Our first gig with our new drummer David, and an ideal one to start him off with, as we were supporting a band from London called the Din, so we only needed a short, support-band length set. Nice venue, The Thunderbolt - good stage and PA, competent young chap on the desk and a very friendly landlord - looks like it could be a good night...
The Din aren't there yet when we show up, and apparently when they get here they're going to be using all our kit. Something of a departure from the norm, but we roll with it and get all our gear set up & soundchecked (normally the main band gets set up first, and the support get a line-check if they're lucky, so this suits us fine!).
Apparently this gig is an afterparty for the Totterdown Arts Trail, and there's a couple of other acts on the bill, a Singer/guitarist called Jim Evans, and the Shamena dance troupe. Sounds intriguing... my mind wanders back to a festival in Lechlade a couple of years back where we had a troupe of lissome young belly-dancers gyrating in front of us onstage as we tried desperately to concentrate on the serious business of playing music... happy days...
Jim Evans turns out to be a very good guitarist who does his own material, and does it very well - a nice bloke, too. As he finishes his soundcheck, three amply-proportioned women of, shall we say a 'certain age', enter the pub and order drinks. "Bet they're the belly-dancers!" whispers Jim...
You're one step ahead of me, I'm sure... oh yes, they were...
Aaanywaaay, moving swiftly on to our set - it was all going swimmingly until the second song, when Ruth's fiddle pickup decided to die, which meant that we had to do several songs without her while the Sound guy tried to fix it. In the end she was reduced to playing as close to a vocal mike as she could get the fiddle, which ain't ideal on many fronts. Still, on the plus side, the belly-dancers had pretty much cleared the place, so no-one minded.
The Din were a very friendly bunch, and very grateful for the loan of our gear - I felt a bit sorry for them though - they drove all the way from Camden for this, and were playing to about thirty people.
(Mind you, we've driven further, and played for less, before now..!)
