mostly david ephgrave

I was very sad to hear the news via Twitter yesterday that one of the UK’s best small-scale music venues, The Square in Harlow, had finally been pulled down. This had been on the cards for quite some time - I remember discussing its closure with Phill Jupitus when Glyn and I interviewed him for the More Than Mostly Comedy Podcast back in January 2014 - but that didn’t soften the blow; you mightn’t have thought what wasn’t exactly the prettiest building in the prettiest of towns would be held in such affection by so many, but it really was; in its time, The Square played host to the likes of Blur, Coldplay, Eddie Izzard and more, including a band called Big Day Out that featured me in its ranks. We played the Square numerous times and recorded the drums for our ‘Seven Heavenly Lemony Lemons from a Seven-Eleven in Devon’ CD there, with Chris’ kit set up on the stage while I played a guide guitar into his headphones; it was our second home, in a musical sens...

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. 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 bu...

Music often acts as a soundtrack to my life. This is partly due to my job; as a professional musician (*stifles a laugh*), I spend much of my time learning songs en masse for a gig or show. As a result, it’s probably unsurprising that music evokes so many memories; just a few bars can instantly send me back to another time and place. Bearing this in mind, I thought I’d introduce an occasional series to my blog; sharing a few of the songs that make me reminisce (like Desert Island Discs, without breaching any copyright). Song number one is Blur's The Universal . I can pinpoint the event this reminds me of to a specific date: Tuesday 2 nd of April 2002. Not because I have an amazing memory; I just used to keep a diary. This was the first day I firmly believed my band would get a recording contract. Me and BDO's drummer Chris Hollis, biting fists before a gig at Bombora (2000). Big Day Out had been together in one form or another since 1996, though thi...