The Troubadour and other gigs

So, the Troubadour gig went well on Tuesday - lots of positive feedback from the audience, and on the whole, the band were sounding pretty good - even if I do say so myself! Thank you to everyone who came and supported, for making it such a great night. Among the many friends and supporters that were there, it was good to see a few fellow musos in the crowd - Steve Lawson, Kate and Jo from punk band the Rude Mechanicals and Chris Rodgers of Combustible Alarms (mentioned here last post). I also ran into pianist Mike Gorman, who played on one of very first gigs ever in East London, many moons ago. Funny how things come around again, isn't it?

I also did a solo slot last night at a mixed poetry and music night at the Cross Kings in, believe it or not, Kings Cross. Nice bit of wordplay for you there, appropriately for a poetry night. It was an interesting night - I forgot that poets like to talk about sex, in fairly graphic terms. Not that I'm a prude - it's just that you don't really hear that sort of language in every day life, and it comes as a sort of surprise when you do. Reminded me of the various English teachers and professors I've had, who always seemed to want to focus on the sexy bits of a novel or book! Of course, not everyone was talking about sex...in fact, Scottish writer Angela Cleland did a very stylish set, showing how good performance poetry can be when you give it a bit of thought and let your personality shine through.

Today saw me doing a bit of session work for an advert pitch, which was fun. Although it's not what you might call "artistic" in the stereotypical sense of the word, it's interesting to get into the discipline of using my voice in quite a specific way. Whereas with my own stuff, I sing it however I like, and how I think will suit the song, singing for an advert is completely different - it's all about what the client wants and trying to get your voice to fit into that mold. I guess if I was doing it all the time, it could get tiring, but for now, I can think of a lot worse ways to earn a crust!