Mikey Walsh Band Rock Stockers
Thatched House, Stockport (Sunday 3rd May 2009)
This story starts with a phone call on Friday night which was started by me hearing Dave laughing down the phone. This meant something was afoot that would probably end up being rather good fun, which I'm happy to say was pretty much correct!
So, there I was cooking the tea on Friday evening when I got the call from Dave. He told me that there was a charity all-dayer on at the Thatched House in Stockport on the Sunday and that one of the bands had pulled out. Kaz, the landlady, called Mike to try and book Treadstone, but half the band was unavailable. So he called and persuaded Brad to do vocals and then got Dave to call me. Would I do it? You bet your sweet ass I would! I was surprised about Brad agreeing, but since it was going to be a 45 minute gig, he thought it would be a laugh, so that's great.
This would be interesting since we'd not all rehearsed together and the last time I got together with Dave and Mike was a couple of months ago. We'd either sound great or toss, but either way, we'd give the pub a good laugh and enjoy ourselves.
The plan was to meet at the pub at 9pm (in view to going on at 10.15pm at the end of the night for 45 minutes), get a set list together and then get on with it, basically. Brad picked me up (as well as Damo) and drove me and my snare, cymbals and stuff to the gig at about 8.45pm and off we went. We couldn't get a sitter for Sammo, so Kez stayed at home unfortunately. I was a bit nervous of the gig, but it was more excited nervous due to the fact that this would be our "first gig" as a backing band (as it were) and there would be songs that we'd not rehearsed in the set. It was all part of the crack though and I'd been getting messages from Dave (and his steak) all day that were keeping me right in the mood to "rock da pub".
The pub was not rammed when we got there, but there was a decent number of people there. We arrived as the "Headline" band of the day were starting up. They were a serious-looking bunch of chaps playing very heavy Tool/Opeth-esque metal epics with lots on instrumental passages. They were a decent band with good players, but they only really engaged with the people that they had brought in with them on the day. Laminated passes were passed to the band members, which made us feel very important, and then we went into the pool room and get the set together. We also learnt that we were billed as the "Mikey Walsh Band", which was fine since if it all went pear-shaped, then it was his name on the band! We listed all the numbers we'd done in rehearsal and Brad agreed to all of them bar Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" since he didn't know the song properly. This was a shame as we could stretch that tune out during the set. We included "Cold Sweat", which I was dodgy with because of the timing of the breaks in the guitar solos sections and "Lights Out", which we've played a half of once (badly). But we thought that we'd just jam it and see how it went.
10 o'clock arrived and the Headliners finished leaving us to get ready. I wrestled with the drunkit for a while and had a nightmare with the cymbals. The whole thing was rack-mounted, which can always lead to problems with positioning. This time was no exception. The right-hand crash was miles away so I couldn't reach the damn thing. You'll hear more about my comendy cymbal later!
We got sorted and Brad introduced us. He told the audience that we had "cobbled something together for them" and that we hoped that they would enjoy it like we would and excuse our mistakes. Then we launched straight into "Jailbreak". This number went well and I managed to keep the speed in check for once. We ended the number with smiles and laughs and we knew that we'd be on a winner with this gig.
The short-comings in the drum set-up became clear here as I nearly fell off the kit trying to crash on the right. The snare head was also a bit loose and bore the brunt of the song, so I may have to replace that unfortunately. That said, I was able to get some nice fast bass pedal action in! I couldn't hear a lot of the sound, which was a pain and my view of Dave was a bit restricted, but it went fine. For the most part, I was laughing my arse off due to the daft cymbal setup and the fun of it all. The song also sounded cool, which was great too.
Before "Black Night", I tried to reposition the cymbal, but that didn't work either so I just abandoned it and decided to use it for comedic effect during the set. I was also going to give Brad a stick so he could play it, but I didn't get round to it.
The audience by this point were starting to listen and watch and were nodding along and singing back with us. Mike and Dave were working them up nicely, getting them to clap and sing along and pulling some good shapes. Dave and I were laughing along and playing up to it all making sure that the room were having a laugh.
"Black Night" went down very well with some excellent soloing from Mike and some quite tasty drum breaks from myself, I'm happy to add. I'd settled down with the kit a bit (although I never did raise the damn stool) so I was letting go a bit more. The sound was a mush, but it seemed to go down well with a good groove skipping the song along. The other band were now in attendance after tidying up and getting a drink. We could see them watching us at the side and seemingly enjoying it. There were plenty of photos taken too, I'd love to see them and count how many of them have me laughing or grinning like a goon. I was seriously enjoying myself.
"Fool For Your Lovin'" came next and that went very well, as did "Word Up" which was nicely funky. Brad was sounding great and there was some good sing-a-long action going on with the audience. We'd settled into a good groove here and any mistakes were laughed off, not that there were that many thankfully!
The plan for "Ain't No Love..." was to bring it down and extend it to fill some time. Brad introduced it and we settled into a nice slow groove on it. There was some great bluesy soloing and we brought it right down for the sing-a-long bit in the middle. We must have strung this one out to a good seven or eight minutes, but it never outstayed it's welcome thankfully.
From here, we entered the dodgy part of the set. The next three songs were always going to be skin-of-teeth since they were numbers that we'd not done work on. "Breakin' the Law" went well, if a little too fast.
"Lights Out" was one I was nervous of and it showed as we launched into it WAAAAY too fast. This song has to be kept pretty steady and has some tasty bass drum licks in, so I had a great time with that. The main bit of worry was the fact that after the first verse-chorus-verse-chorus bits, I had no idea where it was going, so we all just had to watch Mike for the changes and listen out for the last verse. Thankfully, even though the end did get extended a little, we all managed to end on the correct note and in the correct timing!
"Cold Sweat" was a bit rough, but skipped along nicely, if a little too fast. I came in too late on the intro, but that was fine... I think! The "3-2-3, 2-3-2" bit in the solo section was a dodgy with Dave watching me for the hits. I think he missed one, but we covered it OK. I think I lost my way a little in this one, but it was fine in the end. Again, we all ended at the correct time in fits of laughter, so that was OK.
At this point, we were all laughing and Mike was saving my hysterics by only pulling faces at me half the time. We were doing well and the pub was into it and enjoying the show. My comedy cymbal was providing me with hours of entertainment, so much so that I didn't back-spin my sticks mid-song once!
The final number "Action" was altered here. We extended the intro with just me and Dave pumping out the bass parts whilst Brad and Mike whipped the pub up a bit. It sounded really good and worked well as people tried to work out what "this song by The Sweet" was going to be. Unfortunately, Mike missed Brad's impromptue scream intro, but that was fine as it gave a good clue to what we were doing. When we finally kicked it in, we were in a really good steady groove and the song sounded fantabulous and left the audience wanting more as we said our thankyou-and-goodnights.
The crowd reaction was excellent and they all appreciated that we were playing it for the fun of it. The fact that we were all smiling at each other and having a laugh with is came across well and it lifted the gig and made it all the more entertaining. If asked, we would have got right back and played the set again with no hesistation. There were lots of nice complements paid when we left the stage which lead to lots of back-slapping within the band, which lead us to believe that with a bit more polish (and a permanent singer with the right attitude) we could really pull-off great gigs as and when that happened. We were all very pleased with ourselves and sad that we couldn't get Brad to join us on a permanent basis (long story, not for here!)
So, a great time was had by all. We packed up and chatted to each other for a bit and then to the people who had made the effort to come out on a Sunday night and see us make a racket. Needless to say, we're busting to get a permanent singer in place and get rehearsed up so we can do this kind of thing on a monthly basis, if possible. It was a top night ,and a great laugh. The 45 minute set went by in what seemed like 25 minutes of hysterical laughter. It was grand!
Setlist
- Jailbreak (Thin Lizzy)
- Black Night (Deep Purpewel)
- Fool For Your Lovin' (Whitesnake)
- Word Up (Gun / Cameo)
- Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City (Whitesnake)
- Breakin' the Law (Judas Priest)
- Lights Out (UFO)
- Cold Sweat (Thin Lizzy)
- Action (The Sweet)
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© 2006 Graham T. Ebbrell