The Dawn Chorus / The Retrospective Soundtrack Players - Blogging all over the World

My name is Kyle. I am a happily failing indie/punk/folk/country/rock musician from Hampshire, UK. I have been singing and songwriting in The Dawn Chorus since 2005, and The Retrospective Soundtrack Players since 2010. I love these two bands like my brother/wife rolled into one. This blog details the shows I have played with both bands, in chronological order.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

 

CXLIII - Portsmouth Little Johnny Russell's - 29/07/09

Wednesday 29th July 2009
Little Johnny Russell's, Portsmouth

The Dawn Chorus
The B of the Bang
The Steve Bland Assembly
The Boy I Used to Be

Argh. This was originally meant to be a full band show but became an acoustic show due to noise restrictions, though the pissed up punters at the back were making more noise than the four bands put together could have. Because it was so noisy we couldn't really get great dynamics going for our acoustic set, though it was nice to do 6 new tracks, many for the first time. I did, however, completely balls up 'Heart of Hearts' and make myself and indeed all of us look like complete amateurs, which is often how I feel when playing an acoustic set.

The SBA and BOTB were good though (those eagle-eyed will have noticed the SBA playing 2 days after their 'last ever gig', but we'll overlook that for now), and both covered one of our songs (SBA did Michael, BOTB did an amazing 'Hope will kill us'), which was very humbling. I'm now going on holiday for a much needed break.
x

 

CXLII - London The Miller - 27/07/09

Monday 27th July 2009
The Miller, London

The Steve Bland Assembly
The Dawn Chorus
The Adam Smith Effect

This was the SBA's last ever show and they were absolutely brilliant. It made me sad that they've stopped playing but at least we got to share their last ever show. We played pretty well too, for a small but perfectly formed and very attentive audience. We really seemed to have tightened up about 5 or 6 of the new album tracks. We've pretty much decided now that it will be out at the start of 2010 and that's when we'll be touring next. Just a few more shows this summer now.

Friday, July 24, 2009

 

CXLI - Andover The George - 24/07/09

Friday 24th July 2009
The George, Andover


The Dawn Chorus
Transcend

An interesting start but a predictable end. I'd let the diesel in the van get too low so we ran out on the hard shoulder in Fareham. Luckily Big Al and my Dad came out to save the day and we headed off a few hours late. After this, everything that happened was incredibly predictable: Steve the soundguy was lovely, we ate in Wetherspoon's, the support band were much heavier than us, we played to almost no-one but still quite enjoyed it. Probably won't go back to the George now though, I think it's just a bit too rock for our country-folk heads to handle.

 

CXL - Ipswich The Swan - 23/07/09

Thursday 23rd July
The Swan, Ipswich


The Dawn Chorus
Mr Christopher


 

CXXXIX - Cambridge Corner House - 22/07/09

Wednesday 22nd July 2009
The Corner House, Cambridge


The Dawn Chorus
Paul Goodwin Band
Roadside Poppies

The boys picked me up in the van straight from work, and since it was the last day before summer I managed to steal a copious amount of buffet for us to have on the way. It was a bit trafficy on the way so we did lots of car games, including 'Would you rather?' which is a new favourite. Wit was joining us on bass for Cambridge and Ipswich, and he put in some good work on 'Would you rather?', including 'Would you rather have a penis the length of a baguette but 1 cm wide, or the girth of a coke can but only 1cm long?'. I can't remember which I chose.

We got to Cambridge at about 8pm, but that was fine since we don't really seem to sound check at the Corner House. They gave us a few free pizzas and shit loads of chips and Neil got a bit pissed on 2 pints. We played pretty well, Wit was awesome on bass. We did have to cut our set a bit short but it happens I suppose. Paul Goodwin was great in support also. We sat around and had a few more drinks afterwards, until things got slightly odd with the bar staff and their confusing relations to one another, so we went upstairs and shared a very small room between six of us, which we are getting quite good at.

 

CXXXVIII - 2000 Trees Festival, Leaf Lounge - 17/07/09


Friday 17th July 2009

2000 Trees Festival, Chippenham

Leaf Lounge Stage


This was more like it. The main stage was too big for us; we kept pulling our leads out when we tried to share a mic. The leaf lounge had a tiny stage and the drum kit was so close to the tent edge that Matt's head touched the edge while drumming. We played better too and went down an absolute storm if I may say so myself. We managed to get on ten minutes early too so we did a nice long set, including 'Ring of Fire', which is a bit of a trump card these days.


After the show I had to go home as Jess was poorly, but I believe the rest of the boys had a smashing time. Possibly our new best ever gig? Certainly the best not in our home town. Lovely stuff.

 

CXXXVII - 2000 Trees Festival, Main Stage - 17/07/09


Friday 17th July 2009
2000 Trees Festival, Chippenham
Main Stage


Headed off in the morning in typically biblical weather for a festival weekend - though apparently it was worse last year. While close to Tot Hill (my favourite service station, even ahead of Fleet) I got a call from a guy berating us for pulling out, though there was a bit of crossed wires going on; what actually happened is we were invited to fill in on the main stage for Godsized, who pulled out.


We had to put our foot down to get there in time for our set, especially since 2000 trees was incredibly well hidden; there were literally no signs until we got there. Sat Nav was vital. We only did a 5 or 6 song set but our main goal was to get people along to our Leaf Lounge set later in the day.........




Monday, July 13, 2009

 

CXXXVI - Fuse Festival - Lichfield - 11/07/09

Saturday 11th July 2009
Fuse Festival, Lichfield

Good fun, this. Paid much more than usual, played to a packed tent (thanks, rain!), people seemed genuinely into it and we sold out our CDs. It was a family festival so we shoved a bit of Johnny Cash in their earholes to cushion the relentless indie-folkery. Nice strong cider and lager led to tipsy kyle, half price belly buster burgers (2 x burger, 2 x bacon, 1 x egg, cheese) though i didn't have one. Tug 'o' war, nice few games of bum (it's a football game), lovely accomodating organisers, slightly dodgy sound set-up but certainly bearable. Good fun all round.

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