Novacain / The White Hart, Thornhill

Despite the fact that we put in a rather shonky performance when we played the White Hart at the start of November, the landlord liked us enough to ask us back. I don't think the pub was doing well (it shut a few years later) and, like many a landlord before and since, he obviously thought putting on bands was worth a go in an attempt to get more punters through the door.

We'd originally arranged to play on the 22nd November, but cancelled so we'd have more time to learn some covers. As well as stretching our set out a bit, we thought that giving a pub audience a few songs they knew would make for a better show. We decided to go with songs that were easy to learn and came up with a shortlist of indie staples from recent times, which was whittled down to three songs: "Yellow" by Coldplay, "Laid" by James and "Movin' On Up" by Primal Scream. Although it wasn't a huge hit single, we also learnt "Something For The Weekend" by the Super Furry Animals. We all loved the band and at least it made things a bit more interesting for us.

It was Mum and Dad's 31st wedding anniversary, but they still came along to the gig to support us. They brought a girl called Kate with them, who Mum had taken under her wing at the time. She'd turned up at the motel Mum worked at a few days earlier after splitting up with her boyfriend. Her parents had fallen out with her because they didn't approve of her boyfriend, she had next to no money and had nowhere to stay as she was originally from Essex and didn't know anyone in the area, so Mum helped her get a room, gave her some cash and contacted her family.

The pub was really quiet, so we held off for as long as we could before starting our first set. We'd filled the set with weaker tracks like "Step To It", "Yellow", which we hadn't been able to get right in practice, and old favourite "Slipstream", which got a public outing for the first time in months. Despite this, things went quite well and Kate told me she thought that "Yellow" sounded "better than the Coldplay version". Although, given the help she was receiving from Mum, she probably felt obliged to say nice things. 

The pub was still dead, but finally started to pick up when we returned to the 'stage' (i.e. the bit of carpet where our gear was). Our second set didn't go quite as well, with "Movin On Up" sounding a bit limp, but we didn't play too badly overall and managed to persuade a handful of locals to poke their heads round the corner of the main bar.

One of the main reasons we'd agreed to do the gig was because we were told we'd get paid. The idea was that we'd play semi-regularly at the White Hart, and use the money we earnt to finance recording sessions in the new year. How-bleedin'-ever, after we'd played, the landlord said he'd only agreed to give us a couple of free drinks plus £20 petrol money. We took the cash but weren't particularly impressed and decided we wouldn't play the White Hart again. Sigh.

Set list (Novacain)

Set 1

1. The Way She Talks
2. Step To It
3. Yellow
4. Slipstream
5. Laid
6. Sibling
   

Set 2

1. One For The People
2. Something For The Weekend
3. Back Row Exit
4. Movin' On Up
5. Quick Release
6. Gibbsy's Street
7. End Of The World