This Saturday sees the Six String Theory Tour leave the confines of Milton Keynes and set sail for uncharted territory - Bedford! As I organised the first Bedford gig of the tour, at The White Horse, I felt the need to ensure that the tour had an audience to greet the traditionally Milton Keynesian Troubadours. Not an easy task to say the least; I have played the White Horse before and while there are regulars, and passing trade, they can easily disappear up the other end of the pub leaving the artist to play to an empty room. Well, not on my watch matey!
I did the usual fair of creating a Facebook event and inviting the thousands (and thousands?) of friends, fans, acquaintances and people I might have met once. However, I wasn't sure that this would be enough! I sat at my computer thinking what I could do to ensure that the first Bedford date would be a success. Then, the answer came to me. MKFM's Lunchtime Show was needing live acts and surely the traditionally nepotistic show would want me to play?
They did - sort of.
Apparently the show was struggling to get artists prepared to play for them live and so I jumped in and picked the only pre-show date I could. This would be plane sailing, right? Erm, no.
Firstly, the show's host sent me to the wrong place. In fact the show was being broadcast live from Midsummer Place in conditions that can only be described as 'Bloody Freezing'. This was not helped by my lack of winter attire. How was I going to play well enough to get people to come down to our gigs when I couldn't feel my fingers?
I was briefed before my interview and asked if I had anything to talk about. I mentioned the current tour and the upcoming dates this weekend. The plan was coming together like an episode of the A Team...... until the interview took place! The tour was ignored in favour of talking about some certain MK Open Mic nights (I haven't been to one in about a year) and my Brit Writers Award nomination (which I confess is still pretty cool and is something I am proud of). What about the shows? And why did they refuse to call me 'Seeking Salvation Through Love'? And why did they continually get my last name wrong! ARGH!
I played my BWA song 'It Was Always You' and think it went really well. Sure my fingers were icicles but given the circumstances it sounded good. I asked if I could mention the tour and casually dropped YC Olie's name into the mix (surely they would help a fellow MKFMer) only to be told that the interview section was done!
What to do? There was nothing I could do except get ready to play my next song and so I sat in front of the mic to give MKFM a taste of Crush. Just before I started, the DJ announced that they were leaving as they had pre-recorded their 'live' links and it was too cold to sit outside (then why select this location? Surely top DJs have some clout?). They left. I played the intro to my song and said, "If you want to hear this in person, come down to the Madcap Theatre on Friday or the White Horse in Bedford on Saturday."
I was beaming at my genius, knowing I had managed to get in a good plug for the shows. So happy was I that I failed to notice three people dressed as elves approach the desk. Before I knew it, they were shouting that they were the 'Health & Safety Elves' and the recording had to be stopped! I was fuming. These Elves had risked their own Elf & Safety by ruining my recording. To make matters worse, before starting to record again, the sound guy said I couldn't have the long pre-amble about gigs this time. I negotiated and was allowed to mention one gig. I knew that Vodka Boy had the Madcap venue in hand (and could probably fill it without really trying) so I opted for the White Horse and belted out Crush (which actually when down well with shoppers nearby and the sound engineer).
Now, one could question the wisdom of promoting a Bedford venue on a Milton Keynes radio show, but that can be justified another time as I have already gone on too long. I did however want to share one more thing. As I walked back to my car through Milton Keynes Shopping Centre I found out that MKFM was being played to the thousands (and thousands!) of Christmas shoppers. How did I discover this fact? Simple, my recently recorded version of 'It Was Always You' was being played out for the world to hear. To borrow a phrase from the lexicon of Phil Sky, Awesome!
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