I notice that lots of Folkies on Facebook like to add their helpful tips on performance and songwriting to their profiles. Well,I can heartily recommend warming up the tonsils before a gig by standing on the terraces with 3,400 others singing "Storer is a Nutter." As a vocal warm up exercise it's really useful. Watching my beloved Nuneaton Borough slip bravely out of the Conference play-off final at Telford yesterday afternoon was emotionally draining. By the time I'd taken to the boards with Black Parrot Seaside a few hours later, my voice had dropped an octave with all the shouting-but it was an ideal way to round off a challenging day.
Last night saw us featured at the Styvechale Folk Club in Coventry. We brought along some musical "friends" in Jackie Shipley, Brian and Marie and Malc Gurnham. Lots of other floor singers turned up, making the evening kind of...interesting. We also brought along a sizeable part of the audience. I counted 21 who had definitely come to see us, and quite a lot more familiar faces in the crowd. That might be no big deal for Bellowhead, but it made it quite exciting for us and enhanced the chorus singing! There were several Parrot Virgins (in the musical sense) there last night too. As always, it is great to look out at an audience and see the mix of emotions unfolding on their faces as our set gets into its stride. ("Did they really just sing that?" " Why is he putting on a high-visibility jacket?" " Good God No! Not a Beyonce cover?")
As a rock band, "Small Maladjusted and Mean" was often (literally) a show stopper for us. As Vance and I used to grapple over the drum kit at the Golden Cross or Warwick University,audiences were not always sure what was theatre and what was actually happening. " Bold Pirate" with it's abrupt ending is still in that genre.
For the rivet-counters amongst you, the set was:
Courting is a Pleasure*
The Odeon
Requiem for Steam*
Albert Balls
Coventry Lullaby
At The Septic Monkey
The Gravy Train
Black Jack David*
I'm only a Poor Little Rhino
Cockney Power
D.I.Y.
The usual eclectic mix allowing the boys to air their musical dexterity (!!) and yours truly to prance about like a fool. Those asterisked are to identify them as "folk songs" as someone last night incorrectly said that we don't do any. Perhaps that was tongue in cheek. If it wasn't, it's just wrong. Incidentally, "Courting" and "Requiem" are as sad as any finger-in-the ear laments about dockside farewells or the Brig Levantine sinking with all hands off a Cornish reef. (Perhaps people should listen to the words?). But you can have enough of that kind of thing, and three hours of hand-wringing, wailing and mourning can tax all but the purist. Which is why we mix it around a little, and always will do.
Next up is an appearance at "The Boat" (Newbold) in June, and hopefully a set at one of Nuneaton's many fine Real Ale pubs.
Many many thanks to those who sang, laughed and joined in with us last night. And to Rob and Karen for inviting us.
