’13’ at the Radlett Centre

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Last week I played guiyar for the ‘Sticks and Stones’ production of ’13’ – a youth show about a Jewish lad moving from New York to a sleepy town, and the trials and tribulations of coming-of-age and making friends in a new place. 

The music is very eclectic, covering a number of different genres including Death Metal, Reggae, Funk, and beautiful acoustic ballads. 

Electric and acoustic guitars are required for this show, and quite fortunately there are not many rapid guitar changes as these are mainly done between numbers. 

There are two guitar parts, and as on similar shows I had to compile both into one, reading from both pads and using a series of post-it notes to indicate what to read from which pad. It’s pretty rapid at times, but I relish the challenge to concentrate so much throughout a show. I also really enjoyed the diversity of the music and trying hard to play as authentically as possible with the tools at my disposal. 

Most of the sonic variation was was modified via the selector switch on my electric guitar. The switching on the Ibanez RG3120 is really versatile, giving you power and delicacy with ease. 

I did the show a few years back and really enjoyed it, and it’s nice to get my hands around it again with more experience under my belt. I look forward to doing it again too! 



Variety is the Spice of Life

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Over the last few weeks I have been doing a great deal of different types of work, each with different responsibilities. It has been a real thrill too, because I feel like I’ve succeeded in doing a good job with each of the challenges in front of me – particularly with the time I’ve had to prepare – and that gives me the sort of buzz I am looking for.

Since playing in Grease at the New Theatre in Oxford, I’ve spent quite a bit of time with the Denmark Street Big Band, playing three gigs with two of them being a bit of a trek, including ventures to Inverness (at the castle where Madonna got married), and to Great Yarmouth to play in a Big Band festival. All three gigs were fantastic fun with material ranging from Glenn Miller to Sinatra, Buble, and Basie, as well as two shows dedicated to the work of Bobby Darin.

I had the privilege to be able to play solo at my brother’s wedding, and also as a special part of his wedding speech, a solo gig for Team GB Triathlete, plus a jazz performance with my quartet to relaunch a stately home/hotel for DeVere Hotels.

Things are fairly relentless at the moment with final rehearsals on Monday for this year’s Live at the Rose event, as well as an Irish-themed recording session coming up where I need to get the mandolin out. Coupled with new ukulele and bass students it’s a very busy time!

David Gilmour with Roger Waters at the O2

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Last night I went to the O2 Arena in London to see Roger Waters perform the Wall. Around the time I booked the tickets (possibly a year ago!), I had heard that David Gilmour would be guesting with Roger on one of the nights. I was skeptical about this, since I’d heard various different stories about the indifference to putting Pink Floyd back together, and also a difficult relationship between the members of the band. However I went to the gig hopeful this may happen, but very quickly forgot about it when the concert started.

It was fantastic – kicking off with a big bang of red lights and pyrotechnics, shortly followed by an aeroplane flying into part of the wall that would gradually be built and completed over the course of the first half of the show! Amazing.

To my shame I wasn’t familiar with the material from the Wall from cover to cover, so there were only one or two tunes that I recognised (and thoroughly loved!), but I was entertained throughout by a fantastic stage show, and I really enjoyed all of the music that was new to me too. It must be said that Roger put on a superb show, and it was really refreshing to hear “Roger is happy for you to take photos, but please make sure the flash is switched off”.

I filmed a couple of the tunes that I knew, firstly Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, and then Comfortably Numb. At this point, the construction of the Wall was complete, with the band playing behind it! Roger was singing the first part of the verse and patrolling the area of stage in front of the wall, and then suddenly, a subtle, but beautiful voice could be heard emanating from an intense shaft of light from the top of the wall. The crowd went nuts. It was him! David!

I had managed to book tickets one row from the back of the tallest part of the Arena, but I was fairly central. Knowing this I took my binoculars and just watched Mr. Gilmour sing and play through them, open-mouthed. He was playing his black Fender Stratocaster with the maple neck – like his signature model that recently came out. On the video you can just see bright light where David is, but with my binoculars I could see him clearly playing his guitar and singing.

Here is the video. I’m very pleased with it – the sound is fantastic! You can also get a sense of the scale of the venue, and importantly, the wall itself. You can also get an idea of how they used it – the video projections were staggering, even from where I was.

Enjoy the video. What an amazing experience!

Seussical The Musical – Elgiva, Chesham

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Tonight will see the first performance of Seussical the Musical at the Elgiva Theatre in Chesham, Bucks. I’m really excited about it because the music in it pretty varied in style, but I’m also covering two guitar parts. It’s really challenging, but great fun.

The show has rock, funk, latin, and blues genres in it, and a handful of lovely ballads too. I have to play electric and acoustic guitar as well as banjo which is a real treat!

There’s a great deal of uptempo stuff in the music – your counting has to be spot on especially because the time signatures change around quite a lot.

Managing both guitar parts isn’t too difficult either – I’ve marked both pads up where I need to swap from one to the other, and any instrument changes as required. I do find myself playing parts from both pads in a single tune, and some changeovers are as short as a couple of bars, but it’s great fun and I wouldn’t want to do it differently.

Gear-wise I’m using my trusty Ibanez RG3120 for the electric stuff. It’s a really versatile humbucker-driven guitar, and I can get some really sweet out of phase single coil tones out of it too. This is plugged into my pedal board, and out into my Blues Junior which does a great job in these settings. My acoustic is the Martin OMC16Aura which sounds lush through my AER Compact 60 acoustic amp – the mic algorithms sound fantastic. I’m also putting my banjo through the AER since I fitted a K&K Banjo Twin transducer pickup to the head. This sounds really good – beyond all my expectations. The banjo is also holding up well in the pit – it’s a Deering Goodtime Special and I’ve tuned it to G D G B E which means my chord shapes on the top four strings are the same as the guitar stuff. I feel a bit ashamed doing it as I’d love to same I can play it as it’s meant to be played, but alas! needs must. It’s doing the job and sounding great.

I’ll keep you posted how it goes!

The Red Hot House Band!

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Another band I’ve recently started working with is The Red Hot House Band.  Based around Milton Keynes, the band is perfectly geared to keeping the party going all night long!  There’s an emphasis on fluidity, and nothing is fixed, so if a song is working we may keep the chorus going, or add a solo in, or drop down in feel and build to a climax.  It keeps us on our toes, and keeps audiences grooving!

Recently we’ve been having some promo video and photo shoots.  The above photo is one of the new promo shots.  Check out the video below for some more as well as audio of the band!

‘Ain’t Nobody’, like Floorfillers!

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Today was quite an exciting day. I received the mixed versions of some recordings that I’d done with one of the function bands I work with. The band is called Floorfillers, and we play quite a few contemporary tunes, as well as Disco and Motown classics. For your delectation I’ve uploaded one of the tunes we did – Chaka Khan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody’. You can listen to it on my homepage, or here.

The recording process of this was quite interesting, since the drums were recorded in one take(!) in a studio in Milton Keynes, and then bass, keys and my guitar were recorded by their respective players in their own homes. After a few emails it all came together back in Milton Keynes where the vocals and BVs were laid down before mixing.

If you need a band for your party, look no further than Floorfillers!

Pritee Hurnam – Funkify’s Big Mamma Funk!

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I thought I’d take a little moment to mention one of the singers I have the privilege of working with. Pritee Hurnam is the female singer in Funkify, one of the main function bands I work in. There isn’t anyone else I’ve worked with who is as good as Pritee at getting a group of people to have a good time! I’ve seen static, near empty rooms transformed to heaving discos, and it’s all thanks to Pritee. She has a great knack of involving people in her performance, serenading a gent with ‘Somebody Else’s Guy’, encouraging them to sing ‘9 to 5’, and also copy dance moves to ‘Blame It On The Boogie’. But that’s all the practical stuff involved in being in a party band.

Not only can do she do all that better than anyone else I’ve come across, she’s also a blinding singer. She’s a true pro – I’ve seen the show go on despite her feeling really ill and flu-ed out, and she’s still done a great job! She’s one of the most consistent musicians I know, and directs her band with ease, and a thoughtfulness that shows her mind’s always on the ball. Further evidence of this is proven when she alters a set at a moments notice, depending on the mood of her audience.

She works really hard for the band, and is a cracking musician and performer. I hope you get the chance to see her to her thing soon!

The Spin Jazz Club and Snake Davis

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Last night I went to an excellent jazz venue in Oxford called the Spin. it’s held every Thursday night at the Wheatsheaf in the centre of the city. It’s a bit tricky to find (down a narrow alley along one of the main roads in the centre), but well worth the search!

Last night saw the fantastic Snake Davis play alongside the house band. Snake is a brilliant saxophone and flute player – extremely emotive in his presentation of his playing, but also also captivating to watch. He has a great bag of vocabulary, and can shred as well as he can be sensitive.

Guitarist Pete Oxley was in the House band alongside regulars Mark and Raf, and together they produced the perfect platform for Snake to work his magic.

They played a wide variety of tunes including numbers penned by Hoagy Carmichael, King Curtis, Pat Metheny and also Oxley himself.

I can’t recommend the club enough, although you’ll need to book in advance if you want a seat! hope to see you down there soon!