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Thursday 16 March 06 Topic, Bradford (This piece was originally written for the website) Songs: 2. Little Gypsy Girl Our first appearance
at the Topic, the "oldest folk club in the world", and a very
pleasant experience. For a start, we won the raffle (we won it at the
Grove too: fortune is smiling!) and opted for two jars of jam. We played
three songs, two traditional, and Lal Watersons "Old Salty",
as our part in the sing-around, and ended up jamming in a big session
with everyone at the end. We've been asked to go back and do a support
slot in the near future. Thanks to John Waller, and everyone at the Cock
and Bottle, for a fantastic evening.
Wednesday 8 March 06 Otley Folk Club, Korks (This, and all pieces below, were originally notes for our own records, and not intended specifially for the website.) Songs: 01. Hal an Tow Very chuffed about the fact that the Mulberries are likely to be asked to play Otley Folk Festival. That is like having been promoted to the next division. We are now a band not only that does big paid gigs, but also that does festivals. We've now got to be good enough to do that and be impressive. There are all sorts of implications of that casual remark that Malcolm, the club organiser, said last night… "We were talking about you after you played before and we thought we'd like you to play the festival…" or something like that. He said that Steve (Fairholme) wanted to get in touch with us. There is the implication that we are now moving up into another league, as I said earlier, but that also means that we can put ourselves about more, use it as a way of getting bookings. It has leverage. As soon as it becomes definite I shall put some sort of "splash" across the front of the homepage. We weren't sure there was going to be a singer's night, when we arrived at Korks. We were there very early to get a good seat. There appeared to be somebody setting up to do a big gig (is was Roger Sutcliffe doing a special birthday gig), and although there were one or two people with guitars it seemed not to be a singers night. But then Malcolm, the guy with long grey hair and a long grey beard - a sort of Gandalf figure - came and talked to us. They originally said two songs, then later changed it to three - presumably because they thought we were good. We played with a lot of confidence. James forgot the words in Lovely Joan, but they picked it up well. The mandolin was out of tune (or at least the guitar and mandolin had drifted apart) but I was able to do a full retune on the fly before the third song: that felt good! We chatted to Nick
and Dunc about gigging and the music, and all sorts of things.
Friday 3 March 06 Grove singer's night Songs: Some old salty (L.Waterson) Hal-an-Tow(Trad)
When it was our turn to play we were very bumbling and diffident, and not at all agreed on what we were going to do. There was a certain amount of confusion. I suppose you would say lack of leadership. (We got up to play,and stood at the end of the room like performers do.) We were rethinking what we should do, basically going more folky, so we didn't really have time to think it through and agree. It was also unclear how many songs we would do. Anyway we did "Old Salty" and "Gypsy Girl". We sang them well, maybe rather tentatively, but unfortunately James's harmonica, the cheap one he's just bought, was massively sharp, compared to the fiddle, and we didn't have the opportunity (or the balls) to stop and retune. I think we were quite nervous at that point. We sat down to polite applause, and my feeling at that time was that we'd blown the whole enterprise. I was thinking, "We can't play folk clubs, so there's the whole strategy gone…!" James was very upset, and just wanted to abandon the whole thing and go home at that point. I said that we ought to stick it out, and said to Beth that she ought to talk to the audience more, but she said she couldn't do it because she'd been physically assaulted by a pupil that day and felt awful. So things didn't look promising. We then waited and waited, getting colder and colder, sitting through interminable performances. I really wasn't enjoying it. It got later and later, and I was thinking it was all going to be a bit of a write off. But then Eddy came out to do a song, and said to us that she wanted us to finish off the evening. That was the first bit of encouragement we'd had. I said to the others I thought we ought to go for it, and do one of our Dylan showstoppers. So we agreed to do "Hal-an-Tow", and "Oh Sister". We retuned the guitar and fiddle to the harmonica. We did those two songs and they went very well, although we didn't think about or do much about the "performing". We were in a very cramped space, and I had to stand on the "stage", with Jim and Beth on the floor. They then asked us to do a third, and I had to retune the mandolin on the fly - all 8 strings - so that we could do "Everything's fine". But… I did it, we played it brilliantly, and we left on a high. Lots of people came up to us afterwards and complemented us, and we made a lot of useful contacts. I didn't ask Sam about
doing a gig there, and he didn't mention it.
Wednesday 1 March 06 Shepherd's Rest, Sowerby Bridge Songs: 01. Log cabin home
in the sky (Heron) 08. Across the Marshes
(Clay) 14. The big man (Clay) The gig was good,
not from the point of view of an ecstatic and appreciative audience, because
there wasn't, but just from the point of view of having done it: got there,
set up, done a professional gig. (It was "professional" - they
gave us £20, and free drinks!) The audience were OK, but most of
them just hadn't gone to listen to music, as far as we could tell, but
they did listen, appreciatively for the most part, maybe 20 or 30 people
at the peak. We also had Ned taking photos, and Janet, Soph, and Austin
as "groupies", and they all thought we did well. We played 19
songs, and kept it together pretty well. I had made the CD, and gave a
few away.
Tuesday 21 Feb 06 Wharfe Unplugged, Addingham Songs: Across the
Marshes It's only rain Another good evening's work, but still so many things that we have to sort out - we're such novices. We sang well, the playing was weak, the performance was better than before, but still very rough and ready. The material is not all good. "It's only rain" didn't really work, partly because we were out of tune, partly because the song is too complex, partly because we didn't play it well, partly because they didn't understand what it was all about, and partly because it's not actually all that good. That disappoints me. I'm also disappointed that I can't perform, instrumentally. The things I can do at home and in rehearsal, I don't seem to be able to do in front of an audience. That's a problem. It's also a problem that the Hall Brothers (who we talked to a lot, tonight), who are a good deal better than us in many ways, are struggling to get gigs and are almost certainly not making a living out of it. James and Beth both performed well, though James still hung back too much to begin with. We all said things to the audience. I played through my little hidden belt amp, which didn't make that much difference, maybe made it slightly easier (but caused me some anxiety). What's weak is my playing, my skill level. (And our instruments.) We also seemed to be such newcomers - all the other people were talking about having played for years.
Another concern is the quality of the original material: it needs to be very good to move us forward, and the most ambitious song we've tried - "It's only rain" - just did not work. We've played it twice now, and it's bombed both times. Is it too difficult, is it wrong for the venues, or is it just not good enough? I don't know. It's also incredibly difficult to sit in a pub for two hours, and then get up and play the sort of pieces we're trying to play, with no warm up, no sound check, not even time to tune up. It's amazing that more things don't go wrong. We had tuning problems last night with Beth's new guitar - that messed up "Rain", which needs very accurate tuning for those dischords. I think we need to
get some "wow" factor into the instrumental playing, and into
the material, but I don't know if we're good enough on either count. It
isn't going to be easy. We get a lot of good will when we turn up somewhere
and play for the first time, but to be consistently the best, week in
week out, slogging round those difficult gigs, is something else. It's
very competitive, actually. They're very friendly, but when you get in
with the gang of them, as we did last night (we sat with Nick and Duncan
Hall, and Anne Jackson and Mark Longster from Northern Lights), they're
all very ambitious and very keen not to be out-done. The compere put us
on towards the end of each set, and the Halls played after us in the second
set, and they really did raise their game and blow us away.
Wednesday 15 Feb 06 Otley Folk Club, Korks wine bar Songs: Some old salty Gig went well. We were much more relaxed about the whole thing, though the response was a bit muted: I can't quite put my finger on why. Ned (who came to take some pictures) said - slightly tongue in cheek - he thought the songs were too upbeat and cheerful for the prevailing sombre mood. I think that it was more to do with the "clubby" nature of the place, and the fact that the entire audience were the performers. We tend to be more about the music, whereas for most of the people there it seems to be something slightly different - the story telling, the authenticity, I don't know what. Nick and Duncan Hall followed us, and they were really good. * * * Subsequently had this email from Nick Hall, which puts a slightly different perspective on the event:
am just back from a gig in London then I'm off to Durham to see my girlfriend - but when i get back i'll have a proper look at the site :-) we both think you're fab by the way - as did my girlfriend's mum who was there on Wednesday and Steve Fairholme (Otley folk club/fest organiser)!! And lots of other people too judging by the reaction! Nick
Friday 3 Feb 06 Circle of Friends, Chapel Allerton
I played guitar on the first two, with the little belt amp (turned up too high, actually), and then mandolin, Jim played guitar on all three, and harmonica, and Beth just sang. Beth talked over the introduction of "Marshes", in a very professional way. And we sang without looking at words, unlike everyone else. In other words, we tried very hard to be professional. I think we probably had material that was a little too sophisticated, well the second song, anyway, and then were a little too out of control on the last one. I think we should maybe hold back a bit, to keep the control. We should also engage with the audience more, and with each other. It's clear from the video clips that we are not connecting, except through the shear quality of the singing. Anyway, again, rapturous applause, and very favourable comments afterward. Mike (their banjo player) has put a very favourable comment on the website.
Tuesday 17 Jan 06 Wharfe Unplugged, Addingham Line up: Dick, Beth, James - First appearance as "Mulberry Blue" Songs: Log Cabin
Then, they put us on first. Not expected, but I suppose they had no idea if we were any good. We did Log Cabin, and then a less than perfect version of Lighthouse. (I had huge guitar problems: I was out of tune, very blasé, and tried to tune up while we were playing, but that just made it worse. I couldn't see the fret board, because I wasn't wearing glasses, and the lights were all from the front. On top of that, the dead acoustic meant that I had to play far too hard to make any noise, without amplification, and I just couldn't play the notes. Oh dear! I did apologise to the guys afterwards.) We were reasonably happy, especially to have got that start out of the way, and seemed to be politely received. Then there were the usual succession of guitar/vocal acts, mostly competent. (We sat next to Anne Jackson and Mark Longster of "Northern Lights", and they were friendly.) Then the Hall Brothers played, and they were better than us. I've not been able to say that for a while, but they were very good (but then they have been playing 15 years). They played second to last in the first set, with Ramon finishing. (One of the organisers - he's good too.) That made me very keen to do better when we started the second half. We decided to to "Oh sister", and "Old Salty", where the voices would be the stand-out thing, and they went very well indeed, and were very well received. We sat back to listen out the rest of the evening, but about twenty to midnight, when they were just doing the "thank yous", they called us back up to do an encore, to finish off the evening. That was most unexpected, and Beth whispered to me, "What are we going to do?" I suggested "Si tu dois partir", and that was just right. We played it with real energy and swing, and it was just brilliant. They asked us to do another, but we declined. As Beth said, "We don't know any more!" (Not true, but we felt we didn't know any more well enough.) We got a lot of positive feedback from the people there, and the atmosphere was very good. We did what I always hoped we would do: we hit the ground running. We come into this division able to hold our own with the best at this level. We now have a few months to get "promoted". Beth had a chat to Nick Hall in the interval, and he, apparently, said we should play Otley Folk Club, because he felt certain they would book us to play at Otley folk festival in the autumn. Things we've discussed, afterwards. I'm going to do more mandolin than guitar for lead work, though the fiddle was OK. (It didn't feel OK - I felt as though I couldn't control the bow - weird feeling, not nervous, but shaky. I suppose it must have been nerves.) I think I want to cut out the lead singing - we didn't do "Big Man" in the end, and I don't think my voice is good enough: not in the same league as Jim and Beth. We need to work up a lot of simpler songs, to give ourselves a bigger repertoire. It was good, though, having worked so hard for this debut: it's been six months in preparation (and we're still preparing, really). And the best is yet to come. We haven't done any of the original songs, yet, and they may well be the best thing. We do need a lot more
performance practice, though. There are things about a performance that
you just cannot rehearse on your own, and that's why things go wrong.
You need to practice performing. The relationship with the audience was
good, though. Beth did most of that, which is what I hoped she would do,
with Jim chipping in.
Friday 2 Dec 05 Circle of Friends, Chapel Allerton Richard, Beth, James - "The Band With No Name" Our first gig as a trio- played as "The band with no name", because that's how Richard (Raftery) introduced us. We did Lighthouse, Big Man (with me doing the lead singing), Si tu dois partir, and Oh Sister as an encore. Jim and Beth played guitars, and I played guitar through the 15W Marshall amp, and fiddle. Beth was suffering the after effects of a cold, couldn't hear very well, and didn't have the full power of her voice. Jim had less to drink than last time we played. We all played with hats on - it was "the Mad Hatters Tea party". We played second after the interval, about quarter to eleven, immediately after Richard's "Powder Keg". We played to a very packed room - maybe 60 people. It was pretty hot and stuffy. "Lighthouse" went without a hitch, though I did lose my way briefly in the middle of the solo. I might have been a bit loud - the impression was of a rock band starting up, after all the gentle acoustic stuff before us. I might have failed to hit the right notes in the harmony section. Very slick, though. "Big Man" started very quietly (and my voice was quite low and quiet), and they had to hush the audience. But it started belting out on the chorus, and then was very slick through to the end. "Si tu dois partir" went well till we cocked up the ending. I couldn't hear Beth at all - very dead acoustic and no echo back from the room. I thought they'd come to a natural end point, and I wasn't absolutely sure where we were anyway, so we sort of half stopped. "Oh sister" similarly had a break down in the middle, when Jim missed the pick-up after the chorus. I think that was just down to lack of rehearsal - we'd only played it twice before. (Their arrangement wasn't absolutely pinned down.) I think also we might have overdone it by doing 4 songs - that was more than anyone, in one go (though "Powder Keg" did do more altogether) - most of the people were waiting to perform. But there was a lot of variety - not many (any!) straight folk songs, though. Overall, very well received. We got enormous applause, and Janet thought we were the best there. She said she thought we'd come on enormously since she'd last heard us play (back in the summer?). Lot's of people came up to us afterwards and said very positive things. Most pleasing was the fact that the most effusive praise came from the better musicians, the ones whose opinion I would most value. Jim was a bit disappointed afterwards, because we made those cock-ups, but it was a classic case of going backwards two months in performance. There are just so many other things going on that you can't process all the information without losing a grip of what you're doing. We were well enough rehearsed, though, for it not to matter. We very nearly came up with a name - "Willow Family" - before we went on, but I backed off at the last minute as I didn't want to be bounced into it. I'm still not sure - Janet doesn't like it and I respect her judgement, although Jim and Beth are both keen. A big step forward,
though. We've performed as a trio, we've reached new standards of performance,
we're probably good enough to get gigs, now, when we've polished a set.
We reached the target we'd set. The repartee that Jim and Beth had with
the audience was good (I just kept my mouth shut). Richard |