Lille Poster

We are finishing the tour in Lille on Saturday 1st November. We played there last time, and had a great night. Manu, who owns the bar, put us up after the gig at his flat, and his wife sat and chatted with us for a bit. Her Mum was Scottish, so she loved hearing our accents.

One big difference about playing in France as opposed to in the UK is that the people who run the bars that you play in are welcoming in France, glad to see you. offering beer or coffee, happy to feed you good local food. Not always the case at home.

Here is Mr John Honeyman, in fine touring mode, settling in at the bar of L'Imposture last time :

and here is the gig poster for this time:

Back in the Woodshed, again

A rocking rehearsal. I simplified my signal chain to the bare minimum - a tuner and a Boo Vibrato pedal. Maximum shimmer.

Signal Chain - Tuner, Boo Vibrato

Peavey Classic 20 - a rocking humdinger

We got through 15 tunes - I think we now have about 40 on the slate.

Tonight's tunes -
I've Never Seen You Looking So Clean
Where The Bones Are Buried
One Sweet Drink
See That Skin
Burden Of The Debt
Fertile Mind
In A Violent Way
Heya
Hipster Beware
It Don't Feel Free
Lowdown
Pink Cloud
Prairie Chain
Sister
You're Not Here Now

6 rehearsals to go !!

St. Etienne

We've got the first gig poster in - St Etienne on October 31. 

Excitement starting to build, now! 

More Woodshedding

Another diligent night in the rehearsal rooms, working on older tunes, building the set.

Tonight's tunes -
You're Not Here Now
Primeval Call
Burden Of The Debt
Black Cloud Comin'
In A Violent Way
Fire & Clay
Long Screamin' Slide
Early Grave
Defying Science

Late Night Lineup (click for bigger)

I tried out a few combinations of Distortion Pedals too.

Left to Right :
Joyo Tremolo
Langtronics Fuzz Junkie (good ONLY on its own, into a clean channel)
Marshall Guvnor 2 (excellent Marshall sound)
AXL Tube Overdrive
Ibanez Tube Screamer (these 2 play well together)
Korg Tuner.

I might need 2 distortions for the tour - I'll try next week using the Guvnor and the Tube Screamer to see how they are together (in the band context)

We also played a brand new tune - endless ! Joy!

Now - a glass of Bordeaux and some Necks.

I just did the count - we have got 32 songs pretty much under our collective belt, with another 11 to be learned in the next couple of weeks. That gives us plenty of material for the tour. A couple of rehearsals of running through them all and then gather to construct a set with the main spine in place and a pool of tunes to add as we see fit - shaping up nicely!

Wishaw

We had great fun playing  in Wishaw at Be In Belhaven. A short set, because that's what the organisers wanted. (click on any photo to see it bigger)

Stage - side : guitars ready to roll

My Moon guitar, Big Black, is now 28 years old. Still a joy to play

Minimalist Signal Chain

Simplest possible stage setup - Guitar -> Tuner -> Vibrato -> Tube Screamer -> Amp

Rocking at the fun fair

The Primevals - Tell It Now - Merchant City Festival

Woodshedding

A good rehearsal - the set for Saturday in Wishaw is sorted, 10 songs, 32 minutes.

Onstage around 7:30 as part of Be In Beltane, in Belhaven Park - Sat 16 August.

We also ran through a bunch of songs from the "long list" for France. Preparations are going well.

Non-set tunes this week were : 

Pauper's Grave

Prairie Chain

Long Screamin Slide 

Early Grave

Defying Science

Sister

Have Some Fun

Heya

Justify

Someone to Love

Tunes for next week : 

You're Not Here Now

Primeval Call

Starting All Over Again

Burden Of The Debt

Black Cloud

Where The Bones Are Buried

Down Where The Madness Grows

In A Violent Way

Girl It's Me

We managed not to be as loud as last week, and we had fun playing Prairie Chain almost too fast - a proper "ramming speed" version. It doesn't swing at that pace, we are just on a runaway horse hanging on for dear life - but it's great fun. Some variability on hearing my vocals in the monitors too - all good prep for being on the road.  

I am stripping back the pedals so I can have as few as possible on the road - tuner, vibrato, one distortion - and maybe a spare distortion. This way I know I can get a decent clean amp sound, gussy it up with a stomp box I like, and I'm all set. 

Now - some Corte Mayor Rioja, and no music at all, because my ears are kind of done in.