Ahoy there, me hearties!
Well, sadly were all on shore leave this weekend, so we can’t tell you all about our exciting adventures, because we haven’t had any.
But, if you – like the 3.14% of sailors who are pi-rates – are up for a bit of saucy buccaneering fun on the high seas, here’s where you can find the crew of the good ship Angel Up Front next weekend…
Friday 9th – The Trout, Keynsham
Swashbuckling good fun, this one – the decks usually awash with grog by the end of the night.
‘Sup, dawg – as we young people actually probably don’t say any more…
Well, we had a rather interesting evening at the Royal Oak in Sodding Chipbury – after her recent spate of the dreaded lurgy, our lovely Emma arrived declaring herself to be “much better”.
You’ll note that’s “much better”, rather than actually “well”. So our poor girl had a couple of vocal squeaks and coughing fits during the set, but gamely carried on and only mentioned her poor illness to the crowd a mere thirty or forty times during the evening.
Gooood morning, chums!
Well, I have to say that there was rather less rawk’n’roll in that weekend than we’d hoped.
It all started so well, with Em having declared herself fit for Friday’s gig at the Swan in Thornbury after her bout of horrible flu lurgy; we rolled up, we set up, and – come the allotted hour – we started playing.
Two songs in, and suddenly poor Em’s voice cracks as she approaches some high notes without due care and attention. She manages to finish the song, but only by conveying the choruses by the medium of interpretive dance.
…And a Happy Noo Year to all our readers!
We hope all had nearly as much fun as we did over the festering season (but not quite as much, obviously, that simply wouldn’t be right).
I’d report back on the gigs we played, but it’s all a bit of a blur really… I do recall that Christmas Eve in the Sandringham in Downend was huge fun, very nice place and a definitely silly crowd – we ended up stretching the second set out to the best part of 2 hours…
Just after Xmas, poor Emma succumbed to a Horrible Throat Lurgy that left her unable to even speak (she even had to send me text messages in mime), which put a couple of gigs in jeopardy. Since we didn’t fancy gigs in Jeopardy (or anywhere else abroad) we were very lucky to have talented daughter Lily step into the breach and cover for us. An absolute lifesaver, and very fortunate that she was both available and in need of the money!
Well, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our readers!
I’ll keep this missive fairly short, as I am currently at work in between resolving work-type disasters, whilst trapped at a desk within earshot of the works annual Christmas Choir Carol Concert – I can’t get away, and I didn’t bring a flamethrower, so you’ll have to excuse the somewhat cursory nature of this one.
Last weekend provided a very entertaining surprise birthday party gig, held at a large film studio – enormous big studio, loads of guests, and more lighting effects than you could shake a very big stick at. We came, we set up, and at the allotted hour the Birthday boy was led in blindfolded, and on cue we launched into playing a heavy metallised version of Happy Birthday just as his blindfold we removed… a rather cool way to start a gig, I think. We managed to make enough noise to fill the large space adequately, thanks to the magic of Stuart Hitting Things Very Hard Indeed, and the rest of us cranking the amps rather more than they’re used to. Lovely!
Ahoy there shipmates!
A mighty fine weekend’s rollicking on the Good Ship Angel Up Front, a three-gig voyage, and a fine haul of rawk’n’roll plunder.
Friday at the Blue Lagoon showed a good turnout of old chums, which was rather lovely – a wonderful surprise for me to see long-lost almost-daughter Sophie there; meanwhile, not-so-long-lost-actual-daughter Lily was drinking elsewhere in Bristol, and missed the reunion; only after being driven past the venue on her way home, and thinking, “That looks like my dad’s van”, did she check to see where we were gigging. I may have to demote her.
Hello chums!
My, that was an extremely bizarre weekend, even by our standards….
Friday night, and I rolled up slightly early to our gig the Air Balloon in Filton; went up to the bar, announced I was with the band and asked where they’d like us to play.
Barman points in a direction, “They’re over there, setting up”.
I look across. There is indeed a band setting up, but it’s not mine. Oh dear, looks like there’s been a double-booking. I go over and introduce myself. The guy putting up a PA looks, unsurprisingly, puzzled. “But the band that was booked here got cancelled, that’s why we were asked to play”.
Hey gang!
Didja miss us? Didja? Didja?
Well, two whole weekends without any gigs; it’s been a long time, been a long time, been a… Oh, you see? That’s how much we miss it. Everything turns into a rawk cliché.
Although… I think that kind of thing happens all the time… at least, in my world it does.
Anyway – we’re back now, and rather excited to be out gigging again. Even though we’re – somewhat bizarrely playing two gigs – both in Filton – this weekend, Emma is more excited by the prospect of going out gigging again than she is by her new favourite breakfast cereal…
Hola, amigos,
Another jolly fine weekend; nice and local for a change. Friday night at the Swan in Thornbury was massively improved by the presence of some lovely old friends, who help us carry the kit in and out and buy us drinks. The rest of you take note – this is the kind of behaviour we like to see!
There are a also a couple of videos they kindly posted up on the Facebook page to commemorate the event, including some rather accomplished inflatable guitar action… Well, we like that kind of thing.
Hello my little ones,
Well, that was a weekend of Halloween fancy dress gigging silliness; earning an honorable mention for Stuart for latex face scars, and excellent cobwebby props for the kit (in particular, for “Wraith Charles” hanging from the PA); motion of censure for Ben for simply wearing two hats at once; obvious first prize to Emma for the truly terrifying “mad flesh-eating woman” look, and thanks to my Lily for making me look like quite a convincing dead person.
Apparently this was “Quite easy, actually – most of the work’s already been done…”
