The goose that laid the golden egg

Another extremely busy week, but at least the blog is on time this Monday! There's been 2 more Paul Jeffery Band gigs since last time. On Thursday we completed a run of 3 new venues in 6 days at The Fenton in Leeds. This is a proper old-fashioned Leeds boozer, a former Tetley house, and long-running music venue. It has an upstairs room where bands play but we were downstairs in the bar, playing to a cross-section of students and older folk. It was pretty busy all the way through.

There's something about playing a pub for the first time. There's always a bit of nervous anticipation about what it will be like. With me the novelty of a new venue wears off quickly, especially now the band has found it's feet. This was one such night when the adrenalin of a new venue, combined with a lively crowd, and the knowlegde that we were playing where we were wanted, all contrived to make this a great gig. It scores an 8, which as you know is quite rare for me to do.

I thought it had all the elements in place, from early sing-alongs to 'Lola', to later rocking to 'Can't Stand Losing You' and 'Gimme Some Lovin'. The originals went down pretty well too. I'd be more than happy to go back here. It's the sort of pub I used to hear about bands playing without ever getting the chance to do them. Now I feel we're doing these places, and that they still exist in 2009. Although very tired at times, I felt last week we were a proper working band, doing Friday, Monday and Thursday. It was fun!

That still leaves The Railway at Berry Brow yesterday (the 29th) which was, as usual, pretty good. We always get a good sound in there, and a good reception. For the first time, all 8 originals were played, and they actually seemed to go down better than the covers. This is the main reason for building on these venues. I'd score it a 6, as I was struggling a bit towards the end. But at least we went down well. We were even offered one of our first gifts from the audience, a goose egg, freshly laid! Some bands get ladies underwear, we get goose eggs.

In between this hectic rock n roll lifestyle of seedy Leeds pubs and goose eggs, I managed to fit in going to see a concert myself. Yes, Jackson Browne was in town (Sheffield City Hall) on Friday night and was well worth seeing. He's one of these singer-songwriters I always knew I'd like even before I'd heard any songs. There's a quality and consistancy to him and his band and whilst it's never overly spectacular, it's always listenable. That's another seminal artist to chalk off the list, Bob Dylan's touring soon.....

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I'm a day behind this week, some would say more, mainly due to the hectic schedule lately. Last week was fairly peaceful until Thursday when I did the Bar Place Open Mic night in Hebden Bridge, followed by the band at the Moorlands, Ogden on Friday, then solo on Sunday night and the band back out again last night (Mon 23rd March).

For Open Mics these days I try and play something new, something I've learnt specially. They're the best place to test new material. So for this I decided to undertake learning 'Brian Wilson' by the Barenaked Ladies. I've been a fan of this song for a long time, I love the hook: 'Lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did'. As with most of their stuff, it's not a 2-minute job to learn the lyrics, they're quite wordy, so I was reciting it for a couple of days before.

The venue itself is tasteful if a little plastic and the open mic itself was a quiet affair. I still enjoyed it though, playing to a handful of people all listening. I played 'Your Shadow', 'Money From The Satisfied Man', 'Cold Cold Day' and the aforementioned BNLs cover. (that's what you can call the band if you're a true fan- a bit like ELP for Emerson, Lake & Palmer). 'Money From The Satisfied' has personally never satisfied me live until this night. I think this was the turning point where I finally did it justice. The youtube version isn't too bad, but on other occasions I've played it it doesn't seem to have gone down too well. I think now I've got a grip on it. It's amazing how songs go on these journeys.....again, all part of the process of playing open mics.

The band at the Moorlands on Friday was very good. It's a busy pub (yes, there is still such a thing, contrary to popular wisdom) and we got an enthusiastic reception. I was a bit daunted when I found out a couple had come to watch us for whom we're playing their wedding soon! I had to assure them we didn't do 'The Bitch Is Back' at weddings!! It was a very good night all ends up, so this can score 7.

Sunday night was my regular solo slot at the New Inn, Barwick-in-Elmet. I can normally name most of the crowd there but this time there were some new faces too which helped. A solid night, again playing a lot of new stuff as I force my solo set to move on from the old favourites, this gets a 6.

Last night (Monday) the band was at Harrys Bar in Wakefield, again for the first time. This place is on the small side for bands and I was worried we would be too 'in yer face', considering not only the size but also that the venue hosts quite a lot of acoustic duos. I needn't have worried....even though it was never really packed, we went down well. After a shaky start I felt we were really together in the second set.

Again, new songs abound with recent arrivals being 'The Prisoner' and covers such as 'Badge', 'Teenage Kicks' and 'Can't Stand Losing You'. The latter in particular sounding very neet. I love putting in new songs, constantly shaking things up and keeping it interesting for myself and challening for the band! In past bands, I've felt we were restricted to playing the same songs, or had a limited repertoire for one reason or another. Now I'm finally realising some of my 'troubador' dreams of playing a wide variety of my favourite songs. Only another 3000 to go!

The night was fun and I'd score it a 6.

A couple of other things to mention: Don't forget you can chat with me if you have yahoo or hotmail emails accounts. It's an instant chat and doesn't require the installation of a programme, it just loads up automatically when you check your mail. Add my Email to talk about stuff!

Also....'Your Shadow' was recently included in another podcast, a very well-run one called Indie Music Sampler. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST



There hasn't been much time for anything else and this week the band is out twice again. I'm still recording the 3rd album and promoting on the web both my older albums and the Paradise Street one. Things are currently busier than ever so I guess I should round this blog off for now and get some more work done, thank you for reading!

A fairly quiet week for gigs has just passed. For the second time in succession The Primrose in Leeds was cancelled due to other bands pulling out. Instead I went to The Chemic Open Mic, which is nearby in Woodside. The Chemic is a haven of respectability in a fairly dicey area, made better by the fact students reside there. They get a bad press but it could be worse trust me. I lived in Salford as a student for 3 years.
This time the Open Mic was busy and I was dissappointed to only get 2 songs. I did 'Words' and 'The Battle Of Who Could Care Less', the latter is a Ben Folds Five cover I learnt and play occasionally. There's a story behind the song in that I used to get Ben Folds requests so I learnt this song, and since then everybody gives it blank looks! So I insist now that everyone cheers like mad during the intro to make learning the damn thing more worthwhile. As usual, I'm about 10 years too late for Ben Folds, but I have to say I really like his music-just I'm not sure Yorkshire is ready for it just yet.

On Sunday I went over to the Strange Reality Acoustic night at the Bell&Crown, Snaith. This was my 2nd visit and it's also become a good venue for the band. The night is well-run and my set was well-received by a smallish crowd (it's normally busier). I have to thank Chris for his brilliant Bob Geldorf-style 'plea' for CD sales at the end of my set! It worked a treat so I really should thank all the people that made a purchase, it's very much appreciated, particularly at the moment.

The Paul Jeffery Band will be busy over the next 2 weeks with 4 shows, starting Friday (20th) at the Moorlands at Ogden, which is a biggish venue by our standards. I'm also at the New Inn, Barwick-in-Elmet, playing solo on Sunday 22nd.

YAHOOOOOOOO
If anyone reading this happens to have a yahoo email account, you may have noticed they've recently started a chat/Instant Messenger which works straight from your web-email account. ie there's no need to install a seperate programme. If so, why not add me as a contact at pauljeffey212@yahoo.co.uk and come and have a chat!

Three gigs last week, and it was a case of two up one down really. The bad one came first on Wednesday but I'll start with the good ones.

Both were with the band, 3-piece version this week, starting on Thursday at Zephyr Bar in Huddersfield. This was the scene of the band's debut gig and has always been a special place to play, indeed at times it's been the only circuit venue that's been any good. Basically it's a younger crowd who come for a good time. And even the older end aren't predjudiced by what the band does, and we get to play more original material. We had a bit of a falling out over terms last year, but this was definetly a return to form. And whilst there may have been a downturn in trade for them lately it was still a good deal busier than some of our venues!! We had a great night, really rocking out towards the end. Audience-dependent songs like 'Lola' went down a storm and I would say this was clearly an '8'. And there ain't too many of those.

On Saturday we were at The Royal Oak at Paddock which seems to have picked up from a few years ago when I last played there. It was pretty busy and overall we had another good night with plenty of interest and they seemed to like our songs. This one gets a 7.

The bad one was, you guessed it, an Ossett Brewery solo gig. Previous blogs will bare out the details on this-I think I've done over 10 gigs in their pubs and they all have one thing in common. They're shit.

Another bottom of the pile gig this time at the Silver King in Ossett itself. Can I plead with Ossett Brewery to re-think their entertainment policy. Take it from me, no-one wants a music night, no-one. And that's not just sour grapes, they're saying this before I've played a note.

So, after another night of no applause, no audience, nothingness, I did the unthinkable and asked to be paid off. After a bit of 'negotiation' I was paid full money for one set and managed to squeeze into my local pub for last orders. I hated doing this but I'm sick and tired of playing somewhere I'm not wanted. I doubt I'll be doing any more there, thank God. Scores 2.

It's not all doom and gloom on the solo front, I'm doing the Primrose this Thursday and the Bell&Crown 'Strange Reality' night at Snaith on Sunday-both will be original material gigs so that should be fun.

This week the band was out twice and I also squeezed in a solo open mic too.

The Paul Jeffery Band did two regular venues: The Cricketers at Horbury on Friday and the Peacock in Huddersfield on Saturday.

My favourite of the two was The Peacock, we always get a warm reception down there. There's a section of the crowd, the older end mainly, who seem to make the effort to dress up, come out and enjoy themselves. It's something lacking in certain venues! This makes it far easier for us to have a good time too. So I'm happy to give this one 7 out of 10.

The night before was a more difficult night. This is largely because the audience is very transient, in and out, moving around the village. It's like playing each song to a different set of people! Only when the night levelled off and the crowd settled down did we get any attention, and this wasn't until fairly late on. Scores 5.

On the Thursday (the 26th, I'm working backwards here!), I played at the Puzzle Hall at Sowerby Bridge for the first time since it re-opened last summer. I'm happy to say the pub is still OK and the open mic and music scene is still strong. I only got to play 2 songs (These Eyes and I Don't Need) but it was still good to call in for a while. Smile please!! The audience poses for the camera at the Puzzle!!








Nothing much else to report for now, except to say I'm busy building a mailing list (email of course). It's great getting to interract with fans, friends, anyone who shows an interest in the songs really. Have to say my overseas 'following' is leading the way in that respect at the moment, so don't forget it's easy to join the mailing list. Just send an email (blank if necessary) to: paul@pauljeffery.com