Sunday 1 September 2013

August, Adventures in the North West

So August saw my return to Bass Guitar after my month of Drums in July. This month I've enjoyed a variety of gigs in a variety of different places mainly around the North West region of the UK.

A big part of August for me has been spent playing for Under the Covers Function Band. UTC are a group of professional musicians based in the North West who form function bands with the facility to accommodate up to three bands all performing at the same time on the same night. The material covered in the UTC project on the whole has proved to be rockier and more contemporary than most of the sets that I have played before, which is one of my main reasons for enjoying the gigs as much as I do! Anyway, UTC gigs have enabled me to see these North West locations: Liverpool, Northwich and Bollington.

I played another North West gig in Birch Vale near New Mills. The event was a festival called Groustonbury Festival where I played many Stax and Motown classics as part of The Soul Shakers Band. All in all a fantastic fun gig with other great bands and absolutely great weather.

Whilst not in the North West, The Spinoffs have also been hard at work! We played gigs at the Golden Lion in York and The Admiral in Hessle (near Hull) in the same weekend. (The one in Hessle was on the same day as my Soulshakers Gig near New Mills, but that's another story.) These gigs were a lot of fun and served as further exposure for the band!

New York Brass Band furthered my North West adventures with a trip to Wigan to celebrate the Wigan Warriors Rugby League team's triumphant return. The team won the Tetley's Challenge Cup two days before the event, and as such Wigan city centre was in high spirits. Another NYBB highlight this month was a wedding in Mattersey in Nottinghamshire which was great fun, and a lovely event!

And finally, I'm pleased to say that I spent a few days in Leyland (also in the North West - I realise that this theme is starting to get old...) with my good friend James Christy! Together we spent some time songwriting with a view to performing the songs as part of the band. To date, this was my first real experience of structured song writing not in a band context, so it was a new step for me, but definitely a great experience.

In other news, I did go on holiday to Spain with my family for a week which was nice! It was great to have the time out to be honest. Also, I have been arranging for the RNCM Session Orchestra in my spare time. The material that I'm arranging will be performed at the RNCM Session Concert in the RNCM Theatre on the 9th of November. So watch out for that one!

Anyway, the UTC website can be found at http://www.underthecoversband.co.uk, The Spinoffs' website is http://www.spinoffs.co.uk, NYBB are still at http://www.newyorkbrassband.co.uk, James Christy hasn't moved from http://www.jameschristymusic.com, and you can book tickets and find more information about the Session Orchestra gig at http://www.rncm.ac.uk/whats-on/event/2012/rncm-session-orchestra1/.

What a lot to get through. Also, I'm aware that it's not August anymore, I should have got round to this sooner.

Alasdair