April, The Michael McDonald Version

That's right! Everybody's favourite Session Singer features heavily in my blog this month! Read on to discover why...

April has been a long month, but a fun one! The month began with the first of the Haven Holiday Camp gigs with Spinoffs! We started at Thorpe Park in Cleethorpes, then to Reighton Sands at Filey. The following week, we were at Blue Dolphin and Primrose Valley holiday parks in Filey, and the next week we saw Haggerston Castle and Berwick Holiday Village!

It's been really great to work with the Haven staff and the Funstars to play for some really appreciative audiences! These gigs have been tremendous fun so far, I'm very much looking forward to the coming weeks! And yeah, at each camp we've been putting Quackers the Duck on top of the bass amp as a Spinoffs tradition. The staff told us only to return him safe and sound once the gig was over.

Quackers atop the bass amp at Blue Dolphin Haven Camp Filey

These gigs were my first with my new Minerva In Ear Monitors! They are simply fantastic and have really given live performance a new perspective for me. The monitors are fantastically clear and extremely useful for live backing vocals! It's a novelty to actually hear the other 4 members of the band singing! Joking aside, a massive thank you to Minerva for all of the our in ear packs, we look forward to using them every gig!

Also this month, I was fortunate enough to receive some tuition from guitar legend Mike Walker with the band "Alcajazz." This consisted of us playing a variety of different styles of music (INCLUDING STEELY DAN'S SONG PEG WHICH FEATURES BACKING VOCALS FROM THE ONE AND ONLY MICHAEL MCDONALD). All in all, a fantastic couple of days that really opened my eyes to playing as part of a rhythm section, with a lot of helpful tips for playing different styles of music in a stylistically correct manner. Let's just say I have a tendency to overplay. Didn't see that one coming!

Finally, April also saw two absolutely electric RNCM Session Orchestra gigs! Some absolutely fantastic playing across the band and for me, a really great feeling to hear it all come together after months of hard work! So a massive well done to everyone who was involved in the project from me, but a special mention to my arranging compadres who really helped to add an extra kick to the whole band's sound. I'll look forward to sharing the footage when it comes back, but for now, here's a picture of me doing a bass slide. (For those of you who remembered the title of this blog, we did the Michael McDonald versions of Higher and Higher and For Once in My Life on the Session Orchestra gigs amongst other great songs).

Playing Bass for RNCM Session Orchestra in the RNCM Theatre

That's it for now! May is about to start, my assessments at college are looming ever closer, but for now I'm excited. The sun came out the other day, that's good? I'm going to stop typing now.

Alasdair

P.S. I don't like Michael McDonald

The man himself

March, Sister Acting

So here we are in April, but nonetheless, I am going to talk about March.

March started off with a great gig up at Brewdog Glasgow with New York Brass Band! This was a fantastic opportunity to play some drums and see some friends who I've not seen for a while! As well as the gig in the evening (which was a great laugh) we did some busking in the city centre, where as good fortune would have it we stumbled across a member of Scottish royalty! Britain's Got Talent finalist Susan Boyle just so happened to stop by as she was shopping with her niece on Buchanan Street. She stayed and listened to the band, and after we finished playing, we took a picture with her!

New York Brass Band and Susan Boyle in Glasgow

Another highlight for March was the RNCM St Paddy's Day Party Gig. This took place at college, and I played as part of BYOB (Bring Your Own Band). This gig was a lot of fun and also an opportunity for members of the band to do some lead singing! Something that we wouldn't normally have done! Furthering horizons and that...

This month, I was also involved in depping for two bands on gigs that were a long way away. The first was with The Saints in County Durham, and the second with Lucas at Butlins Skegness. Both gigs went without a hitch and were a lot of fun! Thanks to Jamie Brewster and Sam Weston respectively for getting me involved!

And finally! This month I was very fortunate to have been involved with the ATG production of Sister Act at the Liverpool Empire Theatre! This was a fantastic show with a superb and enthusiastic cast! The band were also outstanding and I have to say, it was very exciting to return to the pit band side of the music industry! Unfortunately I had to dep the final gig out to Sam Weston due to doing a function back in Manchester, but all in all, a fantastic week in Liverpool!

So, for the next few months, my life is going to be run by Spinoffs! For those of you who live under a rock, Spinoffs are the party band that I play for! Haven Camps, we're coming for you!

Alasdair