Again, a long time has passed since my last post. The Shadowers have had a small break since Shadowmania, but we're now back on the road backing Jet Harris, Brian "Licorice" Locking and Mike Berry in the show "Hit Parade Heroes".
With this show we're presented with a new challenge. We are performing in our capacity as a Shadows band, but with so many performing on the bill (including - for some shows - John Leyton and the Flames) there's very little time to play the music that we've been used to performing for all our previous performances. We've had to heavily condense the Shadows material to an abridged version of our usual show and not be the main feature of the performance. There's no space for ego. Time is limited and we have to think of the overall show.
Backing Mike Berry though, is fun, but very different to playing Shadows music. I personally found it difficult, at first, to play something that fits without cluttering the overall sound of the band, not least because for much of the set we have Matt on the keyboards and a second rhythm player in Mike himself. I've seen the Rapiers back Mike before, and Colin Pryce-Jones impressed me with his playing, but most of the time he was filling in for an absent keyboard player. I've decided to only play lead guitar on the tunes that call for it, and for the rest of the time I'm finding it much easier to take a back seat and drop my volume back into the mix to a non-dominant level to play rhythm: mostly different inversions of whatever chord Steve is playing at the time. Colin often plays arpeggios and very flowery phrases with the Rapiers, and it looks and sounds mightily impressive, but having a keyboard player just doesn't allow me to do the same as he does. We're becoming well known for just about replicating whatever tune we're playing, and that often means some quite intricate keyboard work from Matt. It would be a shame to overdo my playing. In so doing, I would end up overpowering Matt and detracting from the accuracy of the piece.
What we're doing must be working though: the first time we appeared in "Hit Parade Heroes" was less than a week ago as I write this, and there were multiple standing ovations during the night.
The details of future performances of "Hit Parade Heroes" can be found at http://www.theshadowers.com/.
Ciao for now...
J
Showing posts with label the Shadowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Shadowers. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Thanks to the Shadowers' Saviour of Shadowmania 2010: AMANDA HAMBIDGE
In the story of Peter Pan, it is stated that if someone says "I do not believe in fairies", somewhere there is a fairy that falls down dead.
I believe the same is true for guitar equipment at Bruce Welch's event at Lakeside. In the build up to the the gig, if anyone breathes the word "Shadowmania", a vital-to-the-show Vox amplifier or Meazzi echo expires. Both Phil Kelly and Colin Pryce-Jones have had problems that had to be sorted on the day by expert technicians who were called in at the last minute. Thankfully, I had a few days to get my own gear issues sorted.
First of all, with less than two weeks to go before Shadowmania, one of my guitars developed a serious fault that needed sorting. Less-than-ideal timing, not least because my usual guitar tech had just left the country on a well-earned holiday. All other techs I'd employed before had been at the recommendation of fellow guitarists, but none of them were local. That meant finding a stranger to trust with my prized No1 Strat. I must admit to feeling a certain amount of trepidation, but there was no other choice.
While my Strat was in "hospital", I had to rehearse with the Shadowers. Four tunes into the first run-through of our set (on 9th September), my Meazzi echo seemed to give up the ghost. Cue a mild case of hysteria. A few minutes later, I had proven to myself (by cleaning the heads and changing the tape) that the problem was certainly a faulty electrical component. I made a call to a trusted friend who can mend anything with an electrical current, Amanda Hambidge. Amanda agreed to drop everything and meet me that evening to collect the echo. After less than twenty-four hours of being without my "Baby" (my nickname for the Meazzi), I had the news I had been waiting for: it was back to full health and would be waiting for me at our rehearsal venue that Sunday, just three days after the problem had manifested itself.
Fast-forward five days, and we all arrived at Lakeside. I had finally been reunited with my Strat which, thankfully, had been well cared for and was playing better than it had in months. Amanda had brought her superb home-made Vox AC15 clone for me as a back-up. Those in attendance may have also seen, underneath my own echo, a second Meazzi (which Amanda had altered slightly so that it was closer to mine in circuit and therefore sound), which was present in case mine broke down or failed during the set. She was also on hand all day to help us shift our equipment on and off stage, which saved time and so eased stress levels.
I was conscious of not waffling too much on stage between tunes, but in so doing I neglected to thank Amanda for all her help, which was an unforgivable oversight. Amanda, the Shadowers are in your debt, and not for the first time. Thank you.
Lastly, on behalf of the band, I must thank everyone who has commented on the Shadowers' set at Lakeside. We've been inundated with compliments in person, via emails, via Facebook, and via internet forums. Thank you all.
Ciao for now...
J
I believe the same is true for guitar equipment at Bruce Welch's event at Lakeside. In the build up to the the gig, if anyone breathes the word "Shadowmania", a vital-to-the-show Vox amplifier or Meazzi echo expires. Both Phil Kelly and Colin Pryce-Jones have had problems that had to be sorted on the day by expert technicians who were called in at the last minute. Thankfully, I had a few days to get my own gear issues sorted.
First of all, with less than two weeks to go before Shadowmania, one of my guitars developed a serious fault that needed sorting. Less-than-ideal timing, not least because my usual guitar tech had just left the country on a well-earned holiday. All other techs I'd employed before had been at the recommendation of fellow guitarists, but none of them were local. That meant finding a stranger to trust with my prized No1 Strat. I must admit to feeling a certain amount of trepidation, but there was no other choice.
While my Strat was in "hospital", I had to rehearse with the Shadowers. Four tunes into the first run-through of our set (on 9th September), my Meazzi echo seemed to give up the ghost. Cue a mild case of hysteria. A few minutes later, I had proven to myself (by cleaning the heads and changing the tape) that the problem was certainly a faulty electrical component. I made a call to a trusted friend who can mend anything with an electrical current, Amanda Hambidge. Amanda agreed to drop everything and meet me that evening to collect the echo. After less than twenty-four hours of being without my "Baby" (my nickname for the Meazzi), I had the news I had been waiting for: it was back to full health and would be waiting for me at our rehearsal venue that Sunday, just three days after the problem had manifested itself.
Fast-forward five days, and we all arrived at Lakeside. I had finally been reunited with my Strat which, thankfully, had been well cared for and was playing better than it had in months. Amanda had brought her superb home-made Vox AC15 clone for me as a back-up. Those in attendance may have also seen, underneath my own echo, a second Meazzi (which Amanda had altered slightly so that it was closer to mine in circuit and therefore sound), which was present in case mine broke down or failed during the set. She was also on hand all day to help us shift our equipment on and off stage, which saved time and so eased stress levels.
I was conscious of not waffling too much on stage between tunes, but in so doing I neglected to thank Amanda for all her help, which was an unforgivable oversight. Amanda, the Shadowers are in your debt, and not for the first time. Thank you.
Lastly, on behalf of the band, I must thank everyone who has commented on the Shadowers' set at Lakeside. We've been inundated with compliments in person, via emails, via Facebook, and via internet forums. Thank you all.
Ciao for now...
J
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
New blog
Hi all...
To coincide with the imminent revamping of my website (http://www.justindaish.com/) I have decided to start a blog. This blog will take the place of my diary entries which were a popular feature of my old website. It will feature anything that takes my fancy, but will invariably be linked to the Shadows, the fan community, the Shadowers, guitars & equipment or my own personal gigs. Having a blog will allow me to add/create entries quickly, instead of having to go through the procedure of creating a new page on my website each time I have something to say. I still have all the diary entries from the old site, and if anyone wants to see them, feel free to contact me.
Let me know what you think of the new blog, and - when it's done - of the new look of my website. Thanks to both Tom Andrews and Configured Computers for helping write the content and for the support with the technical aspects of the new site. It's nearly done, and its completion will be announced here and on the "General" page of the ShadowMusic Web Community (http://www.shadowmusic.co.uk/).
Ciao for now...
J
To coincide with the imminent revamping of my website (http://www.justindaish.com/) I have decided to start a blog. This blog will take the place of my diary entries which were a popular feature of my old website. It will feature anything that takes my fancy, but will invariably be linked to the Shadows, the fan community, the Shadowers, guitars & equipment or my own personal gigs. Having a blog will allow me to add/create entries quickly, instead of having to go through the procedure of creating a new page on my website each time I have something to say. I still have all the diary entries from the old site, and if anyone wants to see them, feel free to contact me.
Let me know what you think of the new blog, and - when it's done - of the new look of my website. Thanks to both Tom Andrews and Configured Computers for helping write the content and for the support with the technical aspects of the new site. It's nearly done, and its completion will be announced here and on the "General" page of the ShadowMusic Web Community (http://www.shadowmusic.co.uk/).
Ciao for now...
J
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