The start of a New Year and the rebirth of a musical adventure that didn't do a great deal during 2011 other than re-organising and the very occasional gig. Now Old Man Pie are back in the saddle and starting to reconnect with reality.]
The New Year began with ferocious storms that felled huge trees and took out the power supply to hundreds of homes. So I wasn't sure whether we would make it from our base in the valley over to Hebden Bridge, and an excellent night run by Craig Priestley at Bar Place. As luck would have it, the wind and rain was almost gone when we set off via Marsden and on across 'suicide bridge' to arrive in a Hebden earlier than expected.
On previous visits to Craig's open mic the place has been busy, but this looks like a quiet one, it being the first week back after New Year celebrations . Still, there were enough players to make it a worthwhile cause and the night kicked off with Barry Smith.
Barry plays a number of covers on guitar including 'You couldn't have come at a better time' and then switches to an upbeat Irish tune on the flute. I love it when people use different instruments and would have liked to heard more of his playing, but it was soon time for another performer.
Dylan Brierley is next and he's a young guitarist, and I mean 13 years young, with a bright outlook and some excellent songs. He mixes an Ed Sheeran number with a little bit of Rehab and then sings one of his own songs about his Mum, who also happens to be in the audience. It's a relaxed piece about how his Mum is his hero - and so she should be for transporting him from Leeds to Hebden and back on this stormy night in January. Dylan finishes with an impressive interpretation of the JCB song during which he tells us his website and contact details, which as it happens are here:http://www.dylanbrierley.com/
It's always good to hear young musicians like Dylan and there should be more places for them to play and practice their art.
Bill Pringle plays next and I've seen Bill play a few times now and he's an accomplished songwriter. His first song is a cracker called 'Blame it on the moon!' and by far my favourite of his tunes tonight. He also plays a New Order piece which I hardly recognised, but it worked well.
After Bill it was the turn of Old Man Pie and the cool thing about a night like this is that you get a decent amount of time to play. We did six songs in total and enjoyed ourselves immensely. The small but appreciative audience listened in to the pie message - which is essentially about having a good time because life is for living and all of that. Here's the song list:
1. I Was Odd!
2. Leaky Old Roof
3. Beer Monster
4. Less is More
5. Small Talk in a Small Town
It was a good night for us at Bar Place and I even sold a copy of my book 'Open Mic Travels' to young Dylan - though afterwards I realised it is full of swearing and a smidgen of drug taking so I hoped that it wouldn't offend anyone, those were just the characters I came across during that time.
Next week the pie guys are off to the heart of Manchester and a night run by the awesome Naymedici at the B-Lounge.
You can buy 'Open Mic Travels' here:
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