To play your own songs, or covers that your audience will already know? That is the question.
It’s a conundrum that has always existed for live bands. Back in the day, bands which played popular chart hits were known as cabaret artists.
Nowadays, those bands/artists have morphed into tribute bands and there are lots of solo singers doing gigs with karaoke-style backing tracks to make a few quid. And there is a huge demand for these. Good friends of mine tour the country as The Smiths Ltd in major venues – and they are brilliant.
There’s nothing wrong with people who’ve spent years developing exceptional skill on their instruments or honing their voices earning money playing the songs that people love to hear.
I’ve sort of done it myself, although as a songwriter myself, I used to play roughly 50 per cent covers and 50 per cent of my own tunes.
But I’ve decided, it’s not for me anymore. My two brothers, Ben and Brook and I, took the decision earlier this year that our set would be 100 per cent original from then on.
This means that there are gigs when we play for very little or sometimes nothing at all. That is unless and until we were to get lucky and get some high-profile radio air play for the songs that are on our five previously released – but critically ignored – albums.
What fascinates me now is there are distinct categories of gig-goers – those who want bands to ‘play something we know’ and people happy to hear songs new to them.
The latter of those two groups probably fall into the category of students or those people who actively seek out new music. The data on my streaming services, like Spotify and i-tunes, where my music resides is evidence that those people exist. It’s just that they are spread across the globe in places like South America and the Far East.
Hence, that makes it a logistical challenge for those ‘fans’ to rock up a gig. Obviously.
So it’s an uphill situation. I wouldn’t say ‘struggle’ because playing our music to audiences, however modest in size, is something we hugely enjoy.
If you’re up for hearing some original songs, there’s a gig I’m involved in on October 15 (I’m solo as the band is unavailable) at Sidedoor Wigan, starting at 9pm.
It’s hosted by folk singer Amy Corcoran who will be joined by the band Monkey Finger, myself Nick Jackson and Pauline Barton. But if you want to ‘hear something you know’, stay at home and put your records/CDs on. Have a nice day.
Time action was taken to curb random parking ‘fines’
It’s been a few months since I quit working as a journalist at the Manchester Evening News. Then, I was then rightly contractually bound to be impartial because my job as a Local Democracy Reporter was part of a shared news content deal with the BBC.
So I’ve now pivoted to my long-held objective of devoting all my time to what once was a serious side hustle – as a singer/songwriter/guitarist, fronting my band.
However, my brothers (Ben and Brook) who play drums and bass respectively in the band agree that now I’m free to get stuff off my chest, a blog is the right way to go.
And, following our conversation over a post-rehearsal pint in the ‘best pub in the world’ (The Ale House at Horwich) here’s what I have to say. ParkingEye. A few years ago me and my mate, Dave, went for one of our regular curries at the Pavilion restaurant on Blackburn Road in the Astley Bridge area of Bolton.
I recall it was a very cold January night, and, of course, it was dark when Dave pulled his car onto the car park in front of The Range and Topps Tiles, behind the restaurant off Crompton Way.
We did not see the ParkingEye signs warning of £100 penalties for unauthorised parking.
Predictably, a week or so later Dave received a notice of the charge, which if I recall correctly amounted to £70 if the money was paid within a certain period of time.
At the time, I did a bit of research online and discovered that a lot of people who had been issued with these notices (they’re not fixed penalty notices, but invoices) had point blank refused to pay them.
I recall contacting the PR guy from ParkingEye and telling him how unfair I thought the charge was – my question being, ‘if you don’t want people parking there after the stores have closed why aren’t there barriers there to prevent vehicle access?’.
He was very aggressive, especially when I suggested that, in my opinion, it was highly likely that the answer to this question was that ParkingEye WANTED people to park there so they could issue a charge.
Following our conversation it would not be an overstatement to say that I was incandescent with rage, although because of my personal involvement, I never wrote a story for publication. I advised Dave not to pay the charge, but because he’s a decent bloke who didn’t want the worry of legal proceedings hanging over him, he paid it. I then gave him half the money. I never shop at The Range now.
I now know someone who is a disabled NHS employee – who pays out of his salary to park in hospital grounds – who is being taken to court after being penalised for parking in a disabled bay while undergoing minor surgery, by, you guessed it, ParkingEye.
I will finish by saying how delighted I am that Andy Burnham is likely to be the next Prime Minister. While it’s not as crucial as stopping the next war, I would gently suggest that some legislation to curb the practices of these cowboy parking companies is long overdue.