Tag Archives: bradley stoke

21-10-2019 – The Vague Meanderings Of Mr Gormless

Hello listeners

And a warm welcome to this week’s edition of “Vague Meanderings” here on Radio 4. This week in the studio we have ex-BBC television presenter Mr Jack Hargreaves, who sadly died twelve years ago, and is here to promote his new book “Countryside Ramblings From My Shed”.

But first, we have a letter from a Mrs Trellis of North Wales, who writes to ask us if that nice Mrs Thatcher is still in charge of things…

<<We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an important announcement from the Rock Office>> READ MORE

14-10-2019 – The MOP That Needed A Mop

Right then, is everybody here?

You – you at the back there – yes, you, boy – are you chewing something?

What is it?

Really?

Ergh. Well, I hope you brought enough for the whole class…

So, if it’s quite all right, shall we continue with the lesson, then, if it’s not too much trouble?

Friday’s escapade to Marlborough was – well, a bit odd, frankly. This is the week, it seems, of the “Marlborough Mop Fair” – a quaint local tradition which seems to consist of closing off the entire high street to traffic, and erecting in it a large – and very much closed – funfair. READ MORE

07-10-2019 – Well Carry On Then

Hola amigos!

Big apologies to anybody who tried to come out to see us at the Giant Goram on Friday – we weren’t there!

To be fair, our Emma was a poorly little chicken indeed, having barely survived Thursday’s trip to the Royal Oak – she did message earlier in the day to say she was feeling terrible, but we were still not quite prepared for the sorry sight that shambled in just before gig time. Oh dearie me, she was not a happy little singer.

Still, bless her, she managed to just about make it through the night – and it did give us an excuse to trot out a couple of extra numbers with Ben on lead vocals, to give her a few minutes recovery time. READ MORE

26-06-2018 – The Gear Inspector

Ahoy there shipmates!

A beautiful sunny weekend, kicking off at the Glue Baboon down the Gloucester Road; as predicted, it got very lively, and it was nice to see some of Em’s lovely mates again. One of my favourite moments was before we started playing though; having set up, and wandered offstage for a refreshing drinky and a natter, a middle aged gentleman strolled up to the stage and began peering intently at our kit.

Regular musos will instantly recognise this behaviour as indicative of a Gear Inspector – one of breed who carefully appraises the quality of the band’s equipment, to see if he (and it’s always a “he”) should take them seriously or not. Marshall amplification, for example, once considered the height of desirability, is now considered merely acceptable by the cognoscenti; ideally you should have a more exclusive brand such as Cornford, or Matchless, or better still a hand-made boutique MJW amp.

He looks at my amp head – which has had the name badge replaced by an illuminated Polar Bear Cheese Pirate logo and some blue LEDs, and looks suitably puzzled; then he peers down to inspect my effects pedals – notably consisting of a homebuilt overdrive, emblazoned with a large Motorhead logo, the eyes of which light up when you turn it on. Subtlety and good taste are ever our watchwords.

Bemused, he turns his inspection to Ben’s rig. He is visibly relieved to see a “respectable” Gallein Kruger bass amp – then looks down to see Ben’s new pedal – which, regular readers may recall, is labelled entirely in the Klingon language. He does a lovely double-take, scratches his head, returns to his table, looking very confused.

Nonetheless, by the end of the night he is dancing away merrily with the rest of the pub, so obviously our shambolically quirky kit was deemed adequate. 🙂

Saturday afternoon, and a huge fun time at Fishponds Party in The Park; we got to play a very one-hour set in front of a lovely bunch of people; then, having scored some cool beer and food, sat on the grass and watched the next band do their thing. They got one over on us by having a Red Arrows flypast in the middle of their set, but other than that I think we gave a pretty good account of ourselves.

A trundle home, a quick repacking of the van, and there’s just time for me to lounge around in Dem’s pool for half an hour and eat some cheese, and then it’s off to Bailey’s Court Inn for the evening’s gig. To be fair, it didn’t quite live up to the previous two; in fact in the first set Stuart was forced to simulate the sound of applause to make up for the very quiet audience; nonetheless, by the end of the night they were jumping around merrily. Just some folks need a bit more work – and a rubber chicken – to warm them up, I guess.

Right, that’s it for now; no gigs next weekend, so some peace and quiet for us all.

However; we will – as my good friend Arnold Schwarzenegger* would say – be back….

Square on
A

*Not many people know that Mr Schwarzenegger is something of a philosopher. The following is a genuine example of his simple homespun wisdom.

“Money won’t make you happy. I know this for a fact, because I have $52 million dollars; but I’m no happier than I was when I only had $46 million dollars”.

18-06-2018 – Party In The Ponds

‘Allo, compadres…

Well, with no gigs to report on, this one will be mercifully short – although next weekend does promise to be something of a doozy…

Friday 22nd – Blue Lagoon, Gloucester Rd
This is turning into one of my favourite regular venues, always nice and lively, sometimes they even gets a bit carried away – by security – but we ‘likes a larf, doesn’t we…

Saturday 23rd – Fishponds Party In The Park, 2pm
This should be huge fun, hopefully a nice sunny day in Fishponds Park with ice cream vans in attendance; I’d recommend it even if we weren’t playing – but we are, so I recommend it even more!

Saturday 23rd – Bailey’s Court Inn, Bradley Stoke
And another nice local gig to round off the weekend – plus I get Sunday off. Happy days…

Square on
A

Oh, all right then.

Crap joke of the week: –

What’s the difference between a moose and a soul band?
Well, a moose has the horns at the front and the asshole at the back…