Musical Catch-ups.


Today didn’t contain much in the way of writing, though I got to see my friend Rob, who came to Hitchin for one of our not-as-regular-as-we’d-like catch-ups.

It’s always great to see him, particularly now we don’t get the chance to work together like we did when I was knee-deep in actor / muso work. Those gigs were far more bearable whenever he was in the band, particularly when we did the Buddy show together.

I first met Rob in 2006, on my second Buddy tour. I did the first one the year before and hated it as - outside of the rhythm guitarist and drummer - it had a horrible atmosphere, with a band that didn’t click. Despite playing Buddy and being at the centre of the show, I was constantly undermined onstage by the emcee, who didn’t trust my ability and would consequently talk over me. He did this with good but misguided intentions, but it was tiring to always be backfooted by someone who was jaded with the show anyway, and didn’t consider how it was strange for Buddy to keep being corrected by one of his band from the outside looking in.

The tour with Rob was completely different. We shared the same sense of humour (which was great as he was the emcee) and played well together too. Suddenly I didn’t have someone working against me. The atmosphere lifted and the show became fun, then even better when Glyn became tour manager halfway through.

While I don’t miss the crap that went with it, I do miss playing with the band and being in good shape musically. I also miss the slight detachment from reality that touring could bring. Being five years out of drama school, I was still relatively new to it, and was still getting a buzz from playing my hero. I never grew sick of the music - I was listening to it this morning - but I soon grew sick of the rest of it...except for Rob; he's a good friend to have.

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