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!