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

Wednesday 16th May 2012
London Camden Wheelbarrow

Unknown
Unknown
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players

I'm slightly ashamed that we did the cunty thing and left straight after our set, so I don't know who we played with. I'm a bit ashamed just writing it up, but I can honestly say it's the first time I've done so in 225 shows, so I can live with it. We just wanted to play another full-band set to continue fleshing out the 'Catcher' songs, and that aim was fulfilled.

Sunday 6th May 2012
Portsmouth Edge of the Wedge

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Ewar Paris and the Golden Hairs
Roxanne Johns
Race Car Hearts
Analogue Manilow
The Boy I Used to Be
Andrew Foster
Matt Benham

This was the second year running that we did an All-dayer on the May Day bank holiday. I'd say that it was slightly less busy than last year - still pretty heaving though - but once again, great fun. Matt and Andy tenderly strummed the day into life, TBIUTB broke my law of no acts 2 years running (he stood in last minute for a pull-out (oo-err)), AM destroyed eardrums all round and pissed off the chavs at the bar (bravo), RCH and Rox showcased some wonderful songcraft, then Ed was back with his band the Golden Hairs who were scuzzy, fuzzy and erm, buzzy, before we got on and played our best 'Catcher' set yet, albeit with a few choice cuts from 'Cool Hand Luke' thrown in. Lovely stuff. Next year I intend to take this up a level, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Saturday 21st April 2012 (Record Store Day)
Pie and Vinyl, Southsea

The Day of the Rabblement
Andrew Foster
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
The B of the Bang

We did an in-store for Record Store Day with just myself and Mr Elliott Gregg on cajon. We did 4 songs and it was really good fun. I actually prefer playing acoustic sets that are 100% acoustic ie not plugged in. I prefer the feel of it, which is odd because I hate the whole pass-the-guitar-round-the-campfire-Counting-Crows-student-hell thing.

If you live in or near Southsea I HIGHLY recommend Pie and Vinyl - uber-friendly staff, great music selection, tasty pies, wonderful atmosphere: http://www.pieandvinyl.co.uk/

Tuesday 17th April 2012
Southampton Joiners

Chris T-T
She Makes War
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Unknown
Unknown

Chris T-T has become a fantastic stage presence in recent years, he really does captivate an audience and his songbook expands and becomes more brilliant as the years pass. He really should be more popular, but the universe is unfair. C'est la vie.

She Makes War was also a one-lady multi-instrumental powerhouse AND USED TO BE IN MISS BLACK AMERICA!!! YES!!!

We did this as an acoustic three-piece with Pauly and Whynto on trumpet/keys/percussion in the usual fashion. I don't really like playing the acoustic shows - I would if we did it all the time, but it really acts as a stand-in for the real thing when we can't do full-band shows. However, tonight was decent enough fun, and all good practice. Playing an acoustic set anywhere near a Chris T-T set is not recommended though, he will just blow you away.

We got dinner at this gig too. We probably didn't earn it, but Chris and Laura were kind enough to share. We also had a slightly depressing but invigorating discussion about the (possible?) death of music formats and eventual move towards a big free cloud of music in the sky available 24/7 for pennies, if that. Boo.

Friday 6th April 2012
London Camden Wheelbarrow

The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Boss Caine

I really can't remember an awful lot about this one, other than that Ochs got the high score (only score) on the Street Fighter arcade machine, and the support Boss Caine was pretty great, he gave me his album and it is wonderful. We weren't bang on form but still early days in terms of tightening up the Catcher material.

Portsmouth The Loft
Saturday 31st March 2012

Beatamax
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players

...so Pauly and I drove up from London after our afternoon gig (see below) to join the other boys for our first full-band RSP set of 'Catcher in the Rye' material. Whynto played bass for us today, he is now officially our go-to man when we are an RSP member down. Think of him as our utility player, kind of like our Niclas Alexandersson (that's a reference purely for people who wasted their youth playing Championship Manager 97/98.)

We were slightly messy, slightly scrappy, but it was superb fun to play a 30-minute all-action rock show, and I remember looking forward immensely to doing so more often (I'm writing this blog many months since.) Beatamax absolutely slayed it afterwards for their EP launch, they had the place packed out and rocking throughout. A great night all in all.

Bland Aid @ London Wilmington Arms
Saturday 31st March 2012

The Steve Bland Assembly
Stephen Wheel
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players
Phil Adams
+ more

I do love a double gig day, no doubt about it. This was for 'Bland Aid', an all-day gig to celebrate the 30th birthdays of our very good friends Steve and Gill Bland. They are so cool that they booked out the Wilmington for the day and invited all their favourite people to play. We had an evening gig scheduled, but me and Pauly played a set of DC/RSP songs in an acoustic fashion, and we also played a double-organ (oo err) version of DC classic 'Last Day of April' with Mr Steve Bland himself to finish our set.

What else? I had an amazing Steak sandwich at the Wilmington, almost too close to our set, but just enough in advance to avoid beef burps through the mic. We then got on the road to Portsmouth to play, excitingly, our first full-band set of 'Catcher in the Rye' based songs.

London Amersham Arms