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Thanks very much to Paul Burke at Forest FM in Dorset who playlisted our track The Neverending on his show on Friday. A few more like that would be nice!
New dates for the diary (although both to be 100% confirmed) are Thursday 17th December at The Varsity Bar in Reading, and Sunday 28th February at Bournemouth Folk Club (yes, another folk club gig!)
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Random MJ Ramble
Its 34 degrees in my office. The air-con has packed up, and with all the windows in the building unable to be opened due to health and safety (even though we’re only on the first floor and you’d be lucky to break a leg if you jumped), it’s pretty damn uncomfortable.
As luck would have it, I (Phil) have little work to do this afternoon so I’ve just been reading the reviews online of the new Michael Jackson concert film, released internationally last night. The consensus is a bit hit and miss, some of it is good, some bad – in some of it you can see his genius shining through, whereas in other bits he just comes across as a frail man with what seems like the whole world on his shoulders. As expected, every paper, news website etc has a comment on it – which is of course to be expected.
I personally am a little uncomfortable with the fact that this film has been reviewed in exactly the same sort of way any other cinema release would have been. It’s blatantly obvious that this material, however good, was never intended for mass viewing - at the very most a 10 minute segment as part of the extras DVD of what would have been no doubt a tremendous live DVD after the shows had been completed. The fact that respected film critics for national and international news agencies can criticise the filming techniques is a little out of line. I’m sure had they known the bloke was going to drop dead before the opening night, they would have got the finest camera and sound crew available to capture every last detail of the show……but they didn’t, so this is all we have, and maybe we just need to be thankful we even have that – but I suppose that view doesn’t sell papers.
The one thing that is certain is that everyone is in agreement this was going to be some show – so lets hope we actually see it one day, with the worlds top performers taking on the Jackson role.
Anyway – in other news, it looks like we might have finally sorted a date in Reading. After almost 2 years of searching for the right venue, it looks like we’re going to be playing The Varsity Bar on Thursday 17th December, alongside two as yet unnamed acoustic based acts. So, if you’re from the Reading area, like most of us are – stick it in the diary.
As luck would have it, I (Phil) have little work to do this afternoon so I’ve just been reading the reviews online of the new Michael Jackson concert film, released internationally last night. The consensus is a bit hit and miss, some of it is good, some bad – in some of it you can see his genius shining through, whereas in other bits he just comes across as a frail man with what seems like the whole world on his shoulders. As expected, every paper, news website etc has a comment on it – which is of course to be expected.
I personally am a little uncomfortable with the fact that this film has been reviewed in exactly the same sort of way any other cinema release would have been. It’s blatantly obvious that this material, however good, was never intended for mass viewing - at the very most a 10 minute segment as part of the extras DVD of what would have been no doubt a tremendous live DVD after the shows had been completed. The fact that respected film critics for national and international news agencies can criticise the filming techniques is a little out of line. I’m sure had they known the bloke was going to drop dead before the opening night, they would have got the finest camera and sound crew available to capture every last detail of the show……but they didn’t, so this is all we have, and maybe we just need to be thankful we even have that – but I suppose that view doesn’t sell papers.
The one thing that is certain is that everyone is in agreement this was going to be some show – so lets hope we actually see it one day, with the worlds top performers taking on the Jackson role.
Anyway – in other news, it looks like we might have finally sorted a date in Reading. After almost 2 years of searching for the right venue, it looks like we’re going to be playing The Varsity Bar on Thursday 17th December, alongside two as yet unnamed acoustic based acts. So, if you’re from the Reading area, like most of us are – stick it in the diary.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
London dates for the diary
We have 3 London dates coming up in the next few weeks. We'll be at The Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell on Saturday November 7th, then a return to the brilliant Icarus Club at The Station Hotel in Lewisham on Thursday November 12th, before making our debut at The Halo Bar in Battersea on Tuesday 1st December. Full details on all these gigs can be found in the gig section of the site, as well as on all our other random pages!
Getting back to it
Well, we’re back gigging tonight for the first time since we finished the summer album tour in Finedon near Kettering at the beginning of September. So much has happened in the last 6 weeks that this gig seems like an age ago – but we’re somewhat refreshed (well, some of us are) and really looking forward to getting back playing tonight.
We had our first rehearsal with all 5 of us present for the first time in two months on Tuesday, and ended the session with a new song, which we plan to have a crack at tonight. Those of you who follow us regularly will know that the rate of our output is not exactly what you would call prolific – but two new songs in as many months isn’t bad going, although I make no promises that this will continue…..
So it’s Folking Live tonight, which is actually the night I (Phil) run. The fact that I’ve booked us for it does reek of complete self promotion I admit, however it’s a nice little gig to get us back in to the swing of things and The Cellar Bar at South Hill Park is a really nice cosy little venue with great sound – although pretty horrendous toilets it has to be said!
The bill is really good (even if I do say so myself…) with one of the best bands I’ve seen in ages coming down to play. If you do one thing today, check out Lewis Garland & The Kett Rebellion – www.myspace.com/lewisgarland, it’ll be well worth your time and effort.
So, be good to see some of you there - £5 on the door, 8pm start and you should be able to get back for at least half of Question Time.
The rest of the year looks pretty solid, with a few London dates confirmed – and no doubt more writing to be done. It’s nearly Christmas, and then it’ll be on to record album number 2…..hectic!
We had our first rehearsal with all 5 of us present for the first time in two months on Tuesday, and ended the session with a new song, which we plan to have a crack at tonight. Those of you who follow us regularly will know that the rate of our output is not exactly what you would call prolific – but two new songs in as many months isn’t bad going, although I make no promises that this will continue…..
So it’s Folking Live tonight, which is actually the night I (Phil) run. The fact that I’ve booked us for it does reek of complete self promotion I admit, however it’s a nice little gig to get us back in to the swing of things and The Cellar Bar at South Hill Park is a really nice cosy little venue with great sound – although pretty horrendous toilets it has to be said!
The bill is really good (even if I do say so myself…) with one of the best bands I’ve seen in ages coming down to play. If you do one thing today, check out Lewis Garland & The Kett Rebellion – www.myspace.com/lewisgarland, it’ll be well worth your time and effort.
So, be good to see some of you there - £5 on the door, 8pm start and you should be able to get back for at least half of Question Time.
The rest of the year looks pretty solid, with a few London dates confirmed – and no doubt more writing to be done. It’s nearly Christmas, and then it’ll be on to record album number 2…..hectic!
Thursday, 24 September 2009
The big 'five-o'
As you may know (especially if you're one of our regular readers - we know you're out there somewhere!), we're currently taking a bit of a break from regular band activity. Unfortunately, this tends to make writing a blog about what we do as a band quite difficult...
Because of this, I was kicking myself slightly when I woke up this morning and remembered that I'd promised to write a blog post today... But, just as I logged on to Blogger, and was about to churn out 2 paragraphs about nothing in particular, I noticed that we've somehow made it to the marginally impressive milestone of 50 posts!
It seems a long time ago that it all started - since then we've recorded and released our debut album, and done almost 30 dates in support of that, everywhere from Northamptonshire to Portsmouth. Not surprising that we need a bit of a break after all of that...
Anyway, thanks to everyone who has read our blog (and of course bought our album and come to our gigs) over the last few months, we hope to keep you entertained for a few months longer at least! And for now, we're off to go and drink Guinness in celebration of the wonderful drink's birthday, under the thinly veiled excuse of having a rehearsal... Cheers!
Because of this, I was kicking myself slightly when I woke up this morning and remembered that I'd promised to write a blog post today... But, just as I logged on to Blogger, and was about to churn out 2 paragraphs about nothing in particular, I noticed that we've somehow made it to the marginally impressive milestone of 50 posts!
It seems a long time ago that it all started - since then we've recorded and released our debut album, and done almost 30 dates in support of that, everywhere from Northamptonshire to Portsmouth. Not surprising that we need a bit of a break after all of that...
Anyway, thanks to everyone who has read our blog (and of course bought our album and come to our gigs) over the last few months, we hope to keep you entertained for a few months longer at least! And for now, we're off to go and drink Guinness in celebration of the wonderful drink's birthday, under the thinly veiled excuse of having a rehearsal... Cheers!
Friday, 11 September 2009
Last gig for a while
Tonight is the last date on our summer gig run, so thanks to everyone for coming out to see us and to those who have bought the album so far. We’re going off now to go on holidays, become parents and various other things that people do when on a break! We’ll be continuing to write for the next month or two and hope to have some more new material to debut when we start gigging again at the end of October.
Friday, 4 September 2009
The Musical Raffle
It’s a Green Ticket, a Green Ticket – and it’s 107
A Yellow Ticket, a Yellow Ticket – and it’s 264
Shuffle!
You kind of have to perform the above, in a rock and roll style, with a walking bass line, to get the feel of the Rock and Roll Raffle that we had the pleasure of witnessing last night in Portsmouth. We were one of two featured artists at Roger Courtney’s Open Mike Night and had earlier in the evening played our best set in ages, to a really enthusiastic crowd at what is a great little club, just a stone’s throw from Fratton Park (in fact the pub to which the venue was attached to was a real home fans boozer, with pictures of the Pompey team from almost every year since the early 70’s adorning the walls).
The guy running the night, Nick Courtney – who has admirably kept the club going after his fathers passing some years ago, is one of the most affable men you could wish to meet. Not only that, but he seemed prepared for all sound and musical issues – having nothing less than a spare acoustic bass handy when Ben’s battery decided to die before we’d even played a note. You can’t beat that for forward planning.
So it was with interest that we sat down for a beer after our set, to watch some of the open mic performers. We were treated to a double act resurrecting the comedy song, a blinding bagpipe player with added percussion and then said percussion player then switching to guitar and running through a set of well played covers which included what myself and Adrian have come to agree was a song by the band Therapy? Certainly a mixed bag but all really good stuff.
‘You can’t leave before the raffle’ we were told by Nick as we upped to get on our way – ‘you’ve not seen anything until you’ve seen the raffle – it’s a rock and roll raffle!’.
And right there – we thought to ourselves ‘a musical raffle? We’ve seen that before……..’
Some time ago we did a show at what really was quite a similar set-up at a club in Watford. A nicer bunch of people you couldn’t wish to meet, although the builder who we spoke to outside who seemed to get a bit agitated when we said we didn’t know any U2 covers made us slightly uneasy.
However, other than a sound guy who enjoyed turning everything up to 11, and the odd random drip from the leaky ceiling, we actually had quite a good time, and played a solid first set.
………then however came the raffle…….the musical raffle.
Cue the theme from Bullseye, played on the slightly out of tune piano in the corner – it was all very music hall. Jim Bowen was not in attendance, so it was left to the sound guy to dart from the back in almost Ultimate Warrior fashion (80’s wrestling fans will know what I’m talking about), don a black bowler hat, and while doing his 2 step dance routine proceed to reel off the winning numbers. The excitement in the room as one after another people went up to get their prizes – a shower curtain, some lace doilies and a tube of toothpaste amongst other things.
When we went back on for our second set, we just couldn’t compete – it was so intimidating to follow what was obviously the weekly highlight that Gethin very nearly soiled himself – and that isn’t a lie.
So musical raffles – I’m actually excited to find the next one. I may make this part of the booking criteria that we only play nights with musical raffles. Sod bowls of M&M’s with all the brown ones taken out – or sandwiches with the crusts cut off, or 1000 purple balloons in the dressing room – the only contracted stipulation for us to play is that there has to be a musical raffle – it is the way forward!
To end – I’d just like to thank Nick and the folks at Roger Courtney’s Open Mike Night, one of the best nights we’ve played in a long time. If you’re ever in the Portsmouth area on a Thursday night, go along. There aren’t enough clubs like that – so long may it continue.
A Yellow Ticket, a Yellow Ticket – and it’s 264
Shuffle!
You kind of have to perform the above, in a rock and roll style, with a walking bass line, to get the feel of the Rock and Roll Raffle that we had the pleasure of witnessing last night in Portsmouth. We were one of two featured artists at Roger Courtney’s Open Mike Night and had earlier in the evening played our best set in ages, to a really enthusiastic crowd at what is a great little club, just a stone’s throw from Fratton Park (in fact the pub to which the venue was attached to was a real home fans boozer, with pictures of the Pompey team from almost every year since the early 70’s adorning the walls).
The guy running the night, Nick Courtney – who has admirably kept the club going after his fathers passing some years ago, is one of the most affable men you could wish to meet. Not only that, but he seemed prepared for all sound and musical issues – having nothing less than a spare acoustic bass handy when Ben’s battery decided to die before we’d even played a note. You can’t beat that for forward planning.
So it was with interest that we sat down for a beer after our set, to watch some of the open mic performers. We were treated to a double act resurrecting the comedy song, a blinding bagpipe player with added percussion and then said percussion player then switching to guitar and running through a set of well played covers which included what myself and Adrian have come to agree was a song by the band Therapy? Certainly a mixed bag but all really good stuff.
‘You can’t leave before the raffle’ we were told by Nick as we upped to get on our way – ‘you’ve not seen anything until you’ve seen the raffle – it’s a rock and roll raffle!’.
And right there – we thought to ourselves ‘a musical raffle? We’ve seen that before……..’
Some time ago we did a show at what really was quite a similar set-up at a club in Watford. A nicer bunch of people you couldn’t wish to meet, although the builder who we spoke to outside who seemed to get a bit agitated when we said we didn’t know any U2 covers made us slightly uneasy.
However, other than a sound guy who enjoyed turning everything up to 11, and the odd random drip from the leaky ceiling, we actually had quite a good time, and played a solid first set.
………then however came the raffle…….the musical raffle.
Cue the theme from Bullseye, played on the slightly out of tune piano in the corner – it was all very music hall. Jim Bowen was not in attendance, so it was left to the sound guy to dart from the back in almost Ultimate Warrior fashion (80’s wrestling fans will know what I’m talking about), don a black bowler hat, and while doing his 2 step dance routine proceed to reel off the winning numbers. The excitement in the room as one after another people went up to get their prizes – a shower curtain, some lace doilies and a tube of toothpaste amongst other things.
When we went back on for our second set, we just couldn’t compete – it was so intimidating to follow what was obviously the weekly highlight that Gethin very nearly soiled himself – and that isn’t a lie.
So musical raffles – I’m actually excited to find the next one. I may make this part of the booking criteria that we only play nights with musical raffles. Sod bowls of M&M’s with all the brown ones taken out – or sandwiches with the crusts cut off, or 1000 purple balloons in the dressing room – the only contracted stipulation for us to play is that there has to be a musical raffle – it is the way forward!
To end – I’d just like to thank Nick and the folks at Roger Courtney’s Open Mike Night, one of the best nights we’ve played in a long time. If you’re ever in the Portsmouth area on a Thursday night, go along. There aren’t enough clubs like that – so long may it continue.
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