A Swinging Spring: Swing That Music tour diary
Many of you will have been keeping up with our Springtime tour adventures on our social media, but the benefit of longer-form blog posts like this is that we can divulge more details about our rock-and-roll antics, from the fierce table-tennis competitions to going ‘aaaw’ at all the adorable lambs in the Scottish countryside.
Our April dates for Swing That Music began with a show at Canterbury’s Gulbenkian Theatre, where our audience kindly rejected the offer of pleasant weather to come and sit in a dark room and listen to our jokes. We welcomed our dear old pals Dae Hyun Lee (on drums) and Mark Fincham (on bass), then unleashed Marvin Muoneké’s rendition of Sammy Davis Jr.’s Birth of the Blues on the unsuspecting crowd, whose cheers were almost as bombastic as the final chorus. Perhaps most pleasing of all, however, was the unexpected supply of mochi ice cream in the venue’s cafe. “Aw, they don’t have popcorn flavour,” lamented saxophonist Chris Adsett. Like we said, rock and roll.
We then had a couple of weeks off! Just when the Spring tour had started. Again, very rock and roll.
But when we were back on the road, we did it in style. We kicked off in the North of England – Lancaster, to be exact. The Lancaster Grand, to be even more exact, which is also the third oldest working theatre in the country, opened in 1782! What a beauty of a building, with a lovely bunch of staff. Elise Roth would be blessing us with her voice on stage (and Jennifer Coolidge impressions off-stage) throughout April, but this was the first of only two more shows with Marvin and trumpeter Simon Joyner. However, they gave us some gifts to remember them by. Simon treated us to his lovely vocals on Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? while Marvin pulled out a baby trumpet to join him. Marvin then performed the moving and unconventional Lush Life by Billy Strayhorn (with Mike on the piano). Beautiful.
The next day would not only see our last date in England for this leg of the tour, but it would also see our last stay at a Travelodge! Simon celebrated being in York by sneaking The Grand Old Duke of York into a trumpet solo, while soundsmith Ted celebrated by purchasing a porcelain ghost from a local ghost merchant. The Joseph Rowntree Theatre was another fine historical beauty, though this one from the more recent art deco era, staffed by a friendly and helpful group of volunteers. It’s clearly beloved by the locals, too – when a couple of ladies thought they’d been locked in after the show finished, they seemed pretty unfazed by the prospect. We ended the night with a mix of pizza and Indian takeaway at the Travelodge, before turning in at a respectable hour for our drive up to Scotland the next day.
No, of course there’s no such thing as a respectable bed-time at Down for the Count! Some of us (we won’t name names) were on the road after a mere two hours’ sleep, fuelled by a McDonald’s breakfast on the way.
Simon and Tim enjoyed York’s offering of locomotives and ice cream.
Before long, we were in Scotland, our spiritual home. Here, we would be staying at a spectacular pair of houses in the lush countryside near Dollar, roughly at the centre of our Edinburgh, Dundee, Giffnock and (if you pretend it’s nearby) Aberdeen shows. But before we got to set eyes on this rural haven, we had a show to do. Edinburgh, as always, was a treat – and The Queen’s Hall is an attractive gem of a venue, not least because of its proximity to a cafe selling Taiwanese wheel cakes. Speaking of sweet treats, we got Callum Gillies back, and he sang about banana splits! He also did a kick so high during Ain’t That a Kick in the Head that he had to check he hadn’t split his trousers.
Anyone who’s shared a house with Callum will know that he’s got a playlist ready to go for any occasion, breakfast prep included. He’ll also pepper breakfast conversations with some harsh truths: porridge is best with salt, and lorne sausage is the best sausage. But the entertainment doesn’t stop at breakfast – much of the post-show wind-downs at this accommodation involved one or more people climbing up and/or around Callum as if he were a tree.
Remarkable achievements in gymnastics were achieved.
On the way to Dundee, Elise had a hankering to stop at a farm shop, so some of us took a detour to the Pillars of Hercules. You might think this sounds like two entirely unrelated things, but you’d be wrong. We still don’t know what one has to do with the other, but Elise had a great time on a see-saw with drummer James. Once in Dundee, the same James found himself face-to-face with a statue of Desperate Dan, but sadly, we didn’t catch sight of Dennis the Menace. Maybe he was the reason our mics played up during the show at the Gardyne Theatre, though. Thankfully, Elise is a pro and informed the audience that the demonic industrial sound they heard was just how the song goes. After we fixed the issue, she showed us how I’m Beginning to See the Light really should sound. A master class!
More physical activities! Saxophonist Alex being a cat in Dundee.
Our next performance was in the Granite City: Aberdeen. We love coming here, thanks in no small part to the spectacular historical beauty that is the Tivoli Theatre. When Elise held the climactic note in When the Sun Comes Out, they could probably hear it back in 1900. Who knows what audiences back in the day might have made of Tim and Oli hashing it out with a trumpet battle to end all trumpet battles? It was certainly an effective way to cool down the raging competition stoked by the ping pong table back at the accommodation. On the penultimate night of the tour, an air of giddiness seemed to take over, resulting in some of us climbing onto Callum in public.
On the drive back from Aberdeen, Oli showed off another impressive skill: treating his fellow passengers to a playlist made up almost entirely of Black Eyed Peas and Billy Joel. Only a genius could think to put such separate things together, like the Pillars of Hercules and a farm shop.
The final stop on this leg was good old Giffnock, which was a near sellout! Before heading over to Eastwood Park Theatre, however, many of us enjoyed the cultural delights of Glasgow. OK, yes, it was cake and doughnuts. Well, we figured we’d earned them.
Soaking up the culture in Glasgow.
The tour was also notable for bassist James finally getting his wish of channelling Arvell Shaw on How High the Moon, an astonishing bass feature that had audiences cheering the house down. Arguably more impressive, however, was his record-breaking climb around Callum, in a mere 4 seconds.
What will our forthcoming summer dates bring? More table tennis? More gymnastics? More breathtaking views from our accommodation? Stay tuned.
The views from our Airbnb in the Scottish countryside.
About the author
Polis Loizou-Denyer is Down for the Count's marketing and communications officer. Though it's a long time since he played an instrument himself, he likes to keep creative with his own writing, performing, theatre making, filmmaking and oral storytelling.
