Hey and welcome to another KT Tuesday.
It’s been a busy few weeks for us all, I was only talking to Tanya while driving her home on the Sunday morning about how crazy it is that our next gig is her fifth show with us.
I mean seriously where does time go.
Well I kinda tell you where the best bits should go, and that’s where your heart is.
The rest is all blurred lines with work and sleep.
But I’m waffling so let’s crack on.
We have been looking forward to this gig for a while. Tinfish have become not only a band we have done what must be half a dozen shows with, but they have also become our friends.
Every time we see them there is always big hugs followed by a good natter and catch up which honestly to me this is the best feeling. To meet up with another band and have that warmth with, is really something special.
I personally can’t help but dance along to their songs and I know we all sing them in the car on the way to a show. As you know I don’t shout bands out on my blog very much but if you fancy giving Tinfish some love, then certainly check out there stuff.
So long story short, to be invited to support their headline show in Shirley at the Red Lion, this already had the hallmarks for a great night.
A little back story, back when the Wild Strays was just in its infancy, me and Grace were invited down after playing a few shows with Tinfish to the Red Lion In Shirley, To see and celebrate their first Ep Launch.
It was the first time we had seen this venue and it was this night Tinfish said to us, we must to come down to Shirley and play in the future.
We were driving back from this weeks show, Grace said to me, hey do you remember all the snow last time we came down to this place to see Tinfish.
I was like oh yeah, and we spent a good 5 minutes reminiscing about the snow and how we drove into the McDonald’s, had a bite to eat and drove gingerly home.
But before we get to our trip home let’s rewind and talk about our day.
We needed to head to the studio for a few hours because we had been asked to do a Christmas song for this gig.
We had chosen “Fairy Tale of New York” I actually like this song but I didn’t realise Grace had a little plan for it.
Of course I should have seen it coming. I mean this is the Wild Strays and to be asked to do a Christmas song cover for a Tinfish headline. Well we had to make it a bit special.
What happened actually blew me away and left me smiling so much.
Within a week of us choosing this song Grace sent over some revised lyrics to the band chat and I gotta say.
She really did hit the jackpot.
I read them through and was instantly onboard. Of course the others needed their say, but yeah she did an amazing job on those lyrics.
I was practising on and off over the next week or so and the plan was to go into the studio and kinda put the song together.
Thing was time flew by like it always does and it didn’t seem possible to really work this song out in a couple of hours.
I mean it was ok, I still needed to read the lyrics because it was a lot to remember and it really needed a rhythm guitar because Grace was doing the lead and violin parts.
I mean it sounded good but certainly needed a bit more time to perfect.
After a few attempts it was decided that although this song is ace and we should totally record it or youtube it, or do something with it. .
It’s not quite up to a live performance yet.
We ran through our Rocky cover and decided to keep it back for another day.
Running out of time, we packed up from Robannas and headed over to the Red Lion.
It really is the other side of Birmingham, but actually didn't take that long from the practice studio. As we got closer me and Grace had flashbacks of the area and parking.
We ended up conveniently parking behind the building.
This made loading into the venue so simple.
We decided to lock the car and head into the venue and was then greeted by Tinfish and Alan Hodgkins who was already there as well.
We unloaded the gear and got chatting to everyone there.
Being a Christmas Gig, Grace, Tanya and Spice dressed up for the occasion.
As for me... well you know I kinda like my black t-shirts lol. I did however wear a Christmas hat which is pretty good for me :)
It stayed on until the I started to headbang at least x
But it was a great gig, the atmosphere was so so good, everyone was there to have a great time.
We even managed to get Steve and Dave up onto the stage to shout “This time it’s personal” (a Wild Strays first I must add) on our song Own Personal Hell.
Then it came to the part in the set which we had set aside to do the Christmas cover. We had shown Tinfish and a few people some of our lyrics from our rendition of Fairy Tale of New York .. ahem i mean Wild Strays of Nu-Rawk and they said we should totally do it.
Well, we put it to a vote and got the crowd to cheer which one they wanted.
Which one did they choose.
Oh course it was our Christmas cover.
We did the song and had a laugh and honestly tonight was so much fun.
In fact, we then got invited back on the stage later in the night to sing with Tinfish on thier Christmas song, to which i jumped off the stage towards the end and got this cool picture.
Spice also joined them for their debut single "Lets make some noise" but i was having too much fun dancing and sadly didn't get a picture.
I think it was a great night with a really good party atmosphere.
The pictures above are a little dark but after our show we danced and partied right until the last song and then stuck around chatting some more before heading back home.
Before we did leave we got a few pictures of the Tinfish boys and thanked them for having us join them at there local venue and Christmas party headline show.
We also discussed some plans for next year but I can’t give too much away just yet.
As always, us Wild Strays are always planning something :)
And so back to the where this blog entry kinda started and the long journey back to Stafford after the show.
I got to say something personal here to Grace. I was dead tired and driving at gone midnight up the motorway after 5am starts all the week. Spice and Tanya fell asleep pretty much straight away, yet Miss Hale was talking to me and singing in the back of the car all the way home and making me smile.
Thanks for riding shotgun with me Missy and keeping me company..She did this and all the time i knew she had to be up at 4.30am for work on the Sunday. We arrived home at gone 1am and unloaded the car and then she headed to bed.
That's a whole bunch of respect from me.
Thanks Grace, i really appreciated that, i owe you one xx
A special thanks to everyone who has come down to see our Wild show over this last year.
A extra big shout out to everyone who has hit Like on our Wild Strays Facebook page.
Your support is always appreciated.
We have one more gig to go for 2018 and another new venue for us.
This Saturday the Strays arrive in Newcastle-under-Lyme and play The Rigger.
Don’t miss our final show of the year.
Until next time,
Keep it Wild, Strays
KT xx