Synthmachine have eventually been getting back into action after a medical timeout, and have now played our first 3 gigs since October last year.

First was at the Live and Let Live, in Harpole (Northamptonshire) for a 60th Birthday bash, which was well received and liked - but unfotunately clashed with the 6 Nations France vs England match which somewhat diverted the pub's attention...

Last week we made a long awaited return to London Calling (in Castle Street, Rugby) where we hadn't played since before Lockdown. Very nice, and an enthusiastic crowd. Thanks to London Calling, we'll be back there again later in the year on September 14th, and November 16th!

And last night, we returned to The Squirrel Inn (Church Street, Rugby) and had a great time as usual. Apologies for the slight technical issue at the start, but hey it's live music!

Shelley has put a quick video of us doing New Order's True Faith on The Squirrel's facebook page

• https://www.facebook.com/reel/2121290501565390

See us again at The Squirrel on Sunday May 5th where we start off Maroganfest 5 at 4.30pm!

• https://www.facebook.com/events/457658416664448/?ref=newsfeed

Synthmachine are taking a short break and rest of 2023 off gigging to refresh our songlist and make a new showreel.

We will return in 2024

Current songs we are learning and reworking to bring back into the set

New:

Banarama - Cruel Summer

Erasure - Sometimes

Revisiting:

Gary Numan - Are Friends Electric

Depeche Mode - Everything Counts

Tears For Fears - Mad World

Ray Parker Jr - Ghostbusters

Yazoo - Only You

Playing in a tent again, for probably the last time this year - in a tent, that is - on a dry but overcast September evening

Dunchurch Pools Marina invited us to play a couple of sets from about 6.30 until late(ish) at their End of Season Moorer's Barbecue, with a quieter first set, and then all the big bangers in the 2nd set.

Here's the tent with our gear set up...

Other tents were available...

Looking out from inside the Synthmachine tent

A view from the back

Between sets, the Dunchurch Pools Marina comedy act of Jax and Flic did their comedy routine, loosely based on drawing the winning tickets and handing out the Raffle Prizes (£609 raised)

Flic got people dancing right at the start of our second set - and that was it. Once someone starts, the rest follow. Just needs someone to be brave and go for it!

And if the audience enjoy it, we do too - so that was good!

Last night, the hottest day in a September heatwave saw us playing in The Squirrel Inn again.

It was frankly too hot, sensible people would have found a pub with a beer garden, or air conditioning, but a few turned up to see us. And as it cooled down later in the evening, a few more stayed in the pub, and sang along and had a good time.

Thanks to everyone who sweltered along with us!

DM

• A Squirrel Inn Video on Facebook - Synthmachine do True Faith by New Order

https://www.facebook.com/thesquirrelrugby/videos/322992120306479/

2022 and gigs are starting to get back to normal, venues are no longer as restricted, although at the start of the year they were requesting the people had taken a - at this time free - Covid test before turning up.

2022 was also the year when Rugby mourned the passing of Sue Garaghty, Landlady of The Squirrel Inn, who booked our first gig as Synthmachine when we only had about 35 minutes of songs, and played with JD doing a "Man with a Guitar" set

• See https://synthmachine.co.uk/posts/debut-gig-went-quite-well/

We miss you, Sue - and cannot play Together in Electric Dreams without thinking of you.

Highlights and notable gigs would be the Crick Music Festival, followed a week later by Hook Norton Festival of Fine Ales, an outside(ish) gig in drizzle at The Boat (Birdingbury Wharf) on The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Weekend, a trip to The New Plough in Tewkesbury, and culminated with Synthmachine playing the New Years Eve gig at the Merchants Inn, Rugby.

A slow start and not many gigs after the year of lockdown and still a risk of people getting Covid, and a year of vaccinations.

Singing Sticks is a "didgeridoo and world music" festival amongst other things, and we were invited to play as a complete contrast.

• https://singingsticks.co.uk/

Rugby Bikefest was delayed from the usual early May Bank Holiday, until September, and we got to open the small stage opposite The Squirrel Inn - Mr Robinson's Stage

We ended the year with a Halloween Gig at The Squirrel Inn

• Max Amos aka MegaStrangeWorld captured some of this on video

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfUR8kvk7k

2020 was hit by Covid Lockdown but we still played these gigs:

Covid took the stage worldwide, and the UK Government imposed lockdowns, closed pubs and clubs, told people to stay at home, work from home, stay safe, wash their hands and not to infect other people.

All well documented.

Synthmachine were able to rehearse with each other from our separate homes using various software solutions, connecting our instruments via USB Audio Interfaces to computers connected to the Internet and to remote servers, and eventually ended up using Jamulus running on Raspberry Pi (or laptop) as our own server, with our separate desktop clients.

It was laggy, there were technical problems, synchronisation problems, but we had a go at learning half a dozen new songs, and rehearsed for the one gig we played during the early September break in Lockdown when the pubs opened again as long as they had table service, the rule of six, hand sanitizing, facemasks, and in our case just enough decent weather to play one gig outside in the Beer Garden at The Oat Hill in Market Harborough on September 5th

We also did some lockdown videos, filming separately on mobile phones, syncing to some of our live recordings with JD splicing the individual videos together and releasing them on Youtube

Recorded at our separate homes, using mobile phones, and playing along separately to a "live" recoding from one of our gigs, then mixed by Ju and compiled into a lockdown video

• The Communards ; Don't Leave Me This Way (cover version) COVID-19 Lockdown Version

• Aha : Take On Me (Cover version) - COVID-19 Lockdown version

• Depeche Mode : Just Can't Get Enough (Cover version) - COVID-19 Lockdown version

• Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark : Enola Gay (Cover version) - COVID-19 Lockdown version

• Pet Shop Boys : Always On My Mind (Cover version) - COVID-19 Lockdown version

• Kraftwerk : The Model (Cover version) - COVID-19 Lockdown version

• Tears For Fears : Shout (cover version) - COVID-19 Lockdown version

• Gary Numan : Cars (Cover version) - COVID-19 Lockdown version

For those who might want to set up remote rehearsals at some point, or just find other people and music genres to join in and jam with:

https://jamulus.io/wiki/Getting-Started