A week to go till our BBT gig at Wilton’s Music Hall, and to be honest I’m looking forward to it! It’s a really cool venue, like venues I’ve played in Berlin, Prague, etc, but never thought London had a venue like it, let alone the place allowing a percussion duo to play in it! We are a bit of an unknown package to those people who have never seen us, and it can be a battle getting audiences – but everywhere we’ve played since we began, we’ve been invited back – and when we’ve gone back the audience is always bigger, so i suppose we must be doing something right!!
The fact that the BBT are having this concert filmed (with interviews, etc.) is a huge huge bonus for us, as hopefully the above will be far less of a problem – there is only so much our CD tells the listener what is going – the DVD will reveal all (hopefully that’s a good thing!!)
So between now and then, there is the usual playing practice, we are playing a couple of pieces that we haven’t performed in a while (Baristas by Stephen McNeff being one), and I suppose maybe thinking a little bit more about the chat in between pieces and what to say in the interviews as it’s being recorded… but then that stuff usually just happens, it can be quite spontaneous!
So to give a rough idea of how the week build up to any concert goes for me, here’s the plan for this week(!!) – personal practice everyday at any possible free bit of time (some days more than others), two days of gigs with Katherine Jenkins, then the East Coast Surf Championships on Saturday morning (which I’m in – waves depending), on Sunday a three hour recording session, then Monday and Tuesday rehearsing with Olly! Then the gig Wednesday. In a way every week is different, but it’s also completely the same!!
I think that the DVD and the Concerto that Stephen McNeff is writing for us with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (which are all happening because of the BBT) will really take the duo to the next level, but you never know what the next wave will bring……
Hope to see you there.
Owen Gunnell. 8th October 2009