It doesn’t seem to matter how many demo songs we put on our website or YouTube; potential customers, venues etc still ask for a bloody CD! So we decided to bite the bullet and do some recording in a proper studio.

Keep it simple!
From what I’ve heard of band demo discs, they sound nothing like the same band live! Multi-tracked, layered and over-dubbed, not only are they over-complicated and over-produced but also they seem to lose that vital ‘live gig’ atmosphere. Plus they are hard to live up to!

Nothing we can’t do live
With all this in mind, FireBird opted for a live performance recording at Active Music’s ‘live-room’ in Penn Hill, Poole. Put in basic terms, the band performed songs which were recorded in one hit, so that what we got was a live performance but recorded properly. We recorded 5 songs, mostly in two takes, the best ‘takes’ were then mastered down to CD. So ‘live’ are the results that you can hear me switching pickups and effects for solos as I do live, rather than punching in the solo later (the only exception being the guitar in the final bars of Summer of ’69, which I added for my own indulgence).

Mastering the tracks

As with most live performances, there are errors that make me cringe every time I hear them but I’m assured that 90% of people won’t even notice!

We’ve duplicated and printed the CDs and are now taking them out to potential venues; if any ask me “have you got a website” they will probably need surgery to have the CD removed!

You can find our recorded tracks and a video here.

I gotta say, despite dropping a loose valve in the first set, this is a really good venue!

Sunday evening in Swanage was a bit quiet but the atmosphere was great, Kelly sang well and the whole band, especially Pat (who is a Swanage boy, bless him) thoroughly enjoyed the gig.
Looks like we’re back November 12th, a Friday when apparently it’s heaving so looking forward to that.
Oh yes, nearly forgot, the real ale is thoroughly drinkable too

As we approached Poole Quay and caught a glimpse of the harbour I thought “this doesn’t bode well for a packed pub”: Slate-grey water reflecting the leaden skies, lashed by sheets of cold rain as serried ranks of forlorn waves followed the wind’s perpetual march…
Typically, the rain stopped as soon as we’d unloaded and the pub started to fill up. The Spotted Cow is one of those venues where the playing space is cleared in anticipation and not left to the band to sort out, no doubt due to the fact that the landlord Tony is a musician himself. As we set up we were treated to the rousing chorus of a Welsh Male Voice Choir, who apparently only came to get some close harmony tips from us. Or not. But it was all very musical and started the evening well.

We went on at 9:30 to an enthusiastic crowd, some of which were still showing signs of sobriety. After a couple of Blondie songs, I kicked the wah pedal into life only to get a big fat nothing! Everything on the pedalboard died. It’s a Warwick board, quality I thought – looks like ‘Made in China’ is still crap then! Disconnected it in the break and replaced with a TC Electronic Nova which does it all but not the easiest thing to use live.

Problem over, we played until about 11:50 with a couple of “one-more’s”. All in all a good gig, enhanced by the fine Ringwood 49′er. Highly recommended!

UPDATE

The Cow has changed hands since the previous post but it’s still a great venue to play and also see a band. Unlike many pubs, the venue is not an odd shape, the bar is large and there’s bags of room for the band to set up. FireBird played the Cow last night, June 4th, and we’ll be back soon!

News!

FireBird are pleased to welcome Cathy as new bass guitarist!

Check out the News page.

A pleasant food pub with a reasonable space to set up, good area for the audience too. Avoid putting the bass and drums in the alcove; it booms horribly in there. Playing times normally 9 – 11pm, but late access due to the restaurant normally means 9:30 to 11:30pm.

Find the Wheatsheaf here

Gigging at the Spyglass and Kettle? Here’s some stuff you should know…
This is a pleasant gig in a pub overlooking Southbourne coast, the playing area is a bit odd, the band is tucked away in various little pigeon holes which, whilst being quaint, doesn’t really make for a tight performance.
On the plus-side, the staff are good and the customers love a bit of live music.
But unfortunately, when it comes to payment, things are done through another company, UK Events.
I booked a gig there, only to have some geeza call me after a while and say he was going to email a form to me which I had to fill in. When I saw the terms and level of information required I refused, only doing the gig on the basis it was as agreed before, cash on the night. I felt sorry for the staff as they had to sort it out.
Thinking that I was the only one to have this bother I didn’t publish my dissatisfaction widely, however, I know of at least 2 other bands (who shall remain nameless) that have taken issue with this.
We’ve all worked with agents before and to have money paid directly into a bank account is no hassle really, well, if the fee is substantial, but this arrangement requires a high level of personal information for little currency. It’s not the fee that irks but the fact that they don’t need the level of information they ask for; I’m sure it’s just to keep their noses clean with the bean-counters.
With the amount of identity theft around, information should be issued solely on a ‘need-to-know’ basis and not because someone seems to think they have a right to it.
The 2nd band I heard about are now in the ignominious position of being told “provide the info or you won’t get paid”!!!
These things need to be clarified before a gig, not presented as a ‘fait accompli’ after the event (if that isn’t a tautology).

So, nice place to play but if you get a gig here, find out what you are letting yourself in for first.

It’s carnival time and FireBird are pleased to be playing Swanage Carnival again this year.

If you’ve not been before, this really is a great event, lasting a full week and covering such diverse entertainments as a full-on Carnival Parade, The Red Arrows, Fireworks and of course Live Music, for which Swanage is becoming well-known.

During the week, collections are made, the proceeds of which go to support local charities, a full list may be found here: http://www.swanagecarnival.com/goodcauses.aspx
Many of these organisations depend on charitable donations so the members of FireBird are pleased to donate time and performance to such a worthy cause.

This year, FireBird play on Sunday August 1st and will be taking to the stage at around 10pm, straight after the spectacular fireworks display.

We look forward to seeing as many as possible there and wish the Carnival Organisers every success for this extraordinary event.

Kelly conjures up a crowd from nowhere!

Every so often a gig comes along that really buzzes, everyone’s on a high and the evening goes in to that mental list of great gigs. But unfortunately the converse is sometimes true, a gig that gets filed in the memory bank for all the wrong reasons.

We call these Chicken Wire gigs, from the Blues Brother’s film.

Edgy gigs are fine, but when it goes beyond edgy it gets a bit worrying; even if we take the ‘rough gear’, there’s thousands of quids worth on stage. And it’s not just the value of the equipment if it gets damaged, when booze starts flying there’s the very strong possibility of it getting mixed with 220 volts, which is not a happy conjunction.

Pissed-up audiences are not fun; when you’re not watching the twats dancing (I use the phrase loosely) slopping the drinks in their hands, you’re fending them off. Neither of which is conducive to a good performance!

We’ve had 2 of these recently. The first one a venue with a low stage where a drunken pair fell onto the stage, successfully taking out the monitor system and damaging plugs and cables. The second was in a pub with no stage (we played on the ‘dance-floor’), that was characterised by an uncontrolled clientele who thought they had the right to grab the singer’s mic, then slop booze on our gear. The staff were totally uninterested and despite threatening to stop the performance they did nothing to moderate the punters. Neither did they clean up the slippery dance floor, or the broken glass until told to. So we played until time, ignored the encore shouts and left as quickly as possible. I dislike discos with a passion but will in future recommend that option if approached by either of these establishments again.

You can get a good idea of a pub by its bogs; well-looked after normally indicates a well-run establishment. The type that require an NBC suit for the sake of your health, toilet seats missing, no locks (you get the picture), are, in almost every case indicative of how the place is run; so my advice before you accept gigs is to go and look at the loos.

We’re in the privileged position of not being short of work, so in future we’ll decline the ‘sports pubs’ with filthy crappers and stick with those venues know for music.

Stan’s Blues Jam 2 will be held at THE AVON CAUSEWAY on the LAST WEDNESDAY of the month
(starting on WEDNESDAY 28th JULY 2010)