Day 1: Friday 25th January 2013 -- Swindon
We all met with Juey at The Fiery Angel in Cheltenham on Friday night in order to gather our respective instruments and equipment before setting off to Swindon for the first gig of the tour.
After driving past what can only be described as 'snow cliffes' on the motorway, we landed at The Beehive bar in Swindon.
The stage area was situated in front of the worlds warmest fire, which was much needed after our expedition over the hills of Gloucestershire. Juey was first up, playing a mixture of old favourites, as well as a few new gems, which warmed the room up even further. This also caught the attention of the venue's regulars, who began to settle themselves into the spirit of the night.
Stressechoes then took to the stage, accompanied by Juey, to close the night off. We would all later reflect upon this performance as being our strongest, for the simple reason that we all felt that we had played very well, having not performed live a good while. The show itself also pumped us full of optimism, ready for the weekend ahead.
When the last drunken heckling patron had left the bar, and the last microphone stand had been collapsed, we left for the Travelodge for a much needed nights sleep.
Day 2: Saturday 26th January 2013 -- Bath
After a massive lie in, we gathered all our instruments, (apart from a mandolin) and set sail for the nearest pub for a hearty breakfast. This breakfast consisted of ham, egg and chips, chicken burgers and panini's, at the Hare and Hounds Inn in Pickwick.
Next stop was the city of Bath where we would be playing the St. James Wine Vaults.
The venue in which we would be playing was situated under the main bar, and unfortunately out of ear shot from the general public. We spent that afternoon rehearsing and acclimatising to the underground setting, which could have doubled up as a wine cellar. Funny that, it being called St James Wine Vaults...............
Anyway, after practising and sound checking was done, we ventured out into Bath proper, in search of food. Even at night, the city looked fantastic.
We returned to the venue and juey took to the stage. Regrettably, both Juey's set and Stressechoes' were performed to an empty room, save our friend Kevin and the owner of the corner shop across the road.
Even so, we persisted and put on a collective brave face and played as if the room was full. We all felt disheartened by this show, but all believe that we played very well, considering. Afterwards, we drowned our collective sorrows at the upstairs bar, and then made the weary journey back to the Travelodge.
Day 3: Sunday 27th January 2013 -- Bristol
After a long and restless night, we awoke and relaxed to the Australian Tennis Open, on the hotel television. But not before long, we were back on the road again, Bristol bound.
First stop was the Stag and Hounds bar, where we would be playing later that evening to unload fragments of our equipment before heading on into the city itself. After traversing the many slopes and inclines of Cabot Circus, we fell upon KFC for a hearty breakfast.
After an afternoon of aimless wonder and pub relaxing, we headed for the Stag and Hounds for the final show of our tour.
As the poster above suggests, first up was Juey, while regulars and gig goers made their way through the Sunday night rain to the gig.
Next up was Bristol based 5 piece The Minke Whales, who had brought the larger proportion of local following, with their blend of uptempo alt-folk. (http://theminkewhales.com/)
After the energy of The Minke Whales, we took to the stage for our final performance of our South West Tour. As we had done the two nights previous, we played to our best efforts and this time, had support from the local crowd, which definitely helped our nerves and attitude towards the evening.
Part of the weekend never dies...
Inevitably, the midnight hour arrived and we found ourselves setting down our equipment once again, but this time with a huge sense of fulfilment, having completed one of our first ever tours. This sounds a lame thing to say, but its true. All 5 of us really do feel that we achieved something hugely worthwhile and successful that weekend, and we really did!
Despite the mild setbacks along the way, we all considered the weekend a success, and plan to run with this inspiration headlong into 2013!!
See you at the next show...........
Ben (Stressechoes)
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