Tag Archives: guitars

19-04-2016 – Erk and Eh and Oooh

Ahoy there shipmates!

Well, on Friday we played what should by rights have been a very good gig at the Blue Lagoon – nice and local, great venue, a few pals in, really good crowd – so what was the problem?

Well, I’ll tell you – but I’ll warn you now, it does get a little bit sweary towards the end…

If you’re of a sensitive disposition, you may want to scroll down to where the font changes, which is where the funny bit starts.

[Editor’s note: I had to think for a while on whether to put this out or not. Maybe it’s not the sort of thing that we should have floating around and out of control on the internet as it is a bit offensive but the truth is, in all the years we have been together I don’t think we have had anyone go at it so much for so long at a gig therefore due to it being such an exceptional incident Alan can let rip. This chap didn’t annoy me quite as much as I have a drum kit as a barrier but I spent most of the night with half an eye on this person. I don’t think he was drunk but I think he had taken something, maybe an upper like cocaine or amphetamines, I’m not sure but he sure kept going and his mates were egging him on knowing that he was in a state and very irritating even if he wasn’t aware of it.] READ MORE

12-04-2016 – Erk, Fancy Dress

Ahoy there shipmates!

So, another weekend, and two more new venues we’d never played before. The Cider Press in Bishopston turned out to be a bit like the Blue Lagoon just down the road, i.e. quite a big place, with a lot of people in, and various others coming and going.

Early on, Rosa had to bully the crowd quite a lot before they started enjoying themselves, but eventually they started to get the hang of it, and there was much a-dancing around and a-falling over before the night was out. Towards the end of the evening, the doors burst open and a horde in fancy dress trooped in, including a shark, Nemo, two flamingos, a strawberry, a Mexican, somebody on a dwarf’s shoulders, and, my personal favourite, an Arab riding a camel. READ MORE

04-04-2016 – Keeping Score

Mornin!

Well after a week away, I was hoping to return refreshed and bright eyed, but unsurprisingly ended up returning knackered and bleary-eyed instead.

Anyway – after a week off, it was back on Friday for a night at the Parson’s Nose in Melksham; whilst waiting to play after setting up, we found a “Giant Alphabet Floor Puzzle – Ages 2 to 5”. Ben and I immediately pounced on it, and set about completing it as fast as possible. It’s harder than you might think – although to be honest, Ben was holding me back a little… READ MORE

21-03-2016 – Mister Stiffy

Good morning campers!

And it’s been a busy week of things breaking down, being mended, and in some cases even being replaced by a newer flashier model – and, surprisingly, none of these things was me…

Things started to look ominous when one of our PA speakers blew on Tuesday night; by fortunate coincidence, a pal had just put her shiny barely-used PA speakers up for sale on Facebook the day before, prompting Stuart and I to have a brief discussion about how nice it would be if we bought them, but concluding that we can’t really justify the expense. READ MORE

14-03-2016 – Rambling On

[Editor’s note: Ok, ok, the picture has nothing to do with this week’s Angel UpDate but, hey everyone loves fluffy kittens … don’t they?]

Hello darkness, my old friend…

Well, hello to The Darkness, anyway – can’t beat a bit of OTT classic rock pastiche, can ya?

Another rock’n’roll rollercoaster ride this weekend – starting with a slightly bizarre episode in which a very dear and fabulous friend of mine, without warning, suddenly (and I feel, unnecessarily cheerfully) turns down my non-existent proposal of wedlock… READ MORE

08-03-2016 – The Fluffy Saga Gone Bet Lynch

Well, good morning, my little shenanigans…

This is starting to get repetitive – another weekend, another pair of gigs – although, to be fair, Friday’s was quite a good turnaround, starting off in appalling fashion – thanks partly to the strange acoustics in the room, but mostly to my general ineptitude (particularly compounded by my seemingly astronomical inability to count to four), we had to throw in the towel on the first number after eight bars, and start it over again – but by the end of the night was huge jolly fun for everyone, due in no small part I suspect to those that enthusiastically joined in Rosa’s Drinking Game. It’s just a little disappointing that Ben and I had our hands full, so we couldn’t actually play along. READ MORE

29-02-2016 – Furry

Yo homeys! [Editor’s note: I think he means “Hello”]

Well, more mad fun in the world of rawk’n’roll. Friday night, and the King William IV in Bath turns out to be a small pub, with only-just-enough-room to set up in, provided that Ben and I don’t mind both each playing hidden behind a PA speaker, and provided that they’re not actually using the pool table which is right next to where I have to go.

They are (inevitably) using the pool table all night, so I find myself trying to play solos whilst ducking under the back of a pool cue, simultaneously making sure the bumblewit poolies aren’t treading all over my pedals every time they try to take a shot. READ MORE

22-02-2016 – Anover Birfday!

Goooooood morning!

Another weekend, another fantastic time…. Friday night, and since it’s my beautiful Dem’s birthday, we have persuaded her to come along with us to the Cat & Wheel, with daughter Lil as an escort. (That’s not in the sense of “working as an escort”, you understand, just “escorting Dem”. I mean, the extra cash always comes in handy, but everybody needs a night off now and then…)

Anyhoo, my lovely two were just into their second pint, and the kit was just about set up, when our ol’ pals John & Adam rolled in, and in true chivalrous fashion took charge of supervising the girls’ alcohol intake for the evening – with extremely successful results. READ MORE

15-02-2016 – Silly Rock

What ho!

Well, another weekend in rawk’n’roll, another triumph of amiably bumbling about and somehow managing to overcome technical difficulties despite astronomical ineptitude…

Friday at the Trout started off none-too-well, as I discovered on setting up that my amp foot switch has suffered a nervous breakdown and so I have lost one channel of my amp. Never mind, at least it still makes a noise, it just means I’ll have to think about what I’m doing a bit carefully. Ben, meanwhile, has also lost his volume-boosting ability due to a cable failure – thus the pair of us spend the gig fiddling with our knobs a little more frantically than usual. READ MORE

09-02-2016 – Of Cupcakes And Nipples

Hey peeps!

Well, if you weren’t there on Saturday, you missed a mighty fine night up at the Queen Vic in Stroud – despite the foul weather, there was plenty of fun to be had, with lots of silliness and dancing around. We were especially pleased to see some ol’ chums show up, and I was quite touched by how many were concerned for my health, after having read last week’s little missive.

I think the highlight of the evening for me was when Rosa, by way of announcing our next song (which is a moderately dreadful number originally by Katy Perry, but which Ben and I have done our best to turn into a grunge metal slag heap), asks the audience to see if they can guess, “Who has previously performed with cupcakes on their nipples?” READ MORE