Maudlin Rich Live at The Casa in Liverpool on February 12 2003 (Review by M. Rich)

Fuck man. I turn up, tune up, no drummer in sight, no second guitarist in sight. No acoustic guitar in sight. Crappy sound out of my borrowed flame red squire strat. First song, an AE HOUSMAN poem, rocks fairly well and I'm enjoying slurring the words. So far so reasonably good. Jules joins me on guitar for the second song, my own TUNNEL VISION. Not bad, but I can't really hear what he is doing. Starting to get pissed off with the strat sound. Third song, just Jules on guitar for a doors cover, CARS HISS BY MY WINDOW. I enjoy singing, but don't really get into it as much as I would have done if I'd been wearing my shades. Song 4, cue drummer and fourth man who do not appear. Jules goes off in search of them. I remain standing and strutt the chords to the epic MY INNER NEED a basic C D E progression throughout. Miraculously Jules turns up with a drummer midway through the first verse and as the bass and drums hit their languidly progressing stride we are experiencing the best song of the set. It's downhill from now on.  A scattering of applause is well below what we deserve at this stage. It does not get better. Song 5, the sublime NO TWO WAYS, proceeds to collapse into utter shambolics. I start the song on strummy guitar. Jules joins in on bass, so there is no far-out solo-ing tonight. Most bizarrely of all, our drummer seems to think we are dealing with a death metal song and plays as fast as he can. Worse still, the guitar comes in on the off-beat. At this stage I close my eyes and wait for the ground to open up and take me down. It doesn't. I decide to carry on and just concentrate on my own playing. Have I mentioned that I can barely hear myself sing at this stage? The some somehow manages to come to a close. A bewildered audience stares into their glasses. The MAudlin Wit comes to the rescue: "You probably didn't get that, but your kids are gonna love it." (Afterwards the maudlin hears that some people actually thought we did the song that way on purpose in a captain beefheart kind of way. Solace? Of sorts)  Anyhow, the song finishes, and the next thing I see when I open my eyes is our drummer striding purposefully for the exit. Back to two. We play HOW MANY TIMES next which I suppose was alright, but I could have sworn my guitar was out of tune and it didn't really come across. Next up (but why o why was i still up?) YES YONDER a future classic without a doubt, but equally doomed on tonights stage. We finish the song and I notice someone approaching the stage and talking to Jules. It is our sound engineer Juan. In a roundabout way he eventually comes to the point and tells us we must be off. I protest. I want to finish with GOOD CREATURES. Jules has already thrown in the towel, but I  am determined and start the song that will redeem the previous efforts. He's turned mi bloodi mike off hasn't he! I throw down my guitar in disgust and swear at Juan. He gives me a lot of crap about how he's been doing this for ten years and how he's not getting paid for this evening.  I hide behind some planks in the corner of the stage for about half an hour before I dare descend the stage and into the swaying mess. Not a supportive word from any of my fellow musicians. I leave disgusted with the world and with myself. Rock 'n roll motherfucker?