Review Of 2000 Pt 2
As April turned to May we continued our rehearsals for our May 13th concert. We were determined to build on February's success, and had kept largely the same set list. We'd changed the cover version from 'Nine Times Blue' to 'Nevada Fighter', the Shorties oldie from 'Steve' to 'Be Still' and had replaced 'Toxic Stamp Glue' with the brand new 'Noriega'. Dan was sick of 'Toxic Stamp Glue' as he performed it with his other band too, and had played it to death. The other songs stayed the same. Meanwhile I'd bought a Gretsch Monkee model guitar, an original from 1967. It arrived on the 12th, and made it's debut the following day.
The gig, at the same venue as before (The Hope and Anchor) was a resounding success. 63 people came to see us and, with other band's supporters, there were 77 people in the venue (whose capacity is 78!) . While we've played to lots more people (at Monkee conventions for example), this is the most people who've specifically come to see us (the venue pays us based on flyers handed in with our name on). This made for a great home town vibe. As a lot of people were at the February gig too, they were beginning to get to know the songs and really get into them.The reception we got was fantastic, and, at the end, the audience screamed for an encore so long and loud that we 
had to go back on.
We hadn't rehearsed any more tunes, so we played 'Kirsten' for a second time. People were singing along to it, which is the best endorsement you can have. It was a triumph. It was also nice that ex-Shorty Mal came along to cheer us on for old times sake, and was very complimentary afterwards.
Above left: Aiden plays bass on 'Is Love Enough?'
Above Right: Spaceman Dan plays the acoustic.
Left: Ravi in his element
Just over a week after the gig. Aiden and Mal met up at Mals workplace, to begin editing our second film: 'Shortyworld: The Movie'. Mal edits full time, and has done work for the BBC, so we knew he'd do a good job, but he exceeded all our expectations. He was prepared to take as long as it needed, and we worked a full 12 hour day, and were barely half way through, so we arranged to meet up again. Mal's next free date was June 4th, and we edited for another 11 hours and still had not finished, so Mal finished off the last few things himself. We arranged a cast and crew premiere for June 9th, which was very well attended, and the verdict was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and positive. 
We released it as a limited edition, and it quickly sold out. While we are clearly no actors, the movies are a nice way of doing something a bit different and keeping everyone fresh. As a bonus to our fans who'd had to wait ages for the video to be edited (many had pre-ordered in January), we included bonus footage from our 2 most recent concerts.
Above left: Dan on the 'red carpet' at the premiere. Above right: A still from the movie.
Around this time we learned that the long-ballyhooed Monkees tribute album was finally to be released, and a press release from the company still listed our 'Girl I Knew Somewhere' on the inlay. Aiden meant to confirm details with 'Planting Seeds' the record label releasing the cd, but never quite got round to it, as his time was taken up by the next set of recording sessions. These took place the day after the movie premiere, on June 10th. Saul was behind the drums and the songs recorded were 'My Mind Is On Sale In The Small Ads' and 'Eva, I'm On The Edge'. Like 'Maren' 'Eva' was written for a Shorties fanclub member. Eva had complained no-one would ever write a song with her name as the title, so we did. Liam wrote it while he was in Japan, so it's one of the older tunes on the album. 
It utilizes 6 different guitar parts, electric and acoustic, including several with effects, to add flavour and variety in the absence of keyboards, and this works a treat. Saul kept things ticking over with a wonderful calm and soothing pattern in the gentle verses, only to spring into action when the choruses kick in.
'My Mind Is On Sale' comes from a set of Saul's lyrics. Like with 'Suitcase' on the debut album, we jammed the tune up as a group during rehearsals, so that all 4 of us get a writing credit. Saul's drumming on this was superb, bearing in mind how little opportunity he has to practice on the kit now he no longer rehearses regularly with us. The lyrics are superb too. 
Stuart, meanwhile, came all the way down with his full set of keyboards. He knew he wasn't playing on 'Eva', but after we tried a variety of sounds and parts for 'My Mind', what worked best was a simple 6 note phrase using a banjo sound, which he could, and did, play with 1 finger! But the song sounded amazing, and that's the main thing.
At the end of the session, we took several photos of the 5 of us, to be used on the inside of the rarities album. At that stage it was still scheduled for an October release.
Above left:Aiden on his 'Monkees Gretsch'.
Above:Saul back behind the cans.
Left:A rejected photo from the Rarities shoot.
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