The Keys Diary
Oct 4th 2003. The Clwb gig.
I always enjoy playing at Clwb Ifor Bach. It has one of the best on-stage sounds in the U.K. First things first though, I had to take my amp to Cranes. Mike the boss at Cranes is fine with us coz we've spent lots there! So I told him the emergency of the situation and he acted promptly! I was secretly hoping he'd give me another amp in the mean time but he didn't. Instead I waited in Cranes on a busy Saturday whilst my amp was being fixed downstairs. Fair play it's a cool amp, the Fender Deluxe. I'm not normally a techie person. I don't go on about gear, gizmos and gadgets, but my amp is very dear to me. It has the most wonderfully cosmic reverb I've ever heard! You see I don't have a TV! Many a magic hour can be passed just playing notes into my amp. Whether it's from a keyboard or a guitar. I like to play sounds. A lot can be evoked from just sounds. When you add the reverb from my amp it becomes even more special. I can get lost in the sound, forget about all the bullshit we all put up with on a daily basis. Its like meditation I would imagine.
Anyway! My amp was finally fixed at the expense of a decent soundcheck. You might have seen me running through Cardiff with an amp on a busy Saturday. Yep, that was I!
Whilst I was glad my amp was finally fixed it hasn't been right for years! I was cheesed off that we didn't have a good soundcheck. It was Pixy's first gig, it would have been nice to run through a few numbers. It didn't matter though, he made less mistakes on the night than I did!
Waiting round for a gig can be a tense thing. It got worse as the tour went on, coz at least we know Cardiff, and friends of ours were around.
I was anxious that nobody was going to turn up. That wouldn't have been very funky! But who the fuck are we? We were due to go on at 10:15 and at 9:45 there wasn't that many people there. This was a drag of the highest order! We waited downstairs. We could here Texas Radio Band doing a good show and slowly the crowd volume was picking up! Thank fuck for that!
The nerves are going crazy at this point. I/You question why the fuck are we doing this!? Singing fucking songs on a plank of wood with bits of wire going across it! What's it all about! There's no turning back now!
So then you have to go for a shit!
And then its time.
And you're relieved that the crowd are not monsters. They are real people who listen to music, and they enjoy good tunes. And you can pick this up from them.
Wow! Our songs are short! We are flying through the set. By the time we get to LSD I'm thinking let's have a jam at the end of this. It was inspired partly by nerves and partly by inspiration! Wicked it worked. Elliott dropped a stick, and kept going. You could see the effort on his face it was great. I kept on 1 chord forever. It was noisy. The crowd went with us.
First shows are nearly always strange beasts. So in all honesty, I was glad when it was over. We were a little stiff in places(if you pardon the pun), not quite letting it all hang out. This was something we'd get right. But my amp was great, ready for the other dates!
Matthew Evans
