December, 8 Hours to Go

Today is New Year's Eve, and as such I thought it would be nice to do a retrospective end of the year type of blog.

A lot of different exciting things have happened in my music career this year. These include gigs all around the UK, showcases, a tour, concerts, functions, rehearsals, the lot. It's been manic, but every second has been fun, even the bits where I didn't know what day of the week it was because I'd been working so hard.

So some statistics, the furthest South that I worked this year was Bath for my Godfather's Blues Band. The furthest North with New York Brass Band in Newcastle. The furthest that I worked East was with the RNCM Session Orchestra in Ockendon in Essex for the Out of Essex Project for Music for Youth. And finally, the furthest that I've been West for work this year was Aberystwyth in Wales with Black and Gold Function Band.

Other adventures of this nature involve seeing both ends of the M62 in one weekend. Firstly just short of Hull for a gig with Spinoffs, and the next day travelling to Liverpool with Under the Covers Function Band. Also, day with New York Brass Band where I travelled to Gosforth in Cumbria (seeing the Irish Sea) and then to a gig in Scarborough (seeing the North Sea) in the same day. Mad.

It would take a while to outline all the fun things that have happened in any kind of detail, so I'll say that I've had a great time with all the bands / friends that I've worked with this year. I've also enjoyed learning my way round my new region of the North West and I'm looking forward to continuing my study at the RNCM. 

The diary is starting to fill up for next year, so I'm looking forward to getting going with all that stuff. Hopefully next year my travels will take me north of the border to work in Scotland! But then, who knows what's going to happen.

Cheers everyone! Have a Happy New Year.

Alasdair

November, Royal Albert Hall and that...

November has been an extremely busy month for me. The majority of the first fortnight was taken up with the RNCM Session Orchestra project. For the first week or so rehearsing it, and then two gigs. The first concert that we did was in the RNCM Theatre which was immense fun. We played 2 hours worth of repertoire featuring everything from Michael Buble to songs from the musical Wicked, Earth Wind and Fire to Hairspray. The whole gig went extremely well, and everyone had a fantastic time. For me, it was the most self indulgent equipment set up I've ever used. This included my Overwater by Tanglewood 5 String Bass and my Overwater by Tanglewood Jazz Bass, but also my Electric Upright Bass and Frank Morgan's Fretless Squier Jazz Bass. Things only to be done once eh?

RNCM Session Orchestra in the RNCM Theatre

Two days later (Including an RNCM Sax Day Rhythm Section Workshop in-between) I was back with the RNCM Session Orchestra to play at the Royal Albert Hall in London. This was an amazing opportunity to play alongside the Greater Gwent Youth Orchestra and the "Out of Essex" project. The Out of Essex Project was fantastic fun, it involved the Session Orchestra working with 600 School Children from the Essex area. Together, the whole ensemble played Karl Jenkins' piece "Rondo Latino" which was an absolute joy to hear after the work that we put in to the project. We also performed Elbow's One Day Like This which sounded fantastic in the RAH. All in all, a once in a lifetime experience. I enjoyed it all immensely.

RNCM Session Orchestra, Greater Gwent Youth Orchestra and Out of Essex perform in the Royal Albert Hall

Two days after this, Spinoffs went down to Coventry to perform at the Keeping it Live function band showcase. We played very well on the day and have had a number of emails enquiring about booking the band! You can't ask for more than that! The diary is starting to fill up for 2014 which is great! Also this month, Spinoffs played at Selby Rugby Club for a birthday / wedding anniversary party. Shoutout to Charles Macdonald who depped for the band that evening.

Amongst the regular plethora of Jam Nights and Pub Gigs, a highlight for me was playing as part of a Jazz Trio at the Manchester Music Show at Manchester Central. The band featured myself on Bass, Liam Waddle on Piano and Will Unger on Drums. We played to a very appreciative audience and had a great day at the show!

And last but not least, the RNCM Revue show took place two days ago (bit of a theme here...). I enjoyed playing with The Hughes Brothers (Blues Brothers Tribute Band) complete with sunglasses and Duck Dunn head bob. Everyone loved the high energy performance given by Owen Hughes and Tom Stott as the Hughes Brothers and the backing band which included Myself, Ollie Harding, Charles Macdonald, Liam Waddle, Jamie Sharp and Aaron Wood. And to close the show, Keep Swinging did a high octane set of Pop songs which was a great way to end a fantastic evening of music.

Alasdair "Duck" Simpson playing with The Hughes Brothers in the RNCM Revue Show

That's it for now! I suppose we will have to wait for the madness that is Christmas to start! Fingers crossed I make it to 2014 alive.

Alasdair