Fraz Plays FM19 pt2

In the last post I decided on the three projects I'm interested in doing and sent out a Twitter poll to let Gods of the internet decide which one to do.  

While I'm waiting for the answer, I thought I'd scope out the teams a bit to see what they're like.

“That’s great. Tell him he’s Pele and get him back on.”

John Lambie on being told striker Colin McGlashan was involved in a clash of heads with an opponent.

I've had experience of managing the Jags before in FM as back in the early Champ Man days I managed to take them from the depths of league 1 to dominating the Prem with five titles on the trot and a Champions League final appearance to boot.  

So that was then, what about now?  

Struggling in the Championship badly relegation last season so the goal for this project is to forget about their struggles and get them back in the big league at the first time of asking.

Managerial Style

I'll be basing myself on the Jags legend that is John Lambie, who was known for his eccentricity, cigar smoking and fondness for pigeons.  

Squad

Keepers

Shit, one keeper.  It's Cammy Bell who, to be fair, is a decent stopper but I'm going to have to find a good back up to keep him on his toes.  

Defenders 

thin on the ground, I'll have to find a few if we want to achieve anything.  Midfield - Not too shabby, Blair Spittal, Gary Harkins, Miles Storey and Prince Buaben are the pick of the bunch here.  

Attackers 

I could have a ready made Chick Charnley 'maverick' in Souleymane Coulibaly already.  If I can get him to replicate his old Killie form then he's going to tear up the Championship.  If not, I'll be expecting good things from Scott McDonald and Kris Doolan.

Transfer thoughts are that there's major surgery required at the back but quite a bit of promise in the middle and up front.  

"He was an absolute fucking bampot” 

- Dave Bowman describing Jim McLean

It's hard to believe it these days but United were THE team (along with an Aberdeen team with Fergie at the helm) when I was growing up.  There's been some tremendous teams in Scottish football but United's of the early-mid 80's takes some beating. 

So that was then, what about now?  

Unable to recover from relegation a few years' back.  My task in this project will be to get them back where they belong!

Managerial Style

It has to be on Wee Jum.  Press conferences will be frosty, players will be getting fined aplenty for indiscipline and new signings will be getting locked into five year deals and bumped straight to the reserves for the slightest sign of backchat.

Squad

Keepers

Crapola, one again!  No idea what Benj Siegrist is like so on that basis alone, he's gonna have to fight for his place right from the off.  United have a history of some class goalies so can I find the next Hamish McAlpine or Seb Diekstra?  

Defenders 

Jeez, that's a depressing array of 'who?'  We've got Mark Reynolds on load from Aberdeen so fingers and toes crossed they don't want him back in January!  

Midfield 

Morgaro Gomis is a player but right from the off, the real talents of the side, Fraser Fyvie and Peter Pawlett are both injured which while an accurate reflection of the real world, is a worrying sign of things to come for the season.  

Attackers 

Currently features Nicky Clark and the injured Osman Sow which should do a good job but if Sow can't keep away from the treatment table, Cammy Smith is going to have to get his finger out and realise the promise Aberdeen once thought he had.

Transfer thoughts are I don't think there's going to be the finances for the major overhaul of the squad that's required.

"I'm a rolling thunder, a pouring rain"  

-Hell's Bells (AC/DC)

They first caught my attention years ago with their flag and punk attitude.  At first I thought they were a weird footballing version of the LA Raiders but I then got to know what they were all about and realised I'd got them all wrong.  

A true community club that abide by a set of principles which dictates how the club is run and is all about the society of the city of which they are a part of.  

A club that puts the fans first and is very aware of the political world of which it's part of.

But to be honest, they had me with the thought of the team running out to Hell's Bells.

Managerial Style

I don't have any knowledge of the managerial history of the club so I've a bit of a blank canvass here.  I'll adopt the progressive culture of the club and be good to the players but as for style of play?  It'll have to be a hipster Klopp-esque approach, I think.  

Attack with pace and flair and win promotion in style.

Squad

Keepers

Hey, hey they've got three keepers!  There's bound to be a decent first choicer there.  

Defence

Healthy numbers for every position along the back four, very promising.  Midfield - we're covered for the wings but there's an alarming lack of central and attacking midfielders.  

Attack 

Just the two out and out strikers but there's a few midfielders who can also play up front so not too bad.

Transfer thoughts are that it doesn't look as though much is required.  It obviously depends on the quality of player in the squad but assuming they're not all haddies, it looks as though I could be able to just spend the budget on a couple of quality midfielders.

And there we have it.  Once the decision of who I'm going to be taking control of has been made, I'll have a more in depth look at the squad and the club.  I'm genuinely swithering between all three at the moment but hand on heart, my very first thought was Thistle so I have to put them in first place.  However, it's not my choice so if you want to change my mind, get voting!

Fraz Plays FM19

It Begins

I've just gone and bought the latest version of the best spreadsheet ever, 

Football Manager 19

Football Manager 2019 is a football management simulation video game developed by Sports Interactive and published by Sega which was released worldwide in 2018 for Microsoft Windows, macOS and Nintendo Switch. Wikipedia

I've been playing a version of this game since it was first coded and even before that, the grandaddy of them all, 

Kevin Tom's Football Manager

Normally, I'll play as my favourite team and try to achieve world domination for as long as I can but I'm thinking that it'd be good to change things about and manage a random team for a year.  

Then probably because of this podcast 

I decided to to add to the challenge and blog about it.  In an engaging, entertaining and just a bit o' fun kinda way.

Shit

So the first challenge is to decide what kind of challenge I want?  And what team? 

I could procrastinate until the end of time about that but in order for a quick start I've gone with the first three gut options.

The John Lambie

Task

Win promotion to the Scottish Premiership

Requirements

Chick Charnley 'maverick' type

Firhill for thrills

The Wee Jim 

Task

Win promotion to the Scottish Premiership

Requirements

Dour media persona

Use local lads

The St Pauli 

Task

Win promotion to the Bundesliga

Why?

St. Pauli opens its home matches with "Hells Bells" by AC/DC, and after every home goal "Song 2" by Blur is played.

The former club president Corny Littmann, long active in German theatre and head of the Schmidt Theater on the Reeperbahn, is openly gay.

St. Pauli have made pre-season appearances at Wacken Open Air, a heavy metal festival, several times.

The club hosted the 2006 FIFI Wild Cup, a tournament made up of unrecognised national football teams like Greenland, Tibet and Zanzibar. They participated as the "Republic of St. Pauli".

Jockey Full of Bourbon (Tom Waits) - Live Acoustic Cover

Dammit and blast your eyes!!!

Despite my schoolboy error of leaving the lyric/chord sheets for all the acoustic songs I wanted to try at home, a fairly productive rehearsal was had in the end.  I dedicated the first part of the rehearsal to the set and although I did have the lyrics to hand, I tried to run through all of the songs without looking at them and it went rather well.

There were stumbles and if the gig were tomorrow then there's still no way I could do it without at least cheat sheets BUT that said, I don't think I'm that far away from having the lyrics memorised (and if you know how bad my memory is, you know how much of a statement that actually is!).

I'm feeling quite confident about the set now although if the set list is confirmed as being 45 mins, it's looking likely that I'll need to add another song.  So far I've got "Crazy Horses" by The Osmonds as a standby but seeing as the crowd is going to be made up mostly of office workers at around the 20-40 year old age bracket, another 80's electro-pop tune to go with "Two Tribes" would likely go down better as a set closer.

Something to think about and discuss with the band once we're all together, I think.

My safety net

The main takeaways for the set this week are:

• The first and last verses in Punch & Judy need worked on.  
• Still need to remember to start History Repeating in a higher register.

Other than that, it's just a case of getting confident about singing without the lyric sheets.  If I can nail that before I get together with the band I'll be a VERY happy bunny indeed.



For the second part of the rehearsal I dedicated to learning acoustic songs.

Strummin' Time

I spent quite a bit of time running through "What a Good Boy" by Barenaked Ladies but focused mostly on getting the vocals sorted to the expense of working on the arrangement for the acoustic guitar.  Still, it was time well spent as I feel I'm quite close to how I want the vocals to sound now.  Next week I'll focus more on the guitar side of things and hopefully, will have it finished by the end of the session.

I filmed all the takes, put them together in a mashup video and created a playlist on YouTube imaginatively called "Learning a Song".  I figured it's something I'd find quite interesting to watch so maybe others would as well.

My initial thought was to do it for just one song but seeing as I keep thinking of other tunes I'd like to play, I reckon I'll keep this going and see what happens.  I find it really useful to listen back to the takes as it's so much easier to not only identify mistakes but to also hear what changes in the arrangement I'd like to make too.

You can check it out and see how you think its going below:

I've also been busking a few other songs at the same time as working on "What a Good Boy" and I think the next one to properly work out will be "As Long As I Can See The Light" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.  It's not sounding too bad at the moment so I'm confident I can have that knocked into shape reasonably quickly.

Famous. Last. Words.

A Game of Two Halves

Well that was an interesting rehearsal.

The first 20 minutes were soul destroying.  I'm talking real proper awful terribleness that made me want to pack it all in and never play or listen to music ever again.

The rest of the time was probably the best rehearsal yet.  How weird is that!

Before it all kicked off

I thought it'd be a good idea to warm up by doing a few acoustic songs.  Big mistake.  A blues/soul band were in the room beside me running through their set (Mustang Sally, Knock On Wood, Tush, etc) and I could hear them quite clearly.  They were rather good but I clammed up completely and couldn't play or sing for toffee.

After running through a few songs and thinking I had maybe dreamt ever being able to play the guitar, I gave up and tried giving the set a go.  Best decision of the night by a country mile as I immediately felt far more comfortable (it's amazing how much confidence a bit of practise at something gives you).  I ran through the set in its entirety and I'm not struggling singing any of them now so they just need repeated practise to iron them out and get them memorised.  With that in mind, I can use the rest of the rehearsal time working on the guitar side of things.

It's clear to me that I work far better when I've got a project to focus on so I'm going to set myself a challenge.  I'm going to document the process I go through in learning a song.  From having to rely completely on the chord & lyric sheet all the way through to the finished article, fully arranged and memorised. Depending on the song, I might stray from the original arrangement ('cause I like making it sound my way) and to make it a bit more daunting for myself... I'm going to video it!



To start with, I've decided to give What a Good Boy by Barenaked Ladies a run through since I was talking about it in the last blog.

If I'm being pedantic, this is actually week two for this now as I played it for the first time in a very long time last week and it sounded... just as bad as you'd think that sounds - thankfully for my fragile ego, I don't have video of that session.

This week I had my first stab at putting in some variety and colour into my playing which basically meant throwing in some random picking alongside the strumming pattern.  It sounded better structure wise and has given me some ideas to try at the next rehearsal and my singing was also a lot better than last time - still not quite getting the high parts so there's a way to go before I'm happy but it was certainly better than I expected it to be at this stage.

You can see for yourself what I'm talking about below.

Anway, onto the set.  That's the main reason I'm rehearsing after all!  I won't run through the notes for every song like I've done previously as I'm fairly comfortable with what I'm doing for them now.  The main take aways were:

• I still need to watch the plosives for Punch & Judy, particularly at the very start
• I'm still singing too low a register when starting History Repeating 
• I still need to watch my phrasing on Two Tribes (but getting better)
• I'm having a rethink about editing War Pigs as my original plan of an early end point doesn't sound right. 

I felt like I wasn't fully paying as much attention to playing as I had been previously which is a shame as I think I was more comfortable singing but I made more mistakes than before.

That said, I was pleased with the tone and phrasing of each song so left feeling rather chuffed and a bit proud of myself as that was the happiest I've been with how my vocals sound and I'm starting to feel a little bit of confidence creeping in.

Pay attention dagnammit!

One technical point to remind myself of.  I've a feeling the vocals would sound better with a bit more more reverb behind them.

Righty oh, until next time.

I Brought The Acoustic

Another week and another rehearsal.

This week I brought the acoustic along so I could try a few different songs just to shake things up a bit.  I figured it'd keep things interesting, it's a bit of variety for singing practice and it gets me playing the guitar again which I'm missing a fair bit at the moment.  I guess that's some kind of Pavlovian response thing with the gig on my mind, or something.

Photoshop much?

So as well as a couple of run throughs of the set, I also managed to squeeze in a batch of acoustic songs for the shnizzles.  I did four acoustic songs but for some reason I can't fathom, I could only be bothered to actually record three of them to listen back to.

In case you're wondering why I'm recording stuff, I find that how I think I sound in real-time doesn't always translate to how it actually sounded when I'm free from the distraction of playing when I'm listening.

So, how did it go?  How did it go, how did it go...

Holy crap I am so out of practise when I comes to playing the guitar!  Jeesus, I REALLY need to start some regular playing time again so I think I'll be doing this for all my remaining solo rehearsals.

As Long As I Can See The Light (CCR)
The first song I attempted and the only one I didn't record.  Muppet.  From what I remember, it sounded nasty and not in a good way.  I didn't manage to get it right at all, timing was appalling and I was all over the shop.

Sunny Afternoon (Kinks)
I remember being able to play this at quite a decent standard back in the day, even if I do say so myself.  Those days have gone.  Gone, gone, gone.

Twelve Eyes of Evil (Broken Family Band)
I was starting to warm up by the time I got to this one I reckon, as it sounded alright albeit very rusty.  This one's going to be my marker for progression as since I know it so well, it's all muscle memory when I play and that makes it easier for me to gauge how well I'm playing it or not. 

What a Good Boy (Barenaked Ladies)
I used to love playing this song but it's one of a few I stopped playing and never really came back to.  I don't know why I thought about trying it, I hadn't planned on it and didn't have any lyrics to hand but it turns out it's also one of those songs where muscle memory takes over so lyrics (or lack thereof) weren't an issue.  Rusty as hell but I enjoyed playing it and it also gave me the desire to try and do it properly.

And lo, an idea was born.

I figure I know a heck of a lot more about song structure, playing the guitar and all that malarky now than I did way back last time I played this song and up until now I've only ever really busked it.  Badly.  Same repeated strumming pattern over and over, no change of pace, very dull, very boring, very bedroom ballardeer.  It can be done so much better and dagnammit, it will!

My plan is this.  Have a proper think about how to do it as a one voice, one acoustic guitar song and what it would take to structure it in an interesting way that captures and keeps the listeners' attention.

It'll be good exercise for getting back into playing the guitar if nothing else. 

Anyway, onto the set list.

War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
Yeah this will make for a great opener.  We'll need to cut it down a bit though as it's a seven minuter but I've got an idea of a good end point for the song already.  I'll try and edit the .mp3 I have for it to see if it works or not.

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
I think this works as a good one to follow up War Pigs with as more folk should know it.  It's also a good foot stomper that grooves so should hopefully get a good reception.

Punch & Judy (Marillion)
I'm doing this one for mostly selfish reasons as I've always wanted to do a Marillion song but I think more people should remember this one than not.  Well, most Gen-X'ers at any rate.  Got to watch my plosives with this one.

*To myself* Sing to the side of the mic for the plosives and then come back to face it for the rest of the singing.

Otherwise it's going to be a poppy plosive experience for everyone and that will be just as icky as it sounds.








History Repeating (Propellorheads)
I'm not sure why I chose this but I love the groove and reckon we could do a good job and have some fun with it.

Istanbul (They Might Be Giants)
This is fun to do.  That is all.

Breathe (Prodigy)
Tiger's choice and a top one it was too! I would never have thought of doing in a million years but I'm starting to think I'm singing it too cheesily though didn't spend too much on it.  Am having a think about how to find my voice for this one.

Stone Cold Crazy (Queen)
Getting there with this one.  Didn't stumble over the words much and was able to put a bit of gravel to the voice which is usually a sign that I'm starting to get comfortable with a song.

Love Rears Its Ugly Head (Living Colour)
I'm now starting to think I'm over singing this which kinda sucks.  I dunno though, I didn't manage to relax that much at the rehearsal and I noticed that I was looking at the clock more than usual so maybe I just wasn't feeling it as much as the week before.  I'll have a better idea after the next one or two rehearsals, I guess.

Whippin' Post (Allman Bros)
Another one where I could be over singing.  Or it could be the opposite for all I really know.  I certainly felt more comfortable singing the notes the week before but this week I felt a lot more comfortable with the song structures and lyrical phrasing.

Two Tribes (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
This should be a good, fun way to end the set and hopefully leave everyone on a high.

So that's it for this time.  I think I'll try and split my time at the next rehearsal to something like an hour for the set and and hour for acoustic stuff.  It depends on how the set sounds though as that will always be the priority.

Toodles

Last Week's Rehearsal

Vocal rehearsal #3 done and dusted.  I had an enforced week long hiatus due to the Beast from the East forcing me to stay indoors and wishing I was teaching the kids how to build snowmen a-la Calvin & Hobbes.

Glad to say I wasn’t as rusty as I thought I’d be.  I hadn’t listened to the songs at all for a fortnight but felt that I wasn’t looking at the lyric sheets as much as I have been in previous rehearsals so was actually quite chuffed with that.

What I wasn’t so chuffed about though was the later start time.  All the rooms were booked for my usual 9pm slot so I had to do a 10pm-midnight shift instead.  That in itself wasn’t so bad but the 5am alarm to get to the early shift at work the next morning hurt.  A lot.

As for the singing, I’m feeling quite comfortable with all the songs now so I think it’s time to start looking at the running order a bit more closely .  Currently, I'm not 'feelin' it much' as they say so I’ll be trying out different orders as there's a better running order in there somewhere.

So for next week I'm going to be trying this run. 

War Pigs (Sabbath)
Am thinking this might be the set opener and looking forward to hearing Ali having fun with this on drums.  It's a bit long so there might be a need to trim it down.

Breathe (Prodigy)
Could be a bit too heavy a start along with War Pigs but they do sound good as a pair.  Need to give more thought as to how to sing it as I'm probably too cheesy at moment.

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
Quite confident with this one.

History Repeating (Propellorheads)
Got to remember to start singing in my higher register.  Need to watch pitch, I sound a bit flat in places.

Istanbul (They Might Be Giants)
A bit flat in the 'oooohs' but otherwise fine.

Punch & Judy (Marillion)
Sounding ok and will hopefully get better with more practise.

Love Rears Its Ugly Head (Living Colour)
Another one where I'm looking forward to hearing Ali play.  Got to watching breathing at the multiple 'ugly' section.

Stone Cold Crazy (Queen)
Got the proper lyrics now!  What a difference that makes.  Phew!

Whippin' Post (Allman Bros)
I really like singing this one.  I hope I don't clam up in front of people but I fear I might.

Two Tribes (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
Still got issues with phrasing but no so much now.

ON THE BENCH: Crazy Horses (Osmonds)
I'd still like to try it out but due to set length and that it needs a second singer for the register jump in the verses, this is probably first on the subs bench.

I kinda like the way this set starts with doomy heavy metal and ends with 80's NRG electro pop.  I would NEVER have seen that coming!

I really, really hope I don't clam up and start singing within myself in front of people.  That's a big fear for me at the moment as I'm actually pleased with how the singing is progressing.  I'm being a bit of a sad sack at the moment and watching a lot of vocal coaching videos on YouTube 

This guy

I guess it must be sinking in as I hear a lot of improvement in my vocals.  I'm not there by any means yet but I'm gaining confidence the more I practise.  Having said that, I realise this could easily just be nothing more than delusional thoughts but I'm going to put all thoughts like that down to my brain trying to fuck with me.

I've also joined a lunch time choir at work who meet for an hour once a week.  It's not much but it's still good practise and a lot more fun than I thought it would be.  I can certainly see myself keeping that on long after the gig's over.

Anyway, that's all fir the noo.

F