Aren't you getting a bit old for this, Aberdeen?

Where have all the bees gone?  Don't blame the miserable summer, they're all buzzing around in various people's bonnets in the aftermath of a serious uppercut landed in the continuing bout between supporters of retaining UTG and proponents of the CGP (and I don't believe for one minute that this bruising, attritional, weary war of words and dubious deeds is over yet).

I always said that I was against CGP.  I always said that the sums didn't add up for me.  However, once the referendum went through and my side lost, I shut the hell up about it.  So now things have swung back to my way of thinking, am I happy?  Not really.  I always had a suspicion that everyone in Aberdeen basically despises anyone they don't know. The only result we're left with post referendum is an already divided populous which has been carved almost right down the middle thanks to a merely mathematical (and as it turns out, pointless) majority.  You might as well start making up sandbags.  This isn't over.  This is just beginning.  Civil war in Aberdeen, except conducted by a bunch of Internet hard nuts and keyboard warriors.  Battle has already resumed and they didn't even have the courtesy to wait until I get some popcorn!  Now that's just rude.

Do I think that democracy has been damaged?  Hardly - it's broken by design.

Do I think that all the Internet based "debate" is damaging to Aberdeen?  Most definitely.  When I read some of the "debate" that is ongoing on Facebook or Twitter, all it boils down to for me is this:

crowd arguing

This is a pretty good approximation of what I imagine you would all sound like if we put you all in the Beach Ballroom and asked you to have a "debate".  Come on, some of you can't even spell your insults correctly.  Quantity of Facebook "likes" being used as an analogy for testicle size and the moral right to... tell people how it should be?  Reports of dissenting views being deleted because they don't tally up with the prevailing way of thinking on a particular page?  Pathetic.

To all those who engage in this tiresome charade - you all disgust me with your petty, childish, bitter behaviour.  We're going nowhere, fast, and you aren't helping one iota.

Sound engineers - will you please listen?

I've just had the dubious pleasure of listening back to our performance at Belladrum.  It's... fast.  I don't know if we were keyed up because of the event itself, or the technical difficulties that delayed our start by 10 mins (which is a lot when you've only got a 45min slot), but we're playing like we're on speed or something, and this is unusual because we're not Motörhead.

But the one thing that is annoying me is the fact that the singer has asked for more vocals in the monitors on at least 4 occasions (gave up counting after that, no wait, I think I heard a fifth).  It is clear that nothing's been done - Andy's more shouting than singing and that's because he can't hear himself.  Daryl's harmonica is a bit wayward at times because he can't hear what he's doing.  That's a big problem when you're responsible for the tuning/intonation of your instrument (that includes voice).  It's not so much of a problem for me, playing fretted electric bass.  I have a tuner on the floor and I keep my basses set up properly (intonation compensation at the bridge etc.) so as long as my open strings are in tune then when I stop the string at the correct place, I get the correct note.  I can play the fretted bass visually/by feel and it'll sound OK, but it won't be as tight as it could be as instead of "being one with the rest of the band" (which comprises a combination of muscle memory through practice and being able to hear everyone else) you're either anticipating (which can make you early if you get it wrong) or reacting (which by definition makes you late).  And I don't have to bloody well like it - in fact I hate the feeling of playing in a bubble, where you're playing the bass and have no idea if you're even contributing to the proceedings (hoping to hell that the front of house sound is better than this).

Sound engineers, can you please explain to me (like I'm a four year old - as I have no comprehension of what you do and no right to tell you what to do) why it is that some of you are seemingly unwilling (or unable) to give us decent sound on stage?  We are not moaning for the sake of it, not giving us decent sound on stage is like asking us to gut fish with a butter knife.  You'll have your fish, but it won't be pretty.  All we're asking for is to have a decent monitoring on stage so that we can do our jobs properly.  We are not professionals, but we take our hobby seriously and want to perform at our best for the good people who come out to see us, dance and generate money for the venues that employ you in order that they continue to do this.  If you hamper our performance because we can't hear what we're doing, punters will stay away, and it's as much in your interests as ours to keep bums on seats and feet on dancefloors.

Yay, it's 1997 again!

And that would make me ... 22.  Man, time flies.

Tonight is the night I decided to switch the criminally underused stereo on and put a CD on.  I'm not sure what the motivation was, I was watching the documentary "An Ox's Tale" about John Entwistle (bass player in The Who, in case you didn't know) and ended up feeling a bit sad (y'know, 'cos he's dead and all that).  Then I remembered a while back I was feeling all guilty about having hundreds of CDs that I never listen to so I decided to finally do something about it.

I didn't put much thought into choosing a CD, the first letter I looked at was S and I had an urge to put on Supergrass, "In It for the Money".  I fired up the amp, the CD player and the graphic equaliser and stuck it on.  I'd like to tell you that I was whisked away to a magical fantasy land, but the Android phone, the Intel i5 sticker on the laptop, the electricity monitor and the fact that I just tweeted the picture to the left kept me in the 21st century.

All the same, it felt like I had reclaimed or rediscovered something about me, something I had forgotten, something I used to like about myself and it felt good.

CD's nearly coming to an end ("Sometimes I Make You Sad") - one more for tonight, I wonder if I'll keep with the 1997 theme or put something classic on...

Video from the Depot

I've put up a few videos from Saturday's gig at the Last Bus Depot near New Pitsligo.  It's a little "band in a tin box" sounding, but hopefully it's good enough to tap your toes to and remember a good night - or wish you had been there and spur you on to join us at the next one!

Report from gig at Last Bus Depot

What a fantastic place, what a fantastic gig!  The Last Bus Depot is an amazing venue - a bit like a big boy's playroom.  Can't explain it in enough words, so have some panoramic photography courtesy of Jayne (thanks darling!)

The crowd were really up for it and I would say that it was one of the best gigs we've ever done.  I can't wait until we come back and do it again!

Gig tipoff: The Oxbow Lake Band, Omar Bin Mohamed Afif

When: Saturday 28th July 2012
Where: The Last Bus Depot, New Pitsligo
Doors: 7.30pm
Tax: £5

An unusual new venue for us - the Last Bus Depot just outside New Pitsligo.  I can't explain it any better than their own site, so have a link - http://www.lastbus.org

I'm really looking forward to this one, hope to see you there!

Gig tipoff: The Oxbow Lake Band, The Carousels

When: Thursday 26th July 2012
Where: Cafe Drummond, Belmont Street, Aberdeen
Doors: 8pm
Tax: none, free entry!

Oops, left it a little late to put this up but if you're at a loose end this Thursday (tomorrow as I type) then why not head down to Cafe Drummond and treat your ears to the psychedelic country tones of The Carousels followed by a heap of different tunes from us, our songs, other people's songs, all good time tunes.  Free entry, no excuses, hope to see you there!

The Oxbow Lake Band: At the Festival

I'm very excited to announce the first recorded output of The Oxbow Lake Band since my joining.  It's a song called "At the Festival" and it's been recorded to celebrate our upcoming appearance at Belladrum Festival in August.

You can have a listen here:



You can also download it for free from Bandcamp and Reverbnation.

Gig tipoff: The Oxbow Lake Band, Q-nim, Jamie Rodden

When: Friday 29th June 2012
Where: Slains Castle, Belmont Street, Aberdeen
Doors: 8pm
Tax: none, free entry!

Once again we grace the "orchestra pit" of Slains Castle for another night of totally groovin' tunes.  Six musicians to squeeze into the pit this time (and seven if we have MC along with us for a couple of tunes), so I'll have to make sure I don't lop anyone's head off with me bass.

If you missed us last time (or can't remember, it was 3 months ago), here's a little reminder of how we roll:

Support from Jamie Rodden and Q-nim.  Things get going (hopefully) at 8pm, it's free entry so head on down, let your hair down and dance!

Health kick

Recently, we've made a couple changes to see if we can be a bit more healthy.

1) I'm joining Jayne at Zumba once a week.  At present I am the only bloke attending this particular session.  I had a brief flashback to school when the male membership of the recorder group dwindled away to just me (I left as soon as that happened - oh, if I knew then what I know now), but I just had an attack of  "what the hell" and got stuck in.  I lack co-ordination and tend to throw myself about like an idiot, but it gets the heart going and sweat running so I must be doing something.

2) We're doing Meat Free Mondays (http://www.meatfreemondays.com/) - it's been three weeks now and it's no bother - while I enjoy eating meat, I'm not completely closed minded to meals without meat.  Quorn, as you can imagine has figured quite heavily in things so far but I will branch out and try some recipes as the weeks go on.  Not my turn next week though, so I've got a bit of time to prepare :)

Hopefully these small changes will make a difference to health and energy levels.  Not that I have been feeling unhealthy or lethargic, but I have thought over the past few years that I could do better.  Time will tell.

Sitting on a bankrupt throne made of ... CDs

Gig tipoff: The Oxbow Lake Band and Martin Stephenson

When: Saturday 26th May 2012
Where: Macduff Arts Centre, Duff Street, Macduff
Doors: 8pm
Tax: £8 (£6 concession)

This should be a great gig, I'm really looking forward to it.  To quote the COAST Festival programme:

"Two of the most articulate musical and good time music acts in the UK on the same bill!  Martin is an 80s legend, who toured with Prefab Sprout, Aztec Camera and Janis Ian - "builds bridges between love and hate, between cradle and grave, between folk and pop, between the past and the present" - NME.  Witty, eclectic, insightful, Martin is an intuitive and highly entertaining artist.  The Oxbow Lake Band is a lively 5-piece rock/folk/jazz/funk/poetry crossover band.  A must for every celebration of creativity, the Oxbows are likely to turn up with plug-in guest musicians and poets.  Impossible not to dance to!"

Aye, so we're nae bad then.  If you're up this way then why not drop by?  Bring your dancing shoes!

This event is part of the COAST Festival which runs from 25th - 27th May in Banff and Macduff.  Full programme of events here: http://www.coastfestival.org.uk/programme.html

The Oxbow Lake Band: Banff Castle 06/05/2012

We played recently at Banff Castle as part of their Beltane Bash.  Have some video from it:

Freedom of speech?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-17858257

This news item made me think, along with the other stuff, like people being pulled up for clearly jokey threats to blow up airports about how our freedom of speech is being eroded.  Now it's not nice to wish harm on people, and advocating that someone be shot is a bit harsh.  But surely all it requires is a time out, a calm down, and an apology?  Who is actually going to shoot someone on the vague urgings of a tweet?  Would a bomber say "I'm going to blow up an airport" before they go and do it?  Preposterous.

Perhaps I should be arrested too.  I have a confession to make.  

The year was 1994, it was summer and the World Cup was in full swing.  Beer was consumed and football was watched.  The USA were playing the fancied Columbia in the first round.  I vaguely remember it being an exciting match and I can still remember the feeling of utter disbelief when the unfortunate Andrés Escobar scored an own goal a striker would have been proud of in his attempt to cut out a USA cross.

I remember this moment like it was yesterday.  A friend and I stood up simultaneously, pointed at the telly and in unison proclaimed "THAT BLOKE SHOULD BE SHOT!"

Anyone with a passing interest in international football probably knows what happened next.  For those of you who haven't figured out where I'm going with this see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_Escobar - basically he went home and a week later he was shot dead outside a nightclub.

What I did is exactly the same as what has been happening in all this draconian smacking down of off-the-cuff remarks on social networking on the Internet. You had better come down and arrest me, for I have been a very naughty boy.  Even worse, the "harm" that I wished on someone actually came true.  Clearly that makes me prime suspect.

Or maybe some sense could be seen.  It's very simple - either you arrest and charge all the 4000+ people who repeated Paul Chambers' chilling threat on Robin Hood Airport, or you let him off.  He made an off-the-cuff remark for which he has apologised.  Case closed.

Oh, and sorry Andrés, I never actually wanted you to be actually shot, like with a real gun.

End of the road

Hey folks, as you might have noticed, I can't stick at this photo a day malarkey - even with a camera in my pocket at almost all times.  I'm not sure what this says about me other than I'm either very forgetful or very lazy.  Either way, I was always worried about the artistic value of what I was doing.  I always want to have a point to the photos, something interesting to look at but it was getting to the point where I was resisting the urge to just point the camera in a random direction and fire it, just to have something to post. I didn't consider that to be a worthwhile use of my time, or yours come to think of it.  So I've decided to can it.

From now on, there'll only be something here if I feel it's worthy of inclusion, be it pictures, video or words.

Photo a day 2012 (86/366) - welcome home

Photo taken just off Abbey Road, Aberdeen.  Chico lying in wait for my return home.

Photo a day 2012 (85/366) - it's cream, ok?

Photo taken at my friend Rich's house.  Fed up with people saying that his home made speaker cabinet is white, I proved that it is cream by sticking a known white object on top of it :)

Photo a day 2012 (84/366) - where's the pond?

Photo taken in Wrights' and Coopers' Place, Aberdeen.  During the March heatwave, all the water dried up.

Photo a day 2012 (83/366) - band in a pit

Photo taken in Slains Castle, Aberdeen.  Went for a spy the week before we played here.  It's interesting having the audience all around you and slightly above you.  I think the band here were called Sort of Alive.

Photo a day 2012 (82/366) - campus in bloom

Photo taken in Wrights' and Coopers' Place, Aberdeen.  Lovely day, lovely place to work.  Here comes the catch up flood, sorry folks :)