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jackbepablo
honk
I've really enjoyed these posts and I'm really enjoying the new Elvers too. I've also really admired your approach to production - you're much more about capturing the cool stuff as much as possible, whereas my tradition comes from the old rock way of double tracking everything, approaching it more as a construction. I've tried to take more of your approach for my acoustic stuff, because I think that's where it works best - we have traditions in music and we should either deliberately respect them or deliberately fuck with them, but we should imo always do either one deliberately.
I'd love to see you guys at one of the folk nights at the Rose and Crown in Walthamstow if you ever fancied it - people go there specifically for the tunes, so it avoids a lot of the awkwardness, which I also hate.
The last gig I did was at a crusty bar in South London and I could hear the table in front of me's conversation more than I could hear my songs. So do you chuck a rock star fit and tell them to shut the fuck up? Can't do that. But do you soldier on when no-one can hear shit? Bit undignified at nearly 50. I'm just past that I think - I might do another Barrack Room Ballads record (I had the whole thing ready to go last year but my dad died and I found myself completely bereft of anything to say that wasn't grief) but I'm not sure I ever want to play those songs live.
But I've started picking a guitar up again recently and I realised I'm like you. I like making music - outside my wife and my family and my dog, it's the only thing that gives my life proper weight and texture. And I like the camaraderie of being in a band. I like the ritual of meeting up on a Saturday and going out for a beer afterward. I like making stuff. I even like the gigging, as long as the table at the front isn't louder than I am.