Upton top ranking and the nervous bellies

Some of you will be muttering Jo the first half of that title shows your age. My younger readers will be going, ‘what?’. It was a single released in 1977 by Althea and Donna. One of those quirky one off hits. Anyway, something about Upton popped it into my head and last weekend Upton-upon-Seven was top ranking indeed. In terms of the song referred too..well there are worse ear worms to have and it could make a good name for a tune or a band.

Upton was my first festival of the year and I had the good fortune to go there for the first time last year. As some of you know I run my own little agency ‘HareMusic’ mostly to book out bands I’m in but also to try and help some friends get gigs as well. I have never had agents clambering at my door for any of the acts I’m in and so it has always made sense to do it myself. Judging by the flurry of emails and messages after HareMusic went live this is a situation many artists and bands find themselves in. Most agencies want to take on artists that are guaranteed to return a certain amount of money for the amount of work involved. Understandable but leaves many behind even where, as in my case, the artists themselves have a relatively high profile. It’s the way of the world. It was an agent who said to me years ago, ‘you’re ahead of your time Jo’. Twenty years later I am still left pondering what he meant so if you have any ideas then do let me know.

How refreshing then to receive an unsolicited message last year from Upton saying….I heard a little rumour that there is a new band that is going to be essentially carrying on once Coope Boyes and Simpson stop and are you taking any gigs yet. The band she was referring to is ‘Narthen. Barry Coope, Lester Simpson, Jo Freya and Fi Fraser. I said yes and the preparation began.

Many may know that this isn’t a completely new band. We have been doing Christmas shows for a long time in this format but it seemed logical to develop our material and do more gigs spread out throughout the year as Lester an Barry would have more space with CBS out of the diary. Narthen now being ‘not just for Christmas’.

We did all the prep, we practiced lots (we always do) and we turned up at Upton for our first gig which was in The Star in the afternoon. We were all absolutely bricking it…as the phrase is (where does that phrase come from – don’t look it up it’s not pleasant – I’ve just looked. It basically means you are so nervous you can’t hold on to your bowls……ENOUGH….we weren’t quite that bad) . Don’t think I’ll use that phrase again.

I have realised over the years that most audience members don’t think I get nervous. That is because, like many performers, you become very skilled at hiding or covering it up. Unless you tell the audience your buttocks and legs are shaking they are unlikely to notice – unless you’re wrapped in cling film only or tight fitting Lycra….god forbid. The only time it truly tells is in the voice. If you really are that nervous then your vibrato picks up speed and can prove difficult to control. I have a very specific memory of that happening on the main stage at Cambridge Folk Festival with The Old Swan Band. I was very young and had to sing but I could hear the nerves in my own voice and that made me even more nervous. You can understand why some artists apply moderate amounts of alcohol, or not so moderate, in order to relax them and keep the nerves under control. This is not unique to the folk world by the way. There was a study done recently of orchestral musicians where it showed just how many of them take beta blockers to suppress their nerves in pressure situations.

I found, as years rolled by, that I am far less nervous in front of very large audiences than I am where they are small but perfectly formed and can see the whites of your eyes. There’s a certain anonymity that comes with large stages. If you have the time to take your stage cloths off before wandering the crowds after the gig the chances are that no-one will recognise you unless they know you – although do remember to put some cloths on! The anonymity is helpful to my state of mind. I can picture the main stage at St Chartier in the days when gigs were still in that village and in the grounds of the castle. Massive audiences but, apart from the nervous build up which is a different thing, it was a great thing to be part of, looking out at that sea of tiny bodies going on, it seemed , forever and the nerves just disappeared once on that large stage.

On smaller stages it’s the willingness of the audience to go with you…enjoy your humour, laugh at your jokes, respond audibly to the music, heckle, and you see the smiling faces etc that can have a calming effect if I am not calm at the start. Fluidity is a weird thing when playing as I have moments when I go rigid, this is where I got a sudden moment of terror about what I’m doing. (It doesn’t happen when singing – that’s a cold chilling sweat when you think you’ve forgotten the words or you think your voice is sounding horrible) I have found a new way of dealing with the instrumental side which works wonders provided the situation is correct. I concentrate on what another member of the ensemble might be playing. That sounds strange in terms of focus but as I am exceptionally well rehearsed it helps put you physically back into automatic mode until such time as you are calmer. The best time comes when you are both calm and relaxed and this allows you to improvise and extemporise freely, in appropriate places, giving the audience that night a unique experience. If the rigidity gets the better of me audiences are occasionally treated to improvisation or extemporising that was never intended !! You can tell those when you spot musicians looking at each other with a raised eye brow or a wry smile as if to say…’hmmmm interesting!!!’

I used to play with a cellist who smiled when she made a mistake. What a brilliant way of looking like your enjoying yourself even when you have played something unintentionally ‘crunchy’.

So there we were, Narthen, last year on stage and doing our thing. This is where you come to realise, if you haven’t already , that there is a huge difference between practicing and rehearsing. Practicing is great but nothing prepares you for the live version of what you are doing other than a live version of what you are doing. The nearest you’re ever likely to get is if you can have a rehearsal set up, as you would be on stage, with a PA. Most of us can’t do that. You have to have that stage set up and go through it again and again before you truly get used to how any band sounds and feels when it’s on stage. Throw into that mix a completely new repertoire, a PA that doesn’t make you sound like your normal rehearsal space and the same applies. You have to play it and hear it live to know how it feels and to know how it will be received, just because you love something doesn’t mean an audience will……although I do have to say as a little aside – I don’t make music to please. I make the music that feels right for me and I do feel lucky that I am able to do that and that many do seem to like it.

The truth was we got through that first performance and there were some really good moments and there were also what we refer to as ‘out of trouser moments’ I.e. exposed and feeling vulnerable. Everyone had been nervous and we headed straight for the bar on completion and downed a drink very quickly. It was also, due to the extra Adrenalin, completely exhausting …but we had to keep our selves going for the evening performance.

This year it was Moirai. My trio with Sarah Matthews and Mel Biggs. This was so lovely for us particularly as it was the first festival that Mel, the baby in the band, had ever been to as a child and also one of Sarah’s favourites.

As this blog is mostly about nerves I should say that giving yourself the best chance at being relaxed is a good idea I.e. arriving in plenty of time. Organising food if it’s going to be tight fitting it into your schedule etc. Wearing your lucky pants, shoes etc Some of you will have seen on Facebook that I back fired on that slightly by driving to the wrong Kinnerseley where my accomodation was. An hour in the wrong direction and then back. But I had built in enough time to do everything I needed which included getting a meal.

I think the most enjoyable part of Upton this year for me was our concert in the church. What a beautiful location…..and of course churches love saxophones. I was pretty much switched off, microphone wise, for the whole thing when on sax, just so the other instruments could be heard. I think it helps in reverberant acoustics to be in a band without percussion. It doesn’t suit all line ups or instruments. But the church was full and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Upton itself was full of sunshine in the day and Morris dancers in various very colourful outfits and all ages. Dancing was everywhere. The town has a river with pubs alongside so people come in for that and enjoy the free spectacle of the dancers who are out all day long. I mentioned on Facebook too that there was no drunken aggressiveness. I saw some people staggering at various points in the day which could have been to do with too much sun or drink or both but I never once heard and angry voice or loud mouthed swearing. I’m sure that the good people of Upton have their bad days like we all do but for me it was a lovely experience.

One of the things that added to that was that I stayed in a lovely little pub in Kinnerseley (the right Kinnerseley) . The Royal Oak. All musicians and travellers can tell stories of places they have stayed and usually for the wrong reasons rather than because they’re lovely but I’ll save some of those for another blog. This one has nicely fitted out rooms in a one story outbuilding. The pub has some nice hand pump real ales as well as lots of other good quality beverages and they do food. If their breakfasts are anything to go by I would imagine the food is good. It was beautifully peaceful in the mornings setting me up for a day of fun festival activity. So thanks Upton.