New Charmers Stuff.

Evening Strumpets,

The Charmers met up for the first time since the Doc Browns Gig On Thursday, and after running through our set of songs, we decided to try some new stuff, and this is what came out of it.

The first song is "Apple Scrumpy" written by Andy, and I think it has the potential to be a future Charmers favourite. It`s such a clever use of innuendo regarding the eating of apples, that you kind of think this must have been done before. To the best of my knowledge it hasn`t been, and if you know that it has, then just whisper it, because I don`t want anyone knowing.

A couple of things about the vid. You may notice that at the beginning there is chat between us regarding one of the lines in the song which Andy had written in his pad. It`s the second line of the second verse which goes "sit beneath this apple tree and let me taste your flesh". Well, the way that Andy had written it definitely did not look like the word "flesh". If he is able to send me a picture of the word as he`s written it, I`ll post it on the blog, and you can make your own minds up about what it looks like, I am far too polite to mention here what it
looked like to me, Carl, and Mark.

Secondly, I`d posted a version of this song which I`d recorded the other day previously on the blog, which had a completely different melody to the words. It was so difficult to blank that out and try and sing it the way Andy had written it, but I think I managed, and it lent itself well to a Wurzels inspired Chorus singalong!

Lastly, When we play new stuff it can be a nightmare to grab everyones attention to let them know we are coming to the end of the song. Carl is playing mandolin out of shot, and he had his head down in a Ray Manzarek styley. so I thought I should give him a whistle to let him know. Carl felt this was an affront to his human rights, so you can just about hear a profanity yelled by him just before it ends, followed by him whistling. I`ve stopped the tape there as his Tourettes kicks in and it might be painful for sensitive ears to behold.


Apple Scrumpy



Next up is a tune which Carl has written. I truly believe that Carl is an absolutely amazing guitarist and songwriter. He nails the theory of it not being the "Rock" but the "Roll" that you should tap into. I`ve played alongside carl for coming up to thirty years, and every time he surprises me with what he can do. It`s just a shame his memory is about as strong as an asthmatic turtles breath.

Carl`s tune is as good as anything we`ve played in my opinion. Great bass playing by Andy by the way. Could we be seeing a "Northern Bass Boy" website. God knows we`ve drank enough of the stuff.

Carl`s Tune



Finally we had about five minutes of studio time left so we thought we`d have a go at resurrecting a song we`d played once a couple of months ago. Shady Grove is what happened. not bad for a first proper go.


Shady Grove



Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.