Mixing it up for Neve.

25th March 2019

Music for Team Neve Fundraising Night
Bar B at The Market Tavern, Sandbach

To many in music, Neve is the name of a classic mixing desk/console, and The Blue Yellows were certainly mixing it up with some very diverse acts for a special fundraising night for Neve, a young child with a number of very serious neurological conditions (please see the link at the bottom of the text) for which money is needed for support from specialist American medical institutions on top of the quality health care she is receiving through the NHS.

Typically, a musical evening might be of cover acts to provide easily accessible entertainment or original acts for a more discerning music-loving crowd with an ear for new sounds. However the mix seemed to work really well, with the audience lapping up the new music along with the classics. As well as my gang, acts included host for the evening as well as sound-engineer, stage manager and singer-songwriter Dayve Dean, Tim Lee, Luke Stephenson, Bitter and Twisted, and Footsteps who also kindly lent their cajon, thanks guys!

Although Monday-night gigging provides an incredibly tiring prospect, having not yet recovered from the weekend, and having to get back into my routine of working hours through the day and night through the week as well, I'm expecting to look back on this with fondness when (if) I recover.
Please see the Team Neve crowdfunding page at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/teamneve

Fabulous turn-out of charitable music-goers for a Monday Night!

Thanks to Tim Lee for this pic of The BYs

Pre-soundcheck

Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival 2014

This was another of several gigs this summer where I was to be accompanied by my producer Dan, this time in his role as percussionist-extraordinaire. 
I arrived at the venue (The Royal British Legion) to find Eddie,  excellent young muso from both Bitter and Twisted AND Bearfoot), walking around the room clapping in the time-honoured fashion for finding out what the room’s acoustics are like, and proclaiming that the venue had a metal roof which could make the live-mixing interesting! The sound-check itself was also a challege in that the stage area also sounded very “clattery”.

In spite of this, although the slap-back effect on stage never disappeared, the sound out-front where it matters most seemed much better. The venue was arranged internally in a cabaret –style layout rather than the usual seated rows/standing areas and was organised by the lovely people at Cheshire Folk who put on a range of special concerts throughout the year.

Time went on, people started coming in, the show started, one-rehearsal-man-Dan was on great form as ever, and so were the bands.

Special thanks to my buddy and excellent songwriter T.J Lee who took some photos and even made an audio recording of our set. 

The cabaret style seating pre-sound-check.

Thanks to T.J. Lee for another pic.

Dan playing a slightly smaller percussion kit
than last time out (allegedly). Photo by T.J. Lee.

Headliners Bearfoot, they and Bitter & Twisted provided great entertainment later on.

Audio-by T.J. Lee.