The end of term LMS/Karaoke

Well, last Thursday was a night I'll certainly remember! But, not for a few more weeks I imagine, had a tad too much to drink towards the end. The Live Music Society here at Aston had their final gig of the term, which I believe was meant to be Christmas themed, and it was pretty fun for all.

I got to open up with some smooth jazz from the Tie-Dye Quartet (who, annoyingly enough, were actually playing as a quartet for the first time ever) - we ended up improvising most of it though, as we'd barely played with Julie-oh on the trumpet before and we were just trying to get a bit of practise in before our proper gig the next day.

Side note - the proper gig was great fun! We dressed up smart but still ended up outclassed by all the 14-18 year olds who were there for their Christmas ball. Had a class time - free Christmas dinner, and an hour and a half or so of playing jazz, with a crowd who were dying to dance. And we got paid for it! We had to change half of our set and play songs we'd never practised just to keep everything upbeat enough - we'd planned a lot of slower songs as we thought they'd be a bunch of shy, self-conscious teenagers.

Anyhow, back to the LMS night. Next up were the two external bands - Hampton St and Shattered Age. Hampton St featured the legendary Mez on drums, who didn't dissapoint, and it was good to see Whitty again on the vocals (he was still raving about the jazz too, which was nice) - he's a real showman. Wasn't too impressed with Shattered Age, but they weren't too bad either. The Clerks came on after that - and they were massively improved from last year, though my senses were becoming a bit clouded by that point. Allucinere finished up the support acts' part of the night, whilst I sat near the bar drinking away.

Finally, I got to go back on stage with Roflcopter for the last set of the night. Normally, I'd have relished the opportunity, but by now I was finding it rather hard to stand up, let alone stand up and keep my balance with a bass around my chest. According to photos, and witness accounts, I did actually manage this feat, and some deluded fools even seem to think I managed to play a couple of basslines too. I do remember pulling the lead out of the amp more than once, and wowing the crowd with multiple variations of jokes that weren't funny the first time though, so not all was lost.

What's red and not there?
No tomatoes. - Thanks to Rob Miles for that one.

What's orange and not there?
No oranges.

What's yellow and not there?
No yellows.

Next, so I'm told, came karaoke, and according to the photos of the night, I got my hands on a yard of ale, along with various other drinks. The next day I woke to see a flash video of myself dancing to numanuma circulating the internet, but that wasn't my primary concern, as I was lying atop my bed wearing only a furry purple glove.

Great evening and a nice round off to the year - especially after the weeks and weeks of pretty much non-stop work I'd been doing.

Xx