In this blog, I want to explain why sometimes I like it when my phone runs out of battery, data, signal, whatever.
It's no secret that people who are self employed have to be on top of their emails and messages, as failure to attend to them can lead to loss of work. But I'm starting to wonder if there is a line as to how accessible you are...
For example: I think that it's probably fair enough to be annoyed at someone for leaving it 3 days to respond to a simple message asking for your availability for a gig. In that situation, all you need is a yes or a no; in theory, you should be able to reply to this as soon as you've looked at your diary, or sent a message to someone else asking about it. But sometimes you get out of a rehearsal / your car after a long drive / off stage after a set and your phone has blown up with notifications, and then you have to justify what you've been doing as to your slow reply. I don't think that's as fair.
Maybe this is a result of technology moving forward so much, people are now contactable 24 hours a day if needs be. This is really great news as information can travel quicker than ever before, however, it means that there's rarely a moment where my phone is out of sight out of mind, for fear of losing out on potential work. I sometimes question what it would have been like to operate as a freelance musician back when my idols were doing great things maybe 30, 40 years ago. Obviously back when the internet, mobile phones and tablets were a myth or a dream. "Hey Pino, you ready for another take?" "One second, I've just got to reply to this group whatsapp message about a rehearsal next week." I can't picture it.
Of course, I say 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But I don't mean that. Owing to my body clock being a bit messed up, I'm often awake when people are sleeping and vice versa. There have been a couple of times where I've got in late at night from a gig and been woken up by a phone call the next morning at a bit of an embarrassing hour. People have asked "Sorry have I just woken you up?" and I lie and say that I've got a cold. So I hardly operate during business hours and the "working day" so to speak. I'm an advocate of the idea that it's ok to still be asleep at 10am, if you only got to sleep 5 hours before that. But with the instant contact thing, people don't know that. I hope that it doesn't come across as unprofessional.
And sometimes it sounds bad, but when you are abroad, or doing festivals and stuff, it can be nice when your phone runs out of battery. There might not be anywhere to charge it, let alone use it. So you submit to the idea that you're disconnecting from the grid. You can actually get on with seeing what's around you, really experiencing everything that's going on without feeling an underlying anxious feeling that you should be communicating with someone to get the job done. And you can be one less person with their phone in the air watching The Darkness do their thing.
In my opinion, this is what can lead to people burning out. Really pushing the boat out. Burning the candle at both ends. (OK I'll stop with those) If you're always contactable, do you ever switch off? Even on holiday, or when you're visiting your parents, the messages still come through, and I always feel compelled to respond as soon as I can for fear of getting a bad name associated with poor communication skills, or being unprofessional; although it can often be quite rude to just drop everything and answer the phone, or send a long complicated email or whatever. I can't be the only person to think like this. It's always good for people to be getting in touch with you to ask for your skills, but sometimes it does get quite tiring.
Apply below for the job of my PA, I'll consider all CVs, I can't pay any money, because, well you know how it is.
Al
Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Monday, 1 August 2016
One Year On
I haven't written anything for a while, so here goes nothing. Basically, I'm a year out of music college and I'm still getting to grips with this Freelance Musician lark. This post is going to be about how I've been getting on so far.
The first thing is, although it's quite a fun and interesting job, it can be pretty hard. The easiest bit is the playing to be honest. Often this job is made more complicated by the logistics of the whole thing: starting the day in one place and finishing it somewhere completely different. Obviously there has been quite a lot of driving involved; I don't mind that so much, some don't like it, but I quite enjoy the late nights driving back from the middle of nowhere. It can make for some quite interesting stories sometimes. Experiences that you share with only late night lorry drivers and National Express coach drivers. Sometimes I wonder how people with normal jobs would cope if they had to drive for 4 hours to and from work and whether they'd be expected to perform as if they'd not been in the car for so long. I don't know.
Aside from the driving, there's setting up, packing away, carrying things, waiting around. The bits that people don't see. Secretly I quite like setting up and sound checking, but sometimes you're just not in the mood. Again, same with most people.
Not to say that it's constant of course. I get days off and stuff, but when you've been running flat out for a few weeks maybe a month on the trot, you get bored. It doesn't feel so glamorous when you do a set at Kendal Calling and the next day you're sitting in your pants in the flat catching up on all the TV you've missed over the weekend waiting for the next day where you pack the car and do it all again. I've never felt this more so than when I was in Spain for a week in April. When you're doing a gig every night of the week, you get back and it can feel like something's missing. You kick your heels and wonder what the next thing is.
A couple of name drops back there, but the same goes whether you're playing a festival set, or a background jazz gig, a show at a cool venue or a wedding in Cheshire or wherever. And again, I don't mind function gigs, I've always said that. I'm glad to be playing as I'm a pretty shit teacher. If you can earn money playing covers, that suits me better than teaching, everyone's different in that respect.
I've done some pretty exciting things since leaving college. Worked on some interesting projects, and equally found myself in some very weird situations where you just get your head down and get on with it. It is work at the end of the day. Sometimes, I think that it's important to remind yourself that it's a job because it can be quite confusing when you're on your third beer and you're laughing and joking around, but you're technically working. It's a perk, but yeah, sometimes you have to give the gig / project / arrangement the time and respect it deserves.
Going on from that, I've learnt that it's important to be professional and punctual and all the bollocks that everyone drills in to you when you start doing this full time. What they don't tell you is that it's important not to be a dick on gigs. Especially if you are spending an extended period of time with the same group of people. That could be on a tour, or a festival site for a weekend, maybe even just in a van for a day. Some of the nicest people that I know are musicians, I don't think that that's a coincidence. You can probably earn a living in music being a dick, but rest assured, word travels pretty fast and people will be disappointed if they see your name on an email sometimes.
I've rambled on for a bit, but I think that the most important thing is that I'm enjoying this. I wouldn't do anything else. Obviously, being a musician is notoriously unstable financially and emotionally, but I think that although there are times when you're waiting for the next gig to come or worrying about where the rent is going to come from, that stuff is balanced out by playing some really interesting music to people who really care about what you're doing. It really is the case that when you're up, you're up and when you're down, you're thinking about becoming a lorry driver because you like driving and you're up most of the night anyway. I wouldn't change it for the world. Maybe if you asked me again in 3 years time I might have a different answer; but for now, I'm having a really great summer with a variety of different situations and styles to play in. I'm not homeless yet.
Al
The first thing is, although it's quite a fun and interesting job, it can be pretty hard. The easiest bit is the playing to be honest. Often this job is made more complicated by the logistics of the whole thing: starting the day in one place and finishing it somewhere completely different. Obviously there has been quite a lot of driving involved; I don't mind that so much, some don't like it, but I quite enjoy the late nights driving back from the middle of nowhere. It can make for some quite interesting stories sometimes. Experiences that you share with only late night lorry drivers and National Express coach drivers. Sometimes I wonder how people with normal jobs would cope if they had to drive for 4 hours to and from work and whether they'd be expected to perform as if they'd not been in the car for so long. I don't know.
Aside from the driving, there's setting up, packing away, carrying things, waiting around. The bits that people don't see. Secretly I quite like setting up and sound checking, but sometimes you're just not in the mood. Again, same with most people.
Not to say that it's constant of course. I get days off and stuff, but when you've been running flat out for a few weeks maybe a month on the trot, you get bored. It doesn't feel so glamorous when you do a set at Kendal Calling and the next day you're sitting in your pants in the flat catching up on all the TV you've missed over the weekend waiting for the next day where you pack the car and do it all again. I've never felt this more so than when I was in Spain for a week in April. When you're doing a gig every night of the week, you get back and it can feel like something's missing. You kick your heels and wonder what the next thing is.
A couple of name drops back there, but the same goes whether you're playing a festival set, or a background jazz gig, a show at a cool venue or a wedding in Cheshire or wherever. And again, I don't mind function gigs, I've always said that. I'm glad to be playing as I'm a pretty shit teacher. If you can earn money playing covers, that suits me better than teaching, everyone's different in that respect.
I've done some pretty exciting things since leaving college. Worked on some interesting projects, and equally found myself in some very weird situations where you just get your head down and get on with it. It is work at the end of the day. Sometimes, I think that it's important to remind yourself that it's a job because it can be quite confusing when you're on your third beer and you're laughing and joking around, but you're technically working. It's a perk, but yeah, sometimes you have to give the gig / project / arrangement the time and respect it deserves.
Going on from that, I've learnt that it's important to be professional and punctual and all the bollocks that everyone drills in to you when you start doing this full time. What they don't tell you is that it's important not to be a dick on gigs. Especially if you are spending an extended period of time with the same group of people. That could be on a tour, or a festival site for a weekend, maybe even just in a van for a day. Some of the nicest people that I know are musicians, I don't think that that's a coincidence. You can probably earn a living in music being a dick, but rest assured, word travels pretty fast and people will be disappointed if they see your name on an email sometimes.
I've rambled on for a bit, but I think that the most important thing is that I'm enjoying this. I wouldn't do anything else. Obviously, being a musician is notoriously unstable financially and emotionally, but I think that although there are times when you're waiting for the next gig to come or worrying about where the rent is going to come from, that stuff is balanced out by playing some really interesting music to people who really care about what you're doing. It really is the case that when you're up, you're up and when you're down, you're thinking about becoming a lorry driver because you like driving and you're up most of the night anyway. I wouldn't change it for the world. Maybe if you asked me again in 3 years time I might have a different answer; but for now, I'm having a really great summer with a variety of different situations and styles to play in. I'm not homeless yet.
Al
Monday, 2 June 2014
May, Nos da Cymru!
Contrary to the title of this blog, I'm going to start off talking about Manchester. So, this month I have had a lot of fun playing for a number of recitals at the RNCM. I played Electric Double Bass with Trumpet player Jack Tinker for a segment of his recital; this also featured the fabulous Liam Waddle on Piano. I also played Bass Guitar with drummers Joe Luckin and Dave McCarthy as part of their final recitals this month. Both were fantastic and energetic performances with fantastic grooves and great playing all round! So well done to everyone who did a recital this month, not just the ones I played for, it was great to see such great playing across the board! :)
Also this month, we were fortunate enough to receive a masterclass with the incredible jazz funk powerhouse that is Snarky Puppy! The band came to college, performed for us and also took time to workshop and answer our questions! All in all, it was a very inspiring masterclass and an honour to hear such unbelievable musicians! I think that a particular mention for Michael League is in order. Michael is one of the most incredible musicians that I've ever come across. As well as being an amazing bass player, he is also the brains behind the Snarky Puppy project. He is responsible for the majority of the writing and arranging credits with the band; which made me think, maybe there's more to this bass playing crack than standing at the back and making the floor shake.
Now, to Wales, kind of. My work with Spinoffs continues around the UK! This month we have performed in: Grange over Sands, Fleetwood, Blackpool, Prestatyn, Hafan Y Mor, Porthmadog, New Quay (Wales), Tenby, Burnham on Sea, Skegness and Watchet. West Coast and down basically. We've had a lot of fun this month with developing the show and generally mucking about on stage. At the start of this month, I invested in a Line 6 Relay G55 Wireless Guitar System which has made the whole show much more fun. It's a new found freedom to be able to run around a venue and confuse the heck out of people! Needless to say, we've had some great weather, some rubbish weather, but then it is the UK! A lot of fun was had by the whole band!
That's kind of it for May! Final stuff for the year is happening at college! Then a long summer break, punctuated with gigs of course. The end of year course gig at Band on the Wall is on the 12th of June if anyone fancies it? See you in June. (I realise it's June now...)
Alasdair
Also this month, we were fortunate enough to receive a masterclass with the incredible jazz funk powerhouse that is Snarky Puppy! The band came to college, performed for us and also took time to workshop and answer our questions! All in all, it was a very inspiring masterclass and an honour to hear such unbelievable musicians! I think that a particular mention for Michael League is in order. Michael is one of the most incredible musicians that I've ever come across. As well as being an amazing bass player, he is also the brains behind the Snarky Puppy project. He is responsible for the majority of the writing and arranging credits with the band; which made me think, maybe there's more to this bass playing crack than standing at the back and making the floor shake.
Snarky Puppy at RNCM
Now, to Wales, kind of. My work with Spinoffs continues around the UK! This month we have performed in: Grange over Sands, Fleetwood, Blackpool, Prestatyn, Hafan Y Mor, Porthmadog, New Quay (Wales), Tenby, Burnham on Sea, Skegness and Watchet. West Coast and down basically. We've had a lot of fun this month with developing the show and generally mucking about on stage. At the start of this month, I invested in a Line 6 Relay G55 Wireless Guitar System which has made the whole show much more fun. It's a new found freedom to be able to run around a venue and confuse the heck out of people! Needless to say, we've had some great weather, some rubbish weather, but then it is the UK! A lot of fun was had by the whole band!
That's kind of it for May! Final stuff for the year is happening at college! Then a long summer break, punctuated with gigs of course. The end of year course gig at Band on the Wall is on the 12th of June if anyone fancies it? See you in June. (I realise it's June now...)
Alasdair
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
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.
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).
Alasdair
P.S. I don't like Michael McDonald
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
Monday, 7 April 2014
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!
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
Friday, 28 February 2014
February, Birthday, Holiday Camps and Slush Puppies
Here we are at the end of February! This month has felt like one massive blur to be honest. Never knowing which way is up, this month has been busy, hectic and productive!
I started the month with a covers gig in Bulith Wells in Mid Wales with Tom Stott, and Ollie and Martyn Harding. This gig was a lot of fun and well worth the 3 hour car journey from Wigan that morning! In this month, I also turned 20! On the 4th of February I officially stopped being a teenager! And what better way is there to do that than singing karaoke in our local pub and falling over? I can't think of one.
Anyway, to business! This month I enjoyed my first holiday camp gig! This was with Spinoffs at Holiday Resort Unity Brean, which is at Burnham on Sea. The gig was a lot of fun, everyone had a great time and we were well received by customers, and members of staff! A fantastic gig, another hell of a drive in the van, and I'm looking forward to returning later this year! Oh yeah, and I relived memories of being about 10 by drinking slush puppies all day. I am going to consider this a quarter life crisis?
I started the month with a covers gig in Bulith Wells in Mid Wales with Tom Stott, and Ollie and Martyn Harding. This gig was a lot of fun and well worth the 3 hour car journey from Wigan that morning! In this month, I also turned 20! On the 4th of February I officially stopped being a teenager! And what better way is there to do that than singing karaoke in our local pub and falling over? I can't think of one.
Anyway, to business! This month I enjoyed my first holiday camp gig! This was with Spinoffs at Holiday Resort Unity Brean, which is at Burnham on Sea. The gig was a lot of fun, everyone had a great time and we were well received by customers, and members of staff! A fantastic gig, another hell of a drive in the van, and I'm looking forward to returning later this year! Oh yeah, and I relived memories of being about 10 by drinking slush puppies all day. I am going to consider this a quarter life crisis?
Enjoying a Slush Puppy at HRU Brean
Another gig for Spinoffs took place at Barnsley Central Working Men's Club! Another appreciative audience, and another absolutely electric gig. Again, I'm looking forward to returning to Barnsley later on this year for another show.
In other news, I went down to Loughborough earlier this month to purchase some in ear monitors! This is a very exciting part new part of my gear as this should help my live backing vocal singing and overall musicianship! For anyone wondering, the company who are making them are Minerva Hearing Protection and 3/5ths of Spinoffs now support them! Fantastic gear, and I'm really looking forward to using them!
And finally, it is with great joy that I announce that I am going to be playing bass in the next RNCM Session Orchestra project! I'm very excited for our upcoming gig, which I'll post more info about a little bit closer to the time! Needless to say, attendance is mandatory.
I'd better go just now as I am gigging in Glasgow tomorrow and I need to be up bright and early! But until then, that was February. See you in March.
Alasdair
Monday, 10 February 2014
January, Blackpool's more than just the Pleasure Beach
Ok, so 2014. I've been back at college a little while now! Apologies for the lateness of this blog as things have been a bit hectic with the end of January start of February type of time. But here is what's been going in January.
Last time I mentioned doing a showcase with Spinoffs it was the Keeping it Live Showcase in Coventry back in November. I did a lot of talking about Session Orchestra that month, so I'll go into the showcase itself a bit more this time. The showcase is an opportunity for acts to perform in front of agents who book acts for Holiday Camps and Venues across the UK, so if you do a good job, you get lots of gigs! Quite simple really.
Last time I mentioned doing a showcase with Spinoffs it was the Keeping it Live Showcase in Coventry back in November. I did a lot of talking about Session Orchestra that month, so I'll go into the showcase itself a bit more this time. The showcase is an opportunity for acts to perform in front of agents who book acts for Holiday Camps and Venues across the UK, so if you do a good job, you get lots of gigs! Quite simple really.
Spinoffs Performing at Keeping it Live Coventry
This time, we performed at a venue along Blackpool's Seafront called The Horseshoe. Each act performed for 10 minutes. Through the whole session, we saw a whole variety of acts including Jessie J Tribute Acts, Soul and Motown Experience Shows, Ventriloquists, Magic Acts and Comedy Acts. However, what we offered was fairly simple in comparison, a 10 minute medley of pop and soul tunes. In this case, we broke the Keeping it Live record for most songs played in 10 minutes, as we actually played parts of 12 different songs.
The whole experience was a lot of fun, we were last on so naturally we were thankful for all the agents that stayed for our performance! And although it was 11:30, we still gave it our all, running around and dancing and such!
I'm quite pleased to say that the phone has been ringing following our performance which made our trip to Blackpool very successful! The band diary for 2014 is looking very full which is always positive! As a band, we celebrated one year together in January so it is great to be working hard and seeing it all pay off! So hopefully no matter where in the UK you are, you'll see us at some point in the near future!
Spinoffs are on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SpinoffsUk?fref=ts) Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/SpinoffsBand) and finally, we have our website (http://www.spinoffs.co.uk) So check us out if you fancy! We could do with likes / followers / views! So that's it for January! Check back in February where I might talk about something else!
Alasdair
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