Practice

Present: Ad, Fea, Tom

First time practice after Ad's back operation and Fea's school inspection.  Both events refusing to inspire the mining of any decent seams of conversation. 

A-Ha's 'Take on Me' successfully given an outing, while two new potential songs were jammed into existence.

Post Practice Pint Topics of Conversation: 

Speed limits, school inspection, mobile phones [Tom's new whizzy courtesy phone Vs Fea's faithful original he bought in 1974 - which he still doesn't know how to use].

The Horrible Harmonies Episode

A new Loopy Popcast has been released and is available here.

It includes the Edgar Interview and some exclusive recordings; a ukulele special and a Rihanna cover among them.

You'll also hear the latest Loopy News and Loopy Before Loopy.

Gig: Philly's Phortieth, Winchester Rugby Club

Venue: Winchester Rugby Club, Nun's Road, Winchester

Present: All

Directions, directions, directions. Down the back of a side street after a private road, behind some mobile units, next to a cricket pitch that you can't see.

We give thanks for mobile phones.

No problems for Eg though. Honest.

Bex nearly has to choose which band member she'd rather be with than her own beloved Tom. She asked to see our wallets. Tom would have won that little contest anyway.

With a healthy supply of cheese, pasta, sausage rolls, bread and lentils, a rating of 8 Gi's were happily awarded to the Buffet by the most senior of Rayner brothers while the barmaid was possibly awarded 9 Fea's. The pre-performance pint topics of conversation included the fact that Tom can't remember how much we're getting for the gig; the number of GCE's and CSE's we achieved with Ad casually mentioning he took his Maths a year early; whether to push for Tom and Bex to get married; not practising on a Tuesday.

And then on to what was quite probably the most fluid set Loopy have ever had the opportunity to chop and change. Well, the preliminary observations of the arriving audience seemed to shake Eg's confidence in his carefully constructed set list.

The second set was preceded by a rousing speech from Blair, Philly's partner, thanking everyone and requesting much dancing from the crowd. We kick it off with Philly's "special request" 'Saw Her Standing There'.

The last two songs prove a muscle spasm too far for Ad's back as he plays out the set rammed up against a storage cupboard door.

Eg, Gi and Tom are recognised for packing up.


Set
Is She Really Going Out With Him?
It's All About You
So Lonely
.
.
Some Summer's Day
Somersaults
Ordinary Life
Too Late
.
.
Wonderwall
.
.
Town Called Malice
I'm A Believer

Practice: Pre-Gig

Present: Ad, Fea, Gi, Tom

With a gig looming this practice was a necessary run through the old favourites and covers. The lack of lyrical cues caused a few issues but the chance to sing lead for Ad, Fea and Tom was taken with glee in spite of not knowing any of the words required to make a complete performance.

Valley Studios' very own Ben brought news of his proposal of marriage to a disbelieving Jeanie. All happy there.

Post Practice Pint Topic of Conversation: Lead Balloon, Gavin and Stacey, the actual population of Austria and how come the wife didn't know?

Practise 22nd April - sax workout

Present: Ed,Eg,Felix,Susie,Tom
Venue: Ilsleys Primary School
Songs: Somersaults, Hearts Pumping, Meet Me On The Corner, Sparkle & Shine, Wild End

With more recording imminent it was time to workshop the brass section in the shape of Ed and his saxophone. With wife Susie giving encouragement from the sidelines (well ... a comfy chair at the back of the staffroom) Ed initially struggled with, but manfully overcame, some tricky fingering to pull off Tom's slightly dodgy brass lines on Somersaults, though was happily unphased by Meet Me On The Corner and Hearts Pumping. After recording a piano version of the Somersaults brass line on Eg's phone, Ed promised to do a bit of practising before the next recording session (after Eg's worked out how to get stuff off his phone and onto a CD).

Down the pub ...
Topics of conversation included:

• Horse riding (and post-op challenges for Eg)
• Ed and Susie's horse (called Flub) who isn't ridden anymore but was once well-trained. Doesn't like men though.
• Upcoming gigs: possible David Soul feature
• Future projects including: A34 tour, M4 tour, schools tour, foreign gig / tour