"When I was stepping out with your aunt..." Wheeltappers and Shunters content

vasselmeyer

My uncle sent me this, saying "This is what we had for entertainment when I was first going out with your auntie Janice". He doesn't realise that a few of these places are still going. At my first gig with my current band, during the interval they held the meat raffle.

merlin

My dad was the keyboard player. 

Hattigol

I thought the last person to use the phrase 'stepping out' died in 1973? Coincidentally, I think he was the same person who had last used the phrase 'having it off'.

vasselmeyer

Hattigol said:

I thought the last person to use the phrase 'stepping out' died in 1973? Coincidentally, I think he was the same person who had last used the phrase 'having it off'.

Hence the quotes...he is my Uncle and I'm over fifty now. He's clinging on pretty well despite all the beer and tabs.

JohnS37

merlin said:

My dad was the keyboard player. 

Fab!  But whose kecks is he wearing?

vasselmeyer

merlin said:

My dad was the keyboard player. 

@merlin Honestly, I feared for his knees and lower back. Couldn't they run to a stool or something?

merlin

JohnS37 said:

merlin said:

My dad was the keyboard player. 

Fab!  But whose kecks is he wearing?

Mine. I was 10 at the time. And my sister's socks. 

Danny1969

Ahh clubland, still gig'ing it now, or was till covid ..... committees, meat raffles, shit dressing rooms

jpfamps

Danny1969 said:

Ahh clubland, still gig'ing it now, or was till covid ..... committees, meat raffles, shit dressing rooms

Dressing rooms?

Luxury.

JohnS37

jpfamps said:

Danny1969 said:

Ahh clubland, still gig'ing it now, or was till covid ..... committees, meat raffles, shit dressing rooms

Dressing rooms?

Luxury.

Yeah.  We used to get changed in a cardboard box.

JayGee

Danny1969 said:

Ahh clubland, still gig'ing it now, or was till covid ..... committees, meat raffles, shit dressing rooms

...but still about 10 times better (and better paid) than the average pub gig.

I used to bloody love doing social clubs and the like in my cover band days. Better stages, easier load in/out, better money, generally more professional, and it often seemed like just a little more respect...

Danny1969

JayGee said:

Danny1969 said:

Ahh clubland, still gig'ing it now, or was till covid ..... committees, meat raffles, shit dressing rooms

...but still about 10 times better (and better paid) than the average pub gig.

I used to bloody love doing social clubs and the like in my cover band days. Better stages, easier load in/out, better money, generally more professional, and it often seemed like just a little more respect...

Yeah totally agree, I enjoy playing them. Had some superb nights over the years playing clubs. 

bloodandtears

If they loved you, they let you know...      sadly the same can be said if you weren't their cup of tea...

I remember being in a duo many moons ago, trying to setup around the resident band (keys and drums only).. then asked by them what we close our set with... as our backing finished.. they proceeded to jam it out as a reprisal..  very very odd..

John_A

Had many years round the clubs, the Sunday morning gigs were fun . Don't know if they still have the same sort of entertainment?

JohnS37

The meat raffle!  Wow, I had forgotten all about those.
When we were students we won the meat raffle at the pub near our digs, it was a big turkey. 
We were very unpopular, the prize was supposed to go to a needy old person, not a bunch of ne’er do well students!

vasselmeyer

Our last gig at a working men's club was last December in North Greater Manchester. There was a girl singing over backing tracks, a blue comedian (using Bernard Manning material but with less overt racism) then us. Between our sets they held the meat raffle.  We didn't play anything from after 1995.

It was fucking awesome and after we finished they gave us pie and peas.

ESBlonde

I remember being in the band meant you also accompanied the 'tern' or star artist. They would have the score for regular instruments or at least piano and expected you to play them on, play short excerpts or songs with sudden stops on demand and do drum/cymbal crashes on Que (punch lines) as well as play their final number over which they 'sang' followed by the reprise as they came off/on/off/on/off to applause! Then in the 80s many went to tape backing more and over time a lot of clubs dropped the cabaret to save costs.
A number of these clubs are gone now but I still get to do a couple (Old RBL and the like where the last number is 'The Queen' with overdriven guitar in my case! Being near the coast there are also plenty of holiday/caravan parks, many of which remain open to the retired bunch all year round and have bands mid week too! A lot of these clubs have ceased to be affiliated with whatever they were as working mens clubs and have tried to survive in the modern world. There is one i can think of that has been successful near Jaywick of all places where they have (subject to C19) a popular weekly Jam on as Tuesday that is well attended by musicians and punters alike (mainly retired again).
I was recently (31 Oct) booked with a country band into a former RBL that got pulled last minuet when the singer got held up on his flight in and had to isolate, no one else was available and I had cut my finger so didn't fancy being singer/guitarist in a 3 piece to an audience of 8.
Lots of great times and some very dodgy times too doing clubs over the years.

axisus

That bloke dancing seemed unnaturally springy!

JayGee

ESBlonde said:

I rememberThere is one i can think of that has been successful near Jaywick of all places where they have (subject to C19) a popular weekly Jam on as Tuesday that is well attended by musicians and punters alike (mainly retired again).

Sackett’s Grove. I’ve done the odd night there as House Band guitarist when they’ve been desperate. Lovely friendly bunch of people (and they feed you!), good fun, but, no, not the place for contemporary cutting edge stylings... :-)

midlifecrisis

Played one last new years eve it was great, big crowd very well behaved and friendly. Booked one for this NYE but sadly cancelled/postponed. Have played some that were awful. huge cavernous halls with scowling pensioners complaining its too loud and complaining we dont play any jonny cash. 

mudslide73

They played Play Your Cards Right between out sets the last time we did a social club gig. We were told it was happening at 10pm whether we were finished or not! Our drummer tells a story of him getting threatened for moving a bingo machine during the load in with his previous band - you're definitely not the main attraction and as long as you know that you're fine.

I love playing them though.. proper night out.