First off, I hope your day is as sunny as mine is. It's barely half way through the morning and the conservatory where I'm blogging from feels like an oven. *melts a little*
If you hadn't guessed, it's Ivy here. So, we've had a busy couple of weekends - two weekends, two(ish) gigs. I'll come to the "(ish)" in a minute. First, I better waffle about Campstock.
Liberty mentioned a little about Campstock in our last update, which was a vain attempt to cover everything we've been up to recently. As she said, this was our first "proper gig". We played the opening slot on the mainstage of a small music festival with the hopes of raising some money for the Douglas Macmillan Hospice. All the week before we'd been practising every night, our half hour set which I shall detail in a minute. Every time we practised, I'd let the side down by getting my own song wrong. Me and Taylor resorted to playing it during every advert break during our Thursday night TV marathon, just to get it in my head.
And I still got it wrong. Well, it was only one line. Not too bad, right?
Nevermind. The gig itself went really well, despite the fact that I forgot to plug my guitar in on the first song. I'm a terrible band member XD. We still got lots of claps and people kept stopping us afterwards to tell us how much they loved our sets - someone found me in the toilets! What was best about Campstock, for me anyway but I'm sure the girls agree, was how well our originals were recieved. They got the biggest claps and whenever one of the later acts played one of their own they'd always mention us, as if to ask, "Is it ok, Not Quite?" It made these songs we've written feel more like real songs, not just four girls singing in their dining room in an attempt to make their mother blub (it happens all the time!). I feel proud of these little songs we've got.
Our gig aside, it was a lovely afternoon. Mum packed enough food to feed us four times over and then some; the music made a great atmosphere and it was lovely to kick back and just relax after the intense week leading up to the gig. We also lost Charlie, our little sister and Mr Taylor's sister in the Rhoddendron (sp?!) bush - for at least an hour. We ended up sending out a search party. Me, Lib, Mr Lib, Taylor, Mr Taylor and various members of his family all split up and took separate sections of the immense maze, armed with phones and a fifteen minute time limit. I found them. All it took was some yelling from the path so they could get back. Turns out the little one wanted to go on a "wenture", and go off-roading (so to speak). We literally had to drag her out of there. My white leggings got covered in mud, but not as bad as Charlie.
The day after, we checked our Facebook and found a member of the headline act had liked our page and left us a lovely message, again mentioning our own songs. That really blew me away, because the headline act - Tap The Keg - were really good. They got everyone (except the party-poopers in the reserved tent) dancing and they realy knew how to interact with the crowd. I took mental notes, because as front man it is my job to interact with the audience. We also got an email from the guy who organised it all, saying how much everyone enjoyed our set and thanking us and whatnot. He also told us to get out there and get gigging, which was really nice.
We also got a mention in the paper P:
Now for the second round of gigs. This weekend, it was our town carnival. I remember it as something that takes over the town for one day, all the teenagers get drunk and it rains, a lot. But this year it was a weekend dealie, with sun and the main carnival was at our school. We played both days. So it was one gig, that we played twice - hence the "(ish)", it's more like two and a half. It was all a bit chaotic, we weren't quite sure what was happening until we were playing and not even then! Maybe it was because we joined the billing on Wednesday, maybe it would have been like that had we been on from the start - who knows. But anyway, our Saturday gig was further complicated by the fact that our faithful roadie had to work.
Thankfully, the sound guy from The Joiner's Arms offered to help us - hurray for him! We had a few technical hitches, but I don't think it really mattered. We were playing the highstreet and people were just passing really. We had the odd few that stopped and listened. One guy was tapping his foot throughout. This time I remembered to plug myself in and the words to my song! I also saw one of my college friends during Grenade, which made me smile. Ma told us afterwards that people in their cars slowed down to listen to us, which is pretty cool.
The Sunday was equally as chaotic, but this time we had our roadie. We just had no idea when we were playing and how long we'd get. All the various organisers kept telling us different things and we got bumped by a Children's Entertainer even though two minutes before we'd been told we were on. Confusing! The band we shared a set with - The One Hit Wonders, The Bandeoke Band - were really nice, and helpful, though. They were in the same boat as us and were equally confused. The gig went really well though, and we managed to get the whole set done - we did have to do the swap song last though, just in case. We got lots of claps again and there was this row of kids sat at the front staring up at us with those wide eyes they get. It was really sweet. And! We got scouted! Sort of. One guy, who was chanting "More!" at the end of every song came up to us afterwards and asked for our details so he could pass us on to the people organising a Beer and Music festival in September. He then didn't believe that I was twenty, but there we go, that's irrellevent.
The Bandeoke boys were really up for getting us Not Quite girls doing some bandeoke, which we did. I should explain, bandeoke is basically Karaoke but with a band playing the music instead of a track. It is a lot harder than karaoke, but a lot of fun. You had to be cued in by the bassit/guitarist because the words were on powerpoint. He cued us in fine - but me and Lib butchered Suddenly I See. Taylor went up with our cousin, to do Umbrella, only to find out they'd sped it up and made it rockier. I still think they did better than me and Lib though!
It was a great weekend and I'm so glad we did it - chaos and everything.
We did the same set for all the gigs, and here it is:
- Don't Call Me Babe, sung by Liberty (original)
- Grenade, sung by Ivy, backed by Charlie and Taylor (Bruno Mars)
- Draw Me A Picture, sung by Charlie (original)
- The Writer, sung by Taylor (Ellie Goulding)
- Walk You Home, sung by Charlie and Liberty, backed by Ivy and Taylor (Passenger)
- Moving The Castles (Howl), sung by Ivy, backed by Charlie, Liberty and Taylor (original)
We have a few more songs in the works - both original and covers. Plus, seeing the solos the Bandeoke boys did and listing to Spotlight by Mutemath in the shower has inspired me to pick up my electric and finally learn how to play solos.
But that's it for now. Til next time!
Ivy, out!
