Following a weekend that included two successful gigs and
something approaching a living wage in the pocket (at least for a couple of
days) we then had a fortnight with nothing in it.
A band needs to shooting out feelers for festivals soon
after the New Year, so with Custard Cream starting gigging in May, the chances
of being in the ‘outdoor calendar’ was pretty slim. These were always going to
be quiet times.
Nige suggested we should get together as a trio (minus
George, that is) and I concurred. Unfortuantely, I was away for one weekend and
Angus another. So what about midweek?
Angus said no. To be fair, he had booked this time off when
Nige had asked for dates when we were not available, but I felt certain that we
could have found a couple of hours somewhere in between July 17th and August
10th… Apparently not. My turn to wrankle…
After this – and I need to add here that Nige and my
attempts to get together for a two-man rehearsal also foundered – another ad
hoc gig popped up at The Chequers in Marlow on August 16th. Then another at The
Pub with No Name the week before (Noctor’s – now The Corner House), where I was
now organising an open mic night. So that would be two gigs in my territory in
one week. I was going to make as much noise as I possibly could.
Nige then found a gig in Reading on the 17th. August was
really filling up… Then Angus came through with his now-(for us)-legendary
email: “I might be asked to go horse riding on the 17th, and if I am, I would
like to go, so I can’t do that gig.”
What?! Not: “I’m going horse riding, I told you I wouldn’t
be around”, but “might be”. To say that I felt as though someone had hit me in
the face with a shovel is not over-egging it. Might be?! Might be?!
Nige’s response was, to say the least, not diplomatic. I was
sitting at home. Silently seething at this invasion of nonsense into our
ever-burgeoning state of well being and self importance, when Nige fired from
the hip in an email of no uncertain terms. He concluded with: “Fucking think
about where exactly you really wanna be Angus!” I had to agree.
Angus’ response was to acknowledge the work Nige was putting
in getting gigs, but pointed out that sometimes new unavailable dates would be
added and Nige should contact him before confirming each new gig in order to
avoid the embarrassment of having to pull out.
This seemed a little churlish on the face of it, but when
you consider that Angus was never exactly prompt at replying – in fact a
number of times, he needed prompting in order to get a reply from him – the
tone was pretty condescending. I was purple with rage. God only knows what Nige
thought.
The next day, Nige confirmed that he had cancelled the gig
on the 17th and all but apologised for his email. I’m not sure why,
but he was keen to get things back on an even and friendly keel…
Nige and I then corresponded and concluded that the only
thing that had redeemed young Angus was the fact that he was obviously doing
his homework and improving on a weekly basis… But we agreed that this was
definitely ‘strike one’ for him.
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