One of those weeks

 

And by that, of course, I mean a gig week. This time, it's been a long time. Far too long - for obvious reasons. so, it's strange to be doing it again, but wonderful, too. We've already got the first couple of hurdles out of the way - shows supporting the Sisters Of Mercy, and an appearance at Camper Calling, but it's time to do it on our own.

Back to the rehearsal studio, then. For so many years, this was at Survival, in North Acton. We'd rehearsed there before the band became famous, and we just carried on, creatures of habit. There were periods where we rehearsed intensively; the most notable of these around the tours for "Perverse", and "Already". As the most tech-heavy of the sets we played, these needed lots of extra work, and a schedule that drifted into monotony. We'd be block-booked for a couple of weeks, with the entire stage set-up meticulously constructed. We'd arrive at 10, work for three hours, break for lunch up in the canteen, and then get back to it, until 5. After a week or so, the impetus to keep going rapidly diminishes, you just get so sick of the songs. But it does help - we ran through "Idiot Stare" so many times that it became second nature.

That's definitely at the heart of our rehearsal strategy now - second nature, and muscle memory means we're less likely to need such an intensive programme of preparation. For the last few years, we've decamped to our new studios in Surrey, for two weekends. Then, we dropped that to one. We'd block book an evening, and the following morning, so the gear could stay up. Run through the set a couple of times on each day.

But after the shows this year, it's become apparent that we really do have that degree of second nature, down to a fine art. We dropped our rehearsal requirement again. We now do one day. Not only that but one session! So, in at 6pm, done by 10. Run through the set once, and give extra attention to the "new" songs. For the purposes of most rehearsals, this just means songs that are making a reappearance in the set, that we've not played for a while. Just blast through these with much more emphasis - perhaps two or three times in a row. Play through the whole set, then back to those songs, again. We're done within two, or three hours.

I do like how the times have changed, but there's still a part of me that misses the repetition, as it was a part of my life, a routine that underpinned who I was.