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Doing a U turn on playing gigs

Before I had cancer treatment, I had retired from music. I wrote in my blog that it would be unlikely that I would ever play with  PO! again; I was too old, nobody would want it and it just seemed a crappy thing to do. 

But after having a whole body and hair reboot, the idea of making music with friends just seems like a fantastic idea, because making music IS fantastic. If nobody wants to listen then they don't have to, and it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, because I could have died and not had this opportunity. 

Strangely though, my interest seems to be coinciding with other people's interest in PO! Some are old fans whose names I know from the old mail order business; others are much younger people who have grown up with Japanese fanzines and Spanish vinyl and somehow know that PO! are part of the indie-pop furniture.

2016 got off to a good start when Mark Hibbett emailed and asked me to play a gig at Totally Acoustic in London. A few weeks later, Marianthi from Indietracks was also offering a slot for PO! at the July festival. The guitar came out, songs were considered and practised and, on April 7th, I played solo at Totally Acoustic - the King and Queen pub where Bob Dylan played his UK debut in 1962.
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An amazing kind soul, Alan Hames, has also helped by plodding through all my tape reels and DATs to get the old recordings into this century's format. It means I can re-release the first album, Little Stones fairly soon and put some recordings up on the Internet. I feel like I'm a proper old woman of indie-pop and that's quite a fine thing to be!

The last step is starting rehearsals with Paul (drummer) and Gary (bass) to see if we make the right noise as a 3-piece. The requests from fans are influencing what we'll play at Indietracks (and at least one other gig as a warm-up). I will let you know soon.








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Comments

  1. Anonymous9 May 2016 at 14:07

    There's a lot of good news in this post. Congratulations.

    Although I will probably never catch up with you live, I look forward to possibly upgrading some of my PO! collection with legit digital releases. "Tomboy and Cowgirl" came on my iPod less than a half hour ago (while I was walking back from the library in the rain), and my recording is awful. I held up a microphone to my record player's speaker and had everybody be quiet for 1:55. Not the best method for quality audio. You can hear cars driving by in the background!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ruth PO!9 May 2016 at 14:20

      I will get it done for you. Thanks so much for listening!

      Delete
  2. Unknown9 May 2016 at 14:18

    Lovely writing. Please keep it going. Discovered Po backwards via Ruth's Refrigerator - and am glad I did ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ruth PO!9 May 2016 at 14:21

      Cheers, Nick. I will definitely keep it going now.

      Delete
  3. mwilliams6611 May 2016 at 07:10

    Hi Ruth

    1st. Hooray, you're still alive! :D Glad that old bastard (cancer) didn't manage to see you off and I hope you're in full remission.

    2nd. If you feel Po! needs an extra hand please keep me in mind. I can do guitar and/or bass (and keys at a push).

    Nice to have you back.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ruth PO!12 May 2016 at 13:43

      Hello, Mark; thanks for your comment. I'll keep you in mind!!!

      Delete
    2. mwilliams6612 May 2016 at 14:40

      Cheers.

      I'm glad you remember me :D

      Delete
  4. Unknown12 May 2016 at 11:39

    Fab, as ever.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Andrew Whitehouse12 May 2016 at 12:55

    Very good to hear you're doing music again, Ruth, and also that you're getting better. Maybe I'll finally get to see you play live!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ruth PO!12 May 2016 at 13:45

      That would be great if you could come and see a gig.

      Delete

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