Rehearsals : "It seems fresher this way"

There is no doubt that over-rehearsal can make certain kinds of music seem staid and dull. Guys who just stand on stage sighing whilst they belt out the same chords as they belted out last night and a hundred nights before - we've all seen bands like that. 

Certain kinds of music are about technique. Others are about soul. Some combine both. Chris is quite raw emotionally and this seems to be something people like about Dakota Suite. Once, about 12 years ago, Chris went on a long rant to me about how he didn't want to make the music seem dull in a live presence and how he couldn't really rehearse being emotional. 

I buy that. I totally do. 

There is, however, the other end of the spectrum. When we toured Spain about five years ago, we rehearsed for the grand total of about 45 minutes. Bear in mind, we were doing a set that was supposed to last an hour and a half. Do the math. What made that worse was that, when we arrived in Madrid, instead of the small pub warm-up gig being our first engagement, the record company excitedly told us that they'd got us on a TV show and that we would - that very afternoon - be on Spain's top independent music TV programme. 

Well, wasn't that a treat for all concerned? Us and the audience were all giggling at how bad we were. I have the tape somewhere. Only watched it the once, mind. And I fast-forwarded a lot. 

Somewhere around the middle of most tours, we start to get to the point where we're no longer thinking about "what section are we playing?" and it starts to flow a bit better. I really reckon that's what allows the emotion to flow - if you're thinking too much about structure and arrangement, you're not letting go. So, I favour at least a few rehearsals - something that I've managed to convince Chris is worthwhile over the last few years... and something that I've 100% failed to actually get us to do. 

For instance, we have a new bass player for this tour, Alex. Me + Alex have conscientously rehearsed together once and are doing another one tonight. Alex will meet Chris & David for the first time on Saturday when we will rehearse. Sunday is the pretend soundcheck rehearsal followed by the first gig. Yay! 

Poor Alex. Luckily, he's a talented guy and picks things up uber-quickly. This should help. 

As a guide to how bad things can be, at the Tanned Tin festival, John, the previous bass player, was playing the wrong song on at least two occasions. Us being consummate professionals we did what anyone else would do in the circumstances: we sped up, kept our heads down and hoped noone would notice.