Golfers and Green Hedge

 

Stockton and Halifax

Good job I overheard a fellow-traveller on the way to Stockton: the connection at Northallerton had been cancelled so I had to travel on to Darlington and change there. Thankfully, Stephen and Wendy Harland cam to meet me. But O, the madness of gigs! The key holder of the NE Volume Bar had been held up by a fire on a train in Newcastle. Several chilly band members tried to find a sunny spot on the pavement outside the venue while we waited. What a relief when the key turned up!

The sound checks were short and efficient. Dave the sound engineer is really good and we all got a decent shot at a soundcheck before tucking in to the curry that Wendy had made for backstage- and glory be, Haribos!

I went on first. I'd been going to be a babby and beg to sit down and play, but I forgot to ask, so rock star mode it was. It was a very different experience to the last time when I played there, mid-lockdown. Chris Bartley was at both gigs and we were talking about that. Different crowd too, but I think I did Ok; I definitely enjoyed it!

Thee Strawberry Mynde went on next (see photo). They are a trio from the Hartlepool area and play psychedelic rock of the first order: good loud songs with some wacky and extraordinary guitar parts that set their music apart from the general throng. I liked their songs a lot.

I have played with the headliners, The Fallen Leaves, at one of Shelley Guild's gigs at the Green Door Store in Brighton. They too have memorable songs, and played numerous encores.

It was astonishing to see their bass-player's Hofner President bass, a year later than my old one that went to live with Martin Stephenson when we slit up. Rock star alimony! Anyway, we had a very nerdy bass player's conversation about semis.

Thanks to Stephen and Wendy not only for the gig, but also for letting me stay and ferrying me around. a few people on Saturday night said 'How can you do this, travelling around and getting up to play on your own?'. I'd never thought of it like that. I feel like I sort of blend into the general world, so I don't feel isolated or intimidated at all by it.

Anyway, on to Halifax, a much more straightforward journey. My friend Alison Ridler met me on the train at Bradford Interchange and once I'd left my guitar at the Grayston Unity, at their recommendation we went round the corner and had the most wonderful Paella in the world and talked the hind legs of a herd of donkeys.

This was such a different gig, just as good in a completely different way. It had sold out (actually a couple of extra people showed up and they let them in). I played two 40-minute sets with a break to a small upstairs room full of very friendly people. It almost felt like something we did together: it was intense, in the best possible way. I realised that it was break-time and had stopped before Let's Make Up. A man sitting close in front of me had read the set list upside down and requested it to be played when people came back in. Eighty minutes is a lot of songs, but I still managed to miss out The Ginger Line because I was dotting about the set list. A woman who came along early very kindly gave me some candles, and a chap in the audience gave me some poetry he'd written. And yes, we sang At The Bathing Pond together and I finished with Three Cheers for Toytown. 'That was a punk song', declared a man at the back. The song was very glad to be recognised.

I've got next weekend off and then I'm playing at David's Music in Letchworth. Three cheers for gigging, and my train-travellers fan!

Coming Up On Friday: Digital Pop-Up Chefs EP

The limited-edition vinyl EP of this music has been held up in Taiwan, so we've decided to release the tracks digitally on Bandcamp on Friday in collaboration with Gare du Nord records.

More news close to the day...

Mallard Notices Rat

 

17th May, Letchworth: Free Gig at David's Music

 

Grindstone by James McCallum

 

Beachwalk

 

Person Walking Along By River With Unicorn Backpack

 

Gigs This Coming Weekend

I'm delighted to support Thee Strawberry Mynde and The Fallen Leaves at the NE Volume Bar in Stockton on Saturday night, tickets here:

https://www.seetickets.com/event/the-fallen-leaves/ne-volume-music-bar/3256782

Followed by a solo gig upstairs at The Grayston Unity in Halifax on Sunday afternoon (only 5 tickets left) tickets here:

https://www.seetickets.com/event/helen-mccookerybook/the-grayston-unity/3342944

See you there I hope! I'll have new-album vinyl, CDs and badges with me at both gigs

Three Gigs In Quick Succession

The first one was at Barnaby's Bar in Hastings on Thursday. Clear-skied and anarchic, Hastings is fighting a running battle with gentrification, rescued in part by the slow train and road connections it has. And speaking of connections, it's got melancholy ones: this is where Poly's funeral was, a beautiful occasion attended by a fantastic diversity of people: priests, monks, punks, DFLs, her daughter and ex-husband, her mum, lots of 'ordinary people' and a small dog. Dave Laing's funeral was in the same place, an altogether sadder affair with a step-grandchild in floods of tears: yet there was the same atmosphere of a person much-loved, and the same air of puzzlement that the source of that love can be removed to leave a huge gap that can only be filled with talking and memories.

Sorry to be struck miserable on such a sunny day... I suppose what I'm saying is that life is bittersweet, and actually this gig was definitely on the sweet side of things. The bar is friendly, and much larger than I thought it would be. It hosts talks, gigs, art shows and all sort of things. I got to Hastings a bit early and sat on a bench looking at the flat, calm sea, eating my picnic of nuts, grapes, pitta bread and chocolate.

The sound-check was brief, enough to establish that we both sounded best through the house PA. People started rolling up: Girlschool's Enid Williams, a friend since The Lost Women of Rock Music, now relocated to a house on the hill; Wendy May, ex-Boothill Foot-tapper and now DJ and seamstress extraordinaire. Ed Frith, an ex-student from way back in time... it was a goodly audience.

Jude Montague started the evening off, accompanying herself with a very nice-looking Hofner President guitar. Her songs are quirky, but when she gets serious she can really hit home. Her penultimate song, about unconditional friendship, was really affecting.

My own part felt like talking to friends, which I suppose I was. People listened to the lyrics, and laughed at things that are quite 'buried' in some of the songs. I am getting back into my stride a bit now, after a few setbacks (at leas I thought I was). It felt like a good gig, and there was some good catching-up chat too afterwards. I escaped as the loud men got to the piano. Phew. That was close!

I've just realised that I've doubled up my account of the Hastings gig: shows how tired I became and probably why I got a migraine at the next gig!

The Rams Microbrewery in Rochester is a little world all on its own. On the way down, I got a message from Jack Hayter offering to come along and play, so I had not only Robert but also Jack at one point in the set. It was marred by a tremendous migraine that completely took me by surprise and put me off my stride. In some songs, I forgot the lyrics; at one point I thought it was an hour later than it was, and thought we'd missed the train. In retrospect, it was not nearly as bad as I had gloomily recollected. My guitar-playing was steady, and because of the 'missing hour', me and Robert played some McCookerybook and Rotifer songs. I think I played the best version of Saturday Night with the London Set that I've played for years. Jack joined in with Three Cheers for Toytown, and the whole evening was convivial, with Jude and her partner Matt playing this time. Dave from Outsiders radio show came along, Leigh Goorney, and Robert's son, and various other people.

The third gig was on Sunday afternoon at a pub in Islington called the Island Queen, and afternoon event run by Meg Lee Chin for over-50s who want to congregate and share music, poetry and anecdotes. Fran Isherwood was there to perform, and she really is one of the best and funniest poets around. She talks to an audience as though she's chatting to us on the bus, and takes us by surprise with sudden about-turns and sleeper puns that you get by the time she's moved on to something entirely different. This was a real treat. There was karaoke (not my thing: luckily I missed it because I went to Cass Arts to buy some masking tape to tape the microphone on the to the back of a chair because there was no mic stand). A selection of well-educated gentlemen took to the floor to describe their weekly perambulations; a  chap with an acoustic guitar entertained us with self-composed songs. 

In the end it was better not to use a microphone; the people in the audience with hearing issues said it was better not sing acoustically. Selfishly, this was wonderful exercise for my recovering lungs. I sang The Ginger Line, Almost There (that one with a microphone, but people voted against it), and Three Cheers for Toytown, which seemed to really get people going.

After some more floor-spots, Anna Pigalle recreated Old Soho through song and poetry, an almost-dream like sequence of words and acapella singing that finished the afternoon off perfectly for me. Boy, was I tired! I missed Mykal Riley, who arrived just as we were leaving, but there was no energy left in the pot. I had to arrange travel for next weekend ( Stockton and Halifax).

Gigs-a-gogo. I have the seeds of new songs gradually germinating in my head at the moment. I wonder what will transpire when the busy is over?

Poor Sad Glove On Wall, Tufnell Park

 

Great Album review- and The Chefs Have A Moment (or two)

https://www.popintherealworld.co.uk/post/music-for-the-mango-quango

and

Rochester, Kent: Saturday

A Thames Delta gig not to be sneezed at! Robert Rotifer will be joining me for a few songs at the end of my set

Next gig! Saturday night at Rams Microbrewery in Rochester, Kent: a bijou venue with the heart of a lion! Tickets:

https://wegottickets.com/event/647479

Hastings Was....

... magnificent! Thanks to Jude and to Barnaby's Lounge for putting on the gig. Jude did a lovey set with a particularly distinctive penultimate song about generosity which I found really affecting.

The audience was mostly women- could this be to do with the venue? Wendy May came along, such a long time since those Boothill Foot-tapper and Helen and the Horns days! So did Enid Williams and there was time to chat to both of them. Wendy was sporting a fabulous cowgirl shirt she'd made; she is an excellent seamstress/designer. My ex-Westminster student Ed Frith came too. It was unexpectedly well-attended and full of bonhomie. The sound was great: I know this because people laughed at the funny bits in my songs!

Next one, Rochester in Kent at the Rams Microbrewery, again with Jude and with Robert Rotifer accompanying me on a couple of songs at the end of my set. he's mixing an album of his songs today with lots of guest vocalists, mainly Kenji Kitahama who is sounding absolutely fabulous. Bout time we heard more from him!

I'm slobbing about today- that was a six-hour round trip, even though Hastings feels close. It's not, but it was more than worth the journey!

Hastings Tonight

This is a rescheduled gig, organised by Jude (who I haven't seen for ages).

Early evening, so get there at seven. Music finished by nine, and I'll have some albums and badges with me.

See you there!