August/September 2009

And what have Hush been doing since the last gig, I hear you ask !

As Chris mentioned in the last blog, gigs have been run to a minimum and practices have been a bit sparse with personnel
away on hols and suchlike. A lot easier to keep August clear, than find out we can’t do it even if asked. However, when we
have had practices, they have been really constructive with at least 5 new numbers lurking in the wings awaiting the final touch
before throwing at the audience and others being considered to be included in the set if we can do them as we want. Also some
of the older numbers that havn’t been played for a while are looking to be given a bit of TLC and reintroduced sometime. So it all
my seem quiet, but we have not been idle. Just like a Swan, serene on the surface, but paddling like hell under the surface.

5th September and Hush are back at the Swiss Chalet in Swindon, and its not snowing, thank god! Unfortunately we weren’t able
to setup as soon as arrived, as like good people we waited for the footie to finish. England won against Slovenia, so a positive start
to the evening.

On my personal equipment front, over the last year I have been modifying my keys set up, trying to save on weight and space (honest),
and this would be the first time I had a chance to use my full set up, in a gig situation. Taking longer than normal I had to make sure
it was all in the right place to suit me. A right pain, but I got there in the end. It still needs a final tweak but its fully playable.
Hammonds rule OK!!!

Once everything was all plugged in and working, (why is there NEVER enough sockets???), Easy Livin' proved Hush were ready to Rock.

We have been progressively trying to get both sets balanced and I think the Swiss Chalet gig proved we are getting there with lots
of Classic Rock numbers that everyone recognised. Musically lots of peaks and troughs just to show what we can do. With the crowd
getting behind us, as usual we upped it a gear or two.

The end of the night and Smoke and Freebird brought an end to proceedings for the evening.

Thanks to all the crowd and landlord John for having us back. We will return soon. That’s a promise !!

Jon
9th September 2009

Me again. I’d done one of these bloggy thingys covering the last gig, but the guys then decided to tell me I had to do it for the month,
which means “any” gigs included in said month. No rest for the wicked.

So then, Saturday 19th September saw us back at the Reckless Engineer in Bristol. As it’s close to where I work (honest, no
advertising) and is the only chance at present for the band to play in Bristol, it's fun to come back. For us the Reckless is luxury;
the gear comes in the back door and has a decent stage area, but the same question always seems to be asked “how did
I set up last time”?

After a couple of circuit breaker problems, not ours I hasten to add, we got everything up and running and ran through the set up
number, in this case Inside by Stiltskin, one of the new ones mentioned in the last blog. Still needs tweaking but enough to make
sure everything works and the sound is balanced, always the difficult bit.

Kicking off with Tie your Mother down we fired through the first set, with the audience getting behind us virtually from the start.
These sets always seem to get shorter, even though they have been timed and are slightly longer than what the original songs are,
and as soon as set one started it was ending with Purples Black Night.

After 10 mins we were back on, with our rendition of Pink Floyds Shine On You Crazy Diamond. This number now seems to be getting
a really good response from the audiences we have played it to, something we weren't sure of when it was suggested to be included
in our potential list of songs to do.

Firing through the set on all cylinders we arrived at the end of the evening. With Smoke and Freebird as a thank you to the assembled
throng, we brought the evenings proceedings to a close.

My thanks to Shirley and her team at the Reckless for making us welcome, the staff from FoB who made it down to the gig and to
everyone else who was there, hope to see you soon.

Jon
"Hammonds Rule AOK"

25th September 2009