So rehearsal this week.. where shall it be? who shall it involve? what shall we do? All of these questions are fairly unanswerable on a week to week basis. This is a problem 5 women have when trying to solve the issues of the world, well these 5 women anyway. And by solving the issues of the world i mean figuring out a setlist for our next gig. Shit! We have a gig!
In times gone by I was nicknamed ‘the setlist queen’ mainly because i had a pen. As we have so many changes now and a new member it seems this is better done as a group. Cue hysteria.
Speaking of our new member.. CLAIR.
C is for charming.
L is for lively.
A is for asshole.
I is for instrumentalist (really a silent instru)
R is for Reeaally good tea maker.
She plays guitar, mando, bouzouki, flute, fiddle, concertina and Woos us with her characteristic vocals. Raising our game to a 4 part harmony. Clair thankfully joined us at the end of a very long, busy summer. And with usual Wookalily style she was thrown in at the deep end, sure where else would you start. Her first gig with us being a celebration of Van Morrison’s 70th birthday with the BBC – no pressure! We knew we’d found a good’un when she shared our sentiment of completely rearranging the Van The Man cover we had been asked to do. She’s been an irreplaceable member ever since and is now the holder of the setlist pen – the weights off my shoulders, thank god.
We’ve been lucky thus far in being able to use each others houses instead of forking out insurmountable sums of money for some smelly, mouldy and freeezing cold ‘state of the art rehearsal studio’ – now with air conditioning. Although this does then give us unlimited access to tea and comfy sofas, which can be a distraction. Talking of distractions ROSA! Sharon’s baby, Rosa has just had her first birthday and is now one. A whole one. She’s been laughing and gurgling through most of our rehearsals for the past year, and most recently, walking! it’s been fantastic! What joy, excitement and bemusement that wee dote brings to our rehearsals, if not just the slightest distraction. But flip, look! She’s sorting our sound! She has a very keen eye for my bass amp, you see, and what an inspired cacophony she engineers.
We’ve had a break in the madness recently to spend our rehearsing time writing and arranging new songs. Yay! In choosing them we thought it would be a fun idea for our fans and other audience members (who will be Wooka converts soon) if instead of getting a separate band or performer to open for us, that we could do it ourselves. Adele, Clair and myself fancied performing ‘in the round’ where we each took a turn in playing our own songs before the big band performance (known to us as ‘fringe check’). Thankfully the band liked the harmonious noise we made and so we have decided to do our best to Wookafy these songs.
Rehearsal on friday. Woos in?
Wookalily 