Another Late Night: Two Weeks Worth...

Here we are: the second installment of my Another Late Night Live blog. I'm finding this quite fun actually, sitting here with Dean Martin on in my headphones and reminiscing about gigs gone past.

Something I've noticed from the past two weekends gigging is that all eight gigs I've done have been great! All of them really fun to do with, unusually, no hassle at all. No idiots bumping into mic stands and cutting my top lip, no-one trying to scam me out of a few quid at the end of the night, no awkward PA system problems. I've been riding my luck for the past two weekends so it seems.

It started in Leicester a week last Friday with Rich Hewitt and I doing a duo set at O'Neills in Leicester, which was well received. Followed the evening after by a 50th birthday party for Julie and Trev from Northamptonshire, myself and Neil (Percussion/Vocals/Beatle Maniac) loaded the strained Mini Cooper up and headed off an hour and a half down south, not knowing what the place was like. We were pleasantly surprised at the quaint little village hall decked out in fairy lights that greeted us there, and were even more chuffed when Shout To The Top by The Style Council

came on as we walked in the run - it was meant to be. Again everything went sweet. The harmonies were tight and Neil's debuted dance moves were as sharp as his suit! We ended up staying behind and chatting with everyone before being kicked out in the early hours.

Sunday was equally as random: Joe Gent made his return to the stage, joining me on bass for a gig that came in the day before, playing at the NEC Birmingham! Again, we loaded up the Mini to the top with two bass speaker cabs, two tops, stands, guitars and hair product and off down the M42 we went. It turned out we were playing in the large airport-style foyer inside the arena with was hosting a champagne reception for an interior trade show. I did say we play the strangest places, and these gigs beat playing in pubs any day, we get proper looked after at these events.

As the gig wore on we'd garnered quite a gathering in the NEC who were intrigued to see Dr Who and his mate blasting out some motown pop. In the end we had a crowd of near 300 watching us. Towards the final third of the set a couple got up and started dancing, much to the amusement/bemusement of the rest of the crowd who were busy eating nibbles and talking sofas and fittings. Anyway, it turned into one of those T-Mobile adverts where everybody suddenly combusted into dance in a public space. Everyone suddenly lost their inhibitions and you could see it was infectious and we turned the foyer into a large marble dancefloor. We weren't allowed to leave the stage, until after four encores we decided to kill it at the top. Probably best ay?

I managed to sell copies of the CD and get a few contacts and then we headed home to Nottingham, where I had an equally as good gig at the ever reliable Snug. Definitely my favourite place to gig. Again, everything went without a hitch. Why though? Most gigs are always full of traps somewhere, usually the sound goes all wrong or the batteries in my guitar die mid-song. Not that night though. Another good crowd and happy punters.

Much more of the same for the crowds at Bluu, Snug and Nottingham Uni again this weekend. Joined by the formidable Scott Barnes on bass guitar this time, we also ended up playing in someone' s kitchen for a house party I'd been booked for. And when I say kitchen, I mean something twice the size of my living room. And for those that haven't been to my house, I have a large living room. The place was an absolute palace and we were there for the house party warming. I think we both had a little smile to ourselves thinking how fortunate we are doing gigs like this and having a job like we do, at the same time hoping that the days of call centres (Scott) and Ikea (me) are long banished.

My week also took me to London to attend the London College of

Fashion's MA event at the V&A Museum in South Kensingon at which my girlfriend Nicole was showing her Masters collection at. A bit of a celebrity do as well, attended by Mika, Paloma Faith and one of the Sugababes, along with some big names from the world of fashion there looking to snap her up. Nicole's was one of the best received there and received lots press, some of which you can read here: