| Tour Diary |
Southbound
The night air was quite warm (for November in Scotland) as we made our way
to the van. I punched the address for Plymouth into the sat-nav as, though I
didn’t need directions to Plymouth, it’s handy to see how many miles and hours
are left until arrival. We left Elgin and the sat-nav wanted to take us towards
Inverness but I went the other way through town and headed to Rothes then
onwards towards the A9 to Perth. We stopped off in Grantown-on-Spey and,
luckily, there was a Chinese takeaway still open so we ate there at 11.30pm.
Once we turned onto the A9, the weather started to change and got
progressively worse the further south we travelled. Drumochter Pass was
horrendous with fierce sidewinds and driving rain. The rain didn’t really stop for
the first week of the tour though there were a few hours on a couple of the
days that were a bit clearer.
I managed to drive as far as Moffat and headed to a quiet parking area where
we have stopped on a few occasions. I was a bit disappointed with this as I
wanted to get over the border into England, at least. By now it was
approaching 4am and I was knackered so I set my alarm for 5 hours’ time and
we went to sleep with the sound of the rain drumming on the roof.
We both awoke just before 8am and, thankfully, the rain had eased off for
now. It was cold so we didn’t hang about getting dressed and were soon off
again, once I’d had a quick look under the bonnet to check everything was ok
(we had only had the van for a week or so before the Scottish dates so I was
still a bit wary of it, everything was ok though), hoping the engine would warm
up quickly so we could get some feeling back into our extremities!
Plymouth was now about 7 hours away so, even with stops for food and fuel,
plus Friday traffic around Birmingham and Bristol, we should get there in good
time. The journey down was thankfully uneventful and we didn’t get held up
once and arrived at the Fortesque at 5.30pm (which included a good few stops
for the toilet/fresh air/food/fuel etc).
We went in and were introduced and Liz was very interested in where we lived,
asking us to point it out on the map. We were then served food, a delicious
vegan cottage pie complete with veg, which we hastily tucked into. We also got
to meet Tilly, their lovely Border terrier which Rags spent the rest of our time
there playing with. After a cup of tea, it was time to leave our hosts in peace to
head back to the venue, and they’d be getting the bus down later on.
Back at the venue, the Autonomads had been busy setting up and everything
was pretty much ready to go. Soon enough, it was gig time and everything
went smoothly. After my set, a man came up to me saying that he’d really
enjoyed my songs and wondered if I had anything for sale. I directed him to the
table where Rags had set up the merch stall and he went for a look. I arrived
back at the table, and apparently he’d been over for a look but didn’t buy
anything. I’m not sure whether my prices are too high but I don’t consider £5
and £6 for a CD album too much. He kept coming back at various points
throughout the evening and did eventually buy something; a fanzine for 50p.
Foxpunch were really good, as were The Bus Station Loonies but I thought that
the Autonomads didn’t have a good sound that night, it all sounded a bit
muffled and the bass was far too loud. Halfway through their set, someone in
the crowd shouted out for them to turn the bass down but it was still far too
loud. I’m glad I always carry my trusty ACS Custom earplugs which I religiously
wear at every gig these days. It was a great night though and I had a lovely
long chat with Chris 'Wheelie' whom I’ve been in contact with for ages but
hadn’t actually met.
I couldn’t find a gig for the Saturday night as nobody had anything available and
most of the Plymouth punks were heading down to Falmouth for the Culture
Shock/Autonomads gig anyway. Matt kindly gave us a couple of tickets for the
gig so we headed down into Cornwall early and had a look round a few places,
the weather even managed to stay bright for a while.
Sunday night, I was booked to play at the Nowhere Inn in Plymouth but as soon
as I arrived, I knew it would be one of ‘those’ gigs! There was nothing
essentially wrong with the place, except for one very loud-mouthed punter that
we had to put up with listening to telling tales of heroism and how hard he was
(then, in the next breath, saying “it’s always best to the the bigger man, just
walk away…”) Yawn.
I was the ‘headline’ act for the night, whatever that entails. Basically it’s nothing
more than the band/musician that goes on last to me but I’m sure it makes
some people’s heads swell. A young lad played first. He was from London he
told us, well actually North London, but was actually from Rickmansworth
which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t London at all but a posh, middle-
class town out in the suburbs of Hertfordshire!! Oh well, he did tell us how he
was in Plymouth at University and that most of his class mates were from the
wilds of Devon so he was probably used to impressing them with stories of the
big city, shame the poor lad didn’t realise he was speaking to a couple of old
road dogs (including one ex-trucker with an interest bordering on obsession in
maps and geography in general). Next up were a kind of pop-punk female
duo, one on bass and one on electric guitar, both singing. Not really my thing
but very good at what they did.
My set went exactly as I thought i.e. struggling to hear myself over the 20 loud
people (everyone in the pub apart from 2 people) that were doing their best to
drown me out. The female duo left straight after they played (thank you, glad I
sat quietly through your set too!) and the acoustic lad that played first talked
loudly to his mates all the way through (thank you, glad I sat quietly through
your set too!!). This is often the way at some gigs, especially when there is
someone playing covers on acoustic guitar. I always sit quietly and listen to
them (even though I don’t really want to sit and listen to covers, it’s just polite)
then, when it’s my turn to play my songs that I’ve actually put time and effort
into creating, they’re off yapping loudly to their friend/the soundman/anyone
that will listen (probably about how great they were). You may not like my
tunes, but it would be nice to be given the same respect as I gave you.
Anyway, once I played I got given some money from a whip-round and was
offered a couple of beers. I wasn’t drinking so asked for something local, and
left capped. The only local brew they could give me was from Brewdog, which
was a bit of a disappointment though I won’t turn down free beer, but would
much rather had something from Cornwall or Devon to take home with me. Oh
well.
We made our way back to Liz and Andy’s house as they said we could stay
over if we wanted to. On waking the next day, Liz had already gone to work
and Andy was out walking the dog. We got up and had a cup of tea, as Andy
came through the door. I charged my laptop and checked my emails to find
that someone had bought my album so I now needed to get one sent off so
Rags, Andy, me and a very reluctant Tilly (now on her second walk of the
morning instead of heading upstairs to lay on the bed) headed off for a wander
to the local Post Office. We got home about an hour later and had more tea
and chatted to Andy about wood turning (which he does for a living, and very
well) and he showed us round his shed/workshop. Before long, it was time to
head off to my next gig……
The night air was quite warm (for November in Scotland) as we made our way
to the van. I punched the address for Plymouth into the sat-nav as, though I
didn’t need directions to Plymouth, it’s handy to see how many miles and hours
are left until arrival. We left Elgin and the sat-nav wanted to take us towards
Inverness but I went the other way through town and headed to Rothes then
onwards towards the A9 to Perth. We stopped off in Grantown-on-Spey and,
luckily, there was a Chinese takeaway still open so we ate there at 11.30pm.
Once we turned onto the A9, the weather started to change and got
progressively worse the further south we travelled. Drumochter Pass was
horrendous with fierce sidewinds and driving rain. The rain didn’t really stop for
the first week of the tour though there were a few hours on a couple of the
days that were a bit clearer.
I managed to drive as far as Moffat and headed to a quiet parking area where
we have stopped on a few occasions. I was a bit disappointed with this as I
wanted to get over the border into England, at least. By now it was
approaching 4am and I was knackered so I set my alarm for 5 hours’ time and
we went to sleep with the sound of the rain drumming on the roof.
We both awoke just before 8am and, thankfully, the rain had eased off for
now. It was cold so we didn’t hang about getting dressed and were soon off
again, once I’d had a quick look under the bonnet to check everything was ok
(we had only had the van for a week or so before the Scottish dates so I was
still a bit wary of it, everything was ok though), hoping the engine would warm
up quickly so we could get some feeling back into our extremities!
Plymouth was now about 7 hours away so, even with stops for food and fuel,
plus Friday traffic around Birmingham and Bristol, we should get there in good
time. The journey down was thankfully uneventful and we didn’t get held up
once and arrived at the Fortesque at 5.30pm (which included a good few stops
for the toilet/fresh air/food/fuel etc).
We went in and were introduced and Liz was very interested in where we lived,
asking us to point it out on the map. We were then served food, a delicious
vegan cottage pie complete with veg, which we hastily tucked into. We also got
to meet Tilly, their lovely Border terrier which Rags spent the rest of our time
there playing with. After a cup of tea, it was time to leave our hosts in peace to
head back to the venue, and they’d be getting the bus down later on.
Back at the venue, the Autonomads had been busy setting up and everything
was pretty much ready to go. Soon enough, it was gig time and everything
went smoothly. After my set, a man came up to me saying that he’d really
enjoyed my songs and wondered if I had anything for sale. I directed him to the
table where Rags had set up the merch stall and he went for a look. I arrived
back at the table, and apparently he’d been over for a look but didn’t buy
anything. I’m not sure whether my prices are too high but I don’t consider £5
and £6 for a CD album too much. He kept coming back at various points
throughout the evening and did eventually buy something; a fanzine for 50p.
Foxpunch were really good, as were The Bus Station Loonies but I thought that
the Autonomads didn’t have a good sound that night, it all sounded a bit
muffled and the bass was far too loud. Halfway through their set, someone in
the crowd shouted out for them to turn the bass down but it was still far too
loud. I’m glad I always carry my trusty ACS Custom earplugs which I religiously
wear at every gig these days. It was a great night though and I had a lovely
long chat with Chris 'Wheelie' whom I’ve been in contact with for ages but
hadn’t actually met.
I couldn’t find a gig for the Saturday night as nobody had anything available and
most of the Plymouth punks were heading down to Falmouth for the Culture
Shock/Autonomads gig anyway. Matt kindly gave us a couple of tickets for the
gig so we headed down into Cornwall early and had a look round a few places,
the weather even managed to stay bright for a while.
Sunday night, I was booked to play at the Nowhere Inn in Plymouth but as soon
as I arrived, I knew it would be one of ‘those’ gigs! There was nothing
essentially wrong with the place, except for one very loud-mouthed punter that
we had to put up with listening to telling tales of heroism and how hard he was
(then, in the next breath, saying “it’s always best to the the bigger man, just
walk away…”) Yawn.
I was the ‘headline’ act for the night, whatever that entails. Basically it’s nothing
more than the band/musician that goes on last to me but I’m sure it makes
some people’s heads swell. A young lad played first. He was from London he
told us, well actually North London, but was actually from Rickmansworth
which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t London at all but a posh, middle-
class town out in the suburbs of Hertfordshire!! Oh well, he did tell us how he
was in Plymouth at University and that most of his class mates were from the
wilds of Devon so he was probably used to impressing them with stories of the
big city, shame the poor lad didn’t realise he was speaking to a couple of old
road dogs (including one ex-trucker with an interest bordering on obsession in
maps and geography in general). Next up were a kind of pop-punk female
duo, one on bass and one on electric guitar, both singing. Not really my thing
but very good at what they did.
My set went exactly as I thought i.e. struggling to hear myself over the 20 loud
people (everyone in the pub apart from 2 people) that were doing their best to
drown me out. The female duo left straight after they played (thank you, glad I
sat quietly through your set too!) and the acoustic lad that played first talked
loudly to his mates all the way through (thank you, glad I sat quietly through
your set too!!). This is often the way at some gigs, especially when there is
someone playing covers on acoustic guitar. I always sit quietly and listen to
them (even though I don’t really want to sit and listen to covers, it’s just polite)
then, when it’s my turn to play my songs that I’ve actually put time and effort
into creating, they’re off yapping loudly to their friend/the soundman/anyone
that will listen (probably about how great they were). You may not like my
tunes, but it would be nice to be given the same respect as I gave you.
Anyway, once I played I got given some money from a whip-round and was
offered a couple of beers. I wasn’t drinking so asked for something local, and
left capped. The only local brew they could give me was from Brewdog, which
was a bit of a disappointment though I won’t turn down free beer, but would
much rather had something from Cornwall or Devon to take home with me. Oh
well.
We made our way back to Liz and Andy’s house as they said we could stay
over if we wanted to. On waking the next day, Liz had already gone to work
and Andy was out walking the dog. We got up and had a cup of tea, as Andy
came through the door. I charged my laptop and checked my emails to find
that someone had bought my album so I now needed to get one sent off so
Rags, Andy, me and a very reluctant Tilly (now on her second walk of the
morning instead of heading upstairs to lay on the bed) headed off for a wander
to the local Post Office. We got home about an hour later and had more tea
and chatted to Andy about wood turning (which he does for a living, and very
well) and he showed us round his shed/workshop. Before long, it was time to
head off to my next gig……
We walked into the pub and were immediately
met by Matt, the guy putting the gig on. He told
us that Foxpunch (from Salisbury) were waiting
downstairs and he was just waiting for the
Autonomads to arrive from Bristol, where they’d
been playing the night before. He got a text
saying they’d be late so we all headed off for
food with Matt jumping in the van with us and
Foxpunch following behind. He directed us a
few miles away until we pulled up outside a
house belonging to Liz and Andy, the lovely
people that would be feeding us that night and
giving us a bed/floor to sleep on.
met by Matt, the guy putting the gig on. He told
us that Foxpunch (from Salisbury) were waiting
downstairs and he was just waiting for the
Autonomads to arrive from Bristol, where they’d
been playing the night before. He got a text
saying they’d be late so we all headed off for
food with Matt jumping in the van with us and
Foxpunch following behind. He directed us a
few miles away until we pulled up outside a
house belonging to Liz and Andy, the lovely
people that would be feeding us that night and
giving us a bed/floor to sleep on.
By 11pm I was almost falling asleep
standing up so we decided not to go
back to Liz and Andy’s to sleep,
choosing to sleep in the van instead.
It wasn’t anything rude, just the fact
that all the people staying there (Matt,
the Autonomads etc) were all still
having fun and I was just too tired to
wait around for them all. It was the
right decision as they didn’t get home
until 4am, whereas I was fast asleep
by midnight. Rock ‘n’ Roll eh?
standing up so we decided not to go
back to Liz and Andy’s to sleep,
choosing to sleep in the van instead.
It wasn’t anything rude, just the fact
that all the people staying there (Matt,
the Autonomads etc) were all still
having fun and I was just too tired to
wait around for them all. It was the
right decision as they didn’t get home
until 4am, whereas I was fast asleep
by midnight. Rock ‘n’ Roll eh?
| Copyright Mark Ayling 2018 |