I'm still buzzing from a lovely day on Saturday!
I managed to have a dawn surf session with just one friend in windless conditions, which is the dream if you're into surfing! I've also been ill lately, but was starting to feel a bit better...
And that evening, we got to attend and play our original songs at the very first show-case that my old friend Matt Roux and his son have organized.
Who are we? By we, I mean myself and fellow Hive blogger @clairemobey. I would also like to state up-front that all the photos and the video in this post were taken by @zakludick, who is Claire's super supportive boyfriend, and the person who got us both on Hive in the first place.
I've been playing songs together with Claire for about a year now. We both write songs, and it has basically rejuvenated my passion for music to hear the ideas we come up with to help each other and collaborate.
I hadn't seen Matt Roux for years. The concept also sounded crazy - Ten acts playing three songs each, with an introductory set by Matt Roux and his son as well... so 11 different acts in one night? How long was this all going to take, wasn't it going to be a bit too manic?
In fact, the only reason I signed us up for this is because Claire and Zak live in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa - and I have been making her come all the way to venues I know in the Southern Suburbs every other little gig we have had so far. I don't know the Northern Suburbs scene and venues very well!
Our most recent gig together (on my side of town) before this was actually a bit of a milestone for me, where we actually made a nice bit of money playing almost entirely original music. Luckily my friends were very supportive, and so were the local community around that venue and so we had a full house and a great time. It was very encouraging! You can read more here: @jasperdick/music-live-videos-our-first
So was the evening a complete mess? No it was a complete pleasure!
Our hosts for the evening! The last time I saw little Dan Roux he was probably 5 years old - now he's 15, taller than old Dad - and basically Dad is now just hanging back and letting his super talented son have some structure to play amazing lead guitar over. Amazing to see someone so young who loves the blues and plays it well! It made me all emotional, as I have a baby daughter who turns one year old soon and I am watching her learn to shake a rattle and blow on a tin-whistle with anticipation! She seems to understand how to strum a guitar I'm holding or plink at a keyboard already as well which seems a bit advanced for a baby! - Will my daughter surpass my musical talents one day?
Claire, Zak and myself supporting the music while we wait for our turn - oh hey, I suppose I did take this one picture with Zak's phone?
The food was great as well! Zak had an amazing burger, but I get too nervous to eat well before a gig so I asked for a chicken salad and received this beautiful creation!
I'm going to leave it to @clairemobey to explain the evening in detail, but I will just say it was delightful to watch various musicians with various styles and levels of experience. One music teacher brought his students who blew us away, some people seemed less prepared than others, but the audience stayed supportive and vibey throughout!
With only 3 songs to prepare, we put extra effort into how to spice them up. I made poor Claire play shaker and tambourine in public for the first time, and I got to try my new stompbox, which sounded great!
We started vibey, went soft, and then got vibey again! Claire has shared the first video, one of my songs, on Youtube already, but please give her a follow as I'm sure she will post the others and describe the evening in much better detail soon!
My song describing how it felt to come home to beautiful Cape Town, after being stuck in an ugly factory town for my first job, should appear below
THE END