The Chillun

Every Thursday at Terra Sana on the Golden Mile, Marbella, The Chillun have been given the chance to host a night of live music as the house band, called Roadhouse (in honour of Patrick Swayze…) and last Thursday was our first night. Marbella is a little thin on the ground music-wise, except of course for the endless supply of über trendy, over-priced & over-styled dance music bars, so this has potential to be pretty big.

The first night was great, a small turnout due to the limited time to promote it (all of 2 days, though in that time, when word got around we were to have guests perform alongside us, Paul was inundated with requests from musicians on the coast…) but the crowd was receptive and the atmosphere was great. We started late after coming up short cable-wise, and kicked off with some intimate, groovy and smokey blues. The reason I love playing bass.

Mik and Paul

Spanish Steve McDonald (sorry, keep forgetting the chaps name) came on after we played a few songs and played some vintage swing and ragtime music with our drummer Andy providing an awesome display of percussion. They were nothing short of staggering – heartfelt, humour-filled and honest. We then finished off the night with some more upbeat songs and a rousing jam of Bright Lights, Big City with José playing guest harmonica, and Spanish Steve McDonald playing some very impressive slide.

Paul

Spanish Steve McDonald and Andy

We played the entire gig at a fraction of the volume that you’d need to play in a pub or bar and because of that it sounded gorgeous… why is it nigh-on impossible to see decent musicians in such civilised surroundings these days? Don’t get me wrong, I love a loud and rocking gig as much as the next man but sometimes it’s nice to really sit back and enjoy the music without splitting your ear drums…

The staff at Terra Sana, always accommodating, fixed us some fine food as well as keeping an endless supply of beer coming our way. For a first night it was pretty cool, and we think it’s going be getting a lot better over the coming weeks.

*As it turns out, his name is Nacho. Apologies to both Nacho and Corrie’s Steve MacDonald for the mix-up.