Tag Archives: swindon

Gig Log

05-01-2017 – Another Noo Year

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Happy New  Year, folks!

We hope you all had a spanktastic festive season, we certainly did…

Gig reports (as far as I can remember them) are suitably cheery – just before Christmas we played the Farmhouse in Yate, which turned out to be a rather better night than anticipated, thanks to a fairly solid cohort of slightly bonkers locals – including one fine lady, whose name alas I have forgotten, who was something of an urban hairdresser – a “street stylist”, if you will – she spent much of the evening unaccountably weaving plaits into the hair of various other members of the clientèle, and when she spotted Ben’s flowing tresses, her face lit up with an evil grin. READ MORE

Gig Log

07-11-2016 – Yeah, Stuff

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Hey gang

Well, firstly apologies to anybody who fetched up to the Old Neighbourhood in Chalford hoping to catch us – as you’ll have already found out, we weren’t there. This was due to an unfortunate forgot-to-renew-their-music-licence episode from the pub’s head office management – it wasn’t our fault, honest it wasn’t! Still, it could have been worse – my pal Little Ian’s band had had to cancel their gig on Friday – for the second time in a row at the same venue – thanks to their drummer repeatedly falling off things and injuring himself. READ MORE

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

26-09-2016 – 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

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

Gig Log

15-08-2016 – Beer, Cakes & Sweeties

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Borag Thungg, Earthlets!

…and a mighty fine weekend of fun that was! Saturday saw us hoofing over to beautiful sunny Tintern, to play a wedding bash right outside the picturesque Abbey (it’ll be lovely when it’s finished).

Now, sometimes wedding gigs aren’t too much fun from our point of view; they are often rather subdued affairs where our main job is really to play quietly in the corner and not upset anybody.

Not so this one – it was a delightfully bonkers affair, with the field set up like a fete / funfair, with sack races, welly throwing competitions, a free sweeties stall, a free cake stall, and… Rosa, come back here! Too late, she has skipped merrily off, and soon comes back laden with several large bags of sweeties. Having set up, we sit happily in the sunshine sipping beer, eating barbecue, and watch the proceedings. READ MORE

Gig Log

18-07-2016 – Inflatables

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Good morning campers!

My, that was an interesting Saturday night. We rolled up at the Locomotive in Swindon, to find a mob in fancy dress, largely – but by no means entirely – Scottish themed, the reason for this never quite becoming clear over the course of the evening. What was clear was that they weren’t a shy, retiring bunch. I have to say that I have never in my life seen so many giant inflatable willies in one place. In retrospect, something I’m probably quite glad about.

Poor Ben didn’t have the best of nights; he’s brought along his new shiny wireless system – but alas, because it has an oddball stereo jack on it, his complex high-tech active bass refuses to work with it – basically the act of plugging the wireless in switches the bass off. READ MORE

Gig Log

11-07-2016 – AAARRRGGGHHHEEEYYYUUURRRGGGHHH

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Top o’ the mornin’ to ye, begorrah, and similar nonsense.

As I’m a bit pushed for time today, I’ll keep this short – just the edited highlights.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin…

Best moment from Saturday night’s traditionally lively gig at the Queen Vic in Stroud; Rosa’s rather bizarre request to the audience between songs, somewhere in the second set…

“Right everybody, what I want you to do now is to look at the person on your left… and lick their face!!”.

This was immediately followed by another announcement, READ MORE