The Gig in the Field 2005

October 2004

It’s a Saturday night in October 2004 and Steve, Paul, and Steve Parkes of The Random Noise Makers are seated around a table in a village pub somewhere near Portsmouth, Hampshire. Steve is reminiscing about the last Randoms' gig he saw nearly 25 years ago: the infamous 'gig in the field' that featured the unintentional entertainment of seeing temporary Randoms’ singer Dave Seall electrocuted as he touched the metal microphone stand in the damp field. The lights had dimmed, dark blue sparks flashed through the wet grass, and the generator audibly struggled with the unexpected load of pushing enough current through Dave to cause him to scream out in agony and jerk around like a marionette controlled by a puppeteer suffering an epileptic fit.

Perhaps fuelled by a few pints too many, Steve Parkes threw the gauntlet down: "We should do it again - and this time The Reptiles can play too."

Of course, The Reptiles would never refuse a challenge from The Randoms and yet each of them had to think through whether they really wanted to play the music that they'd left behind them 25 years ago. Strangely enough, with the resurgence of Punk and New Wave with bands like Green Day etc., the Reptiles style of music was more in vogue than it had been at any point in the past couple of decades.

The first issue to deal with was to simply transcribe the songs. Only the lyrics had ever been written down although some chords had been written onto these. Steve started by transcribing all the songs bar by bar (these are now available in the Tabs section of the web site). Paul and Rich pointed out a number of errors and inaccuracies. Between the three of them, they produced a set of accurate transcriptions of the versions of the songs recorded at the Dodekorian studio session in 1980.

The next problem was that of the logistics of rehearsing. While Steve and Paul live fairly close to each other in the South of England, Rich lives in the North, and Trev on the Isle of Man. It was decided that Steve and Paul would record all the songs using a drum machine and then get Rich to add his vocals. It would then be possible to produce separate mixes for each member to rehearse to, e.g. a mix for Paul without the bass part, a version for Trev without the drums, etc.

Paul and Steve rehearsed together once a week for several months. In May, Rich travelled down for a business meeting in London and the band took the opportunity to rehearse with at least three members together. Steve was able to record Rich’s vocals during the rehearsals and this made it much easier to complete the recordings of the rehearsal versions of the songs.

Unfortunately, around this time communications with Trev came to an abrupt halt. For reasons that are still not known, Trev simply stopped communicating with the band and failed to respond to letters and email. In desperation the band looked elsewhere for a drummer but the lack of time made it unlikely that a suitable replacement could be found. Although it was the least favoured option, the band made the decision that they’d have to use a drum machine for the gig. This was to have unforeseen results.

As well as their own material, the band decided to do some of the covers that they would have typically played 25 years ago. A few Sex Pistols covers would be required and possibly some Lurkers and Buzzcocks songs too. The Sex Pistols 'Submission' had always been a favourite and it was quickly agreed to play this at the gig. Rich mentioned that he’d like to do 'Liar' and so this was added to the list. With the limited time available, it was decided not to do any more cover versions but to concentrate on the seven Reptiles songs and the two Sex Pistols covers.

Concerned that the set would be too short, Steve suggested playing The Clash's 'I Fought the Law' as an encore but Rich and Paul didn't think it really fitted in with The Reptiles style of music. On reflection, Steve agreed and suggested another Sex Pistols song: 'Pretty Vacant'. The band had already made a decision not to play anything too clichéd and had decided not to play 'Anarchy in the UK'. Pretty Vacant fitted into the cliché category and yet these songs are clichés simply because they are so classic. Rich and Paul agreed to give Pretty Vacant a go as long as it could be learned quickly and sounded good. In the event, playing the song was like putting on a comfortable old jacket - it fitted perfectly and was so familiar that it barely needed rehearsing.

Another rehearsal with all three remaining band members took place in early June at Backline Studios in Guildford and went well although there was still room for improvement, mainly in tightening up the playing.

Over the months of rehearsing, the band had fine tuned their sound. Paul changed his bass amp for a Laney HCM120 and while he considered using a Fender Precision as he used to, he stuck with the 5 string Steinberger headless bass he now plays. Rich played an Epiphone Les Paul Junior through a Line 6 Spider. Steve used to play a 1978 Stratocaster but bearing in mind the band’s aspirations, 25 years ago, to the 'Sex Pistols sound', Steve tried using a Les Paul this time around. It sounded right straightaway. For the gig, he used a Tokai 1957 Goldtop replica through a Tech 21 Trademark 60 and Power Engine 60.

Saturday 2 July 2005

The band arrived, one by one, at the Glastonbelney venue during the afternoon. The Randoms and their roadie, Ben, had completed setting up the stage. Once Steve arrived with Paul’s bass amp that the Randoms would be using, the Randoms were able to start their soundcheck.

Unfortunately, the weather deteriorated as the afternoon went on and the intermittent drizzle became continuous and heavier while the Randoms did their soundcheck. By the time they were finished and it was time for The Reptiles to soundcheck, it looked like the gig would have to be moved to the alternative, indoor, venue. The band quickly sound checked using Action Replay. Although the weather wasn’t good it wasn’t getting any worse and it was decided to hold off making any decision until the weather either got worse or better.

The original plan to play a matinee set and an evening set was abandoned because rearranging the stage was getting more and more complicated now that a third band, Stillwater, was also playing. By the time Stillwater had completed their sound check it was after 5pm and the schedule was changed so that they would start the gig at 8:15pm, followed by The Reptiles at around 9pm, and then the Randoms.

Ben included 'fire building' as part of his responsibilities and while the barbecues were started up, he dragged tree trunks across the site to build a large fire and a stock pile of firewood.

Stillwater (with Steve Cutler on bass and vocals, Steve Parkes on guitar, Andy Wood on guitar and vocals) began playing shortly after 8:15pm. Their thoughtful and introspective songs were well received. Andy was unfortunate in breaking a string but quickly replaced it and the band carried on.

By the time the stage was rearranged for The Reptiles, the band were running a little behind schedule. They launched into Pretty Vacant for their opening number. Strangely, as they finished the first verse, the drum machine stopped. The band all looked at each other and Steve asked Rich if he’d accidentally stepped on the footswitch that started and stopped the drum machine. Rich thought that he might have done and so the band restarted the drum machine and played the song again from the start. This time they got through to the end of the song without any problems.

The first song went down well and there was plenty of cheering when the band finished it. Rich announced the next song, Action Replay, and the band started into it. During the first verse the drum machine stopped. This time Rich knew that he hadn’t accidentally stepped on the pedal. He restarted the drum machine but unfortunately Paul’s timing was out on his intro and he and Steve were playing out of time with the drums by the time they reached the verse. Rich stopped and restarted the drum machine. This time the intro was OK but the drum machine stopped again. By now it was obvious that there was a problem with the drum machine and the gig was in danger of turning into a farce.

It seemed likely was that the drum machine was being affected by voltage fluctuations from the generator. Fortunately, each song had been stored on the drum machine twice and so Paul selected the alternative version of Action Replay. This time the drum machine played all the way through without stopping and so, on the fourth attempt, the band managed to play the song in full.

Despite the problems with the drum machine, the crowd were still enthusiastically cheering between songs. The drum machine caused a few more restarts but Paul found that switching to the alternative version of a song generally allowed the band to play it all the way through.

After Tearthreat, One, and Futility, the band played the remaining Sex Pistols covers - Submission and Liar. Digital Lovers and Real Life followed and then the band finished on Dragging Me Down.

The worst aspect of the problems with the drum machine were that the band got annoyed and flustered. It meant that they weren’t playing at their best and at the end of the gig they were pleased to get off the stage. However, the audience weren’t ready to let them go just yet. As Steve took off his guitar, a voice rang out over the cheering, "Put that bloody guitar back on!". The calls for an encore were genuine and Rich called for Submission as an encore.

After a short intermission to rearrange the stage, the Randoms played their set. This comprised all the old favourites including Image Merchant, Captain Swing, Local Radio, and Emergency Plan B. Although not an especially tight performance, this was probably more representative of the classic Randoms’ sound. Tom Boredom did an exceptional job on the drums considering that he’d only rehearsed once with the band recently. It was good to see that although Martin was using a modern Technics keyboard in lieu of his old valve driven 1960s era keyboard (that presumably died a long time ago), he still managed to get the appropriate lo-fi keyboard sound required in songs such as Emergency Plan B. Not surprisingly, Steve (Cutler) and Monty (Andrew Brasher) were playing contemporary instruments but Steve (Parkes) was playing his original, 25 or more year old, Strat copy built by Tony Cook of Echofaxx.

Not much had changed in 25 years. Perhaps, like The Reptiles, the Randoms were a little greyer and more solid than they were in 1980 but the band had avoided the obvious mistake of updating their music and played a set that was as close to the original Randoms sound as anyone could have hoped for. Steve Cutler’s bass underpinned most of the songs while Steve Parkes’ jangly guitar chops provided the rhythm. Over the top of this came Monty’s unmistakable and inimitable riffs, alternating with Martin’s vocals.

Shortly before 11pm the Randoms played Local Radio again as an encore and the gig was over.