Gig Diary Oran Mor 11/5/2013

‘Where the f**k are you!!!!’ Text screams Derek as I aimlessly wander about the house packing gear, oblivious to the frantic tee shirt printing at Greg’s. Eventually the lads pull up outside the house, I grab my guitar, amp and suitcase bag (every gig I play it looks like I’ve been thrown out the house! This was comically pointed out to me by Rab of Kranksolo when we played Dundee together years ago.)

Derek did a fine job packing the car and we drove to Glasgow slightly apprehensive at what lay ahead. Another gig playing in front of our few hardy fans, we feared the hall would be empty, coloured lights shining on a barren dance floor.

The sound check took a while, we kinda sat around saying polite hello’s to the other bands. Sound checks are always a drag. So we went for a pint in Ashton lane around the corner. The four of us stood around a table sipping beer pondering the future of the band. There seemed to be a sense of negativity I guess. Are we getting too old? Are we fed up chasing the impossible dream? We finished our ales and headed back to the venue, the wonderful Oran Mor. Pub gigs are fine but this stage has something more.

We started our sound check, Derek hit the kick drum, the deep bass echoing around the room sent shivers down my spine. You get a far better sound in these places. Greg plugged in, Stu clicked in the lead and I turned up the volume of the Marshall. Lisa the promoter was buzzing around ‘you guys gonna be long ?’she asked.’ We’re running behind’ I smiled. Five minutes we’ll be done. We played Deliverance, Speak and we could hear everything, we were done.

Time to eat. We headed out into the streets of Glasgow, a city with some of the finest restaurants. We went to Spar. I had a cheese and onion sandwich, a twix (they’re definitively getting smaller) washed down with an Irn Bru. I turned to Brian(Derek’s bro) as we sheltered under a bus stop from the driving May rain and said ‘We’ve arrived.’

First up were End Transmission A cracking bunch Full of enthusiasm, setting out on the gig trail. They’ve only been together for a matter of months but already honing their sound. Cleverly adopting cover songs to find their feet they played some original numbers as well. I hope they do well. They interacted so well with the growing crowd.

We were up. By this time our faithful had arrived and there were many more strange faces. The place wasn’t packed but it had a buzz. The crowd walked onto the floor standing in front of us, waiting for the first chords. For a small band like us it was great to see.

Setlist

Speak
Steel
Wonder
Deliverance
Power
Crown
Wait!
Joker

The set felt great the crowd were brilliant as well and the band grew in confidence. Power was added and for me was one of my highlights. Stu has stared doing a vocal harmony with me which sounded ace. It seemed like minutes passed when we were playing Joker and my voice burned out at the last note! I lose it at gigs, guess its my way of dealing with pent-up frustration. (better than fighting!). I felt elated at the end, I knew we had played a fine gig. One to remember.

After our set I settle down to a few lager’s. The third band was The Revolt who have an excellent vibe, cleverly adding brass to their sound. A completely different contrast to the other bands on the night but I enjoyed listening to them.

Headline act Life On Standby handled the top slot with ease. The crowd swelled by the time they were on stage. A very tight set. Their guitarist rocked out all night, very energetic. I really enjoyed their gig.

The night came to a close. We had met Annie Walker who took many photographs of all the acts, which are of a very high standard. Tommy Clark was in the crowd. He transmits his own radio station Third Class Ticket. which hopefully we’ll be on soon. Our doubts, our negative feelings about playing live were gone. The band is recharged, in the last couple of months we’ve played Box and Oran Mor both brilliant nights I don’t want them to end anytime soon.

As the crowd filtered away to the subway the trains, the cars and eventually to home I looked at our friends and family who had traveled a fair distance to see us. It’s not always easy to write down or say how grateful you are to these people who stick by us at every gig and every album we release. Sometimes you discover that the English language has yet to find a word to describe the depth of gratitude I have to the Weird Decibel fans.

Paul.