The tracks of my beards

So the long-awaited East London Line is now officially up and running, meaning that the trendy streets of east London are now much more accessible to us SE London residents. Hmmm, why does this not excite me very much? Oh yeah, because in and around places like 'Hoxton' and 'Shoreditch' I stick out like a sore, unfashionable thumb. Everyone's just so bloody stylish and hip. And tall. How *do* they fit into those jeans?

So when I discovered that Kev - the guitarist in my band Witness To The Beard - had booked us in to a recording studio just off Brick Lane for a day I was excited that I now had a genuine reason to hop on a shiny ELL train for my short journey north. The train was indeed very shiny, and I loved the fact that you can see from one end of the train to the other because of the lack of divisions between the carriages. I arrived at Shoreditch High Station in no time.

The studio we'd booked was the Soup Studio on Hanbury Street, which is underneath the Duke of Uke shop. We'd booked the studio out for the whole day for a bargainous £150, which included a sound engineer. The engineer in question was a lovely chap called Giles, and he was an absolute star. Between the three of us in the band we had very little recording experience, and Giles put us all at ease straight away, and was very patient when we cocked up. He was also extremely diplomatic with his comments and advice, when he could have simply said 'nah, that sounded crap'. 

We recorded our tracks live for the most part, with Giles doing a few clever tweaks and edits before the final mix. We somehow managed to record nine tracks in one day and you can listen to the results here if you're of a rough-and-ready rock disposition (to hear how it's done properly you can listen to Giles's band Tiger Cats here, which was recorded in the same studio).

It was such a fun day, and I'm really chuffed that I've now got something to show from 'the days when I was vaguely cool and in a band'. I'd massively recommend Soup Studio to anyone looking for somewhere affordable to record some tracks; they do analogue and digital recording and are really flexible and helpful. It's not the biggest studio in the world, but for us it was perfect. Oh, and I am now the proud owner of a ukulele which I purchased from the shop upstairs. I have named it 'Uku-Hayley'...

Strum and strummer

Carrying my brother's guitar on my back this morning in its protective case-stroke-backpack I felt stupidly cool walking through Hither Green on my way to my first guitar lesson. I'm certain that I didn't look it, since the guitar added a few inches to my overall height and width, meaning that I kept getting caught in branches and doors that I normally never notice due to my relatively small stature. Clumsiness aside, I made it to the lesson venue in no time for the group session.

It's a class for 'complete or near beginners', and the majority of us were just that. When asked what we knew already, I proudly proclaimed "E Minor!", whilst one chap said "errr, well I know this is called a guitar..." which made me laugh. But despite the supposed novice status of the wannabe guitarists, everyone picked up the initial chords and C-Major scale quickly and easily....with the exception of me, that is. While everyone else's strumming sounded clear and had a nice ringing quality, my attempts at chords and notes all sounded distinctly clunky.

I could blame it on the fact that I forgot to cut my fingernails, or on the fact that my hands are pretty tiny. Or perhaps because the guitar I'm learning to play on has evil metal? steel? well, painful strings rather than nylon ones, but basically I really don't think my mind is attuned (ha!) to melodic instruments.

The room in which we had the lesson was kitted out with lots of guitars and music-related equipment and technology, but I couldn't help but gaze at the electronic drumkit in the corner. I know I'm not an amazing drummer and I never will be, but I know that if I was to sit down at a kit with a pair of drumsticks I could bash out a decent rhythm without even having to think about it. Whereas learning the guitar from scratch and developing the dexterity and coordination to move between different chords really quickly - and efficiently - feels incredibly daunting. And it hurts! But I'm a trier if nothing else, and I will continue with my weekly lessons until the tips of my fingers on my left hand are as hard and as numb as MDF. The teaching is good, so hopefully I'll be playing bar chords in no time at all...

Photo from Ru Tover's Flickr

Drumming fingers

Wow, a whole new decade hath landeth, and it's that weird time of year during which I seem to sit around and wait for the cycle to begin once more. 2009 ended in an uncharacteristically disorganised fashion as me and Dunlop Junior desperately tried to battle the crowds and cross the Thames for our planned parental rendezvous, but I now realise how naive we were to try and even attempt such a feat a mere hour before the fireworks began. Despite having alighted at Embankment armed with the reasonable plan of hopping on a quick train from Charing Cross to meet the folks at Waterloo, we had no physical choice but to be herded like Lemmings east along the Strand all the way to Blackfriars Bridge. To be fair we did have a partial view of the fireworks from there, but nothing like this:

The silver lining was that we somehow managed to bump into our parents at London Bridge on the way home for a little family reunion. I'm sure they're glad they made the trip from Bristol for that... (sorry mum and dad!).

But before the decade was out, I returned to London to discover a package from my London Blogger Secret Santa, which was all very exciting. It was a nifty little finger drum kit. I have no idea who sent it to me, but it's nice to know that they took the time to send me something so appropriate. The festive geekery was a concept developed by Melinda, who I know through the London Bloggers Meet-up Group, and I thought it was a great idea. I just hope my giftee liked my present as much as I like mine. Oh, I just googled 'drumming fingers' and look what I found! Blimey.

I don't do new year's resolutions, but I've been involved with some exciting work stuff over the last few days so hopefully that's an indication of how 2010 may pan out. I'm curious to see what the next 12 months will throw up, but I guess my main aim is that I keep smiling both in and out of work, and that I continue to meet new people, but also spend as much time as possible with the awesome people I already know. Oh, and I must *try* and write in my diary more frequently (I'm still out of the habit). Speaking of which, I have a new one sitting on my bedside table right now, patiently waiting to be written in, so I will save my Dr Who sorrow for there (for now).

My year in words

A whirlwind year to cap off a whirlwind decade. Here are the most notable bits that happened to me:

Happiest moment

Finding out I’d got my job at the Guardian. When I got the call I was the most shocked I’d ever been in all my life. It’s been a rollercoaster few months at work, but I absolutely love my job and work with incredible people on so many interesting projects. I am very lucky indeed.

Saddest moment

Both of my grandmothers passed away this year. My Nan was a lovely lady with a ready smile and a twinkle in her eye, and had a knack for saying hilarious things without realising it. My quirky and sharp-witted Granny lived a fascinating life and always had fabulous stories and anecdotes to tell. I miss both of them hugely, and hope that I’ve inherited at least some of their qualities.

Most nervewracking moment

Living in London for the past couple of years seems to have eroded away most of my nervous tendencies, but the two hours or so before I performed my first gig back in the summer were terrifying. Thankfully my mates in the audience kept me going and it was loads of fun.

Most surreal moment

Wandering around backstage at Glastonbury surrounded by ridiculously cool-looking people and feeling completely dumbstruck about how little old me had found herself wearing a VIP wristband. Then finding out that Michael Jackson was dead whilst listening to East 17 (couldn’t see them, the crowd was too huge). Come to think of it, I'm not really sure why I didn’t write a blog post about my Glasto experience at the time. Oh well.

Celebrity encounters

I had an *actual conversation* with Eddie Izzard, shared a lift and a restaurant with Colin Firth, Jon Snow flashed his socks at me, and an actor off the telly critiqued my short story. In fact, all of these could quite easily slot into the ‘surreal’ category above.

Best purchase

My wardrobe. I am in love with my wardrobe. I have l’amour pour l’armoire. In fact, I only added in this 'best purchase' category so I could mention my beloved piece of furniture. If there was a photo of it online I would put it here, but it's such a rare piece of (melamine? mdf?) beauty that no online record of it exists. I may have to commission a photographer to take some shots, since my amateur snapping skills would never be able to do it justice.

Best party

The Guardian Creative Christmas party at SimmonS (awesome little venue on Caledonian Road). Great music (but no rock, as I endlessly pointed out to the poor DJs), lots of happy people and way too much wine. How I made it home I’ll never know.

2009 in one word…

TWITTER. Yes, call me a nerd, but I can honestly say that - without Twitter - 2009 wouldn’t have been half as eventful. I’ve met some great people as a result, and it’s also helped me out at work; both in terms of getting to know people across the organisation whose paths I would never normally cross, but also with my job and networking with external contacts and bloggers. Thanks Twitter – yes, sometimes you can be cruel like your big sister Facebook and tell me things I don’t necessarily want to know, but overall you’re all right.

The noughties

I started this decade as an independently-minded but quiet(ish) teenager venturing off to Cardiff University to study journalism. And I gave journalism a good old go, but quickly realised it wasn’t for me after writing a few pieces for the Southern Daily Echo, where I worked as a receptionist after graduating.

In hindsight, I blatantly should’ve moved to London after Cardiff, but I chose to follow my heart to Hampshire, which was definitely the right decision at the time, and the experiences I had there have made me a much stronger person. I met some great people there and I’m adamant that I wouldn’t be where I am today had I not lived on the south coast for a few years. But London eventually beckoned and I can honestly say that moving here is the best decision I’ve ever made. I have made some wonderful friends, done well for myself career-wise (*pats self on back Trevor & Simon style*), and I’m sure sooner or later my prince will pun.

Farewell 2009!

Me drumming

via nickdillonphotography.com

Here are some awesome pictures from our most recent gig, taken by genius photographer Nick Dillon.

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Comedy connections for Witness To The Beard

It was gig number four for Witness To The Beard last night, and my throat is certainly paying the price for it today. I only sang one brief ditty, but my vocal chords were already feeling vulnerable after a week of coughing, and - if it's possible for throats to have mood swings - it's now sulking in a big, croaky way. Ah well.

We returned to The Comedy Pub for the gig, which is where we played live for the first time a few months ago. It's a nice little venue and the sound quality is pretty decent. We were playing alongside a really eclectic mix of artists too. The first act were a funky group called Scarletts Roses, whose songs were foot-tappingly and smile-inducingly catchy, with some quirky rap thrown in for good measure. I really liked their song 'My Heart Belongs to Judy', and I'm very jealous of the girl singer's voice, which is as melodic and floaty as mine isn't.

Second up were The Technicolour. Their drummer, Alex, used to be in our band (before we were reincarnated as WTTB) and we have the same drum teacher (the awesome Darren Malley). It was nice to catch up with Alex and see him in action as a drummer, since he used to play bass / guitar in our band. A very good drummer he is too.

Then we took to the stage for our 30-minute set. I think it was the best we'd played out of the four gigs, although there were a few fluffs, but nowt major. We also played a couple of new songs for the first time, which is always a bit nervewracking.

After us, one chap and his guitar - Chris MacArthur - wowed the crowd with his amazing guitar skills and voice. Stoned Phoney were the last to play. Unbelievably this was their first ever gig as a band, and they really were brilliant. They described themselves as grunge / blues when we were chatting before the gig, and I guess this sums them up pretty well. The ferocity of the drummer's beats was demonstrated when a huge shard of drumstick flew across the stage during a particularly frenetic flourish. I wish I could flourish like that, but as Darren is constantly reassuring me, keeping a steady beat is more important than doing fancy fills and whatnot. Yeah I know, but it's just not as cool! I also wish I could link to them so you can have a listen / look for yourself, but they have no internet presence whatsoever.

All in all it was a fun night, and we donated all £22.50 of our takings to Movember. When I told someone last night we were giving the money to charity, they jokingly responded "what, a beard charity or something?!" to which I accurately responded "Yes".

The next Witness To The Beard gig is on Friday 11 December at The Cavendish Arms in Stockwell. I'm hugely excited about this one, as we were invited to play by all-round funny man H Anthony Hildebrand, who runs the An Event of Some Kind night at the pub every couple of months. The evening is a mixture of comedy and music, and if I wasn't playing at it, I'd go along anyway. Headlining the night is Tom Basden, who was a Never Mind The Buzzcocks guest a couple of weeks ago. We've got two mini sets throughout the evening, which will be a refreshing change, and if all that isn't enough to tempt you to come along, there's a drawing competition in the interval, and free snacks from the bar! Anyway, enough plugging...

Next creative venture: write a song

2009 appears to be the year of 'doing new things' for me. So far this year I've played my first ever live gigs with my band, been to Glastonbury for the first time, went on my first business trips and I've recently written my first ever short story (which I might even share with the world one day). I have a week off next week, and I've decided that my aim for the week (as well as catching up with my family in Bristol, watching lots of TV, reading a stack of books and having a bit of time away from t'internet and its inevitable trappings) is going to be to steal temporarily borrow one of my brother's guitars and pen a song.
You never know, if it ends up being even close to ok, I might even perform it at an upcoming Witness To The Beard gig. So far I have two chords and the vague whisper of a melody, but I already know that the lyrics are going to be the trickiest part. Do I make them all deep and meaningful, or should my tongue remain firmly in my cheek? Should it be dripping with puns and irony, or should I - for once - strip away my defensive layers of self-deprecating humour and bare my soul (pass the bucket)?
I must admit, it would be nice to add my own song to WTTB's growing collection of original material. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than content to drum along to the songs the two lads come up with, since rhythm comes marginally more naturally to me and they're both great songwriters, but I've always enjoyed a challenge. Time to get out of my drum-fort zone methinks...

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Homeless To The Beard: My band needs rehearsal space!

My band - 'Witness To The Beard' - needs your help! We are homeless! We no longer have access to our London rehearsal space in Tooting (kind of a relief since it was a bit of a pain in the arse to get there and back, but it was free so mustn't grumble), so we're on the lookout for a new home.
Ideally it'd be in central London (around Waterloo area would be perfect), have a full drum kit, amps and microphones etc, and we'd be able to book it for a couple of hours at a time at a cost which wouldn't break the bank. I've already been recommended a few places after I put up a request on my work noticeboard, but thought I'd widen the net to see if I can get any more ideas. Me and the guys are having a (Witness To The) Board meeting this Thursday to discuss, so any thoughts before then would be much appreciated.

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Heel up

In my drum lesson this evening I learnt that, in order to get maximum impact from the bass drum, you need to keep your heel off the ground and pretty much stamp on the kick pedal, as opposed to my current 'heel down' method of tapping the pedal with the ball of my foot. This method is going to take some getting used to, especially in all of my high-tempo (ish) bass drum sequences, of which I am a fan.
I also discovered today that my right foot and my left arm do NOT like doing the same thing at the same time, unless my right arm is also involved in the simultaneous action. I therefore now have a mission to make my right foot and left arm best buds. Inseparable, even. Sorry right arm, you're going to be left out for a little while, but soon you will have a new pal: left foot. But not for a long time yet, that really is my Achilles heel (or should I say foot).

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Unleashing the Beard

I'm not usually the type of person who makes New Year's resolutions, but at the start of 2009 I had the urge to tick off one of my life's ambitions at some point over the next 12 months. I can now happily declare that I have achieved that aim - to play a live gig.

I've been drumming for a couple of years, just as a random hobby really. I've written before about how this may seem an odd choice of instrument for someone who is usually pretty clumsy and uncoordinated, but it somehow seems to work! My band - Witness To The Beard* - has been together for just under a year, and although we try and get together to practice once a week, work commitments have meant that our gatherings are more infrequent than we would prefer. So the prospect of actually getting up on stage and playing our songs (well, to be fair, their songs, as I just drum along) was pretty terrifying. But I reckon sometimes you have to challenge yourself and put yourself in unfamiliar situations simply for the experience.

I'm thrilled to report that our first gig was an amazing experience. Yeah, our performance was by no means perfect, but we got up there, played a set of mostly our own material, and even got paid for the privilege! We hadn't realised when we signed up to play a 30-minute slot at the Comedy Pub near Leicester Square that we'd get a quid for everyone who turned up to see us, so we were thrilled to get over a tenner each.

The 30+ people who were there to specifically watch up absolutely blew me away with their support and enthusiasm on the night. The chants of "Witness!Witness!Witness!Witness!" were inspired, and exactly the type of light-hearted vibe that we all thrive under. On this occasion I personally decided not to tell too many people about our debut performance, just in case it all went horribly wrong. But since it went pretty well, expect to see much more shameless self-promotion from now on! It would be great to see lots of familiar faces at one of our future performances, and I'd be really interested to get your feedback on our beardy antics!

*My dad grew a beard. Someone didn't believe me. Someone else said: "It's true. I was witness to the beard." Simple as. The beard is still in existence today, and we proudly represent those facial follicles through the medium of rock.

Totally ASHed

Ash know how to put on a show. Last night they did just that at the Roundhouse in Camden, playing their classic album '1977' in its entirety, plus loads more besides. This was pretty much my dream gig. 1977 is like my favourite album of all time, it having converted me from pop to punk rock in the summer of 1996.

Oh I remember that summer well. Spraining my ankle, going mental whilst watching Euro 96 (if only Gazza's leg had been one inch longer!) and rocking out to Ash and Dodgy CDs with my bro. I seem to recall lime green and orange were the vogue that year. I wore them together. Anyway, it really was a great gig, all the more so because I was at the front - woooo! Oh, and I love the way drummer Rick McMurray appears to be totally motionless when he plays, apart from his wrists. Legend!

I have some ace photos of the gig on my mobile but I can't seem to get them onto my laptop, grrr.

We, who shall remain nameless

My band needs a name. I have come up with tons of names already but they have all been greeted with nothing but a bemused silence.

My ideas so far:

• Tuco (the 'ugly' character from 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly')
• Hunter Wing (which is where we practice)
• Elephant in the Room (just thought it sounded cool)
  
• Fonz (seeing as he's my mate)
• Tumbleweed (because that's how quiet it goes when I've suggested any of the above)

So I am going to put it to the vote. Please indicate which of the above names you think is the best by voting on the poll on the right (go to my original blog if you're reading on Facebook). Or suggest your own by leaving a comment. I will then take the democratic findings to next week's practice and that will be that!

Four for the price of one

I had my fortnightly drumming lesson this evening. Having now mastered the drums to 'Plug in Baby' by Muse, I have started to learn what is known in the trade as 'four-limb independence' and turns out I have a bit of a freaky knack for it. I've said it before but I'll reiterate it here - why do I have the coordination to do four different things at once to form a coherent rhythm, yet I am possibly the least coordinated person in the world when it comes to normal human stuff such as walking and dancing? I have come to the conclusion that inside me there lurks four beings, all battling to do their own thing during standard day-to-day activities, yet drumming enables them to harmoniously co-exist. Perhaps I should start a one-man-band.

RIP Heaven's Heathens :o)