Last night the members of Quadraceratops converged in Manchester (from various other gigs around the country) for a really nice gig at Sandbar. We were hosted by Efpi Records at their Freedom Principle night, which I thoroughly recommend you check out if you ever find yourself in Manchester on the first or third Tuesday of the month. Everyone from Efpi and Sandbar were super friendly, and a lovely audience turned out to hear the band. It was a perfect second outing for the Quad and a great night all round!

Over the bank holiday weekend I also decided it would be a good idea to make a live EP from some of the tunes we played at the Forge gig, and so with the help of a team of ‘volunteers’ (read: unsuspecting family members) I made a short run of CDs to take to Manchester. They went down really well, with six out of the ten copies (I was short on materials!) snapped up at the gig. More are now available, along with downloads, at our new Quadraceratops Bandcamp page…head over and see what you think.

All in all, a thoroughly good long weekend without a river pageant in sight. I look forward to a return trip sometime, perhaps as some kind of northern mini-tour…*schemes*.

I don’t think I’ve ever booked a gig in so far in advance. It was actually August 2011 when the Forge gig was confirmed, at which point I was just starting to entertain the idea of getting a new set of tunes together and seeing if the band from my final Guildhall exam fancied reforming. When we played on Thursday night, it felt simultaneously like it had been a long time coming and like it had been booked only a few days ago!

Warning: this next paragraph will gush a bit. Essentially, I had a fantastic evening! After a long (self-inflicted) Winter of Writing that ended up extending into a Spring of Still-Haven’t-Finished-Writing, it was so good to actually play the music. On top of that, it felt brilliant to play the music to such a friendly and receptive audience. Plus, the evening itself was extremely smooth-running and I found I was able to relax and chat to friends who’d come along – a situation I don’t think I’ve been in for ages. In summary, here’s to many more gigs like it!

The recording is on its way, but in the mean time here’s an audience-eye-view photo by Darren McCarthy. We’re off to Manchester next week, and I’ve also just confirmed a date with The Jazz Meet, who are going to host us on July 29th at their lovely weekly event in East London. See you out there!