Tag Archives: Guitar

Gig Log

31-10-2016 – Of Halloween And French Maids

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Well, how do you do,

I see you’ve met my faithful handyman…

If that makes no sense to you, folks, Google it for context…

Friday night, and the New Crown Inn in Bath. Earlier in the week, the landlord had called to let us know they were making it a Halloween fancy dress night, if we fancied joining in.

Do bears poo in the woods?

So, an email was duly sent around all band members, explaining the dress code, with a stern reminder that, as per school PE lessons, anybody who forgets their kit has to play in their pants. I cunningly covered both options by plumbing for a Rocky Horror outfit. READ MORE

Gig Log

26-10-2016 – The Shipping Forecast

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Yo homeys!

Sorry this thing is coming out a bit late this week, I got a little bit distracted and ran out of time to write nonsense – so this one is both rather late and rather short.

Still, if you think about it, most bands would just send out something saying “here are our gig dates for the next few weeks, we’re playing at such-and-such next Friday, please come out and join us, it’ll be great” – but not us, oh, no.

We go the extra mile. We sit at a keyboard and write a whole bunch of drivel while we’re trying to think of something funny to say. We don’t even know where such-and-such is, and we have to look it up. Even then, sometimes we’re not sure. READ MORE

Gig Log

17-10-2016 – The Stage

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Peace be upon you, my children.

…Actually, I’m pretty sure that you can’t all be my children; I know I have a few, but I really don’t think it was that many – and besides, if that were the case, then I have to say that some of you are looking pretty ropey considering you’d need to be at least twenty years younger than me.

You know who you are.

Well, this week we can report on our Bristol City Stadium Gig – yes, folks, we have now entered the hallowed arena (as it were) of being a Stadium Rock Band. Tick that one off the bucket list. READ MORE

Gig Log

10-10-2016 – Angel Wings and Stadiums

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Hey gang

Another weekend, another silly night of rawk’n’roll…

After a pretty dire Friday night gig, replete with dodgy stage sound, equipment death, and my guitar spontaneously detuning itself, resulting in me trying to play one song without touching three of the strings, we were hoping for better things on Saturday up at the dear ol’ Queen Vic in Stroud…

And better things indeed there were. We brought along my beloved Dem and daughter Lily, and were delighted to find some old pals waiting for us when we arrived, who kindly helped us haul the kit in, while Dem and Lil headed straight for the bar and started emptying it. READ MORE

Gig Log

03-10-2016 – Yeah, Well, Ok Then

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Good morning campers!

And a very warm welcome to Sunnyview Rest Camp for the mentally infirm and physically unattractive. We hope to make your stay here as enjoyable as possible, but following an unfortunate incident last night outside the Leisure Lido Amusement Palace, please may we remind all our guests to make sure that you are wearing clothes before leaving your chalet; particularly if you don’t have your keys with you. Also, don’t forget that the Sunnyview Knobbly Knees competition will be held at the Kiddies Splashtime Fun Pool this afternoon at four o’clock sharp; or slightly later if we haven’t quite fished out of all the unfortunate floating items by then.
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> Right, sorry ’bout that folks, I have no idea where that one came from; possibly my brain spontaneously retuned itself and was picking up another channel entirely. READ MORE

Gig Log

26-09-2016 – Pole, Wig, Van!

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Well, hello there again.

It was nice to be back at the Rolly in Swindon again, and I was very pleased to see that the locals are still every bit as daft as they ever were. Not, however, quite as daft as us…

Poor Stuart has been far too busy lately, and is beginning to show signs of strain; this is not helped by a string of vehicular difficulties; the last two practices have been held up by his ropey works van breaking down (the second time, rather inconveniently in the middle of the M32), and on Friday evening as Ben and I are hurtling down the M4 Swindonwards, we get a call from him saying he’s stuck in traffic and running late. Thus, we roll up at the pub and unload everything, park up, and leisurely set up all the amps, lights, PA, etc before he arrives. Once he finally does, we empty all his kit onto the stage, and he goes off to park. It’s fifteen minutes before he returns. Did he get lost? READ MORE

Gig Log

19-09-2016 – Blofeld

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Ahoy there shipmates!

Aharr!!!!!!

Since this be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, we decided to dress up appropriately for Friday’s gig at the Tern in Yate. And what did we learn?

We learned that if Rosa wears an eye patch, she looks like a pirate.
And if Alan wears an eye patch, he looks like a pirate.
And if Ben wears an eye patch, he looks like a pirate.
And if Stuart wears an eye patch, he looks like a Bond villain. [Editor’s note: Blofeld didn’t actually wear an eye patch, that was Emilo Largo] READ MORE

Gig Log

12-09-2016 – Goat And Frisky

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Ahoy there shipmates!

Another busy weekend – Friday at the Royal Oak in Marlborough was not-exactly-jam-packed – in fact, for a considerable part of the evening we were playing specifically for the benefit of Ed and Josh (who Rosa promptly re-named Gerald, “ as it’s easier to remember” ) – oh, and Zak the barman as well.

So, we set about amusing ourselves by breaking out the dressing-up box, for some ZZ Top…

Dressing up

..and some other general silliness with a blue wig and some cat glasses… READ MORE

Gig Log

05-09-2016 – The Lamb Files

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Well, we’re back, did you miss us?

After a week’s jolly holidays away in (occasionally) sunny North Wales – during which, due to an unfortunate incident involving lack of foresight and a sinking kayak*, my beloved Dem and I achieved the notable distinction of being the highest people in the land whilst not wearing any pants – it was back to the lovely Swan in Thornbury, to see if we can remember how any of the songs go.

The answer was a resounding “some of them”.

Still, it was an absolute pleasure to get back together and make a raucous racket again, and a delight to see our chums John, Anne & Adam, who’d rolled all the way down from Gloucester to see us. Bless. We were so touched, we got a little carried away and threw in a rather epic AC/DC encore, complete with rubber duck solos. I’d forgotten that we sometimes do that. READ MORE

Gig Log

22-08-2016 – It’s A Bit Like The Archers – BUT ON ACID

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Greetings, my little peccadillos!

Now, that was enough rawk’n’roll fun to last anybody a fortnight… which is just as well, since we’re not playing for a couple of weeks, since I’m running away to Exotic Foreign Parts.

Still, we’ll have plenty of fun to look back on – particularly last Wednesday’s outing to Priddy, hidden way down deep in the Mendips.

So – a midweek gig, in the middle of nowhere – we weren’t expecting a particularly exciting night, to be honest. READ MORE