Today, I thought
I’d share a demo of one of my old band Big Day Out’s songs that, while never
available on any of our CDs, was synonymous with us live
from the moment we became a three-piece.
The track – which is more of a jam, if anything – is called So Bad. It kicked off nearly every gig we played from 1999 until we split in 2002, before being briefly reinstated in 2008 when we reunited for one night only, to raise money for Glyn’s and my first Edinburgh show, The Balloon Debate.
The track – which is more of a jam, if anything – is called So Bad. It kicked off nearly every gig we played from 1999 until we split in 2002, before being briefly reinstated in 2008 when we reunited for one night only, to raise money for Glyn’s and my first Edinburgh show, The Balloon Debate.
We were always
fond of onstage gimmicks; in fact, The Supernaturals’ lead guitarist (who we
occasionally gigged with) once said that if all our instruments packed up
mid-set, we’d get by with half an hour’s stand-up (which was pretty prophetic).
This song was no exception. I’d change the words of the first verse every night
to incorporate the name of the venue (e.g. “Come on babe, now you’ve seen the
flyers; the music’s playing in Bedford Esquires”) and we’d usually plan some comedy business to do in the break before the song’s purposely-bad outro.
The most memorable example took place when we supported The Supernaturals for the first time at The Square in Harlow, when I did a card trick. I asked a member of the crowd to pick a card and show it to audience, return it to the pack, then shuffle and throw them at my Les Paul, which I turned around to reveal the chosen card – the nine of spades – stuck to the back of it, before finishing the song. The playing card's still there fifteen years later.
It’s a shame the recording isn’t better quality. Most frustratingly of all, the end is missing (how careless). Though it’s not perfect, it captures the essence of what the band was about. We never took ourselves seriously. When I listened to it earlier, before writing this, it made me smile. We were a good little group.
The most memorable example took place when we supported The Supernaturals for the first time at The Square in Harlow, when I did a card trick. I asked a member of the crowd to pick a card and show it to audience, return it to the pack, then shuffle and throw them at my Les Paul, which I turned around to reveal the chosen card – the nine of spades – stuck to the back of it, before finishing the song. The playing card's still there fifteen years later.
It’s a shame the recording isn’t better quality. Most frustratingly of all, the end is missing (how careless). Though it’s not perfect, it captures the essence of what the band was about. We never took ourselves seriously. When I listened to it earlier, before writing this, it made me smile. We were a good little group.
