Late afternoon on Friday 4th March, we arrived at the Comedy Pub in Leicester Square to find that Marc (who usually looks after these events, and likes our sound), was on holiday. His replacement was far more 'by the book'. This worked to our disadvantage, as we had only been able to get the opening slot, due to booking the gig quite late. While Marc will always wait till the crowd is in and settled, the lady replacing him ushered us on stage at 8.05 while people were still coming through the door, or taking their coats off. She also made it clear that, unlike Marc, she wouldn't allow us to go even slightly over our 30 minute slot and so we had to drop '1500 Wasted Nuns' from the set before we'd even got on stage.We took to the stage and launched in to 'He Plays The Lottery'. The PA man had got a great sound for us, better than the last gig, and we were playing really well. I began thinking how fantastic it was going...and completely forgot the middle 8!!. But, a sign of the times, we never lost our cool and I got back in step with the others almost immediately. We finished and got a good round of applause. It's always risky to begin a gig with a brand new song, but we have great faith in this tune, and the crowd response leads us to believe this could be a real fave in gigs to come.
Next up was 'Miss William's Guitar' (our Jayhawks cover). We really have a nice arrangement of this tune and, by covering a song that not many in our audience know, it almost seems like an original tune. Then came another gig debutante 'Armies Of Terror'. Like Lottery this had lyrics by Liam, as when he knew he was leaving for Japan he gave us any lyrics he hadn't written tunes for and either I (in the case of 'Lottery') or Dan (as here) wrote a tune. We thought this would be the new 'George W Bush' but for whatever reason it died horribly. We always give songs at least 2 cracks of the whip so hopefully it will get a better reaction next time out.
It was at this time that Collette (my wife) came to the front of the stage to explain that she couldn't camcorder the gig, as the battery had been left in the camcorder case, now buried in a pile of equipment backstage. This was pretty disappointing for several reasons. You work for a matter of months preparing for a gig and then it is over in half an hour. All questions of ego aside, the work you put in seems much more worth it if you have a tangible record of what you have done. Over and above that, you can get a better idea of what songs are working and which aren't by watching the show again, from outside the centre of the melee, and lastly Liam had asked us to tape it and send it to him in Japan so he could see what we had done with his lyrics in 'Lottery' and 'Armies'. So that was a little disheartening, but we are true professionals ( ;) ), so we pressed on with 'Migration Situation'..
That song is a real mystery. Dan's demo is amazing, almost a complete song in itself, and the structure and style of it would seem to lend itself perfectly to a full group performance. And, in fact, sometimes in rehearsals we play it and you get goosebumps as it really comes together. but 'sometimes' is the key word. We never seem to get it as it could be, more than once in any rehearsal. We play it competently, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't catch fire. It was dropped from the acoustic gig last year for that reason, and while it got a second chance at this gig, it may not reappear at future gigs. A real shame because on paper, it 'coulda been a contendor'.
Another one that didn't make the grade live was 'Don't Let the Grass Grow'. I feel 'Grass Grow' is a grower (pardon the pun), and will show its true worth on the album, but at a gig when you are playing songs that no-one knows (none of these tunes have been on an album yet) you need songs with instant appeal and 'Grass' doesn't have it. However my 'Mike, you're a real Ravi Shankar' joke got a fanastic response (as good as the 'Baby Sitar' joke at the last gig) which was pleasing. 
'The Independent People's Revolutionary Office' was a huge hit on its debut last gig, and this time it brought the house down. We were playing at our very highest level throughout this gig, and we really brought home the bacon here. Entertaining lyrics and a catchy tune and arrangement mean this could be a concert staple for years to come. Maybe the crowd were just more relaxed having had a chance to grab a drink and take their coats off, or maybe we had saved the winners to the end of the concert, but the response was definitely getting better as we went through the gig.
Leopard's Head, Liam's quirky classic, was extremely well received, as was Dan's brand new 'New Orleans', an epic in the style of 'Miss Friel' and 'Pismel'. Then it was time for the final number, and, as with the last gig, we chose 'Bob Dylan'. Mike's sci-fi solo heralding my leap into the corwd and a freak out finish which brought a great response. Nonetheless, despite playing really well, it is fair to say that while on stage, we were slightly disappointed by the reaction of the crowd throughout the evening, compared to the previous gig.
As soon as we got off stage, however, everyone starting telling us that our performance, and the sound, was a big improvement even on October's gig. I dismissed the first few remarks as possible politeness but everyone was saying it to all of us, and it soon became clear that in gauging the voluming of cheering etc, what we weren't factoring in was that the later slot at the previous gig had given everyone the chance to have a drink, take off their coats, get in the mood etc. So it was heartening to know that it did sound as good to the crowd, as it did on stage, and that all our hard work had paid off in a top-drawer performance. That notwithstanding, we decided there and then that we will no longer accept 'first on the bill' slots.
1) Aiden and Matt get in the groove
2) 'Rockin In The free world' L to R: Dan, Chris, Aiden and Matt
3) Mike on the keyboards
4) Aiden plays the recorder, while Mike practices his MC pose.
5) Lost In Music.
On Monday May 23rd we returned to 'The Comedy' for our second gig of the year. We had made sure we were second on the bill, to give people enough time to get through the door and settled before we took the stage, and this worked very well. With Marc back as compere things were also less rushed and so it was nearly 9pm before we took to the stage. We kicked off with 'Bob Dylan' which has closed the set on several occasions, as it has a fantastic energy, and a groovy 'wig-out' solo by Mike at the end. As the last chords died away, the crowd roared their approval. We could tell from the first song that we were playing tightly and with confidence and assurance. The positive crowd response added to this and we fed off the crowds response, and they fed off our reaction to that response. 
It's funny because when I watch the playback the electric guitar is clearly out of tune, yet our various wives and girlfriends (who are brutally honest) all said it was not noticeable out in front. So maybe I need to learn to worry less about these things, I'm just a perfectionist I suppose. I don't think it can have been noticeable, because if it had been the audience would not have roared like they did.
Long time friend of the band Dave Horne added his silky trumpet playing skills to the blend, and lo they heard and it was bloody good. Despite the false/protracted ending, which discourages great cheers, it was clear that this one was another crowd pleaser.
From its 1st performance in October 04, Liam's most recent full song (words and music) 'Leopard's Head' has proven a huge favourite with audiences. This time was no exception, and although no-one can sing it like Liam, we had a go, and the cheap Irish whistle carried the song home.
During the summer months we endeavoured to push forward with the recording of our next album 'Osbert Scoon'. On June 25th Saul and I recorded the latest editions of our Radio
Show, following the very positive reaction the first 2
reunion shows recorded in December 2004 received.
This time, however, we used improved technology, and also added a guest presenter, Daniel Auty. The conversation always flows
among the 3 of us, so I knew the only prob would be actually getting some
music played admit all our ramblings and so it proved! On Sunday June 26th the Shorties (with Saul, and not Chris at the kit) recorded 2
new songs, 'Alfie's Theme' and 'The Return To Skiffle Rock'
On Aug 22nd Matthew joined the 3 aforementioned Shorties for more
overdubbing. This time it was bass, percussion, and vocal
overdubs primarily. At this time we were still, perhaps naively, aiming for a February 06 release date.
November 2005: Wow!! What A Gig!
I'm still on a high, one week on!! 
The audience were amazing too. So supportive from the word go, and loud and enthusiastic throughout. The sound engineer did a good job too, by and large. The odd bit of feedback aside, he looked after us really nicely, especially bearing in mind he'd never seen us play before. And our instruments behaved and stayed in tune too. 
I also think that we may have found the next Shorties 'classic'. Dan's new song 'Drown'. The demo was good, but this was one where as a band we really came up with some amazing ideas in rehearsals that took it to the next level. The last rehearsal before the gig it was becoming clear it was really catching fire and on the night it brought the house down, with the audience clapping along from the first few bars, though no-one had ever heard it before. If that isn't a show closer soon, I'll be a monkey's uncle