Hey gang

It’s been a busy ol’ weekend, so I think it’s only fair to give you just the edited highlights…

Friday night, and we’d been looking forward to a jolly night at the dear ol’ Cat & Wheel on Gloucester Road. We weren’t disappointed; I was very pleased to see my brother and his lovely other half turned up unexpectedly mid-soundcheck, just as I’d managed to sort out my sulky pedalboard and get it into some semblance of working order. Later, they were also joined by a barrage of my favourite nieces, and all was set for a pleasant evening. READ MORE

Aye up!

It was a couple of weeks ago, but I fondly remember our recent outing to the King Billy in Staple Hill – which I am seriously considering adding to our list of favourite Bristol venues.

With regular bass maestro Steve away on something he called a “holiday” – I really must look that up sometime – we were looking forward to having our low end covered by previous incumbent Ben; and to our mutual surprise and delight, he remembered the entire set without a hitch – all the while merrily being a daft bugger. READ MORE

Top o’ the mornin’ to ye!

We hope you enjoyed the weekend just as much as we did.

…But not more than us, ‘cause that would somehow feel unjust. Why should you lot be having all the fun, eh…?

Anyway, you’d have to be going some to out-fun us – Saturday’s jaunt to The Market Tavern in Glasters was an absolute hoot. On arrival, I was especially pleased by the strapping young barmaid who insisted on helping me lug the kit in from the van; “there’s three more of ‘em behind the bar anyway, so I’m not doing much else just now”. READ MORE

‘Sup dawgs

After a couple of weeks off, you’ll doubtless be excited to hear that we’re back out gigging. In fact, it’s a rather special gig coming up this week – thanks no doubt to a special personal request from Michael Eavis – we’ve been asked to play… <<cue drum roll>> ….Glastonbury!

Yes, really. It’s true. Now, whilst the majority of the mainstream event for the great unwashed public was of course held this weekend just gone, we’ve been told that this is an intimate event, organised exclusively by and for the cognoscenti, at the secretive “Other Other Stage”. READ MORE

Aye up!

Just a brief missive this week, as I forgot to write one yesterday, so now it’s VERY early in the morning, and my creative muse is currently sleeping softly in bed with the curtains drawn. I, however, fortified by a large and potent jet-black coffee, am heroically stabbing blindly at a keyboard in an attempt to transfer information from what remains of my brain onto the screen you see before you. So, please, bear with any typos or sentences that seem to run out of steam…

Saturday’s jaunt to the Fire Engine in Redfield went rather well, all things considered. We had been feeling a little cautious, as the last time we came the place was full of riotous drunks before we even arrived, and several had to be actively subdued by the staff. READ MORE

Mornin all!

And we hope you all had as entertaining a weekend as we did! Friday’s gig at the Air Balloon was jolly good fun, and it was especially nice to see various sets of pals from the disparate worlds of both rawk’n’roll and work having a jolly time.

In fact, I was even moved to play one of my favourite bath duck solos – captured here (photo credits where they’re due) by @photography_#1rock_chick…

This is, of course, just one of the two ways known to science to get a duck to play the blues. READ MORE

Hey there, cats & kittens!

Dean Martin here – you may remember me from my string of easy listening hits from the fifties and sixties – I’m the one that’s not Frank Sinatra (no-good punk that he was, with his “songs for swinging lovers”…pah!)

Anyway – being dead, I’ve not been able to release any new music for quite a while; but I have instead been devoting my spare time to marine conservation.

And that’s what I’m doing here – sending out a series of fascinating snippets of information to raise everyone’s awareness of the plight of the sea life in our oceans, via a series of weekly emails. This is just the first of a series of sixty-four, containing fun facts for your education and entertainment. READ MORE

Yo homeys!

Well, that was an extremely enjoyable weekend of noisy mayhem!

The intent was that Saturday night would mark the debut gig for our new bass player Steve – but in fact, it marked his second gig with us.

We had a request come in midweek to play at the bar in the Rovers ground on Saturday afternoon after the match; two gigs in one day was a big ask for a first-timer, but Steve heroically said “Hell, yes, why not?” Abby was a little concerned about running out of voice; she said she’d like to do it, but was “not sure it would be wise”. That settled it; we now have to do it, I’m not having anyone accusing us of being sensible. READ MORE

Mornin all!

And we have an exciting week coming up on the rock’n’roll rollercoaster^TM; you may recall, many moons ago, we announced our resident Viking bass player Ben was planning to leave us, having finally tired of mine and Stuart’s company after thirteen or so years (I know, right? No stamina, some people).

Ben had very kindly agreed to carry on gigging until we found a suitable replacement and got them up to speed. Due to an unfortunate, protracted and complex sequence of events, this took far, far longer than any of us anticipated; but Ben has gamely soldiered on until now, at last, we finally have a new player on Team AUF. READ MORE

Ahoy there, me hearties!

And a warm welcome to this week’s edition of random nonsense – interspersed, if you’re lucky*, with the occasional deep and profound insight which will illuminate your soul, bringing a small oasis of comfort and peace amidst the complexity and confusion of modern life.

Saturday night and an appointment at the Cider Press in Bishopston looms. I have to admit that, after a somewhat hectic day, I wasn’t really looking forward to making the effort tonight – but second-rate guitarists gotta do what second-rate guitarists gotta do… READ MORE