Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

Rock And Roll Star

by admin - 23:17 on 25 May 2014

Suddenly I'm a busy musician again. Just days after I was invited to become first reserve bass player in The Deeds I have a gig with them – on Saturday.

Fortunately I know more than half their set already, and YouTube has introduced me to the rest, most of which should be OK before my Deeds debut at the Bandstand Bar in Nairn. There are a few tricker songs to master, as I discovered at a hastily arranged rehearsal this afternoon, but after just a few hours' preparation I won't be too hard on myself.

The 2pm rehearsal started at 4pm thanks to Michael's inability to find The Rural Retreat (Son of Seat's risky radiator meaning I needed a lift) and his insistence, after the PA had been put together, on producing a sound balance that would have been impressive in the Royal Albert Hall. His efforts were not in vain, for the hangers-on scattered around the Legion in Nairn, where Michael introduced me to drummer Colin and guitarist Richard (another Yorkshireman – we get around), reckoned we made a decent noise.

It should be better in the future. Tomorrow, after I've completed the final Chatterbox pages, time will be spent learning new songs properly and polishing old ones ahead of another rehearsal in the evening – the last chance we'll have for a get-together before the gig. Good job I'm an old pro.

Then on Wednesday night there's a Strays rehearsal ahead of our gig in Evanton on Sunday. There's nothing else on The Strays' calendar, so it's handy that I've another Deeds gig in July and the promise of more to come. Shame I had to turn down a couple in June when I'm escorting Matchgirl in Iceland. And there's still an outside chance of a third band, and maybe a fourth if a whisper I heard today is correct.

If my rock and roll comeback continues my musical earnings could soon overtake those from snappery and journalism. Not that that would be difficult...

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