Why I love gigging

Two very different but lovely gigs this weekend with Queen Bee. A bit like Fred's House, QB are a band I didn't mean to join as such as I'm rather busy as it is, but I stepped in to play one show a couple years back and kinda, well, just stayed. 

See, I'm so grateful for the career I've had as a drummer; it's been incredibly varied, from rough gigs on what is known in the industry as the 'toilet circuit'. - the gigs you start with, where you learn your craft, all the way up to playing a gala night live on Chinese TV whilst being both jet-lagged AND drunk, huge shows to thousands of people with bands, choirs, the odd musical, lots of national radio airplay...it's been alright, but alongside this, I have my 'bread and butter' gigs, which I enjoy just as much. Whilst FH are on a break, and whilst I'm not needed for the choir gigs as they're doing non-band things, most of the gigs in my diary at the moment are those and I'm having a lovely time. Because it's not about status, or audience size, or how this looks to outsiders as they judge my career (nobody is doing this, just me), it's simply about playing music with people you like. I forget this sometimes. 

Friday's gig was a wedding show, a packed barn full of people who really knew how to dance. We were loud, really on it, we ticked every professional box. Vix was guest vocalist for that one and, with the greatest respect to her, she's an old hand at this stuff, a class act, it felt all so easy, and satisfying to make that audience happy. Last night we were back to our regular hotel bar residency, I'd been teaching for 9 hours beforehand and turned up exhausted because the sun's out and I always struggle with heat, I'm much more of a Christmas guy. Bea was back on vocals for that one, she's the founding member of the band but had some time out to have another baby, and she's proper feisty, loving the audience interaction and in total charge of the band. It's been about a year since I gigged with Bea but I loved every second of it, we all just feel so confident with her as our captain. We had a busy, lively audience last night, and I suddenly lost all sense of tiredness because you can't help but get caught up in the moment. 

And that's it in a nutshell: why I love gigging. I've been stressed the last few days about scheduling conflicts, about learning lines for the shows, about the state of the new shows as none of them feel ready yet and they open next month. I'm working long hours and I don't really sleep because alongside the teaching, there's so much admin. But then you get onstage, behind a drum kit, and everything feels great with the world. You're in a bubble, and - perhaps most importantly, you can't check your phone...

The other great thing about QB gigs (aside from the fact they are always local, and they pay okay) is that they're always long gigs, usually about 2 hours. That's a great cardio work out, it must be doing me some good. We're back next week, Vix returns on vocals as we're easing Bea back in, different bassist for that one, we're basically all session musicians singing from the same hymn sheet, as it were. QB has a rotating line-up of musicians depending on who is available (with the other founding members, Julian and Chris, being the mainstays), yet everyone I've played with so far in this band I've really got on with. How do they do that? I dislike a majority of the people I meet, yet I always click with these guys. 

In other news, looked at Edinburgh Fringe accommodation, got freaked out by the prices, started looking at websites that tell me how to convert my Honda CRV into a camper van. I've totally fallen in love with this old car, especially the tinted windows at the back. The other day, killing time between lessons (but with not enough time to go home), I just sat on the backseat, in the shade, and read my book. My Edinburgh run is short this year, only 6 days. I reckon I can make it work...

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