So here we are, 6 gigs into the tour and we've finally decided it's time to do our first ever blog.
2011 got off to a flying start for the band. Having booked the current tour last year we were presented with the challenge of getting a second album done before the gigs started. Initially it wasn't an easy journey. Steve was out of the country for 4 months up until the end of January. The rest of the band had some of the material together already but we always function better as a complete unit when working on arrangements. For a while it was looking like we wouldn't have enough time to get everything done by the time Steve got back but for the first time ever we really pulled our finger out and everything fell into place.
The tour began in Bradford, West Yorkshire for JATP (formerly known as Jazz at The Priestley) at the Irish Club. Martin Powell the organiser there is doing a sterling job. We've been lucky enough to play at the venue twice within 12 months due to a cancellation from another act in their programme. Thankfully it was a great turnout for the first gig of the tour. A great audience, good beer and nice vibe as always. We managed to get through the first gig relatively unscathed with the exception of Speak No Evil, our trickiest arrangement so far. It's still a work in progress.
Next gig was at the Pavillion Arts Centre, a part of Buxton Opera House. To be quite honest we had a few mini disasters for this one. Forgetting the CDs and almost missing the soundcheck being two of them but in the end we were set in plenty of time for the gig, we played well and it was appreciated.
On Tuesday we were at Llay, Wrexham for the North Wales Jazz Society. Again we had a good turnout. A very positive response from the audience. The band definitely started to tighten up too which really only happens after a few nights on the road.
Wednesday saw us return to The Lescar in Sheffield. This gig was one of our best on the last tour so expectations were high and once again it didn't disappoint. The room was packed full on a Wednesday night and it was nice to see a few familiar faces again. Chris Walker does a great job at The Lescar and we strongly advise if you live in Sheffield that you go down and support them on a Wednesday evening.
Thursday we were back in North Wales, playing the Victoria Hotel in Menai. Billy, Andrzej and Steve had spent the entire day working on the new van which put us a little behind schedule but we made it just about on time and were rewarded with another warm and appreciative audience. We spend a lot of time creating what we think are odd arrangements, sometimes they are a little dark or insane or very intense and from time to time we see our audience and think "they're not going to like this, maybe we should play something else tonight". We never do and fortunately they mostly like it. Menai was one of those nights and we are glad we stuck to our guns.
The final gig of the first run was at St Giles' Crypt in Camberwell. But first we had to do the mammoth and at times very beautiful drive from Menai in time to arrive for an interview with Helen Mayhew from Jazz FM at 5pm. It's fair to say that by the start of the gig, after having driven hundreds of miles, done the interview and checked out a commuter gig, eaten some great food at the Crypt and sampled the beer we were all pretty tired. It was a hard to get on stage but once we were up there it was great. A busy venue with a vibe of it's own, the Crypt though not ideal acoustically is a joy to play at and a third set felt like a good idea, only we had to drive back to Manchester.
