beatworm.co.uk

It’s been a while since any dog updates, so here’s some brand new shots. For some funny reason, it’s only when I’m looking at photographs that I find it really shows how grown up he is now. There’s barely a trace of the puppy to be found here. Of course, the fact that he’s enjoying some late summer sun, not capering like a loon, assists with this new found air of maturity.

Another gig, another new venue. I’m not entirely sure of the provenance for this unusual setting. It was billed as a Club Sea Power event, and perhaps was chosen to suit the quirky band identity that BSP carefully cultivate. It’s one of the things I like about them, this sense of a personal culture, and they project it well, through clever use of consistent typography and graphics, and with recurrent visual and lyrical themes. On this occasion, the merchandise stall, in addition to a generous half-dozen T-shirt designs, and ‘British Tea Power’ mugs, had sew-on patches, badges, branded soap and hair pomade, set out amongst selections of biscuits.

This private mythology is infused with elements drawn from wildlife, nature and cartography, combined with a good deal of post-Imperial British militaria, a juxtaposition that conjures up much of the ambience of a well-stocked army-surplus store. I spent a good deal of time exploring similar outlets in my youth, my old scout troop was entrenched in post-war army cast-offs. In fact it struck me on entry that the Polish Club, with it’s basement setting, was just the sort of place you’d expect an urban Scout troop to use as a meeting hall. Sporting trophies were hanging alongside unfamiliar embroidered flags on the walls, fold away tables and benches, evidence of plentiful equipment storage. A low stage at one end of the hall, a bar with unfamiliar labels of vodka at the other.

The performance itself was a bit disappointing. The sound wasn’t great; after the first couple of songs I retreated from a position fairly close to the front, to hover around the mixing desk where the sound is often more balanced. Sound trouble continued throughout the set, and they ended under the threat of an early cut-off, following noise complaints. Perhaps because this, the band didn’t really seem to engage with the crowd. There wasn’t much dynamic range, it was all loud and earnest from the start, and didn’t really deviate much in tempo or mood. It was entertaining enough, but I felt somehow detached from the whole performance. The stated purpose of this mini-tour was to break in new material intended for a forthcoming album, and it did feel like the majority of the set was unfamilar to me. Still, it was a good opportunity to see a popular live act in a very intimate setting and I enjoyed it on those terms.

The support band on the other hand, were huge, huge fun right from the start. Morton Valence ,a seven piece outfit, at least by my count. Lots of energy, bass guitar chords, analogue synth abuse, handclaps, maracas and loud hailers. And a cover of ‘Word Up’, sung in what I think was Chinese. I hope I get the chance to see a headline set sometime soon. They don’t appear to have any recordings for sale, other than the 7″ single that was on offer on their end of the merchandise stall. Vinyl might be cool, but I have no way of playing it these days. They do have a range of mp3 demos on their official site , and streaming from the inevitable myspace page . I’m particularly fond of “Sailors” . Do go and see them if you get the chance.

I’ve not really been playing much for the last couple of years. Some of this has been due to my stupid job soaking up all the spare hours in the day, some of it down to struggling on and off with tedious back pain. One day I realised that the real problem might perhaps be that I just didn’t have a guitar lying around handy.

When it comes to guitars you see, I’m a tinkerer. In the absence of any regular gigging or rehearsing schedule, my preferred form of instrument practice regime is to wander past a handy guitar, grab it and noodle away. This noodling may even take the semblance of co-ordinated practicing; I’m no stranger to scales, chord construction, finger callisthenics. Equally I’m sometimes happy to dial up the amp and just play squeally false harmonics and make faces at myself in any nearby reflective surfaces. The key to it all is the serendipity. If this ad-hoc hobby approach is to keep any sort of momentum, I decided, it’s essential to have a readily playable guitar sitting close to hand, the better to trap my magpie spirit whenever I pass.

For the past umpteen years, my main guitar has been a nice example of an Ibanez RG550. Faintly spiky, none more black, light and springy, with a tuning system that owes much to I.K. Brunel. As a workhorse guitar it’s an inspired creation; it can be coerced into approximations of all the guitar sounds you’d normally expect, the wide skinny neck aids the clumsiest of slippery sausage fingers, and you can gig all night on it without it deviating from it’s fixed tuning. The price you pay for this is in fragility ( it’s on it’s second replacement neck ), and in complexity ( floating double locking vibrato bridge unit makes for a lengthy restringing job ), meaning that it’s often sporting too-old strings, and packed away in it’s case, safe from accidental knocks and bumps . Out of sight, out of mind, and unplayed.

The idea occurred that maybe I needed to get a second ‘toy’ guitar. Something robust and straightforward that I could leave out on a stand for day to day plunking around. Something with some mass to it and a fixed bridge. Maybe a telecaster. I’m not at the front of the queue of tele fanciers, although I’ve always admired the 70’s thinline models . Getting something far away from a strat would also give me some variety as a second guitar.

Sitting on a bus passing a local guitar shop one evening I spotted one of the old Hohner Steinberger licensed ‘cricket bats’ in the window. This made an intriguing new option. Small cheap, portable. Easy to re-string, albeit using more costly double-ball-end strings. Not only robust, but small enough to tuck away on a shelf entirely out of harm’s way. Filled with enthusiasm, I mounted a shopping trip. Unfortunately the stick in question was not only pricier than anticipated ( £350-ish ), but it turned out to to be a left-hander, surprisingly enough.

Undeterred, I carried on a minor tour of the local music shops. No thinlines to be seen. Sound Control had some Peavey not-quite telecasters that almost appealed, but they all had rather obnoxious paint effects. None of the Fenders on offer really grabbed me either, at least not the comfortably priced Mexican built models. I nearly talked myself into trying some very nice looking hard tailed Schecters, but backed away, as they were really stretching the upper price limit of what could comfortably be termed a cheap second instrument. And then, right as we were about to pack up for the day, I found it.

It’s a ‘Cruiser’ which seems to be the cheap Chinese label for ‘Crafter’ , who themselves make an inexpensive but interesting range of far eastern electrics. The finish and shape of it were what immediately caught my eye. It’s some kind of double-cutaway Les Paul Special / Junior kind of thing, a flat top, bolt-on neck, with a tune-o-matic style tail, and imitation P90s. The colour is a very rich take on the yellow colour that the 50s specials used to come in, and just looks superb. When I enquired about price, I was just amazed to hear it was going for £99. For that kind of money it was heading towards being a foregone conclusion, but I thought I’d ask to plug it in and try it out. It sounded and played well enough, and so I happily bought it on the spot.

It sounded even better when I got it home and had a chance to properly dig around with a good amplifier. Lots of ring with plenty of sustain. Enough mid signal to shape tones, perhaps a little harsh on the top end, but easily tweaked away with EQ. Frankly I’m astonished by the quality of modern cheap music kit. This is immensely better than the standard I’d have expected from the sub-£150 beginner’s guitars on offer back when I was learning to play. It holds tune remarkably well, and has been given a good shop setup by the people at Rikaxxe. I had my concerns about Gibson scale length, as I’m more used to Fender, and some of the chords are a bit of a squeeze, but the neck and action are really playable. The pickups, often a disappointment on low end instruments, do a reasonable job and seem well shielded - hum free in a room full of lights and computers. I’ve had it for a week or so now, and I’m still playing it daily. Mission accomplished, for about two hundred quid less than I was planning to spend

I’ve just handed in my resignation. Five or so years in, a natural pause occurred, and it suddenly seemed like a great idea for me to move on to something else. So as of about four weeks time, I’ll be unemployed, newly-married with a mortgage and dog to support. Sounds like just the sort of thing I would expect me to do. Should be fun. Or immensely tragic.