I’m not really moaning about it, having a weekend full of gigs is great but I am starting to forget what should happen for normal people on a Saturday mornings. I’m sure it shouldn’t involve getting up before 7am.

This weekend is packed full of my “summer job” of playing Indian weddings. After about 5 years for playing these gigs I’ve started to get recognized by wedding guests in the Indian community. It’s quite strange but as a result I’ve been given the honorary title of Cauc-Indian (that’s a caucasian-indian). At least I think that’s what they shout at me . I’ve risen through the ranks of being a lowly newby to choosing the charts and directing the band. This wasn’t my first thought when I was working to be a professional but the gigs are a-plenty and the band are good and tight these days.

This is me last year in my Battle Gear . . . with a Horse (?):

This morning started of like any other but unlike most other gigs I wasn’t driving – Good times!! Today I was left in the capable hands of my Cauc-Indian commrad Dan Watson. A man who drives a tiny Go-Cart type car which has an unstable roof, near flat battery, manual fuel pump (needed to start the engine) and my very favorite feature… flower stickers on the bonnet and sides. He swears that he just didn’t take them off when he bought it but I think he likes them. (As do I.)

As we drove to the gig Dan gave me his new arrangement that he’d been working on. I memorized this particular piece the week before but now it was in a nice new key for me to re-remember.

If you’re unaware of the genre that is Indian Wedding music the band is made up of 2 Dohl drums and a horn section; usually trumpet, sax and trombone. We have lots of charts we play from memory as we walk. Usually trailed by 20 to 200 dancing indian families behind us. Sometimes this includes a horse, a sword spinner, professional dancers, Rolls Royce’s , Aston Martin’s, Ferrari’s, Strech-Limo’s, Limo’s, Stretch-Hummers etc.

The music isn’t too hard to play but it can be like trying to sprint a marathon. The volume that we play has to be so loud that playing for more than 15 minutes leaves you in a state. Not to mention the various hazards to watch out for. These include; coins being tossed in the air and at your instruments, camera men, guests and dancers who get in your way and sometimes even rouge fire works. Last week a horse bolted past me less than a meter away as I was playing. That was worrying.

I guess it’s fair to say that the gigs can cause a little bother to civilians too. To be honest if a bunch of horns and drums started playing outside my house as early as 7am I would call the police. Which is exactly what happened a earlier this month. It’s only the 5th time in nearly 5 years so it’s only once a year statistically speaking. And we might stop the occasional flow of traffic my marching down a road in rush hour to the tuneful accompaniment of car horns and abuse, but again… it’s not really that bad… not really… that bad??

Todays gig ran smoothly; Horse, Groom, Dancing Family, DONE!!!

It wasn’t until we finished that I felt something was missing. As I looked town to see only two of my three valve caps on my trumpet my heart sank. In the 10 minutes of walking this procession from their hotel to the reception I’d lost it!! You know how it feels when you lose something really important to you? Your stomach lurches, you get the anxiety sweats and you start thinking “you idiot, where did I lose it.” I retraced my steps with my sympathetic horn section with no luck. It’s safe to say I was completely bummed out. I didn’t know if or how I could get the part replaced as it’s a pretty unique horn in the UK, how long it would take to get from America, how much it would cost, how unprofessional I’d look in my upcoming gigs with an incomplete instrument. Gutted. . .

Until I found that dirty, scratched and battered heavy-weight valve cap sitting in the road on the way back to the car. It was still in good shape for saying 100 Indians, a horse and a stretch Rolls Royce had trampled it into the pavement. But I still found it… so I win

Weekend: 1 gig down, 2 more to go.

I’m not a big fan of the South Pacific, with gaping plot holes a clunky story and a less than flowing score it didn’t make a great impression. The production itself was good and the it had a few perks that helped the week go by with a little more fun but the main reason for this post tell you about a few more disasters that I’ve added to my show list.

For a full and up to date catalogue of these take a look in my Show Category.

The new top three this week are:

The Lighting Rig Shuts Down

Without any warning the lighting rig froze keeping the stage in an erie kind of perpetual twilight. Eventually (we could see this happening in the wings) the crew decided to pull out the whole system and put on the regular rehearsal lights. This made the appear as if you were going blind and could just make out the blurry shapes. Gradually each section of the rig started to behave and come back to life but it took an easy 10 minutes to sort out. Good stuff!

Emergency Dep

Two members of the Orchestra were called away in an emergency 10 minutes before the show started. Randomly one of the stage crew was a young trombonist and lived locally?! What are the chances?? He ran home, grabbed his gear and made a fair job of covering the part. That was very lucky!!

Oh Dan…how does it always happen to you?

Dan is my friend, fellow trumpeter and old house mate from my conservatoire days. I asked him to dep for me for a night on this run as I went to see Reel Big Fish play at rock city (a good gig). Dan has had a few interesting stories on gigs he’s depped for me. One of my favorites being the time his exhaust dropped out of his car half way down the A38!! But I think this could top even that!!

The venue is hard enough to find when you know where you’re going. Never mind if you have to leave the duel carriage way an exit early because of an accident. – Unlucky! Managing to find his way to the gig after the MD and I guided him in over the phone he ran in just as the show began. Not too bad in a regular pit. But when the entrance is located by the front row of the audience… nightmare.

Dan managed to dart in (as he describes it, with a pull the plaster off mentality) and excuse his way past the front row during the Overture. Expecting a round of applause he crawled and waited next to the trombone before he made a move on his seat. He didn’t realize that there’s only a brief applause before the cast start the show and didn’t have time to move.

Eventually he managed to crawl to his seat and the gig went happily ever after!!

I love shows and I’ve been playing in pits since I was 13. I’ve played all types of shows and for my age I’d say covered a fair few. The list includes:

West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Kismet, Student Prince, Barnum, Joseph and his Technicolor Dream Coat, Grease, South Pacific, Dancing Years, Carousel, Perchance to Dream, Gay is the Word, Call Me Madame, Calamity Jane, Kings Rhapsody, Le Cage aux Folles, Chess, Les Miserables, Princess Ida, Oklahoma, High Society, Anything Goes, Copa Cobana, Sweet Charity, Jesus Christ Super Star, My Favorite Year and Me and My Girl.

And a number of these I’ve played 2 or 3 times.

I have a couple of friends who are currently knocking at the Westend door. Ben Kennedy who was my accompanist at the Birmingham Conservatoire has deped for ‘Wicked’ a number of times and James Newton who I met when playing ‘My Favorite Year’ at LIPA who has sat in (on kit) at half the shows currently playing in London.

I’d love to get into the Westend pit. However not to do my friends accomplishments a disservice but it’s a bit different on the trumpet. You have to be very very special to be sitting on the big shows. The chops that these guys have are great and something that to listen to can re-inspire any trumpet players dull practice routines.

At least this is what I felt when I went to see ‘Wicked’ last week, especially when I stood over the pit to watch the play out at the end of the show. In fact… I felt so inspired after they’d finished and were all getting up to leave I shouted across this Westend pit for the trumpet player. I had a short chat with him and ended up meeting up with him at the stage door where I asked him for a lesson and we traded details.

I think even Mr Newton the networking machine would be proud of me for that. However I will point out that I think I was lucky to get such a kind response. Keep that in mind if you have an insane urge to follow my example.

The reason I wanted a lesson with this trumpet player was watching him and how he played I could see what I was aiming for. I’m not putting myself down. I’m a pro, I’m making a good living and I do some great gigs. But I still want more out of myself, that’s why I still practice hard everyday.

I had my lesson today backstage at ‘Wicked’ witch was very cool (see that clever play on words). The guy was great. I asked him about how he started and how he got to where he is, he told me about being in Europe on lead trumpet trials for a National Radio Big Band (I’m being purposely vague), about the guys he trained with and of course the kit he uses.

Incidentally not only has he played and is a fan of Calicchio trumpets, but he also has a GR mouthpiece -like me. So I was happy about that. He also knew a lot of the guys who have taught me and who I’ve been lucky enough to meet and play with which shows I must be on the right track.

We worked on some great stuff and because I’d done the research about the physicality and processes of playing a few years before I was already a few steps down the line on the exercises we did. It was really worth it. Even more so because he was very encouraging about my technique and the way I play and he really didn’t have to be. Baring in mind that he was modestly slurring double octaves to a double C. Legend

I’ve got some things to think about and now I feel even more inspired to play.

All in all… not a bad day.

Todays post is about my gig with the Shades over the weekend. I have to say, they’re never boring.

It was a long 3 hour journey from London and I arrived at the post code I was given in Staffordshire at 5pm when I started my usual hunt for the venue. I tried to save time by pulling up to ask for directions. Unfortunately it turns out that the guy I pulled up to was the guitar dep for my gig and he was lost as well along with Neil (sax) who was asking directions from someone else. I turns out that the address we had was to the organizers house and not the venue… Useful.

We were told that sat-nav wouldn’t take us where we needed to go so we had to follow her directions the old fashioned way. We ended up driving around a square mile of this village for 45 minutes and gradually bumped into other lost band members on the road adding to our lost convoy of a motorbike 3 cars and a big van full of 5 band members, PA and lighting rig.

But this is when the fun really started. We finally narrowed down where the venue was (by traveling up and down every road in the village) and ended up on a dirt track through a wood and of course it was pitch black by now.

At this part in the story we are all tired, frustrated and late to set up so what’s the worst thing that could happen? That’s right, the van got stuck. In the mud. By a river

As random chance would have it, a lone stranger was walking down this abandoned track and told us that he had a JCB. I still can’t believe our luck. 10 minutes later he pulled Chris and half the band out of the mud and we were back to being lost.

Eventually we arrived at the venue which was, as it turns out at the end of the mud track, we could now start to set up. It was a pretty standard gig; tuxedo’s, ball dresses, champagne etc.

Unfortunately the place was filled with the kind of upper class offspring who are so inbred that it’s a good job Mummy and Daddy can pay for their entire existence. I only say this as I was treated to the company of some of these girls as they snuck round the back to slum it with the band. I want to say they talked to us but it’s more accurate to say they talked at us.

On the plus side they were really into the music and when it came to Chris shouting; “do you want to hear a trumpet solo”, I got a chorus of “yeah!” – which was cool. But ideally not the best time to have my wireless mic cut out on me (I’ll be making a future post on the wireless mic). To say that particular solo was good wouldn’t be accurate, to say it was loud to make up for the dead mic would be much more accurate.

Even though we had a few disasters that evening I think we all had a good time. The audience loved us and it was nice to see all the guys from the Shades since being back from Abu Dhabi.

Fire Alarms

In the last show there was a fire alarm which stopped the performance and forced us to evacuate the building. Mark (a fellow trumpeter) and I continued to play with conviction until the MD stopped wagging. When the show did eventually start up again we had to stop for a second time as a member of the audience had managed to block the fire engine in with their car. It turned out to be a great performance as the audience were sympathetic and really got into the show.

Trumpet Breakdown

In the show before that my pal Dan (who I lived with when I was at the Conservatoire) came along to play on a show. Unfortunately one night the exhaust fell off his car on the A38 so couldn’t make it to the show. Enter Mark and his promotion; to sight read Dan’s part that night

Wrong Mouthpiece

The one before THAT the trombonist ended up bringing the wrong sized mouthpiece for the trombone he had with him. Cue Steve (the other trombone) to save the day. By jumping in his car and speeding home he managed to grab the appropriate gear to salvage the night.

It’s always an exciting show company to work with. I just have to make a check list before I leave, inspect my car for potential things that could fall off and carry an extra large bottle of water into the pit in case of a fire. There are other positive things that happen in this company though – take a look at my post on The Copacobana Love Note

That is until some old granny behind me stumbled over her dress and grabbed the first thing that she could to stop her from falling… me. One minute I’m playing the next I’m playing but have some old woman’s arms around my waist. She fell over with a fair bit of force and was at such an angle that her face was pressed into the small of my back.

It’s a good thing I practice what I preach! If you look at the Lip Flex’s Post I made a few days ago which demonstrates a good playing stance you’ll see that either of the red men would have eaten their mouthpiece and broken there backs should a pensioner decide to tackle them from behind. Thankfully myself and Mr Green Man were fine and I didn’t even miss a note. Not to say I didn’t have a mild look of confusion on my face and see a the look of horror and amusement in the rest of the band’s eyes.

See?? A good posture not only improves your playing but could save your life

This Little Piggy Stayed Home,

This Little Piggy had Roast Beef,

And This little Piggy was Severed off by a collapsing keyboard stand!!

This story might seem like something out of a musicians horror film but it is 100% true. I was on a gig over the weekend when I was called up by a soul band I do some work with from time to time. They were desperate for an emergency dep for a gig in Manchester. Unfortunately I couldn’t do it because of the distance and my commitments with the Shades the next day but the reason that they needed a last minute dep was because their regular trumpet player had an accident with another band the night before.

He was putting up an X-frame keyboard stand when it slipped and severed his index finger clean off. To the KNUCKLE!! I winced when they told me and so did the musicians I was gigging with at the time. Apparently the doctors couldn’t save it either!! How upsetting is that?!??

It led to us all trying to play our instruments in as many unconventional ways as we could think – left handed, wrongs fingers, with our palms – as we tried to work out what we could lose and still play.

Just out of interest it turns out that your stuffed if you lose anything on the sax. You can still play the trumpet with one hand but the best instrument if you are prone to horrific accidents is the trombone which you can play with no hands.

It was the last night of Copa and we were on the play off when it happened. I got to the last note and had enough chops to scream out a nice F to finish a hard week of playing. It wasn’t 10 seconds after this when I got a tap on the shoulder. I turned around and a girl was leaning over into the pit and passed me a bit of paper (which I thought I must have dropped earlier) so I said thanks. It was after she’d left that I’d opened the paper and realized she’d passed me her number : )

I turned to the other 6 members of the brass section who’d been watching, to a stunned “did that just happen?”

Of course the lads didn’t let it go and during a quick drink after we agreed on an ideas. Based on the theory that there is a “brown note” which is a frequency so low it causes your body to do things that with this particular name I’m sure you can imagine. The theory went that there must be a frequency at the other end that did things to the ladies which was dubbed “The Love Note”

We’ve never found that frequency again but the guys have said they haven’t given up trying. : )

Later on in the night James Newton came around after his last class at LIPA and then the work really started.

As you can see we had a productive evening that soon descended into playing Guitar Hero on the X box. The only reason I’ve really put this into my blog is because it was such a laugh and the evening was meant to be so productive. It’s great seeing how fast musicians pick up this game and also it’s a good incite into what young pro’s get up to when they’re not playing or composing… we play

We also discussed that taking a four year course on the art of playing Guitar Hero is actually more valid and useful  than taking a degree on the recorder or as a singer.

This is a game that I recommend to all musicians!!