SftBH News Archive Oct 2003 - Dec 2003
A roight ol' Coggeshall Job - 13/12/03
Words by James: -
There is a tradition in Coggeshall (of which we are all pretty proud, actually) that everything is slightly skewed, a bit bodged, and to the outside world perhaps somewhat substandard but perfectly functional nonetheless. This type of endeavour is known as a 'Coggeshall Job'.
It explains how "there'll be a heated marquee with electricity ready for you when you arrive" translates into a nylon garden gazebo, no reliable way of stopping the thing blowing away and no power... However a handful of us Coggeshall Jobbers took the task in hand and eventually begged, borrowed and requisitioned what we needed to get SftBH playing in the middle of the road (literally, rather than in a Carpenters kind of way), albeit a bit late.
We managed to get about 50 minutes out, doing well in the rather drizzly greyness and drawing quite a crowd before finishing splendidly, accompanied on 'Bless My Broken Heart' by the Braintree Cubs (or where they Scouts? - they all look so young these days) Drummers, after much coaxing. A heart-warming and grin-making end to a very fraught day. Helen sold a copy of the CD as well, to a nice lady from Leigh-on-Sea.
Afterwards some us went to The Rayleigh Arms at Terling to hear Anna Ryder, who I must say was an absolute revelation for me and really quite wonderful. We just might end up on the same bill with her in Maidstone one day if all goes well and we're very lucky (it's a long story).
IP1 magazine in SftBH freebie shock - 08/12/03
Words by James: -
The latest issue of the glossiest magazine ever to celebrate Suffolk music and arts culture - IP1, has a cover-mounted CD free with issue 12 (the mag is itself gratis anyway). It has a live version of 'Bike' on it, alongside some really rather good other things, with Adrian Nation's song being a particular favourite of mine. Blimey, fanzines have come a long way, in my day we used to cut and paste bits out of newspapers and bash out copy on an old typewriter with the 's' missing...you had to fill them all in with a biro before going to the photocopy shop......mutter mutter....grumble grumble........and we could spell.......gripe gripe moan moan.....
I.C.R. Broadcast number two - 07/12/03
Words by James: -
As part of Ipswich Community Radio's latest broadcast we ended up on a show called 'Acting Up', which was mostly about acting really. Being thoughtful types we did new tunes 'Ophelia' (to maintain a thespian connection) and 'The Big Dipper' (...well OK, that one was just because we like it). Half of us had already enjoyed a fairly intense weekend of birthday parties and could perhaps have been doing other things on a Sunday morning, but the appreciation we received from our hosts made it well worth the struggle! We may have picked up a prestigious festival showing on the back of it if we're lucky too. I.C.R. broadcasts regularly for the Ipswich area and can also be heard and explored via the internet - www.icrfm.co.uk.
Picture of us squashed into the studio (but without Russ who was visiting in Sheffield) here
SftBH - Internet Radio play 01/12/03
Bob Paterson, DJ of some renown, has popped us into his latest 'Net Rhythms' show, reachable at www.spydaradio.co.uk.The show will be available for two weeks from 05/12/03. Net Rhythms is 'an eclectic mix of new and old music from the rock, alt.country, americana, and contemporary folk genres' and has been thoroughly approved of at the Blue House.
All aboard the Gladys (except Richard) - South Benfleet 29/11/03
Words by James: -
Just as we got Radar back again, Richard was busy for this one, which was another kindly bunch of folk-singing type people who were kind enough to let us come along and make the place look untidy for half an hour. The bowels of the barge 'Gladys', moored in a very permanent way in the sludge of Benfleet Creek, look uncannily like a pub, apart from some really rather ill-prepared Adnams (note to pub landlords/club stewards: - if you're going to tell fibs about your beer, it's best not to do it to people who have run cask ale cellars for six years before spending the rest of their lives to date working at breweries). We retired to the safety of the bottled beer and the Guinness after the usual "There's nothing wrong with it..." spiel.
We felt we'd excelled in the acoustical environment again, despite the fiddlelessness which had caused us to drop some of the favourite tunes in favour of other stuff. I was suffering from a nasty throat, which pushed Helen and Shane to the fore on singing duties and very nice it was too. We were warmly received to the point of encore and later joined in with the communal singing and playing with gusto, especially Mad Radar Pete Pawsey who, according to Shane, displayed a firm grip on a very accurate tenor voice which we never knew he had. There were sea shanties all over the shop, as well as a number of songs making reference to badly-handled beer. We heard loads of great songs, really enjoyed the hammer dulcimer, made lots of new chums and walked away with email addresses and cards of various people for future reference, including a splendid melodeon/accordion player whom fans of SftBH's recorded output may yet hear more from.
Thanks again to all present for having us and letting us prove again that the so-called closed shop of traditional folk music can embrace original compositions that have the spirit if not the style and technique that is usually required for the genre.
The curate's egg - Little Totham 25/11/03
Words by James: -
Played at The Swan in Little Totham, sans Radar (again...blimmin' part timer!). The first set was pretty damn good but we did get led slightly astray as the evening went on. There was considerable enjoyment to be had backing up 8 year old 'Jessica' on The Bangles' "Eternal Flame", but it may be a year or two before she gets dragged in to record with us. Loads of promise though.
The new material was well received by the locals (but mostly only when Helen was singing...pah!), which made me even more confident about the upcoming recordings.
As the night wore on, Shane gave a severe kicking to 'Tonight's The Night' by Neil Young which I think will stay with me for a long time. Absolutely spine-tingling frankly...
All The Way to Thorndon! 15/11/03
Words by Shane: -
High drama, low farce and roast pig combined to make the first annual Thorndon Music Evening exactly the sort of thing that one gets into music in the first place for. Good friends, rivers of grog, musicians playing with each other….but let's draw a discreet veil over that aspect, there may be children watching.
For anyone who's never sound-checked, essentially the process
involves hanging about in an empty hall for around three to four
hours with a hangover while earnest types with worried
expressions attempt to locate the nearest hiss, bubble or squeak
being fed back through the monitors. It's a lonely profession and
one that requires dedication, attention to detail and the ability
to miss out on a huge feast at Fiddly's (for which thanks are of
course due) because there's one more acoustic guitar to check.
Also thanks to James not only for his sound-check versions of a
Guy Clark number that I desperately hope was recorded, but also
for ringing me on my mobile from around six feet away "to
see if you're awake". That was the afternoon.The gig itself
kicked off with a short set, and even shorter skirt from Hannah
Jane Kirk, accompanied by SftBH's very own Radar on harmonica,
Gib on bass and 'Steve' on guitar, bvs and sweating. Interested
parties can see more of H (although not much more, I'd imagine)
at The Fludyers Arms in Felixstowe on Sunday December 12th, call
01394 283279 for details…but I digress.
A challenge here for the SftBH set compilers in that for once we
had to drop things out instead of pad things, so many new
favourites had to hit the cutting room floor prior to us hitting
the stage. The hubbub and hum of the lively bar area situated
right next to the stage made some of the quieter, more reflective
numbers a little hard to concentrate on at times, as did Radar's
continued mandolinist-as-Michael-Schenker routine, and for
different reasons, but I wouldn't have him any other way
("There's something wrong with this set" Radar was
heard commenting prior to the show, "I know all of these
songs…"). Helen was in particularly fine voice on her
lead numbers, the experience of having to belt out
"Ophelia" to a beer festival without the aid of
electricity clearly having left its mark, and there's usually one
song that gets a particular beasting from Mr Partridge during an
evening and on this occasion "Then There Was Sunshine"
was the lucky recipient. Part two of a segued nailing together of
two songs which share a common chord sequence but diametrically
opposed lyrics (I think one counterpoints the other quite
splendidly myself) "…Sunshine" lent itself amply
to the soul-bearing vocal stylings of Mr P, and provided just the
boost we needed to take us into a rousing "Big Dipper"
/ "Not That Kind of Girl" finale. There was just time
for a final word of thanks for Watford FC before we were able to
tuck back into the illicit backstage stash of Brewer's Gold and
enjoy the rest of the show.
Time and space forbids too lengthy a critique of the entire
evening's entertainment, however suffice to say that we rocked,
swayed, sang along, and I was even moved to take the floor for a
romantic waltz (sorry Shelagh!) at one point while Fiddly, his
brightly coloured waistcoat, his Concorde-volume monitors and his
erroneously translated band brought the house down. Collective
hurrahs for everyone else that played, sang, saxed and stood in
on bass (the ever dependable and vastly talented Mr Richard
Hammond, everybody). Absolutely stonking show chaps, particularly
from gurning cymbal-spanker Seamus Hussey, who I very rarely get
to watch play as I usually have my back to him. Russ, with
characteristic attention to detail had spent a good deal of the
sound-check trying to persuade James and I that we really should
work something out for an end-of-evening session, with little
success, so I'm sure he was surprised as I was to find a
rollicking "Shakin' All Over" providing guitarists from
both bands with ample wigging out opportunities. Not as surprised
as I was to find myself in a Kirk-Partridge drums and bass
combination rhythm section shortly afterwards. Fortunately, just
as the session entered that tricky "I'm lost for
chords" section where it all ends up in an inevitably dreary
"Sweet Home Chicago" to which nobody can quite remember
the words someone started a fight and we had to pack up. Phew.
A short hall-emptying later and we were back in the bosom of
Fiddly and Shelagh's boundless hospitality; eating, drinking and
playing half remembered songs on acoustics till we couldn't
remember any more or were too tired to hold the guitar upright
(Russ delivered a particularly fine harmony part on one song from
his prone position over by the fireplace) which is, frankly,
pretty much what we like to get up to the rest of the time, to be
honest. I believe James has still to pick up the chicken he won
in the raffle (we were in the country, remember). The 'Coping
with Breast Cancer' charity is around £2,300 better off. Our
collective souls have been enriched immeasurably. Thanks
everyone.
12/11/03 - SftBH Too
Wahoo! Studio time has been booked in January and February for the new CD sessions. We expect an earthy but shiny acoustic sound and some great catchy tunes. Helen's voice will feature more prominently, but James has thrown some vocals into the ring too. Shane, as always, has provided most of the notes. We're quite excited about the new stuff and hope to get it right in the New Year!
31/10/03 - Margaretting Time - Mad Radar Pete Pawsey misses another one!
Last night's show - a very wet and windy White Hart, Margaretting Tye, Essex. Words by Shane: -
I would
have it known that I thought Mr Barnes was on startlingly good
form, that I believe that we do, indeed, play better when there
isn't all that tiresome electrickery malarkey to worry about
going wrong, that there is probably a half-decent musical lurking
amongst all that material* (I can see Darren Day now,
gesticulating wildly to the gallery as he acts out 'Special Kind
of Love' at the Dominion Theatre, or on the Lottery Show Extra),
and that I am particularly proud that we played a two hour
non-stop set of original material and not once did I think
"Oh, it's that one....oh well...". Furthermore I would
like to apologise not only for the slightly slurred guitar part
on 'Forever' (which is a shame because it's quite good when
played properly) but also for the cumbersome way in which I
expressed my deep and sincere feelings for the landlady; given
that although she was tanned, gorgeous AND wearing glasses, there
really is no excuse for insisting on telling her these things.
I'm sure she's fully aware. Good work on the driving at high
speed in foul weather from Gib (solid as a rock as ever - he's a
sort of rock of Gib) and on-the-road adaptation of Status Quo's
"It's Margaretting Time". I'm sorry the euphonium solo
didn't really work out. Maybe next time eh? Aside from that I
think Fiddly ought to write something. And I'd really like to see
Radar's review.
*I'd rather Ben Elton didn't have anything to do with it, mind.
24/10/03 - New stuff
An Avatar writes; Collaborative genius at its best as the so-called Three Wise Men congregated at The Blue House this week to work on new material. A hybrid Kirk/Mulley lyric was treated to a good Roget-ing while James and Gib dissected, poked, prodded and probed the Shane-inspired tune and then put it all back together, resulting in a moody little piece allegedly reminiscent of (in descending order of hipness) Union Station, Warren Zevon, Chris Isaak and, er, Chris Rea, which should please and appal members of the Big Band in fairly equal measures once they get their hands on it. Preliminary discussions in the Umm and Arr dept of The Blue House are already happening about material, production values and sandwich fillings to be included in the making of the follow-up SftBH album (tentatively titled 'SftBH Too'). The phrase 'pedal steel' has been mentioned more than once already and James is already allocating duet material. By the time we've finished, hopefully technology will have advanced to the point where we'll be able to include some of the plethora of live recordings, demos and shaky hand-shot in-performance footage we've been accumulating on the accompanying DVD. Helen, as yet, remains the only resident of The Blue House with a "Let's Do It Country" ringtone however.
17/10/03 - SftBH sneak into Wimmins' Night in daring banjo-assisted raid
Hiding behind the mask of being Helen's band, we (except Pete - still ill, we think) did the new stuff with Helen singing on it and a couple of her old 'uns for a Suffolk Songwriters night at The Milestone in Ipswich.
Suffolk Songwriters was on this occasion featuring only female singers, the first of which was Laura Beardsell, whose voice we were rather taken with (in fact Laura, if you're reading this, please get in touch as I've got some duet ideas for our next CD). Laura showed clear precise melody and lyric writing and ample guitar ability. Helen followed with us, her ramshackle band, and I think we pulled it off rather well with possibly our tightest performance yet, probably due to the rehe***als we had in preparation. As Helen did her stuff, James and Shane in particular enjoyed sitting back and being sidemen for the evening.
Last on was Kirsten, a leather-clad rock-chick who aroused no small amount of interest with her confrontational pointy posturing and gargled vowels. A technically excellent singer to be sure, backed by a terrific guitarist, but the material didn't seem to suit the night and no attempt was made to react to the circumstances. Some of the between-song banter had to be heard to be believed, and by the end this had completely put off even those that were still giving Kirsten a chance in the latter stages. Sorry mate, but it just didn't work, especially the U2 cover on an original music night.
Still, we had a giggle, and sounded worrying professional at times.
Helen sez: -
It
all happened very organically, as is inevitably the case with
Blue House affairs. One minute it was Shane and I doing a few new
tunes for a Suffolk Songwriters gig; the next thing I knew, there
were banjos, mandolins, fiddles and counterpoints all over the
shop.
In
my own little girl-with-a-guitar way, I’ve been writing
songs since I was 14 (I’m not counting a rather catchy ditty
I wrote at the age of about 10, for a competition on Radio
Orwell, which began with the toe-curlingly embarrassing couplet
“With neon lights, the world is changing, young ones
don’t cry/With rock music and roller skating, old world
don’t die….” Damn those neon lights and roller
skates!) - but I’ve never written or performed with a band
before. So the Songwriters gig was a completely new experience
for me and I must say, if you’re going to have the support
of a group of musicians for the first time, it’s a neat
trick to make sure they’re of the Blue House calibre.
Forming
the core of the set were five songs that had emerged from the
first HelenandShane writing session - Ophelia, Antibike, Waste of Angels,
Happy Day and Leaves.
Of these, the first three were the result of me listening to a
tape of riffs from Shane and adding words and melody. He’s a
sort of magical musical catalyst, is Shane - just ask Mr
Partridge. The first incarnation of Ophelia
had a distressingly Bon Jovi-esque leaning, so Shane calmed it
down a bit and incorporated one of his favoured theatrical
metaphors. Happy Day was a bit more
experimental - I just had some lyrics, which I’d written a
few years ago, so Shane and Steve Constable (who was also at the
first writing session) came up with the rest of it, mainly by
asking each other “what’s your favourite chord at the
moment?” It was hanging on to its place in the set by the
skin of its teeth for a while (particularly as no one seemed to
be able to remember Steve‘s favourite chord), but now
it’s been Blue House’d, I like it lots - I think
it’s a cute, catchy little pop song. Do correct me if
I’m wrong. For Leaves, I brought both
lyrics and music - although I do have a confession to make. Shane
doesn’t know this, but he actually inspired this song, too.
Ages and ages ago, he gave me a tape of something he’d been
working on - a pretty thing in open tuning - and asked me if I
could come up with some words (because I did “folky sort of
stuff“). I duly did, but somehow the two never got put
together. I didn’t forget the tune, though, and it really
hasn’t changed an awful lot. For the conspiracy theorists
out there, Ophelia, Antibike
and Waste of Angels were written in a car. Leaves
was written on a bike. Make of that what you will…
To
complete the set, we resurrected a couple of oldies (insert your
own joke about various Blue House members here). On the
Contrary, which Shane and I performed the first time I
got a Suffolk Songwriters gig and which is still a favourite of
mine; and Forever, which I don’t think
has had a real airing before. Pete “seagull” Wilson of
Bishops Stortford should probably get a writing credit on that
one, as he put that staccato D (dah-dah-de-dah) bit in as the
song moves from the verse to the bridge.
And
then the Blue House Boys worked their magic. Haunting fiddle
solos, luscious layers of strings, beautiful bass lines and
subtle harmonies appeared, taking the songs to a whole new level.
Final verses, choruses and middle eights mysteriously
disappeared. And, much to my delight, I got to put my guitar down
and concentrate on singing - yay!
The
gig itself was very special for me. I was nervous as hell, but
determined to make the most of being front man for once. I
remembered all my words, attempted some between-song-banter (some
bits of which were more successful than others) and just emoted
for all I was worth. The boys, all of them, were magnificent.
Most of the numbers are Songs From the Blue House now - but
thanks, chaps, for being Songs From Helen Mulley for an evening.
I
had a “meet the band” spiel planned out, but my courage
failed me at the last minute on the night - it just seemed a tad
over the top. But, for the record:
“On
guitar, mandolin, banjo and dobro, the versatile - if slightly
northern - Mr Russell Barnes. On fiddle and hospitality, and all
the way from Thornden, the astoundingly talented Fiddly Richard.
On bass, beautifully as ever, Gibbon. On guitar, inspiration and
don’t tell anyone, lyrical refinement, the renowned Mr Shane
Kirk. And on other guitar, clever bits, production and my mind,
always, Mr James Partridge”.
Ta.
12/10/03 - And a hey-nonny-yes
Well what a fabulous evening we had in Terling last night, despite the lack of Mad Radar Pete Pawsey, stricken with flu and therefore unavailable.
Any worries we had about being a tadge out of place at a traditional Singers' Night were quickly blown away by an excellent reception from an interested and appreciative audience. I know I keep going on about this, but it was another acoustic performance and we seem to flourish under those conditions. I mean even the Courage Best tasted good.
Members of the club got up and shared songs of their own with us before we played our first set of 6. Then there was a break, more people did tunes, and then we did some more to finish the evening. Tony had turned out to assist with banjo duties and did a couple by himself in the second half; this was the first time most us had seen him perform solo, and I can only say that we're very lucky to have him helping us out in the Blue House.
A thoroughly informal, civilised and educational night, and all captured on minidisc too. If its any good we may use bits of it on the next CD, perhaps. To all that were there, thank you so much for having us (as Shane repeated in a tired, emotional but thoroughly sincere manner on at least twelve occasions! - Aaaaah, bless).
05/10/03 - Single-piston, two stroke
The historic Ipswich pub 'The Brewery Tap' provided beer, Sunday Lunch and a stage for an assortment of SftBHers in varying states of health this afternoon. This was landlady Val's leaving party weekender, and Mr Kirk had availed himself quite fully of the facilities on the previous evening and was somewhat...dishevelled, shall we say. Mr Partridge had (and still has) a slightly dicky tummy with bilious interludes. None of this hindered anyone that much, but the constant struggle with the evil electrickery did at times prove too much, with some peculiar screeches, farts and wails doing there best to put us off our stroke.
While we were there, Russ was taken on a quick trip to see the steam engine out the back, once used to power the brewery's lifting gear, mill and such. Evil electrickery took over there too, many yonks ago, but no beer is made at Tolly Cobbold these days anyway, production having been shifted to Ridley's in Essex after a "merger". James could well have taken everyone for a full look at the brewery, having trained as a tour guide there over a decade ago, but even the brewery museum is locked and bolted now.
We were enjoying the wood and rugs feel of the place and after a full round of Brie and Bacon Baguettes, we played absolutely bloomin' everything, all the CD stuff and a shed-load of new ones as well as a couple of covers, including a chillingly authentic 'Helpless' during which Shane sounded more like Neil Young than the man himself. After a brief beer-break we realised that a fair amount of faces in the bar had only just arrived and thought it might be an idea to do some more for them. We need the practise anyway, so we ran through the new ones again and added a few more party pieces. All in all, a fun afternoon, hosted with inimitable joviality by landlady Val.
Some highlights - 'Ophelia', 'The Big Dipper', 'Never Let It Go', 'Leaves/Then There Was Sunshine' and 'Special Kind Of Love'. Mad Pete Pawsey raised somewhat of a whoop with his 'playing mandolin with teeth' antics, which of course may not go down so well in the more rarefied atmosphere of a traditional folk club, for instance. After the 'Johnny Cash' incident at Notley, he was obviously determined to make amends and duly did so in spades.
At the end of this mammoth set, we reflected on how odd it was that under a year ago there was only three of us and we worried about how we might fill 20 minutes! PICTURES FROM THE BREWERY TAP HERE.