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UK's Best Part-Time Band - BBC4


mentalextra
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Managed to catch up with this over the weekend, watching with a musician mate disposed to some healthy cynicism. I didn't say anything beforehand, but when the Caffreys came on we both looked at each other and nodded. The comment about each band member doing just the right amount was absolutely spot on. Michael's bass playing is a perfect example of being a support to the rest of the band, adding lots but detracting nothing. Bloody marvellous, that WoT.

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[quote name='Turnaround' timestamp='1465019937' post='3064646']
I've been lucky enough to see Bombskare live a couple of times and they were incredible. The whole audience danced and jumped around all through the show.Midge was right, light touchpaper and stand well back. Female bass player was good, very solid, didn't catch sight of her gear but tone was spot on.
[/quote]


They're fantastic live... and great guys (and girl, now, for the past year or so). We've shared stages a few times... they are loonies, but the good kind of loonies. Love them!

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[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1465822573' post='3071252']


They're fantastic live... and great guys (and girl, now, for the past year or so). We've shared stages a few times... they are loonies, but the good kind of loonies. Love them!
[/quote]

Yep.. lovely, bonkers people.

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Yep! well done WoT, I watched it last night and enjoyed your band's performance.

Slightly off topic, but I loved the sound of your [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Maruzyzyk Jake, I have one on order, so I took an extra interest in how it sounds in a live situation. :)[/font][/color]

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[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1465731819' post='3070523']
I haven't watched the show but following this thread and jumping in and out of the programme and fast forwarding to each band but so far i thought The Caffreys stole the show. Harmonies are incredible and a great song.
And i have mates from Scotland on it who were shown a 4 sec clip but The Caffreys is a band i'd like to see live maybe up in Scotland at some point please if you're listening.

Dave
[/quote]

Crossfire?

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Only just watched episode 2, but like many others thought The Caffreys were just fantastic, as did Mrs CP.
She even suggested we should get up there to see you guys play at some point.
Really well done WOT, all the best.

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Another interesting episode.

I liked the fact that Hooky wasn't afraid to criticise where it was needed, Midge Ure last week was just a little bit too polite IMO. However, Cafferys apart I thought the standard seemed lower than last week.

It's very difficult when you only get two snippets of songs to judge the bands, but Kissmet were IMO by far the most interesting band in the rehearsal clip and then they went and blew it by playing an awful cover at the gig. However unless the rest of their set was equally as bad, I thought they should have made it through.

The Cadavers had completely upped their game by the time of the big gig - it hardly seemed like the same band on stage from a performance PoV. Pity that on the evidence of the two tracks shown they don't actually have any memorable songs.

Since we now have some inside information I'd be interested to know some more details of what the programme makers wanted from the rehearsal and gig clips. WoT I understand if you can't give too much away at this stage, but any answers you can give would be appreciated.

1. The covers thing is interesting. At what stage in the competition did you know that you would be expected to perform a cover? Personally I'm ambiguous about covers. They can be fun to do, but they can also detract from the bands own songs. I certainly don't think that they are an "easy option" - I've played in several bands where we could get a new song written and arranged in much the same time as we could learn a cover well enough to be giggable quality. I've also played in more than one band where we would have struggled to play any song we hadn't written ourselves to a standard where anyone else would have actually recognised it.

2. Have long were the band sets at the gig? On the programme where the audience gets to see half of one song it gives little idea of the overall impact of the bands on a decent stage.

3. The rehearsal clips - whose choice was the rehearsal venue? The band's or the programme makers? Do the Cafferys regularly practice as shown on the programme or was that something just to break up the monotony of endless rehearsal rooms? (most of which looked considerably flashier than the ones I'm used to!)

Thanks!

Edited by BigRedX
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No problem - I'll try not to give anything away..!

1. The covers thing was introduced pretty early on in the process - early enough for us to say 'thanks but no thanks' if we decided it wasn't for us. By that point we'd spent enough time chatting to the production company to be confident that they were going to make a serious show with an original music element to it. So we talked about it as a band, and decided to learn some covers, have some fun, and see what happens :-)

2. Every band played an original and a cover at each stage. So in addition to what's been seen, we played a cover in the kitchen which is so far unaired, and an original at the gig. You can catch a brief snippet of it from the soundcheck in the show. I have to give cedit to the editors - while songs are obviously massively chopped down, they've worked hard to do as good a job as possible. I think everyone would like to hear more of the songs, especially the original stuff, but the commercial pressures of the modern world wins.

3. The production company were keen to film the bands in their usual environment.. so they got us in Phil's kitchen 'cos that's where we rehearse! Mind you, I don't think they were prepared for a tiny Northern kitchen. The crew got a bit of a shock when they squeezed in through the door. Hooky and Rhod were sitting on garden chairs 'cos it's all we had left. Ha ha.

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Well done you. Enjoyed your songs especially the one in the kitchen :)

Actually I think it's a great show so far, I'll bet most of us recognise ourselves in what the bands do and the bit in your kitchen was charming, especially as I'd just come back from a rehearsal with a new band in someone's one bed flat.

In the long term I hope that the programme helps the public realise that Britain's second best part time band might just be appearing in a pub round the corner and we get a few more people out there at gigs. It'd be nice if someone could get Rhod to say that at some stage.

Anyway good luck in the next round.

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[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1465904924' post='3071960']
2. Every band played an original and a cover at each stage. So in addition to what's been seen, we played a cover in the kitchen which is so far unaired, and an original at the gig. You can catch a brief snippet of it from the soundcheck in the show. I have to give cedit to the editors - while songs are obviously massively chopped down, they've worked hard to do as good a job as possible. I think everyone would like to hear more of the songs, especially the original stuff, but the commercial pressures of the modern world wins.
[/quote]

So the gig was just 2 songs - an original and a cover? That's tough! I can't image how you would go about picking the right cover to play that shows off your band in the best light without being in danger of overshadowing your own songs.

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1465916192' post='3072070']
So the gig was just 2 songs - an original and a cover? That's tough! I can't image how you would go about picking the right cover to play that shows off your band in the best light without being in danger of overshadowing your own songs.
[/quote]

Well you could start by avoiding [i]Sunshine Of Your Love[/i] ...

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1465898298' post='3071891']
The Cadavers had completely upped their game by the time of the big gig - it hardly seemed like the same band on stage from a performance PoV. Pity that on the evidence of the two tracks shown they don't actually have any memorable songs.
[/quote]

The song they performed at the gig was a cover - Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People". I thought it was a pretty dire version and was surprised that they went through.

J.

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[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1465666028' post='3070104']
Loved the show, and great work by The Caffreys (well done Michael), but it left me wanting to know more about the Acid-Bhangra-Rock outfit from Peterborough, Kissmet.

At their initial piece of the show when they were rehearsing I thought they sounded great, really interesting, original, and a great beat. At the Sheffield battle of the bands their version of Sunshine Of Your Love was strictly UK pub rock ... well-played and they're clearly a good band, but all the bhangra was gone and with it the originality. What was that all about?
[/quote]

Thats exactly what I thought. I thought their sound was amazing in the rehearsal section and then it disappeared at the performance. I thought all the bands were better at the rehearsal stage personally (with the possible exception of the Liverpool indie band). I was happy with the two that did go through though, based on the performance.

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Just watched the two programmes on 'tube, and thoroughly enjoyed both the presentation and the content. Well edited, well paced, varied, nice 'patter' and some good live music. What's not to like..? T'will be interesting to follow to the finals (if they all come up on 'tube...). Yes, I got to recognise Wot from the previous posts here; nice one, lad. B)

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