Chapter 2 " The world of Clubland "

Hello, and welcome..if this is your first visit to my blog, may I suggest you read my first post before you read this one, it starts st the beginning of my story.
For those who are returning, thank you for coming back for the next installment.

Before I continue with my story I would like to thank all those who wrote comments and sent me messages. I am very happy you enjoyed it, and it gave me the confidence to continue on.

Chapter 2
" Clubland "

So I was telling you about my years doing Karaoke wasn't I, yes, I would definitely call this time an introduction into the world of entertainment !
It was during this time I recorded my first album, a covers album. It was a great experience, and got my first taste of studio work.

Many successful artists, comedians etc often talk about their time spent working in clubs, pubs and hotels, referring to it as serving an apprenticeship, and I would certainly agree with that !
People often think that success happens overnight, and though it may be true that you can be catapulted to stardom, you have to look behind the scenes to the real life stories of the years of trying to make it and knock backs before success. Unless of course you are Charlotte Church, who by the way is a formidable young lady, hello to you !!, or you are just looking for 15 minutes of fame, in which case it can happen overnight, but as soon as you arrive you dissappear again. Those who have maintained longevity and continued success would have spent many years developing their talent and learning their trade so to speak.
To give you just one example, Michael Buble was out there gigging 15 years before he got his break, and though sometimes artists get a little up their own bottoms when they get success, most are humble and very appreciative, as they spent so long trying and never giving up..and that is what it is all about, not giving up your dreams.

Ok, so the words that come to mind are, agents, commities, piss heads, abuse..well I could go on and on, but the bottom line working the clubs is bloody hard work !
Things are a little different today, regarding the standards of agents, clubs and the artists, but I won't go into that too much because it would end up in a essay type ranting session. But when I started out, if you didn't cut the grade you were litterally payed off and shamed in front of the audience, yes , really..it never happened to me, thankfully, but around the clubs of South Wales you often hear stories of a certain Mr Tom Jones being payed off from many clubs when he first started out, but personally I don't think it was his talent, it was probably more to do with his girating hips and leather pants that the conservative punters had an issue with.

For the first few years the venues I played in were generally ok, bar the odd shit hole with one man and his dog..I often wondered why some of these places were paying singers, not that I was complaining of course, but they may well have just had the jukebox on.
Oh my, I could tell you some stories.. one time I was singing in a snooker club and some one, who obviously had an issue with the venue actually threw a snooker ball through the window and it missed my head by inches !
But honestly, sometimes the rougher looking the place, the better the audience..I some some great nights and great fun in some dodgy looking places, I even did a short stint as a Blue comedian, and I can ear some of you saying, really Claire Blue comedy, no, surely not ! You know me too well Ha ha. I would like to say however, that I admire anyone who chooses comedy, it is the toughest job in the world, to make people laugh, I did ok, but at least if I had a bad moment I could blast out a song and all was well again.

After about 3 years singing solo I had the opportunity to join a band, having only ever done a little live work with a sing along 3 piece in my local, I was very happy to get my teeth into a proper band with real musicians..instead of always singing with my backing tracks.
I was lucky enough to play some festivals with my first band, including Brecon Jazz. We performed mainly funk and soul music..and when we were cooking we were hot stuff ! One year it was raining so bad that in between singing, I was stood on stage holding a broom stick trying to push the water off the marquee, what a sight, very glamorous ! Needless to say, that was not the best gig.
Oh, and one year we were playing a big open air festival and the organisers really stitched us up, I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but we were scheduled to follow the local heavy metal band. Now I think back it was very funny, but not at the time ! The band had a big following and most of the audience at that time were there for them, especially the ones sitting closest to the stage, so when we walked on, we were faced with hundreds of heavy metal fans...as you can imagine, starting our set with Pick Up The Pieces, an Average White band track..well I will leave it to your imagination !
I was with the band for about 4 years in total, doing the odd gig, and recording a demo album, but eventually we all went our seperate ways. I learned alot from singing with them, it is very different singing in a band to singing solo. Mostly I learned how to be part of a team, and to listen to what is going on around you, and where to leave space etc..we jammed alot during gigs, even now, it is a favourite thing to do when I am playing with a band, improvising..it is great fun and audiences love it. It is all about creating a one off, something in the moment, that they can feel part of.

Over the following years I sang with a number of bands, including big bands, singing the Jazz standards. I loved it, I have to tell you, there is nothing in this world like singing in front of a full 20 piece band, what a rush !!! I even sang in a pop band with some great friends, who I am still friends with now. One time we did a summer open air gig, it was a huge sell out..but the inevitable happened and it rained, the only day it did that summer, and it had to be this day ! We were gutted, but the funniest thing was the organisers had forgotten to earth the generator..well it was funny, but obviously could have killed us all, needless to say it was sorted out and we lived !
The gig ended up being brilliant, half the people still came and braved the rain, it was like a mini Glastonbury, we had people dancing around in the mud. My feet were so wet that I just kicked my shoes off, the wind was blowing in the direction of the stage so I was soaked through by the end, and I'm sure everyone could see through my top, but I didn't care, it was amazing !

Over this summer, which was 2006 I also recorded another album of covers, and got started on myspace, and the world that is internet networking !

It was also around this time that I started to look towards recording my first album with original work.. I took some time off, and guess what..first I had to get over pneumonia !!!

In my next chapter, I will tell you about recording my demo album, getting my first play on radio, some of dodgy record deal offers I had, and the sharks in the industry..not naming any names of course !


Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it.
Looking forward to seeing you for my next installment.

Love

Claire xx