Women Chainmakers' Festival 2013 (part 1)

Friday night at the festival (7th June)

Although, due to other commitments, I missed the opening act of the night, Sandwell Rock School – a group of local school children who by all accounts did a great spot –  did arrive in time to catch most of the other performers.

Having found myself the only empty parking space on the car park (presumably because of the huge wild triffid like plant that was busy taking over half of the parking bay), I followed the sounds of amplified live music across the playing fields to the huge Leftfield marquee.

Just inside I bumped into local folk legends Billy and Lozz. For an excellent introduction to their distinctive style of Black Country inspired, self penned songs check out Ade Edmondson's About Britain programme (Season 2  Episode 18 where he visits the West Midlands). Or check out one of their youtube videos:

'Odebury Mon' (‘Oldbury Man’ as spoken in Black Country dialect)

 

Lozz is the music coordinator for the Women Chainmakers' Festival and I was very honoured to be invited to perform two sets at the event. Generations of my family have toiled in the industries of the Black Country (so named for the way the environment was once polluted by heavy industry: legend has it that Queen Victoria kept the blinds drawn when her train passed through, and that Tolkien based Mordor on the area). So, the chainmakers' 1910 struggle – to attain fairer rates of pay for their hard labours – is a piece of history that certainly resonates with me.

I also bumped into the talented Carol Widenbar. Like me, she's been away from performing for a while. After enjoying her collection of very entertaining original songs and well chosen covers, we had a great catch up chat. A few years back, Carol and I both did opening spots at The Robin 2 – one of the Midland's better known music venues. However try as we might, neither of us could remember who we'd supported -lol! (Though I do a vaguely remember the headline act was a guitarist and songwriter from Newcastle who did a very enjoyable set, but quite who he was I can't recall).

Another act playing at the Women Chainmakers' Festival that night were Easy Street, who added a lovely jazzy blues flavour to the night's entertainment. There was also a solo male performer whose name I didn't catch, unfortunately, but I did enjoy his song about greedy bankers! :-)

I finished off the night with a sit down set of my own songs, that started somewhere around 10.25pm. I'd originally planned to do the gig with my percussionist, but she was unexpected kidnapped by aliens on the way to the venue, and since my other drummer/percussionist was also busy that weekend, I was down to just a trio: me, my guitar and some foot triggered percussion.

I'd gotten hold of a stompbox the day before, (a wooden block with a pick-up that you can plug into the PA system to create something not dissimilar to a bass drum sound) so playing solo offered me the perfect opportunity to give my new toy an airing at the festival. I'd also discovered I could trigger a tambourine with my other foot ... and I had a little shaker that I could hold in my hand that didn't get in the way of my plectrum and fingers. So I had the rhythm section well and truly covered! As the final touch, just for my song 'Faraway', I'd picked up some wind chimes that I'd managed to attach to the guitar and trigger when necessary. It was a crazy, OTT set up no doubt, but hey, it was a festival! I wanted to give the audience something a bit unexpected.

Fortuitously, especially given the very small amount of time I'd had to rehearse with all the percussion while simultaneously singing and playing guitar, it all worked together seamlessly. Although, the smooth surface of the stage presented a slight problem as my foot-triggered tambourine tended to slide away from me over time and so required a well timed jerk back with my foot every so often! Hmm, think I'd better bring a mat to put my percussion on if opt to use a similar set again -lol!

Another lesson learned: I should perhaps have thought to ask for a second microphone (in addition to my vocal mic) to be pointed down towards the tambourine and wind chime to make them a little more prominent in the mix, as my vocal mic didn't pic them up quite as well as I'd hoped. But other than that I was really pleased with the interplay of percussion and guitar.

I had a great time at the Festival listening to the other artists, and then finishing off the night with a set of my own songs to a wonderfully appreciative audience. To top it off, even the wrong turn I took on the way back home worked out well when I happened upon a chip shop that was still open :-)

As I was on my own that night, I don't have any photos to post (though I do have some from Saturday's performance that I'll include part 2 of this update).

This was the first year that a Friday night music event was added to the Women Chainmakers' Festival – hopefully it will become a permanent addition to the festival in future years!