Tag Archives: royal oak

06-01-2020 – Health Y’all

Aloha!

Well, enormous apologies to anybody who came out to see us last week – we weren’t there, due to a particularly nasty medical complaint contracted by one of our number. Much as we hate having to cancel gigs, in this instance it really was for the better, there are some things that no audience should have to witness…

I shan’t say who our victim was – if you like, you can have a guess – after all, there’s only four of us to choose from (you can summarily discount our Chief Financial Officer, who is (a) not really needed at gigs, and indeed very rarely attends them, and (b) a cat). READ MORE

06-01-2020 – 1920 in 2020

Happy New Year to you all!

And, if you’re reading this, it means we all survived, which can only be a good thing.

Well, to round off 2019, we played what turned out to be a twenties-themed New Year Eve gig at the Three Brooks in Bradley Stoke – where I learned, whilst we were setting up, that the twenties music they were playing through the pub tannoy is exactly like ska, in that it sounds rather jolly and fun at first; but after a while you realise there are only actually three tunes, the incessant repetition of which slowly begins to alter your brain chemistry, leaving you in a fit of barely controllable suppressed rage. Or maybe it’s just me… READ MORE

14-10-2019 – The MOP That Needed A Mop

Right then, is everybody here?

You – you at the back there – yes, you, boy – are you chewing something?

What is it?

Really?

Ergh. Well, I hope you brought enough for the whole class…

So, if it’s quite all right, shall we continue with the lesson, then, if it’s not too much trouble?

Friday’s escapade to Marlborough was – well, a bit odd, frankly. This is the week, it seems, of the “Marlborough Mop Fair” – a quaint local tradition which seems to consist of closing off the entire high street to traffic, and erecting in it a large – and very much closed – funfair. READ MORE

07-10-2019 – Well Carry On Then

Hola amigos!

Big apologies to anybody who tried to come out to see us at the Giant Goram on Friday – we weren’t there!

To be fair, our Emma was a poorly little chicken indeed, having barely survived Thursday’s trip to the Royal Oak – she did message earlier in the day to say she was feeling terrible, but we were still not quite prepared for the sorry sight that shambled in just before gig time. Oh dearie me, she was not a happy little singer.

Still, bless her, she managed to just about make it through the night – and it did give us an excuse to trot out a couple of extra numbers with Ben on lead vocals, to give her a few minutes recovery time. READ MORE

30-09-2019 – Stop, Thief

Boy howdy!

And welcome to this week’s thrill-packed episode of rambling nonsense.

Friday night’s expedition to the Old Mail House was successful, from my point of view at least, in that I managed to pull off a triumph of rock’n’roll blokiness, by diverting course on the way to the gig to buy an angle grinder.

Impressed, eh?

That’s nearly as blokily impressive as a man with two sheds, wouldn’t you say?

(I don’t actually have two sheds. I’m not weird, or anything). READ MORE

28-05-2019 – Hay Fever!

Aloha!

And a warm welcome to this week’s little episode of rawk’n’roll strangeness.

I’ll keep this one fairly short, as it’s too nice a day to be sat inside banging away on a keyboard for the dubious benefit of you lot…

Friday night at the lovely Railway Tav in Fishponds, and a huge fun gig, enlivened by the presence of Stuart’s lovely sister, who had come all the way over from Canada, for the sole purpose of seeing us*. It was also enlivened by lots of punters jigging merrily around all night, and I personally was particularly pleased by the nice ladies who were queuing up afterwards to buy us all a beer. I like it when that happens. READ MORE

20-05-2019 – Ultra Cute Fluffy Kitten, Just For the Hell of It!

Hey folks

A weekend of contrasts in rawk – Friday night at the Giant Goram in Lawrence Weston – always a rather informal affair – was enlivened by the presence of our new best mate Tia, who spent the first set dancing around enthusiastically to everything, and then at half-time appeared with a large tray of shots for the band.

We rather liked her.

Even more so when she told us the tale of the last time she went out to see a band.

“I don’t get out much…”, she tells us, “…So anyway, the last time I went out to see a band, I was having such a great time, I was dancing around so much that I was sick on the floor”. READ MORE

14-05-2019 – Goth Colouring Book

Ahoy there shipmates!

A whole weekend off, which turned out to be no bad thing in some ways, as last week was – well, a bit of a bugger, really, for some of us.

On the other hand, most weeks turn out to be a bit of a bugger, one way or another, and there really is nothing more therapeutic that jumping around making a bloody loud noise. I heartily recommend it, I’m sure it’s much more effective at relieving stress than the “meditative colouring books” I recently noticed for sale. I can’t help feeling that if your troubles can be resolved by sitting down for an hour with a pack of felt tips, you probably don’t have enough troubles. READ MORE

09-05-2019 – Jumping Around And Pulling Faces

Yo homeys

Well, that was an odd one. We fetched up at the Anchor in Bishopston on Saturday, to find the the nice little stage area they used to have has been taken down and covered with tables and chairs and punters, and we instead were presented with an “intimate” space to set up in. After a little head-scratching and moving a few affable customers over, we managed to shoehorn ourselves in.

The pub itself was rammed full of footy fans – the match just up the road had just finished, plus there was another game on telly – so much so that the door staff were operating a “one in, one out” policy – meaning that several folks who’d come to see us actually couldn’t get in until the second set, when most of the soccer fans had had their fill of lager and were feeling quite tired and ready for bed. READ MORE

29-04-2019 – Deranged And Other Excellent Words

Aloha!

[Editor’s Note: I accept that the image that goes with this post may be in bad taste; I just can’t figure out in what context.]

Well well well, three gigs in a weekend, it’s getting just like the old days. We arrived at the Millhouse in Emerson’s Green, bagged the cheeky last parking spaces, and hauled in. As we suspected, this was a “family pub”, not used to having bands on – although I did like the fact that we were told “You can store your empty cases in the Wacky Warehouse”… READ MORE