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.