FFS met Louis (he’s that one 2nd from the left looking sheepish) through our mutual friend Clive. Louis plays the guitar, bass and glock in The Dufflefolks and, soon after we first met, he made FFS the best mixtape we have ever received from his extensive record collection. FFS quickly realised he was much better than Clive (who is an accountant that goes to Rammstein gigs cos he ‘likes fireworks’) and wished to form a Cliveless union*. Now we’ve done it. Louis is going to be blogging for us about the trials of being an unsigned band, coining the term ‘glock rock’ and going electro before anyone would notice…
*All this Clive stuff’s a joke. We love him really.
Hi, my name is Louis and I play guitar, bass, and occasionally the glockenspiel in the band The Dufflefolks. Check us out on myspace. Now that all the plugging is out of the way. This is going to be my little blog on what is it like being in an up and coming band. Hopefully it won’t be too Spinal Tap – our amps do go up to 12 but being weedy boys we favour a good 3.
Last night, we played a gig for Oh! Inverted World promotions that are far by the loveliest promoters we have ever had the grace to meet. They made us feel at home straight away and even with my diva requests about the sun shining in my eyes, they assured me that the sun would go by the time we had to play. We were to play with the highly and rightly lauded band She Keeps Bees and Babe Shadow.
We knew it was going to be an exciting night before we got there as we had received an e-mail from the promoters informing us that a one certain Steven Patrick Morrissey was going to be there. So from making puns about The Smiths on the Northern line, which included my winner ‘I have not got a stitch to Edgware’ to then the debate about whether we should shout ‘Stephen’? Showing our admiration for the big man and also Adam and Joe. What do you do when you already know a Steven/Stephen is going to be in a building? Especially with one so famous.
Anyway, back to the gig after sound check which usually involves us faffing, asking for ourselves to be louder, playing comedy covers, ‘you sexy thing’ by Hot Chocolate for me, and then doing a run through of one of our own numbers. Sound check is a weird limbo place, it’s where you put your energy that you use for the gig but also have to be aware of how everything sounds. Every venue is different and soundmen are all different people. From Numanoid lovers, to people who tell you which Deep Purple album to buy. It’s ‘Machine Head’ if you wish to know. We played ‘Hands in the dirt’ and ‘SKP’ and then shuffled off the stage to our own muted applause.
We then listened to the pow punch that is She Keeps Bees who wow blew my little socks off. It’s obvious to associate them with bands like The White Stripes because there are two of them and the drummer plays quite a relaxed style. However I feel they are a band in their own right. The singer who was super friendly, Jessica, is a really good front woman. She has a real sincerity to her, which is quite different compared to what seems to dominate most music press at the minute. They sounded like 60’s garage music like something off a Nuggets compilation.
We then went off to dinner; this is crucial to any band success. Knowing when the right time to eat is. Time it too late and you feel sick on stage, time it too early and you feel too sick and hungry to play. It a flux. We went to an American esque diner. Everyone else went for burgers but I went for the pancakes. I wanted something light. I find eating meat is not only murder (for some) but also makes me feel un well when we play so I stay off it.
We then rushed off to play our set, which was fun, and some people even did The Duffle dance, which basically is pushing down on your knees in time with the beat. Some people laughed at our jokes, and some even liked our songs. Playing for me is a blur; I never remember any of it.
The band that was one after us, Babe Shadow were great- a mix of Afro sounds, harmonium and jingle jangle guitar. For me a winning combination of all my personal likes that is for sure. The saddest thing is they didn’t have a CD so I shall listen to their myspace songs on repeat. Then She keeps bees were up next, I’m going top excuse myself any bee related puns, but wow just buy the album that is all I can say.
Till next time,
Duffle-Louis