BAR KEEP...!

The British Oak is our local pub. If you do the maths it’s not quite the closest pub to our house but the other pub involves a prohibitively steep hill on the way back home - yes I do mean STEEP! After a couple of (overpriced) pints it looks like the Matterhorn, consequently The British Oak is our local. It also benefits from being home to The Blackheath Folk Club, which is a favorite Tuesday night kicking back opportunity for us. Last Saturday night at 8.45 there were a few faces there: Pat + 2 and Woodsy. Jim was deep in conversation with some Prog-Rock fans who had to leave imminently and I was wondering if all this time on tour meant the discerning local music audience had found another band to get behind. But in the next 15 minutes, all the tables filled up. We started big with The Game and Coldburn , then sucked it in a bit with some downbeat numbers, a slightly wobbly version of Silvertown and came back up for a trad folk/folk revival medley of Erin-Go-Bragh-Hal&Tow-Painting Box, this is a new bit of folk indulgence in our set we played it a few times in Guernsey and I love the energy. I get great pleasure from Jim’s lead vocal on Hal&Tow and Painting Box is a beautiful song that gets all The Incredible String Band fans out of the woodwork – and I like that! The audience was amazing throughout this gig. The attentive atmosphere and the huge cheers after each song, I was massively moved and rather humbled. Jim was on excellent talkative form and the whole night was a welcome celebration of original music. Thank you all, special mention to Felix, The Manilows and the Prog fans who stayed all night and stumbled home.

If you’ve been following us on Twitter you’ll know that we didn’t tweet once while we were on our Guernsey tour. I’m somewhat ashamed but you’ll understand I hope when I tell you our days were full of cliff-top walks, catching up with friends and our nights were full of music. Just a few hours on a ferry and I felt like I was on holiday. The fact that we were playing 2 electric gigs, 2 acoustic gigs and a live radio session on BBC Radio only contributed to my holiday spirit. Jenny Kendall-Tobias was presenting The Late Show, on BBC South West, it was a news heavy night as the riots had kicked off so we talked about difficult social subjects interspersed with live acoustic songs and tracks from the album. We had a great evening with Jenny, a great personality, and I was delighted she did dig what we do. OhYeah!

JIM TAKES OVER…
Gigs one, two and three were at the Doghouse. The Doghouse was the first venue I played on my initial trip to Guernsey about ten years ago, brought over by Dave Fuller; a wonderful musician and songwriter and great friend to us down the years. Wednesday was acoustic night and we had a great one. We opened up to the late diners. Heads were chomping and nodding in time. Second set, we’d gathered the drinkers who’d wandered up the hill from town. A nice bunch so, all good, and the boss plied us (well, me) with scotch. Thursday night off (to wine and to dine – thanks Andie) then back on Friday to rock it up a wee bit. Toj the sound (that’s his name) worked well with us to get the sound we wanted and it was showtime. It was a good night. We had, maybe not a mosh pit but, a gang of twenty somethings groovin’ about up front from about the second song and that set the tone for the show. Saturday was even better, with Isobel and I locking right in with both grooves and dynamics and Toj getting jiggy with the effects to expand the soundscape. We blew a few minds that night, I can tell you. Thanks to Nick Windsor and brother Mark for walking out on The Hamsters to come and see us. Sunday, we filled up on Champagne and Ribs at a dogs birthday party (island life, innit) and headed for the Cobo Beach Hotel. Acoustic again and this time we couldn’t help throwing in a folk song or two – well it was Sunday afternoon. We played outside on the terrace and the view there is sublime. The sky was ablaze as it set into the sea, framed by Napoleonic remains and tiny little boats, and the crowd gathered under heaters and wrapped themselves in blankets provided by the hotel – we froze our arses off but played on regardless. Professionals, see? A few friends had left the dog party to come and catch our second set so when our blueing fingers began to frighten the children we knocked it off and drank tea with them til the gas gave out. There was just time for another evenings wining and dining (thanks Louisa) and we’re back on the ferry. Big thanks and love to Andie Fuller for putting us up. We had a wonderful time.

We squeezed a quick one in at the Wickham before we left town. I’m starting to struggle a little with ways to describe Bruise gigs at the Wickham. They are fantastic musical experiences for us and they seem to get better and better. A properly attentive and responsive crowd who are really into the music and are very happy to fill the jug before they go home. It really doesn’t get better than that. Brilliant!

Back in July we had a gig here (Sidcup, Seven Stars – rowdy, and a laugh) and a gig there (The Neptune, Whitstable – pretty special with Bob on Bass and quite a posse come to see us) but we were very much looking forward to playing the Latest Music Bar in Brighton where we’d stuck our necks out and curated the night. It was a slightly odd one, to be honest. Everything was fine: the numbers, the support we’d booked (thanks Cate) the soundcheck. But, disappointingly, we didn’t quite take off. I think we’d let the sense of occasion get to us a bit. Next time I’m going to insist on Jäger shots all round. Sometimes it’s just gotta be done. BAR KEEP...!

As if by Magic

We’ve really been riding the highs and lows of it this month, let me tell you…and so we took us into East Sussex. The Queens Head in Rye is a cosy pub with a twist (go and check out the psychedelic paintings) in a very picturesque little estuary town. All the beer is called Freedom, the pies are big enough to share, the Scotch is delicious, and the conversation is so high-brow that we avoided total exposure and humiliation by such a small margin that it’s possible we didn’t avoid it at all…but we didn’t notice. We played to a select audience of VERY brainy people and went down very well luckily, because if they’d hated us we might not have understood that they were taking the piss. Next stop the MENSA Christmas party.
Next morning we took ourselves to a fine shingle beach and got sunburn in under an hour but, pink as we were, it was nothing compared to the regulars at The Plough, Reading. They’d just been on a Beano to the seaside on a charabanc (!) and some outdoor drinking had obviously occurred – all day! We’ve played The Plough a couple of times before and made a notable success each time, but not this time. They rolled off the bus and straight into the back room to watch the boxing. We saw neither hide nor hair ‘til we’d finished playing, when they emerged to chat with us as we packed up the gear. They’d missed a pretty good gig, as it goes. Yeah.
Off to Glastonbury next and I’d like to say right now that the A303 has never given me any trouble - I’ve heard people use bad words about that road. We played two belting sets to a largely empty room – do you see the pattern emerging here? However, this was different. The air that evening was as nectar so Leah, the landlady, had sensibly left the doors to the terrace open. It was packed with happy smokers and they were all very into it. So we dug in and entertained the invisible. Very Glasto..
Then we made our big mistake – Cornwall, more specifically, Falmouth. Dear me. We played to Tash and Hellen (Hi Tash, Hi Hellen), who were working the bar. Every now and then someone might wander in, spot the gear – and leave. Two whole sets and not a soul at any time as the long, long evening wore on. Sigh. Then to cap it all, owing to prevailling traffic conditions (eh?) we had to come home via the M5 and M4, and everything was messed up so we didn’t even make it to Woodsie’s birthday drink.
Then, as if by magic, it’s Sunday – and you know what that means? Yes, it’s Ron’s Speakeasy at The Duke. New to Deptford’s music scene, they’ve made a good start. Now, I will say that the place was not packed. But as it turned out this was not so much a gig as a concert. Really! People listening and responding. Not talking. In return we played what I feel was a blinder (and I have been agreed with in this respect – by people who know.). It was exactly what we needed after a testing time out West.

Legendary Hope, Cool Colchester and Gig Heaven in W1

After an amazing 22 gigs in May, June is come and we’ve got some time to enjoy the drought inducing sunshine.
And where better to do that than the, now legendary, HOPE weekender: Deptford goes to the country and kicks its boots off. When once we might’ve picked hops, now we put up tents and make music all day and, yes, all of the night. Bruise were asked to play at the Piano Bar. It’s always the coolest gathering place at the festival and, since this was Thursday and things hadn’t official kicked off yet, we played an acoustic set (and I mean NO amplification) to the select bunch that’d arrived early enough to bag the best pitches. It was a velvet night, the campfire crackled and we kept everything very calm – “Don’t Make Me Wait”, “Alright”, “Someone Else’s Garden” – that sort of thing. We played and sang for about an hour then gave over to HOPEs biggest supporter, Glen Tilbrook, who’d brought his entire vinyl collection (maybe) and a couple of decks. I’ve never heard such a genuinely eclectic DJ, and we hung out with the bars fabulous hosts Jerry and Chris and nodded along to the tunes ‘til our tent lured us to bed.
Friday morning: we scorched a full English over camping Gaz and looked forward to the arrival of the wonderful Bob Kelly who was coming down to play bass at our full electric gig on the main stage that night. The weather was glorious so killing time ‘til our – YES, headline! - slot was easy. Wander the field, meet everyone we know, take a beer, take another beer, take a lie down. About ten-ish we went up to catch the band playing before us and, hey, it’s Dodgy; Cool Britannia’s best band, then hit the stage ourselves in full festival mode – “Excuse Me”, “Mr Rat”, “The Game” – a major ROCK experience. Pardon my cliché but, the crowd went wild! WILD! (Check out Anton French’s footage at http://vimeo.com/25311031 )
). Post show, Isobel got caught for an interview by a passing camera crew so Bob and I had a few with Matt and Nigel (outa Dodgy) then off to the Piano Bar for a few more before falling down. Many thanks to Dave, Maxine, Ed, Jerry and Chris for giving us such a great time. Frankly, Glastonbury can eat their shorts.
Throwing Bob out at Framlingham Wimple railway station, we headed home for pain killers and to change our suits, then off to Colchester for a gig at the Bull. This is a brilliant pub with a real commitment to live music. It’s always heaving with an admirably mixed crowd and they give us a big welcome. It was just the two of us, electric, and as challenging as you like – “Three Ravens”, “Stranger In You”, “Little Victories” – and the room gradually filled up as the evening progressed. There’s always a covers band in the back bar at the Bull so it’s doubly encouraging that people should chose original songs over familiar hits. Big up Essex, I say.
The following Friday we’re back in town to play for the very wonderful Substance Music at our favourite West End venue, The Spice Of Life. Substance (Shaun, John, Terry and Jay) have been supporters and friends of Bruise almost from the beginning. They always book a cool and cohesive evening of bands then give us the top slot, so feeling like ROCKSTARS we give our best, and that night was no exception. The three piece (Bob’s back – hoorah!) sounds massive in the cellar bar and Jay’s attention to sound brings out all the impact and all the dynamics that we put into the music. Gig heaven W1.

A Growling, Spitting and Snarling Stratocaster.

Friday 27th May saw day one of year one of London International Pop Overthrow. If you read last weeks blog you’ll know we were up in Liverpool playing the well established Liverpool IPO at the Cavern Club. So IPO had taken over the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town and it was a real pleasure to be back there. As always with IPO it was a rollercoaster of bands and Bruise were the last band on for the night, quite a privilege really. Jim and I were very happy to have Bob Kelly along playing bass, it’s such a treat for us and one we would enjoy for all this weekends gigs. We did what we do, we did it well, we took a bow and waved goodbye to the blurry eyed power pop fans as they stumbled onto their night busses home, aaaahhhh….
Saturday 28th Bruise returned home to The Wickham Arms. It was Champions Cup Final, or was it FA League finale, no no it was Premiership Celebrity Face-Off . I’m ignorant of the way football works but I was not ignorant of the fact that the game wasn’t supposed to end until 10pm, cutting into valuable playing time. So we decided, one long set, no breaks. We would start as the footy ended and play till the curfew. As it happens the match ended sharp at 9.45 and we were still setting up, by 10pm we were launching into the opening number. I felt relaxed and we were locked in from very early on. There’s so much I love about the heavy touring schedule; the travel; the people; but if I had to choose one thing it’s the impact all these gigs have had on live shows. We’re sharp, we’re dynamic, it feels great. So we went on a wild ride opening up with the baritone guitar with the mid pace ‘Girls Best Friend’ taking it up to ‘Coldburn’ ‘The Game’ ‘The Northern Line’ ‘I Don’t Like You’ and down again to ‘Silvertown’ all feeling good at this point. Swapped over to the Strat, this guitar feels a little harder, it doesn’t have the warm round edges that the baritone does, the Strat growls, it spits and snarls like a big cat and I love it. The audience was superb, a joyful mix of friends and strangers, a little bit of dancing, lots of craning heads it felt so good, a total joy to be back home. After playing for an hour and a half without a break I still felt good. We got a huge roar of appreciation as we closed the set with Miss Bigfish. Young, old, groovy and geeky all joined together and made us feel like small immortals. I am so grateful and proud to look into the audience and see the pleasure in peoples faces and I love the variety from grey hair or walking stick to skinny jeans or eyeliner. ‘Three Ravens’ was the encore and nobody was disappointed. A wonderful, wonderful night for Bruise. I’m so glad you loved it too. Thank you to Jonathon and Sarah for coming some miles to see us play, Bo for running the night, The Wickham for being supportive of Bruise, association football for keeping it short, and every blighter who was there. HURRAH!
Sunday 29th we were off to the final day of Meadowlands Festival, set in the imposing grounds of Glynde Place. Rubbing bumpers with the black tie crowd for the opera just down the road, it was a truly beautiful sight. It was however blowing a gale which took the shine off proceedings a bit. We were on the Radio Reverb/ Hutchins Guitars stage which had a warm well balanced sound and when we hit the stage it felt really good. Bless all sound engineers who do festival sound. Bless their sleepless, sandwich fueled weekends. Bless their bleeding ears and fried brains when it gets to the last few bands on Sunday evening. Our chap was holding up amazingly well under the circs, fragilely sipping from a polystyrene cup of tea ‘what’s the line up?’ he asks and gently slips away back to the sound desk. We delivered 40 minutes, all original and all solid and confident, there was a monitoring issue for us but halfway through the set a connection was made and the samples and vocals became audible from the stage and I started to feel like we were having a musical experience. Smashing stuff from all those bright eyed assistants recruited by Radio Reverb (everything a local radio station should aspire to be) and Hutchins Guitars (a total asset to the musicians of Brighton & Hove and beyond), special thanks to Jeff and Gary!

IPO Liverpool

IPO Liverpool is always an exhausting elated experience, we’ve played it for the last 9 years and usually we end up playing three gigs in one day. This year was no exception. We go up to The ‘Pool' with Bob ‘Kelly’s Heels’ Kelly & his lovely Mrs and Bruise and Kelly’s Heels whizz from venue to venue pumping out 25 minute sets of perfectly formed pop. It’s really exhilarating. Bruise’s first gig was The Cavern Club at 12.30pm on Sunday! Yes shortly after breakfast, too early to think, so I didn’t bother. I was astonished and gratified to see the audience, almost every seat filled with familiar faces (if you know what I mean) and it was hard to fathom how so many people had dragged themselves from their rest to hear us play. Then the room filled up to standing room only. The set went
‘Don’t Make Me Wait’ – a nice gentle start
‘The Prize’ – I’m loving the mid-tempo momentum of this song now it’s in the set, it’s kind of magnetic and irresistible
‘Stranger in You’ – always a pleasure
‘Little Victories’ – another relatively new addition to the set, performing this song feels like white water canoeing, if I wasn’t so busy I’d laugh out loud, the journey, the ups and downs, it is such a joyful thing to me
‘Nobody Else’ – Jim and Bob make this track vocally so exciting, I love it
‘Jennifer’ – Possibly the most up tempo track we have and another gleeful trip for me.
And that was it. I’d had a magnificent time but found myself a little confused after such an early and energetic gig. Straight to the pub to settle myself with a Sunday lunch and half a pint. 6 pm found Jim and me the rhythm section for Kelly’s Heels; it’s a treat for me to be onstage in a supporting role especially for such an intense songwriter as Bob Kelly. Bruise’s last appearance at IPO Was 10.30 Sunday night at The Cavern Pub, and an entirely different affair to the lunchtime performance the pub was rammed with stag nights, hen nights and Bruise fans, an oddly satisfying mixture. We played an almost identical set only substituting ‘The Prize’ for ‘Mr Rat’, no monitors at this venue so slightly less blissful for us however I loved it still. We were rewarded with a dancing crowd, absolute attention and I could not have been happier. Here comes the list of thanks, and I have a lot of people to thank, Katy, Ron, Hazel, Sheila, Roy, Lesley, Ni for coming to both gigs. Evo and the Appelpop posse for coming so far and generally being brilliant! Darren, Lesley, Jim & Louise for making a special effort. For putting it all together; David and Rena. Finally Tony & Robbie for doing the sound & doing it well. Hurrah!

Scotland 'Little Victories Tour' 2011

This trip up to Scotland has been a bit of a test for me from the beginning. We’ve never taken what we do North of the border before so on a practical level it was a case of finding all new venues, guestimating costs, checking mileages and trying to come out ahead. We had a venue drop out a couple of weeks before we started the tour which meant we took quite a financial hit. The venue was completely straight with us and there’s no hard feelings. It did however mean a tight budget got considerably tighter. The thing about touring though is, once you’re on the road, there’s nothing to do except put on a good show. At home here I multi-task all the time, we have to work hard and we have to be flexible, on the road things are so simple, find hotel: find venue: play gig: find hotel again, there’s a LOT of heavy lifting but that’s the only down side and Jim does more than his fair share.

We started out at Edinburgh Whistlebinkies. Smashing classic music venue, plenty of space for the audience a nice hollow low stage for us (I LOVE a hollow wooden stage, I love the way my Amp sounds when it’s set up on one). With James on the sound desk we had a good soundcheck and were ready to kick off when a 70 strong pub crawl fell through the door. A fantastic atmosphere was created, on-stage sound was very good and the room was full of people dancing and getting into our first set letting us know that we sounded good out front too. The tables down the side of the venue were full of groups of women having a bit of a dance and smiling openly which I really like. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not just doing this for the girls but I do like to know that the women in the audience are enjoying the music not scowling at me as if I’m some attention seeking harpy. After a short break where Jim and I had the chance to talk about how great the stage sound was for us, we were back on and having a brilliant time. A properly musical experience for us, delightful delightful delightful! I know we had some fans in the audience and I wish I had had the chance to speak to you all; all I can say is thank you for coming along and making our first gig in Scotland a memorable one! Thanks to Stevie for the hospitality, Mr On The Door for directions and James for doing such a good job on sound.

The Lemontree is a vibrant arts center in Aberdeen, every Friday they put on a songwriter / acoustic session. I was very excited to be playing because one of my literary heroes was giving a lecture on the same day and I was anticipating big brains and respected writers filling the hall. This isn’t what I got. However I was very content with what we did get; once again a lovely stage, a super in house PA with skilled & friendly Lisa driving it and a gentle and generous audience. It was an acoustic gig, the audience listened attentively and behaved in a most respectful manner. Sometimes onstage I find myself seeing every little detail of the audience’s experience, every tapping foot & blissfully closed eye, every nod of appreciation, it was like that for me this day. And though they weren’t raising the roof , it was Friday lunchtime so that seems appropriate. When we left the stage and the audience started leaving the building every single person looked us in the eye and said thank you, and meant thank you, we shook hands warmly and hailed with waves and goodbyes as we collected our guitars and exited. We felt as if we had done a good thing.

Finally We were playing The George, Inverary which was a spectacular drive and a complete surprise. Getting into Inverary the George is a nice looking pub on the corner of the high street, going into the The George it’s a massive place buzzing with people eating delicious looking plates of quality local faire, windy corridors leading to large but somehow intimate spaces, warm, buzzing and in contrast to the drizzly empty street outside. We were a night early so we got treated to Fridays entertainment an acoustic duo with a brave policy of playing songs they’d never played before if they were requested, we were wiped after our journey and it was difficult to relax our empathy with the band was such, so we put our heads down early and slept like children. Saturday after some excited exploration of the town and environment we rehearsed our folk set on the side of the loch, a lovely place to sing traditional Scottish folk songs. Set up was easy enough, we were in a stone lined room which didn’t cause us any trouble, the first hour we played a folk set, maybe 5 bruise tunes scattered around Jim and my favorite trad songs. What a lovely reception, singing along, laughter and a wonderful connection within the room. The atmosphere shifted at 11 when a lot of younger folks came in but Jim and I were ready and looking forward to this so we launched into an electric duo set. From the top I knew we were pretty much what they wanted, I never cease to be lifted up by people having a dance, singing along and letting us know they’re having a good time and they were. I only have good things to say about this venue and the people who frequent it, it was a TOP night and we’re looking forward to coming back. Thank you to Tommy & Jean for assisting me with my trad lyrics, Kris and all the staff at The George for the outstanding hospitality, and David, Stevie & Gregor for the good company.

We’ll be going back as soon as we can. There are some pictures from the tour on Flickr follow the link from our website if you’d like a look www.bruiseuk.com and there’s a short video blog from King Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh here http://youtu.be/aa_0h4FGWDc

'Wabsnazum' or 'brilliant acoustics and active friends'

Jim here! I’m blogging in Isobel’s stead while she catches up on some sleep, books the next leg of the tour and writes the next album – it’s true!

We’ve just completed probably the most diverse set of gigs of our career so far, and seen some of rural England at its very best. Firstly to Berkshire and the Swan at Compton (already it sounds like Jane Austin booked this one, doesn’t it?). An unamplified gig to a select number of friendly locals lured in by the promise of a bit of Bruise with their gourmet burgers. We met a Jockey who really is best friends with Dolly Parton, got a bit terrorized by a MASSIVE bug, and chatted with Pippa and Nick who’d come over from Henley specially to see us.

The Hawkley Inn near Liss in Hampshire was next and our route took us down the A34, a scenic enough road with a colourful array of roadkill. We while away the miles putting together a menu or two. My great friend William Topley lives in Hawkley and he and I have spent much time in this pub drinking and playing in about equal measure so was good to bring Bruise here. A very chilled acoustic gig with a proper listening crowd – absolutely ideal with a gentle pint of Darkstar.

We were off to Lincolnshire next (a good-ish drive) so we broke our journey and got a night in our own home. The A1 being closed at some point, Isobel found us an alternative route which took us across the Bedford Level. This is the fens and very impressive. Big skies, raised roads, a continental atmosphere and villages called Wabsnazm and the like. The sun was out and the countryside looked superb as we indulged in that most Rock n’ Roll of pursuits – naming the wild flowers of the hedgerow. Ahh. Hough on the Hill (Lincs) has a church with substantial history, brilliant acoustics and active friends. We were to play the first in a series of fund raising summer concerts put together by another old friend, Gary Southwell, and we had high hopes. We were not disappointed. The sound was so good, the audience so respectful and the PA so top notch that every tiny nuance was clear. There were a great many grey heads in this crowd and I wasn’t sure we’d be their cuppa, but we really were. Maybes (the final track on our current album) sounded so beautiful. An emotional moment. Thanks to Tony, Sue, Sarah, Mark and Mervyn for making the journey.

Then the weather broke and we headed into the city – Reading! A venue/rehearsal space on an industrial estate played host to the rockin’ little, invite only Smithfest 2011 – a happening and a wedding reception all in one. This was an electric two-piece gig so we got there for an early soundcheck and found Isobel’s amp was playing up. Dawsons, the local music store, put is in touch with one Mick Johnson who, alongside top secret work for the MoD, builds guitars for the Shadows and still took time out of his weekend to save our show. What a man! Back to the venue for showtime and there’s the coatcheck guy asking everyone “Bride or Groom?” Ha Ha!