The Boys are Back in Town

Back in September 2019, I played bass at a couple of gigs with the band my friend was lead guitarist in, as their regular bass player was on holiday. Very enjoyable evenings, and I later played the first half of a gig at the Piel Castle in Ulverston during that town’s Dickensian festival in November.
And then Covid came along and there were no more gigs for eighteen months. My friend had drifted away from that band, the other guitarist had sold his gear and I took up running as a hobby (although I did build up a new bass guitar as a bit of a project last year).
I’d pretty much given up on playing with a band for the foreseeable future, when I had a call asking if I was available to play at the Piel Castle on Sunday 29th August. Apparently a booking had been made and never cancelled. And the regular bass player had declared himself unavailable. The only problem was that we hadn’t played together for over 18 months Some of us - alright, just me - had hardly played at all in that time.
A booking was made for the rehearsal room today (an excellent facility above TnT Records in Barrow) and we assembled at 1pm. Launched straight into “Cocaine” and it all came flooding back - a cracking run through. After that, it started to go downhill a bit, as there were a couple of numbers I’d never played before, so could only join in sporadically as I tried to work out what notes to play. Overall though, not bad for a first time together after so long.
But there is still some work to do - especially on my part, as there are quite a few songs on the set list that I know but have never tried to play. Another rehearsal is booked for next Friday but I’ll be seeing my friend before then for some extra curricular activity, so I’m a bit better prepared.
Definitely feeling a lot more confident about the gig now. Potentially another three band rehearsals before the gig, plus whatever home practice/learning I can cram in as well. It may end up being the only gig I play this year, but I reckon it will be a good one.