Monday 17 December 2007

Bumblebits

It's a Monday, which means yesterday was Sunday, which means today is the day after the day THE BUMBLEBEES made their live debut. Roz and Bert and Me (and our loyal fans Zoe And Jon And Bert's Dad) crammed in Bert's Dad's Van and headed up to Oxford, or more specifically the Port Mahon pub, where we were going to be the 2nd of 6 bands in an all-day gig put on by our friend Hog.

After being thoroughly confused by Oxford's one-way system, we arrived for soundcheck and managed to squeeze out a couple of songs to a less than enraptured crowd of bored-looking musicians (the eventual crowd of about twenty would not respond much better). The sound system in use at the Port Mahon was temperamental to say the least, and although it sounded alright from Up On The Stage, it was impossible to guess what was coming through the PA. Going by the sound of the other bands we saw (all of whom were ENJOYABLE or better), the mix was probably quite BAD.

I thought the gig, in terms of performance, went pretty well. I felt like I sang with feeling and mainly in-tune, I didn't forget many words, and I remembered pretty much all the chords. We didn't lose track of the drum machine (although there was a horrible bit at the start when it made weird noises and I couldn't figure out why - it turned out to be the power lead), we started and finished all the songs at the same time, and we didn't say anything that offensive to the crowd (apart from "shut up", which I retracted quite soon afterwards).

We ran through all our sure-fire hits, from the athiest-funk of "Cool Science, to the animal-rights-funk of "Fluffy Clouds Of Joy", but we didn't seem to go down that well. I don't know whether we were a bit too plain for that crowd, or whether our music is just unlikable, but most songs were greeted with blank stares, or the bowed heads of people texting their friends, presumably to tell them not to hurry to the gig just yet. But..... it was a fun gig all the same. I need to have a bit more confidence, and not just give up because some people don't like us. Obviously I would rather we'd been carried home to ecstatic cheering from newly converted Bumblebees devotees, but it was still a good way to get rid of our performance nerves, and to figure out what worked and what didn't before we get ourselves a local gig. I just hope Bristolians have BETTER TASTE.

No comments: