Tag Archives: festivals

Gig Log

07-04-2014 – Jumping around wacked wireless

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Mornin!

Well, back to Fishyponds again this week. This time to the dear ol’ Railway Tav, and it was lovely to see some ol’ mates again, as well as some newer ones again (yo, Tiff!).

We had a bit of an iffy start, as three songs in, my “jumping around like a twat” behaviour caused me to accidentally punch my wireless transmitter, which resulted in it (not entirely surprisingly) refusing to co-operate any more. Unfortunately, the bag with all the spare leads in was safely stashed outside in the van (ironically, to make room for said jumping around like a twat), so to get operational again I had to steal the lead out of Lou’s keyboard. Still, she will get to play it again soon… READ MORE

Gig Log

31-03-2014 – Not a clue what e’s on about special

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Yowsa!

Well, that almost felt like a weekend off, only the one gig, and it was even in Bristol, so we didn’t get home too late… except of course, that they shifted the clocks, so that in effect we got back too late anyway. Poor Lou was a very tired little bunny by the end of the night; still, the “playing with keyboards” experiment went rather well, apart from being a little bit of faffy rearranging of the stage in the middle of a set. Not to worry, I’m sure we’ll get the hang of things eventually. READ MORE

Gig Log

24-03-2014 – You can never have too many wings, hats and jelly edition

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Oy!

(actually, that was supposed to be a “Yo!”, but I mistyped it. Never mind.)

So, Friday night at the Trout in Keynsham; a bit quieter than usual; possibly the rain hammering down put off some of the more lightweight lager drinkers.

Still, the place was jumping quite nicely by the end. Lou had brought a few of her pals along, which was good to see, and had also decided to spring a little surprise on Ben and myself, in the shape of one enormous and ornate sombrero (which was plonked on me whilst playing), and one teeny-tiny one which was deposited onto Ben’s bonce at the same time. READ MORE

Gig Log

17-03-2014 – Touching special

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Hey gang

Yet another busy weekend in the world of rawk’n’roll… frankly, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to keep up much longer…

Friday night at Queen Amy’s Railway Tav, and another fine gig from diva (that’s pronounced “divver”, by the way) daughter, and most of the Wessex chapter of Dem’s family came along to watch. Lil really is getting the hang of this rock’n’roll thing, to the point of looking out for where the chip shops are on the way in to the gig, so you don’t have to wander around looking for them afterwards. READ MORE

Gig Log

11-03-2014 – Broken string & turkey hat

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Aloha, homeys!

Well, what a marvellously bizarre weekend that was. Friday started off innocently enough, there weren’t many punters in the Tap & Barrel in Swindon, as we arrived and set up.

“Oh well”, we thought, “Perhaps it’ll liven up in a while”.

It did, when two of the punters suddenly started fighting right in front of us – for no discernible reason, as far as I could see; although they were both sufficiently inebriated that reason was one of the last things that was going to have any bearing on matters… READ MORE

Gig Log

04-03-2014 – Exploding Tambourine Extraveganza

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Hey folks

This’ll be a short one, I’m afraid, as it’s late already and I keep having to inconvenience myself for work at the moment… Bah!

Still, a weekend full of the usual rawk’n’roll weirdness, madness, and deaf and destruction; including this week the tragic loss of our auxiliary percussion equipment; consisting of a tambourine which Lou plays in one of the songs (I can’t for the life of me remember which one); and which, on Saturday was lent out to a particularly enthusiastic audience member at the Golden Fleece in Bath; “Bring it back, mind”, Lou warns him. READ MORE

Gig Log

27-02-2014 – Late

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Aye oop

Well, a jolly fine night for Lily up the Clothears Arms in Stroud; I was impressed to see Lil’ has learned something from her dear ol’ Dad; in this case how to pick on your band mates while they can’t retaliate. Thus it was that, just as I launch into a big emotional epic Gary Moore guitar solo, Lil deftly attaches a large comedy bow tie around my neck while my hands are full, and I’m unable to fend her off or remove it until the end of the song.

Dat’s my girl!

Of course, it will be a few days before she’ll be allowed to sleep in the house again. READ MORE

Gig Log

18-02-2014 – Merrily drunken noisy young ladies

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Good morning,

Well, it seems the floods are slowly beginning to recede, and so in one way at least, things are beginning to get back to what passes for normal down here in the South West…

Friday night at the Royal Oak in Swindon Old Town, and Lil and I roll up promptly at 8:30 to find the place deserted apart from the manager and one barman. “It’s a bit quiet tonight”, the latter observes, “But there should be a few more in later”.

Sure enough, by 9:30…one bloke has rolled in. We decide to “give it a few minutes”, and suddenly in burst a posse of merrily drunken noisy young ladies, who make the place seem suddenly full up. As soon as we start playing, they are whooping and hollering, dancing away, and one lass is even keeping watch at the door and dragging in passers-by off the street, “Oi, you! Come in, you gotta hear this…” READ MORE

Gig Log

10-02-2014 – Gay evil edition

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Aye oop

Well, a strange week in the World of Rawk…

With no band appointments, I went out on Friday with diva daughter for a duo gig in wet, windy, rainy Chiseldon – to the rather fine Patriots arms, where they have lots of space for musos to set up in, a handy door you can back the van right up to, plenty of power sockets in just the right places, and a very lovely crowd, who joined in, sang along, applauded nicely, and altogether enjoyed themselves so much they even bought CDs. Result!

But, by the time Saturday night came around, and the band’s gig at the Wheatsheaf in Stratton, I was completely knackered as a result of spending the entire day running around moving furniture and stripping wallpaper and the like, ready for next week’s New Kitchen Excitement. Well, Dem’s quite excited. I contented myself with scrawling in red ink on the bare wall, for the benefit of future occupants of the house, “BEWARE THE EVIL! LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW”. READ MORE

Gig Log

03-02-2014 – Spangley Guitar

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Yo sushi!

Well, a weekend of no gigs, which meant that I got to relax, kick back, and indulge in some of my favourite weekend leisure pursuits… which now include, it would seem, mooching around B & Q for hours trying to understand exactly which sort of kitchen cupboard is Right For Me (apparently, the question is far too complex, on a deep and fundamentally existential level, to be resolved by simply pointing at the first one you see and saying “That one!”); and also spending nearly an entire day trying to get hold of an emergency dentist for a suddenly snaggle-toothed twelve year old (how exactly DO you smash your face on the bottom of a swimming pool, which you were already floating in, anyway?), only to find that NHS have now hidden all the contact numbers, and you have to phone a call centre to be given (having got through several well-meaning but ultimately useless staff) a new number to call that doesn’t work, followed by… Oh, never mind, he can just eat soup for now. READ MORE