A Flight Too Far

Actually, it wasn't. It was a flight from where I was to exactly where I wanted to be, although for most taking the flight in the first place would have been absurd.

That's the thing about being in a band though, you balance your needs, your family needs, and the band needs. It's a labour of love. An absurd labour for an absurd love.

In this case last week my brother and I drove 13 hours to our late dad's house in France to sort out the legals, make sure it had not fallen down, and ensure there was no wine left after our stay. Saturday night I had a gig though at a great venue in Wellingborough, The Horseshoe Inn (England). We'd already had to cancel three times and I didn't much fancy cancelling yet another time. We have a new album coming out so it's also important we get used to the material live. Add to that, next weekend we're playing our first gig in London for quite a time, practice is always good!

Also I could have a night and day with my girlfriend, so that was purely selfish.

Anyway, there is why I drive over on Wednesday to France, Saturday flew from Toulouse to Stansted, and right now I'm at the airport to fly back to Toulouse. What could possibly go wrong?!

Well, anyone reading this who has been in bands knows what can go wrong....

Firstly the bass player and singer from The Bophins were picking me up from Stansted... I had repeated the word "Stansted" many times leading up to this, which is why when they phoned me from Gatwick saying they couldn't find me I was a little... surprised... what do you expect though from a bass player and singer. It did however take about 30 minutes to convince them that they were not actually in Stansted, and that's when they noticed the big sign saying "Gatwick". They hadn't noticed it all journey though!

So, very late I get back to mine. My brother and I had drunk way too much the night before and got up early to go to the airport, so by the time my girlfriend came home from work I was fast asleep in bed...

Time to go to the gig!!

Get there around 7, The Bophins drummer Terry was setting up and the other guys were on their way. No sign of the support band though... So, we sound checked and it sounded great. We realised collectively we couldn't remember a new song which might get onto the third album so we dropped it and put a song from the first in its place.

Still no sign of the support band...

Finally they arrived, about ten minutes before starting, both (two piece acoustic band) pretty pissed and struggling to pretend sobriety. There was no time for them to soundcheck and one of their guitars didn't work (which obviously there was no time to deal with). This led to one of the oddest support slots I've seen. Basically, they played little bits and bobs whilst looking confused at each other, and then one guitarist sat at the side, unplugging his guitar without noticing and decided to randomly strum while looking pretty pissed off and as if he was about to throw up.

I think in a half hour set they managed a song and a half. They then ran away and were not seen again!!

Still, these things happen. We got up and played a great set.

I played my Gretsch for most of the set through a Line 6 Helix straight into the mixing desk and through the monitors, sounded great. Well, after a few songs it sounded great. Because of all the messing around to get the support band working the first two songs the mix was.... interesting... sorted it though.

So now here I am, flew back for one gig, back at the airport to fly out again, then next week my brother and I will drive back, and Saturday I'll play in London.

In between I plan to do my day job, sort out my Laney combo, set up the Helix with it, write a couple of guitar parts, and maybe sleep. Maybe...