Yo ho ahoy!

Here’s the tale of an offbeat and interesting gig outing the Old Bank in Keynsham last Saturday.

We’d been contacted by the booking agent during the week to pass on a message from the venue that it was to be a “Harry Potter themed” evening.

“What you are supposed to so with this information, I don’t know”, he added, “But they were very keen to let you know”.

O-kay.

We didn’t know what to do with this information either, but as it turned out, we saw not a single sign of any Potter-isms, so perhaps the punters didn’t know what to make of it either. READ MORE

Hello playmates!

We’re back to the joys of gigging again, just as I was beginning to forget how weird things can get sometimes…

Friday’s outing to the Crab Apple in Clevedon was enlivened by the presence of a few old chums, and we were delighted to see our lovely pal and occasional special guest vocalist Paige there.

But – what’s this? She’s got her arm strapped up in a serious-looking sling contraption? What’s happened?

“Broken collarbone”.

And how did she manage this?

“Motorcycle accident, last week. I was riding merrily along and a deer jumped out of the bushes right in front of me. Didn’t even have time to brake or try to swerve around it. So now I’ve got this.” READ MORE

Ahoy ahoy!

Well, after an unusually prolonged summer break – we’re back!

What with one thing and another, it’s been six weeks since the last AUF gig – well, almost. There was one friend-of-a-friend birthday party we were asked to play a couple of weekends ago, but with Abby away, Steve in France, and Stuart in Canada, it looked like we were going to have to disappoint them.

However, thanks to the services of my excellent drummer friend Rob, AUF alumnus bassist from 10 years ago Martin, and my marvellously obliging daughter Lily, with a single evening of rehearsal, we actually managed to put together a rather convincing AUF tribute act. READ MORE

Aye up, funsters!

I’m delighted to report that Friday night’s escapade to the Packhorse was an absolute blast! We were expecting a busy night, what with it being main man Liam’s birthday bash – what we weren’t expecting was to find the entire street filled up with wall to wall motorsickles, meaning we had to double park in the bus lane and unload onto the street.

We also weren’t expecting there to be a support act playing when we arrived – but there was! Turned out to be a very affable chap, on his own with a set of backing tracks, who very helpfully shipped his kit out the way for us to set up as soon as he’d finished, before even going off to get paid. And, although the pub was busy, the thoughtful punters kept a space clear for us to set up, so we had a nice easy ride. READ MORE

Hello tiddlypeeps!

I’ll keep this one fairly short – it’s currently a nice Sunday afternoon, and having just finished my chores for the day, I’m keen to slope off and sit in the garden for an hour or so* of doing absolutely nothing.

Also, of course, I don’t want to distract anyone from watching World Sports Day, which I believe is currently underway in Paris.

We can report on a pleasant evening spent in the Oak on Thursday, followed by a very entertaining Saturday night at the Good Intent in Broomhill. I’ll be honest, based on the previous time we played here, we weren’t expecting much; and it seemed our expectations were right, as we finished setting up and there were less than a dozen folks in the bar. READ MORE

Hello funsters!

We hope you’re all enjoying the glorious unpredictable variability of the British summer…

Well, we’re here to report an extremely enjoyable Saturday night down at the Poacher in Portishead.

Lovely friendly staff, a very enthusiastic bunch of punters who were very clearly up for enjoying themselves, and we were delighted to see some lovely friends that we haven’t caught up with for a while – plus our occasional special guest star vocalist Paige, who came and belted her way through a couple of tunes with us and had the whole place bouncing up and down. READ MORE

Aye up!

Well, that was an eventful weekend.

Some of the more experienced of you may recall a government information video from – oooh, probably the early eighties – warning the public that “most accidents occur in the home”.

Under the Freedom Of Information Act, I can now tell you that this is not the case – the truth is, in fact, that “Most Accidents Happen At The Gig”.

I shall elucidate.

Friday night saw us roll up bright and early at the Cat & Wheel in advance of 7 pm, ready for the early start which has been the custom there for the past year or two. READ MORE

Aloha!

Well, we hope you all had as fine a weekend as we did; we kicked off with a fairly quiet pub gig on Friday, but on Saturday night we had an absolute blast – we’d been asked, at quite short notice, to play a house party, which turned out to be at a very nice big posh house; we were set up in a marquee in the garden, playing with a backdrop of a lovely sunset view over the Severn Estuary, with a lovely bunch of folks watching us arrayed on the two-tiered terraces. 

I even managed to persuade my beloved Dem to come along, the first time she’s come out with us in ages, and the first time she met our Abby. READ MORE

Morning all!

Well, we’re back! And, if our jaunt to the King Billy in Staple Hill on Saturday was anything to go by, we’re actually rather less rusty than expected.

This is not to say that there wasn’t the occasional mishap – for example – one of our number (who shall remain nameless, because it was me) during the intro to a song which features a mere three chords, required three attempts to find the right one… I mean, you’d have thought statistically I’d have done better than that. READ MORE

Greetings earthlets!

My, that was a busy and fun-packed weekend!

Friday night saw us down at the Blue Lagoon for a riotously fun-packed evening; I was bowled over to see some much-missed old pals, and the place filled up rapidly as we were about to start.

Cunning Abby had requested kind-hearted Stuart to pick her up for the gig.

“Car trouble?”

“No, I just fancied a drink…”

It seemed to do her the world of good, she was out and about merrily moshing with the crowd from the off, and by half time, during what I felt was a particularly artful guitar solo, she’d somehow instigated a chant of “Go, Alan, go!” from the assembled reprobates. READ MORE