Tag Archives: fun day

17-09-2018 – Fried Hippy Mobius Strips

Yo homies!

Well, we have no gigging to report on this weekend – apart from a rather excellent night Stuart and I had with our sloppy prog outfit the All Night Chemists, up at the delightful Folly Inn in Napton, near Warwick. Lovely pub, in the middle of nowhere but right by the canal, and hence host to a whole fleet of hippies in narrowboats.

Quite a way to go for a gig, but it was well worth it – a private function for one of singer Rich’s fellow boating chums, a lovely setting, and as we were the beneficiaries of Rich’s hospitality for the night – no need to drive home after the gig. READ MORE

10-09-2018 – Changing Fortunes

Hello, my little ones.

Are you all sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.

Thursday night in Chipping Sodbury, and I roll up, somewhat knackered after a busy day, to find Ben and Stuart already there and loaded in. Stuart parks his car, then we set about emptying the van and setting up. A rather frazzled Emma appears, she has apparently had a “difficult” week at work, and “is ready for some serious jumping about and screaming”. Just, in fact, what we have in mind.

We’ve decided to play a high risk strategy tonight, lots of old rocky songs we haven’t played in a l-o-o-ng time, to see if we can remember them. Remarkably, by and large, we can. We’d also forgotten how much fun they are. Thus, by the time we’ve finished thumping out the Maiden and AC/DC covers at the end of the night, our Emma is feeling much cheered up. Ben is also pleased to find two fellow Yorkshiremen in the audience, who are huge fun. I’m tempted to ask them how they’re coping down here with such strange new things as electricity, and running water, but I settle instead for hiding my wallet, just in case. READ MORE

03-09-2018 – Oooh, Look, Dolphins!

Well, we’re back!

After a week away, variously climbing up Snowdon, watching dolphins frolicking off the coast of Kent, drinking excellent beer in my favourite Brighton pub – which I found completely unchanged after 30 years away – hurrah! – and doing whatever it is that Ben and Stuart get up to when left to their own devices, it was time to get back together to make a loud noise again up at the dear ol’ Swan in Thornbury.

Having literally just got home after a seven hour drive with a spakky shoulder, swapping vehicles and come straight to the gig, yours truly had his excuses neatly lined up for playing like a retarded chimp in boxing gloves. So that’s pretty much what I did. READ MORE

20-08-2018 – The Difficult Week

Good morning peeps!

Well, it’s been a – shall we say – “difficult” week in rock…

Our poor Em’s spakky knee is starting to get better, but slowly, so the poor darling is still having to resort to using what we know call The Apparatus to hold her leg together during gigs; Ben managed to cut his thumb in half, whilst engaging in the unfamiliar practice of cleaning his flat – but I trumped them both; whilst I was innocently waiting at a red traffic light, some <> drove into the back of the van, and then drove off before I could get his number. <> READ MORE

15-08-2018 – Lech

Blig:

Wassup dawgs

After not having played for a couple of weeks, it was with some trepidation that we approached the Crown in Lechlade… Could we remember the new songs? Could we remember the old songs? Could we remember how to set up the equipment? And who’s that huge beardy bloke with the long hair?

When we reached the pub and walked in, the following sight met our eyes…

Pig head

Our minds were immediately set at ease – these are people who will understand us. [Editor’s note: Now, I personally do not approve of decapitated heads on walls, pigs or otherwise but I guess I’ll go with the sentiment, gotta call it out just the same!] READ MORE

07-08-2018 – Cascade of Anxiety

Yo Compadres

As we crawl agonisingly across the desert sands under the relentless blinding sun, there is a speck of colour in the shimmering distance… it could be a mirage, but…. As we slowly inch nearer, we see… yes… it’s a gig!

Salvation at last!

Saturday 11th – The Crown, Lechlade
A rather pretty little town up in the Cotswolds, and a very fine little pub. All we have to do is remember how to play. What could possibly go wrong?

And, in case you’re wondering what musos do when they have a weekend off, I can now tell you – rather to my consternation I found myself at an art exhibition yesterday. READ MORE

23-07-2018 – Purple …..

Good evening; and here is the news….

Friday night, and a trip to the Trout in Keynsham to unveil not one, not two, not three, but four (yes, four, count ‘em!) songs we’d not gigged before. Actually, I failed to count ‘em and mistakenly left one off the setlist; fortunately Em remembered about it and scribbled it back in just before we started playing.

Poor Em. Somehow she managed to bugger up one of her knees last week, but armed with lots of medical strapping and some weapons-grade painkillers, she heroically made it to the gig, and actually managed to get most the way through proceedings still upright. Alas, near the end, she could bear the pain no more and had to have a chair fetched and her leg propped up to finish off the second set. READ MORE

23-07-2018 – The Minimalist Edition

Greetings, my children of the night…

Well, with no gigs to report on, this will be a nice short one – we’re going back to basics, I’m simply going to tell you where we’re playing this weekend, so’s you’ll know which venues to avoid…

Friday 27th – The Trout, Keynsham
A fine, energetic, boisterous – and, I have to say, a somewhat messy crowd in here means it will be a significantly entertaining evening. We’ve been working on a few new tunes lately, so you might well get to hear us play some of them for the first time. READ MORE

16-07-2018 – Mr Smokey

Yo homeys

Well, that was definitely an interesting weekend…

Apologies to anybody who rocked up to Dursley Carnival on Friday expecting to see us; as you may have noticed, we weren’t there, unfortunately we had to bail out due to a temporary lack of bassist, with Ben being stuck in work and unable to escape. Sorry folks!

Still, we had a very entertaining night on Saturday, at the Albion Social Club up in Cheltenham. Once arrived, we were delighted to find a couple of friendly helpful staff who helped us load in all the kit, and then brought us some drinks. We like this very much. READ MORE

09-07-2018 – The Intransigent Employer

Hola, mes amigos!

After a whole two weeks of peace and quiet with no giggery, I’m rather looking forward to this weekend. Not that we’ve been idle, oh no…

…Oh all right, yes, we have, actually.

We did all have a rather fine night out on Friday, though, featuring band members old and new, and there was much quaffing and hilarity. I am somewhat hazy on some of the details, though. But it was definitely a marvellous night – I’d pretty much forgotten what it’s like to go to a pub without having to (a) drive, (b) hump loads of heavy kit about, and (c) jump around like a twat for two hours. READ MORE