Well, one year in the waiting and numerous cancellations later we finally did the big one! A milestone on the Kneeslider CV! The totally awesome and highly reputable Colonial Bar has now experienced the Rockness of Jockness; The Handyness of Andyness; The Leanzy of Beanzy; The Riff Strums of Harleybums and we made 'em 'ave it!
As Hampshires most exciting live music and food venue, we were determined to give it 110% (despite feeling a little pressure) and try to leave a good impression. We loved absolutely every minute of it, mistakes an' all and we hope the feeling was mutual!
Arriving a little earlier than usual we started to unload the gear around 630. Due to its popularity, and the fact that it is also a restaurant, we had to make sure that we humped all the gear in from the van and started setting up before the place got too busy to move. Initially we were a little concerned that being Valentines weekend, people may have decided to stay in until Saturday or Sunday night leaving our Colonial debut a bit short of audience - How wrong could we be?!! We all admitted to being a little nervous about something or other. Andy was concerned that he wouldn't be up to scratch after such a strenuous day at work, Harley admitted the need for several toilet visits throughout the day, Beanz, well he craps himself everytime anyway and Jock was just Jock, easy going, experienced and looking forward to a pint or six! Our nervousness was amplified by the fact that this was our first gig without sound man Dan.
We had the opportunity of a professional sound engineer for this gig and being as it was so important to us, we took advantage! Known only by Andy, Big Dave gave up his Friday night to come and work for us and what a legend! Without being asked he helped unload the van, and managed to set up all of the equipment he was in charge of in a record 30 minutes, leaving only the Mic's and sound check to be done. You could tell just by watching him that he was a Pro let alone the sound he delivered! According to our entourage it was the best sound from us ever, and from the band, well, not one snap, crackle or pop from the gear and we heard everything 100%. Would you believe us if we said he has just finished touring with the Black Eyed Peas? Well it's true and we were lucky to have him on board for the night. Cheers Dave, everybody commented on what a difference you made and we are truly grateful. Despite leaving at the end of night having broke all the equipment down on your own, you left expecting nothing. We have set aside a share for you as a thanks and a token of appreciation! We understand you are a busy man, but please, if you ever feel like getting out and earning a few bob, you will always be welcome to come along!
Within about an hour and a half, we were ready to sound check and kicked off with "Tush" by ZZ Top. To our amazement, it was perfect first go and we still had an hour or so to go before we went on! That's got to be a first and allowed us all to chill out beforehand. The pub was still quite empty at this point and what made a complete difference was the fact that there was a disco going on to get people in the mood prior to the bands commencement. During this time, we were blown away by the amount of effort put into this gig by our followers. We didn't realize that it was as important to them as it was to us. Initially our thoughts were that maybe a few of them simply come along because they feel obliged too, but a short sharp telling off from the Guvner aka Wayne Tarrantino assured us that this is not the case and if people didn't want to be there, they wouldn't. Thanks to Wayne promoting us with posters and Mo (Andy's girlfriend) bringing a minibus no less, full of new faces to watch us perform, the pub seemed to fill quite quickly and a party atmosphere became apparant very early on. By 900, the place was extremely busy and you couldn't walk from A to B without saying "excuse me please" or nudging the big blokes beer or unintentionally rubbing yourself against another persons booty! But the people were great and there was no prescence of lairy binge drinking lager louts anywhere. The staff at the Colonial are obviously very selective and it shows. Hats off to them for making the place not only a success financially, but by doing it with decorum! Quite a few ladies were already up dancing around to the disco and having time to walk around before going on, we can honestly say that the pub was full of people who just wanted to have fun on their Friday night - the atmosphere was absolutely superb. Whilst in comparison, the pub may not have been as busy as it normally is on a Friday, it is certainly without doubt the biggest crowd we had ever played to in one session and as Derek the DJ kept counting down the minutes to our debut, nerves were starting to kick in!
All of a sudden, the lights went down and then came our introduction from DJ Derek! "Ladies & Gentlemen, we've got a group of bikers here tonight to give you some good 'ole Rock tunes, please put your hand together and give a warm welcome to "KNEESLIDER"! - A professional introduction with a deafening cheer and applause for the first time ever, we were made to feel like professionals!
Andy kicked right in with the infamous double quick intro to "I Fought The Law" by the Clash, followed by the lead and bass from Harley and Jock. Before the first verse was over, nods, foot taps and lip syncing confirmed appreciation throughout the audience. As a result of our last performance we rejigged the set yet again allowing the first three songs to roll into each other without stopping. "Can't Get Enough" by Bad Company followed and the Knacks "My Sharona" with excellent backing from our girls "The A32's" finished our intro a treat and through the applause, we were able to catch our breaths and compose ourselves ready to go again! Never in our long history of one year have we had people up dancing in the first set! Tonight it seemed was a first for many new experiences and we were loving every minute of it!
Whilst immensly enjoyable, the first set was full of mistakes by all - we believe down to nerves, but either they went unoticed or people simply didn't care! (With the exception of one quite large one and if you can't remember what it was, we're not about to remind you!) Despite these little incidences and concerning the mood, the first set here seemed like a second set anywhere else, but the major misfortune was that in trimming our set and rolling songs into each other, we actually finished our first set with time to spare. It would have been wrong to cut it so short whilst people were still having fun on the dance floor, so quick thinking, we took "Paranoid" from the second set and continued with that to enable us to run for a further five minutes. By the time it was over, all four of us were buzzing and looking forward to a short break. DJ Derek kicked back in and we alighted the stage beaming from ear to ear at the heroes reception from our people.
On his journey to the little boys room, a new experience for Beanz was being grabbed by a girl on the dance floor! Using him as a wider than usual pole, she started to perform a dance around him and he said the experience was actually more scary than going on stage. Terrified and looking to Harley for assistance Beanz could do nothing but stand like a frozen, frightened little schoolboy whilst his guitar playing sidekick looked on wetting himself with laughter! We're pretty sure that you're average bloke would have played along, but Beanz having been married for 14 years and accompanied by his wife this evening was petrified to say the least!
After a very strict 15 minutes, we were welcomed back on stage by Derek and Wayne stressing about finding the girls proceeded to send out a search party for them before we started. Anyone would think he was the guvner!! We went back on at 1030 and delivered another one of our strongest "The One I Love" by REM. The second set was our danciest stuff and bearing in mind that loads had been dancing for an hour already, we were really looking forwad to it! As expected the dance floor filled again and the audience participation through "Ruby" and "Parklife".was overwhelming. Our girls, Kerry & Shirl aka "The A32's" delivered another superb performance of "Love Shack" which gets better every time and the final line "Tin Roof, Rusted" brought the house down! Not only did they sound good for the women to join in, they looked good doing it too with many a jaw drop and dribble seen from the blokes on the balcony, who at that height got more of an eyeful than we could! Also, for the first time ever, despite us advertising the fact, we had a nice young girl come up and join us unprompted through "You Really Got Me". Well done Sarah, brilliant - we wish we had more like you!
Throughout the second set we found ourselves clock watching, concious that we had robbed a song out of it, but by the time we played our last song of the set, our good old "Johnny B Goode", we were pretty much on time and in true welcoming fashion they shouted for more. Of course, this reaction is the best bit of any gig and we were surprised to hear that some bands that play, refuse to do it! Not Kneeslider! We love it and kicked off the encores with our own version of "Down Under" leading straight into "Born To Be Wild". Still not satisfied and shouting for more, DJ Derek stepped in and beefed us up. "If you want them to play one more you gotta shout louder than that!" and they did. Being as lots of people had been dancing most of the night, we thought the opening verses to "Freebird" would have been the ideal song to bring things down a little bit and being as it was Valentines weekend, gave people the chance to have a slow one with their partners. Quite a few did before Harley, Andy & Jock exploded into their big finale. Harley even chucked new bits in that we never heard before (yes H, we noticed!) and it finished the night off brilliantly. DJ Derek got back to discoing and we left the stage, soaking with sweat, happy and confident that we left some sort of impression at our first Colonial gig.
In addition to the customers of the Colonial Bar for making us feel so welcome, big thanks to Wayne & Mo for showing your support yet again by promoting and bringing loads of additional people to the event. Thanks to all the others that came again, Dave, Sam, Rupert, Stu, Donk, Simon, Darren from the Paparazzi, Tanya from the Brewers Arms and especially John & Mazza who came all the way from Winchester to support our big night!
Well done and thanks to Kerry & Shirl for another great performance, and for being on hand when we needed you. We understand it was as nervewracking for you as it was for us!
Extra big thanks to Big Dave, our sound engineer for the night. You made a big difference that was complimented by everyone!
Our biggest thanks this time round has to be to Margaret for giving us the opportunity to play her great venue, and for giving us more than one gig date despite not having heard us play before. It was so nice to hear you say that you gave us the chance through reputation - and especially your comments about wanting a party atmosphere and the fact that we delivered it makes us feel that our efforts are all worthwhile. Still in our youth, this is what we started out to do.
We make no apologies for the length or content of this blog as it is a large milestone in our bands infancy. One that shall be remembered and referred to throughout our journey!
Thank you and see you soon!
xx
We had the opportunity of a professional sound engineer for this gig and being as it was so important to us, we took advantage! Known only by Andy, Big Dave gave up his Friday night to come and work for us and what a legend! Without being asked he helped unload the van, and managed to set up all of the equipment he was in charge of in a record 30 minutes, leaving only the Mic's and sound check to be done. You could tell just by watching him that he was a Pro let alone the sound he delivered! According to our entourage it was the best sound from us ever, and from the band, well, not one snap, crackle or pop from the gear and we heard everything 100%. Would you believe us if we said he has just finished touring with the Black Eyed Peas? Well it's true and we were lucky to have him on board for the night. Cheers Dave, everybody commented on what a difference you made and we are truly grateful. Despite leaving at the end of night having broke all the equipment down on your own, you left expecting nothing. We have set aside a share for you as a thanks and a token of appreciation! We understand you are a busy man, but please, if you ever feel like getting out and earning a few bob, you will always be welcome to come along!
Within about an hour and a half, we were ready to sound check and kicked off with "Tush" by ZZ Top. To our amazement, it was perfect first go and we still had an hour or so to go before we went on! That's got to be a first and allowed us all to chill out beforehand. The pub was still quite empty at this point and what made a complete difference was the fact that there was a disco going on to get people in the mood prior to the bands commencement. During this time, we were blown away by the amount of effort put into this gig by our followers. We didn't realize that it was as important to them as it was to us. Initially our thoughts were that maybe a few of them simply come along because they feel obliged too, but a short sharp telling off from the Guvner aka Wayne Tarrantino assured us that this is not the case and if people didn't want to be there, they wouldn't. Thanks to Wayne promoting us with posters and Mo (Andy's girlfriend) bringing a minibus no less, full of new faces to watch us perform, the pub seemed to fill quite quickly and a party atmosphere became apparant very early on. By 900, the place was extremely busy and you couldn't walk from A to B without saying "excuse me please" or nudging the big blokes beer or unintentionally rubbing yourself against another persons booty! But the people were great and there was no prescence of lairy binge drinking lager louts anywhere. The staff at the Colonial are obviously very selective and it shows. Hats off to them for making the place not only a success financially, but by doing it with decorum! Quite a few ladies were already up dancing around to the disco and having time to walk around before going on, we can honestly say that the pub was full of people who just wanted to have fun on their Friday night - the atmosphere was absolutely superb. Whilst in comparison, the pub may not have been as busy as it normally is on a Friday, it is certainly without doubt the biggest crowd we had ever played to in one session and as Derek the DJ kept counting down the minutes to our debut, nerves were starting to kick in!
All of a sudden, the lights went down and then came our introduction from DJ Derek! "Ladies & Gentlemen, we've got a group of bikers here tonight to give you some good 'ole Rock tunes, please put your hand together and give a warm welcome to "KNEESLIDER"! - A professional introduction with a deafening cheer and applause for the first time ever, we were made to feel like professionals!
Andy kicked right in with the infamous double quick intro to "I Fought The Law" by the Clash, followed by the lead and bass from Harley and Jock. Before the first verse was over, nods, foot taps and lip syncing confirmed appreciation throughout the audience. As a result of our last performance we rejigged the set yet again allowing the first three songs to roll into each other without stopping. "Can't Get Enough" by Bad Company followed and the Knacks "My Sharona" with excellent backing from our girls "The A32's" finished our intro a treat and through the applause, we were able to catch our breaths and compose ourselves ready to go again! Never in our long history of one year have we had people up dancing in the first set! Tonight it seemed was a first for many new experiences and we were loving every minute of it!
Whilst immensly enjoyable, the first set was full of mistakes by all - we believe down to nerves, but either they went unoticed or people simply didn't care! (With the exception of one quite large one and if you can't remember what it was, we're not about to remind you!) Despite these little incidences and concerning the mood, the first set here seemed like a second set anywhere else, but the major misfortune was that in trimming our set and rolling songs into each other, we actually finished our first set with time to spare. It would have been wrong to cut it so short whilst people were still having fun on the dance floor, so quick thinking, we took "Paranoid" from the second set and continued with that to enable us to run for a further five minutes. By the time it was over, all four of us were buzzing and looking forward to a short break. DJ Derek kicked back in and we alighted the stage beaming from ear to ear at the heroes reception from our people.
On his journey to the little boys room, a new experience for Beanz was being grabbed by a girl on the dance floor! Using him as a wider than usual pole, she started to perform a dance around him and he said the experience was actually more scary than going on stage. Terrified and looking to Harley for assistance Beanz could do nothing but stand like a frozen, frightened little schoolboy whilst his guitar playing sidekick looked on wetting himself with laughter! We're pretty sure that you're average bloke would have played along, but Beanz having been married for 14 years and accompanied by his wife this evening was petrified to say the least!
After a very strict 15 minutes, we were welcomed back on stage by Derek and Wayne stressing about finding the girls proceeded to send out a search party for them before we started. Anyone would think he was the guvner!! We went back on at 1030 and delivered another one of our strongest "The One I Love" by REM. The second set was our danciest stuff and bearing in mind that loads had been dancing for an hour already, we were really looking forwad to it! As expected the dance floor filled again and the audience participation through "Ruby" and "Parklife".was overwhelming. Our girls, Kerry & Shirl aka "The A32's" delivered another superb performance of "Love Shack" which gets better every time and the final line "Tin Roof, Rusted" brought the house down! Not only did they sound good for the women to join in, they looked good doing it too with many a jaw drop and dribble seen from the blokes on the balcony, who at that height got more of an eyeful than we could! Also, for the first time ever, despite us advertising the fact, we had a nice young girl come up and join us unprompted through "You Really Got Me". Well done Sarah, brilliant - we wish we had more like you!
Throughout the second set we found ourselves clock watching, concious that we had robbed a song out of it, but by the time we played our last song of the set, our good old "Johnny B Goode", we were pretty much on time and in true welcoming fashion they shouted for more. Of course, this reaction is the best bit of any gig and we were surprised to hear that some bands that play, refuse to do it! Not Kneeslider! We love it and kicked off the encores with our own version of "Down Under" leading straight into "Born To Be Wild". Still not satisfied and shouting for more, DJ Derek stepped in and beefed us up. "If you want them to play one more you gotta shout louder than that!" and they did. Being as lots of people had been dancing most of the night, we thought the opening verses to "Freebird" would have been the ideal song to bring things down a little bit and being as it was Valentines weekend, gave people the chance to have a slow one with their partners. Quite a few did before Harley, Andy & Jock exploded into their big finale. Harley even chucked new bits in that we never heard before (yes H, we noticed!) and it finished the night off brilliantly. DJ Derek got back to discoing and we left the stage, soaking with sweat, happy and confident that we left some sort of impression at our first Colonial gig.
In addition to the customers of the Colonial Bar for making us feel so welcome, big thanks to Wayne & Mo for showing your support yet again by promoting and bringing loads of additional people to the event. Thanks to all the others that came again, Dave, Sam, Rupert, Stu, Donk, Simon, Darren from the Paparazzi, Tanya from the Brewers Arms and especially John & Mazza who came all the way from Winchester to support our big night!
Well done and thanks to Kerry & Shirl for another great performance, and for being on hand when we needed you. We understand it was as nervewracking for you as it was for us!
Extra big thanks to Big Dave, our sound engineer for the night. You made a big difference that was complimented by everyone!
Our biggest thanks this time round has to be to Margaret for giving us the opportunity to play her great venue, and for giving us more than one gig date despite not having heard us play before. It was so nice to hear you say that you gave us the chance through reputation - and especially your comments about wanting a party atmosphere and the fact that we delivered it makes us feel that our efforts are all worthwhile. Still in our youth, this is what we started out to do.
We make no apologies for the length or content of this blog as it is a large milestone in our bands infancy. One that shall be remembered and referred to throughout our journey!
Thank you and see you soon!
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment