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Born in April 02, AUF have grown into one of the hardest-working bands in the South West. Material ranges through pop, indie, classic & modern rock, delivered with aplomb, acuity, and a side order of cheese. With stunning vocals, a rock-solid rhythm section and a gorgeous, talented guitar player who writes their copy, this is rock like it should be played – foot on monitor, tongue in cheek, and Angel Up Front.

05-10-2015 – Duck Ears!

Hola homeys and honeys!

Well, we made it! We survived the muso’s nightmare that is THE STAIRS at the Rum Bar over in Chepstow on Friday night.

We’ll gloss over the fact that Ben and I got stuck in traffic so much that the 5 miles from my house to the Severn Bridge took us over an hour, and pick up the story as we rolled up at the foot of the tottering slippery ironwork fire escape that is the way in to the venue…

…In fact, the experience of getting all the kit in and set up was massively eased by the fact that much of the carrying-of-unfeasibly-heavy-equipment-up-endless-flights-of-stairs was actually done by the extremely amiable lads from behind the bar, meaning that we were a lot less exhausted than otherwise. Also, once we had reached Base Camp, the fact that our Rosa has very quickly learned the ancient craft of wiring up the PA, saved us some setting up time, leaving me with ample opportunity to faff about with choosing which toys to play with. READ MORE

01-10-2015 – Space Mission

Captain’s log, star date 735.41

Having sent a landing party down to the surface of the planet Trident, in the Shabby quadrant of the Downend system, we set up our scientific equipment and attempted to discern if there was any native intelligent life down there.

Despite some early positive readings, we were beginning to suspect that we weren’t going to find anything more advanced than basic pond life organisms, when suddenly we stumbled across a new species of apparently alcohol-based life form, which provided much opportunity for interesting scientific study. READ MORE

21-09-2015 – Pirate Princess

Ahoy there, shipmates!

This week, we’re blogging in accordance with our new inclusiveness policy, so there’s lots of Subtitles For The Hard Of Thinking – in short, less words, and more pictures. A bit like, “Where’s Spot?”*.

Now read on…

We had an absolutely fantastic evening up at the dear ol’ Queen Vic up in Stroud on Saturday – only the second gig we’ve played with young Miss Rosa at the helm, and of course, being International Talk Like A Pirate Day, a perfect excuse to dress up like a bunch of silly buggers. READ MORE

14-09-2015 – Arrrrr

Ahoy there, me hearties!

Well, a mighty fine weekend of it that was an’ all, aboard the good ship Angel Up Front. And shiver me timbers, if the maiden voyage under our new Cap’n Rosa didn’t bring us safely home to shore with our pockets a bulgin’ with plunder, and barely a cannon shot to the mizzen mast. Although to keep the rest of the crew in order, she did have to give deckhand Stuart fifty lashes with the cat, just to make an example of him.

He’s fully recovered now, but the cat’s still off its milk…. READ MORE

07-09-2015 – Rosa

Ahoy there, shipmates!

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since we had anything to report from the technicolour world of rawk’n’roll, but actually now we have some rather exciting news…

Over the last few months, it’s become increasing apparent that our Lou has been struggling to keep up with all her many and varied musical commitments – as well as us, she’s also running an originals grunge band, and a covers duo, plus various other depping and teaching arrangements… and basically, a little while ago, she announced that she’d come to the conclusion that it was time to dump us troglodyte loonies so she could concentrate on her other projects. READ MORE

18-08-2015 – Biscuit

Good morning campers!

A relatively uneventful weekend, only one gig, and that was half acoustic, so it doesn’t completely count, to my mind – even though (as usual) I managed to win the regular “Who’s going to make the most cock-ups” contest that Lily and I regularly have; I spent most of the rest of the weekend up Londonwards, making a rare trip to see me dear old mum, and continue the sequential process of moving the contents of the local B & Q into her house…

The rest of the time was spent groaning at the entries you lot sent in for last week’s “bakery-themed rock song” contest. READ MORE

11-08-2015 – Mr Clumsy

Top o’ the mornin’ to ye!

Okay, I’m bored with that game already…

Right then, this week we had what should have been a straightforward gig at the Jolly Cobbler in Kingswood; after a lovely sunny day relaxing, I was gently driving my way gigwards around ten past eight, when my phone rings. It’s Stuart.

“You do know we’re supposed to start playing at 8:30, don’t you?” he asks in slightly stern fashion.

“Ah… no.” I admit.

“Well, you do now”, he tells me, “how far away are you?” READ MORE

05-08-2015 – Rory The Tiger

Hey gang

Sorry we’re a bit late with the news this week, it’s all been a bit hectic really…

Saturday night at the Lansdowne in Calne was a fairly quiet affair, the place wasn’t exactly packed to the rafters – although there was a lovely bunch of Austrians there on holiday, who provided us with some very fine socks-and-sandals dad-dancing entertainment, and seemed extremely appreciative – even though they couldn’t really understand all of Lou’s deft repartee…and (fortunately) didn’t appear to understand any of Stuart’s. Not that that’s unusual… READ MORE

27-07-2015 – Rain

Ahoy there shipmates!

And, after what I like to think was a well-earned week’s jollidays, it was back into rainy Bristol for a Friday night at the Blue Lagoon. After a quiet start (thanks probably to the deluge bombarding the area), the place soon busied up, and it was quite a nice surprise to find that even after a week without touching a guitar, I could actually almost remember how to play the songs… remarkable, particularly considering that I couldn’t before.

Better still, my insanely complicated guitar rewiring job (installing a four-pole five-way switch plus two double-pole double-throw ones, since you ask) actually worked a treat, so now I can slap several pickups on at the same time – even more loudness than before! 🙂 READ MORE

13-07-2015 – In The Court of Queen Amie

Yo homeys!

Well, what can I say? Although we’ve had a lot of fun at various wedding and party gigs lately, it was luvverly to get back to the dear ol’ Railway Tav, court of Her Imperial Majesty Queen Amy of Fishponds, for a bit of pubby rock. In fact, Her Majesty was a little put out that we hadn’t played her favourite song (Alanis Morissette’s Bitch), and when Lou protested that she didn’t know it, she was met with a straightforward “Well, if you ain’t playin’ it, I ain’t payin’ you then.” READ MORE