7Suns featuring... Docfoster...?!
Well folks, it seems that I am to dust off the old microphone and be wheeled out of retirement. @-)
I have been invited to do a guest MC (rap) spot with this lot...
At a forthcoming Bristol gig...
If anyone in the South West fancies getting funky on Saturday November 21st, pop along.
Thankfully I've got to drive home afterwards, so will not be embarrassingly drunk when I start "dropping rhymes" [sic] at around 11pm...
I have been invited to do a guest MC (rap) spot with this lot...
At a forthcoming Bristol gig...
If anyone in the South West fancies getting funky on Saturday November 21st, pop along.
Thankfully I've got to drive home afterwards, so will not be embarrassingly drunk when I start "dropping rhymes" [sic] at around 11pm...
Comments
Very good fun. :-)
The band got free pizza and beer (which I had only a little of, and only early on, as I was driving), so I was happy...
And, I got to do a little more than I was expecting as the band was without its percussionist, so asked me to bring some bits and bobs along and play throughout the set.
It was a good venue and packed to the rafters. A really energetic and sweaty atmosphere (despite the cold outside). A young crowd (20 year olds), as was befitting the venue, but which made me feel a bit of an old codger as we got on stage!
The support band had been a younger also, largely doing jazzed/funked
up covers of good pop tunes. They were very good and got the audience
going, though possibly a bit too smooth and clean-cut for my personal tastes.
The 7 Suns lot are great. All very accomplished and have been playing together for ages, so they're really tight, but also relaxed and willing to have a laugh during the show - Fun to be with on stage. The band has a real personality of its own. I was able to enjoy the moment as well as focussing on what I was doing (Think: Tito Puente 65%; Bez 35%).
When I put down the percussion and took to the mic, things went fine too. I'd actually spent a while in the days before the gig practising to one of the band's CDs, and this paid off. I was satisfied with my performance and was gratified by the audience's response.
The only challenging aspect of the gig was some pissed-up bloke kept staggering up on stage and asking to use my tambourine. I humoured him for a while, but it became increasingly obvious that he was high on liability and low on charm as he clattered into the horn section's mic stands. I gave him a pair of claves instead and asked him to get back to the crowd, which he did. Amusingly, once back in the audience I noticed that in his inebriated state, he proceeded to shake (rather than strike) the claves so they made absolutely no noise. My next step had been to ask security to manage the situation, but I felt a bit sorry for the shambling drunk, so I was glad it didn't escalate to that.
My main personal connection to the band is the tenor sax player, Ollie, who is an old friend (from uni) and musical commrade for many years since. As well as being a top notch human being, he's an absolutely top notch musician - enviably so, and it was a delight to be performing with him specifically too.
Clearly very pleasing to be teamed up with Ollie again. All sounds excellent. Been bitten by the bug again? There could be more free pizza after all!
Also, overall I'd be happy to do percussion and MCing. But tbh bass requires more practice which I'm too lazy to bother with these days and, as important, I'm probably less good at it than fronting / energising performances in the general scheme of things... So really I'm just a lazy egomaniac. But you knew that anyway...
Perhaps we could base a set around some sort of "Happy Mondays" tribute act and call ourselves "Grumpy Evenings". The Mondays keyboard parts aren't exactly 1 finger, but not far off... (possibly one and a half fingers...).