Sugar Reef, 29th March 2006

Hi everyone,

Piccadilly circus... mmmhhh... Central London... Wouahhh, Hell no!!
Rewind....

Jake, the promoter of the Sugar Reef, gives us the number of the other band, so we can arrange with them who brings what!! Fred calls them but they're not gonna play, for whatever reason ...
Fred calls back Jake and says it's practically impossible to bring the drum kit ourselfs, since Fred is working in Luton until late, the drumkit is in East London and the bar is in Central London, meaning the taxi is going to be very expensive!!! He says, no problem, bring it and I will arrange something for you to go back (=I will pay for your taxi)...

7.30PM, I meet John at the venue and together we wait for the taxi to arrive with on board, Fred, who left work early, Nico who went to give a hand and (not only) the drumkit, (but also) the bass and the guitar amps...
We check the venue, the "stage" space, etc... Quick sound check... And there the evening began:
4 acts on the list: Jake, the promoter and a friend on accoustic guitar; a hip hop 3-piece group singing over a hip hop (=yo!) soundtrack; a female solo singer singing on a soundtrack and with a background guitar player (Phil).
Each act were allowed two songs (except MN who got 3), with a DJ "playing" in between acts. After the first round, eact act was coming back for a second set of two songs each again!!!
No comment about acts (Yo, Hu, ha ha...)

So when MN went to play, it was a bit different with banging heads... They played the intro "Talalalala", Hello, The Boat, Babe, Melody. Arrived the moment for the last song of the second set.. What are they going to play....Nico looks at Jake and asks if they can play a "small" Medley... Yeah sure...
You should have seen Jake's face, at each song's change, he was asking to stop because they were "too long". And I still don't know why it mattered since all other acts left, the only people left in the place were two MN friends and I and a couple who was talking to Jake and seemed to realy enjoyed the music... so What exactly was the point? The bar closes at 2AM!!! And it is 11.25!!!
Finally, Jake was really annoying so they stopped in the middle of it...
We quickly packed up everything to make sure we could get the last tube, what John and and Nico did, and left Fred (and I) to ask Jake to call a cab and/or to pay for it...
" Euh.. There were not enough people who paid at the door, and I have to pay other people, so I can't help you guys...."
Fred told him he was an arsehole and if he hadn't promised on the phone to pay for the return cab, they wouldn't have never played there in the first place!!!!!
So, Fred tries to find a cab, a people carrier, not too expensive since we already payed £40 to come... It took him more than 1/2hour to get one, a guy who said "no problem, I'll be there in 30minutes (other companies had said more than one hour wait!), and for £35"
More than an hour later, still no sign of that cab, Fred calls him back, he's lost in Tottenham Court Road!!! So we found another one, actually just parked outside the bar, who could do it for £40.
So there we go, packing the cab with all the stuff at 1.30AM and going back home to East London!!

Conclusion, £80 for 6 songs, that makes a MN song very expensive...To play...Isn't "making a living from music" the other way round?

When are we going to find a friend with a van, who will enjoy the music, know that his job is to drive and won't drink too much???

and/or

When are we winning the lottery, so we can buy a van?

Lets' start to play tomorrow...

BTW, photos are ready to view, the key is Sugar



:):):) MNPA/PR :):):)

Walkabout, Sound Check competition, 23rd March 2006

Hello everyone,

Misses Nice was playing at the Walkabout, the West London Aussie H.Q., in a competition called Sound Check!!!

We arrived there around 8PM and already it was pretty full, people eating, drinking, chatting,etc... It's a huge bar and the stage is really high, at least 2 metres above!!!

There were 4 bands on the list, MN was to play 3rd, perfect...

Quickly people were coming and invading the space and the dancing floor...
First band, I didn't catch any of the names but the band was fronted by a girl, great voice, great stuff; for once, it was really not boring to listen to the other bands!
Second band was as well really good, fronted by an energetic black guy, also great voice and the songs were well performed.

The audience was responsive, which is great, they were not only there to drink!!!

Third MN: the fans were all ready, screaming "Misses Nice, Misses Nice"... They played "The Intro", Hello, Melody, Black night, Purple, Babe.

Then, we waited for the "results"... Time to drink, chat happily and take photos of everyone...
It was actually quite late when they announced the results but we had to stay to "Know"...
And The Sound Check winner is..... Misses Nice...

What??? Wouahhhh.... Then you scream, you hug everyone, you congratulate the band, etc...
Plus, we were very happy since the choice was by the organisers and not by the audience (=Who's got friends in the room?), so they actually wn because they were the best!!! Even though they didn't play Vivaldi!!?!! That's really good...

On our way home, while waiting for the last Central line tube, Rob took his guitar and played a few songs. In the tube, Nico took it and playe a few Beach Boys ones, entertaining people in the carriage. For once, people were nice, singing with us, etc...

That was the end of a fantastic evening...

Thank you to all the people who came to that west London venue, Ben and Alicia, Rob, Alex, Sam and Marie-Aimee, Nico's mum from Belgium...

The photos are ready to view. The key is Walk1
Enjoy and see u next time...


:):):) MNPA/PR :):):)

The Bell, 11th of March 2006

Hi again,

Yes, Misses Nice was playing in Elephant and Castle, in a pub called The bell. They've already played in that same pub, exactly 2 weeks ago, but I wasn't there that WE, so no review, nor photos...

Once again, the evening started by Fred calling a big cab to carry all the stuff, including the voice amps and me. As usual, he played successfully at that famous game, called Tetris...


We arrived at the pub, where we got a warm welcome by the people there and got a hand to unpack the cab.. Ouaaaah... our first roadie.. ;)

Started playing a bit after 9PM, had a a couple of break, but basically entertained all the people for a good 4 hours... There were a few locals, seemed very happy people enjoying the music... 2 birthdays celebrated as well... And a few of "our" people, a couple from Stratford and our very own Fan of the Month (Feb) Ben and his as important girlfriend Alicia...

Also, a couple of potential singers, and amongst them, Johnnie came on stage, having prepared something... and performed songs from Gun's and Roses, Metallica and the Doors.

Al was once again present and filmed all evening... He also surprised us all by taking the guitar and played a nice piece during one of the break.

The Thanks go to Ben, Alicia, Johnnie, to all the people WIMC, and the people from the pub obviously (very nice people btw, ...).

Check out the photos of that evening, the key will be Bell1, please be patient I haven't uploaded them yet...

Also check out the gig list they have a few gigs coming up...

Next one is on Wednesday...


:):):) MNPA/PR :):):)

Rose and Crown, 10th March 2006

Hello everyone,

Yes, I know I haven't written anything for a long time but here you go, this WE, Misses Nice was playing on Friday in Walthamstow at the Rose and Crown. This pub we used to go 2 years ago for its jam session until they decided to ban MN from playing there (other musicians, gutted, couldn't face to go after them!!!.. True story...).
They played on the 24th of February in that same venue but as I wasn't there, I didn't write anything about it...
So last time, they played upstairs, this time, they played downstairs, in the actual pub.
Quite a few people... Friday night...

Our evening began at around 7PM, by packing up a cab with all the stuff and unpacking when arrived at the pub. Of course, we had already set up the drum kit by the time Nico and John showed up...
They started playing at around 9PM and played for about 3hours with a break, or two, can't remember...
On the set list, were a mix of covers (BB, Hendrix, Medleys, etc...) and originals (Hello, Melody, The Barman, etc...).
The highlight of the evening was definitely Iain, our 3000th visitor and potential singer, who took the stage and performed a couple of songs. (My opinion... I thought he was very convincing...)
Someone else, also, took the stage, at some point but I can't remember which song it was, and have no idea who's that guy!!!

So, for the evening, all thanks go to John for booking them and Iain for being an excellent guest.

They will play again in that venue on the 7th of April! So check out the gig list, they've got quite a few gigs coming up...

No photos of the evening, I'm afraid... Forgot my camera...

But check out the next post for a review AND photos on Saturday's gig at the Bell in Elephant and Castle...


See u soon

:):):) MNPA/PR :):):)