The Weekly... Volume 15

Welcome back to the weekly... where once again you correctly point out that 2 weeks have elapsed since the last posting... Punctuality has never been a strong point folks. On more than one occasion I have been asked how I manage to get to gigs on time, and it is a question that I can't really answer with any degree of certainty. In any case, it is rather fortunate that the words "efficient" and "punctual" appear to be missing from the Rock'n'Roll dictionary... much the same as the corresponding dictionary that is used by the City Rail network in Sydney.

Now where did I leave you...? Ah that's right, Hong Kong. A rather efficient city in fact. At least that's until you make it to the international airport and board your Finnair flight to London via Helsinki. (Musicians travel on cheap flights that rarely follow the most direct route). Turns out on this particular occasion there happens to be a storm north of Hong Kong which means our flight is delayed by 2 hours - all of which has to be spent on the tarmac... in the plane... This is something I have never understood - why couldn't we spend the time in the departure lounge? At least then I could spend money on food and drinks that I don't really need to keep myself amused. That would help the airport a lot more wouldn't it?!

The ten-hour flight to Helsinki was fine once we were in the air. They had reasonable movies, and made a reasonable attempt at creating something I might recognise as "food". Helsinki it seems is also a rather efficient sort of place. So efficient in fact that the passengers, upon alighting from the plane, are put through the same security check that everyone went through before getting on the plane in Hong Kong. Just in case the items which were safe enough to carry on the plane in the first place are not safe enough to bring into the airport (because a large concrete airport is so much more vulnerable than a plane hurtling through the air at 800km/h). It turns out I was in possession of 3 of these such items - a small can of deodorant, and 2 x 600mL bottles of still mineral water. That mineral water can be nasty stuff when it gets in the wrong hands.

Well I won't harp on that stuff too much, because after all I am travelling, and these are the sorts of things that we invariably all have to put up with when we load up a suit-case and head OS. Suffice it to say - I did eventually make it to London, albeit a few hours behind schedule. As expected, the UK was putting on a show for my arrival in the middle of summer - rain, fog, 11 degrees. Welcome back old chap.


GIG 1 - The Hare and Hounds, Brighton. Friday 11/7/08.

The start of my first UK "Tour". I had played in London once before a few years ago, but it was just a one-off performance, and therefore not a "tour" as such. This time around however I've got 15-20 gigs already booked and Brighton is the first port of call.

Armed with my guitar and a fairly enthusiastic demeanour, I arrived at the Hare and Hounds pub (around a 20min walk from Brighton train station) raring to go. Unfortunately, not all seemed to be going to plan. The headline band had not heard that I would be arriving for their Friday night extravaganza, as they had already booked a full line-up... Slightly discouraged, but all hope was not lost as there was also a band room upstairs - I must have been playing there. Only one problem - Upstairs was locked. Upon asking the man behind the bar, he politely informed me that there was no music upstairs that night, therefore I was stuck. In Brighton. In a pub that didn't expect me. With a band that really didn't want me to play, else I would be eating into their set time.

Now I have never claimed to be a rock star of any description, but at the other end of the Spectrum it would be nice to think that when you book a gig on the other side of the world, the pub would at least be ready to have you play when you got there. Possibly even give you a free beer if you were lucky...

Fortunately after a period of confusion, the entertainment booker arrived, and following an email check - yes, it turns out that I had actually booked the gig, and I was able to officially kick off the tour with a 30-min set in Brighton. The headline band were actually pretty cool, and didn't seem to mind a great deal once they realised I was in fact someone who was meant to be there. As opposed to someone who had come all the way from Australia with a guitar and just happened to make the 20min walk from the Station to the Hare and Hounds, avoiding all the main tourist areas in Brighton in the process, because he had heard that was the place to go if you didn't have a gig and you wanted to get one by walking in the door and pretending you were meant to be there...

All in all, a good night in the end. And it's all about the story anyway. Imagine if none of that had happened - would have been a fairly uneventful first gig wouldn't it. Good to see some old friends, although I'm not entirely sure they could hear much of what I was playing as the speaker was facing the other direction, and a hen's night sat down beside them just as I was about to start.

GIG 2 - Open Mic, Islington. Tues 15/7/08

I have decided I will include open mics in the tour diary - quite often they make for an interesting evening. As I am trying to do this tour independently, they can also be a good chance to meet a few new people doing a similar thing. And maybe if someone actually reads this blog, they might choose to head along to it themselves next time they are in the area...

So in fact I found out about this night, at The Embassy Pub, whilst I was doing some research in the internet cafe in Brighton. It's worth heading up if you're in town and you want to play a few tunes - generally I found the crowd pretty supportive, and it was a pretty relaxed environment despite the bongo drums making an appearance once too often. (I have not been able to appreciate the Bongo drums ever since my trip to the Woodford Folk festival 3 years ago when I had to listen to them on every single stage for 3 days running...). Bongo drums aside, the 3 songs I got to play were a nice enough warm-up for my show the following night at the hundred club.

Missed the last tube. Had to catch the night bus home. At least I didn't fall asleep and miss my stop.

GIG 3 - The Hundred Club, London. Wed 16/7/08.

This one is the first one I booked for the trip - several months ago. I did play the hundred club once before about 3 years ago, and fortunately the venue has decided that I am not too bad, and also that I have a large group of friends currently in London who don't mind a drink in the middle of the week.

A big thanks must go to Helen Greenham who opened up the night at short notice and played a really nice set. It's a shame that, as the beers flowed freely, so to did the conversation in the room. A little discouraging for Helen, but nothing to do with the way she played...

www.myspace.com/pearceleneh

This was pretty much the only show I had booked, aside from one in Edinburgh, which was specifically my own headline show, so I enjoyed the opportunity to play a full set - probably close on 90mins by the time I was done. Unlike the gig in Brighton, the venue was actually expecting my arrival, and had even tuned the Piano that morning - it sounded amazing. Like Helen, I struggled with the background noise throughout, which was a bit of a shame.... But there was 120 people in the room, and most of them hadn't seen each other for a while, so really it was a chance for a great catch-up for a lot of them. Nothing much I could do about it, and in any case I have to remind myself that I got the chance to play a show on the other side of the world to a room full of people - a really great opportunity. Thanks to everyone who came along - many of you who have supported me since I first began playing my own songs several years ago, some who even saw me play the odd covers show near the rugby club when I lived in London - way back in 2002!

Thanks also to the Hundred Club, and finally to Catie who agreed to do Merch for me with 24hrs notice - you are a trooper.

GIG 4 - Tipperary Racecourse, Stag Weekend, Sat 19/7/08.

OK so this is not really a proper gig as such, but worth a mention... I will try to include any public performance. Following the show London, a group of 12 departed Friday afternoon bound for Cork, Ireland, for a Stag weekend that was sure to give us all a headache come Monday morning (it certainly did that...).

(I refer to it as the "Stag" weekend, as opposed to the "Bucks" weekend, because we are in the UK. Any idea what they call it in America? Cananda? The Czech republic?? Anyway...)

At the Stag's request, a trip to the races was organised - turns out the only races being run nearby were up in Tipperary, about an hour north of Cork by Train. (It's a long way to Tipperary, but no so far from Cork...). At some point late in the race program, an old guy started up on the guitar in the tent we were in. By this stage I think the majority of the general public who had been in the tent had decided that they didn't want to stay too close to the stag party - which was probably a wise decision.

Following some negotiations, it was agreed that I would be able to play one song - that being the Men at Work Classic "Land Down Under". It was also agreed that for the duration of the song the backing track would be switched OFF - backing tracks are on par with the Bongo drums as far as I am concerned.... Whether or not I was hitting the right notes is a topic for debate at a later stage, but the reason for mentioning the one-song performance is that I was joined on stage by the Stag/Buck, dressed in a beautiful pink dress with fishnet stockings, who changed the words to something like...

"Pizza

Lasagne

Vegemite Sandwich

Athlete's Foot..

Watch out for that one...."

Men at Work couldn't have said it better themselves. I had wisely stopped singing by this stage.


Anyway that was a random insertion, because quite obviously the blog entry wasn't long enough already. As I type this, I am back in London - fortunately in one piece. Much of the first couple of weeks of my trip has been devoted to catching up with old friends, and preparing for a wedding that is due to take place this weekend.

This Wednesday I am heading up to Birmingham for a gig at the "Secret Music Club". I am hoping that it is not too secret, or else that could be a bit detrimental for the audience numbers... I have however received several confirmation emails, which tends to suggest that they are expecting me (bonus), so I think it'll be an enjoyable evening.

More to report next week, when I'll be about to head back to Ireland - Dublin in fact - for a few more shows over there. Can't wait.

I have also been booked in to perform on the Royal Mile at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in August. Just a busking spot, but exciting to be there at the same time as the festival, and a great chance to play a small part in the event.

Well done if you made it to here!

Cheers,

Renny

PS - Will be making regular gig updates on my page as more are confirmed - stay tuned...

The Weekly... Volume 14

Oi! The weekly is again a couple of days late - I do apologise - but again there is a legitimate excuse... I have been in transit you see - and now I am in Hong Kong. So you get a weekly typed in Asia.. how about that.

Not too much new to report this week - I leave Hong Kong for London tomorrow. Very excited about the trip to Europe and whatever that brings... It'll be nice to be just doing music for a couple of months - should be plenty of time to write as well, so might come home with a few new tunes!

Hong Kong is a nice place, but don't think I could live here... Not enough open space. Also as a muso I'd probably have to get used to playing Brown Eyed Girl 5 nights a week... and that is not something I need to be getting used to just at the moment thanks very much..

Anyway I'll do the skedaddle (if that's how you spell it....), there are ferries to catch, dim sims to eat... I'll be back in a weeks time with some news from the UK.

Cheers for now, Renny

The Weekly... Volume 13

Hello again - less than a week left here in Sydney... Hard to say how I feel about it all at this stage, but Excited is perhaps a reasonable summation. Innit.

I have put some new songs up on my page which are part of a Live Tour CD I will have with me in Europe... The CD features tracks recorded at Bar Me and The Excelsior Hotel in Sydney, as well as Ruby's Lounge in Belgrave VIC. (And a couple from my Bedroom... just for laughs...)

It's been a good week with the Final Show at The Excelsior (thanks again to everyone who made an appearance), and some great performances by Cookie Baker, Sarah Humphreys and The Falls. I feel very fortunate to know so many amazing local artists - all of whom inspire me in different ways. I have enjoyed sharing the stage with them throughout this past month.

Also this week my brother's band (The Mischief) launched their 2nd EP at Candy's Apartment. Sounds great, and the guys are TOIGHT! Check it...

www.myspace.com/themischiefmusic

They have a new Tarago... I used to have a Tarago, but someone ran into it....

Tonight I am off to watch a mini-doco that I wrote some music for. It's a sports doco, so I'm not exactly sure how the song I wrote is going to sound as accompaniment to a game of footy, but we'll see. In any case, it was a good challenge, and I'd like to do more of that sort of thing as I continue on this little path here...

Finally I should mention my good friend Kent Eastwood (who is playing the Piano accordion on my song "The Birds" on my page...) - Kent did a superb job on said accordion the other night with Clare Bowditch at the Basement. He's also about to release a brand new album of his own - worth a listen.

www.myspace.com/kenteastwood

I think that'll do me for now. See you soon.

Renny