Not a happy clappy

When you’re starting a new band, you welcome any opportunity to play live, just to build repertoire and experience.

And so last Saturday night I was out with the new quintet supporting a gospel choir in one of the least explored parts of Tyneside.

I’d never heard a gospel choir live, and I was looking forward to it because I’ve usually liked recordings and films of gospel music.

Oh dear. How can I put this? Pasty-faced white Geordies don’t belt it out like big black mamas. I quickly realised that my expectations had been unreasonable, and I was settling down to enjoying them for what they were when the leader started asking for audience participation - not just singing but clapping, spinning around and praising the lord. I was glued to my seat with embarrassment. I felt so white British – we don’t do that kind of thing – and so profoundly atheist.