The intimate and lovely Cottage Club in Fish Hoek was the perfect place to sing a bunch of my original songs – Thanks to my friend Justin Stevens for the photo!
Ten years ago, I used to be quite busy with my original music, going to Open Mics, pubs and showcases, as I studied towards my MSc Degree in Engineering. I guess I had more free time then?
Life happened, I started to work, and I started to play less and less. Then about a year ago I was scrolling through my Facebook one day and saw my old school friend @Clairemobey share something she had written when she was still a teenager. She was bravely getting back into her song-writing and singing, and I wanted to help.
We started with an open mic at a café near the surf at Muizenberg, and it went well. We then played at the Barleycorn showcase that I used to frequent a lot in those old days. The audience listened intently, and we enjoyed ourselves a lot, but our slot was only 30 minutes. We needed more! (@jusipassetti and @therneau – thank you for you support at that one! It meant a lot to us!)
We have started to record Claire’s songs as best we can on a loop pedal and some free Software, and she has already submitted it successfully to a local radio station called Zone Radio.
Serendipity happened. A friend of a local music legend Bill Knight messaged me out of the blue, asking if I wanted to play at Bill Knight’s intimate music venue in Fish Hoek called the Cottage Club, and make a share of the entrance fee?
Ooh – a mixture of excitement and anxiety. I normally only get paid for playing covers at a bar in Hermanus that my friends run. This would mean getting paid for my original babies I had written myself, and the opportunity to invite Claire to also take that step, which I knew she was ready for!
But, that would mean no default audience… the people in the room would be there to see me and Claire. What if nobody came and we played to an empty room?
My lovely wife Julia made this flyer and helped me and Claire share it around…
It turns out that my friends and family are amazing. Of the 30 seats that Bill Knight said would be “a squeeze”, they rallied to fill 20 of them. I then learnt that the local supper club were going to be providing a beautiful curry dinner to their supporters, and suddenly the other 10 seats were filled… and Bill Knight told me he was having to tell people he was fully booked for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic started back in March 2020.
Now we just had to play the music. I started alone on stage, you can watch me nervously get started with my song Factory Town here (thanks to @Zakludick for the video!)
After that one, I started to relax and enjoy myself. The sound was great, and the audience was wonderful. Listening intently to my sadder songs, laughing at my more humorous songs, and even perfectly shoo-wopping along between lines of a song with a little help from Claire. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, playing only my own songs for about an hour!
Then @clairemobey joined me on stage. We sang a mixture of covers, her own original songs, and the last few original songs of mine in a great mix. Claire sang wonderfully and I think she really enjoyed herself!
She has shared a couple of videos from the evening on Youtube. Here’s her beautiful “A Song of Hope”:
When we played covers, we wore the “cover hats of shame” to let the audience know we hadn’t written this song ourselves! We finished the night with a cover that Claire dedicated her wonderful and supportive partner @zakludick, here (from Claire’s Youtube):
Well, that was until the audience demanded more! I quickly played them some funny songs I have written for my baby daughter Madison to enjoy when she’s a toddler. I think the audience appreciated the authentic look into my life with those ones!
It was a magic evening. I appreciate my friends and family so much for coming though. I appreciate that there are still a few venues like the Cottage Club left in Cape Town, where the sound is great and the audience is keen to listen to local original music. I look forward to going back and trying to find the other venues that are this magic!
Be sure to follow @clairemobey, she will soon be posting about this lovely evening from her perspective as well!
THE END!