We had talked of a possible fourth gig in November, as another pub had shown interest in having us play, but those plans were immediately abandoned. We were determined to look to the future so of the 9 songs chosen for the Rockgarden gig, only 1 (Steve) had been done live before!! Of the remaining 8 there were 6 from the 'Mook' album and 2 brand new tunes, 'Dummy Love' and 'This Coffee Cup', both by Liam. We rang Mal who said he'd love to come and get up on stage for old times sake, and we rang Jane who'd played flute on the second album. The plan was that both would guest on 'The Treasure Of Sarah Madre'. Then we called up Saul's father, who'd played washboard so brilliantly on 'Generation Why' to see if he'd like to take repeat his role in a live context, he eagerly agreed. Lastly, Aiden approached Stuart McIlroy, a musician at his workplace, to see if he wanted to become a part-time Shorty, playing keyboards, both live and in the studio, and he jumped at the chance.
Above Left: The whole band, including new boy Stuart, rock out.Right:Mike Penfold plays percussion on Generation Why.
Leading up to our first rehearsal post-Mark I was genuinely nervous, however the sound was fantastic. Liam's arrangements were stunning, especially his re-working of 'All's Well' which no-one had thought could ever be performed live.
Around this time we took delivery of our new t-shirts we'd been planning/orchestrating since June (see Pt 1). They looked stunning, and the fans seemed to dig them as they sold out within a week!!
After a rather patchy final rehearsal, with problems on the tempo of 'Dummy Love' especially, on the day itself we were all a little nervous. The set list was:The Treasure Of Sarah Madre, This Coffee Cup, You Better Stick With Me Baby, All's Well That's Never Begun,Dummy Love,Steve, Castro's Jig, Generation Why, Yuki.
We got off to an awful start. Dan had injured his hand but thought he could still play the guitar well enough. We kicked off and it sounded great to us, but Dan was feeling it was sounding dire, and so to try and drown it out, or out of sheer frustration, began shouting the song, and it began to turn into a blur of noise.
Mal had also failed to turn up (he'd come down with flu) and it was a totally inauspicious start. The other problem was there were so many coloured spotlights on us you couldn't see a thing, and Aiden just couldn't do his gags, as he couldn't see the audience to engage them. He said that he felt really nervous throughout the gig because of this. For the next song we needed a chair, and in trying to manouevre it, Aiden got his guitar strap trapped under it. The gig was threatening to turn into a farce. But from that moment on in we really got it together. The crowd was really warming to us, and went ape for our new tune 'Dummy Love'. Saul's drummed superbly on it, allaying all concerns, and we all felt it had an amazing vibe. Indeed ex-Shorty Mike Ulrich rushed up to us afterwards and said he'd love to do a remix of it. Saul's father Mike Penfold got a huge cheer for his amazing playing on 'Generation Why', and 'Yuki' proved to be a great closing number, with the kazoo/harmonica interplay going down a storm. Stuart too had come through with flying colours, and had enjoyed himself greatly. Overall it was a highly successful gig, with the best moments perhaps equalling or exceeding the best we've ever played live. Above left: Saul sings 'All's Well..' while Dan takes a turn on drums
Right: Liam gets into a groove on Dummy Love
As we began preparing for the first recording session for the third album, where the 2 new songs previewed at the Rockgarden gig (Coffee Pot & Dummy Love) would be recorded, Aiden busied himself with finding a replacement for Saul. He emailed Mark and asked for Ravi Loebeer's number. Ravi had drummed with us at our seven year anniversary gig,and, as well as being a brilliant drummer, had totally fitted in to the Shorties vibe. It would be ideal if we could secure his services but it was a long shot. However, to everyone's amazement Ravi jumped at the chance. He remembered the great atmosphere the Shorties had, and, though his time was limited as he was commited to other bands, he could commit to more than enough dates to keep us going till Saul's return. Next up was The Shorties movie. Back in 98, 3 Shorties fans had thought of writing a follow up to our 1996 movie, 'The Magic Formula'. A plot outline was conceived, and one of the three, Crystal Vining, penned the first 2 scenes.
When work commitments overtook the other members of the triumviate, Aiden finished off the screenplay, with Crystal contributing extra ideas along the way. Before final editing of the script was finished other fans, and indeed Liam and Dan, had contributed extra gags. Martin Parsons and Andy Buesnel who'd starred in the original came on board for the sequel, as did original director Shane O'Sullivan. With the addition of more friends as support cast, and the hiring of a mini DV camera, we were all set. The movie was shot over the weekend of the sixth and seventh of November, using Chris Cranie(a good friend)'s house for most of the indoor scenes, with outdoor scenes being shot around London. Other indoor scenes were shot at the home of ex-Shorty Mike Ulrich who also made a cameo appearance. Things didn't start well. On Saturday morning we opened the 2 'identical' suitcases we had bought especially, having stressed repeatedly how important it was that they were identical, and found that ONE WAS BLACK and ONE WAS BLUE!!!
Dan suggested we make a gag out of it, with Shane objecting because they're not identical, and Dan talking of other scenes in famous movies with continuity errors, and we made a virtue out of a neccesity.
Filming itself was great fun, though trying to get everything done on time was quite stressful. There were plenty of great outtakes, but the finished takes worked really well.Certainly the acting is a lot better than last time, on all our parts. On the Saturday we worked from 8.30am-7pm, and on Sunday, from 8am to 2pm. The 8am start came the night after a party at Mike's house. Despite much forewarning some of the cast overindulged, and didn't go to bed till 6am. Aiden had to hold his finger on the doorbell for several minutes to wake everyone up!! In the end we got everything shot except the romp sequence, which was incomplete, but was completed using concert footage. For the full story on Shortyworld: The Movie, including exclusive on-set pictures, click here. Two weeks later, on November 21st, we entered the studio to record 'Dummy Love' and 'Coffee Pot'. The drum kit we were provided with was dire, but we pressed on regardless. By day's end we had a storming version of 'This Coffee Cup', but none of us were happy with 'Dummy Love' which felt flabby and pedestrian, and so we decided to re-record it at a later session.
Pics from top: Stuart adds keyboards to the 'pedestrian' Dummy Love,
Aiden plays bottleneck guitar on 'This Coffee Cup, and Saul drums for the last time before his four month sabbatical.
With the movie in post-production and a friend agreeing to edit for free, we set a tentative release date of February, and decided to play a live gig to celebrate it's launch, and indeed to commemerate our 9 year anniverary. Ravi had agreed to do one live date in his 4 month tenure, so we immediately rang 'The Hope and Anchor', a North London pub, who had originally asked us to play a gig for them back in the summer. They'd missed out then, as our tour schedule was full, but now they offered us February 9th and we accepted. The first rehearsal with Ravi, on December 5th, went swimmingly well, which was a good portent for the recording session. We gathered on December 19th, sans Stuart who was unavailable but would overdub his keyboard parts later, and recorded two songs:Toxic Stamp Glue, and Dummy Love (for the second time). 'Toxic Stamp Glue' was one of Dan's newer songs, which we had first seen when we went to see Dan's other band 'Meek' play in the summer. Dan's writing had become too prolific for one band, and usually the first band on the scene gets to snag his new songs.
But we'd heard this one, loved it and wanted to record it too, and so we did. Despite a slight speeding up, we got a great energy on one particular take, so we went with it. 'Dummy Love', too, played to Ravi's strength's. While Saul's drumming can give subtle nuances that I've never heard another drummer achieve (his work on 'Coffee Cup' is fantastic) he's not in his element when a fast beat is required. Ravi is quite the opposite, so he took to Liam's tune like a duck to water and we just caught fire. 
In late December Liam announced that contrary to his original plans, he would not be returning to Japan in early 2000, but would be staying in the UK with the Shorties. It was, from a band point of view, the most wonderful news imaginable (though the circumstances which brought it about were, sadly, not so positive). So as the New Year dawned, we looked forward to the best year yet for The Shorties!