Who'd have thought it?
I have to admit that we were approaching this gig with a certain amount of trepidation!
When I first had the idea to get a gig at the Scythe most of the bands they had on were a mix of blues and 60's style outfits and I thought that our brand of country rock would fit in rather well. However in recent months the shift towards classic rock bands such as the excellent Wet Fish Groovers last week seems to have been gaining pace and we were feeling a little nervous!
As most of you will know, the group area is about half the size of your bedroom and this has been made even smaller in recent times as part of it is now cordonned off to allow access to the gents loos and we had to fit five of us including drum kit and keyboards in. Well we managed it by stacking the backline on top of each other next to the loo door which just left enough room for the kit in the corner against the rear wall and the keys set up along the left wall ( admittedly partially blocking the fire escape door).
The first set was 9:00pm and I have to say that the pub wasn't that full. When I'm not out gigging I call in the Scythe on a Saturday night as a matter of routine and the place is always rammed! The Landlady , the lovely Jaycee , assured me that it didn't really start to fill up until about 9:30 - 10:00pm and I suppose it is usually 10:30 before I usually get in the place!
Well to cut a long story short - we went down an absolute storm! The pub was rockin come 10:00pm and to be honest I don't think most of the crowd cared that it was country - they were just there to have a good time and to appreciate the music. We played a second encore - Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' ( a song which we hadn't even rehearsed properly!) and came off to the crowd chanting 'U.S.Mail, U.S. Mail!!' Even my own dear brother who , believe me, is as cynical as they come ,lol!, admitted that he had thoroughly enjoyed the night!
The bar staff, Simon and the others ( don't know your names sorry!) and Jaycee were more than helpful and we were allowed to leave the bulk of the gear there overnight and picked it up early this afternoon! I ended up in Barristers piano bar just round the corner for the rest of the evening still wearing me cowboy hat and no doubt looking a complete plonker! But hey! I'll be on a high for the rest of the week unless work gets me down that much! Brass Routes next Friday in Dukinfield - should be another good one!
Jules