The Switch play Reverb 18/3/10

[i am legion]

As it says on the tin


8pm Spooky

9pm The Switch

10pm Tbc

11pm-1am Dj moshking (Rock karaoke)


Drinks Promos

Becks'Stella and Kasteel Cru Bottles £2.00

Cocktail jugs £6.00

Cocktails £3.00

Double House vodka & Energy £2.50

Shots from 50p

[i am legion]

There is a slot still available on this night pm me if interested

Carl

[i am legion]

Tauzero,s New band Different Glory are now confirmed for this date

[Ed-Nigma]

Tauzero's New band, Different Glory are now confirmed for this date

Another band? Is he the entire Tamworth music scene?

[i am legion]

There has been a slight change to the running order this thursday

9pm Different Glory

10pm The Switch

And of course spooky will be djing in between bands

[i am legion]

BUMP DAMN MOUSE PAD

[Ed-Nigma]

It was a good gig.

Both bands complimented each other nicely, first up were 'Different Glory', a highly competent engaging band with a nice, if somewhat safe sound, unmatched guitars, one Fender one Gibson gave a richer feel to the songs, while their bassist shames most lead guitarists with his indulgent fret work. A couple of nice covers, one of which seemed to catch the DJ out who thought they'd finished and started to spin a tune

Next up 'The Switch', and the old adage "leave them wanting more" was certainly evident, as they played for just 22 minutes, but a thoroughly entertaining 22 minutes never the less, the vocalist, Stuart, is one of the areas best, however he was on this occasion very low in the mix and maybe a little nervous, but still head and shoulders above most, I'm looking forward to hearing some more along the lines of 'Summer Wasted', which is an excellent song, performed excellently.

The Casa Bar's nice, even with the big flat walls to bounce the sound off it's better than a little pub where the bands take up all the room, I guess there were maybe upwards of 125 people watching last night, so pretty good all round.

[J_C]

I went down after recording last night to check out the Casa bar. I oddly quite liked the much criticised layout (while there were people there) as it was a bit different and pushed the audience nearer the front of the room to give the impression of less expanse in there. Needs a drum riser or even a little stage down the line I would say. Good to see a fair few music lovers (I assume they were, as once the band finished the place emptied immediately). This will all seem negative to those involved, but I thought I would write down my thoughts from a musical perspective with probably more on a venue perspective in regards sound. Sound is very important (if you can't hear something why do it??) so bear that in mind as it is my focus a lot of the time. Will anyone else be bothered by it? Probably not.

I missed the first band, but as I said there were quite a few in there to see The Switch. I thought they were ok actually, with a bit of a RATM vibe about it here and there; even if the singer looked and acted a bit more brit-pop/indie than Zack de la Rocha. On stage the vocals were lost, but the band itself sounded just fine (in a garage rehearsal kind of way) without extra amplification. I wasn't there for sound check, but I bet there were feedback issue getting the vocals any louder. This is because the PA speakers were behind the mics (at the back of the 'stage') and this will invariably cause feedback. Due to the nature of the seating arrangement there was no front to the stage so I understand why this was done (visual). If there could be a re-arrangement so that the speakers were in front of the mic line you would have much better luck and can get things clearer with less feedback.

The singer was great on the recorded tracks, but perhaps he had issues on stage and couldn't hear properly? Not going to lay into him as I couldn't really hear anything horrific, but his performance wasn't the top of his game to be fair to him. But I have heard MUCH worse from better situations (having monitors etc.).

Just goes to show, that with a fair few people the room can sound relatively ok for a band though. Weird that there was a large stack of PA at the 'screen end' that was not in use for the band, though. Also, the Behringer in house PA could have easily been used as additional reinforcement for the vocals. That very same PA system was however bothering my ears after the band finished (although I like the use of the videos with the tracks being played all around the venue). It sounded so harsh with no bottom end and I literally had ear pain afterwards. It could easily be tuned though I imagine, but it was quite empty at that point so maybe that didn't help.

This of course sounds like mostly negatives, but I hope you realise that I was expecting much worse based on the size of the room. If some decent bands could play there and there was a more definite 'stage area' with defined sound reinforcement that can cater better/larger bands I think it would be just fine for music.... as long as there are plenty of punters to soak up that long reverb time. It all costs money and advertisement would need to step up, but this has all been said before. Nice to see Benji (Sawyer from Lost) down there, as it's been a looooong time.

[tauzero]

I went down after recording last night to check out the Casa bar. I oddly quite liked the much criticised layout (while there were people there) as it was a bit different and pushed the audience nearer the front of the room to give the impression of less expanse in there.

It's a little different to how it was a fortnight ago. Then, there was one sofa straight in front of the band and everything else was off to the sides. It meant that you had (in our case) no-one in your direct eyeline or (in Under-63's case) a bald bloke looking bored (that would have been me then). The two angled, and longer, sofas gave a better distribution from a player's perspective. So a definite change for the better, and arguably a better move than putting the band into the corner.

Sound is very important (if you can't hear something why do it??) so bear that in mind as it is my focus a lot of the time. Will anyone else be bothered by it? Probably not.

I was, as it happens. Couldn't get the right sound out of my bass, but that could be because I haven't set up my effects unit for it (I set the EQ on it using a fretted bass with roundwounds and with Different Glory I use a fretless bass with flatwounds). And the vocals (as you surmised) were a problem - that was as high as the vocal mic could go before feeding back. There's no graphic eq on the PA amp so there's no way of fine-tuning room resonances out. We had a problem hearing each other - that's really down to playing more gigs though, as this was our first gig and up to now we've been rehearsing in a studio about the same size as Unit 58. Thinking about it, we had both bands' backline up at the same time - would have been better off putting ours in front of theirs and narrowing our equipment stage.

This of course sounds like mostly negatives, but I hope you realise that I was expecting much worse based on the size of the room. If some decent bands could play there and there was a more definite 'stage area' with defined sound reinforcement that can cater better/larger bands I think it would be just fine for music.... as long as there are plenty of punters to soak up that long reverb time. It all costs money and advertisement would need to step up, but this has all been said before. Nice to see Benji (Sawyer from Lost) down there, as it's been a looooong time.

The crowd last night was far, far larger than a fortnight ago. We'd brought along about ten F&F, The Switch attracted considerably more. Once you get more than 40 or 50 people in there, the atmosphere picks up well. We enjoyed it and it was close to an ideal first gig.

[i am legion]

Yeah last night was alot better than the last one.i was really happy with the crowd turnout and both Different Glory and The Switch perfomed fantasticly and from my point of view and a few customers i talked to afterwards the sound was fine not the best but not the worst i could hear all instruments and vocals clearly(im sure i will be corrected by all the sound techs on here as im not one) but thats my opinion. A stage would be great! but there are plans for a raised seating area to be built on that side of the bar and i think that will help.Equipment wise yes i need more , bigger desk, monitors,speakers. but again its got to come from my pocket so will take a little longer.All in all last night was great and enjoyed by most and hopefully the start of bigger turnouts to Reverb nights. Thanks to both bands and cant wait to have you guys back again Alex write some more songs dude i was really getting into your sound and you finished Next Reverb is April 1st line up to be announced shortly