for having to go into Bradford city centre.

Back to my birth city for the Bridge Tavern last night (Sunday). A normally quiet and peaceful gig to round off the week was livened up considerably by a possee of scrotes who came in after the football. A couple of years ago this would have spelt big trouble for me but now I can't say I was over-bothered. They didn't really cause any trouble, other than being roudy. They got a bit close once or twice but the landlord actually made some attempt to move them. In all my hundreds of pub gigs I think that's the first time I've ever seen the management intervene when a scrote has croseed the line. They normally couldn't give a monkey's.

We introduced some new very old classic rock covers. Wishing Well (not mine) is a song just about every Bradford band plays. So I thought we should do it as well. It's actually a song I really like, just that it got over-played. Ive always found I can sing it pretty well and we really had a good sound on that one. It was hard to concentrate with idiots close by but we managed to get through the new songs pretty well. Talk about a baptism of fire!

After it's postponement last October, the Police finally came to Manchester on Wednesday night, the 2nd of two 18,000 sell-out concerts as the comeback world tour nears it's end.


To hold 18,000 they open all the seats, all the way around including those normally curtained off behind the band. This is where we sat! So we got the back view of the band. Different certainly, but nonetheless good fun! There was sound facing our way, which was actually pretty good for once, unlike previous Sting gigs I've seen there. It was compelling to watch Stuart Copeland giving it his all for nearly 2 hours, and the whole thing was well worth the wait. Being where we were the atmosphere wasn't 100% but it's one of those nights I'll take a lot away from and remember fondly. So that's 2 more of my all-time heroes I've now seen within the last month, not many more to go at now.

I did the Chemic Tavern open mic on Thursday night, playing the opening slot I performed 'It Will Pass', 'Whiskey', 'Gods&Angels' and 'One Of Us'. Not the greatest reception given how early it was, but the venue is dead right for those sort of gigs. The size and semi-darkness provide a good atmosphere.

I skipped off to near Carlisle on Saturday to play another amazing wedding venue with Atlanta Soul. It rained solid all day, as it was the first day of summer after all! This time it was a hall that was actually someone's house, and when it's the daughters' wedding what better way to celebrate than to have a marquee holding 200 people in your back garden?! Just another stopping off point on my UK tour of strange and wonderful places to play.

Having made it home just as the sun came up I then had another solo gig on Sunday night. This was at my regular haunt the New Inn at Barwick-in-Elmet. It was a solid night, a little quieter than normal (8 people instead of 12), and I got to play some more of my original material to an audience that knows me pretty well now, on my 8th visit. That rounded off another busy week just in time to start the next busy week.

I still need to tell you more about Paradise Street, but if you can't wait take a look in my top friends on myspace. The page is now up and running and I'm updating regularly.

I've also been making some breakthroughs with internet radio. I'll let you know of any showtimes, but I've certainly made some interesting contacts. I also found time last week to nearly complete the mix of another song for the Paradise Street album. It may be finished for autumn, but as with Peter Gabriel, I'm not saying which one.

OK, here comes a concerted effort to catch up on the last 2 weeks, then I can say I've caught up. Just when you think you've found the end, someone moves the end......

The Band were back out 2 days after Skipton slightly closer to home at the Junction at Queensbury. This time there was no fog and more people. Almost a respecatble amount no less. The reception was none too bad, despite the presence of musicians in the audience which are easy to spot but very hard to please. As a poor spectator myself I can understand this, although it's something that's gone on for years in the pubs of the Thornton/Queensbury district. Still, any audience is welcome these days. Well, nearly any.

The weekend of the 7/8 June showed up the remarkable contrast that exists in my career, and that of most working musicians. On Saturday night I played at the Midland Hotel in Manchester with the fabulous Atlanta Soul Band. We had a dressing room with a balcony overlooking the square and the library, and generally could bask in the surroundings of one of the few hotels that can still be called 'grand'.
The following afternoon was The Bridge in Huddersfield.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the Bridge, indeed my band had a much better time of it there than last time. But perhaps you wouldn't pay £150 a night to stay there?

As I said, the Bridge was a decent gig this time, on the hottest day of the year it was a lovely sunny afternoon. We played as loud as possible which seems to be the done thing there and despite around 50% of the punters sitting outside it was still an enjoyable gig. Afterwards we all embarked on a trip to Cleckheaton for a curry, just like old times. This was the 2nd sit-down meal the band had had in a week, and it does help to socialise with the band. Indeed, many of you may be surprised to read that the musicians could afford 2 meals in one week!

The first two weeks since my 'week off' have been very hectic, and the work-life balance went awry at times. I think I'm now starting to catch up a bit, but it was a bit difficult at times last week. The gigs were another mixture of good and bad.

On the Thursday the band played at The Abbey Inn, threw in a new cover and generally looked set for a decent night at what is one of the few pubs that can be classed as a 'music venue'. But it wasn't to be. We all knew the Thursday was not going to be like a Saturday gig there, but can someone please tell me why the gig wasn't advertised on the pub's own whiteboard???

The same thing happened on my last solo gig there in April. My posters were up, but so were several other bands' in a muddled up manner. Lots of people know me there from the open mics and solo and beer festival slots. Lots of musos and music enthusiasts go too. I was pretty annoyed at this slip up to be honest. It's hard enough work these days playing in pubs as it is, and yet again the warm night means the smokers can stay outside all night. Fair play to them, but the fact remains, how many had come to see a band? Hardly any, because none knew there was one playing. I'd like to say I love playing at the Abbey, but for all it's charm, friendliness, and support for live music, it seems to flatter to deceive, and in the process threw up possibly the worst PJ Band gig so far.

Having navigated Friday the 13th, there was another Atlanta Soul gig on the Saturday in deepest Lancashire, near Nelson. I keep mentioning these gigs because it gives a more rounded view of what I do, and at least means I get the occasional smart venue thrown in amongst the pubs. There was a lovely touch at this one right at the end (and I don't mean from the Finnish girl!). Instead of the usual fireworks, they let off paper chinese lanterns carrying a small flame. It was such a site as they all flew high into the night sky, lighting it up. It was almost like an alien invasion, except that this probably happened some years ago in Barnoldswick, and no-one could tell any different.

Last night I returned to Leeds to support Jon Strong at the Roscoe. My slot went really well and I managed to sell quite a few CDs. I played Cold Cold Day as the 2nd number and it had the best response it's ever got at a solo set. I think Gods And Angels is here to stay in the set too. I also threw in If He Knew You and a cover of One Of Us. It was also busier than last time, and all in all is just the sort of exposure I need.

I'll hopefully finally get around to plugging the Paradise Street myspace page in a special midweek blog, stay tuned.

You may have noticed that I'm a week behind with this, so will see if I can catch up a bit now.
Tuesday May 20th took me to the Arkle in Morley. This is the latest home for Scouse Andy's open mic night. First time I met him was at the Fox and Newt in Leeds last year. Since then it's been to the Old Vic, and since their change of entertainment policy (not having any) we're now at the Arkle.

It's an old-style estate pub, the sort that normally I'd avoid like the plague but this one seemed to be a good venue. The pub is big and fairly quiet but the open mic brought enough people in to make it an encouraging evening. I played four songs: Shadow, Whiskey, Here Comes the Sun and Freefallin'.

Thursday was another new venue: Quid Pro Quo in Leeds, on Greek Street in an area of yuppie bars in the city centre. This is back to the 'younger end' bars that I'm seeing less and less sense in doing. This one was ok, although it seems to be un-decided about whether it's definetly an open mic or not. There was a bacardi promotion going on, which meant at least a promo girl in a tight t-shirt. I was lucky in that I got to play first-did 5 songs, then had a beer and went home.
I played the same orignals as at Morley, and also These Eyes Of Mine, One Of Us and Rocket Man (requested by someone who saw me at Doctor Wu's).

I wouldn't mind going back there, it's got potential. The management seemed pretty impressed so we shall have to see.

Sunday evening was the Abbey Beer Festival, which actually ran all weekend. On the Saturday night the marquee blew down (thankfully after the show was over!) so I played outside and under heavy skies hoped it wouldn't rain. My luck held out!
It was an enjoyable set, with Old Wishing Well added along with Somebody to Love. I tried to give it an outdoor feel....I even did Summer Of 69 as the encour. There's some photos of what I gather was a succesful festival here.

So to Whitsun week, and my 'week off'. Ok, I actually managed about 2 days of actual rest in the Lakes whilst trying to cram in all the other things I had to do. On Wednesday (29th May) there was the Bruce Springsteen concert in Manchester. Everyone knows I like stadium rock, and even though we were sat far away, it was still a good atmosphere and I'm glad I went. He managed to get the crowd working on what was a rainy night down the front uncovered end. It still makes me ambitous to see these shows, and hope that one day I might be able to do the same thing. It's a far cry from the gigs I do, but it's about the best dream I've got!

On the Sunday afternoon, now back home again, the band was out at the Craven in Skipton. We had a good run playing for a thin crowd of locals. Turns out the landlord is from Bolton, so he got on well with Dave, Norm and myself especially. It was a bit surreal I must say. 3 days after Springsteen, belting out 'Hell Freezes Over' to a handful of people....still, it's a learning curve.

Last time I deviated from my normal format and told you all about the Free Download Track. Well, it's still free and downloadable so get hold of it for nowt while you still can! The offer only lasts a little while longer.

OK, so back to business. I'm now on May the 15th, which was my first visit to the revamped Cloth Cat Open Mic night at the Chemic Tavern in Leeds. I've played in many hundred pub venues over the years (as well as drinking in several hundred more!) and I find that the best time to form an impression over whether or not I'll like it is as soon as I walk through the door! I'm an introvert, very sensitive to changes and atmosphere and my environment. What I'm trying to say is that I knew this place was going to be good as soon as I walked in. It had something special, a homely, intimate atmosphere. I hope I'm proved right.

If you go back far enough with these 'ere blogs you'll remember that the Cloth Cat guys used to run the open mic at The Primrose in Meanwood. They've only recently returned to running one at the Chemic. I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit, playing 4 songs as an open spot. (Eyes, Whiskey, Gods, and Shadow-to give them their shortened titles as they appear in my diary!).

Take a moment to view the pub's myspace page. You'll find a pretty picture of the pub with snow on the foreground, and also note the choice of theme tune-'Cheers', which seems rather appropriate. And in case you're too excited to wait, here is the picture!!



*And I can now announce my very first headline slot at the Chemic.....on a real GRAND PIANO too! This will be on Thursday July 17th at 9pm. Be sure to attend as real GRAND PIANOS are very rare in pubs these days!

The following night the Band returned for the second time to the Cricketers Arms at Horbury. We had a good night there again, and look forward to returning soon. One thing that can never be taken for granted in a run of the mill pub gig is the fact that no-one owes you their attention. Even if you think that attention is fully deserved. Therefore it was only in the last 3 songs that the penny dropped and I could really begin to draw the crowd in. I've had my fair share of moments where I've got frustrated at being ignored (are you still there?), but ultimately I'm learning that it takes a bit of gandering out to achieve. This still doesn't change the fact that 'Hell Freezes Over' definetly deserved a better response earlier on, it's a song which is fast becoming my favourite to do live.

Rather than have a rest, I decided to spend the entire weekend watching cars race round a track. On Saturday it was the turn of MG racing at Oulton Park, which is a sedate way to spectate, but there's some really lovely machinery.
Hence....
and...A beautiful pair of 3.9 litre BCV8s!


And on Sunday it was Buxton for the stock cars, which of course is my normal choice of entertainment. I've found a bit on youtube which sort of gets the idea across of what happened in the Final. And yes, they are supposed to hit each other!

THE FREE DOWNLOAD SONG

OK, rather than the usual gig reviews, I'm going to start this week with a couple of pieces of news more connected with the web.

Firstly, I've started to put more effort into building up my online mailing list. This is the type of thing you used to find done with 'hardware' in which a newsletter would drop through the door everynow and then. Of course, now it's an 'emailing list', strictly speaking. Which means I'm doing my bit for the environment in the process!

It's mainly for fans who don't get to see gigs, particularly those in the US. And I've been adding names more regularly for a while now, with their permission of course. The result has been this month's innaugural newsletter-which contains a free gift: a free track to download!

And it's not a throw-away track that I had no better use for either. It's a frontline track from my new album, one of my most played songs, and one of my most popular too.

So, for those of you not on the list, here is the link to the free download right here, now:

CLICK HERE FOR A FREE SONG!

All you have to do is click it and save the file to your computer. Congratulations. You now have your free download of one of my better songs. You can now play it, copy it, share it, send it to friends, whatever you like with it.

Copy it? Share it? Isn't that illegal? As the artist shouldn't I be wanting you to pay for that?

Bollocks.

OK, of course I want you all to buy CDs and mp3s of my songs. But how exactly am I going to do that once I get past friends and family and punters at gigs (all very valued folk of course!)?
Once we lose personal contact, and talk to people online across the other side of the world, it becomes harder to make a 'sale'.

Therefore this is simply a way of introducing more people to my music who wouldn't have otherwise heard it. Simple as that. And for those who have already expressed an interest from hearing the tracks, it's a way of saying 'here I am, come inside and interract'. It makes people feel part of something. If some of these people then want to maybe, just maybe, part with a little money on a few other tracks, then the whole thing will have worked.

Remember, mp3s are infinite in quantity. You can't run out of them, there is NO CONCEPT OF THE LOST SALE. There are only new friends to find, and with a internet worldwide population of millions, there's plenty to go at.

So please go ahead, take the free track, and spread the word. You'd be doing me a huge favour.

It's going to be a short one this week! I'd planned on a quieter week but it turned out to be a case of 'too little too late'. I'd probably already over-done things a bit lately and by Wednesday night I felt pretty awful. My throat was sore and I was aching and generally feeling like I couldn't be bothered doing very much.
This was a shame as I'd gone to see some live comedy in the shape of Andy Parsons that night. I still enjoyed it, but was feeling a bit rough. So Thursday became pretty much a day of rest and I certainly made the right call pulling my trip to the Chemic Open Mic (I'll try again this Thursday instead!).

By Saturday things had improved enough to mean the band gig could go ahead fairly comfortably, although it was a hot night and a hot room to play in! We didn't get a very big turn-out as people preferred to sit outside and do outside things, this being the hottest night of the year so far. The band, however, is more than used to playing to a handful of people and we actually had a great night musically. The set was tight and some numbers were the tightest they'd ever been. So not a bad do all in all.

This Friday we're returning to the Cricketers at Horbury, which went well last time (as most of them do!). We need re-bookings in order to turn over work and keep the diary full and the online giglist healthy. It's working just about so far to my target of playing once a week. Hopefully we can expand on that but with so many line-up changes for now it's probably about right.

See you next time!

I'm a day late this week, due to the Bank Holiday. I'm sure you were all really worried about that....

Anyway, last Monday I did a gig in Bradford. I say 'gig', when it could better be described as 'I played to 4 people in Bradford last Monday'. The Priestley gig has been one of the best nights of it's kind since I first went there last July. It's a songwriter/acoustic night, incorrectly billed as 'open mic'. It has had it's flaws but has real character and a decent set of people in it's network.

However, like all good gigs, nothing lasts forever. I arrived on Monday to find that not only was the audience absent, but that only 3 musicians had been booked. The gig hung in the balance at this point, until we decided there was just enough need for it to go ahead. Needless to say it was a complete waste of time, and the sooner everyone decides what's best for this night the better. It doesn't help that the venue is in administration and seems to constantly have an uncertain future.

March was supposed to be the last one ever, but then I found it was advertised thru July. Apparently last time the promoter and the venue had different nights scheduled and the whole thing fell through. It really isn't that hard to run a decent night, and there's no excuse for not booking enough acts, there's plenty of those even in the absence of an audience. So for now, it's a case of 'wait and see' with The Priestley.

The Wardrobe on Wednesday was at least as per normal. I was on first, but the place did fill up reasonably as the night went on. I did 6 songs, with Words and How Do You Sleep returning to the line-up. I bumped into Mark Sayer, the photographer who captured some of the live shots you see dotted about my websites. We talked, amongst other things, about the Freaky Pest promoter (see January's blog for further details!)...and it turns out he's upset plenty more people than I thought. It's sometimes nice to have my opinion qualified.

Thursday night on this busy week was back to the Band, playing the Waggoners in Queensbury. Steve was back, and we played pretty well to a thin crowd. (numerically not weight-wise). This is another of those venues where you get the feeling that bands won't be playing in another 6 months, or that the faces behind the bar may well change. A decent venue in theory, but a bit of energy is required to sort it out.

On Saturday, and the band managed a new achievement in it's short history: 2 gigs in the same week!! Of course, the line-ups weren't the same, (bass this time!), but it was one small step and all that.... Speaking of landing on foreign alien lands, we were playing at Berry Brow Liberal Club. The most Liberal thing about it being the amounts people drink.

We had a great night really, and got a thoroughly good reception. Most of the band gigs have gone down really well in fact. I just hope it can go where I want it to go.

I value days away from music more than ever now. That's a sign of getting a bit older. It doesn't mean I don't love what I do, I'm just more knackered than I used to be by doing it. So Sunday and the Bank Holiday Monday were set aside, not that I took it particularly easy. I had a family day out on Sunday going over to Pickering, Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay. The latter is one of those places I feel at home with, a bit like the Lakes. I keep eyeing the small houses that are for rent there, and planning.

The day after was back to Stock Cars. Yes, 2 meetings in one day, starting at Sheffield at 12noon, then over the tops to Belle Vue, Manchester for the evening meeting at 5.45. As I said, nice and relaxing. The latter meeting was especially thrilling, with fires, rollovers and drivers running across the track to wrestle with flag marshalls. A typical night's entertainment really. Sorry if this is going over your head, but I do like to try and educate people onto my little planet.

This week promises to be quieter on the gigs, with just a band slot at Lindley this Saturday, and an open mic on Thursday at the Chemic in Leeds.