performance - Modulus, The Cricketers, Kingston

Firstly, the whole band would like to say a massive thank you to all who came to hear and support us. It gave us a real boost to take the stage (albeit way past our due slot!) and see so many familiar faces. We reckon that the turnout was around 35 of you, which is mega cool for our first gig. Here's a quick rundown of our set, in order:

1: Rescue Me
Ian played a quirky little riff on the bass while our wonderful soulful diva Dee introduced the band and got things underway. Keyboards were turned down a little for this one as I felt that the song is really driven by the bass and vocals.

2: I Say a Little Prayer
Slowed things down "a little" with this next cover. Overall I thought we had a nice, slick sound and all of us even managed to end in time, after five choruses! Shame we didn't have a gospel choir on backing vocal duty for us, but never mind. Tempo was good throughout and the song didn't feel rushed or hurried.

3: If I Ever Lose My Faith
Although kind of the 'odd one out' in our mini set, we included this at Emma's request as it still had some interesting chords and verse structures to deal with. We may omit it in future sets as this song takes quite a while to really get going, and it didn't really gel with the overall tone or style tonight.

4: Brown Eyed Girl
In rehearsal, I had briefly toyed with the idea of using the Rugrats theme as an intro here, because of the similarities in the piano writing - consecutive thirds abound. In practice, I just held a D7 chord for about half a minute as Dee geared the audience up. One of the more crowd-friendly songs, certainly in comparison to Sting just before it. One of us took a wrong turn in the second verse (not naming names!) but musically we were accomplished enough to just carry on and figure it out anyway.

5: Car Wash
This really got them off their seats and onto the dancefloor! Dee and Emma started them off with several bars of hand claps, filling in each instrument bit by bit until the whole band started playing. After Dee's war cry of "are you ready, Kingston?" it was time to launch into Rose Royce's most famous funky number. I added some extra triplets on a D7 chord to fill the harmony out a bit, and it worked quite well.

Conclusions:
Our first ever gig was well received on the whole, despite us having to play with the sheet music on stage due to lack of preparation time. It is definitely our aim to memorise the songs in the future so that we can appear more professional, which will in turn boost our image as a band and generate repeat bookings. Initially, we were the first of three bands scheduled to play tonight, but the other two had pulled out at late notice. It was therefore down to DJ Kripstar to liven things up before we took the stage. The "free drink" vouchers for band members were greatly appreciated afterwards, so a massive thank you to Laura and Dee for being our unsung heroes and organising many aspects of tonight's gig. We will continue rehearsals in our normal time slot, as we have to get a set together for our next gig at the Kingston Gate, and also Battle of the Bands.

Modulus - Coombehurst Studio and Kingston Gate

Modulus will follow up our stint at the Cricketers on Friday 20th February with an entry to the Battle of the Bands contest at Coombehurst Studio, Kingston University on Wednesday 11th March. Three original songs have to be performed; the first prize is £400 to spend on band stuff and the promise of headlining local gigs.

Also, thanks in no small part to our exceptional drummer Emma, I'm pleased to announce that Modulus will be performing at Kingston Gate in the very near future. A date has yet to be decided; however, we will be the only band playing, and we will play a full set. In terms of learning our repertoire, this may mean that the gig takes place after the Battle of the Bands contest detailed above. Stay tuned for some more details, teasers, etc.