Suitably impressed by the turn out of our last Cockpit gig, promoter 'Flatnose' John Trueman asked us to play a lunch time acoustic slot in the Rocket bar (now known as Cockpit 3) the following week. Apparently the Cockpit had decided to start selling Sunday dinners and wanted some entertainment to draw in the crowds. If you've ever been to the Cockpit you'll know that it's not the sort of place you'd want to eat dinner. It's all black walls, stale sweat and no natural light. Great for pop concerts, but not so much a sit down meal...
John told us that, although we wouldn't get paid, we'd get some free drinks and a Sunday roast each. Awesome. Our guitarist Mike couldn't make the show as he was working, so we decided to do it as a two piece, with me playing acoustic guitar and Leigh singing.
We got to the venue before midday and set up against the back wall of the Rocket. I didn't really want anything to drink but, as it was free, I thought it would be rude not to have a cheeky bottle of lager. The barman didn't know about the deal John had arranged with us, which I thought was quite strange, but he let me have my drink for nothing once I explained.
As far as I can remember, Winny and his girlfriend Sarah, Leigh's girlfriend and Suggy were the only people there when we started. But it was still good fun, and a few more people arrived by the time we'd finished out first set.
I went to the bar with Leigh afterwards to get another drink and we were just getting served when the manager came over and asked what was going on. We told him about the deal Flatnose had mentioned and he said he knew nothing about it. I swear he actually put the bottle tops back on the beers we'd just just been given and took them off us. No Sunday dinner for us then :(
It would have been nice not to have been lied to by John, but we weren't too bothered about the lack of freebies; it was just fun to play. Leigh had written some great acoustic songs, and I was really chuffed that people were finally getting to hear them. I was particularly fond of "Better", which we tried to work up into a full-band song a few times without any success, and "Grass Is Greener", a great little song with the line "the grass is always greener, when it's under you", which I thought was ace. At the time I felt that, if we could get our electric set up to the same standard as our acoustic set, we'd have a nice career in music ahead of us...
Unfortunately this was the first and last acoustic show we played as a band, and many of the tunes we played that day were never played again. We often said we'd record them "when we got signed", but that day never came. Over the next few months we embarked on a frustrating period of writing as a band, with little to show for our efforts...
...But that was to come. General opinion seemed to be that the two sets we played at the Rocket had been really good, and a few people WE DID NOT KNOW came up to us after we'd finished to ask when we were playing next. A first. We filmed the show on the camcorder we'd used at Gildersome Green, but I've never seen the tape. I'd like to think it tallies with my memories of this been a great gig.
Set list (Novacain)
John told us that, although we wouldn't get paid, we'd get some free drinks and a Sunday roast each. Awesome. Our guitarist Mike couldn't make the show as he was working, so we decided to do it as a two piece, with me playing acoustic guitar and Leigh singing.
We got to the venue before midday and set up against the back wall of the Rocket. I didn't really want anything to drink but, as it was free, I thought it would be rude not to have a cheeky bottle of lager. The barman didn't know about the deal John had arranged with us, which I thought was quite strange, but he let me have my drink for nothing once I explained.
As far as I can remember, Winny and his girlfriend Sarah, Leigh's girlfriend and Suggy were the only people there when we started. But it was still good fun, and a few more people arrived by the time we'd finished out first set.
A few days before our show at The Rocket Bar we had our first photoshoot. By which I mean we took a couple of pictures of ourselves on the motorway bridge near our studio so I could finish a film in my Mum and Dad's camera. From left to right: Win, Mike, Me, Leigh, Sug.
I went to the bar with Leigh afterwards to get another drink and we were just getting served when the manager came over and asked what was going on. We told him about the deal Flatnose had mentioned and he said he knew nothing about it. I swear he actually put the bottle tops back on the beers we'd just just been given and took them off us. No Sunday dinner for us then :(
It would have been nice not to have been lied to by John, but we weren't too bothered about the lack of freebies; it was just fun to play. Leigh had written some great acoustic songs, and I was really chuffed that people were finally getting to hear them. I was particularly fond of "Better", which we tried to work up into a full-band song a few times without any success, and "Grass Is Greener", a great little song with the line "the grass is always greener, when it's under you", which I thought was ace. At the time I felt that, if we could get our electric set up to the same standard as our acoustic set, we'd have a nice career in music ahead of us...
Unfortunately this was the first and last acoustic show we played as a band, and many of the tunes we played that day were never played again. We often said we'd record them "when we got signed", but that day never came. Over the next few months we embarked on a frustrating period of writing as a band, with little to show for our efforts...
...But that was to come. General opinion seemed to be that the two sets we played at the Rocket had been really good, and a few people WE DID NOT KNOW came up to us after we'd finished to ask when we were playing next. A first. We filmed the show on the camcorder we'd used at Gildersome Green, but I've never seen the tape. I'd like to think it tallies with my memories of this been a great gig.
Set list (Novacain)
Set 1
- Find A Way
- Cyanide
- Better
- End Of The World
- Things Fall Apart
- She Keeps Me
- New Song #1
- Weakening
Set 2
- Grass Is Greener
- Slipstream
- Party Politics
- What Is It?
- Paracetamol
- Too
- Queen Of Spades
- Metronome
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