It’s been a couple of weeks since our gig at the Ritzy in Brixton. As we have been redesigning the website (and it’s not quite finished yet) it’s not been possible to add new posts.
But it was a great gig, with a lively and enthusiastic audience. Chris even brought his mum.
We now have three public gigs over the next few months.
The next is on December 13th at the Cavendish Arms in Stockwell. Admission is free, and their music room has great sound. It is where we did our band pictures.
On January 3rd we play Upstairs at the Ritzy in Brixton. That’s a gig we always enjoy (at least once we have got all our gear up lots of stairs) as it’s a good room with a great atmosphere.
And on February 7th we are back at Dumplins Live Ska at the Fiddler’s Elbow in Chalk Farm. That is always a special gig too. Real ska fans, a good stage, great sound and easy parking.
Sometimes everything comes together to make a gig a bit special.
That’s what happened last Thursday when we played the Earl Haig Hall in Crouch End.
It was by general agreement one of the best gigs we’ve played. It is hard to identify exactly why but these are some of the ingredients that helped.
It is a great venue, not just in the sense of being the kind of place that we’d enjoy coming to for a drink, but it has a proper stage with enough space for us to set up without all being on top of each other. Having a bit of space between us means that we are more likely to hear the rest of the band, and not just whoever is standing next to us.
The venue has a good sound system and someone who knows how to use it properly. This meant that not only was there good sound for the audience but on stage too. We were well-balanced and the volume was right.
The audience was enthusiastic which always encourages us to play well. This was not a dance venue (though that didn’t stop a certain amount of bopping between the tables and chairs). Sometimes that means we just become background music, but this was not the case on Thursday.
We played one long set which we think we paced well. And not having to turn up hours before we play is always a bonus too, as it tends to put us in a good mood.
So while we rarely have a bad gig, sometimes they do have an extra bit of magic. This one certainly did.
We hope we get invited back.
We didn’t have time to take pictures or any video so we have no souvenirs to share, but this is what we played.
Chinatown
Guns Of Navarone
Latin Goes Ska
Mood For Love
Tide Is High
Harder They Come
Alley Cat Ska
Man In The Street
Mambo No. 5
Dr Who
Enola Gay
Red Red Wine
Price Tag
Pata Pata
Tainted Love
My Boy Lollipop
Night Boat To Cairo
Gangsters
Baggy Trousers (unplanned extra encore!)
Update: Thanks to Jim who sent us this photo after the gig.
The Earl Haig is an ex-British Legion come social club in the heart of Crouch End. Proud to be a family and canine friendly pub, we offer an extensive selection of local, national and international ales, lagers, wines and spirits. Our food offering is incredibly important to us, with our excellent menu including vegetarian options, kid’s dishes, Sunday lunches and our brand new ‘Host Your Own Roast’.
The Earl Haig is an ex-British Legion come social club in the heart of Crouch End. Proud to be a family and canine friendly pub, we offer an extensive selection of local, national and international ales, lagers, wines and spirits. Our food offering is incredibly important to us, with our excellent menu including vegetarian options, kid’s dishes, Sunday lunches and our brand new ‘Host Your Own Roast’.
Last night we went to Basildon – or more accurately Pitsea – to play a private function.
Here’s a clue to its purpose.
This was a full-on ska party with decoration to match.
And there were lots of cakes.
Here are some pictures from the soundcheck, but we didn’t get the chance to get anyone to take us while we performed.
We were asked to play Mirror in the Bathroom, Tears of a Clown and Red is Danger.
We’ve never done Mirror in the Bathroom before and had played Tears of a Clown only once before many years ago (and not very well). So some frantic arranging and rehearsing went on to get them up to scratch.
We hadn’t played Red is Danger for some time either. It goes back to the very early days of the band.We enjoyed reviving this. It will get some more outings now.
We also added One Step Beyond to our repertoire as it’s the right kind of tune to start this kind of evening as we mean to go on.
This is what we played.
First set
Second set
One Step Beyond
Guns Of Navarone
Tide Is High
Mood For Love
You’re Wondering Now
You Can Get It
Harder They Come
Red Is Danger
Man In The Street
Mirror In The Bathroom
Enola Gay
Red Red Wine
Price Tag
Tequila
Misirlou
99 Red Balloons
Tainted Love
Tears Of A Clown
Rudy A Message To You
My Boy Lollipop
Monkey Man
Baggy Trousers
Israelites
Gangsters
Night Boat To Cairo
Chinatown
And this is what the client had to say afterwards.
“What can i say???? U guys were absolutely amazing. Everyone has been saying how bloody brilliant u were. I can still hear the music through my hangover. Thank u so much for making it such a great night xxxxx”
Dumplins Live ska is a monthly night at the Fiddler’s Elbow close to Chalk Farm in Camden.
It is probably our favourite gig.
The crowd enjoy their ska, and are happy to hear rarities and new stuff as well as the old favourites. There is always great sound – both out front and on stage.
There’s no sense of their being a support and headliner – both bands get the same time and equal billing.
We were very happy to play there at the beginning of August (though holidays have intervened to stop a write-up until now).
Thanks to Michelle we have some great pictures from the night, some of which are below.
We thought that we were on particularly good form, and certainly got a great audience response. It was also good to share a bill with the Estimators , who love their traditional ska as much as we do.
This is what we played – the first time we have played Doctor Who live for a long time.
