SftBH News Archive Jun 2003 - Sep 2003

28/09/03 - All the way to Thorndon

Off we all trouped to Fiddly's shed for a damn good sorting out for the new songs. Rough reference recordings were duly thrashed out and work is now thoroughly in progress on what will no doubt become the next CD. The highlights, as is often the case during the first flush of acquaintance with a new lover, are too many to mention...

25/09/03 - White Dwarves

Great Notley Garden Village, a sort of mini new-town just outside Braintree, provided the scene for last night's frivolities, at yet another beer festival. The venue was 'The Oval', a huge pub which overlooks the Green and attempts to be massive yet not a Wetherspoons. We were outside in the beer tent which we are reliably informed will have heaters in it from now on...a little late for us but never mind eh! 

The first set (own tunes) was received fairly well but the second set started with Richard Thompson's 'Shoot Out The Lights' and wobbled about all over the shop from there really. Towards the end we tried out a couple of new tunes of our own, but by then we were playing to a brave handful of souls who had withstood the bitter cold and our outrageous caterwauling throughout. 

Tony Winn came along again and did some delightful stuff, and there were many lovely moments in amongst the more ill-advised bits!

SftBH's chosen tipple of the festival, in the absence of Brewers Gold, Was Oakham Ales' White Dwarf. Ooh, and there was bales of straw, lots of bales. We like bales.

04/09/03 - SftBH in writing frenzy

Just when we thought it was all a one-off...eight new songs! Yes, count 'em....EIGHT!! Helen and Shane have been secretly writing some tremendous tunes for a Helen Mulley showcase set at The Milestone, Ipswich in October, which we've decided to steal (with Helen singing, natch...it's only fair), and James has written a couple of numbers whilst walking back from the village pub after a night out with Russ. A small quorum got together at the Blue House and thrashed out the bare bones of stuff that may well be appearing in front of you soon.

25/08/03 - The Fat Cat provides the cream!

The SftBH crew were pleased to see out the summer in style at our CD launch show at The Fat Cat, Ipswich, on the evening of Bank Holiday Monday - an unprecedented NINE people turned out to play including Tony Winn and Olly Graham, who played on the CD but aren't regular features of the live line-up, on banjo and spoons respectively.

A crowd of 70-ish squeezed into the garden and braved the insufficiency of light and an unavoidable nip in the air, as we played through the album tunes with the gusto that a month without a gig brings. The reception was warm and very much appreciated. Playing with no amplification was certainly a challenge, but in many ways it brought out the best in us and made us all think about what we were doing that much more, enforcing greater care for expression and accuracy!

After a short break we returned to the 'stage' for our usual slightly more lubricated 'Songs that you know but we don't' session, this time including 'Ride On' by Christy Moore, 'This Is The Sea' by The Waterboys, 'Hey Good Lookin'' by Hank Williams, 'Pretty Vacant' by The Sex Pistols (or some of it anyway) and an inspired request from the audience - 'Norwegian Wood', which seemed to go very well with Tony's banjo help. 

After wrapping it up with an a cappella 'Moon River', we drained the last of many jugs of beer and wended our way back to our lodgings feeling very happy indeed with a night that went exactly as planned. Thank you to all of you that turned up and made it special and a particular thank you to John, Dawn and all the staff at The Fat Cat who allowed it all to happen and looked after everyone so well.

Some piccies from The Fat Cat: - Click Here.

23/08/03 - Wales? Bristol? Blimey.

There is worrying talk of gigs on the other side of the country, instantly presenting massive logistical problems for the SftBH crew. More news as it comes in.

CD Launch gig confirmed - Bank Holiday Monday 25th August

Finally, we have a date for the CD's first public outing, on 25th August 2003. This will be the first place to buy the CD, and we'll even play it live for you too, cos we're nice like that. Be at The Fat Cat PH, Spring Road, Ipswich, where we will play the songs with a 9-piece band, including everyone on the CD and all the people that've joined up since. The whole show will be utterly acoustic (except Gib's bass, naturally) and, weather permitting, in a candle-lit garden. If it rains we shall make our way into the conservatory. We're terribly excited, you know.

24/07/03 - The Fox & Hounds, Ramsden Bellhouse - too cool to clap?

JP - Ah, this night we were approaching the very south of Essex, where music is strictly background. As a result we had no idea how we where going down until we'd finished, at which point a long string of people queued up to tell us how much they'd enjoyed it...I'll let Shane do the talking (although I must the say the beer was excellent and the welcome very friendly)...

SK - And so to Ramsden Bellhouse, and one of an almost infinite number of charming Essex country pubs which exist in the serenity beyond the vile A12 corridor, which is all most folk see of Essex as they breeze through it on their way to sit in a traffic jam somewhere on the M25. A frighteningly professional-looking stage awaited us at The Fox and Hounds, which we attempted to fill with our usual variety of bits of wood and string, leads and mics, dials and diodes, belying the myth that 'an acoustic band' would be a low-maintenance way to go about expressing ourselves in public. The usual 'album' set made up the first section of the show - an okay performance, but sound glitches broke concentration, and audience indifference seemed to seep over the lip of the stage and entangle our toes, and when something is this personal and important to you, you like to get it right, and when you feel like you're not it can be very frustrating. That might just have been me, mind.

The stretching of a forty minute selection of songs into a two hour set is not always an enjoyable challenge, but having duly damned the torpedoes we launched into the second part of the adventure with the full seven piece SftBH orchestra willing and able to respond to every challenge, however bizarre, thrown their way. A sterling tour de force from Fiddly "We should have soundchecked you know" Richard (all the way from Thorndon) on a bewildering selection of Waterboys, Hank Williams, Neil Young and Queen (I kid you not) covers, including a stellar 'Start One Of Your Own' from the This Much Talent back catalogue and "The worst version of Matty Groves I've ever heard" (thanks Alie!), over the course of which we cut several vital sections of narrative and, it has to said, about ten minutes off of the versions you're possibly more familiar with. With Russ 'It's tuned to C9 you know' Barnes selecting the appropriate stringed weapon for each song like some sort of folk Ninja, Radar Pete ("Imagine, a hill made entirely of curry, with a lemongrass church at the top") on gob iron, slide and/or mandolin (as appropriate), the fragrant and lovely Helen Mulley on folk and flute, Gibbon being as unflappable and solid as a man who has been asked to play 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road' followed by 'The Wild Rover' can ever be, and super support in averting a selection of code 42 disasters from the SftBH backroom entourage, James and I (apparently the only members of the group without nicknames so far) ended up feeling the way we were supposed to feel when we started the whole ball rolling. A warm, earthy glow (that may have been the ale, mind - I'm not entirely sure) and a true faith in the underlying connectedness and goodness of everything, which was only dispelled when one of my neighbours decided to indulge in a little light wife-beating outside my window at five the next morning. That's the thing about waves, it's the breakers.

13/07/03 - A very, very hot Ufford day and another hog-roast.

After what must have been the world's longest ever raffle, featuring in excess of thirty prizes, all torturously claimed, one by one, from the various corners of a field about  a half-mile square, the SftBH ensemble finally managed to clamber aboard the trailer-stage at about the time the Ufford Fun & Bygones Day was due to be finishing. As a result our view from the stage was of a small band of loyal, happy listeners as well as various vintage tractors and steam engines chugging off up the hill, while stall holders dismantled gazebos and litter-picker-uppers picked up litter. Fiddly Richard (all the way from Thorndon) had hot-footed it over from another engagement in Stowmarket, fully expecting to have missed the whole thing, but in the end had a full 15 minutes to get prepared.

It was so hot that staying vaguely in tune was somewhat of a challenge, and instruments rapidly became slippery with sweat. Still, we had another field to play in and some very good moments came from a scenario in which everyone could hear themselves properly for perhaps the first time.

A relaxing, sun-drenched end to a busy and really quite tiring weekend involving lots of music and quite a bit of beer. Ah, English summers...

The Kirk household, by the way, won a bottle of red wine and a bottle of whisky in the raffle.

12/07/03 - SftBH rock the Corn Exchange (gently).

Our spot at the Ipswich CSV event Culture Shock 2003 had us looking a bit like a sore thumb, sandwiched between some frighteningly wigged-out improvised prog-rock and some more improvised electronic stuff with nice singers. Apart from Kristin Hackett (excellent, btw), we had the only acoustic instruments in the gaff - nine of them!

However, the room seemed to galvanize as we started with the current full 7-piece line-up; we were treated to the biggest crowd the room had seen at any one time all night, and most of them seemed to really warm to what we were doing. A couple slow-danced to 'Let's Do It Country', and both James and Shane later had to admit to a certain dampness around the eyes at the sight of the pair wheeling each other around in front of us.

A small gaggle of pre-teen girls with bunny ears on (something to do with the Carnival...I hope) enjoyed having 'the one about the rabbit' dedicated to them, and despite the fact that on stage we couldn't  hear a bleedin' thing, I think we played a pretty good set. Certainly the reception was warm, and most welcome.

11/07/03 - Field, hog-roast, Brewers Gold - the perfect SftBH experience.

Not a gig as such, but James' brother and sister's 30th birthday party (yes, twins) in a field out the back of the old homestead. The main event was Picturehouse, featuring Shane and Gib in their TOTP2 live experience. Perhaps they shouldn't have attempted 'Fat-Bottomed Girls', particularly after that much beer (I'm looking at you, Kirk!).

A brief SftBH set (with all but Radar Pete present) gave friends and relatives a little taster. Mention must also go to nice niece Phoebe Partridge and her beau 'George', who played a similarly brief set to make Uncle James cry again. A hook-up with Bristol venture The Pindrop Club, featuring Phoebe and many others, is very much hoped for in the future, subject to approval by other Pindrop members. A proper away trip would be nice.

06/07/03 - Parklife.

A fiddle-less SftBH crew took to The Arras Stage in Christchurch Park Ipswich today and bravely fought off a rather bleak on-stage sound to entertain a fair sized crowd that had come down the hill for a gentler vibe. The swallowing of many and various faux-foreign lagers ensured that SftBH personnel weren't too worried about the sound and just sort of got on with it. 

All seven stages were buzzing well throughout the day, with Country Rock combo Perfectly Good Guitars, including SftBHers Shane and Helen, performing a thoroughly jaunty set on the Radio Suffolk stage earlier in the afternoon.

Ipswich Music Day is a splendid event which we were very happy to be a part of. What was particularly pleasing was that people (thousands of the blighters) had clearly come to listen to the performers rather than talk over them  like they sometimes do at pub gigs. Nice. Thanks one and all.

05/07/03 - A good session and a hearty breakfast, the perfect way to start the day.

A massive SftBH line-up of 7 people turned up to play three live songs on Steve Mann's Ipswich Community Radio breakfast show 'Burnt Toast' this morning. We played  and chatted a bit, and it all went rather well. The tunes were broadcast via a few microphones sort of scattered about the room, as capturing everyone individually would have been a bit of a task. The result was, engineering wise, seat-of-the-pants stuff, but made for a very 'live' sound. Credits - JP, SK, Gib, Fiddly Richard, Radar Pete, Helen and new SftBHer, Russ Barnes - our token northerner and friend from the village who contributed 12-string, banjo and nylon 6-string for the first time. Credit must go to Joe the engineer who very quietly and with almost no time at all to do it, set up the room for our peculiar requirements, and seemed very happy at the end.

Most of us wandered down to The Neptune Cafe afterwards for a good fry-up (highly recommended), except Richard who had to deliver some of his rather fine handmade furniture to Woodford Green.

30/06/03 - Urban Terror and a week or so on the sick list.

So on Saturday night we played at The Milestone in Ipswich, supporting one of Shane's many combos, 'gods kitchen'. In many ways it was tremendous - Richard da Fiddle came along and contributed magnificently, as did Helen on flute, voice and even some rudimentary harmonica. The best surprise was Pete, someone that Gib has been doing some stuff with, who turned up with no rehearsal at all. The rest of us met him at 7.30 and by 8.45 he was on stage with us. He played along very melodiously on mandolin and whipped his harmonica out too. A very impressive performance from the man they're all calling 'Radar' - if he wants them to stop he'll have to give up wearing the cap.

I (JP) did get a little nervous about playing such gentle strummings in front of a pub crowd (albeit such a music-friendly one), but in the end it seemed to go down OK. I still feel that our natural home is sitting on some bales in a field though. Good work all round from all the SftBHers, full and part-time.

Later on after a cracking gods kitchen set (witnessed through the window in the front yard, personally - it was a nice evening), we wobbled back to Kirk Central after a quick tequila nightcap and ended up enjoying the balmy night in Shane's garden, where I had a slight disagreement with my beloved Doberman cross 'Jimmy-Jack', who is normally my best friend. There was a definite polarisation  of views over the ownership of a small rawhide-chewy-bone thing, and I'm afraid I came off rather the worst with a bloody and ripped little finger on my left hand. This is going to make some of my favourite chords quite difficult over the coming weeks, so bear with me, eh? All credit to Heath Road Hospital A&E department who had me in, then out and sorted within 90 minutes the following morning when we'd all sobered up.

I also lost my phone, but got that back in the end thanks to a very nice lady on Woodbridge Road. 

24/06/03 - Finished!!....and the grisly death of a frog.

Steve Tsoi, engineer extraordinaire, has two lovely children who apart from keeping us occupied with footballs in quiet moments during the sessions also have a small pond in which they cultivate small watery creatures such as newts and frogs. Or just the one frog to be exact. Or to be completely accurate, no frog anymore.

I'd never seen a snake up close before, so when a shrill cry of "There's a snake, there's a snake!" came through the studio window, we just had to go and have a peek. The deep green grass snake was a bit fatter than I was expecting and not doing a great deal of slithering...but the reason for this became obvious when we noticed the frog's head sticking out of its mouth. There was several moments of inactivity before the serpent yawned open its great jaws and vomited the poor little amphibian back out again, still whole but clearly mis-shapen and somewhat dead. Sid had apparently bitten off more than he could chew, and with a gruesome live performance to witness, if ever those kids have had a lesson in nature, today was it. "Aaah...so that's what happened to the newts", they said.

We finished the mixing too - sounds great.

23/06/03 - Nearly there...

Today we have been mixing the first half of the CD, and by jingo it sounds rather good! We had fun with the 'Autotune' machine which is very handy if you've sung a vocal part with excellent 'feel' but slipped up on a couple of notes. We discussed the morality of using such a machine and eventually decided that if faced with a choice between doing the whole thing again or employing technology to fix one lapse of concentration, then we'd rather do it the quick (and importantly, the cheap) way, thank you very much. It also fixed a  dodgy violin part which would otherwise have been left off, leaving all of us somewhat the poorer.

20/06/03 - Sunny days in a Totham garden

Well today heralded the last of the recording days for the CD, with a final session for Richard Lockwood and his fiddle. Engineer Steve Tsoi was feeling a little queezy and hayfever-ful by the end, so a quick rough mix was thrashed out for a weekend's contemplation before final mixing on Monday and Tuesday. How exciting!

Some of the songs are rather 'kitchen sink' at the moment, and some judicious mixing will be needed to make everything audible in the right quantities.

We also found out today that we will be playing on the Acoustic Stage at Ipswich Music Day. The splendid venue of Christchurch Park will doubtless bring back memories for James and Shane of the last time they played there together, on a flat-bed trailer next to a blue Ford Transit with steam hissing out of its radiator having just got us there from Wivenhoe on the famous 'two open-air gigs in one afternoon' day with As Is just over 13 years ago.

19/06/03 - Plucking brilliant!

Today was banjo-day! Tony came and did his parts, nailing three songs in total. Two of them are in 'F', which proved to be a problem...next time we write songs that will need a banjo, we are advised, 'G' would be much better! 'All The Way To St. Dunstan's' is sounding more and more like a session in a pub these days, which as that was the original idea, is quite pleasing.

14/06/03

We played at The Swan in Little Totham, Essex on Thursday 12th, to a bemused but appreciative beer festival crowd. A few Hank Williams and Waterboys covers helped us fill two hours with only 35 minutes-worth of songs, two of which we missed out. Much Brewers Gold was drunk and it was all in all a splendid evening.

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