NWB - Community Blog

With you there on the wobbly bob Al
never again.


Aiden

It was good to meet up last night Al and chat.Fair point about the pa but given that the venue wants to promote its new system and of course wanting to work with the venue, we left our gear at home.Certainly makes a difference when the sound guy is serving pints but hey you just try and do your best and make sure that you are aware of the audience in front of you.
The difficulty we have as a band in playing Tull numbers in pubs is that the music is very specific and maybe an acquired taste which limits where you can perform Tull material and the nos of songs that might be suitable. OMT is by tradition a hard rock venue so we know that we have to mix material to ensure a right balance. When Peter plays with the band what you get is two hours plus of Tull numbers but there again that tends not to be in pubs and the billing is advertised as specifically Jethro Tull tribute. In pubs and without Peter if Mark is with us we will play approx 7/8 Tull tunes which is what we did last night.Maybe we should add more or maybe we should play more of the more famous Tull vocal numbers than some of the instrumentals and slightly obscure stuff.Food for thought and we will be giving it thought for sure.Next year we are thinking of going back to doing some proper Tull tribute shows so will keep you posted.Meantime here's a list of the Tull pieces we played last night and the albums they come from.

Mainland Blues [Rock Island]
Play in Time [Benifit]
Bouree [Stand Up]
We used to know [Stand up]
New Day Yesterday [Stand Up]
Pibroch/Black Satin Dancer [ Songs from the Wood/Minstral in the Gallery]
Dharma for One [ This Was]
Locomotive Breath [Aqualung]

And finally its great to discuss and debate the finer points of a gig etc and we all appreciate the time and effort you put in in pre and post gig. Constructive criticism never did anyone any harm.Thank you....hope the head feels a tad better.
Best wishes..Patrick and Cold Flame.

wobbly bob!! NOT a session beer!

Sorry i did not manage to get to the gig last night too many family committments this weekend but glad you made the trip.Interesting points you make there.Sounds like you reckon the guys should be doing more Tull numbers not less.

phil cold flame crew.

@ Phil and Patrick, Cold Flame, also please let me know when you are doing your JT stuff,

Rick.

Will do Rick for sure.Ta for asking and comment.
phil.

An excellent night indeed, great to meet the faces behind the names Al & the Kid, another fab Di & the great Aiden of No Boundaries (pint of Carling please LOL).

You all need some more time served at the Taverns bar to build up yr drinking stamina tho you wobbly lightweights!!


It was indeed shame on the sound front but i'm sure a venue of The Tav's quality will iron out the teething problems pdq

LittleminxDi x

Nice to meet you too Di.
Think i remember...just about. lol

Deffo no more wobbly bob for me and Carling?
What did i do now.

Aiden

Aiden
What happened to I,ll see you tomorrow night when Sticky Fingers are on.You lightweight.

Jimmy

Oops sorry Jimmy, did i say i would be back on Sunday?
Good god that wobbly bob has a lot to answer for.

Lol Al too bloody true.
I will accept the NWB Lightweight of the week award....AGAIN!!!

OK... Just making a few things clear.

First of all, the OMT offers a lot more than most venues. Not only in terms of equipment, but it really supports music in general. It has bands 3 nights a week, Jam night every Monday providing everything even the guitars, acoustic Jam on Thursdays, practise room with another PA, at fair pricing and flexible times. And most importantly, we try to give all the bands a good reception, and make sure they've got everything they need. That does not imply that the venue also has to provide a sound engineer. In fact, at the moment it doesn't, and that is clear enough to everyone, and is fair enough.

I'm not sure of where this assumption comes from, that because you provide the PA, a sound engineer is included. In any case, most places that offer a PA are not pubs and don't have "pub bands" on, which already makes the OMT an exception. If the idea is that the "proper/well established" music venues do, than the same goes for the bands. The "proper/well established" ones will have their sound guy. ("oh but it involves the cost, to have the extra guy... yeah, the same goes for the venue!)

Secondly, I am not a sound engineer, and I was there on that night to work behind the bar, and not the mixing desk. And I have made it very clear, to all the band members, before the gig, that although I am glad to help (and I really am), I have to training in Sound Engineering, and it's not my job to mix anyone's sound. And my availability to the mixing desk is obviously limited by how busy it is at the bar. When the bar manager puts me on the rota, she rightfully expects me to be doing my job.

????????? "the venue wants to promote its new system and of course wanting to work with the venue, we left our gear at home. Certainly makes a difference when the sound guy is serving pints" ??????? - As if they were doing the OMT a favour by not loading shedloads of gear into their cars, unloading it at the venue, setting it up, breaking it down afterwards, loading it back in the car, and unloading it again back home!!! And again, it' not the sound guy serving pints, it's the other way around, the bartender trying to help with the sound as well!!!

On top of that, I've just come back from a holiday, to find that not only the PA has been replaced, so I don't know the equipment, but also that nothing is where I expect it to be, and I find myself struggling even to find a cable, coz I don't know where things are. Then at the same time, I have a band waiting for me to do a sound check, and people at the bar waiting to be served, and where is that XLR-to-jack?

???The drums were lost in the mix??? If I remember well, they were either not mic’d up at all, or maybe just the bass drum. And neither were the guitar and bass amps, so if the backline was too loud for the drums, it’s entirely up to their own stage sound, and not the mix on the PA.

Since the guitarist had a wireless system, he had access to the mixing desk for the sound check, and could hear the overall mix, apart from his own vocals of course from anywhere he wanted. Of course it will sound different when the place is packed, but that’s with every sound check. And it’s not like they didn’t take their time with the sound check. In fact, I can’t remember a sound check lasting that long. In the end, the impression I had was that the sound check stopped not because they were finally happy with the sound, but more like they’ve simply given up sounding good. Yes, at the time I was at the desk, but simply doing as I was told (more gain here, less high end there etc...). It’s not like I mixed it to my liking, and I am not to be held responsible for the result.

During their break, I was told that they’ve just had some advice from friends who know what they’re doing in a mixing desk, and asked if they could mix it again. Of course, they didn’t even have to ask! It’s their gig, from the start they know that whatever they wanna do with the mix, it’s their decision. So I obviously told them that their friends are more than welcome to take over the desk if they wanted to help.

To what extent these friends were actually helping with the mix or just pointing out that something needed doing I don’t know since I was busy elsewhere. All I know is that from what the band asked me, I had the impression that there would be someone at the desk during the second set, which didn’t happen. I had to run a couple of times to the desk to turn the keyboards down a bit, because at times it became insanely loud. My guess is that different sound settings maybe would have slightly different output levels, but my guess is probably wrong, because I’d also guess that he has a f-ing volume knob at his keyboards to do on-the-fly adjustments!

Anyway, they all seemed to be very nice lads, and they can play their instruments. But with a stand-in on the flute, who doesn’t do the vocals, the guitarist admittedly not in his best vocal shape, a PA they were not used with, maybe a misunderstood expectation that there would be a house-sound-engineer, and a not very well chosen set list, it’s safe to say that it wasn’t the highlight of Cold Flame’s career.

Hope to catch these guys’ gig again sometime, maybe with the regular flute guy, since I read he usually does the Tull vocals, the guitarist’s voice in a better condition, in a situation where they’re happy with the sound etc...

And as for repertoire, less of the progressive-instrumental-dragging-obscure-strange-noises-endless-torture, please! The best addition would be an acoustic guitar, some great Tull tunes on acoustic, and not only to play Tull, but would widen the dynamics of the band a lot (in fact, a great addition to any band that doesn’t use them already on their gigs).

Thanks for reading.

Oh dear...perhaps on behalf of the band I need to say a few words in relation to the above comments as I feel that such are warranted.

In the first place Cold Flame love playing at The Old Market Tavern - a venue that we have performed at for well over a decade.We love the place and the opportunity to play to an audience that actually appreciates live music. There is no criticism from us levelled at the venue nor the staff.The recent input of a pa system is to be applauded and I for one fully support the reasoning behind it.Okay maybe there were some issues with the sound...but I for one refuse to blame the venue nor anyone who tried to help.Yes maybe we thought that a sound guy was provided but it is nice not to load and unload your own pa system.In any case we tried our best to get a decent sound on the night as indeed did the OMT staff.
For those of you reading this therefore applaud the OMT who are trying to make things work for all you musicians out there.In time the inhouse pa system will benifit many of you.

Regards..Patrick/Cold Flame.

ps..I take the points raised about more Tull music being played by the band..We will look to sort stuff out.Thanks..Patrick/Cold Flame.

Thank you for your comments, Patrick, both here and the PM.
Best wishes for you and the band. Hope to see you soon.