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Sunday 27 June 2010

From Dundee to Newport

Rather than clogging up the Dave Hughes Music (TM) website with a diary of every gig I do, I've decided to write them up in this blog. I'm taking inspiration from Chris T-T here, who has his main website news feed and also Blognostic (and now the awesome Songnostic) as more personal blogs. Hope you enjoy, I'll try and make it as interesting as possible.

Yesterday I went and took the massive 10 minute coach trip from Dundee to play in Newport. This was the first gig I've done in the East Coast of Scotland since I moved up here, and in front of a totally new audience. An old friend of mine, Dominic Venditozzi, puts on these completely unplugged gigs in a wee cafe in the town. I met up with him a couple months back to talk about places to play up in Dundee, and he invited me along to play a few songs.



Newport is a lovely wee town, the type of town you can walk from one end to the other in 10 minutes. It has quite a few hotels which double as the local pub, a really good smelling fish and chip shop and a co-op. Perfect for the settled the life. I found myself looking in the estate agent's window and saw a 3 bedroom cottage with "outer shed/workshop" for around £135,000. This is now my goal for the next year.

Anyways, I got to the cafe and found a large-ish crowd standing outside the locked doors, a few kids carrying guitar cases and adults with boxes of wine. This was very helpful in giving me an idea of what type of show this was going to be. Around half seven, Dom showed up and opened the doors, put down a masking tape sqaure to mark the stage and the gig got underway.

Around 4 acts played before me with everyone doing 2 songs each (except for the main headline act, Sarah Collosu who was booked for 30 minutes). Nervousness set in as most if not all the other acts played a softly softly style of acoustic music, much associated with the new-folk scene that's going around at the moment. I rattled through my mind trying to work out which songs of mine I could play that would fit the night.

Eventually I had the revelation of "fuck it", and just played songs that are representative of what I do, namely The sinner and the saints and "I want something". I don't know how well they went down, people clapped, and there was a softly softly sing a long at the end of I want something. Later on I was asked up again, and played "never took the time" by way of apology.

Time was getting on so, in the absence of having a car now, I had to go and find the bus stop for the coach back to Dundee. So I said my good byes, gave apologies to Sarah who's set I was going to miss and left. A 15 minute wait in the cool night air was only made longer by the Midges. I got back to my flat around quarter past midnight, had some leftover cake and went to bed pretty content.

Today I am getting the bus from Dundee to Glasgow, then the train to Ayr followed by a local bus service to Failford in the South Ayrshire valley for tonights gig. I can't wait.

Thursday 24 June 2010

Look what you started

Currently on the bus from Glasgow to Dundee after a fun excursion to see one of the best bands on the planet: The Gaslight Anthem. This was also the first trip I've made since getting rid of the car, which has it's good points and bad points. Good in that there was no stress of where to park, can i have a drink, or what will the traffic be like? Bad in that we had to get up super early in order to get our return coach so i can get to work, didn't have a useful car boot to leave bags in, and of course the stuffy environment of the mega bus.

We got to the gig just after the second support band, Twin Atlantic had started. I've been lucky that i've never had the chance to see them before, as they did absolutely nothing for me. The sound was generic Kerrang friendly unit shifter, had no personality at all, and then made bitchy comments to the audience. Very poor.

Didn't have to wait long for the Gaslight Anthem to come on stage. I saw them a couple years ago at the Garage and was really looking forward to this gig. This excitement was extinguished with the opening of American Slang due to the most horrific mix I have heard in a long time at a gig. The rack tom was far far to loud against the rest of the mix, there was a certain note that the bassist kept playing which lept out over absolutely everything, and there was no guitars. This continued through High Lonesom, which is one of my favourite songs from the last album.

Perhaps through a combination of moving to a more central position, or the soundman pulling back on the suck channel, things started to get better.  The band rattled through a selection of songs from the Newest album and the superior 59 sound. Only one track, Blue Jeans and White T-shirts, from pre-59 sound was played in the main set. Great Expectations was a highlight, as was Boxer which is, along with The Queen of Lower Chelsea perhaps the strongest tracks on the new one. Closing the main set with a cover of Baba O'Reilly, the band then retreated backstage for the typical gap before the now standard encore.

The encore was the best part of the show. Where other bands come out and play a popular album track and then close with their hit single, Gaslight took a curve ball and put together a six song punch of older material. For me this was like they were taking a leaf out of Springsteen's how-to-write-a-setlist book. We got Wooderson, the rarely played We're Getting a Divorce, You Keep the Diner, Here's looking at you, kid, and closing with The Backseat. This is how you raise a gig to an almighty finish.

At the end of the gig it was great to step out in to the Glasgow drizzle to cool down as we walked back to the train station.  The usual debates arose over what they should have played, or where things should have been, but the general consensus was that it was a very good gig. 

I'll be making a sign for Woody next time though.

Setlist Link: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-gaslight-anthem/2010/o2-academy-glasgow-glasgow-scotland-5bd41334.html

Saturday 19 June 2010

Fairwell my four wheeled friend

Yesterday was a very eventful day. A good day of data analysis means that I have perhaps unearthed something very interesting, and potentially publishable. Although, in the true spirit of science, it manifests itself as a small shift in a graph and not the explosion of light and sound that may happen in a blockbuster movie.

The other thing that happened yesterday was the disappearance of my car. Don't worry, it's not been stolen. Lisa and I decided that it would be a good idea, environmentally and financially, to get rid of the car and so the haulage company came along and took it away. I've been thinking about doing this for the past 6 months, and so I pulled my finger out and did it.

I've had a car since I passed my test at the age of 17, which, come September will be a decade of being an automobile user. I have many great memories attached to driving, from the many long drives I've done for gigs and tours, to driving away from my wedding with can's tied to the bumper and foam spelling out Just Married across the back window.

I'm sure I'll get used to taking the bus and train again, and walking the short distances that I used to endanger the planet by driving. And, of course, there will the extra cash at the end of the month which means we might actually be able to start saving.

A wee history of the car's I've owned:



Nissan Sunny: The best car I've ever owned. A G-Reg, sky blue, 5 door saloon 1.4 litre machine. I got this car after I passed my test so that I could drive to university. I'll admit it wasn't the prettiest car ever designed, but it always started (until that fateful day), had lots of space inside for passengers, drums, guitars, amps and more. This was the car that I had when I decided that being in a band doesn't mean you have to just play your own town, city or country, and so we (Dan, Puggs, and Myself) set off on a wee tour of northern England.The following week the exhaust came detached from the engine, at the engine, somewhere under the River Clyde causing a massive noise echoing through the tunnel and a maximum speed of 5mph. It was made in to a metallic cube the following day.



Rover Metro Kensington: While the Nissan Sunny was the best car I've ever owned, this one is perhaps the worst. It was tiny, 1litre engine, 3 doors and had less power than a hamster farting. I could quite easily get the car up to speed in towns, perhaps even to 50mph on a nice slope. However, motorways were a terrifying proposition with many an angry lorry driver being stuck behind this vibrating, floored 65mph monster. This car came to an end when I had parked it outside my flat in Govan. The immobiliser (!) failed, meaning I couldn't start the car, so while it was sitting on the pavement until I could afford to get it fixed, my local friendly neighbour hood Young Team came along and smashed every window and stole the front panel for the CD player. I found it with my CD collection scattered around the road, and a Policeman writing a report. It was towed away to be made in to a metallic cube later that night.


Peugeot 206 : This was the first car I bought new. I had just started my Phd, and decided that I wanted a car again, so signed up for a finance agreement. I've always said that this is the reason the recession happened. Anyone who would give someone like me credit to buy a new car shouldn't be in charge to giving out credit. I had this car when I first started seeing Lisa, and so I have good memories about long drives to Dundee to visit her in the early days. This was also the first car I had that didn't end up as a metallic cube, as far as I know. The terms of the financial agreement meant that I could trade it in for a brand new car after 2 years (see recession comment above), and that's what i did.


Peugeot 207: This is the car we just got rid off. It was all right, nothing remarkable really, 5 door, 1.6 litre engine and good CD player. This, along with the Sunny, is the car I have the most memories attached to. I clocked up around 30,000 miles in two years with this car from driving around the country to play gigs and visit people. Although, one of the best memories attached to it is encapsulated in this video

Ah well, I'll get another car one day.

Wednesday 16 June 2010

That was it.

The viva was even more stressful than I could ever have imagined. The day started around 9pm the night before as I couldn't sleep at all. No amount of counting sheep, hot milk or relaxation could knock me out.

Anyways, I took the train in to Glasgow and had a latte in a cafe in order to try and relax, and also to go over my opening statement again. After this I took a walk up to the university and waited to be called in.

After a wee while the covener came out and collected me and so it began. Four hours of questioning and defense later I was back in the foyer waiting on their descision. Unfortunately by this time it was lunch time, and where I was sitting meant a steady flow of old colleagues passing by. Each mentioning that they hadn't seen me in a wee while, and asking how my viva went.

The truth at this point thoughb was that I didn't have a clue. The external examiner had done a very thorough job of going through my thesis, checking equations, figures, references and general science. This meant that while I had concentrated on knowning my own contribution, I had to be on my toes when it came to other peoples as well. Unfortunately in places I fell down, and in one instance had to admit that I just did not know the answer. This was one of the times through the viva that I felt that the examiner was just going to put down his pen and say "i think we'll just stop here".

After 40 stressful minutes I was called back in and made aware of their recommendations. This is when I was told that, yes, there is still a wee bit work to be done and a few corrections to be done, my thesis is good. And that was it.

Dr. Dave.

A nice relaxing next few days I think while I get used to not having the viva hanging over my head. Yeah, I still have some stuff to do, but everything thats been suggested is stuff that I've considered in the past, but just not expanded and put in the thesis.

And at least the dinner and drinks after the ordeal were good, with much laughter had.

Sunday 13 June 2010

Thesis, thesisnot, thesisit?


I'm currently sitting in my flat in Paisley, with a pile of papers, lab books, annotated drafts of my thesis, and an empty coffee cup. Tomorrow is D+1 day for my Doctorate. On Tuesday I shall make my way to Strathclyde University in order to sit down and defend my thesis as part of the oral examnination, or viva as they call it.

I'm pretty terrified over it as I have no way of gagueing how it will go. The examiners have only my thesis, and a few of the papers and proceedings i've published in order to assess my work. Which is fine except for the fact that I am not a good writer. Even taking a fresh look at my thesis I can see mistakes in tense, grammar and spelling. Can you fail a thesis for repeated mistakes with "in to"?

Then theres the issues of scientific content. I really wish I could find a way of knowing which parts they are going to quiz me on. Will it be the dental disease chapter (as they are engineers, and this is potentially an unknown for them) or will it be the lengthy maths of the miniature optics simulations (where OpenOffice excelled itself in the utter-bastard stakes by renumbering the equations wrongly during pdf export). Perhaps a lack of error bars in one little graph will take up three hours of discussion on specitivities and sensitivities?

All in all, I feel like I have a fight on my hands. I really wish that the feelings of confidence i get where I look at my thesis and think, yeah, i've done enough, would last more than an hour.

I used to think that my driving test would be the scariest, and most stressful exam I'd ever sit, but it doesn't even come close to this.

Thursday 28 January 2010

Hold on to your lover cause your hearts bound to die

In a bid to try and get more use out of this blog, I've decided to try and not force myself to write about myself every bloody day. So, instead, I was thinking I want to write about songs I love and try and work out why I do. I find that I get very fixated with songs, to the extent that I can listen to a current obsession on repeat for hours to hear everything in the song.

The first song I've picked is one of these songs. Around two years ago, my brother sent me an email with a link to the video below, saying that the woman's voice is one of the most unique you'll ever hear, coupled with lyrics that seem to be ripped from a hole deep down in the heart of a small town.




I was intrigued, so I pressed play and had a listen. At first the vocal tone grated on me, but as the opening lines weaved around, I was frozen and didn't want to click pause.


"And you know the sun's setting fast, and just like they say nothing good ever lasts. Well, go on, kiss it good bye, but hold on to your lover cause your hearts bound die"

From here the song tells a tale of a woman spending her life in suburban town somewhere in the America (although it could be anywhere, even Scotland), only to watch the connection and longing to the town fade away. In the end she decides that she has to leave, although with some degree of reluctance.

Now comes the personal part. This song means a lot to me because of the link it has between me and my brother. This was one of the first songs that, in 'adultlife', he and I found a mutual admiration for. Both of us were both living away from our home town at the time, and with the content of the song dealing with the fading away of what makes a town a place you can call home, it barged its way in to my life. 

I've always been interested in what can make a place feel like home, whether or not it's the peoples, the buildings, the memories, or even just as another song says "wherever I lay my hat". There are many places in my hometown that I have fond memories of, but revisiting the places fill me with dread. The bricks and mortar may be the same, the same people may be there, but it can never live up to the nostalgia. On the other hand though perhaps that was all there was in the first place?

Our Town by Iris Dement doesn't provide definite answers, but it does paint the perfect picture of the final days before you leave.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

The weary world is waiting for ambition to be played

 The last few weeks have been full ahead levels of stress. From a pipe bursting in my home at Paisley, to work stresses and not one but two asthma attacks. The second one earning me a nice wee trip in an ambulance. I don't care how old I am, it's still pretty fun (the piped oxygen plus Ventolin to my mask may have contributed to my nice feelings).

I'm doing better now, on some heavy steroids to try and make my lungs a bit stronger and generally taking it easy. I've got quite a few coding projects at work that need finished, so I can sit in my office and do that rather than running about the lab trying to commit mass genocide on populations of Dictyostelium.

I'm feeling a bit blank when it comes to music at the moment. There are many bands and artists that I love with all my heart, and have good memories attached to their songs, but at the moment I find that anything I put on to listen to doesn't grab my attention like it used to. Except for Phil Ochs and Pinhead Gunpower, they are sticking with me at the moment.

So, I'm looking for suggestions of new music that you think that I would like. If you know me, this shouldn't be too hard (my sister sent me a cool song called A Girl Named Go the other day, and that was right up my street, the rest of the artist's catalogue, not so much).

Anticipation is building for to the release of Love is Not Rescue by Chris T-T, possibly the album I'm most looking forward to this year (alongside the imminent Darkness Box Set by Springsteen, new Gaslight Anthem album, and Caustic Lake).