Tag Archives: functions

Gig Log

09-02-2015 – Deepest Zummerzet

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Hey folks

Well, Friday at the Red Lion in Staple Hill started off in a slightly disappointing way, with an hour’s wait before we could start playing, thanks to the England – Wales match. And after all that, the Welsh didn’t even win. Still, once we got going, it was a fine night, we were just banging out tune after tune trying to fit as much in as we could in the remaining time. Strangely, my suggestion that we play everything a double speed was not met with universal approval – Ben instead choosing to save time by playing one song while I was playing another. READ MORE

Gig Log

03-02-2015 – Rammed

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Wassup dudes

Yet more rawk’n’roll silliness this week; Friday night at the Windmill in Swindon featured some spectacular dance moves from the locals, which had us in stitches; and also a special guest percussionist spot, with our new friend Sarina from local rawk outfit Broken Image – somebody has kindly posted a clip of us playing along with her on the old favourite “Rock and Roll” – originally written, of course, by our Illionois-based chums Band Of The Lost, but then shamelessly nicked by obscure ne’er-do-wells Led Zeppelin – if you find yourself wandering aimlessly about on Facebook at any time see if you can find it. She’s a rather fine hitter of drummy things, as it turns out, and hopefully we’ll catch up with her again next time we’re in those parts. READ MORE

Gig Log

26-01-2015 – Granddad Dancing

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Aye oop, lad!

Well, as another weekend full of rawk’n’roll fun sails majestically past down the river of Time, flowing relentlessly onwards to the Sea of Oblivion, and we stand thoughtfully on the banks of the Present gazing into the distant horizon of Eternity, where the birds of Desire fly homewards to their nests of Remembrance silhouetted against the sunset of Significance, I can’t help but wish I’d remembered to put some trousers on.

Young Lily and I ventured up to Swindon on a freezing Friday night; we arrived at the Tap & Barrel to find it pretty quiet, but the folks that were there seemed nice and friendly. By the time we’d set up it was a bit more populated, and by a stroke of luck we more-or-less managed to remember the whole set. Not that it mattered too much, I don’t think they were too fussy; there was reasonable amount of singing along and jigging about, and we were even treated to some granddad dancing (imagine dad dancing, only much, much more so) from a very amiable chap, whose name remains a mystery – as was everything else he said. Full marks for incomprehensible muttering, that man! But, he seemed to be happy enough. READ MORE

Gig Log

19-01-2015 – Ish Me Birfday

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Hey gang

Well, that was an absolutely tip-top weekend of fun, at least for me!

There was much birthday-related shenanigans, which started with my lovely chums at work presenting me with a large, beautifully gift-wrapped parcel, which I was advised not to open in the office “because of the presents rock n’ roll connotations”.

I rushed home, and you can imagine my excitement as I feverishly unwrapped it, to find it contained….

…another parcel, equally gift-wrapped.

Eventually, I found my way through the layers of wrapping paper to discover… READ MORE

Gig Log

12-01-2015 – Blue Lagoon Birthday

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Hi folks!

I wasn’t planning to write one of these this week, as we didn’t play any gigs this weekend, and we didn’t have any planned for next weekend.

However, the Gods Of Rock are fickle and unpredictable, and thus it transpires that this Friday, Angel Up Front have yet another appointment with destiny…

Friday Jan 16th – The Blue Lagoon, Gloucester Rd, Bristol
A new venue for us, but apparently it’s a rather popular hangout for the nocturnal denizens of the Horfield Strip. And, popular or otherwise, I shall be making a particular effort to hang out, seeing as it’s my birthday that day. I shall make a spirited attempt to persuade my lovely other half to drive the van so that I can (rather selflessly I feel) make sure I don’t to disappoint anybody in the area who may have come along for the sole purpose of buying me drinks. You are advised to come early to beat the queues… READ MORE

Gig Log

05-01-2015 – The Life Cycle Of The Breville Toasted Sandwich Maker

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..And a Happy New Year to all our readers!

This morning, driving in to work, I was rather perturbed to see that – even though it’s still some 353 days until Christmas – some people have got their decorations up already!

Still, we hope you all had a lovely time eating and drinking to excess; plus whatever else takes your fancy, of course.

We certainly enjoyed the break, we even managed to squeeze in a few gigs – including a jolly evening in the Portcullis in Fishponds just after Christmas; where, because Lou had texted me earlier complaining of a chest infection and warning that she wasn’t sure her voice would last the night, as a precaution I took along our emergency spare band – the erratically mighty Polar Bear Cheese Pirates From Outer Space. In the event, Lou’s voice held out fine, but since Dem’s folks had turned out to see us, we put the kids on as well anyway. (I have finally arrived at the conclusion that the real reason folks are so fond of their grandchildren is because they know that they are putting their parents through exactly the same trauma and exasperation as the parents put the grandparents through years before. Which I am sure is the only reason why my offspring seemed to get louder applause than AUF did…). READ MORE

Gig Log

15-12-2014 – Firemen

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Yo ho-ho-homeys (see what I did there?)

Well, it appears to be the gig-cancelling season – not only was last Saturday’s planned outing to the Ferndale Club in sunny Swindon called off due to some double-booking high jinks at their end, but also this coming Friday’s bash at the Reckless Engineer in Bristol is also abandoned thanks to some fairly spectacular ineptitude on their part. Still, there are some gigs surviving…

…Last Friday, for example; when we went all the way down to sunny Wincanton in deepest darkest Zummerzet – hadn’t realised quite how far away it was until I got there (eh??) whereupon I immediately sent a warning text back to Lou to be sure to leave in good time, to make sure she had a full tank of petrol and ample food supplies with her, and Not To Stray From The Path or talk to any naughty goblins on the way. As it turned out, I was later told that Wincanton is in fact twinned with Ankh-Morpork – so I wasn’t too far wrong. READ MORE

Gig Log

08-12-2014 – BakerLou

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Ahoy there shipmates!

Right, I really have completely run out of time for writing this one, so fasten your safety belts and switch on your spell checkers, here we go….

Friday night down at Charlie’s Bar in Westbury – a new one for us, so just to give that professional impression, we got there late (taking a 4-mile short cut through the narrow lanes near Lou’s house, within 200 yards of the exit into proper roads again, we find a broken down van with a breakdown truck blocking the road; nowhere to turn around, and I don’t fancy my chances reversing round twisty lanes in the dark for 4 miles, so we wait… and wait…). READ MORE

Gig Log

01-12-2014 – Dragon

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Blessings be upon you, my children

Our sermon this week is taken from the Third Book of Ramblings, Chapter Three, Verse Two Hundred and Seventy Four…

Yea, And It Came To Pass That the Tribe Of Angel Up Front Were Wandering In The Wilderness For Many Years, Until The Good Lord (Martin) Saw Them, And Took Pity On Them, And Yea, He Did Lead Them Unto A Place Of Sanctuary, Which Was An Inn In The Land Of Marlborough, Known In Those Parts As The Green Dragon, And…

….you know what? It’s a real pain in the ass capitalising every word, I think I’ll give this theme a miss for now… Sorry to anybody that was starting to doze off already. READ MORE

Gig Log

24-11-2014 – Seventies Porn Film Soundtrack Special

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Hey there mighty people of the 7th something or other awesome thing

Well, another rawk’n’roll packed weekend, and now I’m totally knackered out again. In the words of Danny Glover,”I’m gettin’ too old for this shit…”

Except that I don’t want to. I’m sure one day I’ll collapse back into a rocking chair and play slow delta blues until I eventually topple over, but right now I’ll stick with burning the candle at both ends whilst maintaining a tenuous grip on the bit in the middle. READ MORE