UKMG-NPU-4

On the 19th-21st of November I travelled down to Wigan for UKMG’s 4th NPU.

The weekend started on the Thursday for me when Paul McCrone kindly offered me a place to stay, at his new flat, so that we could set off early on the Friday morning. Yet again Paul had offered my non-driving self and my gear a lift down to Wigan, thanks again to a top bloke .

After a fun filled, and not too long, rock soundtracked car journey we arrived early on in Wigan where we met up with Mike, Paul Creedy, Dave and Ian in the Mabs bar and wasn’t too long before many others arrived.

As is the tradition on the Friday after a couple of drinks and some chat we made our way for a Curry to partake of more drinking and chat. After a great meal and laughs we returned to the Mabs for more of the same then bed.

As usual on the Saturday afternoon we had gear demos and workshops from various people including a demo of Trev’s fine Tipton amps which I had the pleasure of hearing and trying the previous weekend. After a short break we then congregated for what is now one of the main attractions of the annual get together, Guitar Idol.

First introduced last year, Guitar Idol is a great idea which consists of UKMG members getting up on stage and playing, with other UKMGers, a song of their or anothers choosing. As we are spread all over the UK many, if not all, of these songs had no band rehearsal and the fact that they all ‘worked’ was a testament to the skill and musicianship of people from UKMG. In my opinion it is a great way for those players, who might not have the chance, to make music in front of a crowd, an essential experience for a musician.

Last year I opted to play two songs and this year the figure jumped to five songs , the songs being:

Focus - Hocus Pocus

Metallica - Enter Sandman

Steel Dragon - Stand Up

Kiss - Detroit Rock City

Joe Satriani - Hands In The Air

This year I found that I was much more relaxed playing in front of everyone, I suspect as a result from playing ceilidh gigs and gaining more confidence. As such, I had a great time playing on stage with everyone, mucho respect to The Scots, Paul McCrone, Ian, Paul Creedy, Jeremy, Jose, Rick and the simply tremendous Steve White ( drumming for 44 songs! ) for a truly magical time onstage.

As I just mentioned, we got through 44 songs this year in five hours and on the Sunday morning a collection of acoustic songs to wind things down. So many great performances all done in a supportive and fun party atmosphere. For me highlights were:

Paul Simpson’s hilarious and fantastic rendition of Tribute

Clive and Greg’s rendition of Shyboy, stunning playing.

Finally getting to see Paul McCrone get up and show his stunning technical playing on The Drill Song

Watching and hearing some complex wacky playing on Made In Japan by Adrian

Side splittingly funny performance of Big Bottom by the ‘bassists’

Seeing Pete get up onstage for the first time to rock to Born To Be Wild

Rick and Clive’s impromptu performance of Damn Good on Sunday morning

Justin’s solo singing and acoustic performance of U2’s One, a magical musical moment

Seeing Trev in good spirits AND good health

Yet again another unforgettable weekend, roll on UKMG-NPU-5!

Pics available here

Music Live 2004

Tomorrow I travel down to Birmingham for the weekend to attend Music Live at the NEC.

It’s been about ten years since I have been to a ‘decent’ music exhibition and I’m really looking forward to it. Not only will there be a very large room filled with many toys but a couple of my mates will be manning a stand and sharing their wares.

First, Paul Creedy Master luthier, will be showing his range of hand built Arrowhead guitars which I am keen to try. Secondly, Trevor Ridney will be launching his new hand built Amp business, Tipton Amps, showing off two models from his line, which I am also keen to try. Clive Murray will also be demoing both Arrowhead guitars and Tipton Amps to the masses!

I wish Trev and Paul all the best in their ventures, but they probably won’t need it, hard work and quality always shines through.

If all that wasn’t enough Jamie Humphries, Guthrie Govan, Richie Kotzen and Rob Balducci will be performing at various times over the weekend!

Oh yes…

New Recording

Today I quickly recorded a little piece called ‘November Noodle‘ ( 2.5 MB MP3 ) for the Guitarist Recording Collective’s November task. The task was to play over a backing supplied by one of the fellow members and was too tempting for me to resist having a go .

November Noodle

A long overdue recording for the Guitarist Recording Collective. The November task was to play over a backing supplied by one of the fellow members and was too tempting for me to resist having a go.

Usual haphazard one take recorded with Jem 7VSBL through mic’ed up Carvin Legacy.

November Noodle [Download MP3 - 2.5 MB]