Tag Archives: emma kirby

26-06-2022 – The Heavy Carry

Well, why not…?

Yoho Ahoy!

Well, although we have no gigs coming up this week, I figured it was best to report on the last one before I forget…

So a Thursday night, and due to what can only be described as poor planning, we have a gig in the centre of Cardiff on the same day I have promised to play removals man and transport daughter Lily and her other half Alastair back home from Birmingham, along with all their possessions.

So, after getting up painfully early in the morning, and hooshing up to Brum at full speed, the three of us spend a happy few hours rounding up all their stuff, bullying it into various boxes and containers, and manhandling it down the three narrow flights of stairs. It’s hot sticky work, and Alastair and I decide to tactically dispense with shirts for the duration. Having amassed a mountain of stuff on the street, we attempt, Tetris-stylee, to shoehorn it all into the back of the van. After about three attempts, we have managed to triumphantly get the doors shut, although if they owned just one more item – e.g. a cigarette paper – I’m sure we wouldn’t have done. READ MORE

20-06-2022 – What Halberd

Ahoy there!

Firstly, apologies to anyone who was hoping to see us on Friday at the Cat & Wheel, our Ben was taken unexpectedly poorly that morning and so sadly we had to cancel – which is a great shame, as we were particularly looking forward to that one.

And particular apologies to anyone who didn’t hear the news in time and actually turned up…. As you now know, we weren’t there….

By mid-Saturday, Ben was feeling sufficiently better to have a crack at the Old Mill in Portishead, so we duly fetched up there, and miraculously managed to load everything in between rain showers. READ MORE

07-06-2022 – Back Up And Running (it nearly woke me up)

Aloha!

After all this time, it’s probably something of a surprise to see one of these lurking in your Inbox; you’d probably almost forgotten about the torrent of nonsense we used to inflict on you innocent folks.

Well, sorry (not sorry) to say, We’re Back!

After a long break due to the Dreaded Plague and following some absolute horrors that we won’t be going into, the mighty Angel Up Front rock machine has been dusted down, bearings greased, paintwork buffed to a gleaming sheen, and we’ve even cleaned out the little broken-off bits of plastic that mysteriously accumulate in the door pockets. READ MORE

30-09-2020 – Getting bored now

Hey gang!

We thought we’d pop a little missive out just to check on how you’re all doing.

We hope everyone is coping well with the prevailing lockdown conditions, and trust you are all maintaining an adequate state of alertness, which I have informed by a duplicitous buffoon should suffice to prevent infection. (Just in case anybody takes offence at the phrase “duplicitous buffoon”, please note that it was very far from my first choice of words, but that I am aware there may be pre-school toys present). READ MORE

24-06-2020 – Lockdown Special

Hey gang!

We thought we’d pop a little missive out just to check on how you’re all doing.

We hope everyone is coping well with the prevailing lockdown conditions, and trust you are all maintaining an adequate state of alertness, which I have informed by a duplicitous buffoon should suffice to prevent infection. (Just in case anybody takes offence at the phrase “duplicitous buffoon”, please note that it was very far from my first choice of words, but that I am aware there may be pre-school toys present). READ MORE

31-03-2020 – A New World In The Morning

Aye up

Well, here’s a fine to-do, and no mistake! 

As you will all no doubt have surmised, along with pretty much every other thing that involves leaving the comfort of your own squalid little home, Angel Up Front rawk’n’roll escapades have been cancelled for the foreseeable, until such time as everybody has finished being poorly.

It really pains me to say this, but I actually find myself in agreement with the government on this one; we’re all doing our best to stay home – as I’m sure you all are – not so much in our own interests, as for the benefit of the more vulnerable folks in society, and to minimise the strain on those poor heroic buggers working in health care and supply chains to keep as many people as possible safe. READ MORE

09-03-2020 – After Moving

My, that was a busy weekend.

There was a slightly inauspicious start on Friday, whereby Stuart arrived outside the gig, and promptly reversed into a parked car – a nice shiny Audi, as it happened. This brought the owner bursting out of his kebab shop, to inspect the “damage”, and insist that, even though none was visible, it was “quite common to have serious internal damage that doesn’t show on the outside”, so he “had no choice” but to take down Stuart’s details etc. Well, whatever. Thus mollified, he went back inside, and presumably, that will be the last we’ll hear of him. READ MORE

03-03-2020 – Guitar Rock Pig

Well, good morning to you, one and all.

We trust you spent a relaxing and pleasurable weekend – we certainly did!

Friday at the Trout in dear old Keynsham was mighty good fun for me, I got a chance to wheel out my shiny new guitar – yes folks, he’s got another one.

This one, though, if I say so myself, is – just like me – a little bit special.

In conjunction with that fine organisation Polar Bear Custom Guitars (which is essentially myself, my eldest son and a bandsaw that was kindly donated to us), we actually tried to build one. READ MORE

26-02-2020 – Yada, Yada, Yada!

Hey Gang

Well, apologies to anybody who was hoping to see us at the Downend Tavern on Friday – we had to cancel, poor Emma has developed an evil lurgy infection, and lost her voice.

I would have offered to sing in her place; but, ever-generous, the germ-infested ratbag seems to have given it to me as well – thus it was that I spent most of my “weekend off” sniffling, feeling sorry for myself, and moaning at anyone prepared to listen.

Which turned out to be absolutely no-one.

Nonetheless, we are both planning a magnificent recovery, even if we have to rely on the well-attested Healing Powers of Rock to pull us through the next couple of gigs… READ MORE

17-02-2020 – No Flame Throwers

Yo homeys!

Another weekend, another apocalyptic storm, but rawk and roll stops for nothing – and this time, we had a nice new venue to terrify.

This week, it was the turn of the Black Horse in Kingswood, which turned out to be very agreeable indeed – a nice big space to set up in, and, once we’d found the electrical power source – a 4-way extension lead nailed to the ceiling – we were able to get set up and running.

We spotted a few friendly faces from previous outings, and – as indicated by the tasteful posters all over the place – they like their rocky stuff in here, which meant that we even got to wheel out some Iron Maiden, giving Emma – to her not-so-secret delight – a chance to show off her famed Bruce Dickinson impersonation. READ MORE