On the home strait

Saturday night was my penultimate open mic of the January challenge. I bailed on the one I’d planned for last night (Sunday). It would have been my fourth this week - a last ditch burst of enthusiasm that I might make up for missing one in week two. But in the end, I decided to take the night off to avoid open-mic-burn-out ;). Especially since I’m actually doing one on Tuesday (1st Feb) - there’s a monthly one I missed in January I’m super-keen to try out! - so if I’d done Sunday that would have been four nights in a row, which is a lot! I also needed the time yesterday for some long-overdue recording of vocals which I owe to someone (watch this space for when we release his epic track!).

There are hardly any open mics on Saturday nights. They tend to be mostly Monday-Thursdays. So thought it’d be interesting to try out the only Saturday one I’d found - which is in the Hercules Pillars pub in Covent Garden. Also the only super-central one I’d tried, and I was intrigued to see how it would compare to the others I’d been to. It was run by UK Open Mic who also run three weekly nights during the week in other venues. Booking was via Eventbrite, and the instructions seemed super-strict - giving the impression that if I was a few minutes late for the 7:20 check-in I’d be blacklisted indefinitely! In contrast, when I arrived at 7:15 having pedalled there at pace, the host was super-chilled - and said they’d delayed sign-up anyway until 7:45 because of the football. I have a hunch that reflects a different approach from the organiser of the open mic series and the host of this particular one (whose name I’ve forgotten, and can’t seem to find any record of despite scouring the web and socials).

After talking to the host, I bumped into Andy who was also there to play. He said he’d come with his brother - and as I was on my tod again I cheekily asked if he’d mind if I joined them. He said sure - and immediately afterrwards said that his brother also wanted to play but was “really drunk”. Since Andy seemed pretty sober and articulate, I suspected this was an exaggeration - until we reached their table. It was immediately obvious he was wasted! I’ve totally forgotten the brother’s name (if you’re reading this, I’m sorry!) - so for the purposes of this blog we will call him Matt (which is what popped into my head, and who knows might even be his actual name :)). Matt was messing around on a guitar when we arrived, but clearly having some trouble finding the chords - and when he spoke was slurring his words in no small way! He was an artist and had been at out all afternoon - in theory at an art event, but in practice seems it was more of a drinking session - cheers! While it didn't seem the greatest idea in the world for Matt to play, it would have been very entertaining! Turned out they just had the one slot - Andy’s - and Matt was trying to hijack it for one song, so ultimately it was decided Matt would sit this one out :). It was also Andy’s first open mic for ten years, so would have been a little harsh to have his thunder stolen by his drunk brother.

Oddly, we hadn't been allowed to actually check in with the host - he'd told us we needed to wait until the newly specified time of 7:45. I would usually just let the host know I’d arrived and they’d tick me off, but it seemed that something specific was going to happen in this case. While we were waiting we were joined by Caitlin who was also due to play. (That’s the nice thing about these open mics - you can spot the performers by the guitars - so it's an easy excuse to say hello and you always have a good conversation starter). Caitlin and I got chatting and I mentioned this challenge was to build my confidence playing in front of strangers, as I felt sad not to be able to share some of the songs I’d written. She said she was also keen to play in front of more people, as up until recently only her friends had heard her originals. She’d only recently started going to open mics - including another one of UK Open Mic’s at the Two Bridges in London Bridge which she really recommended, and which I will no doubt try at some point in future.

Time then for the mysterious ‘sign-up’. Turned out to be a roll-call - felt a bit like being back at school as I replied ‘here’ to my name :). Gold star for Lucy! It made a lot of sense though, as the host could quickly sense check the running order, identify how many people hadn’t turned up and divvy out any spare slots to the walk-ins on a first-come-first-served basis all in one shot. So kudos for that part. Unfortunately, the open mic itself though was my least favourite so far. That's no reflection on the performers! The pub just wasn't the greatest venue to accommodate an open mic. There was no obvious stage area, so they'd improvised and used a 3 foot wide alcove next to the bar. But with a central barrier dividing the majority of the seating from the bar area (below), the performers were really only visible to those perched on bar stools against the barrier’s counter or at the bar! Caitlin, Andy, "Matt" and I did our best to find a space we could watch from, although we had to move often to allow people access to the bar area.

The sound wasn't great - and was worse 'on stage'. Andy was up first, and while there he asked a few times whether we could hear him ok - we had to keep reassuring him we could, which I found odd until it was my turn to go up. It was pretty hard to hear what I sounded like while playing - worse than it had been while watching - and I just had to trust that the audience could hear me. Of course none of this was helped by the fact that the pub was full of conversation - perfectly reasonable given most of the seating wasn't in direct view of the stage - and it's hard to tell how much to attribute to that and how much to the actual audio set-up. 

Either way, the combination of only being able to watch from a tiny space where I was in the way, and the poor sound quality, meant that after a few acts I realised I wasn't having a great time - again no reflection on the performers! Every open mic I've been to so far I've stayed until the end, or very close to it. I'd always planned to stay for the other acts wherever I could - it's nice to support everyone - but it was never a chore. I've loved watching people (of all standards!) play, and at most of the open mics the atmosphere has been lovely and I've not wanted to leave. This was the first time that I was seriously wondering early on how soon I could call it a night without seeming like I'd just turned up to do my set and didn't care about the other performers! So that was a real shame. I definitely wanted to stay for Caitlin, and she was towards the middle of the schedule, so I decided I'd leave after that.

And thank goodness I did stay for her! What a breath of fresh air she was - original and current song-writing, with a fabulous voice and a whole lotta sass and confidence on stage, she had the crowd eating out of the palm of her hand. She surprised me - when chatting she came across as super-lovely, empathetic and if anything a little understated - while her cheeky, assertive, "don't you give me any shit" side came alive on stage! I'm not great with current acts (showing my age 🙈) so no doubt there are better references, but she reminded me of a cross between Kate Nash and Marina & the Diamonds. (Caitlin if you're reading this, lemme know who your influences actually are!).

Tonight is my final open mic of the January challenge - and I've decided to end where I began, at The Junction near Brixton. For a change, I'm doing the same open mic for a second time in this challenge, and I'm not keeping schtum about the location in advance - because after all this is the last one, and it'd be no fun not to rip up the rule book at the end. I was lucky to get a slot - when I emailed the lovely host Sung, he said they were technically full, but he'd make an exception for me! That first open mic was such a lovely introduction to this challenge, and still one of my favourites, so I'm super-stoked to be able to go again - although it sounds like it'll be quite different this time, as it was unusually quiet just after new year. I'll report back on how it goes the second time. And hopefully I'll get to find out how much Sung's been practicing his Chinese flute since last time :).