Begging for Mercy!
It's been a busy ol' time for SOULSIDE.
We had to say an emotional goodbye to our long serving tenor sax man Chris, which was not an easy thing to do. But the world keeps turning, and a replacement needed to be found. Enter Mr Simon Jones, who's audition with the band turned out to be a full two hour gig. Sorry mate! Still, the lad done good, so we asked him to stay. Welcome aboard that man! September saw a good run of gigs, starting at the Bradford on Avon Fringe Festival, and ending at Abbfest, with a visit to The Jazz Cafe in Reading along the way. The highlight show for September has to be Abbfest, a charitable food & drink festival held on the outskirts of Newton Abbot. Fantastic crowd, fantastic organisation - in fact, it was an all round fantastic weekend, and we would recommend it to everyone! The band stayed on site, and were treated to the finest selection of ales and ciders known to mortal man. Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed the night... the morning, not so much! October played host to the bands biggest project to date - Operation : Promotional Video! After a batch of intensive reheasals which we took very seriously indeed (honest guv!), first stop was Huntenhull Farm in Chapmanslade to record the audio. Unusually for us, we didn't record this live, and instead tracked everything individually. Just as well really, because we never would have fit in the studio otherwise! Seriously though, the aim was to produce a slick and pro sounding audio, and that is exactly what this studio gave us, in a relaxed and stress free way. Partly because of space issues, and partly because of sitting around bored issues, we shipped the band to the studio in stages, with backline, keys and guitars recording on day one, and brass and vocals on day two, with a quick mix session followed a week later by a remix sesson to 'iron' out any final creases. Massive thanks go out to our engineer Callum Merrett (although he didn't make anywhere near enough tea!) and Huntenhull owners Crispin and Zeya (not least for booking us to play their wedding next year!), all of whom helped make it a relaxed and enjoyable process throughout. In fact, relaxing is what Huntenhull is all about! Shortly after the recording sessions, it was all off to The Memorial Theatre in Frome at a ridiculously early hour of the morning (anywhen before midday is ridiculous according to this writer!) to prepare for the frankly arduous but strangely enjoyable video shoot. The shoot was carried out in a calm and professional manner by Seend based Wiltshire Media, and a massive thanks must go to Roger, who had the unenviable task of editing all the footage of us larking about into something suitable. Some of us were a little worse for wear, but it should be pointed out that no single person is responsible for that, regardless of what anyone else may tell you. So there. The month was wrapped up with a Halloween gig at the Thistle Hotel in Exeter supporting a Cancer awareness charity, and dressing like idiots. Dead idiots at that! Much fun was had by all, and we've been invited back next year, so all good there! Until the next time... Ship ahoy!
We seem to have spent an awful lot of time around boats recently... that's not a complaint you understand, just an observation.
July 23rd saw the band at The Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (yes, that's right - the place that's hosting all those Olympic events next year) playing a wedding evening for some very lovely people, all of whom did their upmost to keep up with The Jones'... We were well fed and watered before we hit the stage, which looked out across the harbour just as the sun was setting and couldn't have been more beautiful, and had a great night. One guest vocalist, and one guest drummer (who was not only very good, but also very attractive, much to the annoyance of our man!) later, and the set was done. Much fun was had by all, and this show ranks as one of THE best wedding crowds we have played to! We started August at The Olympiad in Chippenham, playing a private function, and again, had a really great night. The show demanded a slightly more restrained performance than usual, and it was surprisingly a very enjoyable experience! Much of the material sat back into it's groove very nicely indeed thank you very much, and we look forward to playing there again next year. More boats greeted us at Plymouth last weekend. Another wedding, this time with accomodation. It's been a while since we all got to relax together post show, and we knew it would get messy, so we did the sensible thing and just accepted this would be the case and got on with it :) We arrived on site at around about 3pm, and beat our previous quickest soundcheck time by a country mile! 30 seconds. That was it. Bish bash bosh! Showtime wasn't until 9 so.... we were very nicely oiled by the time we hit the stage, and ploughed through a good solid 2 hour set to an energetic and rambuctious crowd that were alot more oiled than we were! This ranks as THE OTHER best wedding crowd ever! We are pretty sure most of us got to bed before 4! A few hours sleep, and we had another show to do for these lovely people. Fortunately for us it was a mid afternoon set that required alot of restraint. All in all, it's been a cracking few shows since our blazing headlining set at The Woolley Festival - and long may it continue! But first, we have a few weeks off. Time to recharge the ol' batteries and indulge in some foreign foods! Be seeing you... Woolly Heads at The Woolley Festival
Cor flip blimey Guv! That was the quickest hour EVER!
The band rocked up to headline the thirteenth annual Woolley Festival in Bradford on Avon on Saturday 16th July, and what a night it was. Fantastic original funk trio The Funkinsteins blew the crowd away with a mammoth set performed with a tightness and precision that would have made any other band tremble with fear at the thought of following them... OK, we did tremble a bit. The band took to the stage for the quickest line check in history, and no sooner had we started the first song, we were finishing the last. The set flew past in a blur of "energy and joy" (and that's a direct quote from our guest book - cheers Clive....who ever you are!!), and we were off and gasping for air before either the 700 strong crowd, or the band, knew what had hit it. We'll have a few more of those please! Poppy Appeal June 2011
OK - we'll admit it, it's been a while since we updated this-e-here Blog malarkey. We do have a host of very good reasons, but we're not telling, so there!
It's been a great year so far, with every gig being an absolute joy. The latest was a show at The Melksham Assembly Rooms, in aid of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, as a co-headliner with the Internationally acclaimed Bootleg ABBA. It was an honour for Soulside to be asked to play alongside such a respected act, but we more than held our own. In fact the venue wanted to book us there and then for New Years Eve, and the punters couldn't understand why we hadn't played all night! Well - maybe next year, hey? :) Time now for us all to get our heads down and learn all the new material that is coming your way, (and we have some pretty impressive stuff in mind!). We are all looking forward to our next forthcoming public gig "HEADLINING THE WOOLLEY FESTIVAL" ! Yes people it's that time of year, so get your tickets at www.woolleyfestival.com Until then...be seeing you! ...and then it was 2011!
Well - our annual NYE gig at The Hotel Du Vin in Bristol was, as always, a resounding success! Our start time was played about with a little, and it worked a treat. The crowd were once again fantastic, and a good time was had by all!
Our christmas party for ourselves was held at The George in Bradford on Avon, and many people came out to celebrate with us! It dawned on us at the time that not only was it our Christams celebration, but it was also out birthday! So we made absolutely sure that we celebrated twice as hard :) We won't divulge any of the details, but superhuman amounts of alcohol were polished off, and many of the band looked like they were made of porcelain the day after... It is always a pleasure doing these public performances. The people that come always come for the music, and the atmosphere generated at these shows is always fantastic. So - there goes 2010, and 2011 was welcomed in with style. Here's to another bloomin' good year! Get ready, 'cause here we come! There's snow business like show business!
Blimey - it's been a while since we updated this Blog malarky...sorry about that! No excuses - just on with the Blog.
OK, at the end of October we played Devon Hotel & Carriages in Matford, Exeter. It was for a very very very good cause, and it was (of course) a Halloween ball! Much fun was had by all, with everyone getting into the Halloween spirit (no pun intended) and dressing up impressively. Not only did the band join in (it was rather odd performing Love Train dressed as Devils, Zombies, Creatures of the Night and Corpse Brides), but we even managed the traditional costume change between sets! The crowd were absolutely fantastic, and the atmosphere even more so. Big thanks from us to you all, it was both a pleasure and and honour. Next up was a joint birthday party at The Cumberland Hotel in Bournemouth. It was for an actress and her partner, so we aren't allowed to mention names! It was a long day for the band (and a very trying one for one particular member, who soldiered on like the true pro that he is) but enjoyable none the less. Some of us ventured to the beach, which even at 8pm on a cold and dark November evening heralded a few surprises. Mainly foxes. Oh, and Harry Ramsden - NOT impressed! That brings us (almost) up to date, with the last gig being a Christmas party for a lovely bunch of solicitors at The Bear Hotel in Devises. It was a great gig, despite a cavernous room to try and get a good sound in. We are unable to tell you anything else about the gig, or the conduct of some of the people therein, due to the confidentiality agreement . But seriously - it was great fun, and we look forward to seeing them all again. Next up we will be seeing in the New Year at The Hotel Du Vin in Bristol, and letting our hair down for our own Xmas party at The George in Bradford on Avon... so that won't be messy at all then! I Pity The Fool...
So - two gigs to write about, and some new old songs! (does that make sense? hmm...not sure.)
First up was The George @ Woolley in Bradford on Avon, on Tuesday 21st Sept, where we played as part of the BoA Fringe Festival, organized by the creative cooperative "Think BoA". We were a little concerned that people wouldn't come out to play on a school night, but we needn't have been - the place was packed, the atmosphere was fantastic, and despite half the band being struck by man-flu we still played a blinder and had lots of fun! The 25th saw us return to The Jazz Café at the "Mad-Stad" in Reading, and if we are brutally honest, it was a bit of a struggle. The man-flu had kept a hold, and our energy levels were low. We still played well, but left feeling unsatisfied. What that did for us in retrospect was highlight how self-critical we are. We just played a show that would leave the majority of other bands of our nature seem like they were stood still, and we still weren't happy... because we know we could have been much better! We should really learn not to be so hard on ourselves...but then again, that's what drives us to improve, so maybe we shouldn't! Meanwhile, in the rehearsal room... more new material is being being worked up, as well as material that had been rested from the "old days". Songs that we thought had long past their sell by date turned out to have just been wrongly packaged, and now have a new and improved flavour! It's amazing what a slight change of ingredients can do to a recipe :) Next gig is at the end of October, so we'll see what surprises we can throw into the set by then... until the next time - be seeing you! Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now...
Well, we survived another studio trip with all band members fully intact!
Twenty hours of studio time sadly dwindled to around sixteen due to an inconsiderate engineer leaving the studio equipment in a state completely unusable by anyone other than himself - leaving Mr David Carlyon (our engineer of choice!) having to rewire the entire setup, and the band to pace around like caged animals. Out of those sixteen hours, two were consumed by gear setup and mic placement, and at least six were required for mixing the session. To make matters even more urgent, due to personal circumstances one of our number could only be with us for four of those remaining eight recording hours! We had intended to get as much material as we could recorded, not necessarily all for promotional use, but also as a reference. You really would be surprised how much of the subtlety and texture of what each of us does is never heard by the others when we play live! However, given the circumstances, we decided to concentrate on the songs that we haven't recorded as SOULSIDE, and that we thought best showed our versatility and range. We aim to get everything down live. For us, this means performing each song two or three times, and picking the best take, rather than mixing and matching bits of takes, or recording every part separately and layering them. The end result was twelve songs, recorded in just four tense, clock-watching hours. This left us four hours to listen back to the material, select the best takes, and add the things that can't be captured in a live take due to the control over sound required in a recording studio. Obviously with the whole band set up and playing in one room (with all our singers recording behind screens with little windows in that very same room), you are going to get bleed from mic to mic (ie, the mic in front of the bass amp is going to pick up a little of the guitar amp, which in turn picks up a little of the keyboard amp...and EVERYTHING picks up the drums!), but to play a tambourine whilst recording the vocal in the same room for example, would render the vocal tracks unusable...and given that our vocalists are also our percussionists we had no choice but to record tambourines separately (and not forgetting the fine triangle solo from our bass player!) Four hours to listen to three takes of twelve songs averaging four minutes each, and record a couple of percussion tracks really isn't as long as it might seem... Still, not only did we do it, but we did it bloody well, and drank an awful lot of tea. Each song has it's own life and character, but still forms a comfortable part of the whole - much like the band members really! There is a vibrancy and energy generated by that urgency that really brings the songs to life in a way that studio recordings can often fail to do - after all, it doesn't matter how live you play in a studio, you don't have an audience, and THAT'S where most of the bands energy comes from usually! So really - the setbacks and constraints helped in ways no one would have predicted. Maybe next time we record, we'll just allow ourselves four hours to do twenty songs. That should pep us up a bit! The results of the session are already up on the site, but still need to be mastered, so don't judge the sound too harshly! (and for those of you that don't know what this process entails or why it is necessary - go and Google it!). Until then, you'll just have to come and listen to us for real! Next stop - The George in Bradford on Avon, TUESDAY 21st Sept. Yes you read that right, TUESDAY! We are performing as part of the Bradford on Avon Fringe Festival. Are we Fringe? Don't think so... but what the hell! Until next time - love the one you're with. Blast from the Past
An old colleague got in touch with us recently, it was great to hear from him again. We had rather a sudden parting of the ways a couple of years ago, but it's great to see him go from strength to strength in his new band. Very pleased that friendly relations are fully restored - and your new band sounds terriffic, Pat!
It Takes Two...
...trips into Dorset in as many weeks before you truly appreciate how bendy some of those roads are!
Weddings can be hit and miss affairs from a bands point of view. Thankfully both of these were hits! The first was set in the beautiful grounds of Dudsbury Golf Course in Ferndown, and the band were requested to perform Take That's "Rule The World" as the happy (and frankly gorgeous!) couples first dance. We are finding more and more that adding the personal touch is really making a difference and helping to make each special day just a tiny bit more special. The set was well received and much fun was had by all, with the dance floor populated vigorously throughout. The second was set in the impressive grounds of Boveridge House in Cranbourne. Order of the day: keep off the Grade 2 listed grass! A small hiccup with the lighting did nothing to darken the spirits of either the band or the guests - the dancefloor being not only full, but also host to some truly magnificent shape throwing. The early departure of the bride and groom did nothing to curtail the party, the catering staff were excellent! We now have a week or two to prepare for our next studio visit, and are very much looking forward to it. Last time we were there was thoroughly enjoyable, but there was still alot of uncertainty. Our former management had decided to fold the band, and the anger and confusion that followed made the transition a shaky one. Some of us had worked with said management for many years, and it took some time for us all to agree to carry on regardless. Even on that first day of recording we weren't entirely sure who was actually going to turn up. Thankfully, we all did. It was such a refreshing experience - being able to record what we wanted, how we wanted, where we wanted - and it cemented the bond that joins us all in ways that were never allowed to happen before. Every single minute that the band spends together now is an absolute joy. No ego's, no hassle, and no problem insurmountable, and most importantly - none of us feels expendable and everybody feels appreciated. We are a band. We are a family. We are SOULSIDE, and there ain't no stoppin us now! 
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